I headed out for my long workout for the week this morning around 5. My days of the week are weird this week, so this is when I could do it without having to be in the sunlight. My ipod's at 20% power, cuz I forgot to charge it. And I'm going for (gradual, not steep!) hills. It's not going so hot, I'm having to take more slowdowns than I had hoped for. And THEN, in the last mile, my shoe's plastic backing finally had worn to the point of catching on my foot. The last half mile, I took off my shoes and walked in sockfeet, like a champion who loves the feel of shoes on their hands on a breezy summer morning. (Not barefoot, cuz there is glass. And I only pick glass out of my feet ONCE before I learn. Ok, well, four or five times. The point is, I learned while ago. Although I still forget from time to time.)
Basically, it didn't go exactly how I planned it. In lots of ways.
Except that, you know, I went out and DID it, and gave it all I had. So it's really just about a perfect workout.
Onward!
Friday, June 8, 2012
Fitness and having a life
One challenge in maintaining a fitness routine while working fulltime is still having a social life.
I'm sure you've seen it before-- had a friend start a fitness/diet program, and then you didn't see them for six months til they quit. Why? They no longer would go to happy hour, go downtown, or get breakfast with your crew. And if you ask them why they quit, they'll tell you it's cuz they didn't like not having a life. Others, the more persistent and dedicated, accept not having a life as a sacrifice for their health and fitness goals, and hardknuckle it for a really long time.
Which is totally wack. Both cases. Wack. I know there were times where I was doing fitness in place of a social life ("sorry babe, I can't go with you. i need to go running, I only just lifted this morning."), and it's a difficult place to get out of-- because you see your goals get closer as you train more and more, and you get tunnel vision going.
Thing is, most of us aren't professional athletes-- it's not like we have millions resting on some accomplishment. So, fitness for us is about the journey, not the destination. About making your life more fun and more upbeat and easier, add depth to your life. Not cut relationships out. Even when we are training for a specific event and it's something of a priority, it still should leave space for your friends and family.
Maybe not in the same ways as before. Maybe now you get one drink instead of drinking all night. Maybe you get the 400-calorie-entree with grilled chicken at the Olive Garden, or just order coffee cuz you already ate. Maybe now you just play pool now, and you don't go to the afterafterparty. Maybe you get a training partner (which has never worked for me for long, but i DO have a friend I constantly talk to about training/nutrition/fitness). Maybe you stay for volleyball for a couple hours, but you go home afterwards to rest so you can put in your miles in the morning. Oh, hey, that's what I just did! And my run is starting in about fifteen minutes, so I gotta ... run.... now. c:
I'm sure you've seen it before-- had a friend start a fitness/diet program, and then you didn't see them for six months til they quit. Why? They no longer would go to happy hour, go downtown, or get breakfast with your crew. And if you ask them why they quit, they'll tell you it's cuz they didn't like not having a life. Others, the more persistent and dedicated, accept not having a life as a sacrifice for their health and fitness goals, and hardknuckle it for a really long time.
Which is totally wack. Both cases. Wack. I know there were times where I was doing fitness in place of a social life ("sorry babe, I can't go with you. i need to go running, I only just lifted this morning."), and it's a difficult place to get out of-- because you see your goals get closer as you train more and more, and you get tunnel vision going.
Thing is, most of us aren't professional athletes-- it's not like we have millions resting on some accomplishment. So, fitness for us is about the journey, not the destination. About making your life more fun and more upbeat and easier, add depth to your life. Not cut relationships out. Even when we are training for a specific event and it's something of a priority, it still should leave space for your friends and family.
Maybe not in the same ways as before. Maybe now you get one drink instead of drinking all night. Maybe you get the 400-calorie-entree with grilled chicken at the Olive Garden, or just order coffee cuz you already ate. Maybe now you just play pool now, and you don't go to the afterafterparty. Maybe you get a training partner (which has never worked for me for long, but i DO have a friend I constantly talk to about training/nutrition/fitness). Maybe you stay for volleyball for a couple hours, but you go home afterwards to rest so you can put in your miles in the morning. Oh, hey, that's what I just did! And my run is starting in about fifteen minutes, so I gotta ... run.... now. c:
Friday, June 1, 2012
Working 3rd shift manual labor and nutrition for physique.
Warning: This is going to be really boring, unless you just are really interested in what Stephanie eats, and how she tries to eat healthyish working nights. Which basically is an interesting topic for everyone!! Anyways, here we go...
