Category: Fitness (Page 5 of 10)

Grab and Go Supplies for Easy Exercise

September 23, 2019 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

I have found that sometimes 90% of getting to the gym or going for some exercise is getting out the door. That’s why I try to do what I call “grab and go supplies.”

One way I decided to make that a little easier is to create a spot where all my bike riding gear goes. Helmet, sun brim hat, gloves, water bottles, neckerchief, and bike shoes are stored together in a little cubbie area. My bike and pump stay in the garage. It works for me to keep everything together, so I can just grab and go.

Having my gym bag packed with all the essentials is another trick. Swimming suit, googles, and cap, all live in my gym bag, along with a hair brush and deodorant.

I keep another bag for skiing. It contains my favorite ski socks, handwarmers, liners, pants, gloves, helmet and goggles. I hang the bag over the wooden hanger that holds my ski jacket. Boots, poles and skis are stored in the basement.

My running gear is more spread around, especially since I haven’t been running very much this past year. I don’t use as much equipment, but the clothes, socks and shoes make the biggest difference. I love to create a “flat Chris” the night before an event. Most running events are very early in the morning and many roads are closed well before the event, so I’ll be getting up to go we;; before the sun and leaving the house super early.

It really helps to keep me on track in the morning. Having things ready the night before calms the nerves about forgetting something.

Yoga is pretty simple. My mat is about all I need, because my gym supplies blocks, blankets, straps and bolsters. I used to have yoga socks with the little stickies on the bottom of the sock and the toes open, but I think my washing machine ate one of the socks.

For each one of my “sports” I put together a list. It really helps when I change seasons. The check lists include the long version (weekend ski trip or bike trip) along with a just quick trip. It really helps when I keep everything together.

For me it is okay to skip the lip balm when I am biking, but not when I’m skiing! Or skip water bottles if it is a short run, but include electrolytes and snacks if it’s a long one.

For all of my sports, I have my sport fanny pack. Even walking! In it goes my glasses with case, my phone and that all important bee sting kit.

How do you organize? Do you keep lists? Do you keep your gear all together? Let me know how you manage. I’m always looking for a better way.

How to Beat the Heat

July 20, 2019 / Chris Brown / 2 Comments

When temperatures soar into the mid 90’s and the humidity feels so thick you can cut it with a knife, staying cool can be a real challenge. Maybe it is my imagination, but I think it has become harder to stay cool and beat the heat after I turned 50 years old.

I’ve had heat problems in June, July and August in the past few years, so I try to be very aware of my body. Don’t be embarrassed to stop if you feel you are getting overheated! If you get the chills and it’s over 80 – definitely stop what you’re doing and call it a day. Some of the organized bike rides have served pickle juice among other things.

Beat the Heat

Here are my ten tips for regulating body temperature when it is seasonably (or unseasonably) hot! Some are fun, others more utilitarian.

1) Air conditioning – working out at a gym may be warm but if your club has air conditioning, it can be a great way to get a work out in without jeopardizing your core temperature.

2) Multi shower day – On especially hot days, I’ve been known to show 3 times a day. Early morning, mid day and again after dinner. Running the water cold and jumping in for just a few minutes can make all the difference. Getting the body temperature down really helps.

3) Hose – On a super hot day it’s more fun to wash the car or water plants with the hose. Something about the cold well water is more welcome when it’s really hot out. I find lots of things that need to be washed off outside with the garden hose. (I try not to water my garden in the heat of the day as I find that it grows better when the sun isn’t quite as bright. Morning or evening watering is better.)

Presque Isle State Park in Erie, PA

4) Lake – being on the beach or in the water helps me to cool down. I am lucky to live near a lot of little (and big) lakes. Even if you don’t like to swim outside, just wading in and getting your arms wet, then back to the chair under the umbrella with a cool drink helps. Saturday for me was spent up at Presque Isle State Park in Erie, Pennsylvania. Beautiful blue water, clear skies and a big lake breeze made for a cool day.

Last week was kayaking on a reservoir – not a big a breeze, but still cooler than sitting at home.

