My Journey to Ironman - Build Phase

The next 10 weeks are now complete. They were pretty rough, mainly because I was very sick twice. I missed out on a lot of long rides and due to missing so many workouts from being ill, I sadly was forced to re-evaluate my training plan for the final 10-week phase.

Overview
Just like the other phases, the Build Phase is 10 weeks in length and includes workouts for swimming, biking and running. As usual, strength and any other cross-training are not in the plan.

This phase focuses on starting to add intervals into the workouts. This really helps build up your speed, as well as still helping to boost your endurance. I have mostly done the intervals with running, but no as much with cycling. Swimming is still it's own animal, with almost every workout being some sort of interval session; however the addition of using my pull buoy is in more workouts now.

My Opinion of Phase II of the Plan

Overall I think it's a really solid plan, and if I had been able to do all of the workouts, it would have built me up really well; both endurance and cardiovascular strength. My typical gripe is that there are no strength sessions placed in here.

How I Did
As I already noted, I did not do well at all. I was sick twice, with my latest bout being the flu and killing over a week of training. One of the big issues of this training, as well as from my Disney training, was how often I have been getting sick. My nutrition is pretty good, but my sleep has always been all over the place, with my range being anywhere from 5 hours to 8 hours. However, most of my sleeping has a lot of restless sleep, so my quality of sleep is horrible.

Sadly, I have noticed that I have been having constant allergy attacks at work, and ONLY at work. I am not sure if it's all just a coincidence or if my sleep is contributing to my immune system being so out-of-whack that it would have happened anyway, but I definitely don't have as severe issues at home or even when I am outside. I think this has been possibly the largest contributor to me getting sick. I'll be getting blood work done this week, so hopefully I can find out what's really happening.

With that said, I still have a plan C, which I have already mapped out. Basically, I'll be following a much lighter load which is part of the "Just Complete" plan, but still trying to keep my swims the same, but at only twice per week instead of three times. Swimming has really just kept beating me up like crazy. On one side, this makes me think I need to keep the 3-per-week since I'll have an even longer swim for the actual event. However, this drain in energy is causing me to skip or dramatically shorter my other training sessions. This means I am missing out on important doubles to build my overall endurance.

Even though I feel confident right now I'll be able to complete the entire race, I am not sure I'll be doing any sort of decent time. However, given all of the issues I have encountered, I am alright with that. My focus is to be able to finish the race and not hurt myself.

Notes for Improvement
As I noted, I'll be doing following the "Just Complete" plan, with still using my current swim routines. In addition, some of the longer rides and runs I plan on keeping or only slightly decreasing. I will also be focusing on getting even more sleep to hopefully offset the health issues I am having.

I don't expect to have my blood results back and a plan from my doctor in time to really help my training, but once I complete this race, I'll be able to implement whatever plan from my doctor and I'll also be taking off time to completely rebuild my strength as well as get back to a proper weight.

Disney Training - Week 9 and 10

Week 9 was a rough week. My ankle and foot have been acting up, so I had to take some extra rest days. However, I was able to complete my 18-mile long run, which was a really great accomplishment. As usual, I had no time to fit in strength and cross training like I need, which isn't helping my recovery. Week 10 was even worse. Now another one of my cats just got diagnosed with kidney failure, and we spend most of the week at the vet hospital. I at least got two moderate distance runs back-to-back days for the weekend. Although my foot and ankle feel fine now, my legs are extremely sore because I need new shoes. Hopefully they arrive before my next long run, but probably not.

Swimming
I didn't get any swims in.

Cycling
I didn't get any rides in.

Running
Week 9 was plagued with ankle and foot issues. As I noted, I was feeling better towards the end of the week and was able to get in my 18-mile long run. It was pretty tough and I was extremely exhausted afterwards, but I still did pretty well. In addition, even with my foot and ankle giving me trouble, I still managed to get in a 7-mile run with a 3 x 1-mile repeats baked in, as well as a 9-mile run with 5-miles at marathon pace.

Week 10 was spent making trips back and forth from our house to the vet hospital. I just wasn't around enough to have any time to run. Fortunately, I got in back-to-back runs on the weekend, which was really great! I did an 8-mile easy run on Saturday, followed by a 14-mile run Sunday. This is one of the first weekends I have successfully gotten back-to-back runs in. My 14-miler was extremely tough, but I felt good overall and was really excited that when I was done, I knew I could have easily pushed out another 4-5 miles with no problem.