"Fitness nutrition" is a broad category. Clean eating, low carb, adequate protein, hydration, macro/micronutrient supplementation, macro balances... It's complex even before you get to TEF and carb cycling. Those of us who've done fitness for awhile figure out a way to eat that works for us. Some athletes follow a daily diet, others have go-to foods, others fly by the seat of their pants. After awhile, you learn the effects of certain style of eating upon performance, and naturally gravitate towards certain patterns that work for you.
For myself, I figured out what foods worked best before I did manual labor. My staples were lean protein and fruit/vegetables at every meal, and a daily small amount of complex carbs and avocados/flax/olive oil. I stayed away from dairy and wheat mostly, except the bread from Subway-- one of my favorite "cheat" foods has always been sandwiches.
Working manual labor makes nutrition a new game. Constant carb/calorie depletion, the nightshift atmosphere and lifestyle, and the difficulty of eating at work become new factors.
Carb and calorie needs are higher working manual labor. The first hours breaking down the truck are the most intense, then stocking/blocking/clearing the floor are moderately intense. If I'm lucky enough to have a coworker, there's "easy" work, like throwing candy. The first few months working manual labor, I didn't adjust my diet much at all. After all, I was eating pretty typically for fitness performance. By the end of my shifts, I was often working slow from depletion. My manager would often buy me and my coworkers sodas and sausage biscuits. I preferred diet soda (actually i'd have preferred water or powerade zero's, but i was trying to be more Normal), and would usually eat the biscuit and not the sausage. My coworker would get annoyed at me, saying that the sugar from Real Soda would give me energy and I'd burn it all anyways. He was probably right, but at hour 7 of a 9 hour shift I wasn't comfortable eating straight sugar.
The nightshift atmosphere and lifestyle is another factor, as well. On our breaks, usually the fun people to talk to are outside. Usually, they are smoking, drinking energy drinks or other forms of caffeine. Nowhere, and I do mean NOWHERE, is open at night to buy food. If I didn't bring something with me, I can't go anywhere except the 24-hour CVS or wendy's to pick up something. My go-to "meals" at work for a long time were the bottled Isopure drinks-- 40 g protein at 160 calories-- and zero-carb Monster drinks, which I'd buy when the store was closing. This was "weird" of me, because most of nightcrew doesn't eat at work. On my days off, I'm still running a nocturnal schedule, so the scenario isn't much different, except that my house usually is stocked with healthy foods. The lifestyle's a little different on days off when you work nightshift, too. If you go out to happy hour, you're having drinks for, essentially, breakfast. If you go downtown, you're having drinks for lunch. About half of socializing involves drinking, and anyone who does fitness finds ways to work around this while still having a life. (Part of "still having a life" includes getting new friends who barely drink, and are fitnessy people. Like, I might be going to trampoline-world tomorrow. I have some LEGIT friends.)
Finally, there's the physical-exertion limitation. Some people have iron stomachs, and can eat a burger and then go throw freight five minutes later. I'm guessing these are the people who can eat anything under the sun while cycling or running endurance and have no gastric distress. Others of us don't have this gift, and have to eat very slowly on our longer breaks, eat only liquid calories, or eat only before and after work. This makes timing meals a little more complicated. I found I can eat a smallish meal on my 30-minute lunch, but that's pretty much it for solid food I can tolerate at work. And anything I have to eat before work has to be an hour beforehand for anything smallish, preferrably two hours beforehand.
What works for me? I eat before work once or twice, once again at work, and once again afterwards. These are basically always smoothies (almondmilk, fruit, and whey), sandwiches from subway, or salad/veggie + protein + carb/fruit. The calories end up way lower than expected with my activity level, but then every couple days I'll eat more carbs (in super healthy forms, like candy, tons of straight juice, or crackers... I'm working on this) and it seems to balance out. I still am working on getting calories in more consistently and on not spending painful amounts of money on food, which would be way easier if HEB would give me free pineapple. I'm just saying.
"Fitness nutrition" is a broad category. Clean eating, low carb, adequate protein, hydration, macro/micronutrient supplementation, macro balances... It's complex even before you get to TEF and carb cycling. Those of us who've done fitness for awhile figure out a way to eat that works for us. Some athletes follow a daily diet, others have go-to foods, others fly by the seat of their pants. After awhile, you learn the effects of certain style of eating upon performance, and naturally gravitate towards certain patterns that work for you.
