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More Time To Get Fit - 2025

Spot on Rob.

Mike95060 said:
You probably don't spend much time in the lifting bro-sphere. In that space ice baths are pushed as a way to get jacked. Apparently they don't do that.
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I haven't heard this in the circles I'm in (which aren't that huge), but also not online people I follow neither. I've heard of cold plunges for the reason Rob posted from fitness folks who're into resistance training, but nothing about getting jacked w/ ice baths. The jacked stuff is TRT/ HGH land.
 
stangmx13 said:
Cold baths for slightly quicker recovery and better sleep. Saunas for heat acclimation, which is mostly increased blood plasma. That’s the gist of the data I’ve found.
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question for you - any knowledge or thoughts on the affect of cold baths on ‘fast twitch’ muscle capability? have my own thoughts (experience), but am interested in hearing yours.
 
littlebeast said:
question for you - any knowledge or thoughts on the affect of cold baths on ‘fast twitch’ muscle capability? have my own thoughts (experience), but am interested in hearing yours.
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I've not come across any data on how cold baths affect the different aspects of performance. The studies I read performed the same workout with and without cold. So it'd be hard to draw those types of conclusions.

I think it'd be very hard to design and execute an experiment to search for these differences. The body doesn't truly separate any of the muscle fibers during most efforts. Type 1, 2A, & 2B are all active, just varying amounts at diff times. Slow twitch will contribute some contraction during "fast" activities and vice-versa. And of course neurological activation impacts all of it and is dramatically affected by recovery, even more-so for high intensity efforts. So I'd guess that in such an experiment, increased neurological recovery may mask any gains in muscle fiber recovery.

I haven't experimented with cold baths enough to guess at anything from personal experience. I haven't done a single one after lifting or anaerobic intervals and have done many after long endurance cycling. And I'm def biased because I'm probably all slow-twitch muscle :laughing. I'm on an anaerobic block rn so I should probably try it.

Here's an involved meta-study that I just read. The main results are that cold therapy reduces subjective sensations like DOMS immediately but not after 24hr and some object measurements like creatine kinase (marker for muscle damage) after 24hrs.

Effects of cold water immersion after exercise on fatigue recovery and exercise performance--meta analysis - PMC

Cold water immersion (CWI) is very popular as a method reducing post-exercise muscle stiffness, eliminating fatigue, decreasing exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD), and recovering sports performance. However, there are conflicting opinions as to ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
 
It's really shitty when event organizers fuck around and find out with other people's lives. I'm sure they'll add a few policies to mitigate that disaster in the future. But cmon, anyone could have foreseen that issue - and it sounds like many did, they just weren't on the boat. :mad:
 
Mike95060 said:
Shit. :( FWIW, I love the event but the criticism of the start is valid. Organizers want everyone in the water asap. The thinking is a tighter pack is easier to keep from going astray in heavy currents. I started pretty soon after the bell, sounds like it was chaotic behind me. This really sucks.

Escape from Alcatraz Triathlete Paralyzed at the Start
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OMG. that’s incredibly sad! 😔

especially as this is a person who was working to keep their body in peak shape.
 
my dude was a competitive swimmer his whole life (until the last few years). total fish. started in pools. later, he switched to open water competitions. did some gnarly swims, but never the bay. said it was a level of treacherous he wasn’t up for.
 
who’s wearing a pair of shoes that match for the first time in 135 days?

this girl! look at me walking without a special boot.

told my podiatrist today that i never understood how satisfying his job must be and how much he must love giving people the ability to stand and walk. i dare say he got a little emotional. i managed not to cry until i got in the car to head home and then the joy, the grief, and all of it hit me. i cried for the second time since i got nailed by that left turning car. it’s weird. i was so mission focused i took very little time to feel any way about what i was going through.

today was a really, really big day for me.
 
Tomorrow when you get out of bed, stand a little taller than today on that initial stretch for the ceiling.
 
Holeshot said:
Tomorrow when you get out of bed, stand a little taller than today on that initial stretch for the ceiling.
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that’s literally one of my exercises. i have to do toe lifts. the goal being to do ten single sided lifts with my left foot.
 