Strength
I didn't get any strength sessions in, but I was able to get a handful of stretching sessions done, which did help a lot.

Nutrition
Despite everything going on, I have been doing a lot better at watching what I eat and cutting out excessive snacking. An interesting thing I noticed is that even though my wife and I did a lot of baking and seemed to eat a lot of that stuff, like brownies, pie and pepperoni bread, by cutting out the typical snacking we do I lost some weight. I am not completely sure why, since I know they are higher calories than what we usually snack on. I'll hack to investigate to figure this out.

Final Thoughts
Overall a very rough two weeks and this week is going to be just as bad. I am not ready for Disney, but I have a 20-miler this weekend and if I can survive that, I will be lined up to do another 20 the following weekend. That should have me ready enough to complete the four races. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

How Net Carbs Work

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/11/misconceptions-surrounding-carbohydrates/

I recently made a comment on a MFP forum about how extra carbs your body doesn't need gets turned into fat. There were some people arguing against it and others supporting it. Therefore, I wanted to write up some basic information for clarification.



What is a Net Carb?

Net carbs, or net effective carbs, is a term that came about because of the low-carb craze. Basically, net carbs are the amount of carbohydrates you have after taking total carbohydrates from a product, and then subtracting fiber, glycerin and sugar alcohol. Total carbs is a required item that appears on nutrition labels, and is found by taking the total weight of a food product in grams, and subtracting the protein, fat, moisture, and ash from that product.

I want to stress that the FDA does not have an official definition or rule for net carbs. It is a food industry term that is unregulated. Therefore, it can appear differently.

What is Actually Important to Know About Carbs?

All carbohydrates are not created equally. Fiber is a carbohydrate that the body cannot digest. It also has low impact on a person's blood sugar levels. Therefore, fiber is typically looked upon as a good carb. Sugar alcohol is also a carb, that chemically has characteristics of both sugars and alcohols. Like fiber, it does not have much impact to blood sugar levels either. Or does it? Currently, there is not enough scientific proof to support this claim. Some sugar alcohols have been known to spike blood sugar level in select individuals. However, not enough research has been done, thus making this a gray area. The important thing is that if you are diabetic, be very cautious with sugar alcohol in products. Finally, there are starches, which are made up of glucose linked together.

Sugar itself is a carbohydrate. It is both good and bad. If you are getting sugars through processed foods or foods with excess added sugar, which is the case in many foods, especially items touted as being healthier, then depending on how much you consume, this can be add up very quickly and be bad. Technically there are other chemicals in these products that make them bad, but those aren't necessarily tied directly to the added sugars. In the long run, any natural sugars, such as those from fruits for example, are good.

Your body does need carbohydrates to keep up energy and glycogen. When you consume, a limited amount is being used to fill up the glucose. If there is leftover glucose that the liver cannot store, the body turns that glucose into fat for long term storage. When your body is running very low on carbs, it will use the fat stores for energy.

Final Thoughts

What's important is that too many carbs is a bad thing, period. Too much of almost anything is bad, period. Therefore, it's important to take in carbs based on your activity level and any limiting genetic factors, such as diabetes. I am not a register dietician, so if you want help getting the right amount, be sure to consult your doctor first, get the proper tests done, and then see a dietician specializing in whatever the results you get and per the recommendation of your doctor.

References:

• Katherine Neer "Lo-carbing Basics" 9 October 2008. HowStuffWorks.com. 7 January 2017
• http://www.fda.gov/food/foodscienceresearch/consumerbehaviorresearch/ucm168989.htm
• http://www.webmd.com/women/features/net-carb-debate#2
• http://www.diabetesforecast.org/2010/aug/what-are-net-carbs.html
• https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/InteractiveNutritionFactsLabel/factsheets/Total_Carbohydrate.pdf

Building Plan: Week 3 Complete

I hope everyone had a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving! I was cooking up a storm for my family. It always amazes me how much better 100% home-made is versus anything else. I made some good progress in my prior weeks and lost a good bit a weight. Just in time for the feasting, lol. I am not looking forward to my upcoming weigh-in. No matter, I had wonderful times with my family and can get back to my usual eating again. In regards to working out, my goal was to not miss anything because of the holiday week. Well, I went and hurt my neck which prevented me from doing some workouts. However, I did make some excellent progress despite that.