5) Hydrate – Drink water and watch the coffee and alcohol intake. When you are thirsty, you may want to double up on liquids but make sure you’re getting enough water. I like to put rubber bands on my water bottle to help count how many waters I have refilled that day.

6) Watch the electrolytes – I found that drinking some Gatorade helps, but I know a lot of folks don’t want to have the all the added sugar that Gatorade or Poweraid includes. I find that sometimes the sugar helps me feel better, actually.

I tend to sweat more than most people and really have to watch I don’t get my body chemistry messed up. If I am feeling weird during a super hot day, my go to is Gatorade. I often eat a banana too. I think about the potassium, sodium and magnesium that I’ve been sweating out. Smart Water with electrolytes might make more sense for many people. If it’s a problem for you, what do you use or do?

7) Keep the air moving – Turn on the fans. A rotating fan or a ceiling fan can really help. Sometimes if it is just blowing hot air it feels like it doesn’t help, but blowing air beats still air for me every time.

8) Icy treats – Freeze berries or grapes ahead of time. I like to add them to my water, or just chomp on them separately. They taste extra good when frozen! This is one of my favorite tips when I want to beat the heat.

9) Enjoy the early mornings or evening hours – get up early or wait until the sun is less strong. Often the hot days mean condensation in the morning and it’s the best time for me to weed the garden or even sit on the deck with a cup of coffee. I love early morning bike rides! I have several friends that prefer taking a run after dark. It doesn’t work for me, in that I head to bed around the time it gets dark in the summer, but either way – it’s best to exercise outside not in the heat of the summer day!

10) Basement chores – My basement is much cooler naturally and I try to take advantage of doing basement chores like sorting and clearing out stored items or catching up on laundry when the heat gets unbearable. Notice how this tip is number 10. It’s not as fun as the others!

Recently a warning was shared on the Becoming Elli group of using super cold drinks when you’re over heated. I hadn’t heard of passing out from having something really cold, but I know I can get “brain freeze” or “throat freeze” when I eat something really cold.

While my 10 tips on how to beat the heat might not work for you, (especially if your hose isn’t connected to well water, or your laundry room isn’t in a chilly basement), I’m sure you have a few tips of your own that you use to stay cool too. Please leave them in the comments below or send me an email at Chris@becomingelli.com.

Kayaking: Trying a New Sport

July 6, 2019 / Chris Brown / 1 Comment

Have you ever been invited to do something fun, but you hesitated and said “NO” — Why did you say no? What’s that about?

Maybe because I’m getting older I find I feel like saying no because it’s outside my comfort zone.

I am trying to be more adventuresome and not say no to things. I want to continue to try new sports. Last month I participated in a terrain race. Definitely not in my comfort zone.

Last week a friend of mine invited me to go kayaking. She has two kayaks, with the floatation devices (AKA lifejackets), paddles, and a clever waterproof pack for valuables that will float if the boat gets flipped.

She did all the work getting them loaded into the back of her truck and getting everything ready. All I had to do was show up!

So why did I feel like hesitating? Probably because I didn’t have much experience kayaking.

When I was a teenager, I used to play on little sailboats, (Sunfish and Sailfish boats mostly) and I was almost fearless. I was very confident. Somewhere I left that Chris behind. Since I really didn’t have much experience maneuvering a kayak, I was coming up with reasons why not instead of saying yes. And although, I have used a canoe before (maybe 3 times), I have never tried kayaking or paddle boarding.

Guess What?? It was so much fun!

We kayaked by putting the boats in at an inlet of a lake called Mogadore Reservoir. There were lots of inlets with trees woods and wildlife. The sun was shining and there were lots of birds flying around. I’m not sure if they were blue herons or some type of loon.

The water was high (but not too high like the river walk I wrote about last week) and the lake was very cold. Just little ripples of wind showed up on the surface of the lake, no waves. In fact, in some places, it was downright hot on the water. I believe that the air temperature got up to 91 degrees, but it wasn’t too bad out on the lake when I’d dip the paddle in the water and let it run down my arm a little to cool off! So glad that I had the sunscreen on and I wore a baseball cap to help shade my face.

