It's a Hodge Podge Post ? The Bionic Chronicles

So today?s post isn?t going to be focused on just one thing, my mind is on my upcoming family vacation and thinking about all the write-ups we?ll be doing when we get back. Oh and the 4,000 miles of driving we?ll be doing. It?s a road trip, with stops in Tennessee and then down to Florida and back. Why would I chose to drive 4,000 miles when they have made these new fangled things called airplanes. Because airplanes are for wusses.

Yep?that looks about right.

So today we?re going to be discussing training (I hear your collective moan; it?s not that kind of discussion) and our families 2012 goal to hike 100 Trail Miles and how we?ve shot ourselves in the foot.

Training with a Purpose

I?m not a huge fan of exercise. Really I?m not. I prefer the whole ?eat Fritos and Ben & Jerry?s ice cream on the couch while watching a good movie and keeping warm under my favorite fleece blanket? activity. One of the reasons why I hate?exercise is because it?s just so darn hard. Don?t get me wrong I love to hike and climb, but the Stairmaster and the treadmill and the weight machines, they really are no fun. Then there are squats. Squats just outright suck. The deadlift is right behind that too.

So you?ll see that I?m not one of those hardcore, ?roided, endurance athlete, self-punishing for pleasure, sickos you might see at your local gym. I choose to quietly laugh and ridicule those type of people; I?d point my finger at them if I weren?t so busy trying to suck wind and stay alive. However as much as I want to?believe?that Twinkies and Oatmeal Creme Pies are the way to summit mountains and crank on crimps it just doesn?t work that way. Plus, I?m a cripple so I?ve got that working against me too.

My body can only take so much abuse. I?ve wrecked my shoulders in the first year of climbing and my knees outright hate me after a few miles on flat terrain. I?ve topped the scales at 205 lbs a far cry from where I used to be in the military at 155 lbs. My metabolism didn?t just slow down, it broke down and my activity level plummeted with my accident. Add it all up and it?s not?conducive?to a lifestyle of a successful outdoor athlete, no matter what you want to say. So I decided one day that it was time to get back to the gym and to start training my body. It?s been one of the best decisions I?ve made.

I was four months along in this photo.

I?ve read books many climbing books on the topic?(this one, this one, and this one) and they all kind of say the same things. ?The best way to train is to climb/hike/backpack/insert activity here? but I?ve found that isn?t the case for everyone. In the month-and-a-half I?ve been hitting the gym on the regular I?ve seen the largest growth in my climbing since I began. I didn?t buy new shoes (actually went back to my flat-last non-sport climbing shoes) and I didn?t magically grow super skills. I just trained my whole body and changed the way I ate.

My strength has improved, I?m climbing at a full grade higher, and my endurance has increased. I only climb once a week, and even then I only get to maybe seven sport routes a night max. I?ve seen my energy increase, and even my hiking endurance has shot through the roof. I haven?t been training for climbing specifically, or any sport for that manner. I don?t campus or do hang board training, I don?t use a weighted belt for pull-ups, or a weighted backpack (yet). I do nine simple exercises and then some cardio. The same ones every workout 3-4 times a week. I lift two times a week and do endurance cardio 1-2 times a week. No personal trainer, just basic machine exercises and sometimes I don?t even do all nine, I usually choose 5-6 one night and MAYBE 2-3 the other.

One of the things that keeps me motivated to hit the gym is it gives me a chance to laugh at the people that spend their lives there working on specific muscle groups in order to look super buff and?swollen. They do one exercise to blast that third muscle fiber on the left bicep for maximum growth. While I?m in-and-out in 70 minutes having done a full routine. What a bunch of tools!? I giggle in your general direction.

See?..even my son is laughing at you.

I also giggle at the person who aimlessly wanders the gym looking at the machines and weights but never breaks a sweat. Also the person working out so lightly that they can read a book, watch a TV show, and hold a conversation all at the same time. Oh?. and if you?re one of those persons who carries their phone with them and has a conversation on it instead of working out but still sits on the machine like you?re doing something, just stop. Please, just stop?..you annoy me and everyone else.

So I found that training my whole body in a non-specific routine had yielded for me the best results. So tell me, what works for you?

A 100 Mile Update

For anyone who has been following this blog you know that we set a goal as a family (we had many but only this one is relevant to TBC) to hike 100 trail miles in 2012. It was a great feat for us to try as we have a six year old who isn?t fond of taking long walks in the woods, and our schedules make it difficult to get out but maybe once or twice a month. Summer was hot, I mean real hot which doesn?t bode well for a man with an SCI (spinal cord injury) as the heat and humidity drain my strength and?suffocate?me with every step.

We started off the year very slowly taking 1-2 mile trips, we didn?t get out a few months and fell well behind. One of the reasons we didn?t get at it full-steam is we didn?t think our son could handle it. We were wrong, so very very wrong. We underestimated the hiking power of our little man and we?re going to pay the price for it by not making our goal.

Currently we have 48 miles to go and less then two months to do it in. We found out near the end just how far our little guy can go when he pulled off a personal best (along with my wife who wasn?t much of a hiker or outdoors athlete until she married me and she?s?pregnant?too) when he hiked for 8.6 miles last month. Had we known he had this kind of staying power we might be closing in on 150 miles and not just crossing the 50 mile mark. As I stated earlier we have a vacation coming up and we?re looking at tackling over 20 miles in total. Getting us close to the 80 mile mark, but short of the 100 we need.

Never underestimate this boys hiking power?or his trailblazing skills.

All-in-all it?s been a great success. We?ve done more and learned more then we would have had we not set the goal and it helped us to reallocate our time and energy to make room for hitting the trail. We developed a game to help our son get his mind off the miles (trail bingo) and if he scores enough?bingo?s?he gets a prize (a new video game?.yea yea I understand the irony of using an outdoor activity and rewarding it with a soul-sucking, mind numbing indoor activity? stop judging me). We also found out that we love a hot trail meal (thank you JetBoil and mac ?n cheese) it helps to lift our spirits and boosts morale for the troops.

So before we go we wish you all a lovely Thanksgiving with friends and family, and as always?..Adventure On!

(PS: We will be coming back just not for two weeks so check the archives for a lot of good?posts)

Source: http://thebionicchronicles.com/2012/11/14/its-a-hodge-podge-post/

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