Rtmac said:
I started doing toe lifts while rehabbing my torn achilles. Now I do 60 every morning just out of habit. It has also stopped my plantar fasciitis flare ups.
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as my friend pointed out when i bemoaned my noodle-like left calf, “you were a very large person for your entire life. there’s lots of muscle to rebuild.” that was his diplomatic way of saying “shut up fatass, you’ll be okay.”

🤣🤣🤣
 
two wheel tramp said:
as my friend pointed out when i bemoaned my noodle-like left calf, “you were a very large person for your entire life. there’s lots of muscle to rebuild.” that was his diplomatic way of saying “shut up fatass, you’ll be okay.”

🤣🤣🤣
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I wore a left boot for 6 months once and am celebrating your recovery time. I had a ‘same height as das boot’ shoe on the right (danskö, blue suede cuz y not?) and parted ways with that memory pair asap, one worn, the other not. Slide in lambswool lined crocs/merrels worked the first weeks when at home. Go slow this week n gradually ramp it up as the fibers still need time to rebuild and you already have the best of luck :thumbup:thumbup
 
So first off congrats TWT on the good news.

Went to the gym last night and due to my previous extended layoff I have been slowly increasing the weights I for the exercises. last night I increased the weight by 5 pounds like usual and it was like wait what it wasn't as hard as last week. I wonder if my body has gotten shaken out of the hey you were off for a few months so lose all my gains and is now like hey I remember I used to be able to lift this easily mode. We shall see but am scared as we are going to FL next week for a few days of beach and relaxation and won't be gyming it and don't want progress to go backwards..

Also upped my treadmill time so at about 10 minutes of a light jog at what the treadmill says is a 4.5MPH pace. So total time is about 30-40 minutes on the treadmill with warm up and warm down. This week will be increasing by 1 minute Wednesday and Friday. After FL vacay I think I might start rotating in leg work on Mondays so may cut treadmill time on Monday to just walking at a 3.3MPH pace at an incline of 3 so I don't overdo the leg stuff on Mondays.

Seeing as I have ben back in the gym for a bit I am also thinking about a different routine of Monday, Tuesday gym, Wednesday rest then Thursday and Friday gym again and weekend rest. I think that may give me some extra time to focus on certain areas I would like to work harder and still stay at around 2 hours at the gym those nights.
 
littlebeast said:
question for you - any knowledge or thoughts on the affect of cold baths on ‘fast twitch’ muscle capability? have my own thoughts (experience), but am interested in hearing yours.
Click to expand...
Ice baths aren't about performance, though they can enhance performance if you have a very hard effort (i.e. 400m) followed by ice bath then another race within 30-40 minutes.

What they're really used for is recovery after a very hard workout.

What ice baths do is to constrict your capillaries. From this point on, I'm using my own interpretation but it fits pretty well with the effects. When the capillaries constrict, they are forcing the local blood and white blood cells out, then when the cold is taken away, or even better yet heat is added, fresh blood and white blood cells flow in, essentially replacing what was there before.

Now, how does that help? Whenever you have a hard workout, you're breaking down cells, the repair process of these cells leaves debris to be taken away through your veins. By constricting and expanding your capillaries, you've now moved the debris out of the area and replaced it with fresh white blood cells and fresh oxygenated blood. The latter is what helps with performance, in the short term when you have a follow-up race after a hard one, with the benefit fading over time.

Meanwhile, your cells can be repaired more efficiently with the fresh start of debris removed and more white blood cells in the vicinity.

Anyways, that's what I've assembled from parts of disparate facts and knowledge. As a track coach, it's advantageous to know what's going on in the body and how to best help athletes recover to both avoid injury and to push them the hardest that I can without getting them into a state of over-training which is when they have a much higher chance of getting injured.
 
Hey gang, any recommendations for a hydration backpack? I'm looking at this

USWE USWE Race 2.0 Hydration Pack

I think I need about 2L of capacity for longer rides. I don't really like biking with a backpack so if its light and breathable and doesn't trap heat and sweat too much or flop around while I move, that would suit.

secondary thought, is white to hard to live with for a sweaty beast like me? I was hoping to not do black because its such a heat magnet. Brown and pink don't really for it for me. If the white doesn't turn ugly immediately from sweat and dust, maybe its the best option?

Any wise words, @stangmx13 ?
 
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