It started innocently enough.
We are absolutely (I was anyway) ripping through our opening set of Super Eights. It is, as well as being the first day of school for the local kids, our opening number. We do ONE to start, I will detail the protocol later, and build from there, adding one each subsequent week until we have reached the hallowed numerical pinnacle of eight. We then execute eight for eight weeks. We do them every Wednesday morning at 0530 in the cycling studio of our local club.
I designed a slight variation today after a review of past protocols (using the handy search feature of this site), a change I felt might add that little something to inch us closer to an empirical glimpse of the value and rewards this demanding drill offers.
A calculation stumbled upon in research for another project reminded me of the simplicity of this thing we call exercise physiology. Nailed at its most basic is the equation:
STRESS + REST = GROWTH
I was once sternly reprimanded by a client for dispelling the myth of academic overkill. That echelon where language and theory claim superiority over practicality and utility. My client was fascinated by the data provided by the emerging power technologies at the time and was somewhat offended when I suggested to her that all of the data, graphs, charts, zones, percentages, ratios and peaks represented distractions from the simplicity found in the simple formula of raising one’s heart rate through consistent and repeated efforts of high intensity with rest periods between them. She wanted the smoke and mirrors as I was offering bread and butter.
But that was on a cruise ship in Glacier Bay, this morning we got real with Day One, Super Eight:
10 minute warm up (explanation of set)
02 minutes in groove zone, one seated and one standing
12 minutes SET ONE
30 seconds at 85-90% of RPE, seated.
90 seconds recovery (30 seated, 30 standing 30 seated)
Repeat four times
04 minuets groove zone (alternate seated & standing)
12 minutes SET TWO (rep number two is ALL-OUT, Super Eight number one)
04 minutes groove zone
12 minutes SET THREE
04 minutes groove zone
12 minutes SET FOUR
02 minutes groove zone
02 minutes 7/120
Stretch, floor routine, done.
It was during the last groove zone (the golden ratio of resistance, cadence, presence and flow) that I riffed up and again presented the basic fundamental of the stress plus rest equals growth equation, adding that the intrepid individual may juxtapose the formula to any other area of passion.
Because it is like the Scarecrow in Wizard of OZ, right now you are at your peak, endorphins are freely flowing, actually creating an enriched and powerful rush of blood to working muscles and to your cerebral cortex. Your ability right now, this very minute, to use your creative powers to make cognitive, analytical introspection and analysis are at their zeniths. What are you feeling? What have we accomplished? How did we respond to the demands of the drill? What changes can we institute to continue this magical trend? What is the difference between an isosceles triangle and a right triangle? Is the diploma the same as knowledge? And lastly,
Will stress plus rest get us that brain? Or have we had it all along?
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