 

Strength

I got 2 of my 3 strength sessions completed. However, the one session was more just stretching and a little bit of body weight routines. I am still seeing significant improvements in my strength. In addition, I am seeing some improved mobility and flexibility. Still nothing to write home about, but I’ll take any gains.

Running

I had a PR this week! During one of my runs, I got a 6:34 mile!!!!! I was so excited. I am also feeling slightly less winded and tired during and right after my runs. I am excited my endurance is finally building back up. I am starting my week 3/4 of my running training. I hope I can do it!

Cross Training

I still have yet to get myself back into the pool. I hope to change that this week, even if I only make it once. I got in one trainer session. It was alright, but it was more just to get my legs loose. With my neck bothering me, I couldn’t get anymore done. My brother has me doing some stretches that are slowly helping.

Final Thoughts

For Week 4 I am hoping to keep increasing my consistency and getting more workouts in. I am not too worried about my eating as I have gotten rid of most of the leftovers, so this week will be mostly back to normal eating. I do need to make sure I keep up with my food tracking though. Hope everyone is doing well with their goals!

Choosing a Health and Fitness Ecosystem - Part 3 - How Calories Burned is Determined

How Calories Burned is Determined

If you have ever done a side-by-side comparison of 2 devices that can calculate your calories burned, either throughout your day or for an activity, then you noticed that they gave anywhere from slightly to dramatically different results. My favorite example is when I was comparing FitBit Charge HR, Garmin 920xt with HRM strap, and non-HR FitBit Flex. The activity was a 30 minute run on the treadmill at a 10 min pace. My burn with Garmin was about 260 calories. The FitBit Charge was just under 280. The Flex was just over 310. So if I was trying to lose weight, and I was relying just on the Flex, I would have thought I could eat over 50 more calories...which is a super yummy snack. That's not good. However, it's not totally bad either and I will explain why.

The Flaw of Caloric Burn

Despite what all of the fitness sites will tell you, heart tracking for determining calorie burn is flawed in so many ways. For example, heart rate monitors are designed to work in an optimal condition of elevated heart rate for a period of time. So, for people who do strength training, caloric burn result will typically be wrong. I am not going into the full details of this, because it's not relevant for this article, but know that your body is a complex machine and it burns calories different based on how your muscles and cardiovascular system are engaged.

I am not saying to throw out your calorie burn results; but I am saying you need to understand that results are based on usually complex equations that are still flawed, because every person's body burns calories a little bit different from the next.

HRM vs. Non-HRM

I am not trying to pick on FitBit, but they are the easiest to use for this example. We are going to use the FitBit Flex and FitBit Charge HR for this segment. Devices and formulas have advanced very far these days, so non-HRM devices that show calories have dramatically improved over time.

Quick disclaimer: I won't be posting any exact formulas because I am not well-versed in the legal jargon that the various companies have around their proprietary formulas, and since I figured out a bunch of them, I fear posting them would put me in trouble. That said, however, I will post what typically goes into the calculations.

At the very basic fitness tracker level, meaning Non-HRM, it will take into account, your age, height, weight, and steps. Most will use your gender as well. Moving up the list for Non-HRM, some have average caloric burns in addition to the various data I already mentioned. Some will even go as far as to then see your averages and adjust accordingly. However, this gets very inaccurate since it needs heart rate.

So, Heart Rate Monitors. The most basic will take into account your age, weight, and heart rate from the activity. It doesn't care about steps, gender, etc. As you can guess, the more advanced keep adding more variables to get a more accurate picture of caloric expenditure. In addition, devices that have the ability to track heart rate (HR) all day, have different formulas than that of a physical activity. So if you don't workout or overexert yourself, it will use one formula to determine your full day calorie burn. If you also exercise or do some activity that raises your heart rate to a certain level or higher, then it will use a different formula, and then add those 2 values together. The devices know to not count workout time into the overall daily burn, since you would get over-inflated results.