After my initial hesitation, my feelings turned into relaxation and enjoyment. What a fun way to spend a few hours on a sunny afternoon. I’m so glad I said YES!! I have to remember that it’s a fun thing to say yes! I’m definitely going kayaking again and I would recommend it to other women over 50 who are looking for a little bit of adventure outside their comfort zone.

I am trying to remember to try new things and not be too hard on myself for feeling hesitant.

About Kayaking
Kayaking has become a popular sport popular water sport. It seems like it has surpassed went windsurfing and sailboating, but is probably rivaled by paddleboarding. Canoeing has been popular for many many years. Kayaks are great for floating down the river (as long as the river isn’t too high!) or exploring the nooks and crannies of a lake nearby lake.

While I don’t have any statistics about how many kayaks have been sold in the last 5 years, it seems like this is a sport that is gaining momentum.

According to a report from the outdoor foundation.org posted on the American Canoe Association website, in 2017, 49% of the US population participated at least once in some sort of outdoor activity during 2017.

WOW! Half of the people in the US. Wow, that seems like a lot. But take a look at page 11 of the report. After age 50 how much that drops off. And outdoor activities for women crosses indoor activities at around age 20. Interesting. No surprise that the report said that the Outdoor Foundation says that walking, hiking and running are the most popular outdoor activities in the USA.

How about you? What new sports are you trying? Or thinking about trying? What seems too scary or outside your comfort zone to try? Leave a message below or call our voice mail at 330-970-6662 to leave a voice message. Let us know if it is okay to add you to an upcoming podcast.

Running After Injury: An Update on My Progress

May 30, 2019 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

Running after injury is a challenge. Since I’ve been working on getting back into running shape after having a year of aches and pains in my ankle and hip, I thought I’d give you an update.

I’ve finished week 8 on my Couch to 5K app, with only one more week to go. I’m no longer doing a walk/run training but instead am running for an extended period of time. For my most recent run, I ran for 28 minutes and other than slowing down to adjust my music, I managed to do it. The app takes me to running for 30 minutes so I guess we know where week 9 ends up.

It was a challenge, especially because I ran on a rather hilly course. Lots of huffing and puffing going up hill but I survived.

I’m improving my cardio vascular system, that’s for sure. I can tell that my recovery is pretty rapid.

I notice some twinges with my Achilles tendon and with my piriformis muscle but nothing too severe. I’m trying to proceed slowly enough that I don’t have any significant pains. My goal is to acclimate my body to running again and avoid injury. After each run, I use my lacrosse ball and roller and try to get in my stretches.

I’m not sure how slowly I need to increase distance or speed but I think I’m going to aim for the ability to run two to three miles a few days a week. If I can do this for a few months, then I can think about running further.

Another 5K would be a great goal. Signing up for a race is a great way to motivate me for training. I’m so much more motivated to train when I know that I’ve made a commitment to an event, especially when I’ve paid for it. Isn’t it amazing how putting money down for a race really makes one feel committed?

In order to prevent additional injury, I’m making sure to cross train so I’m not feeling to compelled to run more than three or four times a week. Twice a week, I try to do some weight lifting and then end each week with my boot camp class. I also try to incorporate yoga into my routine. I talked more about this in our most recent podcast so be sure to check that out.

If you have some experience with coming back from an injury, please share it in the comments.

Improving Health with Training, Sleep, and Omega 3s

May 28, 2019 / Jill McCauslin / 2 Comments

In episode 34 of the Fit, Strong Women Over 50 podcast for the Becoming Elli community, Jill and Chris discuss a variety of ways for improving health.

Improving Health

There’s more to becoming like Elli than we like to think. It’s not just eat vegetables and get 10,000 steps a day. Jill and Chris cover some of the other aspects of being fit and strong. They discuss:

their training this spring
problems that arise with sleep and how to avoid them
the importance of including Omega 3 fats in the diet
their progress on the Becoming Elli 2019 veggie challenge.

Training

Chris and Jill discuss how they’re training for progress into summer and how they’re dealing with or avoiding injuries. Biking, running, yoga, and strength training are the major forms of activities.

