VO2max

The monthly newsletter of RunCoachJason.com

Dr. Jason Karp, running & fitness coach, consultant, freelance writer

Founder & Coach, REVO₂LT Running Team™

May, 2010

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In this issue:  

FitnessFest

New Weight Loss and Running DVDs 

Cardio Fat Buster

Heart Attacks & Marathons

In Press
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FitnessFest

Want to know how resting metabolic rate changes with exercise?  What about the best lessons for runners?  I will be speaking at FitnessFest on April 30-May 1 at the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center in Scottsdale, Arizona, where I will be giving three presentations:

* Top 7 Lessons for Runners

* The Resting Metabolic Rate Debate

* Flexibility Training for Athletic Performance

FitnessFest is the largest fitness and wellness conference in the Southwest, attracting novice and veteran group exercise instructors, personal trainers, aquatic instructors, and mind/body practitioners.  For more information and to download the event brochure and convention schedule, go to http://www.waterworksonwheels.com/fitnessfest.

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New Weight Loss and Running DVDs

3 of my new DVDs have just been released:

 

The Resting Metabolic Rate Debate

Many individuals believe that strength training adds muscle mass, thereby increasing their resting metabolic rate, so they burn more calories all day, which helps them lose weight.  While scientific research has documented that metabolic rate is acutely elevated after a workout, it’s not as certain that resting metabolic rate is chronically increased.  This DVD reviews the research on the effects of aerobic exercise and strength training on resting metabolic rate and details the scientific truth about this complex issue.

Exercise and Weight Loss: A Look at the Scientific Research

While weight loss remains the most important underlying factor for people who exercise at health/fitness clubs and hire personal trainers, most people are not familiar with the scientific research on this critical issue, all too often relying on what’s presented by the popular media.  Despite what scientists know about the most effective weight loss strategies, a large gap exists between research and practice.  This DVD features a critical review of the scientific research on exercise and weight loss with regard to the most effective weight loss strategies, including how much exercise is needed and the type and intensity level of exercise that is most appropriate for losing weight.

The Science and Coaching of Distance Runners 

The 3 presentations from the Special Event session at the 2009 American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington contains over two hours of cutting-edge information and authoritative insights on the science and coaching of distance runners, featuring:
* The Ingredients of Success and the Relationship Between Aerobic Power and Running Economy (Jack Daniels)

* Completing a Marathon vs. Racing a Marathon: Scientific and Training Differences (Hal Goforth)

* Chasing Mercury: Getting Faster With Periodization (Jason Karp)

 

To order, go to http://www.runcoachjason.com/merchandise. *******************************************************************

Cardio Fat Buster

(from Karp, J.R., 30 Minute Cardio Fat-Buster. Ultra-Fit. Dec. 2009)

Whether you are a lawyer, a businessman or woman, or a professional athlete, we all want to make the best use of our workout time.  So, how can you make your cardio workouts more efficient and obtain the greatest fat-burning benefit in the least amount of time?  Research has shown that the intensity of exercise, rather than its volume and frequency, is more important for improving and maintaining fitness.  High-intensity exercise is also great for burning fat, as it keeps your metabolic rate elevated for hours after your workout.  Gone are the days of 15 or 20 minutes of steady-state cardio on the elliptical trainer or stationary bike at an intensity easy enough to allow you to read a magazine.  If you want to lose fat, that’s not going to cut it.  Ignore those “fat-burning zones” written on the panels of cardio machines.  If you focus your efforts and make your workouts count, you can lose a significant amount of fat in just 30 minutes for each workout.  Tempo workouts, intervals, pyramids, and ladders are the best 30-minte workouts to lose fat.  Try these workouts: 

Tempo Workout

* 20 minutes at a comfortably hard intensity

* 4 x 5 minutes at a comfortably hard intensity with 1:00 recovery

Intervals

* 4 x 3 minutes at 90-95% max HR with 3 minutes recovery

* 3 x 4 minutes at 90-95% max HR with 3 minutes recovery

Pyramids

* 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute hard with equal time as recovery

* 2 minutes, 4 minutes, 5 minutes, 4 minutes, 2 minutes hard with 3 minutes recovery

Ladders

* 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes, 5 minutes hard with equal time as recovery

* 2 sets of [30-second sprint, 1-minute sprint, 1:30 sprint, 2 minutes hard with 2 minutes recovery]

Want to know more about how to burn fat?  Go to http://www.runcoachjason.com/consulting where you can schedule a consultation with me and have all of your questions answered live!

