Planned Cross Training

We have a plan drawn up by one of the professional trainers at the gym. She tried to sell us 'Personal Training' but we resisted. We are doing simple upper body work just to improve core strength in support of the running we do.

I may grab the plan and place it here for the record. It is pretty easy and involves a lot of machines to pump muscles, working primarily on arm, back, chest and abdominals. A small amount of leg work too.

Today was my first effort doing the program - We ran out of time to do it all so we skipped leg work ( Only squats, leg presses etc), but we did all the upper body stuff and the abdominal work. My legs get a good work out on the running days anyway, but some more strength will help me I think. So we need to get to the gym early to get it all done.

One thing we did as part of induction was to take resting heart rate and blood pressure. I had a heart rate of 47 - a few months ago it was 53 or so. And I recall when I had not been training at all it was typically around 65. So that is a pretty good indicator that my fitness has improved.

My blood pressure was a little odd though - initially it measured 150 over 70 or something. We adjusted the band and did it again and it was 132 over 70 after several measures. The professional trainer was a little vocal about that, saying it was higher than she had anticipated. But I have investigated and find the following:

- The lower number is not _that_ important - It can be an indication of a problem if the difference between upper and lower values is too large.

- The upper value 132 is within 'normal' range for an adult man, anything above 140 would be good reason to seek a health professional.


I had read that runners can have unusual readings like this - so if a larger upper value and a lower lower value is associated with a slow heart rate, it is an indicator of good fitness for a runner. I might just go to a doctor and have it checked out.