Conflicting Goals

This year has been a study in conflicting goals. A critical element in achieving success in fitness or any other part of life is selecting appropriate, measurable, achievable goals. Second, it is necessary to formulate and execute a plan to achieve the selected goals. Without goals, a plan, and the deliberate execution of that plan, the possibility of success will be uncertain at best. Measurement is a necessary component, otherwise you cannot determine whether a goal has been achieved or whether the plan is working.

Clearly, it is possible to select goals that are in conflict since they lead to contradictory results. It is also possible to design a plan that doesn't support achieving the selected goal and it is possible to become misdirected while working toward a goal. Testing and measurement help to stay on the right path.

At the beginning of the year I planned to re-certify in the Tai Chi for Arthritis program and that was achieved. My Tai Chi has been solid this year and the quality of work has been good but more emphasis will be needed in the coming  year to advance practice to a greater sense of softness and root. More sessions per week will be necessary.

As for rowing here's where the conflicts arose. The goal was to improve 2K time by about 20 seconds over the year. This large improvement was only possible because my beginning 2010 time, while much improved over 2009, was still pretty slow when judged against elite, age group rowers. Concurrent, and generally compatible was to achieve 1.6 million meters during the rowing year (1 April - 30 May). This goal is well in hand and next year the aim will be to increase the annual total again.

What has missed is the improvement in 2K time. I believe this goes back to becoming side tracked by a secondary goal, which may be helpful in the long run, but conflicted with the core goal. I had concluded that adding some muscle mass was going to be needed to improve rowing performance in the long term. Adding mass basically comes down to eating more and lifting heavy. I used several waves of Dave Wendler's 5-3-1. Alternated about every 8 weeks with about eight weeks of EDT work. The results have been very satisfactory from a size and strength perspective. I gained 15 pounds while maintaining a constant body fat percentage and improved squat, dead lift, bench press, and overhead press numbers significantly (for me). Great - at 60, I am bigger and stronger than at any previous point in my life. However, on a 2K erg test, I am now a lot slower.

Fundamentally, getting bigger and stronger in itself, contributes little to success in power endurance sports. Thus I have to modify my program to emphasize aerobic endurance and power instead of size and raw strength. I also have to test the 2K erg more often to verify the weight lifting plan is contributing to improved speed which is the essential goal.

Back to the drawing boards in the new year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Health News For You

Health News of the Day

Diabetes Blood Sugar Control and Weight Loss
No surprise, but a study published in the JAMA, has shown that diabetes blood sugar control and weight loss are more successful when using a combination of strength training and aerobic exercise, rather than one or the other alone. Read about if here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101123/ap_on_he_me/us_med_diabetes_fitness

Practicing Moving to Music May Help Reduce Falls in the Elderly



http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20101124/hl_hsn/practicingmovingtomusicmayhelpelderlyavoidfalls

Relaxation and Weight Training, a historical observation

I was doing a bit of reading the other day and came across a weight lifting training manual published in India in the 1930's (http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Sengupta/sen-intro.htm). Interestingly, it turns out weight training has a long history in India, with formal training programs using various apparatus documented as far back as 1100 CE. Along with the weight lifting, they practiced what came to be called muscle controlling. In modern bodybuilding, this would be the skill of flexing the muscles to enhance their appearance and display during posing competition.

In ancient India, one would practice weight training for some period and after the muscles showed development, then muscle controlling would be added to the training. What I found most fascinating in this publication was that the first lesson in muscle controlling was to learn to relax all the muscles in the body thoroughly. Only after one learned relaxation, could one proceed to learn flexing. It was believed that proper relaxation helped muscle development and health, and made it possible to finely control which muscles were flexed and to what degree.

Perhaps Tai Chi ought to be in the toolbox of every weight lifting athlete today.

Use the Mind (yi) instead of Force (li).
If you use Mind, and not Force, then the Mind goes to a place in the body and the Internal Energy follows it. The Internal Energy and the blood circulate. If you do this every day and never stop, after a long time you will have nei jing [Real Internal Strength]. The T'ai Chi Ch'uan Classics say, "when you are extremely soft, you become extremely hard and strong." Someone who has extremely good T'ai Chi Ch'uan kung fu has arms like iron wrapped with cotton and the weight is very heavy. As for the external schools, when they use Force, they reveal Force. When they don't use Force, they are too light and floating. Their Power is external and locked together. The Force of the external schools is easily led and moved, and not to be esteemed.

- Yang's Ten Principles of Tai Chi (http://sites.google.com/site/taichiplay/tai-chi-literature/yangs-ten-principles)

Erg Sprints 2010 Results

I neglected to mention that I achieved a couple fitness goals at the Mid-Atlantic Erg Sprints, 30 January 2010. I achieved a personal best in the Veteran Men (55-59 yo) 2000m sprint at 7:52.0. I finished last in the field, but it was expected. This was my first foray into indoor rowing competition after taking up the erg 1 year ago. It was a big improvement in time over the course of the year. Who knows? With another year of steady training, I might even get to a respectable time. Course next year, I'll move up to the 60-65 age group and there is at least one competitor there who rows sub-7 (minute) times, so I've a lot of work ahead.

All in all a great experience. We had about 4 inches of snow that day, but in spite of the weather, there were hundreds of competitors and stands full of spectators cheering on their favorite son's and daughters.

Keep on Keeping on

At the age of 62, Chuck Yeager (Retired USAF General and the man who broke the sound barrier, among other accomplishments) said:

“You do what you can for as long as you can, and when you finally can’t, you do the next best thing. You back up but you don’t give up…I know too many people who have erected barriers, real brick walls, just because they have gray hair, and prematurely cut off themselves from lifelong enjoyments by thinking, ‘I’m too old to do this or that-that’s for younger people.’ Living to a ripe old age is not an end in itself; the trick is to enjoy the years remaining. And unlike flying, learning how to take pleasure from living can’t be taught. Unfortunately, many people do not consider fun an important item on their daily agenda. For me, that was always high priority in whatever I was doing…

I’m definitely not a rocking-chair type. I can’t sit around, watch television, get fat, and fade out. And there’s so much more I want to do; I’ve never lost my curiosity about things that interest me…I haven’t yet done everything, but by the time I’m finished, I won’t have missed much. If I auger in tomorrow, it won’t be with a frown on my face. I’ve had a ball.”  - Chuck Yeager

Chuck Yeager is still kicking around at 86.

Another former Air Force flight surgeon, founder of the Cooper Institute and the man who coined the word "Aerobics", said:

"We do not stop exercising because we grow old. We grow old because we stop exercising."

 Keep practicing Tai Chi daily and continue to enjoy life.