In addition, most of the new HRM's and their fitness device (can be separate or the same device) will watch for patterns and adjust the burns as your fitness improves. For example, if I start running for the first time, and I am a bit overweight, my heart rate is going to be higher, and I am going to see a pretty decent calorie burn from a run. Maybe a couple months later after I have lost some weight and my cardiovascular system has more endurance and is more efficient, I might only be burning a fraction of the calories for the same effort.

What Do I Choose?

Despite the above probably being confusing, the decision on whether or not to get an activity tracker or fitness device that can track heart rate is fairly simple. If you aren't someone who counts calories, doesn't care about calories, or you aren't doing any sort of activity or training that you need heart rate data, then there is no reason to get a device that tracks heart rate. Nice and simple, right?

Summary

\In conclusion, many people who just want a device to help keep them active, track activities, or to claim some work or insurance incentives, do not need a device with heart rate tracking capabilities. However, if you don't fall into those categories, you will probably want one; you might not use it right away, but you will. Up next I will be doing a long series of discussing the good, the bad, and the ugly of the various ecosystems out there.

Choosing a Health and Fitness Ecosystem - Part 2 - Activity Tracker vs Fitness Device

Activity Tracker vs Fitness Device

The health and fitness tech market is growing exponentially, with everyone either wanting to get healthy or being obsessed with numbers. However, before you jump on the bandwagon, you need to know the difference between an activity tracker and a fitness device. They are starting to become one-in-the-same for the most mainstream brands, but there is a clear difference and this will hopefully help you when you are deciding what to choose.

Activity Tracker

An activity tracker does just what the name implies; it tracks your daily activeness or lack-there-of. At the most basic, an activity tracker will tell you how many steps you have taken. Most however include sleep tracking as well. Once you start going up the line, you will get automatic workout tracking, integrated or external heart rate tracking and other metrics related to your steps, such as stairs climbed and inactivity periods.

It should be noted that if you are not a huge fitness person and you just want to track the basics because you either something to keep you on point with hitting your step goals or achieving some level of activity toward health or weight goals, then an activity tracker is key. And most companies are hitting up these devices with extremely stylish designs. For example, Withings has an activity tracker watch that is really slick, the Activite Steel and Saphire. Garmin just came out with one as well, the Vivomove; and it's probably the most attractive looking activity tracker I have seen yet.

Other devices can track activity as well, like smart phones and smart watches. So, your iPhone or Android phone will probably have a step tracker app or you can get an app that can utilize your phone to track that. But Apple Watch and Gear S2 can track your workouts like mainstream fitness devices, right? Yes and no. I leave the super technical details to DC Rainmaker, but basically these devices are not the best when it comes to true fitness tracking. The have severe accuracy flaws. Now, there are some 3rd party companies that have apps to correct some of this, but overall, if you are training for races or have a huge focus on working out, then an activity tracker is going become very limiting at some point.

Fitness Device

And now the fitness device. This is a device that is purely designed for tracking detailed metrics about your workouts. This can include heart rate min, max, average, and zones, calories burned, intensity levels, elevation changes, distance, speed, instant pace, and the list goes on and on. Now, thanks to FitBit being so competitive, they forced companies like Garmin, Polar and Tom Tom to incorporate activity tracking into their newer devices. So nowadays, a fitness device usually has all of the activity tracking components in addition to everything it already has and is designed for. This basically gives you an extremely detailed and advanced device that will give you a holistic look at your day-to-day lifestyle and the impacts of your workouts, activities, sleep, and more.

In addition, thanks to Apple, many fitness devices and activity trackers alike are incorporating smart features now as well; apps, music control, message alerts from your phone, and much more.

How Do I Choose?

This is fairly simple in most cases. If you are just trying to be active or you have goals set by your work, then a standard activity tracker will meet all of your needs and then some. However, if you consistently workout by doing running, cycling, strength training, swimming, other, or a combination of them, then you will want a fitness device so you can see metrics specific to the workout you did so you can keep improving for whatever goals you have. This is not to say that a fitness device wouldn't be good for someone who is just looking for standard activity tracking, but it will definitely give you way more than you want or need...although for some of the extra smart features or style, in some cases, it might be worth it.