For myself, I figured out what foods worked best before I did manual labor. My staples were lean protein and fruit/vegetables at every meal, and a daily small amount of complex carbs and avocados/flax/olive oil. I stayed away from dairy and wheat mostly, except the bread from Subway-- one of my favorite "cheat" foods has always been sandwiches.
Working manual labor makes nutrition a new game. Constant carb/calorie depletion, the nightshift atmosphere and lifestyle, and the difficulty of eating at work become new factors.
Carb and calorie needs are higher working manual labor. The first hours breaking down the truck are the most intense, then stocking/blocking/clearing the floor are moderately intense. If I'm lucky enough to have a coworker, there's "easy" work, like throwing candy. The first few months working manual labor, I didn't adjust my diet much at all. After all, I was eating pretty typically for fitness performance. By the end of my shifts, I was often working slow from depletion. My manager would often buy me and my coworkers sodas and sausage biscuits. I preferred diet soda (actually i'd have preferred water or powerade zero's, but i was trying to be more Normal), and would usually eat the biscuit and not the sausage. My coworker would get annoyed at me, saying that the sugar from Real Soda would give me energy and I'd burn it all anyways. He was probably right, but at hour 7 of a 9 hour shift I wasn't comfortable eating straight sugar.
The nightshift atmosphere and lifestyle is another factor, as well. On our breaks, usually the fun people to talk to are outside. Usually, they are smoking, drinking energy drinks or other forms of caffeine. Nowhere, and I do mean NOWHERE, is open at night to buy food. If I didn't bring something with me, I can't go anywhere except the 24-hour CVS or wendy's to pick up something. My go-to "meals" at work for a long time were the bottled Isopure drinks-- 40 g protein at 160 calories-- and zero-carb Monster drinks, which I'd buy when the store was closing. This was "weird" of me, because most of nightcrew doesn't eat at work. On my days off, I'm still running a nocturnal schedule, so the scenario isn't much different, except that my house usually is stocked with healthy foods. The lifestyle's a little different on days off when you work nightshift, too. If you go out to happy hour, you're having drinks for, essentially, breakfast. If you go downtown, you're having drinks for lunch. About half of socializing involves drinking, and anyone who does fitness finds ways to work around this while still having a life. (Part of "still having a life" includes getting new friends who barely drink, and are fitnessy people. Like, I might be going to trampoline-world tomorrow. I have some LEGIT friends.)
Finally, there's the physical-exertion limitation. Some people have iron stomachs, and can eat a burger and then go throw freight five minutes later. I'm guessing these are the people who can eat anything under the sun while cycling or running endurance and have no gastric distress. Others of us don't have this gift, and have to eat very slowly on our longer breaks, eat only liquid calories, or eat only before and after work. This makes timing meals a little more complicated. I found I can eat a smallish meal on my 30-minute lunch, but that's pretty much it for solid food I can tolerate at work. And anything I have to eat before work has to be an hour beforehand for anything smallish, preferrably two hours beforehand.
What works for me? I eat before work once or twice, once again at work, and once again afterwards. These are basically always smoothies (almondmilk, fruit, and whey), sandwiches from subway, or salad/veggie + protein + carb/fruit. The calories end up way lower than expected with my activity level, but then every couple days I'll eat more carbs (in super healthy forms, like candy, tons of straight juice, or crackers... I'm working on this) and it seems to balance out. I still am working on getting calories in more consistently and on not spending painful amounts of money on food, which would be way easier if HEB would give me free pineapple. I'm just saying.
Note To Self: Momentum in tumbling and tricking must go predominately FORWARD, not down.
Or I will end up on the floor. I know this. It is basic physics.
Training power moves, even for a very short period, when i'm depleted, is apparently a no-go. I'll alter it next time.
Final training score this morning... Floor: 26. Me: 2.
Sidenote: I quite enjoy throwing myself at the ground in all manners, so this was a really fun training session, if not terrible effective.
Training power moves, even for a very short period, when i'm depleted, is apparently a no-go. I'll alter it next time.
Final training score this morning... Floor: 26. Me: 2.
Sidenote: I quite enjoy throwing myself at the ground in all manners, so this was a really fun training session, if not terrible effective.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Adjusting training programs for manual labor...
Many people who go into manual labor are former athletes, usually who train with some frequency. However, when we start doing manual labor, it's impossible and stupid to keep training the way we would train with a semi-active or a desk job. Yet we try to do this anyway-- because no matter what happens, we are gonna train! Yet there's very, very little information on training when you work manual labor available.
