Resources
Fitness Tracking and Technology Presentation - March 4, 2021
Interval Training
A good way to interval train is by monitoring your heart rate (HR) and knowing what your zones are. The following are the different zone ranges your heart goes through during a workout. Resting Rate, Moderate Rate, Tempo Rate, Threshold, and Max Heart Rate are the terms used (easiest effort to most difficult) to show what zones you were in during a workout. Those of you who use Strava or other workout tracking software, you will see these terms used frequently, to describe workout intensities you’ve done and what percentage you were in them, during a workout .
To monitor your HR it’s easiest to use a heart rate monitor (HRM) while working out. The preferred HRM is the chest strap for accuracy and how easy it is to use, especially while paddling. From my experience the HRM you wear on your wrist tends to be inaccurate due to salt water, sweat, and movements our wrists make while paddling. You could also check your pulse rate (while timing it) frequently and quickly to find your beats per minute. However, this isn’t as accurate and will impede on some workouts where timing between sets is crucial. Familiarizing yourself with your HR numbers helps in determining if a workout was done at the correct level, how many repetitions you should do, and how much recovery your body should take afterwards. If a workout is too difficult and you can’t maintain your HR in the zones suggested, you might need to back off the intensity, speed, or the number of repetitions. Cardio training shouldn’t be easy, the more fit you become, the longer/more reps you will end up doing. Once you begin to see that you can sustain a HR throughout the entire workout, it will be time to consider increasing the sets, intensity, duration, or distance. Everybody has different HR numbers depending on age, physical fitness, gender etc., so knowing your own HR is vital for creating a workout that meets your level. If in a group paddle, be mindful of recovery times for all. Recovery time is just as important as the hard intervals. The amount of time it takes for the heart to recover to a Moderate or Resting Rate and then quickly increase to Threshold or Max Rates, is what we're trying to achieve during many interval workouts. Focusing on this fluctuation is critical for good overall cardiovascular training and health. INTERVAL WORKOUT: LONG INTERVALS
(IN HARBOR)
INTERVAL WORKOUT: SHORT INTERVALS
(IN HARBOR)
INTERVAL WORKOUT: PYRAMID
INTERVAL WORKOUT: BY PADDLING INTESNSITY
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RecoveryThis phase should be done the day after a hard cardio or strength day. This could involve a long leisurely paddle to loosen the muscle groups used the day before and help lactic acids from settling into muscle groups used the day prior. You could also use another activity for recovery, as long as it loosens the muscles used during your paddling workout. You’ll want to keep your HR in the Moderate zone primarily, but could venture into Tempo on occasion. An easy rule to follow is double the time of the hard workout for the recovery workout time. This prepares the body for another workout, by speeding up the recovery phase and preparing the body for another hard workout the following day.
Strength TrainingInvolves creating situations where your muscles are moving under slower and much heavier conditions. HR is typically lower than cardio/interval training, and muscle movement should be put under a load, throughout a full range of motion. This could be weight training, cable pulls, calisthenics (push-ups, pull-ups, sit ups, etc.) or paddling. Yes, paddling at an extremely slow rate and creating a HEAVY blade all the way through your stroke, is a great strength training exercise. Some people even use steering blades (or a larger volume blade) to create more resistance, or use a bungee cord around the hull of a canoe, to create more resistance while paddling.
STRENGTH WORKOUT #1
STRENGTH WORKOUT #2
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