Welcome to the GAIN Blog
The blog is updated Monday-Friday. Tune in for posts and discussion about health, fitness, nutrition, training experiments and reflection. We share articles, videos and more. We post the link to our Instagram story every day, make sure to follow along there to never miss a post.
Range
We often program, “4-5 rounds,” or “8-10 reps,” and many people assume this means you have to do the higher number in the range.
This is not the case.
Instead of always defaulting to doing the most, develop the skill of listening to your body.
How many rounds do you need today?
Are you in a rush? Coming back from a cold? Feeling fresh and flying through the workout?
The answer isn’t always the higher number, in fact more often than not, you should be doing the lower range.
Getting in tune with your body, and what it needs, is a critical skill for long term success in the gym.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Why This Matters
Strength training is so important - maybe even more than you realize. We’re constantly bombarded with posts and tabloids showing us shortcuts to get the body we want, or following people doing novel things on Instagram.
What strength training and developing a gym habit is really about is being able to do stuff that you need to do; to be capable. That should outshine all other motives, but typically, more flashy goals typically get the love, and while that’s fine, it means you can miss the point.
This past weekend at the park, we helped a grandma get her grandchild out of the swing - she couldn’t lift them out herself.
It’s not my intention to pick on her, but the rest of the day I couldn’t help but think about how that would not have happened if she strengthen trained. I thought about all the other people that would be in similar situations that would be preventable with some goblet squats, push ups and ring rows once or twice a week.
We only get one body, and while flashy, cool goals are awesome, sometimes it’s the simple ones right in front of us that could provide the best reason to train - being capable and reliable for those around you.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Friday Thoughts 46
Welcome to this week’s edition of Friday Thoughts. Here are some updates and a couple of random thoughts from me, plus some of my favorite Instagram posts I came across this week. Enjoy!
September Hours:
GAIN will be closed on Labor Day, Monday September 2nd. I can’t believe the unofficial end of summer is here already.
Another September Note: Staring in September, there will no longer be a 7pm class. The attendance has been too low for us to continue on, thanks for understanding.
Team Cupcake:
The Seacoast Cancer 5k is coming up on Sunday September 15th.
Just like last year, GAIN Member, Kendra’s Team Cupcake is getting involved. Sign up using the link below if you want to run, walk or just to support Kendra and the local fight against cancer. Here’s the whole Miner fam after the race last year.
Seacoast Cancer 5k Sign Up (make sure to join Team Cupcake during registration!)
The Miner Fam after last year's race.
Healthy Kids Running Series:
We just heard about this last week and are getting involved. This organization puts on races for 2 year olds up to 8th grade! We’re going to be running and volunteering at the Dover event that starts on September 22nd. If you have a little kid who likes to run like us, get involved too!
James Clear:
Atomic Habits is one of those books I reread every couple a years, and between those times, I love seeing these reminders from James Clear’s Instagram account
Adam Grant:
SEE: Instagram
Instagram vs Reality:
Speaking of Instagram, I enjoyed this post and how it shows the people we compare ourselves to on the internet don’t really look like that IRL. Don’t forget it!
Check out line find:
What does burn fat like a kid even mean? How is this realistic, or make any sense whatsoever. If I were ruler of the universe, I would ban all terrible magazines from checkout lines.
Holy Athleticism, this is nuts!
I can’t believe I’m older than the iced coffee!
That’s a wrap for this week, thanks for reading along.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
LAP FEATURE
This one’s for the runners out there.
I learned this trick in 2020 when attempting a White Mountain Hut Traverse, and it’s been helpful for big efforts ever since.
When you press the Lap button on your watch, it starts a new timer from 0:00.
When out for a big day, one of my data screens is:
Lap Time
Average Pace
Lap Distance
Each time I come to a trail intersection, peak, or whatever marker I may be using, I press Lap to reset the timer and distance.