Chris is also giving back to the running community by volunteering at aid stations for a variety of races.

Sleep

Chris explains:

why sleep is so important
why it can be difficult to fall asleep
how to improve sleeping habits

She also discusses some new research about how our body “cleans” our brains while we sleep.

Links:

6 choices to change blue screen and reduce eye strain:

Dr Andrew Weil 4-7-8 breathing https://youtu.be/YRPh_GaiL8s

Omega 3 Fatty Acids

Jill discusses why it’s important to have Omega 3 fatty acids in your diet and ways to increase your consumption of Omega 3s. This includes using supplements such as fish oil or krill and foods that are rich in Omega 3s like salmon, sardines, and walnuts.

Links

Why we lack of Omega 3s

Foods with Omega 3s

Sampling a Pilates Exercise Class

May 4, 2019 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

I recently had a trial class here in my town, at a relatively new exercise studio called Club Pilates.

While over the years, I have taken a few Pilates classes at the health and fitness center where I’ve belonged almost continuously since 1994, it’s hard to pass up a free class to check out something new.

Regular readers may remember my CycleBar experience and Jill’s workout at this Pilates studio when it had just opened.

Sample Class
I got a ticket to a sample class during one of the community expo/showcases held locally. The Club Pilates runs a special 30 minute sample class for a group of people who have expressed interest. There were 8 people in the class, including me.

Facility Set Up
The facility location is in shopping plaza. The exercise room is set behind the front desk and has a wall with curtains to separate the waiting area from the work out area. You put your personal items in open faced wooden cubbies that are located up in the front. Because a curtain separates the front from the workout area, I wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on them, so I ended up keeping my phone and keys with me in the work out room.

Each personalized station is set up for one person. And I believe that there were 12 stations in the club.

Instructor
Our instructor was a former ballet dancer, who was in terrific shape. Unlike many group exercise instructors, he had us do the exercises very slowly so he could monitor and correct our form.

He explained what the benefits to the body Pilates provided and discussed ways to modify the exercises to be more or less difficult depending on each of our fitness level and experience with Pilates type exercises. Because it was only a sample class, he was going easy on us.

Equipment
There was lots of very new equipment in top condition. If I wasn’t familiar with it, I might have been intimidated. Among the items at each station was a Pilates reformer machine, bosu, TRX straps with several places to hook them, circle, a small stability ball and a Pilates chair.
The only piece that was new to me was the Pilates chair which looks a bit like a padded bench with springs. They had the bosus sitting on top of the chairs and I didn’t get a great photo of them, but click through on this link to see what they look like and how they work.

They insisted you wear socks with non-skid treads or they would let you buy some from them. I noticed two people wearing some Sky Zone trampoline park socks. I had looked for some of those in the bottom of my sock drawer, but couldn’t find my pair from the time I tried Sky Zone.

Exercises
While the majority of the exercises involved putting your foot in a strap and manipulating the spring under the equipment, many of the exercises were similar to ones that I’ve done in my gym.

Plank – with elbows on the bosu
One foot on the bosu, knee up, balance by touching the wall
Bridge – lying on my back with arms at the sides
Sit on the padded Pilates stool, bend sideways at the hips and press down the spring loaded bar with my hand
The ballet move where you stand and Plié slowly. It’s definitely NOT a squat.

Evidently ballet dancers have issues with squats and prefer the Plié where the dancer stands with the heels together and the toes pointing out, then and bends at the knees.

Individual Training Room
After the sample group class, we were ushered into the back to see the individual personal training area and equipment. There are sales person explained the different membership programs, pricing, requirements and time frames.

I remember she said that they gave a discount to veterans, those in the armed services and to first responders. I thought “Wow, very generous!”

Then one of the women in my class piped up and wanted to know about doctors and nurses as well, “Don’t forget about us!” I don’t know why, but that was a turn off to me. I guess you could make a case for a lot of other professions as well.

During the hour that we were there, that is the only thing that I can remember that any of the other people who didn’t work there actually said. It was a very quiet group.

