Garmin 305 Deal for Black Friday @ Amazon!
November 26, 2008 – 8:58 pmI just found out some great news for those of you thinking about making a purchase of a GPS / Heart Rate device - the Garmin 305 is on sale in Amazon’s Black Friday Sale (that has already started).
They have it on sale for $149 and it is listed as available for free shipping. This is the best price that I’ve seen it listed for; last spring when some of my runners were buying them they were around $205 to $215 and just the other day Nikki says she looked them up and they were $179.
I don’t have to go into all the ways that I enjoy my Garmin 305 (that I received as a gift last January at the Rock N Roll Marathon from a runner I trained!), but I’ll say that I’ve done every workout and race (except 2 workouts I forgot to bring it) with it on except my swim workouts and the swim of the Great Illini Triathlon.
Here’s my Lake City Marathon Data posted on motionbased.com
Now that I’m using it with WKO+, it’s opening up some new worlds of data analysis and exercise geekiness!
Just thought I’d pass this along as I found out by reading Obsessable.com (trying to figure out how to go about setting up a media server… any ideas!)
Personal Training and Economic Incentives.
November 26, 2008 – 1:13 pmThere have been a few questions on my mind as I continue to work on establishing our personal training and coaching business. The questions result from two philosophies that influence our industry:
1. Economic Cost correlated to Personal Reward
2. Behavioral Choices correlated to Economic Cost
As you can imagine, the current economic climate is starting to make some trainers wonder if their clients will begin to cut back on the amount of sessions per week they exercise in the studio. I do not believe that we have seen that occur yet (at least not for Nikki and I), but the fear is still there.
Here in Lexington, Kentucky, I wonder if the same can be said for all the trainers that are joining the profession on a full-time basis. The personal training climate has definitely been changing over the last 3 years. When we made the decision to move back to Lexington (July ‘05), we knew that we wanted to start our own training business. At the time there were a limited number of private training studios, a large population in need of exercise, fitness and health services and a robust demographic that could afford regular training sessions. The only change that we have seen in that equation over the three years has been an implosion of trainers and training facilities. In late 2006 through 2007, we saw a new studio start up about every-other-month, not including the influx of 24hour low-cost facilities that has happened. I wonder if those new-to-market facilities and professionals are thriving?
Let me address the delimma I’ve see in Personal Training in regards to a clients economic decision:
In most personal training businesses there are two models of selling your service:
a. You sell “packages” of training sessions to clients. This could be a package of 6,8 or 20 sessions; often the package is discounted to some degree based on the number of sessions bought.
b. You bill the client for their training session once they have completed the session. This can be set up like a massage session where you collect immediately after the service, or you can bill a client on a monthly basis.
We personally use a model where we bill our current clients at the end of each month based upon the number of workouts they completed. This model has worked out well for us. It took me a little time to buy into the concept of this model when we began using it, but after working in this manner for almost three years and having used the other models in past situations, I believe that it is the best methodology for both the client and the trainer.
Despite our success with this model, there are some behavioral choice and economic disincintives by using either of these models. Why?
1. The client is often seeking a trainer for one of several reasons: education, expertise, support, accountability and motivation. At first the cost of a session may be worth the education and expertise, but there comes a time when the client has to decide if they have more to learn - or have they learned all they can from the trainer and want to find other ways to motivate and hold themselves accountable?
This is where I believe we have made our business a success. We offer value to the lives of our clients because of the quality of service we can offer them. Ultimately, we’ve found a group of people that believe in us as their “guides along their health and wellness journey”.
2. Even for those that have chosen us as their “guides” it still presents an economic delimma prior to each workout. Is this workout worth the effort and $50 or can I skip tomorrow’s session and live with Gary’s speeches and diatribes (we do require 24 hour notice when possible).
As you can see our economic incentives are turned around, we are punishing our clients (economically) by charging them for the behavior that we are trying to implement into their lifestyle (exercise). If you have ever read the book, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
So here’s the delimma that we are faced with:
1. The client needs to exercise in order to improve health, body composition, emotional well-being, strength, functional strength, rehabilitation, etc.
2. The client would like to use a trainer with experience and expertise on the subject (and preferrably with a good personality too)
3. The client often does not have the intrinsic motivation to perform the workouts on their own over a long period of time, in a consistent manner.
