Hello and welcome to 4-Minute Friday where I share, in four minutes or less, the latest things I’m doing to enhance my health, save money, and make day-to-day life easier and more enjoyable.
All comments and follow-up questions can be posted directly below, on my Facebook page or emailed to me at zach.griffith1@gmail.com!
Post #100 coming soon which means another round of Q & A. Use this link and code 16392 to submit! As you can already tell, it’s a free-for-all in there so ask away!
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What I’m Contemplating:
In recent years, I’ve maintained a strict regimen when it comes to my exercise practice.
Lifting weights 3-5x per week and doing cardio 2-3x per week has been a staple.
However, I’m starting to lean more towards something I think of as “seasonal periodization”.
What this means to me is simply adjusting the frequency and intensity of exercise training during various seasons of the year (as well as life) to fit other demands.
To live a healthy life, we have many buckets that must be filled.
Most of what I talk about is the physical bucket which is inarguably essential.
But it’s important to not forget about the mental and social buckets, too.
With that, I’ve begun to loosen up my training regimen during the warmer months.
Whether it’s shortening a lifting session by 20 minutes to go play pickleball or skipping a day of training to go hit the beach with friends, I’ve found great benefit thus far.
When the colder weather comes back around and it’s time to hibernate for the winter, I’ll adjust once again to meet my fitness and personal goals at that time.
Just something I’ve been toying with.
And no, this doesn’t validate the excuse to skip training altogether to visit outdoor patios for bottomless mimosas 3x per week in the summer.
New Zone 2 Equation I’m Using:
The Maffetone Method.
Getting adequate weekly Zone 2 cardio is critical for cardiovascular health… not to mention the cognitive and psychological benefits it cultivates.
Flashing back, recall that Zone 2 is “aerobic” cardio because it is at a pace slow enough for your body to use oxygen efficiently for energy production. And the good thing is, our fat stores are partially used to fuel this process.
In a previous post, I shared two methods you can use to calculate your personal Zone 2 heart rate.
One of them uses age to predict your maximum heart rate and the other is the “talk test”.
While I still use the talk test – maintaining an intensity where you can speak in full sentences without much struggle – I’ve found the age-predicted equation not so useful.
After listening to fitness expert Nick Bare discuss it on a podcast, I’ve started relying more on The Maffetone Method.
The Maffetone Method is simple.
Just take 180 minus (-) your age
The result is the heart rate you should stay below during your Zone 2 workouts.
While this is still an age-predicted value, I’ve found it suits my Zone 2 running splits much more accurately and paces well with the talk test.
This doesn’t mean you must be right at this threshold during every workout or for the entirety of it, either.
Rather, it offers you a ceiling to ensure you aren’t bumping out of Zone 2 during your Zone 2 workout, where you would not be gaining the most benefit possible.
Personally, I like to stay within 20 beats or so of my calculated Maffetone value which happens to be 155. (So, I maintain 135-155 for most workouts)
Just another tool to add to your toolbox!
Book I’m Reading:
Slow Productivity by Cal Newport
Its subtitle The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout is ever applicable in today’s age.
Cal Newport is a fantastic author in the realm of work-life balance and productivity.
His book Deep Work changed my habits drastically.
In his new novel, he provides strategies to prioritize sustainable and meaningful work for the purpose of increasing long-term success… both personally and professionally.
He uses three principles to make the case for slow productivity:
Do fewer things
Work at a natural pace
Obsess over quality
Although I’m not quite in the full-time workforce yet, many of the ideas Newport presents have resonated.
For one, doing fewer things.
As a compulsive multi-tasker, it helped to hear that our brains aren’t meant to do so many tasks at once.
Rather, it performs much better when focused solely on one.
This could mean only working on one project at a time, scheduling a block of time to respond to emails (& text messages) rather than answering them sporadically, or even putting your phone down while at a family dinner… shocker.
When we load the brain with too many things at once, the quantity of work we get done may go up… but the quality of the work we produce suffers dramatically.
Let alone the drastic impairment that’s seen in brain function when we try to speed through things rather than giving them the time they need.
I’m guilty of all of these but this book is starting to change my ways!
What else?
I highly recommend you sign up for some type of race this summer/fall whether that be a 1 mile run or full marathon. It will provide you some often much-needed motivation to get that Zone 2 cardio!
Post coming next week on the latest and greatest research into collagen supplementation and who may benefit!
Counterintuitive truth: Do less in order to achieve more.
Buy some Barbell Apparel fitness clothing through my link here!
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DISCLAIMER
- This is NOT Medical advice. Consult your medical professional before starting any supplement, diet regimen, or workout program.