This allows me to break the run down in smaller chunks and focus on one segment at a time and makes it easier to figure out how long till the next land mark or segment.
I use this strategy for organized races too, using aid stations, or the course loop as the reset point.
This makes the long day more digestible and prevents you from having to do math with decimals while trying to run.
Give it a shot!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Plus One Rep Scheme
Over the past couple of years one of my favorite ways for clients to gain strength is to add reps.
It seems counterintuitive, but adding repetitions to the same weight is a great way to develop your technique and build strength. This is often called a ladder, as the reps increase each set.
Many of you have done this with deadlifts.
You start with a weight you can do for around 8 reps.
On your first set, you only do 1 rep. It feels super easy and you can really focus on your form - things like creating tension with your feet, breathing and bracing. It’s easy to focus since it’s only one rep.
On the next set you do 2 reps, then 3 and 4 and so on. Typically ending in that 5-8 rep range.
This bakes your warm up into your strength workout, and despite your initial impression that each set will feel harder, it actually doesn’t. You’re more prepared for each consecutive set.
This method works great for deadlifts, goblet squats, kettlebell swings and even bodyweight movements like push ups. dips, pull ups and chin ups.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Everything I ate Hiking and Running in the Mountains for 10 hours
Here’s everything I ate on an all-day running and hiking adventure through the White Mountains last week.
I tried to put this on a timeline, quickly, that became too difficult to recall when I ate everything. The peanut butter and jelly sandwich, for example, I ate much earlier than expected. I had half of it on the Franconia Ridge in the morning, around 7:30am, and I know I ate the other half, but I cannot remember when into the run it was. Instead, here’s just a list of everything as it came to me, along with its caloric content, and macronutrient breakdown.
This was my first big mountain day using liquid calories. I’ve supplemented with them before during long efforts, but for this day I had a bottle with two scoops going at all times. It really helped me boost my total calories up and was easy to drink and tasty too.
One last note, the eggs and bagel were in the morning, about 90 minutes before I started.
Egg Bites (eggs, cottage cheese, turkey bacon, cheese): 340 calories, 6g carb, 18g fat, 36g protein
Cinnamon Raisin Bagel: (half) 140 calories, 29g carbs, .5g fat, 5g protein
Momentous Fuel: 7 scoops throughout the day - 770 calories, 196g carbs
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich:
Peanut butter - 4 tablespoons 380 calories,14g carbs, 32g fat, 16g protein
Jelly - 4 tablespoons 100 calories, 34g carbs, 0g fat, 0g protein
Dave’s Killer White Bread: two slices: 220 calories, 42g carbs, 4g fat, 6g protein
Nature’s Bakery Fig Bars: 3 total, 165 calories, 30g carbs, 4g fat, 1.5g protein
Snickers (share size): 420 calories, 60g carbs, 18g fat, 6g protein
Scratch Energy Chews: 2 packets, 380 calories 95g carbs, 0g fat, 0g protein
Dried mango: 1 bag, 510 calories, 125g carbs, 2g fat, 4g protein
Peanut MnM’s: 1oz, 17g carbs, 8g fat, 3g protein
Totals:
3667 calories
641g carbohydrates
90g fat
80g protein
After the run, I ate 3 cheeseburgers, and a lot of salt and vinegar chips, along with some cookies and watermelon.
In years past, I probably would have done this with half the total calories, just because I thought needing food was inconvenient and if you were trained enough you could do it on less. That’s obviously not the case, and on this day I felt strong, had energy and handled digesting all of this without issue. Thanks for reading!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
How to Join
Potential members at GAIN start with a 3-session trial. This serves as an opportunity to meet the coaches and see how we do things at GAIN. Our individualized, feels like a group, but isn’t actually a group, vibe is different, and unlike any other gym you’ve been to.
On the first session, you’ll work closely with a coach doing an intro workout. This gives us an opportunity to go over some finer details like bracing and breathing and seeing how much range of motion and stability you have. We talk about injuries, training history and what you want to get out of your gym time.
