It's nice to know that I have followers who are holding me accountable...
Today I received a message on Facebook from a follower. The message read "Hello it's Tuesday, step it up blog master". It came from a brother-in-law, but I wont reveal which one. Thanks for the little shot of accountability!
Yesterday was a great day of recovery...what?..it wasn't a recovery day? Oops. Sometimes you need to just listen to what your body is telling you, and go with it. The day began just like many of my days...on the therapy table. After that however, I really didn't do too much. I needed some rest after the weekend, as I didn't sleep well due to a great deal of prepartion for some presentations, and then worrying about how I did on them. Even Sunday night, when it was all over, I had difficulty turning my brain off and not thinking about how I could have made the presentations better. I know...stupid huh?
Yesterday wasn't all rest though. I did manage to get in a little bike workout at the gym. Yep, I took a spin class. Now I must tell you that I am not a fan of spin classes due to the stupid things many spin instructors have you do while seated on your bike. There is one instructor however, that I truly admire because he is a real cyclist...he actually knows how to ride a bike, and does it extremely well. He may be reading this, and hopefully he is smiling! Yesterday, on the other hand, was a little rough for me. Having been educated in exercise science and exercise physiology, I sometimes have a hard time listening to what personal trainers and group fitness instructors say to their classes. Yesterday was extremely hard! As a Christian, I try not to bash on people, but sometimes my sins get the best of me!
Those of you who have been reading regularly will remember that I blogged about interval training, and the different energy systems that the body employs to provide power for the body. I wrote about the anaerobic energy system, and told you that the primary (nearly 100% actually) fuel during this state of activity is glycogen. I went on to explain how fat is used very little during high intensity exercise; and the effects of EPOC. So yesterday, we're pedaling along on the spin bikes when the instructor tells us that we are going to pick up the pace by increasing the intensity and our pedal cadence so that we can reach our target heart rate. I thought to myself "What target heart rate?..there are numerous target heart rates that we might be striving to hit." She then proceeded to say "If you can hold a conversation with your neighbor right now, then you have not hit your target heart rate, and need to step it up." Bingo! Now I knew what target heart rate she was referring to...that which indicated that we had reached our lactate or anaerobic threshold...she wanted us to be working in an anaerobic state. "Okay" I thought, "That makes sense." Then she went on to say that at that heart rate, and that level of work, we would be "burning the greatest number of calories from fat". What? I almost didn't catch my words before they left my mouth, as I struggled to hold back. My Christianity still in check, I managed to keep my mouth shut, put my head down, and pedaled. Remember, anaerobic means without the presence of oxygen, and even all of you know by now that fat requires the presence of oxygen for oxidation...hence the term oxidation.
In the grand scheme of things it's really not that big of a deal. After all, her misinformation most likely created motivation for other members of the class to work harder, thus burning more calories, and stoking the EPOC fires. There was that one other thing that she said though...
After we were finished, she led the class through a brief, post-ride stretching routine. This is where she messed up once again. First of all, she was clearly put off by the fact that I chose to do my own hamstring stretch...not the one she was showing. It might have something to do with the fact that the old fashioned hurdler stretch has been shown to place the spine in a compromised position. Then she went on to say "OK, now we're gonna stretch the hip-flexors" as she proceeded to instruct everyone to stand next to their bike, holding onto the the handlebars for support; bend the right knee, and place it over the left leg (making the figure-4 shape); and then sitting back into a quarter-, or half-squat. Now don't get me wrong here...that's a great stretch, and she instructed it well...but it's not a hip-flexor stretch...it's a glute stretch! Specifically a piriformis (hip rotator within the glute family) stretch.
Oh well, there could always be worse things huh?
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