September! New month. New season. New Training Block. Endurance! It’s always equal parts fun and interesting to carry the fitness built in one block into another.
Endurance is a unique quality. It’s one of the 5 Capacities of Athleticism. At TLA, we blend cardiorespiratory fitness (Zone 2 aerobic base + VO2max) with muscular fatigue resistance. And a little mental fortitude. And our awesome playful attitude.
Coming off the summer blocks, we’ll be using a new training split that uses outdoor and indoor workouts as we progress through the season. Getting things started this week, we’re going to be looking at mostly low intensity work, and concentrate on building volume. The goal will be to try to hit each session twice, with an active recovery or off day thrown in as well.
Week of 2024-09-02 (week 1 of month 1: Endurance Block)
Workout A Breakdown: It’s always good to break out the old school cail’s. Flow through the sequence, resting as you need. Everything is familiar “gym class” stuff. It will get the blood flowing and the senses awakened. The low intensity intervals are interesting. You are hitting your Zone 2 endurance gear (just guess for now because we’ll be doing lots of tests) for 3 minutes on the bike, then pedaling lightly/slowly for 1:00 as you breath exclusively through your nose. This will surprise you. The stretches are also old standby movements that you should put your signature on. Get a leg up like Mellencamp when you stretch your hamstrings. Make a point to have this workout loosen you up but not beat you up.
Workout B Breakdown: Pick your pleasure cuz it ain’t no poison. Load a pack and hike, urban or otherwise if it feels like your jam. Or yog like Veronica. Somebody has GOT to reach out to me about all these jokes and innuendos! Lunges and pushups are great exercises. Choose the amount that works best for your beastly bod. Then use your speed a little in those 50’s. Grass is preferred as the surface, but road or track is OK as well. A little walking brings you back down to civilian level.
Workout C Breakdown: The isometrics are awesome. Great training and a safe challenge. Own those positions. The lifting series kicks a fair amount of ass. You can customize the movements as you like. If you don’t have access to the basic weights, just reach out to me in Member Submissions. We always come up with ways to safely apply resistance. I do joke about using sacks of dogshit a lot, but there are better options. Now, with that cardio, you need to monitor your HR. If you have a watch (still not as good as chest strap monitors) or machine you can grab…great. Otherwise, palpate your carotid pulse on the side of your neck for 10 seconds and multiply the number you get by 6. If you are 60 years old, you should be at about 120 beats per minute. We are really working on dialing in that smooth, easy output. It takes a little practice.
Let’s kick off the week, month, season and block in style. You always do. I admire and commend you.