Regardless of your fitness level and experience, we want you leaving the gym after that first session feeling as though you could have done more. We like to say; we can write hard workouts, but don’t need to prove that on the first day. We want you to build a new habit you can stick with, easing in paramount to this.
You’ll learn new movements and lingo, and if you’re a newbie to the gym, it can be a bit overwhelming. Just know that we’re aware of this, and try to not overload you with gym jargon. On the first day we primarily focus on learning and breaking down the squat pattern, body weight upper body movements, the push up and ring row and some of our core training drills.
By the second workout, we’re ready to introduce some more movements and will do some conditioning (cardio) and get introduced to some of our favorite cool-down mobility drills. This workout focuses on pressing and pulling with the upper body, along with some single leg movements.
On the last workout of the trial, you’re learning and working on the hinge pattern. This can be a tricky one, but is important for everyone to learn. We revisit some movements from the previous two workouts here if needed. This will feel like a bigger workout for most, because we usually give you more to do on the third day as your body is starting to adapt to some new movements.
All in all, the 3-Session Trial is a crash course in all things GAIN. Learn our favorite exercises, get your movement broken down by an experienced coach and learn how to move better, feel more connected and get a plan that unique to what you need and want to accomplish. GET INVOLVED.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Friday Thoughts 45
Welcome to the new GAIN site! We’ve been working on this facelift behind the scenes for some time and I’m proud of the new and updated look. Plus, I’m especially happy for a new font - for the past 6 years I despised that old blog font. I’m happy to have a refreshed site that’s easier to navigate and more inline with the rest of my branding.
Your training shoes matter! This post is one example of many that professional, high-level athletes aren’t always making the most educated choice in the gym. Save the running shoes for running - especially the $300, carbon-plated, super-shoes that should be saved for elite racing.
If you no idea what I mean by a super-shoe, try to get through this review. Basically, the carbon plating and bouncyness of the shoe is supposed to shave time off your miles when racing. This creators claim that it could be up to 30 seconds per mile is absurd. Though, I’ve never tried them.
While we’re on the topic of super shoes, how about super-pants? When these first popped up on my feed I thought it was a joke, then I kept seeing it so I read this caption. For only $5000 you can have your hiking pants do the work for you! Seems like a great deal, old-school effort is for the birds!
Hybrid athlete? Meaning you like to both lift and run. Wow! So original. Revolutionary! This was great satire.
This has me lol’ing so hard. My first thought as a parent of a kid who is just getting into legos though, who’s going to pick all those up?
Powered hiking pants? No. Power hiking. Seriously though, whenever anyone learns of my ventures into the mountains their first questions is do you run the whole time? The answer, for most ultra runners, is no, not at all. There’s a mix of walking, hiking, running - the goal is to keep moving as efficiently as possible. Last week, I hiked all the uphills and only ran the down hills.
Speaking of which, here’s a video someone grabbed of me running off Mount Lafayette and along the Franconia Ridge. Classic!
Thanks for checking out Friday Thoughts, until next time!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
slowly and consistently
I heard this the other day and I can’t stop thinking about it.
The best way to get in shape is the same way that you got out of shape; slowly and consistently.
It’s not one meal, or two meals or probably even ten meals that lead to someone being overweight. It’s consistently overeating for a long period of time. It can feel like it creeps up on you, but in fact it happens slowly.
When starting back up at the gym, or with a diet, or a new routine, people tend to bite off more than they can chew.
Instead of taking a slow, long-term approach, they go burn-it-down monk mode before fizzling out after a week or two.
There is no shortcut.
Get back into shape slowly and consistently, the same way you got out of shape.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
no more streaking
The running streak ended yesterday.
