Rethink Your Week: Benefits Of A Non-7-Day Training Cycle

Rethink Your Week: Benefits Of A Non-7-Day Training Cycle 1

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Rethink Your Week: Benefits Of A Non-7-Day Training Cycle

Rethink Your Week: Benefits Of A Non-7-Day Training Cycle 2

Itโ€™s hard not to live your life by the calendar. After all, we mostly work on certain days of the week, skip the job on certain days, follow our religious beliefs on specified days, and so forth.

On the other hand, itโ€™s not written anywhere that the perfect training week is exactly seven days long. In fact, a short training cycle might tempt you to cram in too much.

Letโ€™s see: Gotta go long. Gotta do a tempo day. Gotta set aside a day for speedwork.

In a 7-day cycle, that doesnโ€™t leave much time for recovery, adaptation, cross-training, strength training, and, oh, yeah, having a life.

At the Reddit โ€œAdvanced Runningโ€ forum, several members discussed their personal explorations of non-7-day cycles. โ€œItโ€™s beneficial if you feel like you’re not bouncing back fast enough between workouts and long runs,โ€ noted one.

Another wrote: โ€œFourteen days has been a life changer for me at 41 years old. Every two weeks, I do a long run, a tempo run, a short interval run, and a longer interval run.โ€ Thatโ€™s a powerful training diet that works out to two hard days per week on a 14-day rotation.

A third commenter pointed out the harmonious rhythm of a 9-day cycle. โ€œEasy, Easy, Workout, Easy, Easy, Workout, Easy, Easy, Long Run. Repeat.โ€

Iโ€™m unaware of any scientific research on this important โ€œcycleโ€ question. But Iโ€™m sure itโ€™s worth trying different plans, especially if you often feel overly fatigued on your current training cycle. More at Reddit Advanced Running.โ€‹

RELATED ARTICLE: Reverse Periodization For Improving Sports Performance


The Truth About Exercise & Weight Loss

Rethink Your Week: Benefits Of A Non-7-Day Training Cycle 3

This remains a key question because overweight and obesity are still persistent health issues in the U.S. and around the globe. Sure, you read new stories every day about people losing significant weight with the help of those amazing new GLP-1 drugs (that often cost $1000/month or more.) Still, in the U.S. about 70 percent of the adult population is overweight or obese.โ€‹

We all know too many people, including family and friends, in this category. Theyโ€™d be better off carrying fewer pounds, and many are already trying.

But losing weight and keeping it off is incredibly difficult. We live in an โ€œobesogenic environmentโ€ surrounded by food, and there are all sorts of โ€œcompensationโ€ mechanisms that need to be overcome.

Here Dr. Scott Lear reviews the evidence and argues for โ€œa combination of both diet and exerciseโ€ to lose weight.

A key point: Even if you donโ€™t lose as much weight as youโ€™d like, โ€œExercising and being active has so many other benefits to reduce your risk for diabetes, cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, stress and improve your mental well-being.โ€

We should view exercise as its own reward. The bathroom scale isnโ€™t the only important gauge. Exercise will make you feel better, look better, and improve your health. If it also helps you lose a few pounds, thatโ€™s a nice bonus. More at Dr. Scott Lear. โ€‹

A recent โ€œBrief Communicationโ€ in Nature makes many similar points. It argues that โ€œrecognizing the broad value of physical activity/exercise in improving health and quality of life of people with obesity is a crucial perspective shift.โ€ More at Nature.โ€‹

RELATED ARTICLE:ย Do Runners Live Longer? Up To 12 Years, According to New Research


Masters Runners: Beware Of โ€œHidden Hypertensionโ€

Rethink Your Week: Benefits Of A Non-7-Day Training Cycle 4

Regular aerobic exercise like running lowers your risk of heart disease but provides no bullet-proof guarantees. The same is true about hypertension (high blood pressure), a health concern many runners overlook.

This paper observes that โ€œArterial hypertension, defined as a blood pressure valueโ‰ฅ 140/90 mmHg, is one of the most common chronic diseases in the general population and also in master athletes.โ€

The article also argues that masters athletes need to become more aware of โ€œhidden hypertensionโ€ and how to โ€œprevent its consequences.โ€ Early detection is critical. Hidden hypertension is high blood pressure that doesnโ€™t show up in the doctorโ€™s office but perhaps at home, at work, or during workouts when stress levels increase.

The first step: โ€œLifestyle changes such as healthy diet and body mass reduction.โ€ Increasing the antioxidant foods (fruits and veggies) in your diet can lower blood pressure. But avoid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), as they may increase blood pressure.

If your blood pressure registers higher than 160/100 on several occasions, itโ€™s time for prescription medical treatment. Fortunately, several common meds reduce blood pressure without affecting athletic performance.

Conclusion: โ€œRaising awareness of the [hypertension] risk factors is essential in preventing an increasing number of hypertensive patients.โ€

More at Reviews inย Cardiovascular Medicineย with free full text.โ€‹


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โ€ข Creatine power: In a systematic review and meta-analysis, creatine supplementation helped athletes increase muscle mass and decrease body fat. โ€‹

HEREโ€™S WHAT ELSE YOU WOULD HAVE RECEIVED this week if you were a subscriber to the complete, full-text edition of โ€œRun Long, Run Healthy.โ€ SUBSCRIBE HERE.

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  • A Motivational Quote From Eliud Kipchoge: The Power Of A Morning Run

Thatโ€™s all for now. Thanks for reading. See you again next week. Amby

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Amby Burfoot

Editor At Large

Amby Burfoot stands as a titan in the running world. Crowned the Boston Marathon champion in 1968, he became the first collegian to win this prestigious event and the first American to claim the title since John Kelley in 1957. As well as a stellar racing career, Amby channeled his passion for running into journalism. He joined Runnerโ€™s World magazine in 1978, rising to the position of Editor-in-Chief and then serving as its Editor-at-Large. As well as being the author of several books on running, he regularly contributes articles to the major publications, and curates his weekly Run Long, Run Healthy Newsletter.

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