Weight Vests and Backpacks
• I get a lot of questions about carrying weight for exercise. If I’m choosing between a vest or backpack, I would get a backpack. Looks more normal, burns more calories, probably safer, better ventilation, etc.
• Choosing one is easy, just get this backpack. It comes in 15Liter, 20Liter, or 25Liter. The 20L will fit most people. Taller people (like above 6’2) should go with 25L. Shorter folks (like below 5’5) should look at the 15L. I use the 20L and my wife uses the 15L. Start with 10-20 pounds for one mile. Work your way up, but the general advice for maximum load is 30% of body weight.
• Michael Easter has a few guides like this one: Weight Vests Vs. Backpacks: The Ultimate Guide. Tons of great tips, with a few points on the less common situations where a vest might be ideal.
• If interested in the weight vest (for running, looking cool, training in law enforcement, etc.), GoRuck sells vests but their metal plates are not curved. The plates work well in backpacks, but maybe not as good in vests. I like the “ballistic” curved plates that hug your body: Rogue USA Cast Weight Vest Plates. Here are a few more vests.
TACTEC Plate Carrier Vest – Pricey and hard to believe it adds much to the Condor above.
Condor Sentry Plate Carrier – I use this for running, Murph workouts, occasional walks. Cheap and has lasted me a long time.
Rogue Echo Weight Vest – I do not have one of these but they look good. Solid reviews.
Relax
• Check out these Trip sodas as an alternative to alcohol. 5+ flavors with ingredients like magnesium, ashwagandha, lion’s mane, and L-theanine. Thanks Josh for the tip.
168 Hours
• Great book by Laura Vanderkam on how much more targeted and efficient we could be with our time. Vanderkam recommends everyone keep a detailed time log for the 168 hours we each have in a week. Subtracting 56 hours for sleep and 50 for work, we should still have 62 hours each week to accomplish things we consider valuable. Thanks, Daniel for the book recommendation. I took a lot of notes, but here are a few that stood out:
Most of us work less hours than we think.
Time is a nonrenewable resource … Feeling rushed for time lets us off the hook for dealing with the burden of choosing what is important in our lives.
We should spend as much time as possible on our “core competencies” – work and home activities that energize us, bring fulfillment, and reflect our unique strengths.
For tasks that are not core competencies, Ignore, Outsource, or Minimize them.
Write and keep a list of 100 things you want to do during lifetime. Come up with various difficulty levels, time commitments, etc.
Constantly tailor your job to be fulfilling. We have roughly 2000-3000 hours per year at work. Use that time wisely to advance goals.
Always carry a notebook. Review goals daily, weekly, and monthly.
Zone 2
• During Cardio exercise, how much time should we spend in zone 2 vs other heart rate zones? A few threshold markers to know you are crossing the threshold from zone 2 to 3: heart rate about 180 minus age, you have to open your mouth to breathe, you can no longer speak in complete sentences, your gadgets tell you, etc. Zone 2 work is beneficial because it burns mostly fat, it is less taxing on the body and thus easier to recover from (vs high intensity interval training [HIIT]), less likely to cause injury, etc.
• A narrative review article called “Much Ado About Zone 2” (Sports Medicine) challenges the idea that Zone 2 (low-intensity endurance work) is uniquely important for building mitochondrial function and fat-oxidation capacity. The authors note that total training time is low for most busy people who are not professional athletes. In normal people like us, high intensity training can provide similar — or greater — benefits in less time. The paper does not attack Zone 2, but reminds us that bodies adapts across a range of intensities, and minute for minute, HIIT is more efficient.
Blow it Open
I love the last 4 lines of the poem Postscript, by Seamus Heaney:
And some time make the time to drive out west
Into County Clare, along the Flaggy Shore,
In September or October, when the wind
And the light are working off each other
So that the ocean on one side is wild
With foam and glitter, and inland among stones
The surface of a slate-grey lake is lit
By the earthed lightning of a flock of swans,
Their feathers roughed and ruffling, white on white,
Their fully grown headstrong-looking heads
Tucked or cresting or busy underwater.
Useless to think you’ll park and capture it
More thoroughly. You are neither here nor there,
A hurry through which known and strange things pass
As big soft buffetings come at the car sideways
And catch the heart off guard and blow it open.
Quote
In every work of genius, we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