4. Personal Trainers make a living by charging a person (client) for a workout that the client may not be highly motivated to take on in the first place.
Can this situation be reversed?
Not to long ago I read a post by Brad Feld that talked about anti-charities. The idea behind an anti-charity is that you set a goal and set a dollar amount to contribute to a charity. If you DO NOT meet your goal, the money goes to that charity. Great - you may be thinking, I like to contribute to charities so I win both ways. Wrong! The idea is that you choose a charity that you are opposed to. So, I could choose something like the University of Colorado Athletic Booster Fund. As a born and bred Nebraskan that graduated from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln and lives for college football season, it would destroy me to write a check out to the University of Colorado.
So my incentive is now on two different levels:
1. I want to make my goal (whatever that may be) so that I can improve my life and situation.
2. I want to make my goal so that I don’t have to face the negative consequence of helping out the Buffalo’s.
Can this be applied to a personal training model?
I believe it can, but we have to remember all parties involved and the motivation that each one has. Here are my initial thoughts:
a. Set a goal with a client. For this example, let’s say that this goal is to strength train in the studio 2x a week with the trainer. That would be 8 sessions for the month @ $50 a session = $400.
b. Because this amount of financial cost is normal for that amount of service, decide on an appropriate amount of money that would cause some level of economic “hardship”. For this example I’ll use a 50% premium:
$400 x 50% = $200 (penalty) + $400 (cost of service) = $600 total amount for contract
c. Determine an agreed upon amount of money to “refund” for each behavior you want to reward (strength train at the studio in this scenario). For this example I’ll use $28 per workout:
$28 x 8 = $224 (potential reward)
So if the client accomplishes the goal of working out 8x during that month, they will have paid $376 for those 8 sessions. That would have saved them $24 based upon normal rates, but would have saved them the $224 based upon the initial contract.
“But wait,” you are saying. The trainer now has motivation to not encourage the client to come in and workout. On paper that may appear to be the case, but in reality it doesn’t work that way.
For instance, in normal times I have a cancellation rate of approximately 20%. (This week is Thanksgiving and I’m looking at 50% of my normal schedule). So given a normal situation 0f 20%, I could expect at least 1 cancellation out of those 8 sessions.
7 x $50 = $350. $350 is less than the $376 that the trainer would make if the client earned back all of their “incentives”
Final thoughts on Economic Incentives, Personal Training and Behavior:
These are just my initial thoughts on the subject, but they have been mulling around in my head quite a bit lately. It seems strange that as trainers, our business model exists by charging people money to do something that they initially (or ultimately) don’t want to do unless they have some type of outside motivation: doctor’s orders, social pressure, spouse’s pressure, etc.
For some clients, the appointment alone is enough motivation to initate and adopt the behavior of exercise. But for some it is not. This is at least one way that I have thought of to try and use basic economic principles of behavior to try and motivate both the client and the trainer. It appears that both can come out ahead, because keep in mind - the behavior of exercise does have some value to the client or they would not be seeking a trainer in the first place!
Why not just ask for the money in a package deal up front?
This is one model that I mentioned above that may appear to address the issue. The client pays for the package; therefore the economic cost is already felt and the trainer and client can just begin their work without worrying about the cost per session.
That may appear to be the case, but from a purely economic perspective once the check has been written the economic incentive to determine behavior is gone. As a client the economic hardship has been felt at the onset therefore there is no incentive to attend the workouts 3 weeks down-the-line; as the trainer when you get the money upfront, why would you be economically motivated to have the client show up - you’ve been paid?
The Last Word:
These are economic principles we are talking about - because as I mentioned, there are other motivators that are present for both the client and trainer that are not purely economic:
client: health, wellness, social
trainer: profession, character, reputation
But with everyone thinking in economic terms these days, I thought it might be time for personal trainers and coaches to begin looking at their business models and asking, “Does this make economic sense?”
Superset options on TRX Suspension System
November 20, 2008 – 10:51 amHere are some additional thoughts on my continued use of the TRX.
