Postby NHMike » Tue Dec 17, 2019 5:44 am
juliej wrote:NHMike wrote:I've been reading up on VO2Max - an interesting study used a group, average age 61 with VO2Max 18 or lower. 55% mortality rate after two years. The mortality rate above 18 was 11%. I did some checking and basically 18 or lower is 1% of the population. VO2Max is well correlated with longevity. The question is how do you improve it? From what I found, it's interval training. Also, cyclists tend to have the highest numbers. I suspect that is because you can work your heart very hard without damaging your joints.
Our local YMCA has Keiser indoor bicycles and they are supposedly excellent. I've never actually seen them though. They are in a spinning room and the room is always dark. So I'm going to go into the room tonight to see if I can see what they can do. I don't have a flashlight handy but I assume that there is some kind of lighting in the room.
I did some interval training this morning and am resigned that I will have to do interval training to get into much better shape. Interval training isn't pleasant but it's the most efficient way to improve cardiovascular capacity.
I do fartleks. Yes, that is its real name!
It involves jogging with intervals of full-out sprinting. The overall average heart rate (HR) is higher for a fartlek workout than for intervals, because the jogging recovery means HR does not drop as low during the recovery portions. So it's very good for improving VO2 max rates.
Did you get to check out the Keiser bicycles yet?
Juliej
I have heard of Fartleks though I haven't tried them.
The bicycle room was locked. It appears that they can only be used in a classroom setting. I am going to ask the other YMCA if their bicycles can be used outside of the context of a class. They store the bicycles in the hallway when they aren't in use as they only have two classrooms for exercise whereas my local YMCA has a dedicated classroom for spinning.
I usually let my heartrate drop back down to 100-120 after an interval and I know that I can overall get it higher by decreasing the rest time. I'm still cautious on getting it up too high. Lately, it has been generally lower than it has been several months ago with the same exertion levels. It was up in the 180s this past summer and it's mostly been in the 160s with an occasional trip into the 170s. It is likely that I am getting more efficient or stronger. There are joint limitations on speed though. I could get the heartrate higher with more speed but it would place more stress on the joints and there's the old saying of not increasing distance or speed more than 10% every two weeks (which I often ignore).
I'm probably going to continue what I am doing right now for a few months to gradually improve conditioning and will see how the VO2Max goes. If it goes up a little, I'll be pretty happy. If not, then I'll look at other things. The harder thing about training is working around times when I need to go to the bathroom or worry that I'll need to go. It crimps available time for running.
I used the rowing machine on Sunday and noticed that my hands felt a little arthritic on Monday morning (had some amusing typos). It took me a few minutes to connect the two things. My fingers feel fine now though but rowing is definitely an exercise that I'll try to do more of to get stronger fingers. Those Keiser bicycles just look so cool though.
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