I've been doing fitness for about eight years now, different programs at different volumes, gradually increasing over the years. And I really, really love training. About a year ago, when I switched to manual labor, I tried to adjust for the volume of work I was doing at work. (I was only breaking pallets and throwing freight for 24 hours a week then, while I do more now. Even so, 24 hours a week is a big activity shift.) I tried to google for information on training-- the "typical" advice I found was to lay off for two weeks, and then your body will have adjusted to your new lifestyle activity, and you can resume your normal training. I did this. Within three months, I had reinjured myself.
I've seen coworkers try different training styles with poor results, as well. One guy went to his normal workout the first week he started working manual labor-- reinjured his knee squatting. One guy tried a three-day-a-week training program, MONTHS into the job-- reinjured his knee. One guy, a former runner, quit working out because the job is so active-- after a year, he had severe, chronic back pain from muscular imbalance. Back pain is rampant among manual laborers; it's actually accepted as normal, but it shouldn't be.
So what can a person do, to minimize injury risk, maintain/improve their fitness, or reach new goals, when they're doing manual labor? Several things: prepare for the job, cut back training volume, time your training carefully, and watch your nutrition VERY carefully. Oh, and sleep. But if you're on nightshift, good luck with that.
First, you need to be prepare for a job in manual labor. You need a balanced muscle base, going into a manual-labor job. You need a strong core-- I don't mean just abs, but functional core strength. Abdominals, obliques, lower back, glutes, hams, quads. You need good endurance, and power. If you have great endurance and terrible core strength, or great core strength but no endurance, I would NOT start working manual labor until you have trained to address it. You will be prone to injury.
Second, you need to cut back your training volume, dramatically. Yes, this is terrifying. Yes, you need to do it. The first two weeks of your new job, you should not train at ALL. After that, you need to start training with less than a beginner's volume. 2 days a week, circuit training or compound lifts, and agility/power work. (I'm doing one day a week of each, now. Other days, I do subthreshold training. Verrry subthreshold, and sometimes I skip the subthreshold work.) Your compound/circuit day should be 100% effort. Your agility/power day should be 100% effort. You CANNOT go into these depleted... Six weeks of this, at least, before you begin to modify.
Third, you need to time your training carefully and watch your nutrition. You're going to be depleted after work. And if you go into an agility workout depleted, god help you, because that's asking for injury. You may need to adjust your nutrition plan around your job and around your workout. It kind of sucks, because you are going to have to prioritize work or your training, nutritionally. Choose training.
Fourth, sleep. Try to do that. Yeah.
And one side note... If you get an injury, stop training for two weeks entirely. Then, test it, and if there is ANY pain, wait two more weeks to test it again. I just came off a four month VERY LIGHT training phase, because I kept training through injury last year and so it didn't heal. Don't be like me! It's way better to have to take just a six week break than to keep going through it and have a really long period where you can barely train.
I've been doing fitness for about eight years now, different programs at different volumes, gradually increasing over the years. And I really, really love training. About a year ago, when I switched to manual labor, I tried to adjust for the volume of work I was doing at work. (I was only breaking pallets and throwing freight for 24 hours a week then, while I do more now. Even so, 24 hours a week is a big activity shift.) I tried to google for information on training-- the "typical" advice I found was to lay off for two weeks, and then your body will have adjusted to your new lifestyle activity, and you can resume your normal training. I did this. Within three months, I had reinjured myself.
I've seen coworkers try different training styles with poor results, as well. One guy went to his normal workout the first week he started working manual labor-- reinjured his knee squatting. One guy tried a three-day-a-week training program, MONTHS into the job-- reinjured his knee. One guy, a former runner, quit working out because the job is so active-- after a year, he had severe, chronic back pain from muscular imbalance. Back pain is rampant among manual laborers; it's actually accepted as normal, but it shouldn't be.
So what can a person do, to minimize injury risk, maintain/improve their fitness, or reach new goals, when they're doing manual labor? Several things: prepare for the job, cut back training volume, time your training carefully, and watch your nutrition VERY carefully. Oh, and sleep. But if you're on nightshift, good luck with that.
First, you need to be prepare for a job in manual labor. You need a balanced muscle base, going into a manual-labor job. You need a strong core-- I don't mean just abs, but functional core strength. Abdominals, obliques, lower back, glutes, hams, quads. You need good endurance, and power. If you have great endurance and terrible core strength, or great core strength but no endurance, I would NOT start working manual labor until you have trained to address it. You will be prone to injury.