The biggest positive is the equipment. It looks super brand new like it has never been touched. I believe that the facility opened in September 2018, so it still is very new.

The biggest negative to me is the lack of interaction between the other people. Even though it was a group class, during class it was obvious that there isn’t the joking around. It was very serious and not as much fun.

While I guess I shouldn’t judge the place on how the participants act. Maybe that is how you act during Pilates. However to me if working out isn’t something that I look forward to, I’m not going to do it.

Perhaps I’ll give Pilates another try sometime in the future. Right now it didn’t have the attraction to me compared to so many other types of exercise. How about you? Do you love Pilates? What do you love about it?

Ups and Downs of Fitness Past 50

April 25, 2019 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

Let’s talk about some of the ups and downs of fitness past 50. A few things happened this week that made me feel good and then not so good. There were definitely some ups and downs of fitness this week.

Ups and Downs of Fitness

First, I signed up for a small group training class at my gym. The seven-week class starts and ends with measurements so we can track our progress. The measurements included weight, body fat percentage (oh, it’s been a rough year!), blood pressure, and actual body measurements. You know, the measuring tape around your chest, abdomen, waist, hips, thighs, and upper arm. Not really a good time.

This was followed by a brief physical test. We did inclined push ups. Inclined means we rested our hands on an elevated surface and did a full push up. The test was to see how many we could do in a minute. The other test was four minutes on the rowing machine.

I did not feel great about the weight and body fat percentage. I definitely have some work to do there. Too much time dealing with injuries and too much time traveling and having fun last year. It’s certainly an incentive to pay attention to this.

I did feel pretty good that, although I am clearly the oldest person in the training group, I was not the worst at the push ups and rowing. There were a couple young women there who looked very fit and said they go to bootcamp classes three times a week, but they couldn’t do the push ups. They said they always do pushups on their knees in boot camp. I don’t want to sound petty but that made me feel better that I managed to do some.

Oh NO! A Photo!

The second thing I did this week was scary. I took a selfie of myself while I was out running. It was a sunny day and the selfie of course was a close-up. Oh my, what a shock when I looked at the photo. I did not upload it to Strava where I log my runs. Yikes, I looked so much older than I felt. I know it was a sunny day so I was squinting and it was not a flattering shot but boy it knocked me for a loop. Fortunately, I didn’t see the photo until after I finished my run.

I know it’s more important to have completed my run successfully than to look good in a photograph but I still have some vanity left and that was painful.

Recovery

OK, so this week has had its ups and downs. I’m carrying around more weight than I like and I know I’ll feel better if I get it off. I prefer to focus on the body fat percentage, but I definitely need to lower that number.

I looked like a zombie in my selfie. Note to self, avoid selfies in the bright sunlight while running. It’s not a good look. All future sellfies should be taken after recovery from running, preferably after a shower, combing the hair, and maybe even using some makeup.

On the plus side, I successfully completed some pushups and rowed for four minutes. I ran my Couch to 5K session without problem and felt good afterwards. I’m choosing to focus on that. You know, the “be fit and strong” thing.

I guess all we can do is continue to work on being fit and strong and try to improve where we can. Set those goals and don’t feel bad about what you can’t control.

If anyone has any ideas on improving the selfie look, let me know. More importantly, let me know if you’ve had some successes this week in your fitness regime.

Getting Inspired by Other Older Women

April 20, 2019 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

When I read a story about a woman who is in the second half of life, who is knocking it out of the park, I get inspired!

I don’t about you, but I can’t do what I did when I was younger… but I can do different things now! And finding out about other older women who are working to become fit and strong is a big motivation.

When Jill and I first started Becoming Elli, we were inspired by Elli, the Norse Goddess of Aging, who beat Thor in a wrestling match. Aging is a funny thing. A lot of people complain about it. My 88 year old mom says, “It’s better than the alternative.” I am motivated by women who embrace it.

