Mark Salinas, MN » fitness

Changing Course through Injury

Mark Salinas — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:23:17 +0000

The high intensity, zone 4 exercises have been my exercise of choice for sometime now, but over the past six weeks I have been hobbling around with a calf strain. This annoying obstacle has my routine limited to low impact, cardio exercises that I might have continued to avoid under normal circumstances. But after several attempts to get back at it along with re-aggravating my calf a few times over, I gave way to this new, carved out path that I stubbornly resisted. It was not a smooth transition by any means! I now include 1-2 swim and 1-2 spin classes into the plan each week…of course I have my buddy the ice pack there to help things along. With this steady regiment of low impact exercises I have actually started to enjoy the variety and find myself more rounded physically.

A typical week might look like this:

Mon- 20/20/20 (20 min. cardio, 20 min. body exercise, 20 min. cardio)

Tue- One hour swim along with some core

Wed. Boot Camp -

Thurs. One hour spin class, along with some core and

Fri. Total Conditioning- One hour full body work out with HR in zone 3 and 4

Sat. Rest?

Sun. One hour spin followed by one hour of swim

I do modify Wed and Friday keeping it low impact.

Some lessons I have learned (AGAIN) recently:

-More often much growth comes from setbacks…I try to take them as learning experiences.

-Don’t knock it until you try it!

A quote to sum it up…

“I don’t really think in terms of obstacles. My biggest obstacle is always myself.”
-Steve Earle

Cardio Friends

Mark Salinas — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:48:57 +0000

With the weather turning cold and colder, brrr… we tend spend more time indoors.

To help me keep active, I usually turn towards my Cardio Friends to get the burn on. Some friends over a long winter…

Do you like to spin? A 60 minute high resistance for some solid muscle endurance.

The Stepmill? Low impact, nice lower body exercise, 20-60 minutes does the trick!

How about the Elliptical? Full body, I will occasionally hit this one for a light low zone workout for about 60 minutes.

A Treadmill is always a solid burn! I visit this one regularly. Sprints and/or long slow runs!

The Rowing machine is one of my favorites for a full body burn. Try this for 30 minutes…results!

Often I will mix it up with some variety. A good solid burn could be to tackle two or three machines at 10-30 minutes each.

Keep it interesting. Call on your Cardio Friends for help…don’t let the cold stop you!

.“Above all challenge yourself. You may well surprise yourself at what strengths you have, what you can accomplish.” -Cecile Springer

Sunday Approach

Mark Salinas — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:39:44 +0000

It is Sunday and for many of us we take on a much more relaxed approach. Are you spending the day watching football? Probably Brett Favre and the Vikings . Maybe a movie or two are on the Sunday approach? I thought a bit of activity would keep my mind on the positive track.

The task is a light, higher rep routine to keep it simple. The Sunday Approach:

Squat Thrusts-3 sets of 20

.Wall Pushups-3 sets of 20

Bicycle Crunches- 3 sets of 20

…..

Rest and recovery are always important but occasionally a soft Sunday approach works for me !

. Decide what you want .. believe you can have it, believe you deserve it, believe it’s possible for you. -Byrne