Second, you need to cut back your training volume, dramatically. Yes, this is terrifying. Yes, you need to do it. The first two weeks of your new job, you should not train at ALL. After that, you need to start training with less than a beginner's volume. 2 days a week, circuit training or compound lifts, and agility/power work. (I'm doing one day a week of each, now. Other days, I do subthreshold training. Verrry subthreshold, and sometimes I skip the subthreshold work.) Your compound/circuit day should be 100% effort. Your agility/power day should be 100% effort. You CANNOT go into these depleted... Six weeks of this, at least, before you begin to modify.
Third, you need to time your training carefully and watch your nutrition. You're going to be depleted after work. And if you go into an agility workout depleted, god help you, because that's asking for injury. You may need to adjust your nutrition plan around your job and around your workout. It kind of sucks, because you are going to have to prioritize work or your training, nutritionally. Choose training.
Fourth, sleep. Try to do that. Yeah.
And one side note... If you get an injury, stop training for two weeks entirely. Then, test it, and if there is ANY pain, wait two more weeks to test it again. I just came off a four month VERY LIGHT training phase, because I kept training through injury last year and so it didn't heal. Don't be like me! It's way better to have to take just a six week break than to keep going through it and have a really long period where you can barely train.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
"My bad. I was sleeping."
Whenever people hear you work night shift, it's basically the first thing they ask-- "But when do you sleep?"
You would think the question would get old. Yet, somehow, it never does. One of the recurring topics at work is sleep. How much we slept, or when we slept, or what we managed to productively get done, instead of sleeping. All while we are chainsmoking, popping caffeine pills, or drinking energy drinks-- as needed.
I assume this is a Maslow's hierarchy thing, sleep being a basic need. When you don't have one of the lowest-tier needs, it's your focus.
Most of us sleep several hours a day, somewhere between 2 and 6. Some of us split the sleep into a short "post-work" sleep, and a "late afternoon" sleep; some of us just wait til around 2 or 3 PM then sleep as long as we can; some of us have no pattern whatsoever. I've recently started sleeping from "after I take a shower and chill awhile" til "about 1 pm," which comes out to about 4 hours. Assuming I didn't stay late. Or go home early and go running-- there's NOTHING like the pre-sunlight hours for running.
Then, every few days, or whenever our bodies finally go for it, we will sleep for a vast, VAST amount of time. Like, 6-10 hours. Vast! In a way, it's good, since you get some rest. But at the same time, you get used to having 20 waking hours per day, a luxury of time for all your interests and hobbies. Time for work, downtime, working out, playing piano, eating lunch, going to the park, shopping, seeing friends, playing online, discovering new artists on Spotify. Half of which you sacrifice, if you are able to sleep that day. The 20-hour-day becomes your new standard, and the days where you "lazily oversleep" are an infringement on your funtimes.
You would think the question would get old. Yet, somehow, it never does. One of the recurring topics at work is sleep. How much we slept, or when we slept, or what we managed to productively get done, instead of sleeping. All while we are chainsmoking, popping caffeine pills, or drinking energy drinks-- as needed.
I assume this is a Maslow's hierarchy thing, sleep being a basic need. When you don't have one of the lowest-tier needs, it's your focus.
Most of us sleep several hours a day, somewhere between 2 and 6. Some of us split the sleep into a short "post-work" sleep, and a "late afternoon" sleep; some of us just wait til around 2 or 3 PM then sleep as long as we can; some of us have no pattern whatsoever. I've recently started sleeping from "after I take a shower and chill awhile" til "about 1 pm," which comes out to about 4 hours. Assuming I didn't stay late. Or go home early and go running-- there's NOTHING like the pre-sunlight hours for running.
Then, every few days, or whenever our bodies finally go for it, we will sleep for a vast, VAST amount of time. Like, 6-10 hours. Vast! In a way, it's good, since you get some rest. But at the same time, you get used to having 20 waking hours per day, a luxury of time for all your interests and hobbies. Time for work, downtime, working out, playing piano, eating lunch, going to the park, shopping, seeing friends, playing online, discovering new artists on Spotify. Half of which you sacrifice, if you are able to sleep that day. The 20-hour-day becomes your new standard, and the days where you "lazily oversleep" are an infringement on your funtimes.
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