Thursday, August 03, 2006

Field Report: Phiten Day 3 & 4

Day 1 and Day 2 report here

Now, where was i?

OK, yesterday's was my cardio and shoulder day.

For Cardio, i did an interval training. Nothing too strenous as i'm easing back into the groove for Desaru Tri.

So, i did a 5km run.

1km @ 6:40(9kmh) pace warm up - max HR120 (slow pace)
1km @ 5:42(10.5kmh) pace - max HR135 (fast pace)
800m @ 5:00(12kmh) pace - max HR155 (slow pace)
800m @ 4:48(12.5kmh) pace - max HR160 (fast pace)
400m @ 4:26(13.5kmh) pace - max HR 165(slow)
400m @ 4:16(14kmh) pace - max HR170(fast)
200m @ 4:07(14.5kmh) pace - max HR172(slow)
200m @ 4:00(15kmh) pace - max HR175(fast)
100m @ 4:00(15kmh) pace - max HR178(slow)
100m @ 3:45(16kmh) pace - max HR180(fast)

Average HR - 151 - 79%
Time taken - 27:54
Incline : 1 Degree on Star Trac Elite Treadmill

It was initially funny to have something bouncing up and down on your neck. My usual gold chain do not bounce as much as Phiten. Maybe because this sports necklace was made of elastomer and well, it bounces. The initial uncomfy feeling of the necklace jumping about was a bit bothering as you are concious of it being THERE. As much as i love to cam whore, but i do not like to draw attention to meself unnessasary.

After the first initial 1km of warm up run, i noticed the necklace centre point(with the word Phiten) shifted to my left side. I didn't bother to adjust it to ensure it's in the middle.

OK, lets just assume it's physcological effect again. But i swore on days while i was training for KLIM, interval training was a chore, almost. It's like i hate to have my heart pounding like it will dislodge from it's position. But then again, it might be over training back then.

Nevertheless, at my 200m interval, i was still feeling good. Usually when i touch 172bpm, i start to feel dizzy, but this time, i was still breathing through my nose. 27:54 was hardly a record to start with for 5km, my time for MMDS which is 52minutes max for 10km means i could do 26mins for 5km on average.

But i did put in the factor that i actually ran 2km with a max pace of 5:42, lets just say average of 6:00 pace. Which ate up 12 minutes for the first 2km. Meaning i did a 16minutes on the last 3km which average out to about 5:30pace. Also, it's noteworthy to notice i ran it on a 1 degree incline. I usually run flat.

Apart from running from killer dogs, my heart rate has never breached the 175bpm in any trainign i did, no matter how hard i pushed. But yesterday, it did, though it was on the last final 100m sprint(to my standard la!) I touched a 180(that's a 94% effort of Max HR) and my recovery over 5 minutes set my heart rate back to 90bpm on a slow walk.

Perhaps it did help? I do not know, i would need to judge it on a flat and not on a 1 degree incline as i did yesterday.

After that, i went for a 30 minutes blitz on my Shoulder.

8 sets Press Behind neck. Pyramid up from 50lb set 1, 100lb set 2, 110lb set 3, 120lb set 4 and Pyramid down from 120 till 50 again. Reps going from 12-10-8-6-6 and 6-6-8-10-12. i usually max at 110lb. For experiment purpose, i add on extra 10lb.

Press behind neck - pic taken from www.exrx.net

Then, it's lateral raise for side delts, front raise for front delts and rear raise for back delts. Anyone worthy of their salt would know how painful/burning/tortorous to be doing shoulder raises.

Front Raise - pic taken from www.exrx.net


Lateral/Side Raise - pic taken from www.exrx.net


Rear lateral raise - pic taken from www.exrx.net

I ran the rack again, from 5lb till 25 lb, maintaining a rep of 10 each with increment of 5 lb dumbell. And from 25lb back to 5lb. I was grimacing in pain on my final 10 reps of 5 lb...looked funny!

Despite the burning sensation, i was FINE! recovery was fast and i do not have the lactic acid build up for long to linger there. Mind you, usually, bodybuilder LIFT weights before doing Cardio. I went the opposite way, burning my glycogen storage and risking my muscle being burned for this lifting activities.

But i felt fine.

I ended the shoulder exercise with 8 sets of EZ bar upright row. Lifting from 10lb till 60lb (plate weight, not incl of olympic bar) with reps from 12-6 and from 6-12 again.

Upright Row - pic taken from www.exrx.net

And so, after 30 plus minutes of fast paced lifting with minimal rest...i went for my shower and exited the gym.

Yesterday night, i let Wifey use the Phiten for sleeping again. She was awaken a lot of times this morning, to go to the loo, she said. She must had drank tonnes of water yesterday. Other than her hand feeling numb and painful, her shoulder and back was fine with no ache. Actually, this is the longest she has been without telling me she has backache and shoulder pain.

As for me, this morning, i awaken with NO SORE from yesterday's workout. Legs felt fine. Shoulder felt fine. Usually, after doing shoulder, i will have ache on my delts for at least a day. But non of those were there. Only pain was some soreness i have on my chest and my trapezius muscle.

Funnily, Phiten failed to lessen the soreness on the area where the necklace is nearest to.

Today is Day 4, i'll be at the gym, hopefully, clocking in 10km of run in 60minutes and then hit my back with some deadlifts, bend over row and machine row. Lets see how it all add up tomorrow.

So, does this Phiten really help?

I guess after 2 days of using it in the Gym, pushing myself a bit harder than usual where the total weights are concerned, it does. I do not feel as sore the day after.

As far as reduction of pain, where wifey is concerned, nope, it doesn't help where i think it should. But to be fair, her backache and shoulder pain was virtually not there, or not as prominent as usual.

So, for those intending to buy this, perhaps, this few days testimony might come in handy to a certain extend, as i'm not sponsored by Phiten, nor did i get any good deal to write this in return for a second set of Free Phiten. For that, i shalt dream on.

As for me, i will continue to test this out, so far, as far as recovery and also strength is concerned, i did feel a bit of differences, and of course, some might just say it is purely in the mind. Some would say it's the product. Lets just wait up, i intend to push myself for 2 weeks on this product to see if it's the mind...or the titanium beads.

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