Zen My Fitness – Linking Muscle and Mind

Everybody dreams of being a Superhero at some stage.

I wanted to be Spiderman, but one thing stopped me, well OK  a few things stopped me!

I just didn’t have the required superhuman powers needed: actually seemed insignificant if you ask me.

Ironman 2 is currently being released so I wanted to make sure I could at least keep up with Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark’s alter ego the Ironman.

Ironman does have a slight advantage he uses the exoskeleton armour and the inbuilt energy source to make him 100 times stronger, unfortunately I can’t get my hands on one of those but hey what the heck!

So the best thing I could do was to develop those super powers myself by intense exercise and some real food nutrition.

I compiled a number of challenges that would give me a good measure of my abilities to become a superhero.

How did I go? Well I could easily tell you I now have super powers but would you believe me? Lets not go there.

It’s good fun to measure ourselves. You can gauge growth and help you identify what needs focus for progression.

HOW FIT?

Determining how physically fit you are, is a good indicator of health.

There are many things we can not change about ourselves (not counting botox of course) but managing our health is in our control.

You might even sneakily check yourself against a friend, a famous person or even dare I say it compare yourself to an action character like Ironman.

What is your definition of physical fitness?
Is it:

• Ability to conduct normal activities without getting out of breath?
• Strength relative to your body weight?
• Able to run a marathon?

Whatever it is, it’s dependent on your point of view and priorities, but it would need to include at least some of these areas:

• Cardiovascular Endurance (running distances)
• Flexibility Training (bend and stretch)
• Strength Training (body building for buffness)
• Muscular Stamina (sprinting up hills with a sack of potatoes)
• Body Composition (body fat or beer gut)
• General Skill Training (kicking a ball without falling over)

Considering the above, I have complied well known and proven tests to provide an overall profile for determining physical fitness that even Ironman would have difficulty in achieving.

I know I tried them all out myself! And age does count which you can factor in however you want.

I’m a 47 year old male so come on lets compare!

The Beep Test.

This test measures fitness by how many shuttle stages you complete then using your age/ gender determines your VO2max i.e by the volume of oxygen you consume while exercising at your maximum capacity.

Those who are fit have higher VO2max values and can exercise more intensely than those who are not as well conditioned.

A mean value of VO2max for male athletes is about 3.5 litres/minute and for female athletes it is about 2.7 litres/minute.

In this test, you run back and forwards along a 20 metre track, keeping up with a series of beeps (I use a Beep Test iPhone app.)

The timing of the beeps gradually increases until you can no longer keep up and this defines the level achieved.

A standard minimum requirement is Level 7.5 or 56 shuttles for a total of 1,120 metres in 6 minutes 30 seconds.

You can then compare your VO2max. in this table as an indicator of fitness.

Tabled results are in units of (ml/kg/min) and only show excellent pass results, remembering we are trying to be SuperHeros.

My recent test recorded a Level of 10.8 with VO2max of 49ml/kg/min or 3.4l/min

The 3 km RUN

It is not an Olympic event but  a very popular race distance to run in Europe for amateur sports.

I like the 3 kms run it’s in between a sprint and a middle distance run.

Great if you need to catch a gang of thieves on foot.

It’s quite simple run 3 kms on a relatively flat surface as fast as you can (and wave to your friends as you pass by).

Australian Football (AFL) is a continuously fast kicking game with lots of short distance sprints.

A result from one of the players was 9:37 min by Tim Houlihan (2006)
A serious amateur record was 7:28.37 min by Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya (2009).

My time is 12:20 min, I didn’t have much petrol left in the tank after that.

The Push Up Test

The push up test is a great upper body strength indicator.

Everybody goes through life using this common measure in one way or another.

An excellent number of push up results (is in brackets) would typically look like this.

Men Age: 20-29 yrs (54+): 30-39 (44+): 40-49 (39+)
Women Age: 20-29yrs (48+): 30-39 (39+): 40-49 (34+)

But in reality if you have been working out for a while then these push up numbers would be too easy.

So here is the Super Hero Push Up Test which Ironman would have trouble doing.

The test is do as many push ups as you can in 3 minutes!

Rest whenever you want, but keep the clock running the whole time.

For a rep to count, you must maintain perfect form: elbows locked at the top, chest 2 inches above the floor at the bottom, hips not sagging, and knees not touching the floor.

Score
Below average   < 55
Average       55 to 74
Good            75 to 99
Excellent    100 to 110
Extraordinary    111 or more

I did a 114 but I got very wobbly towards the end.

THE PLANK
Core Strength is a must. It supports your whole body by giving you stabilization.

It also helps Superman fly.

The plank helps develop strength in the core, back, shoulders, arms, and glutes.

Its a great indicator for the ability to lift heavy weights or playing intense sports.

Most people can’t hold the plank for 30 seconds on their first attempt.

BUT sorry we wont be doing a standard plank which is for mere mortals unless you really want to.

We will ramp it up to Super Hero level.

My own version is to complete the following in 2 minutes;

30 sec hold 1 arm plank – turn your supporting forearm the same shape as a bicep curl and stretch out  ( 45 deg between body and arm) as being pulled a part also lift the opposite leg off the floor! Nice

Change arms for another 30 seconds – hold other arm and leg off the floor.

Now use both arms for support for 60 seconds;  both arms like a bicep curl then you can have a 30 second rest and do it all over again  3 times.

Score time based on 1 repetition:

0- 30 seconds Olive Oil
30-60 seconds Average Joe
60-90 seconds Stud
90-120 seconds Popeye

If you can do this easily then you will have abs of steel.

The finale! The famous 300 work out

This is not really a workout but used as an indicator by the movie director to show how the actors had progressed over time.

The interesting philosophy behind this routine is that the trainers didn’t want to turn the actors into bodybuilders.

They wanted to recreate the conditions and look of the Greek warriors that could kill mythological beasts.

Its not that hard but the only catch is… you need to finish in less than 20 minutes.

• 25 x Pull-up (after 12 I admit to having to jump up and control the lowering)
• 50x Dead lift @ 135 lbs (including barbell )
• 50x Push-ups
• 50x Box Jump @ 24″ box (must completely stand up on box)
• 50x Floor Wiper @ 135 lbs (one-count)
• 50x KB Clean and Press @ 36lbs (KB must touch floor between reps)
• 25x Pull-up ( this is tough)

OK that’s a 300 rep total.

Craig Ballatyne’s of Turbulence Training score was 19.07 min.

Gerard Butler the starring actor in 300 score was 18.11 min.

My time well lets say it could be better at 21.04 min.

So do you have what it takes to be a SuperHero ?

How did you measure up in these tests? I’m sure you did all right…

If you want to improve on your results click on Turbulence Training BodyWeight 500 it is a 4 week routine Craig has designed to build up and go beyond the 300 workout level.

There are many more tests we could have tried for varying measure of physical fitness but I believe these ones give us good all round indicator our real strengths.

I didn’t pass as well as I liked so Ironman’s place as an Avenger is safe.

Actually I can’t wait for “The Avengers” movie to be released that will mean another challenge to try out.