On July 1, I had a crazy thought, with MMD (my big mountain run I do every August) about 6 weeks away, I thought it would be a fun challenge to try and run at least 2000 meters (1.25 miles) every day for the month of July. When August 1 rolled around, I had momentum and decided to keep going until MMD, only 10 more days, making it a nice and even 40 day streak.
MMD was my first run in the 20-something miles since MMD the year before, and I was pretty sore come Monday, but still motivated to keep the streak going. When I got home Monday afternoon I put Nolan in the stroller and headed out for a walk and eventually an easy jog.
As these things typically go, my legs started to feel better the more I moved.
On Tuesday I couldn’t think but help if a client came to me in this situation, sore and beat up from a hard effort but wanting to continue a pointless streak, what would I tell them?
I landed on it’s not going to be productive. It won’t help my training in anyway to get out for a 12-minute run. The rest will do me better, or just a walk or maybe a walk and a nap.
It felt freeing to stop it. Disappointing in someways, because I was curious as to how far I could continue. And it’s motivating seeing people on Instagram and YouTube on a running streak into the 1000s of days. At the same time I’m looking forward to doing something different for training today, and later in the week, once my legs feel better, getting back to running a lot.
Last year after MMD I hated running. I full stopped for about 9 months and was even considering never starting back up again. I just wasn’t enjoying it like I used to. This summer, and the past 40 something days taught me to enjoy it again. It was a productive experiment, despite the last couple days.
I built my volume steadily for 6-weeks in a row. Something I’ve never done this consistently. I logged nearly 40-miles in a week, which is also the most miles I’ve got in a week, and only done it a couple other times. I accumulated 138 miles in July, the second most I’ve ever done in a month! Which is kind of hard to believe, actually. But the data doesn’t lie.
Needless to say, I’m proud of the experiment and it taught me I can handle more volume than I thought.
I’m going to let the legs recover for a couple more days and then I’m looking to getting back to more consistent running and trying to build up my volume, for no reason other than the fun of the experiment.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Gain’s in Bloosh
If you’re a fan of Parks and Rec, you’ll get the reference. If you’re not, Bloosh is Anabel Porter’s app with all the hottest trends for the citizens of Pawnee, and here is what’s trending for me right now.
Grape seltzer - It all started at Taylor’s bachelor party in May, someone ordered a drink with grape juice, a transfusion. I tried a sip and ever since I had a craving for something grape. I can’t get enough of the Spindrift Grape, it’s so good. When we visited some friends in Maryland, they had Waterloo Grape seltzer, and it’s even better than the Spindrift. Grape Olli Pop is good too, but just not as crushable as the seller for me.
Momentous Fuel - For a long time my mindset was, “I’m not going to eat during a run unless I absolutely have to.” That’s changed over the past couple years based off conversations with Briana, and I’ve been trying to be more proactive. Specifically on shorter runs, I’ve been taking a scoop of Momentous Fuel. Not only do I think it’s been helping during runs, especially on really hot and humid days, but I think it’s helping me recover faster (or feel less depleted) after the fact too. They have two flavors, strawberry lime and cherry berry, and honestly I can’t tell much of a difference between them. For longer runs, I’ve been throwing double scoops into one bottle for some extra concentrated calories and electrolytes. On my big mountain adventure this past Sunday, I used 6 scoops total over 10 hours (along with some other solid food). I’m working on tallying up all my calories for that day so stay tuned.
Merrill Vapor Glove Shoes - I got my first pair of these in 2019 right before our honeymoon and walked all over the Azores with them. Hannah thought they looked silly, but all barefoot shoes do so I dealt with it. I replaced that pair this year, and they have been my daily shoes for a couple months now, and I really like them. They’re thin and flexible, have some treads on them if I want to wear them for a hike with the kids and I usually do my easy neighborhood jogs wearing them as well. Instead of lacing up my trail running shoes, I use my neighborhood jogs (usually pushing a stroller) as a chance to work on my foot strength and running stride. The best part is that these come in at about half the price of the more fancy barefoot shoes - I’m having a hard time paying nearly $200 for less material, less structured shoes that only last a few months.