Some of the benefits that exercisers and trainers talk about when they use the TRX Suspension System include:
- easy to set up anywhere
- includes core strength in majority of exercises
- easy to use for functional exercises
All of those things are a great reason to incorporate the system into your routine, but one reason that I have grown to really like the piece of equipment is that it allows me to superset a group of exercises without wasting time switching machines for changing dumbbells.
The two superset groups that I have been using a lot with some of my clients and in my own use are:
1. Chest Press –> Tricep Extension
2. Row –> High Arm Bicep Curl
To bracket these two supersets I add a set of squats and steps-ups to get a full circuit. For Example:
a. squats with dumbbells, 10x
b. chest press to tricep extension, 10x each exercise
c. row to high arm bicep curl, 10x each exercise
d. step-ups on plyo step, 10x on each foot
Rest 30 seconds and repeat full circuit.
I think that my clients are liking the circuit because it keeps them moving and creates little “dead time” (unless they want more dead time!). I have to admit that the tricep extension can be a pretty tough exercise when you are starting to fatigue!
Here are two videos that Nikki and I took on Saturday to demonstrate the two superset examples:
Tracking Training Stimulus and Fatigue for Triathlon Training.
November 7, 2008 – 4:02 pmIt’s fairly common in conversations about triathlon training today to discuss watts, normalized power, TSS, functional thresholds and intensity factors. These terms are all the result of more cyclists using power meters to monitor training intensity and even race efforts.
I have been using WKO+ (formerly cycling peaks) for a little while now, primarily with my Garmin 305 (because I still haven’t justified the power meter expense) to monitor my run training. The WKO+ software is really great and allows an athlete to get deeper into the training data more than any other training software and log program I’ve ever used. Because I don’t have a power meter it does have limitations.
The biggest limitation for me is that because I don’t have a power meter, the software’s performance management analysis doesn’t give me an accurate picture for triathlon training. Why? Because I have no way of quantifying the work done (TSS, CTL and ATL) on the bike that allows the software to analyze the data.
As a triathlete we also have to consider swimming. Can we monitor power in the water in a downloadable manner? Not yet.
So as I look at the athlete’s that I’m trying to help prepare for the 2009 triathlon season (specifically, Ironman Louisville) I have several issues when trying to use a similar method for monitoring training stimulus over time:
1. no one uses a power meter (and likely are not going to purchase one)
2. few have a Garmin 305/405 to monitor their running workouts
3. if they had all this equipment, it takes a lot of time to download and analyze, which they may or may not do.
4. they have to use the power meter and/or Garmin device for EVERY workout, or they can just estimate the workouts and enter a best estimate TSS or rTSS for the individual workout (which gets us back to why use it anyway)
So, while I am very excited to see some of the data that comes from my Garmin (and yes, hopefully soon my power meter?) it is not a practical solution right now to help my athletes by using the WKO+ software and the Performance Management Charts. (I have to say though, it is a lot of fun to spend time with the data I can get. It’s amazing the kind of data we can get in the field better data than what we had in the exercise phys lab on the Monarch.)
How we are tracking long term / short term training stimulus: (the post to my Ironman athletes)
In the past years I have used total hours of training as my main monitoring system. This was a good method because the majority of the exercise that I did was done at a very reasonable almost easy intensity.
For most of us, this is still going to be the biggest limiter (steady state ability and duration we can hold that intensity).
But with powermeters, heart rate monitors, gps’s, etc…. coaches and athletes are now getting pretty analytical in these monitoring methods. In my opinion, we are making a lot of things too difficult - especially for Ironman training when it matters more that we are consistent and gradually build duration. .. but ..
I realize that we all don’t have powermeters/gps’s so I’ve been thinking about how to add in an "Intensity Factor" to our monitoring.
Here is what I’ve decided to do:
A mixture of the Aerobic Points System (as seen on slowtwitch ) and Borg’s 10 Point RPE Scale (as discussed in the power training article by Dr. Coggan )
Here’s how the scoring it works:
10min swimming = 3 point
10min cycling = 1 point
10min running = 4 point
So as an example: 9.5 hours balanced week
1.5 hours (90 mins)of running: 36pts
6 hours (360 mins)of cycling: 36pts
2 hours (120 mins)of swimming: 36pts
That was just an example of how to add the total times, now to look at the RPE scale / intensity. We’ll be using the Borg 10 point scale , notice the Borg Scale is weighted so that the higher numbers are more spaced out. (Which is done for a number of physiological reasons that Dr. Coggan explains in the article also.)