Every day I am inspired by reading articles, listening to podcasts and watching videos about real-life, older women who are doing amazing things like these:

Joan Benoit Samuelson, 61 years old, ran the Boston Marathon on Monday, finishing the challenging 26.2 mile course in only 3 hours, 4 minutes! When her time is adjusted for her age using the age-graded calculator, she actually won the Boston Marathon this year! She uses the power of story to motivate herself, and set her goal to run “40 minutes slower than 40 years ago” when she won with a finish of 2:35:15 in 1979. She mentioned she did a lot of cross training with Nordic skiing to improve fitness and strengthen her upper body without too much pounding on her legs.
Ernestine Shepherd, age 81, who started working out and exercising at a gym at age 56. Fulfilling a promise she made to her sister right before her sister passed away from a brain aneurysm, Ernestine achieved the world record as the oldest competitive body builder. She is a personal trainer and remembers the mantra from her sister, “Determined, Dedicated, Disciplined.”
Julia Hawkins, 102 years old, who took up competitive running at 100 and competitive cycling at 75 years old. Her children are in their 60’s and 70’s. She does a lot of work in her garden and runs inside when she hears the telephone ring.

What’s their secret? It’s hard to say, but in my opinion, they look forward, not back. They set little goals, then bigger goals. They stay active. They do what they can, when they can.

Exercising with other people is social. Competing helps to set goals. Trying new things helps me to not compare myself with what I did when I was younger. Becoming inspired by other older women makes me feel hopeful and motivated.

How about you? What motivates you? Do you know of another older woman who is doing something that inspires you? Let us know by sending an email: Chris@becomingelli.com or by posting on our social media!

Looking Forward to Spring Bike Riding

March 30, 2019 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

When spring rolls around I start thinking about riding my bike outside. For me, happiness is bike riding.

It reminds me of when I was 10, 11 and 12 years old. Lots of good memories of riding bikes as transportation to go visit friends, using the construction site around the corner as my personal BMX course, and having freedom to go where I where ever my bike could take me.

Just seeing the weather get a little more sunny and a little less cold has me thinking about bike riding.

Doing something you love, that just happens to help you get fit, is a real lucky thing, I think! This time of year is full of anticipation for me.

I’m going to do a big ride in August as a fund raiser and my team will begin riding soon, I’m pretty sure. Before that, I’ve got a checklist:

The bike itself:
handlebar tape
chain
tires
tubes
rims
brakes
shifter

Bike gear:

spare tube, co2 and tools
rain gear
shoes
bike pants
light
reflector
water bottles
helmet
snacks
sunscreen
phone rain protector
bike gloves

I’m going to be gathering my equipment and checking out my bike. Now that the sun sets well after 7 pm, it gives me a chance to get a little riding in after work!

Do you enjoy bike riding? Does it remind you of your childhood? If you’re not a bike rider, what do you look forward to in the spring?

Heart Rate Training for Endurance

March 23, 2019 / Chris Brown / 1 Comment

Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been experimenting with a lower heart rate training than I usually do in my workouts. I’m trying to improve endurance and stamina.

Some people call it exercising in the “Fat Burn Zone.” I’m not convinced that it is burning my fat, but I do know this: it has improved my endurance. It is much easy to keep going and I don’t feel tired or worn out from exercising.

The idea is to work out at the level of exertion where your heart rate stays at the aerobic level. On my FitBit, it is called the fat burning level.

If you exercise just a little harder, you begin to breathe harder, your heart pumps harder and you’ll enter the cardio level. Really push it and then you’ll go into the peak level.

If you’re like me, you have been exercising at the heart rate similar to the charts at the gym. Those are based on 75 to 85% of your maximum heart rate. The charts show subtract your age from 220 to get your exercise number for your heart rate. The vast majority of my running and group exercise workouts have been at those cardio/peak levels. While these high level workouts burn a ton of calories, I find I am really hungry and want to eat up all the burned calories!

Target Heart Rate Calculator This calculator is set up for the 220 – your age. The results show the five workout zones. The fat burning zone may seem ridiculous to be working out in.

The heart rate training for endurance program that I’m following is a different formula. Instead of working out at 85% of my maximum heart rate based on the 220 minus my age, I’m using Dr. Phil Maffetone’s formula of 180 minus your age as my target exercise heart rate. The idea is to hold “that” number during the exercise because that is where your body is aerobic.

