<– You don’t need to qualify to wear this… and what’s he smiling about? He obviously didn’t just finish Chelsea or death by pullups.
I read on Fitbomb this morning that Reebok have come out with a line of Crossfit wear which is “specifically designed” for the crossfit athlete. I suppose they are assuming that Crossfit athletes are so wound up in their own self importance that they will miss the fact that it’s just rebranded Reebok stock with the Reebok Crossfit “Delta” stamped on it. I’m going to guess that it will be a feeding frenzy and just as you now see every fat out of shape loser wearing MMA clothing, pretty soon everyone will have something with Crossfit and Elite written on the front and back. I suppose it is inevitable, and it means two things, one that Crossfit is now mainstream (don’t read that as negative) and also that Crossfit has officially jumped the shark. The second part may be the saving grace for the community since very often there is a public uprising of support and acceptance that attracts all the wrong people to an activity, and I think we can agree that has happened. Once the market is saturated with shoes, shirts and tote bags the same people who made it artificially popular will sense the shark and move on to something else. What you are left with is an increased awareness and acceptance of the activity without the dross. So for those of you who think I was being cruel to  your beloved sport, please believe that this is the best thing that could happen to Crossfit. In 6 months, probably a couple of months after the Crossfit Games the excitement will die down, something else will come along to distract the ADD generation and they will leave Crossfit to the rightful guardians. After all, what is worse that proudly wearing your new Crossfit duds after crushing the morning Murph only to see some fat pasty loser eating a slice of pizza wearing the very same shirt you consider a badge of honour.
last night was Insanity Plyo, according to my Firstbeat Athlete coach I was supposed to go a little easy, but since we just met, I am going to have to do what I am used to for a while until he gets a chance to get up to speed. It’s interesting to see the effort level of each of the different workouts to see if my perception of the effort is accurate. So far the big surprise has been the RKC workout which has kicked all the other butts in the room. Last night came in at a 50 minute 3.2 TE (TE stands for Training Effect and is a measure of the amount of effort, basically) and for the moment at least my efforts seem to far outweigh the coach recommendations. Of course, this may change as time goes along, I am not sure how the coach determines what you should be doing other than it analyses the R-R data of your heartbeat (which I don’t fully understand) to see if you are over or undertraining. I think after a couple of weeks of my regular workouts I should be able to see if the coach and I are on the same page! So far the efforts look like this:
Chest Shoulders and Triceps 3.0 @ 44 min
RKC Variety workout 3.5 @ 28 min
Insanity Plyometric Circuit 3.2 @ 50 min
In other news, it’s been 3 weeks of standing at my desk and I am slowly getting used to it. I move around a lot more than I used to and although my legs and feet are tired at the end of the day, by the time I get home I am fine to work out. I have also noticed that running shoes don’t help at all and in fact wearing crocs or my VFFs are best for being on my feet all day.
R-R Data seems to be something that lots of people want but not many people understand. Here is a basic summary I found from a forum contributor:
R-R data at rest is used to measure heart rate variability (HRV). Search kubioshrv in the forums for how to perform the analysis. It’s helpful for estimating overall training/heart fatigue and how much rest is needed before starting the next training schedule.
R-R data during stepped exercise is used to determine that point at which your heart goes from “idle” mode (bouncing around a lot) to “workout” mode (consistent rhythm). That point versus your level of exercise can be used to determine your fitness level and is used by some watches to create personalized workout zones (OwnZone).
R-R data during a run at a consistent pace and compared over laps can give you information on HR rise and heart fatigue during a long race.
R-R data at rest for seniors with heart conditions can be used to estimate life expectancy.
The KubiosHRV that is mentioned is a software designed to gain some understanding of heart rhythms and biomechanical measurements of heart health, load and therefore fitness. It’s pretty difficult to find any simple and concise information as to what the R-R data is and how it is measured and used. That’s why most software that comes with HR monitors takes that data and converts it into easy to understand numbers or acronyms like EPOCÂ (Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption)Â to give a simple indicator of what the R-R is telling you. Simply put, your heartbeat, specifically the time between each individual beat can tell you not only how hard you are working, but also if you are fatigued, if you should be resting more or even if you should be changing the workout schedule to optimize your Training Effect.
I also managed to get the GPS module and the foot pod for the T6D but I have yet to try them out. Not being a big runner, it may be some time before I get those parts working for me!
..and finally I missed my 2 year anniversary! My first post was back in June of 2009 and I have now been here for 2 years and a month. Thanks for reading! Wish me a happy anniversary!!