Building Stamina

Today was a great day at Los Campeones Gym!  Had a great StairMaster session at level 10 in interval mode for 45 minutes.  I started using the StairMaster about a week ago at level 7 in interval training mode for 45 minutes.  My stamina has definitely improved in just a week.  I work up a good sweat in 45 minutes at this level and feel like this exercise does a good job simulating riding my bicycle.  I often imagine myself riding my bike, pumping the pedals, going up and down hills as the interval training modes change pace.  I remember early at the beginning of this year while training for the the 12 week transformation challenge that my heart was in very good condition.  I rarely got out of breath doing any exercise.  I was keeping track of my heart rate with a chest strap sensor and a wrist band heart monitor.  You can see your heart rate go up while lifting weights too.  Building heart stamina is very important to weight lifting as well as aerobic exercise.  Just not getting winded makes a huge difference in how a person completes basic tasks throughout the day.  You rest better when you can get plenty of oxygen to your blood which significantly reduces your over all stress level by just getting better rest.  To me life is sort of like fencing and fencing is very much a mental sport.  If you are strong physically, you will also be strong mentally.  Staying in the game of life mentally which is a spiritual battle is a lot easier if you are strong physically.  You don't hesitate to take on tasks and complete tasks because you are accustomed to doing so much more strenuous activities during your physical workouts.  I notice that the momentum of my early morning workouts carries me throughout the day.

A couple of years ago I broke a rib on the right side of my chest when I fell off a mountain bike two times in the same day landing on my chest.  The pain had completely gone away, but when I did a full body weight lifting workout a week ago when I first got back in a gym, I must have aggravated the injury.  It has been difficult for me to breath and perform movements that involve my rib muscles on the right side of my chest.  I can do the StairMaster without much discomfort, but raising myself up from a flat bench is almost impossible at the moment, or getting up out of bed while lying on my back for example.  I remember going through physical therapy 5 years ago after an accident I was in at work where the therapists would do deep stretches with my back muscles on a weekly basis to get the muscles to heal.  What they did worked, so I have been doing a similar approach to my rib condition, stretching the chest by using light dumbbells in the incline press position, and slowly lowering the dumbbells all the way down and stretching the chest.  I noticed after a few days of doing this that the pain in my ribs is getting less and less.  Today I did not lift weights at all after my StairMaster session.  I listen to my body, and today it was saying REST!  I eat good on rest days because I know this is when I will get stronger if I put in the nutrition that's needed.  I had done some seemingly light tricep pushdowns yesterday, and today my triceps are pretty sore.  Frank Zane was really right when he said you do not have to use a lot of weight when lifting to build muscle.  Good form and moderate weights can do a lot if you take the time to really feel the muscle when lifting, and not just throwing the weights around.  I have noticed this too with Kai Greene.  Kai spends a lot of time focusing on the quality of his movements, and not just throwing lots of weight around.  Look how big he is!

Steven Brick