Just One Thing

If you had only one piece of gear

Training

What should you buy if you could get only one piece of home gym equipment?  I would go with the Concept2 Model E rower.  It is durable and should last forever.  It hits your legs, back, arms, and cardio.  My favorite test for all around fitness is to do 2,000 meters in under 7 minutes.  It is a sneaky workout because it is too far for a sprint but can’t be done in time if you dawdle.  My three young kids are working on this standard (I have bribed them with $1 per meter if they if they surpass 2k within 7 minutes; no winners yet but they’re getting closer and closer).  The three obvious ways to practice:  2k meters as fast as possible, as many meters as possible within 7 minutes, and staying on the correct pace for as long as possible. 

Sunday CrossFit is typically our lightest WOD of the week.  Today’s:

A Day for "Rest" (Time)

5-10-15-20-25-20-15-10-5

• Russian KB Swings 70/44

• DU's

• Sit-ups

I love all things kettlebell.  I can take or leave double unders.  I didn’t modify it, since it was for time but prefer GHDs to sit-ups, just finding that they are far more efficient to strengthen the core.  Tomorrow morning is our one not for time WOD of the week, which is a great hour for experimenting with heavy weights and at least a moment of recovery between sets.

Running

At 5 AM this morning, I ran for a few hours with friends on trails plus some bushwhacking.  For an activity that is nominally light on gear, I cycle through endless trail running shoes and hydration vests.  My current favorites are Salomon Speedcross 5 for their balance of comfort and stability.  Hokas are a bit squishier but I easily roll my ankles on them and never do on Salomons.  I also run with the Salomon Sense Pro 10 hydration vest when I go on long enough runs to need water (for me that is at least 15 miles as I arrive hydrated and like to run light). 

If you have a young kid that wants to try running, put on a weight vest to make it so that you can both get in a real workout.  I like 5.11’s.  I pair it with a ruck sack for a total of 80 pounds which I wear each day on the stair climber for 30 minutes as well as pushups/plank and squats for 3 minutes (to this song, my favorite counter for pull ups / pushups / air squats).

Tracking

Stress can be a real killer for fitness; I test my cortisol levels with a Verisana kit.  Most people are somewhere between 1.5 and 9.6 ng/mL; I last tested at 1.1.  It isn’t easy to fix this, but it isn’t natural to maintain a high constant level of anxiety; if you test high, do what you can to lower it.    

Recovering

Magnesium acetyl-taurate is my favorite form of magnesium; it helps me sleep and relaxes my muscles.  Unfortunately, modern agriculture has leached adequate magnesium from our diets so nearly everyone has to supplement to get enough.     

Planning

Just going to grind for a bit – trail runs, CrossFit, additional weightlifting, and Jiu Jitsu for the remainder of the month with a bit of cycling and swimming tossed in for variety.  Got my next Tasso to test my blood for my current free testosterone, but will hold off until early August to test that along with my updated InBody scan.  Hopefully progress to report by then.