Interval Training: Train your body while training for your life

in Bodyweight Training, CrossFit Training, Gymnastics, Interval Training, Kettlebell Training, Performance Coaching, Personal Training, Plyometric Training, Resistance Training, Skilled Movement by

Dan Raabe Performance - Train For A Reason - Gymnastics, Conditioning, Mental Strength, Tactics, Skilled Movement, Training

“Interval training is a program which utilizes bioenergetic adaptations for efficient energy transfer using predetermined work-to-rest ratios.” That’s right out of my Essentials of Strength and Conditioning book that weighs ten pounds/600 pages and is always on my desk.
What does it mean to us, what problem does it solve and who cares?

Looking at the whole person, what are we capable of producing in a given amount of time? How much attention can we devote to any given task? Are we working with an efficacy that we feel is our best?

Interval training parallels our day’s activities. We prioritize work. The day has a finite number of hours to accomplish all life’s demands. And there is a need to rest and recharge our brains between tasks depending on the energy we’ve invested. We’re human, and we each have our capacity for endurance.

A win in training might look a bit like running around the buffet table and taking a bite of your favorite foods with a rest between laps. But, we aren’t four years old, and we have to master our output. Let’s go scientific and keep the illustration focused on productivity.

You take action on the first task. You’ve warmed up, and you are ready. You focus. Skill is involved. There is an endpoint. It may not imply the work is complete. It’s perfect to a point. And you are the delivery specialist. Only you know when you are ready for a finished product. You have a deadline. In the gym, we use a stopwatch.

We don’t have endless energy. Doing well or winning the game means we have to respect our physical and mental capabilities. We can recharge our minds and bodies, but we cannot create energy from a depleted system. Here is where the “interval” becomes essential.

In your body energy is recharged through the energy molecule ATP. Our biological systems kick into high gear on demand. They require intervals of work and rest to dial up the response to our needs. But we are not scientists generally, and we determine how we are doing by how we feel. We need rest. It’s a necessary variable in our daily “energy conservation program.” We manage our output. The danger of not respecting your energy limitations, lacking an “interval training” focus, and working past your depletion point is a reduction in efficacy.

Here’s how you apply this information. The first step is to set up your plan for the day. In the gym, it’s the “work.” There is a volume of work that must get accomplished. The intervals come from experience. Work/rest ratios have a measurable result. The second step sequences our work, using shorter work intervals, and maintaining our energy. We must complete our plan. The benefit lies not only in the contentment at the finish but the skills we gain. The third step is to repeat the process. Develop a work habit with the knowledge of procedural skills and respect for your resources. Skills, consistency, intensity is your triple threat. I learned it from another coach, and it’s yours to use as well.

The win is the growth that comes from using a simple process to produce a good result.

If you like this article and want more information, please contact me at coach@danraabetraininig.com or call/text to (303) 880-4641. We focus on the 40’s + professional because it’s important to stay in motion, build a solid foundation for health, and hone the skills of self-control. Don’t look for a reason to train, Train for a Reason.

Train for a Reason

in Bodyweight Training, CrossFit Training, Gymnastics, Interval Training, Kettlebell Training, Performance Coaching, Personal Training, Plyometric Training, Resistance Training, Skilled Movement by

Dan Raabe Performance - Train For A Reason - Gymnastics, Conditioning, Mental Strength, Tactics, Skilled Movement

Brazilian Butt Lift, Zumba, and all other canned exercise didn’t exist in the age before marketing gimmicks. If our ancestors weren’t strong and athletic, they got run over by the beast they were hoping to kill. Your uncle Fred died as prey, unable to fight back. Was his training functional and complete?

The fight-or-flee response is innate. You develop it from birth. Today our reactive instincts are asleep. How many of us are military, first-responders, or athletes? These folks have the best chance of reviving the beast inside. For the rest of us, anesthetized by today’s sedentary, desk-bound, activity -killing lifestyle, we can only hope to roll back our athletic age with legacy exercise programs. Or, more typically, no program at all. Gyms aren’t gyms today. They’re recreation centers. And recreation comes after training.

Develop your willpower muscle. Dial up your self-control. Kill the procrastination. It’s time you kick yourself out of the cubicle and push the ON button to your anatomical machinery. Dynamic change launches with “WHY.” Apply polished skills to your rotting life routines. Add an outspoken coach’s view of strength and conditioning to your stagnant relationship with exercise. Trade in your “I should do that…” mentality for a “punch-me-in-the-gut-if-I-give-up” battle cry. Go general in form and function. Go big on goals. Just go!

Get creative. The “training culture” is simplicity, skill, and consistency. The world’s your stage. It’s our stage. We learn and work together. We don’t settle for routines. We learn the skills of movement. Successful professionals brew up an awareness that they function in a sphere of correct architectural angles. Let’s develop physical adaptations to stimulus. The power players strive to understand muscle mechanics, and when they succeed, they perform better. You can be a non-scientist and still learn about complex metabolic processes.

You are an athlete by design. Your endocrine system begs to be understood. Your brain craves the heightened experience of competitive athletic activity. If you train and adapt, you will survive. Science is on your side. If you slack, you will bend to grim statistics.

