“Ask yourself: ‘Can I give more?’. The answer is usually: ‘Yes’.”
- Paul Tergat, Kenyan professional marathoner
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It’s my first session with a new client, Mike. He doesn’t suffer from any debilitating pain, he is just an overweight guy looking to lose 15 pounds. So, in my list of dozens of questions, the following conversation unfolds:
J: “Ok Mike, what kind of stuff do you usually do in the gym?”
M: “Well, I usually come in and run on the treadmill for 20 minutes and then do a couple of weights. Sometimes I do 30 minutes on the elliptical.”
He tries to read my facial expression for confirmation that he’s on the right track. I smile, but shake my head. I give new clients credit for working out in the gym, just as I give credit to overweight people for trying to work out or eat properly. They are taking steps in the right direction. When it comes to exercise, people are better off spinning their wheels than staying at home. They’re already doing one of the three steps of my mantra, “Train Hard”. Mike is now here with me for the next two steps. I am here to teach him to Train Safe, and Train Smart.
The Benchmark
Today I would like to discuss a more effective way to start your cardio program. The goal of this program is to measure everything that you do. I am not very good at keeping a pen and paper on me when I work out, so I am not asking you to do the same. If you do the exercises I direct you to, you will remember them out of routine. Today, we are going to just focus on running. In a future post, I will bring up how to implement this process with weight training.
The first step is to set a benchmark to build upon. Let me walk you through my first cardio session with Mike.
J: Ok Mike, I am going to put you on the treadmill. Hopefully, you are not going to be on here for 20 minutes. What speed do you usually run at?
M: Well I try to keep it around a 4.5 (miles per hour). But if I can, I run faster, and if I get tired I slow down. It usually doesn’t go below 3.0.
J: Well that is a start, but today the goal is to go for distance. Today we are going to walk/jog/run for 1 mile. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, just as long as we finish. Let’s start at 3.0 and work our way up. You adjust the speed. Trainers Note: If they are not in good enough shape to run, start at 2.5. If they can run, start at 5.0. It is better to get less of a workout than to slip off the treadmill.
Now from here it takes Mike a solid 15:02 to complete a mile. Pretty slow pace, but he did finish, that was our deal. This is our benchmark.
J: So, in order to do better, we need to see what your overall pace is and then we’ll do a few calculations.
The next step
If you were to run 1 mile per hour, then your time would be 60:00 for one mile. If we take our run time and divide 60 from that, we can get our pace. I will show you our example in the calculations below.
Note: Mike’s time of 15:02 is not the number we use for the calculations. Because time is divided by 60 minutes per hour and not 100 minutes be hour, we need to convert. (15:02 = 15.033) Not a big difference but enough to change our results.
Mike’s run pace:
60/15.033 = 3.99 (rounded) = 4.0 miles per hour
So Mike was able to run the mile at a 4.0 pace. The setup for next time will be to run the mile again at the next incremental notch (with most treadmills this will be 4.1). If Mike does run 4.1 miles per hour right from the beginning, his new time will be 60/4.1 = 14.63 = 14:38. Twenty seconds faster, a good progression from 15:02.
What about running outside?
I really hate the treadmill but I love to run outside. Back home, I knew that running down to the rocks by the beach was exactly half a mile. I would run there and back and record my time. I knew the run around the Bay was exactly five miles. I would come home from my run and get the question from my dad, “How was you time?” Always a great conversation starter. Here are two ways to set up a measurable distance outside:
1. Go to a high school within the area. Most have a quarter mile track around the football or soccer field. Go there, run around the track four times. Record your time.
2. Drive out from your home 1/2 a mile as recorded by your car odometer. Run there and back and record your time.
As a progression, run the next time harder. No calculations necessary. Make sure to note your time as it undoubtedly improves.
What is so wrong about 20 or 30 minutes of cardio?
Everyday I walk into work and I see an ocean of people running on treadmills, bikes, and elliptical machines. Most are zoned out, watching TV ahead of them or listening to music. When they walk off they are sweating but it never seems like they are out of breath. You should focus on the distance. Not time or calories. Remember, 1 mile at 30 minutes and 1 mile at 5 minutes, burns the same amount of calories, but one really kicks your heart into shape.
So how hard?
You want to know if you are working hard? Forget about heart rate monitors. If you can’t chat because you feel your lungs burning or are out of breath, then you are working in your target heart rate zone. If a client is in ok shape and he/she is able to talk to me while running on a treadmill, I increase the speed. While running, they should keep silent. Not because they are annoying me, but because they have to. So do a benchmark today. Find a safe starting point and take it slow. Build up slow. Because when it gets hard, you will have to give it your heart, and your lungs. Let this quote ring through your head. “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.” Go ahead and let one mile on the track take your breath away.
Remember, it is rare to see someone out of breath in the cardio room. So, you be the first. Head out to your local gym or hit the asphalt. Run a record mile time and let me know. As a side note the world record is 3:43 by Hicham El Guerrouj. So start training, you have work to do.
Your Digital Trainer,
Jeremiah
Images by thomashawk, drift words, 2create, and fdevillamil
Comments: What do you usually do for cardiovascular? Do you focus more on time, distance, calories, or something else?
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Great article this inspired me a lot.
But what suits me is the treadmill. Everyday 24 mins. I have lost 32 pounds by now.
I have a question how can be motivated to run outside.
@whizkid: Great job! Fire me an email with your questions at jbell@digitaltrainer.ca