Strong Ankles - Speaking of foot strength, my left ankle has given me a lot of trouble since I first sprained it about 400m into a Pemi Loop attempt in 2018. Each year I typically sprain it again, and last year I would often lose stability and roll it, even running on flat ground, twinging it and leaving it tender for a day or two. This summer I realized my 9 month break from running was really helpful. I took August 2023-April 2024 completely off from running focused on getting really strong. I followed an Olympic weightlifting plan, and was squatting frequently, snatching, cleaning, jerking and deadlifting 4-5 days per week for months, and I got much stronger, hitting PRs in all the big lifts. All that strength has me feeling really strong charging uphills and I’m confident on my ankle for the first time in a long while.
Go Macro Bars - I’m not sure if it’s a new flavor or not, but they recently started carrying Cashew Blueberry at Market Basket, and I’m a big fan. There’s also a new Mocha one that I’m quite fond of. I typically eat one of these bars 30-60 minutes before a workout.
That’s what’s been trending in my fitness life lately, tell me what you’ve been into this summer.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Praise for Step Ups
Step ups don’t get a lot of love in the strength training world. They’re not that complex and they are overshadowed by more impressive things people do on boxes, like jump on them.
It’s too bad, step ups teach us about how we move, how to create tension and where our movement faults may come from.
Once you have your foot planted on the box, don’t let it cave inwards, towards your big toe. A good cue is knee towards your pinky toe. It’s almost overcorrecting it, so if it falls in a bit, you’re still in a good position.
That knee may also want to push too far forward, lifting your heel off the box. Don’t let that happen either! Imagine your foot as a tripod, big toe, pinky toe and heel. They should all be firmly planted when doing a step up.
One more cue to think about, a slight lean, when starting the rep, will aid in keeping your lower body organized. Don’t be afraid to get your shoulders over your thigh.
These tips will help you whether you’re doing step ups for conditioning, with some load for strength work or if you find yourself outside the gym stepping up on things.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
retroactive heart rate
I wear my heart rate monitor (chest strap) for 75% of my runs, depending on the time of year and what I’m training for.
When I got to the track, I have typically have it on display along with lap time and current pace. I want to be able to correlate certain heart rates with how I feel, so it’s important to keep a close eye on it. For example, I feel like I could keep holding this pace at 165 beats per minute (bpm), but 171 bpm was unsustainable, I couldn’t breathe and want to go hide in the shade.
When heading out for a road run it’s usually an easy 30 min jog through the neighborhood early in the morning. Then I’m not wearing it or gathering information from it. If I’m doing intervals and trying to be fast, I’ll wear it.
That leaves us with easy effort trail runs, which make up 85-90% of my running. I typically wear the chest strap for these runs, but do not glance at it while running. Rather I wear it to collect the data and look at it afterwards. This is the point I want to make today.
If you’re trying to log some time in zone 2, and are having difficultly flirting with the line of your top end Z2 and Z3 - stop looking at it while running!
Frequent glances are helpful when first starting out to keep your effort in check, but once you’ve built a base, the whole point of zone 2 running is to eventually get faster. When this starts to happen, it can be hard to trust your perceived effort without feeling like you’ll blow up, or that your bpm will get out of control.
In these cases, I recommend not looking at your heart rate data till after your run rather than letting it guide your run. Coach Taylor did this recently and was surprised to find that he was in zone 2 for most of his run, but he felt like it was going to be a run above that HR. When this starts to happen, it’s a good sign. It means your base is expanding and you’re getting fitter and faster.
When looking at the data after your run, note when it came out of the range you’re aim to stay within, any big spikes, how quickly it recovers from spikes and what you exertion level was like.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Gym Lingo: Goblet
You ever wonder why it’s called a goblet squat when you hold a kettlebell in front of your chest and perform squats?
