The Gorilla Bow

The bar, or bow is made from aircraft aluminum.  It is a thick bar heavy duty, about four and a half feet long. The ends are where you will attach the bands. There are two cut-outs on each end. You can install up to six bands of various resistances at one time. The Gorilla Bow band kit comes with bands to get nearly 110 lbs. in resistance. 

 1 x 45 lbs., is the BLACK colored band

1 x 32 lbs., is the BLUE colored band

1 x 20 lbs., is the RED colored band

 1 x 10 lbs., is the YELLOW colored band

You can use the provided band wrap to secure the bands at the bottom, if using more than one. The bands are made of 100% latex and can be stored in the carrying case. 

A few exercises I am using with the Gorilla Bow are the, bench press, 

deadlift, bent over row, seated row, upright row, bicep curls and squats. 

There are numerous other exercises you can perform with the bow. 
These bands are very strong. 

*The company sells higher strength resistance bands too, but what is described above is what is included with the kit. 

You can really achieve a full body workout using the portable Gorilla Bow. 

It provides a great at home or anywhere workout. The continuous tension of the resistance bands keeps the muscles constantly under load. 

My lungs and breathing have never felt better

Not as much training as I planned this week, but had some key workouts completed. Trying to keep my power up while running, using the Stryd, power pod on my foot to measure just that.  

Synched with my Suunto Spartan, I can set a target heart rate or power output during a workout. 

I had a slower recover run last Monday, but still felt good afterwards. 

Thursday night, I set up my watch to keep me in my Zone 4 during a two mile run. I wanted to see first off what my power output in that zone is, and also hoped that keeping my heart rate there for the two miles would not have me totally gasping for a breath. 

It worked. I started off taking a little bit to get my heart rate up and then into my Zone 4.  An early downhill jaunt was not the trick, but quickly I had to work harder climbing up out a the area I was just in. Locked into my Zone 4 and just kept plugging away. On the more level ground I had some good speed and was still able to stay in the zone. The course was a one mile loop, I was doing twice. Of course my heart rate was going to go down a little on the descend, but I pushed hard and ran downhill faster to keep it up. Hitting the uphill I had to look down at my watch a few times because it kept warning me to slow down. I had my heart rate into Zone 5.  Pulled back a little on the speed but never fell out of my Zone 4.  Finished one of my fastest back to back miles in 10 minutes each.  I typically average a 12 minute mile as of late with a lot focus on the long steady distance, so not to go all out and blow up fast. 

I am very excited about my accomplishment and my lungs and breathing have never felt better. 

Looking back, could have I pushed myself to be faster, maybe so, but I wanted to stick in the Zone 4 and see where that would put me. 

Looking forward to a good weekend of cycling and running, hoping to get some trail miles in on Sunday. 

Adjusting my training schedule and healing a blister

This past week I have had some great workouts after returning from a brief vacation. For my training I am wearing both my Suunto Spartan WHR to capture my courses as well as my heart rate info. Synched to it is my Stryd Running Power Meter.  I am hoping to increase my strength and speed over the course of the training program. 

Next week I will start adding a weight program into my training. 

Also on my training run this past weekend I was able to get out on the steepest part of the run course. I know I need to update my shoes, to be a more "trail" running shoe, but the shoes I wore, were okay. The steep incline had my foot riding in the back of my shoe more and caused some rubbing. Enough rubbing that the last mile of the 4.5 mile run was a little rough. The rubbing caused a good size blister to occur. My goal now is to figure out a plan to cover it so it can heal fast and I can get out running still. Another goal I have is to find the perfect sock/shoe combination to eliminate the blister situation. 

Do you have any tried and true remedies for fixing this issue fast? I would love to hear and try anything. I am open to your suggestions. Comment or follow me on Twitter @timhakr. 

Lizard Mad mobility band

Adding the Lizard Mad mobility band, made of latex has brought a new addition to my workouts.  I have the dark blue Lizard Mad band, with its resistance being rated at 35 to 65 pounds. The large loop, about 41 1/2 inches long, folded. It is super flexible. Not needing it to be that length? Simply shorten the loop by tying a small knot, which can easily be removed after your specific stretch, workout.  A super useful exercise I perform with the band, among a ton of others, is a squat.  Step on the band on the floor, a loop of the band in either hand. Straighten out your arms and use your legs to push upward. Make sure to keep your arms straight, but the majority of the work is being done by your upper legs. The band is super strong and will not break. I am always finding new ways, workouts, stretches to use the Lizard Mad band with.  The band comes with a five-year quality guarantee. 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0756T23N5

STRYD Running Power Meter

The STRYD running power based training system for runners. 
Find out how much power in watts you are creating while running. The footpod easily charges with the charging station you place the pod onto. I have been told you should only need to charge the pod once a month. This can differ though. Synch it with your smartphone and the STRYD app.

The center of the pod turns orange as is sits on top of the charging device. 

  I have the app on my smartphone, synched with BLE, and there it tracks my watts, time, average mile pace, incline, distance and steps per minute. I also have the STRYD footpad synched with my Suunto Ambit 2S. The initial set up, I had to pair the ANT+ device to the watch. In the fields also I activated the FOOTPOD and POWERPOD.  One of the screens I have it rotate through, I have the power in watts show up, so I know up the the second the power I am putting out while running. The STRYD power pod attaches and is worn on the shoe laces. 

In my training I use the STRYD Power Pod to let me know the effort being applied to my running / workouts.  

When connected to the STRYD Power Center you can analyze numerous aspects of your run and the data the pod collected. 

Statistics that appear in the Power Center after a workout wearing the STRYD Running Power Meter.

Leg Spring and Form Power, both of these I need to work on to get more efficient. 

Connects with Garmin, Suunto, Training Peaks, Strava, and 2Peak programs. 

Showing it here connecting to my Suunto account. 

To help increase my running efficiency I am looking at improving my leg spring stiffness, less energy to propel me forward.  In the case of the STRYD Power Pod meter the higher the number the better. (Yes, I need to work on this a ton.)  Also form power goes hand in hand with this. Lowering my form power number is what I aim to do also. The lower the number the better. 

Power meters are used in and have been used cycling and they are too used in running with STRYD. 

I am looking to do the Critical Power Test from the www.stryd.com/powercenter in the next week. 

Brigitte’s Naturally Green KALE Power

Brigitte’s Naturally smoothies are just the thing for recovering from a tough training workout. Packed with nutrient rich kale and other fruits they taste great and are ready to go, just open the bottle. I’ve had a few of them and the Kale Power made with mango, banana, pineapple, chia seeds, vanilla, parsley, lemon, spirulina as well and of course kale. The greens are packed with nutrition. The smoothies have just enough sweetness to them without being over powered by the fruit included inside them. The perfect vegan meal on the go or just a recovery drink. These perishable smoothies need to be kept refrigerated at all times as well as make sure to drink them before the expiration date. 

My go to recovery trio after a great workout.