Summary

This was a short article, but I wanted to make sure you understood the top level difference between devices before I start going into more details on which ones to buy, how to customize your ecosystem, and more. Up next I will be discussing calories burned across activity trackers and fitness devices.

Choosing a Health and Fitness Ecosystem - Part 1 - The Basics

The Basics

If you don't have a naturally fit and healthy lifestyle, then it may be a struggle to figure out what you need to help motivate, track, analyze and progress. There fitness devices, smart devices with fitness features, apps for smart phones, websites, software, and much more. Not only that, each group has typically no less than a dozen or two companies / brands you can go with. This alone makes wanting to track what you do intimidating and can stop you before you get started.

So, let's cover a simple checklist to help you navigate this crazy world of health and fitness. As a note, I will be doing more in-depth posts on various options, ecosystems, and advice to blend your lifestyle into the ecosystem you choose.

What Do I Need to Get Started?

You need to first ask yourself, "Do I really care about tech and tracking as a way to motivate myself?" If the answer is no, stop reading and go get healthy! If the answer is yes, which is how it is for most people, then let's figure out what your initial motivation is.

Most people want to be healthier or improve something about how they look and/or feel. Some people also have major health issues that should be addressed. However, this isn't always enough to get going. Once you decide to get going, you then need a way to keep yourself motivated.

We'll start with the easiest and fastest growing motivator: Your job, school, or coach has laid down the hammer and said you either have to be more fit and healthy, or there is some awesome financial perk to being fit and healthy. This is the easiest to address. In most cases, especially with companies, there is already some tool that the company is going to use, such as Viverae or Shapeup. Almost all of these tools link to other fitness or tracking websites and electronics. The most common examples are MyFitnessPal and FitBit. So, if your company is your motivator, your ecosystem is simple: Use what they have, get a fitness tracking device that will connect to that ecosystem, and if you plan on tracking nutrition, either find a site that allows you to track what you eat or utilize the site of the fitness device you got, assuming they offer food tracking.

Let me give you a common scenario. Let's say your company uses Viverae. Their portal allows you to track sleep, steps, activities, and nutrition. Most companies who have this setup also offer company stores or discounts to activity trackers, the most common being FitBit. FitBit is a one-stop-shop for general activity, health and fitness tracking. For example, the FitBit Flex HR will track you steps, sleep and activities. This data will automatically (once you set it up) sync to the Viverae portal. In addition, FitBit's website and app allow you to track your nutrition as well. This also syncs with Viverae. You can also get a FitBit scale that will get your weight and other vitals. This can also sync with Viverae. You now have an all-inclusive ecosystem with minimal effort:

1. Viverae Portal to show all progress for whatever bonus you will get from your company
2. FitBit Device
3. FitBit Application and Website

That's it! It's not as intimidating when you see it that way.

But I Do More than Just Health and Fitness for Work, School, or a Team

That's fine. And maybe you already have fitness devices or activity trackers you currently use. This can be both an easier and more complicated scenario. If you are using one of the major brands, like Garmin, FitBit, Jawbone, Under Armour, Polar, or TomTom, then those companies already sync pretty well with other websites and portals. In regards to nutrition and health tracking, if you are using one of the major ones like MyFitnessPal, then that syncs with all of the major activity and fitness tracking brands. Therefore, for those who are doing multi-sport, activities other than walking/running, and so on, there is an easy way to sync everything up.

Now, the caveat here is that you may need to be using multiple sites and apps to see everything, but it's still rather minimal. Here is an example of a common scenario for someone who does multiple sports in addition to nutrition tracking.

1. Garmin VivoActive HR
2. MyFitnessPal
3. Withings Scale

This scenario is very common. And it's also the easiest to manage. Now, there are other sites you can sync your data to for a different or more in-depth look at your workout and health data, but that is completely optional. However, let's say you have a device that doesn't sync up well with other sites you want to use. There are websites out there that will sync with virtually anything that can give them data. In turn, they will then format that data and send it other sites you use. So, if your fitness device doesn't sync with MyFitnessPal, for example, you can use a site such as tapiriik.

In Summary

Ideally, you want to stick with an existing ecosystem, especially when it comes to devices. So, if your planned support group all use FitBit, and FitBit's devices meet your needs, don't look any further. If you have tons of friends who have all sorts of devices, find a site that can sync with all of them, and then get whatever device looks the nicest or is the easiest to use. Up next I'll cover the difference between an activity tracker and fitness device, and how to choose the right one for you.