For a while we had a large number of clients referring to kettlebells as goblets. Along the lines of, “I dropped my marker and it landed over there near the goblets.” I always got a kick out of that, and it is a little confusing.
The goblet designation doesn’t have to be with a kettlebell though, you can goblet hold a dumbbell or kettlebell.
Its origin comes from legendary strength coach, Dan John. As he writes in his own article on the subject, he was trying to teach 400 student athletes to properly squat. He dabbling with the Zercher squat (another GAIN favorite) but it wasn’t simple enough.
It came to me when I was resting between swings with the weight held in front of me like I was holding the Holy Grail. I squatted down from there, pushed my knees out with my elbows and, behold, the goblet squat!
- Dan John, 2002
Just like that, this simple, highly effective loading strategy for both beginners and advanced athletes was created.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
bolt score
This past weekend I found myself flipping through an old book of mine, The Oxygen Advantage by Patrick McKeown. I was first recommended this book in 2018, after attending a seminar in Virginia Beach about all things breathing.
A main theme of the book is that you don’t need to breathe due to lack of oxygen, but rather, due to the build up of carbon dioxide. Doing breath holds, breath work and the like will result in better performance because your body can handle the stress of accumulated CO2 better, will improve the oxygen-carrying capacity of your blood, and improve the strength of your respiratory muscles.
From page 111:
“When the breath is held following an exhalation, the intake of oxygen is halted while carbon dioxide accumulates in the blood. During this pause, oxygen cannot enter the lungs, and carbon dioxide cannot leave the blood stream.”
I was always skeptical of the chapters claiming that improving your CO2 tolerance could improve your performance at high altitude. There’s potential for me to have a high altitude excursion soon though, and I figured it couldn’t hurt to add in daily breath work to hedge against getting worked by the altitude.
I stated yesterday with a BOLT test, Blood Oxygen Level Test. The BOLT test measures your sensitivity to carbon dioxide. If you’ve been around the gym for a while and been a reader of the blog, you may know this as the CO2 Tolerance test, which was a slight variation of the BOLT test I learned from some other coaches.
Here’s how to do it:
Take a few normal breaths through your nose, and let it all out and start your timer.
Time the number of seconds it takes until you feel the urge or desire to breathe - this is not a measurement of how long you can hold! Rather how long until your body reacts to the lack of air.
Stop the timer when you feel the urge to breathe. That’s it!
*If you need to take a big breath at the end, you held it too long.
Lower BOLT score = less tolerance to CO2.
Mine was 24 seconds, which was lower than I expected, but then again, I haven’t been doing breath work like I was when I originally read this book and last tested my BOLT score. You can check out what your score means here on McKeown’s website.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Caution: Extra Bouncy
When you get in the gym this week you’ll notice some new equipment.
I’ve wanted to have in-between dumbbells for a long time and we finally have them. These weights that will make moving up in movements like db bench presses, db snatches and the like more tangible.
These dumbbells are 7.5LB, 12.5LB, 17.5LB and 22.5LB. There is a new rack that now holds all the weights from 5LB to 22.5LB. The other, bigger dumbbell rack now starts at 25LB - these new weights will help you move up with confidence, and this new system will make organizing the weights much easier than having some of each on both racks.
You’ll also notice all the medicine balls have been replaced with newer, fresher versions - USE CAUTION WITH THESE!
The new balls are not broken in, and therefore, much bouncier than you’re used to. The first slam might catch you by surprise if you’re not ready!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Friday Thoughts 43
Welcome to this week’s edition of Friday Thoughts. Old school today, no Instagram posts, just rambling about things as they come to mind. Enjoy.
Anniversary
Saturday is our wedding anniversary. As we like to say, it’s our 5/12 anniversary. We got married 5 years ago, and starting dating the same day 12 years ago. For our anniversary date, we’re trying to cross off one of Hannah’s goals for the year - to climb Mount Washington. Say a prayer to the weather gods for us in hopes we get a clear weather window. Every time we hike together, the weather tends to be terrible, like at the Beehive in Acadia a few weeks ago.
