Suthin Sumthin

I TRY to donate blood on a regular basis.  I can spare it, it doesn't take long, I have several women fussing over me asking me how I am doing, telling me what a good fellow I am.  What's not to love?

I also have, I must humbly convey, really good veins.  One fellow said "massive pipes". The nurses like it because it's an easy poke.  I also fill up the little blood bag pretty quickly.

Last time I donated, rather on a lark, I drank a lot of water the night before, and during the night whenever I got up I took a wee sip.

That day (well morning) the nurse that attended me was SHOCKED at how quickly I bled out.  She had never seen anything like it.  I told her what I had done and she said that explained it and mentioned it to other staff.

It got me to thinking about the early days of my learning the field of fitness.  We sweat some all the time.  During the day we can compensate for it.  At night not so much.  We wake up in the morning dehydrated.  Just like there is breakfast there SHOULD be a break dehydration.

The moral of the story.  If you are a morning exercisers and you feel like you are not getting you best game on when you go to train.  Water. 

If you find yourself a little hard to settle in and get to business, water.  Dehydration, by lowering the fluidity of blood and thus limiting its travelability (yes I think I just made up a new word) affects both muscle and brain function. 

Now, go play !!!

A Thinking Man's Guide to "The Warm Up"

What is a warm up?

Many people understand a warm up to be stretching to loosen the muscles.  In reality warming up really is just that, this misunderstanding has led to injuries with average exercisers and high level athletes.

A muscle can be seen as a rubber band, which can stretch several times beyond its resting  length and then pull back to its original size.  If that rubber band were put in a freezer (inactivity) then taken out, when you tried to stretch it, it would most likely snap.

The purpose of an effective warm up is to warm up that rubber band that that it has the elasticity to move.

Another way to think about this is starting your car.  If it has been a few days since you have driven or you live in a colder climate you will let it set and idle for a bit.  The oil, usually described as a car’s life blood, is thick and viscous when the engine is cold.  As the car warms ups the oil gets thinner, more fluid, and moves through the system more easily.

Not letting the engine idle can mean it clogging out just when you are about to accelerate into traffic. Bad thing.  Warming up your muscles, tendons and joints before regular exercise is the idling time your body needs to get it’s fluids…well fluid, so that it does not clog out when you begin your routine.

An additional value of a smart generalized warm up routine is that it does not have to be done JUST before a workout.  Ideally it could be done several times a day for the same purpose, keep that rubber band lose and functional, keep the fluids circulating.

We train to be better at life. The more you marry the two, using one to assist the learning of the other, the stronger you will be for it body and mind.

If you need help with program design you can contact me at

Fitnessnexus@yahoo.com

All the best,

Steve