On the right track

I accomplished my goal last week; I exercised 3 times. Since I have been out of it for a bit now, I was a little sorer than expected, otherwise I would have gone for a 4th workout. For the most part, I made sure to log my foods. This weekend was a bit tough, but my goal right now is to log 5/7 days, which I did accomplish,

I missed my workout yesterday because I was busy painting and shoveling ice, and I am extremely sore right now. However, tomorrow I will be back into the swing of things. Overall I am doing well, but I can still do a lot better. However, I am very optimistic and progress is progress. Good luck to everyone out there striving towards their goals!

Progress

I weighed myself this morning, with my eating being completely out of whack lately. To my surprise, my scale said I was down 2.2 pounds. Even though the quality of food has been poor overall, the quantity has been down a lot. So, as usual, it always goes back to calories in versus calories out. 

However, as one would expect, I have been extra sluggish and despite my lack of sleep, I have been more tired during the day than I usually would with more nutritious foods.

Either way, I am trying to make sure I am logging my food. I need to go back and update some meals, as laziness and being tired from the day has caused me to have to alter some of my dinners that I had pre-entered.

I really want to get some sort of basic workout in tonight, even if it’s just some push-ups, pull-ups, wall sits, and lunges. To try and avoid my usual excuses of “lack of time”, “tired” and “busy”, I plan on doing some of the workout while the mushroom and goat cheese calzones cook. And once dinner is completed, I will finish up my workout and then eat dinner. I got this!

Focus, Discipline, Motivation

One of these things I cannot say I lack, because I truly just don't have it; discipline. But, I do all of these crazy races, and tons of them, and my times are not horrible. I appear to be training for my events. So how do I not have discipline? Well, let me explain.

I will start off with focus, since that is easiest. When I am working out or racing, I have complete focus on the task at hand. All of my worries and troubles and the rest of the world vanish. I have no problems here. Getting here is the tough part, since I lack the discipline to force myself here when I need to be.

Secondly, motivation. If you know me or you have read my blog or see the races I do, you will know I am not lacking in the motivation department. My motivation drives me enough to get just enough training in so I don't die at my races and can hopefully be alright enough to drive home or back to my hotel afterwards.

But discipline; this I have none of. I cannot force myself to stick to a schedule, I lack any consistency in my life, when times are tough I cave in from the pressure and skip workouts, eat poorly, slack off, or all of the above. When I look back at my life to this point, I realize that I have never had discipline; something I am always jealous of my younger brother, as he controls the very essence of discipline. 

This is not a sob story, just me getting out reality so that I can be held accountable by others and not just myself. It's also a reminder to myself that I have a lot of self-improvement to do.

Although I cannot magically get discipline over night, I will be working very hard towards this. You all know my goals; Boston and Kona. Without discipline, I will never get to either. Therefore, expect to see lots of blog posts, status updates, healthier lifestyle, more sleep, and a proper fitness plan that will help me achieve my goals.

To anyone out there struggling, the first step is to identify your flaws, be humble, and then make an effort to correct those flaws. It's a hard road, but if you make it to the end, you will be a changed and better person for it. Happy hunting! 

Nike Training Club - NTC

I wanted to review a bunch of the Nike apps, as I really like the simplicity, yet effectiveness and usefulness of them. The first app on the chopping block is NTC, Nike Training Club. As a quick note, I am reviewing from an iDevice perspective, as I do not have Android or other mobile OS. With that said, let's dive in.

Walkthrough

First off, you'll need a Nike Plus account. You can either sign up with your own e-mail or use your Facebook account. I am not a fan of how much companies get when I use a Facebook login, so I use it as little as possible, but that is just me. You have less logins to worry about if you use your Facebook account though; that is pretty nice. Anyway, you can learn about the Nike account on your own.