Here’s us at the gym a couple days after our wedding in 2019.
Olympics
I hope you’ve been enjoying the incredible display of athleticism at the Olympics. I’ve been watching whatever I can. Last night we watched the women’s gymnastics all round, and the timing, power and control these athletes have is unmatched. There’s nothing better than seeing someone really stick a good landing.
I’ve also watched women’s rugby, skateboarding, men’s gymnastics and a random assortment of tennis, table tennis, canoe slalom, kayaking, judo and boxing this week. I’m still eagerly awaiting weightlifting, but we still have a few days to go.
Something I’ve been pondering: how many olympic medals will be given out to athletes that compete barefoot?
Running Streak
After posting the blog yesterday, I did in fact get out for a neighborhood run. The streak climbs to 32 days. I do well with challenges like this, in fact, I probably prefer them. That’s kind of been the theme of my training for the past year too, pick something and just keep doing it over and over. It started last summer with simple kettlebell workouts, which led into back squatting everyday on the Easy Strength program, which sent me into weightlifting competition prep and as soon as that meet was over I was right into running.
My original goal for the year was one of our core values; consistency and moderation over intensity. And to figure out a plan to lift and run and be more a more well-rounded, but I just don’t think that’s my style. Not right now at least. I’m not sure how long I’ll continue the streak, but for now I’m going to keep it going.
The gray dots indicate a day that I ran, gotta get one in today!
Bars
I did get in a nice lifting workout yesterday too during Nolan’s nap.
EMOM 25: 1 power clean + 1 pull up
Hannah came into the garage mid set and told me I look weird wearing shoes, since I’m ALWAYS barefoot around the house and haven’t been doing any lifting that requires footwear. I thought it was a huge compliment. While my feet are in tip top shape, my hands are deconditioned and I’m sporting some nice blisters today.
Heavy cardio like this was a staple when I first started running ultras and besides being strong in general, is one of the reason my body can take on rugged trails without crumbling apart.
Beach Boys
Here’s our recipe for a perfect beach day with toddlers. Get there at 4pm, everyone else is leaving, the sun is less aggressive and it’s still just as hot. Bonus points for low tide, the more room to play and run the better. Play hard in the water for 30 minutes, eat snacks for 30 seconds, play hard for another 30 minutes then get out of there in time for baths and bed. Beach wagon is a must, as is diet cokes for the grown ups. Last night Elliot got tossed around by waves and loved it, and Nolan was chasing after seagulls, growling at them - he might be hanging out with Clem too much.
Thanks for reading you, see you next week!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
july by the numbers
Each month I reflect back and look at some of the data I collect around my health and wellness. This practice helps me make adjustments, spot trends and hopefully inspires some of you to do the same. Let’s dive in.
Steps: 433,142 for a daily average of 13,972.
This was about 60k more steps than in June, and all of that has to do with my increased running volume (more on that below). Highest step day was 26,058, my long run from last Sunday. All in all, about what I expected.
Sleep: 8 Hours 15 minutes average per night
Yes! I’ve been tracking my sleep with my Garmin since September of 2019. I started doing these monthly recaps in an effort to up my average sleep in October 2023, and this is the first time in 5 years that I have averaged over 8 hours for a month. I hit 8 hours or more on 20 days out of the last 31, and even hit 9 hours a couple times while on vacation. In May I only got 8 hours twice, and 12 times in June. It’s nice to see this trending in the right direction.
What changed this month? With the heat wave in early July, instead of reading on the couch and then making my way to bed, I basically have been just getting into bed (because of the air conditioning in our room) right after we put the boys to bed around 7. One caveat, I think this old watch would log reading time as sleeping time, giving me some extra nightly Z’s and padding the stats. Regardless, I’ve been spending more time in bed.