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Heart Attacks & Marathons

In light of the two runners who suffered heart attacks in the recent La Jolla Half-Marathon, I appeared on Fox 5 News in San Diego to discuss the safety of running long distances (http://www.fox5sandiego.com/videobeta/f5c9ad92-b2e5-43ee-8a08-f3fe2633ab00/News/Runners-in-La-Jolla-marathon-suffer-heart-attacks).  I was asked by the reporter whether I was surprised by what happened.  I said no.  The marathon and half-marathon have become something other than athletic events in the U.S.  While it is great that people want to complete such a difficult task and speaks to the inherent drive of humans, too many people are unwilling to do the necessary work to adequately prepare for such prolonged endurance challenges.  Marathon training groups are popping up all over the place, offering people a quick and easy 4- to 6-month, running 3 to 4 days per week path to the marathon.  The result is that many people suffer one or more of many “itises” that befall runners who increase their volume and/or intensity too quickly (plantar fasciitis, Achilles or patellar tendonitis, illiotibial band friction syndrome, stress fractures, etc.).  In the worst cases, the cardiovascular system fails because it is not prepared to handle the stress of running 13.1 or 26.2 miles.

When people have heart attacks in races, we collectively begin to wonder if we are putting ourselves at risk.  After all, despite the fact that there are more runners now than ever before, there has always been a lingering wonder or suspicion if this running thing is really safe.  Whether this suspicion dates back to the much-publicized heart attack of runner Jim Fixx, who died while running one day, or if it goes all the way back to the legendary ancient Greek runner Pheidippides, who dropped dead after running over 20 miles from Marathon to Athens, is speculative.  But it’s always there, however faint it may be.  While running presents an acute risk to your cardiovascular health because of the dramatic increase in heart rate, cardiac output, vasoconstriction, and blood pressure, the long-term effects of running every day more than outweigh the slight acute risk.  By a lot.  There is a mountain of scientific evidence to show that people who are in better cardiovascular fitness have a lower risk of many diseases and death.  So, if your goal is to live for the next hour, don’t run.  But if your goal is to live for the next 40 or 50 years, then run as often as you can.  Just be smart about the rate at which you increase it. 

Often, when people get injured, they begin to think that maybe their bodies are not suited to running such long distances, and they get turned off from the sport, when their injuries may simply be from not taking a more systematic approach to their training.  The human body is remarkable at adapting to stress, when that stress is applied in small doses.  As more and more people attempt to run a marathon, the support system provided by these training groups must catch up.  And people themselves must realize that nothing in life worth doing is achieved easily.  It takes a lot of work over a long period of time to be successful at nearly everything, from owning a business to running a marathon.  And that’s okay.  Because it is in the journey, not the final result, that we discover who we are and what we can become.

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In Press...
How to Survive Your PhD: The Insider’s Guide to Avoiding Mistakes, Choosing the Right Program, Working with Professors, and Just How a Person Actually Writes a 200-Page Paper, my self-help book for graduate students published by Sourcebooks, Inc., appears in bookstores nationwide and online at Amazon.com.  Special autographed copies of the book can be ordered at http://www.runcoachjason.com/publications.

The Components of Training for Distance Runners and Training Theory, my two chapters in The Ultimate Runner: Stories and Advice to Keep You Moving, appears in bookstores nationwide and online at Amazon.com.

Beyond Good: How to Turn Key Workouts Up a Notch or Two For Better Fitness and Faster Times, my article on how to make specific workouts better, appears in the May, 2010 issue of Runner’s World.

A Primer on Muscles, my article that describes the physiology of muscles and how they work, appears in the May, 2010 issue of IDEA Fitness Journal, the premier trade magazine for fitness professionals.

5 Lessons I have Learned From Physiology and How They Can Make Your Clients Better Runners appears online at Personal Training on the Net, the premier online education resource for personal trainers and fitness professionals.

Chasing Pheidippides: The Science of Endurance, my article that discusses the science behind endurance and how you can improve yours using the most up-to-date scientific training methods, appears in the May, 2010 issue of Techniques for Track & Field and Cross Country, the official technical publication of U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association and the May/June, 2010 issue of New Studies in Athletics, the official technical publication of the International Association of Athletics Federations. 

Lactate Threshold Training, my article on everything you wanted to know about lactate threshold and how to improve it, appears in the May, 2010 issue of the United Kingdom’s Ultra-Fit magazine.

It’s All Downhill From Here, my article on everything you wanted to know about running downhill with tips on how to prepare for downhill races, appears in the Spring, 2010 issue of Duke City Fit, Albuquerque, New Mexico’s premier fitness magazine.

Speed Dial: All Runners Can Get Fit Fast—and Have a Little Fun—by Playing with Their Pace, my article on fartlek training, appears in the June, 2010 issue of Runner’s World, on newsstands in May.

Also look for my quotes on fitness tips and goals in the May, 2010 issue of Oxygen magazine and my tips on how to transition from running on the treadmill to running outside in the May, 2010 issue of Men’s Fitness.

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To view past newsletters, go to http://www.runcoachjason.com/newsletter.

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©2010 Dr. Jason Karp.