The intro screen is nice and simple. The Swoosh is for the home screen, with My Workouts you can view your recent and saved workouts, Progress shows your training totals in minutes as well as the general info from your workout, and Rewards are the typical Nike fashion of encouragement, which is pretty effective. I do want to note that if you want heart rate and calorie burn information, you will want to get a heart rate monitor, such as the Polar FT40 or similar. The Quick Start option will let you go immediately to the last workout you did, if that is the one you want to perform. Get Workout allows you to browse a very healthy list of workout routines, including:

• Get Lean
• High Interval Cardio Drills to Slim Down
• Get Toned
• Light Weights and Intervals to Add Definition
• Get Strong
• Increased Weights and Reps to Build Strength
• Get Focused
• 15-minute Workouts to Target Specific Areas

After you select what you want, you select an intensity level:

• Beginner
• You Average 4-5 Workouts a Month
• This is really for someone who is not used to doing strength training or is wanting to get back into strength training
• Intermediate
• You Average 2-3 Workouts a Week
• If you have been doing strength training, then you still may want to ease into things with Beginner, or you can take the plunge
• Advanced
• You Average 3-5+ Workouts a Week
• You really want to have most of your current workouts focused on strength training and have a good base
• Typically you will work up to this; it's definitely challenging

Now you will get to see all of the workouts available in the level you selected. The list in the example above is from Get Strong - Beginner. Don't worry if you have no idea what Workout Routine to choose, select one and you can view the workouts and even click on each workout to see a video of that workout.

If you want to listen to music during your workout, go for it! It will be lowered when the voice is instructing you to do your next workout, if you need to switch sides, or just shouting out some encouragement. Then, select Do Workout and go!

During the workout you can Pause whenever you need. Also, if you get to a workout you either don't know or can't remember what to do, you select the Play button and can view the workout. This in essence pauses your workout, so after the video, you will be required to resume. 

The workouts have some simple warm-up and cool-down built in, but if you are a person who is typically very stiff before workouts or suffers from post-workout soreness, I highly recommend additional warming up and/or cooling down.

The Bottom Line

Regardless of any misgivings people have with Nike, this application and its workouts are completely free. It's one of the best free workout routine programs I have tried out. Sure, there are better paid ones out there, but free is free. And you will get a workout from these routines. Now, if you are a BeachBody or hardcore CrossFit convert, then even some of the Advanced workouts may not feel as challenging as you would want...but chances are if you are one of those people, you aren't interested in this app in the first place. Enjoy the burn!

Polar FT40 Review

I have had my Polar FT40 for about 3 years now. I purchased it for 2 reasons; 1) It was one of the few watches out at the time that had great reviews on overall accuracy of calorie expenditure during a workout and 2) It was Polar, so I knew the heart rate tracking was going to be very accurate and I could train in zones. Now, the FT40 does not have specific zone training settings, so this was a manual effort; I really only cared if my heart rate went too high. I also wanted a watch that was designed to be able to track fat vs. cardio; basically meaning that I wanted to figure out approximate calorie burn when I was doing weight lifting or HIIT workouts, in addition to my cardio workouts.

Watch Functions and Setup

When I bought the watch, it came with the manual, software installation CD, heart rate strap, heart rate monitor, USB sync dock, and the watch. I had to setup the watch first, since part of the software installation process was to sync the watch to the software. Watch setup was very easy; you put in your gender, height, weight, date of birth, and activity level, and set the time and date.

For more options from the main screen, press the bottom right button. The first option is settings. Now press the right middle button. Here are the Training Settings:

1. Training Sounds
• Off, Soft, Loud, Very Loud
• Pick whichever you want. When I used to listen to music, I turned the sound off, but since I don't usually listen to music now, I usually set the noise to Loud, which is usually a good volume to hear over gym noise or a treadmill motor.
2. Heart Rate View
• Beats Per Minutes or Percent of Maximum
• I do BPM because I don't train based on % of max, but if you do, you can
3. HeartTouch
• The Polar explanation says it better than I can: "When HeartTouch is on, different training information during training can be accessed without pressing buttons, for instance, when gloves make pressing buttons difficult, by bringing your training computer close to your transmitter."
• I personally use it so I can keep session duration displayed on the watch, and then when I want to see what time it is, instead of scrolling through the displays, which is a pain, I just move the watch near the heart rate monitor, and the time will be displayed.
• Per the manual and my usage, HeartTouch only displays the time, and no other display values...HeartTouch is either On or Off.
4. Heart Rate Upper Limit
• This value is set based on your personal info when you first setup the watch. However, if you are in amazing cardio shape, your max HR may be a lot higher. Therefore, you can change this if you know your max HR is different.