Example of a workout calculation:
60 minute swim, effort at 3 RPE = 6*3 = 18pts * 0.3 = 5.4
45 minute run, effort at 2 RPE = 4.5*4 = 18pts * 0.2 = 3.6
60 minute cycle, effort at 5 RPE = 6*1 = 6pts * 0.5 = 3.0
Does this make sense? What I’d like you to do is calculate your total points at the end of each week, but you’ll need to write the "RPE" score in the comments as you log each workout.
The key to this system is that you are honest with your RPE scoring, otherwise we could just track hours. We will be tracking hours each week, etc… but I like how this system will account for the differences in intensity, plus we get to track it across all 3 sports, not just power on the bike or pace on the run.
One other data chart that we’ve been tracking:
I had an athlete that put together her own spreadsheet to track her RPE score, aerobic points and what we are calling intensity factor (which isn’t the same as IF for WKO+ which is NP/FTP). One of the charts that she set up was to a plot of the intensity factor to workout duration. By plotting that chart we can monitor the ratio on a week-to-week basis.
Feedback?
I would love to hear what others have to say about this concept. We’ve just started using it several weeks ago, so until we get more data I’m not going to make any conclusions. I am sure that those triathletes and/or runners that are used to monitoring their hard data from high tech devices with balk at the idea of using RPE. But I’m not worried about that, I’ve come to peace with using a subjective data point like RPE. In fact, I think that it can incorporate variables that impact training that a power meter can’t - such as psychological variables (fatigue) and health implications (early stages of sickness and stress).
Single Let Squat on TRX
October 20, 2008 – 8:42 amIn our book, Strength Training for Runners, Nikki and I included the single leg squat. It is an exercise that I like to add into a runners program for several reasons:
1. It requires you to use a single leg to produce force; this translates well into running which requites this movement to be repeated 1000’s of times.
2. It helps develop stability in the hips and knees. One of the premises that we have discussed in our book is that when a runner begins running more miles and increasing the intensity of their runs, if they have poor stability (primarily hip abduction and external rotation strength) they will be more prone to injury. The research we share in the book supports this theory.
The NASM training that Nikki and I attended back in June also used the single let squat as an assessment for specific movement patterns, muscle imbalances and range of motion (just another use that a trainer may have for this exercise).
As I continue to build the list of exercises that I do on the TRX Suspension Trainer, I have found the single leg squat to be one that I find very effective. I like how the TRX allows the non-power leg to follow a more natural “running” motion. It allows this motion, but it doesn’t interfer with the stability aspect of the exercise - the exercise still requires a person to maintain good stability through the entire motion of the downward and upward phase of the movement. By adding pauses at the bottom and top of the movement, you can add aditional stability challenges.
Here’s a picture from the Fitness Anywhere site that displays this exercise at the bottom of the exercise movement:
Hope you are staying injury free!
How to exercise when you want to lower stress.
October 3, 2008 – 3:20 pmThis week has been a highly stressful week for most Americans as we watch the financial stability of our banking system challenged, as we fear our retirements being pushed back or dissappear, as our small businesses worry about payrolls and slowing business and as we watch our government operate as usual (ineffectively and unintelligently).
It’s been tough as I see clients come in to the personal training studio with all their built up anxiety, hoping for some type of escape from their day. But it isn’t easy to escape the stressors because everywhere we turn the news cycle is focused on the worst and we are all curious what will happen. In fact, as I type this I have C-SPAN on in the background listening to the represenitives speaches as they prepare to vote in a couple minutes.
The one thing that my clients and I agree on is that after each workout, they feel a little better then they did as they walked into the door. The reason: Exercise is a great release for acute stressors and a hedge against future stressors.
How does exercise help relieve stress?
When you look at the common stress response that the body goes through, we have two natural responses when encountered with a stressor. We can choose to either fight or flee. This flight or fight response is the first step in the General Adaptation Syndrome, which is a model of the entire cascade of changes and responses that the body goes through as a response to the stressors.
While this reaction was a positive response and reaction in our earlier history (for safety and survival), it poses many problems related to our current lifestyles. The biggest problem is that while we are getting this injection of adrenaline and cortisone into our system, we are often left “reactionless”.
