Sunday, October 07, 2007

Training For Singapore 2007...

By Frank

With 55 days to go till the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2007, the excitement is really heating up. Intense training has begun since a month ago and here's a little look at it.

An "Athletic" training is used here, meaning I trained 7 days a week. All 7 major muscle groups are all trained. However they are divided into 2 groups being chest and back in one (Group A), while the arms and shoulders (Group B) in another. Legs and abdominals are included in both groups though. I will work each group in an alternate day format. Say if I work Group A on Monday, Group B will be on Tuesday before resuming to Group A on Wednesday. The hypertrophy principles are applied to my training now hoping to build power first, before applying the endurance principles in a month later. And each workout is taken at 3 sets with 12 repetitions in it, except for the back muscles with 2 sets with 12 repetitions. This is because that there are various back muscles to train for being the upper, middle and lower back.

5 minutes is spend on warming up to get the body temperature up and joints lubricated. And another 10 minutes is spend on warm down and stretching. And not forgetting that after the weight training, a run on the treadmill for 1km to 2km is done to get the heart pumping. Gradient is set between 3.0% to 6.0% to build leg strength. A run on the road though is done either on Saturday or Sunday for 5KM to 7KM, however at the cost of weight training. And to add some finishing touch to it, Plyometrics training is added twice a week for now. And with this sums up the whole week's training.

As the "Athletic" training is used here, I have to really pay attention to my nutrition and diet so that my body is able to adapt to the training and also to recover in time. Food rich in carbohydrate is observed here as I need it for energy. Rice, bread and cereals are mostly taken each day. As for post workout, energy/protein shake added with Anlene milk powder is taken within 30 minutes. And to add upon it, a tuna or egg sandwich is taken after 30 minutes to give the body some natural nutrition. As for daily meals, I include lots of greens especially those rich in iron like spinach. Fish especially is the chosen meat compared to chicken. Besides that, I take supplements too to aid in building a better overall system. Glucosamine to aid in my joints maintenance and Multi-oil Formula (Omega 3, 6 and 9) to aid in developing a better heart and also to avoid inflammation.

With all these being care for, there is only option to look forward to at the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2007, SUCCESS!

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