Other options on the main selection menu after Settings are Fitness Test and Data. You can read below about Fitness Test. For Data, you get some nice options:

1. Training Files
• Starts with most recent workout
• Displayed date, time of workout, duration of workout
• Press the right middle button to see details
• Calories
• This is your calories burned during the workout
• Cal. Fat
• This is the fat percentage of calories burned
• Average
• Average Heart Rate during session
• Maximum
• Maximum Heart Rate during session
• Fat Burn
• Amount of time you were in the fat burning zone
• This time is usually higher during low intensity workouts, such as strength training
• Fitness
• Amount of time you were in the fitness zone (or cardiovascular zone)
• Typically for runs, biking, or other purely cardio workouts, most of your session time will appear here.
2. Week Summaries
• Shows current week first
• Graph shows activity level of selected week vs. other weeks
• Pressing the middle right button, you can see the details for that week
• Duration (overall for all sessions)
• Calories (total from all sessions)
• Sessions (total sessions for week)
3. Totals since (when you first started using the watch)
• This is a really awesome feature, as you can see how awesome you are
• The one problem is that the max Duration time is 99 hour, 59 minutes, so although it will keep adding sessions and calories, your Duration will stop at 99h:59m
• Displays Duration, Sessions, and Calories
4. Delete Files
• Deletes your currently stored files...if your storage is full and you need to do a workout, you may need to do this
5. Reset Week Summaries
• Same as Delete files
6. Reset Totals
• Same as Delete files
• This is good to use if you are trying to achieve certain goals. This way you can see how many sessions, total duration, and total calories burned to achieve your goal. Then you can reset for you next goal.

Recommendations for Initial Use

After you have setup your watch, signed up on Polar Fitness website and are ready for a workout, I recommend doing 2 things. It's important to know 2 things; what is your resting heart rate and what heart rate range should you be working out in. Heart rate ranges for age and gender are good guides, but people who fall on either extreme end of the spectrum may either hurt themselves or not get enough out of a workout. For example, someone who is extremely out of shape, overweight, and has no real fitness stamina, then their heart rate range is going to be significantly less than another person who is in the middle of the spectrum in the same age group and gender. So, make sure to do the fitness test.

To do the fitness test, press the bottom right button 2 times, then press the right middle button. Make sure you heart rate monitor is on. You also want to do the following:

• Find a relaxed environment to do the test
• Avoid any physical activity prior to test, or any food, drink, or medicine that could alter your heart rate...do this for up to 1 day before test
• Avoid any large meals at least 2 hours before test (I tried test this way and right after a large meal and got the same results)
• Make sure if you are doing the test multiple times over time, always do it in the same conditions

Then, you can start the test, wait 5 minutes for it to finish, and see your results. You will then be asked to update your VO2Max, at which point you should, since it will make calorie burn more accurate.

My result for example, the first time I took the test mine was 42. Per the chart in the manual, that means my VO2Max was on the low end of being moderately good. The last time I took it I was at 53, which is very good. So, you can see I have improved. In essence, the fitness test is Polar's version of trying to determine your VO2Max. Compared to getting your actual VO2Max tested, it's not the greatest, but compared to most other calculators and competitor watches, it's one of the most accurate.

Training

When you want to start your workout, press the middle right button and wait for the watch to pickup the heart rate monitor signal. If you want to start, just press the middle right button again and go! If you need to pause, press the bottom left button, and the press the middle right button to resume. if you are done, press the bottom left button twice.

If you want to customize your workout, before pressing the middle right button a second time, press the bottom right button to see Training Settings, and then press the middle right button to see options.

• Training Sounds
• If you want beeps or not, and how loud
• Heart Rate View
• BPM or % of Max...whatever you want to display based on your training session
• Heart Touch
• I usually keep it on all of the time so I can see the current time if I need to
• Heart Rate Upper Limit
• If you are trying to keep from going above a certain heart rate, set the upper limit and make sure you have Training Sounds enabled so you know if you go over

Sadly, there are no other special training settings. However, there are plenty of other models you can get for this. But for a watch to get you accurate calorie burn from workouts, this is definitely the watch for you.