By involving ourselves in an exercise session while stressed, we allow our bodies to use that heightened state opposed to allowing it to cascade further and ultimately become a liability to our immune system and mood states.
This theory of exercise improving mood and relieving stress has been tested in many research projects and laboratories over the years. While I was in graduate school, the impact of exercise on mood states was something that I did a lot of literary research on. Specifically, I was interested in what types of exercise would prove to be beneficial for reducing stress or improving mood.
Here are some lessons that I learned:
- Make the exercise aerobic in nature. For example, jogging, walking, circuit training, swimming, etc.
- If possible choose an activity that is rhythymic in nature. This helps facilitate a “moving meditation” component.
- Don’t go all out. While you want the intensity to be enough to allow you to start breathing deeper and to build a sweat, you don’t want to completely fatigue your body - which often leads to lessened mood states opposed to improved mood states.
- Don’t make the exercise session competitive. The competition can be stressful itself, there is no need to add on to the pile.
Those guidelines leave the door open for many different activities, so I suggest you chose something you find enjoyable. If you read this blog, then I’m guessing you like to run, swim and/or bike - all of those can be great options (if you don’t have to deal with stressful traffic).
The goal of the exercise session is to counteract the negative impact that the stressor caused through the flight or fight response. While exercise is a great method to do this, another method that I’ve discussed over the years is by eliciting the Relaxation Response. The great thing is that use can use exercise to elicit this reponse (which maybe the reason exercise works in the first place). Read my post, “Mental Training for Endurance Athletes” to get more ideas on how these two can work together.
How does exercise hedge against stress?
As mentioned above, the response to an acute stressor is rapid. The repsonse involves activity from the cardiovascular, respiratory, hormonal and muscular systems (more become involved soon after). The idea about exercise acting as a hedge is similar to training for a 5k run. The concept is that when you are in better shape (physiologically), that stress response is not as dramatic to the system.
In some cases, there is research that shows that the body not only responds better to the heightened state resulting from the stressor, but that the response to the stress is not as elevated in the first place.
Most of the research that I’ve in this area measures fitness in terms of cardiovascular and respiratory fitness. In fact, a lot of the reseach is done with cardiovascular patients with a history of ischemia and their responses to psychological stress before and after a conditioning program.
Because of the research, I would again suggest that the best training methods would be to include regular aerobic exercise (with your Dr’s consent).
Final thoughts on exercise and stress reduction:
One of the individual’s that lead me into this interesting field of study and topic was Wes Sime, Ph.D. Dr. Sime had a doctorate in exercise physiology and clinical psychology (he liked school!). And it was interesting to listen to stories of how he would use knowledge from both disciplines in his sport psychology and consulting work.
Today I continue to hear more and more stories of psychologists and psychiatrist prescribing exercise as a way to help manage mood states and to reduce stress.
When I see a client walk into the studio stress out, I realize that I can help make their day a little better (as long as we don’t ruminate about the issues together). By inserting a little more cardio into their program, less rest between their strength training, and constantly getting them to focus on the task at hand - they’ll be able to walk out with at least a half smile on their face.
Links to Individuals that research around this topic (that I have learned a lot from):
1. Wes Sime, PhD (was at University of Nebraska - Lincoln)
2. Bonnie Berger, EdD (did a lot of the exercise type and mood state research, Bowling Green State)
3. James Blumenthal, PhD (Behavioral Medicine, Duke)
4. Herbert Benson, MD (Mind Body Institute, Harvard)
5. Robert Thayer, PhD (his book Origins of Everyday Moods jump started me some, Cal St. LB)
– Back to your regularly scheduled crisis! —
Dealing with the Taper?
September 30, 2008 – 11:01 amThe Chicago Marathon is in 12 days. That means we are 9 days into the taper of the training program. The taper period is starting to be a little stressful for some of the girls that I’ve been coaching.
The fears that many of us face in a taper are the same things they seem to be dealing with:
a. feeling unfit
b. feeling sluggish
c. knee soreness and pain (possible tendinitis)
d. hip soreness and pain
e. worry about not being ready
This group that is struggling with confidence is the same group that just set a personal best at a half marathon distance 2.5 weeks ago. (Everyone of them set a personal best)
Dealing with a taper period is often the most difficult part of the training program. While I’ve been sharing all the thoughts and ideas that I have about this issue, I’m curious to see what other runners do to help ease the dissonance during this period.
