Exercise and fitness

I got asked to talk about what I do for exercise/fitness. Alors… voila.

Aerobic exercise

For aerobic exercise (aka cardio), I mostly do jogging following the MAF Method. Nick Bare posted a video on this topic yesterday that talks a lot about this as well.

This method roughly involves improving your aerobic foundation by doing most of your training in heart rate zone 2. To calculate the max heart rate you want to train at, Phil Maffetone recommends this formula:

Max Heart Rate = 180 – Your Age

For the low end of the range, I do something similar to Nick Bare and I try to stick within 10 bpm of that maximum. So because I’m 30, my max heart rate is 150 bpm (180 – 30), which makes my target heart rate between 140bpm and 150bpm. That being said, I’m sure it would be about as effective to increase that range to 15 bpm or even 20 bpm.

(Also, for what it’s worth, I’ve started targeting a range of 135bpm to 145bpm. As Nick Bare points out in his video, this helps reduce the chances of accidentally exceeding my max target heart rate.)

As for tracking my heart rate, I use a Polar H10 heart rate sensor. I don’t trust the heart rate measurement produced by my watch 😅

On good weeks, I try to run for an hour almost every day. (This doesn’t include any time I’m playing badminton or volleyball.)

Anaerobic exercise

For anaerobic exercise, I mostly do weightlifting using the progressive overload method.

I have a 3 day (ie. chest/back/core, legs/biceps/core, shoulders/triceps/core) program that I follow twice a week. I gradually increase my weights each week for about 4 weeks, starting at 4 reps in reserve. After this, I have a deload week where I pretty much perform half the reps at half the weight.

(In writing this, I realized I should replace one of my leg days and target another region. For a long time now, my goal has been to become less of a gym tyrannosaurus (in contrast to all the gym chickens people seem to more commonly referenced). Switching over one of those days will probably help with that balance a bit more.)

For tracking my workouts, I’ve been using Strong. In addition to tracking exercises and body measurements over time, it also provides a rest timer for between sets.

Stretching/mobility

I seem to suffer from early onset rigor mortis 🤣 So as a result, I’ve been trying to spend more time working on my stretching and mobility.

I try to get in at least one Pomodoro (25 mins) each day. To track this time, I’ve been using the Session app (I also use this app for balancing work and breaks).

For stretching/mobility, I usually do one activity per day. These activities may include static stretching, foam rolling, yoga (I usually use the Downdog app), muscle stimulation (I use a Compex SP 2.0), or taking a hot epsom salt bath.

I’ll also apply heat pads sometimes as I’m working at my standing desk.