Of course this number is different for everyone. You can see from the artwork I’ve attached to this post, my FitBit thinks my magic number is 120. When I go just a fraction harder, it turns to 121 and calls it cardio.

While doing workout in the fat burning level feels like I’m not doing enough to be considered working out, I find that I can keep going a very long time and not get tired. I’ve been going to a double spinning class on some Saturdays where I still manage to burn over 700 calories. Because it hasn’t been a big push, I’m not tired at the end of class.

The idea of building a strong base by focusing on endurance and working out at the fat burning level is supposed to increase your ability to do more work. You build endurance and eventually you can accomplish more at the lower heart rate. Over time the intensity stays the same, but the speed or resistance increases.

I find it is difficult to keep my heart rate at the lower level.

If you’re interested in learning more about this type of endurance training, you may want to learn more about of Dr. Phil Maffetone’s work. He uses a formula to calculate your exercising heart rate. The MAF (Maximum Aerobic Function) formula is 180 minus age. (Dr. Maffetone has you add and subtract numbers based on your exercise history and health as well.) He has a lot of information about it – videos, podcasts, books and many articles. Here’s a link to his 2 minute overview video.

Besides improving endurance and performance, he claims that it benefits recovery from high impact exercise as well as stress and protection from metabolic syndrome. I really like this method of exercising because I’m looking for increased endurance and still wanting to keep coming back for more.

While doing my indoor cycling classes, I’ve been using my FitBit watch to monitor my heart rate. However after most of the classes I find I easily still enter into the cardio mode and have to slow down to go back to the fat burn mode.

Heart Rate Training for Endurance

Because I’m 61, my goal heart rate number is to workout at around 120 beats per minute. Dr. Maffetone has different adjustments too. I give myself another 5 points because I have consistently exercising since 2009 or 2010, so my goal is to keep my heart rate steady at 125 while I’m exercising.

I have found that it is very hard to hold a heart number when you’re working out! A motivating instructor and some good music… the next thing you know, I’m wanting to go faster and harder. Plus, going harder is what I’ve been accustomed to doing for years!

Here are some of the ways of thinking that have helped me to stay in the Fat Burn Zone:

Focus on my breathing
Try to keep two counts in and five counts out
When I have to open my mouth to breathe out, slow down
If the music speeds up, keep focus on the breathing
When walking up a hill, slow down
If indoor biking, take off some resistance
It is not about “no pain, no gain”
It’s not too often that I find it has dipped and I have to speed up, but sometimes that happens if I daydream.

A few weeks ago, I put my phone on the bike so I could monitor the phone instead of my watch and I was able to hold my heart rate more steady.

Although it’s only been about 10 weeks, I’ve found that I enjoy doing more exercise than I used to at a time, meaning I like two hours rather than 45 minutes or an hour. I feel stronger and am noticing that I can go harder with less effort. I’m interested to see when I get back to biking outside if this experiment has made a difference. At the end of March, I’m going to see how I have improved.

Jill asked me if I was also following his eating plan. No, I haven’t. There’s a whole lot more to his MAF program… actually 8 parts (click for his chart.) I was only working on number 5 which is the low heart rate aerobic system training.

While I’ve not specifically been doing his food plan, I have been doing the Veggie Challenge! (Why do I feel like I just said “No but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express!?!”)

Here are all of the 8 steps that he talks about.

1 Carbohydrates
2 Inflammation
2 Vitamin D
4 Folate
5 Aerobic system (Heart Rate Training for Endurance!)
6 Stress
7 Brain
8 Aging

In theory, I’m already doing the other 7 to moderate levels, but seriously, the only change I have made and tracked in 2019 on Dr. Maffetone’s list during the past 10 weeks has been to work on number 5. So if it doesn’t work, maybe I will blame it on the fact I only did a halfway job (or one eighth) job of actually trying his program.

Have you experimented with heart rate training? What has been your experience? Which heart rate monitor do you use? Do you feel like this is all just too analytical for getting exercise? Let me know your thoughts.