What do you do?
Intro: Sleep and the value for performance.
September 26, 2008 – 8:42 pmAs I am still recovering from the EndureChallenge, I have made a significant effort to get my required sleep. What is my required sleep? I’m not completely sure, but I normally function well off of 8.5 to 9 hours. When I get between 6 and 7 hours I really start to struggle and often try to get a nap.
The difficult part right now is that I have to be at the training studio at 5:50am Monday through Friday for my 6am clients. In order to get that 8.5 hours of sleep, I would need to be asleep by 8:30pm. That is a pretty difficult task.
One thing that I have done the past two weeks is set my “Go to Bed” alarm. I set my watch alarm to go off at 9:30pm to remind me that I need my sleep. Some nights it has worked and motivated me to go and sleep, but a few nights I have been wide awake and end up being awake for a couple hours after it goes off. In either case, it is a good reminder of what my body needs.
This is just an introduction to the topic as I’m going to be searching some of the research to see the latest information related to the topic of: Sleep and Performance.
I’ll be tagging articles I find at delicious here: Ditschfitness tags on sleep
My 2003 Experience:
The one period that I always go back to when I look for lifestyle answers that helped my performance was 2003. That year I had my most significant increases in running and triathlon performance - at all distances. The most meaningful advance that year was moving my marathon personal best from 3:28 to 3:04.
While there are many variables that helped account for that change, my ability to get adequate sleep was a big help. That year I was single graduate student with no other social obligations. There were many nights that I would go home and just sit in my lazy boy for an hour while I read a book and then go sleep for 9,10 or 11 hours. It was a fabulous, simple existance. (I also didn’t have a tv or internet at my apartment, which saved me hundreds of lost hours). I often think back to those times as my “monk in training” period - I was spending a lot of time reading Thomas Merton that year too.
Now I have many, many more things that pull me in different directions. While I would like to think that I could exist to work, train and recover - I realize that is not possible. (At least not if I want to keep friends and my marriage).
Give me your thoughts:
I would love to hear some of your thoughts on:
1. How much sleep do you need?
2. What strategies do you use to improve your sleep quality?
3. Do you take naps?
4. Do you get extra sleep on the weekends?
5. What is the biggest influence on the amount of sleep you get?
6. What could you “get rid of” in your life in order to get a little more sleep?
Good Night!
TRX Workout.
September 25, 2008 – 6:38 pmIn the personal training studio I use a TRX Suspension Trainer everyday to provide some supplemental exercises. For example, I use it to do chest presses (push ups), rows, assisted squats, one-leg squats and what they call the “power pull”. I like to do many of these exercises as warm up exercises because it uses bodyweight as the resistance and it is easy to incorporate stability aspects to the workout.
Yesterday, I decided to do a complete workout on the system and start to experiment with some more advanced exercises. Specifically I really wanted to challenge my core and see if I could get a complete workout. We’ve been using it so long as an accessory I wanted to test it out as a primary piece of equipment.
I’m a little sore today, but that is expected as I still haven’t recovered from the EndureChallenge and any lower body work makes me sore. My abs and triceps have also been a little sore today. Does being sore mean that it is a good workout? NO. But I was able to challenge some stabilizing muscles in my upper body in uncoventional ways and the core work is pretty challenging. There are still some core exercises that I’ve seen done that I wasn’t able to do.. maybe soon?
I’m going to try and incorporate one workout a week done completely on the TRX for a while and see how it works out. I’ll let you know.
In full disclosure, I have signed onto their affiliate program. Which means they give me a commission if you follow my links to their site and decide to purchase a system. I have used the system in the studio everyday for over a year and really like it, so I feel good promoting the equipment. I’m just excited to see how I can use it as a complete system. It could be a great piece of equipment to own for some of my more mobile clients, if I can create complete programs with the system.
Here’s a youtube video to motivate you a little (I’ll see about adding some videos of my own in the near future). The exercises around 1:42 into the video are the one’s that I have not been able to do yet?