Become a realist. If you can, two can. Engage a buddy. The fervor we create indicates real competition. You are your team. You take flight when you invest in becoming your own best friend.

Test your mental waters. Give a speech. Talk to a stranger. Go skiing on the live-or-die hill. Stimulate the animal switchboard in your communications uplink. Your croc brain actively responds with feedback to drown out fear even before your mammalian brain has a chance to find the correct words. Taking even the smallest of chances tests your performance. Physical and mental training tame the internal and external forces that impact your behavior before your cerebral cortex can download a response.

Keep training simple. It’s faster and more efficient when exercise shows progress. Less is more. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu athletes will tell you that skills trump strength. That means we must train both mind and body. Train for the game.

Are you motivated to pursue your life’s goals? Are you tactical about the path? Do you train for the outcome you envision? The point is the “training culture” is preparation for mind and body. It’s a living hell to separate the two. You are a complete physiological machine. Train for the possibilities. Train fast. Train directly, Train for a reason.

There was a time when we believed that if we merely got outdoors and played we would get in shape. That was true. Then life happened. College, graduate school, relationships, work, kids, and other demands intervened, and our vision of a healthy life changed radically. Add late nights in front of a computer, moving to new locations, and the daily rigors of getting to work with 12 million other players, and we can see how things might begin to go awry. We are busy, stressed, and becoming older in a young work world. There is a horrible vision in our heads of quickly becoming a version of Homer Simpson on a couch with a remote control. What kind of a path is that for a stable career person with kids and a mortgage? It just doesn’t work.

Physical abilities are the gift of any living creature. We exist to develop a functional level of conditioning for any person who is willing to put their skills to highest and best use.

Here are 3 activities you can use to activate your brain and get moving better:
1) Why do you train? Play the “5-Whys.” Have someone ask you. Keep the answers honest and straightforward. Simplicity is important. Get to a meaningful bottom line.
2) Do a morning 5-minute warm-up first thing – not a full exercise. Warm up your joints, move in every way you can imagine. At the end do push-ups or squats. If hip-mobility is difficult for you, then concentrate on the squats or a few plyometric jumps. Just move.
3) Hydrate – It’s a good habit to have. Start your morning off with eight ounces of water. Then get on with your day. Don’t forget to continue throughout the day.

The key to success is activation. Functional activities are the foundation for healthy habits. Pursue new and better behaviors.

If you liked this article and want more information please contact me at coach@danraabetraininig.com or call/text to (303) 880-4641. We focus on the 40’s + professional because it’s important to stay in motion, build a solid foundation for health, and hone the skills of self-control. Don’t look for a reason to train, Train for a Reason.

Movement is a skill!

in Bodyweight Training, Gymnastics, Interval Training, Kettlebell Training, Performance Coaching, Personal Training, Plyometric Training, Resistance Training, Skilled Movement by
You are always moving, aren’t you? Yes, you are. And if the quality of your movement is contingent on strength and flexibility it will become more dynamic with training. You must understand you cannot move well unless you are strong, and until you get strong, you cannot move well.

Put movement in the spotlight. It projects who you are and how you feel about yourself. It’s the outward physical expression of a body, and mind, well developed.

When you watch ballet, track and field athletes, or gymnastics what do you see? Is it evident that there is incredible strength powering the movement? You would have to be blind not to notice. You were born with the neurology to assure graceful motion. The ability to move well requires training.

In the vernacular of today’ modern training, we are striving to build strength over a range of motion. Do you feel you have strength during every degree of extension and flexion of the muscles of your arms, chest, back, hips, legs? If you feel the deficit, it’s time to consider how this situation may affect your life. Are you over 40? Do you have a sense that you are leading a sedentary existence? Lifestyle and neglect of your physical health will preclude the ability to move.

You may not be a ballerina or a gymnast. You are a person who can learn to move better. You can train athletically and not be an athlete. You can learn the physiology of movement, even if you are relatively sedentary. If you are the kind of person, who goes to the gym multiple times during the week, learning to move correctly will propel your progress forward exponentially.

If you train well, build strength and learn to move well, you will undoubtedly become aware of your limitations. An invaluable benefit of proper training is the awareness of a “weakness” and solutions to mitigate through focused training modalities.

An example might be the pull-up. Few of us can do one full pull-up. It might take a right amount of time to do three, or ten in a row. If you cannot accomplish your first full pull-up, there are a few ways to build up the supporting muscles – negatives, pushups with variations, bar work, and stretching. Think of this as a cocktail of upper body work focused on arms, chest, back and core muscles. Once you enlarge the picture of the training moment, the benefits become evident. You are training, and you are now moving better.

What’s in it for you? Why would you do all this work for a pull-up? The physical goal of your training investment should be to strengthen the mid-line, so you are graceful and powerful about all three planes of movement. But there is a second benefit. Your brain loves action. It flourishes in a high-energy situation. Activity is your best shot at higher brain function.

In all conversations about fitness or conditioning, if a quality athletic movement is missing, pick up your gym bag and run. You will be wasting your time. Learn how to move first. How you look and feel will take care of themselves.

We must learn to move better. There cannot be any higher purpose to training than excellent human movement.