Workouts: 40
This was been quite the month. I’ve never done a running streak for more than 10 days or so and at the beginning of the month I thought I should give it a go - to see if I could run every day in July. I managed to get 31/31 days.
Most of those workouts were runs, or workouts that involved running - for example one day Hannah and I ran to the stop sign and at the bottom of the hill and back and while one of us ran, the other did dumbbell bench press and kb swings. One day I built to a heavy trapbar deadlift and I did one session of Olympic weightlifting as well.
One the days I doubled up on runs, it was typically a short run in the morning (my shortest and minimum for the streak was 2000m or 1.25 miles, to the end of our street and back) followed by a track workout, trail run with Clementine or some easy stroller miles in the afternoon. It was great to return to the track after two or three years away from it. My top end isn’t where it used to be, but I think it’s coming back.
All in all, it was 27 hours of running, 138.5 miles (4.5 daily average) and 18,737ft (though I think my watch is drastically overestimating that). I’ve got an ultra coming up in 10 days and I’m feeling ready. If the streak will continue is to be determined. As I’m writing this now everyone is still sleeping and I could sneak in a couple miles before having to make breakfast. My body is feeling really good, better than I thought it would actually. And even on days that I wake up feeling stiff, as soon as I get moving I feel better.
Thanks for reading, if you have a wearable fitness device, take some time today to look back and reflect on any trends you notice and try to make some adjustments heading this month.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
why we don’t do knee push ups (and what to do instead)
Doing push ups on your knees is fine when you’re low on equipment, or from time to time to modify a workout to get it done.
Long term, however, knee push ups are limited and leave no room for progress.
By dropping to your knees to perform a push up, you’re shortening the lever and lightening the load you’re lifting - which is a great if you can’t do a push up on your toes. The jump from knee push ups to toes push ups is challenging though, and nearly impossible to accomplish by only training push ups from your knees.
Instead, we do hands-elevated push ups using a barbell in a squat rack. With this system we have a clear method of progress. Lowering the bar lessens your angle to the floor, thus increasing the load you’re lifting. Much like adding weight to a deadlift, you can think of this as adding weight to your push up.
There is no in-between with knee push ups, there’s on the knees, and on the toes. The hands elevated method allows for much more nuance to get the right amount of perceived exertion. Also, by elevating the hands, we still get to train the plank position in a longer-lever, something that will pay off if you’re goal is to get a couple of push ups from your toes.
If you don’t have a barbell and squat rack, a bench, box, counter top or stairs work well too, however, keep in mind, what make the barbell and squat rack the perfect push up tool is the adjustability - you can be precise and lower or raise the bar by a inch, customizing the right amount of difficulty and always having a way to progress.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
medicine balls: heavier isn’t better
When you’re working hard in the gym, we want to see your weights increase. It’s a sign that you’re making progress and getting stronger.
With medicine balls exercises, however, more weight isn’t always better - let me explain.
When we’re lifting heavy weights, in movements like goblet squats, back squats, bench presses or deadlifts, the main purpose is to increase our strength.
Strength is your ability to create force. The more strength you have, the more force you can create, and therefore, the stronger you are.
When we train with medicine balls (mb’s), the goal isn’t necessarily to get stronger. Instead medicine balls are a tool to develop and increase power.
Power is the ability to exert force in minimal time or how quickly you can display your strength.
Because of that, when we do mb side tosses, slams, chest passes and the like, we NEED to move fast and throw them hard to get the proper adaptation.
A heavy ball might change your mechanics, or make you move slowly, so you’re not getting the high velocity display of power on each rep.
In other words, 10 mb slams done sluggishly with a 20 pound ball is NOT more effective than 10 snappy, hard hitting slams done with an 8 pounder.
When squatting, heavier is better, but with medicine balls, faster is better. Remember that the next time you’re selecting a medicine ball in the gym!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain