Nike+ iPod App & Running Sensor

One cool thing about having an iPhone is there are hundreds, if not thousands of applications for calorie tracking, weight loss, and food preparation. One of the apps I was most excited about when I started running were the Nike+ suite of applications for the iPhone.

The shoes are Nike+ ready!

I’ve had a pair of Nike running shoes for a while that had this Nike+ logo on the bottom. What I understood when I bought them, that these shoes had a Nike+ sensor BUILT into the shoe! Well I was a tad wrong, but I got it all sorted out. I first got the shoes, and fired up the Nike+ running application.

The application told me to walk around to activate the sensor in my shoes. I walked around a bunch. Nothing happened….. then I walked around some more… nothing happened. I started to doubt that the application was working, I restarted my phone, and fired up the application again. Nike+ told me to walk around to activate the sensor. I started walking around again, and… nothing. I must be doing something wrong I thought. I had ruled out the phone, right? restarted the phone and application. Maybe I had a bad sensor in my shoes? These shoes were not brand new, maybe if it had batteries, the sensor had gone dead? I wasn’t going to let it get the better of me, I was going to figure it out! I’m a geek, I couldn’t let a pair of shoes and a sensor beat me.

Sensor goes here.

I sat down, and took my shoes off. It didn’t make sense. My shoes have the Nike+ logo on the bottom. The engineer in me kicked in and I started to think about things logically. “Would Nike really put sensors in all those shoes? What about people that don’t even use them? It seems like a waste.” So I looked at the left shoe, and lifted the insole out.  Hey there was a plastic area that was hollowed out with something gray inside of it. I pulled out the grey piece, it was a piece of foam, but it was about the size that a sensor would fit in. I think I found where the sensor was supposed to go.

I started googling it, and found that yes, DUH, I needed to buy a sensor that fit into the shoes. I started to get mad, thinking it was probably like $100. I was able to locate one at Best Buy, for $19. I ran out and got it, opened the package, and slipped it into the cavity in my shoe. I replaced the insole, and fired up the application. After two steps the Nike+ application was registering my steps. I kind of felt silly that I was missing hardware… come on, I should have thought of that!

App looking for sensor.

It’s great for running on the treadmill. After a few runs, you can start to gauge the distance against what the treadmill says, and calibrate it so that it gets your running distance closer to what it actually is. The application runs on your phone, and keeps track of the distance that you run. I run with the phone in my pocket, and listen to music. You can reach down while you’re running and press the iPhone’s home button, a voice will tell you how long, how far, and what pace you’ve been running.

There’s also a “Power Song” option that you can set. So when you’re starting to get tired, and feel spent, you can have it play a song to energize you. It’s funny that when you have good songs playing, it really does help you lose focus on being tired and allows you to push forward. There’s been runs where I thought that I was done, and I’ve gone for my “power song” (Chemical Brothers – Galvanize) and been able to continue on. If your power song is “Oops I did it again” I won’t hold it against you. I need a song that’s energetic, and long so I can get back into my stride. What is your power song? Techno? Top 40? Maybe some old 80’s music?

The run screen.

During your run, you can press the ‘home’ button on the iphone, and the Nike application will announce your time spent running, pace, and distance. It’s nice to be able to hear where the application thinks you are in relation to what the treadmill says.

At the end of your run, you can upload the data to Nike’s web application for running where it will show you a statistical break down of all your runs, your pace, calories burned, and other great information. It’s really satisfying to see the cumulative miles you run add up and see the progress you make. The Nike+ web site which you upload data too has some REALLY cool stats. They have an achievement system that will keep track of things like your fastest mile, fastest 1K, longest run, longest time spent running, and there’s a bunch of celebrity voices like Lance Armstrong (maybe they pulled his now though) that congratulate you on your achievements and victories. I’ll review a second Nike+ running application for the iPhone in the future, that requires NO sensor in your shoes.

Here are some more screen shots from the application. It’s very simple to use, is one of my favorite tools that I am using right now in my weight loss goals.

Run summary. The running program options. The sensor.

Creating a Calorie Deficit – Planning, Measurement, and Success

The key aspect to losing weight is dead simple. You have to create a caloric deficit, burn more calories in a day than you consume. That’s it… there’s nothing really more to it than that. Of course adding habits like eating a low fat diet, adding an exercise regimen and getting good sleep are all things that can do nothing but accelerate the process.

I was told there would be no math…..

The key to planning out this approach to losing weight requires several (easy) steps that you need to do. The first step is to create a calorie budget, and stick to it. It’s just like it sounds, determine how many calories you’ll allot yourself for the day, and then simply don’t exceed it. Use a tool like Lose It to track your caloric intake. Determining how many calories you should budget requires learning a few terms, doing some calculations, and then applying some assumptions. Let’s talk about a few terms that will help you with this process:

• BMR – Basal Metabolic Rate – Is a measurement of how many calories you would burn during a 24 hour period.
• Calculating your BMR – Use an online calculator, or if you want, you can do the math yourself using these equations. There’s two schools of thought on this, I’m providing the calculation I’ve seen the most. Find your BMR:
  Women: BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in lbs.) + (4.7 x height in inches ) – (4.7 x age in years)
  Men: BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in lbs.) + (12.7 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age in years)

• To determine your caloric needs, multiply your BMR by how active you are:
  • If you are sedentary (little or no exercise): BMR x 1.2
  • If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week): BMR x 1.375
  • If you are moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week): BMR x 1.55
  • If you are very active: BMR x 1.725
  • If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports and physical job or 2x training): BMR x 1.9
• The number you get from that is the number of calories that your body uses for the day. Subtracting roughly 500 calories from that number, without going lower than 1200 is a good place to start losing about a pound per week.

By figuring out some of the math, this will allow you to better understand where you’re at, it’s slightly different for everyone. Creating a calorie deficit has been one of the key tools to my weight loss so far. I of course couple this with an aggressive exercise routine. Using my calorie tracking application on my phone really helps keep me accountable. Weekends tend to be the hardest, I try to keep busy working out, or doing projects around the house.

Once you understand where your caloric intake needs to be, it’s easier to figure out what kind of deficit you want to create. I’m currently eating up to 1600 calories per day, this should create about a 1 lb. per week weight loss, but paired with exercise 4 – 5 times per week, burning about 500 – 700 calories per workout, I’ve been dropping about 2 – 4 pounds per week. Adding exercise will help accelerate your weight loss. Eating foods that are lower in fat, and cutting down on carbohydrates has helped me too. I haven’t cut carbs out completely, but I’ve drastically reduced my consumption of them.

My First Spin Class – Or What to Expect When Spinning

The spin studio at your local gym is a good place to add a new tool to your exercise routine. It may seem intimidating to walk into a room that has nothing but spin bikes in it and it may seem even weirder to see a bunch of people adjusting the bikes to the settings they know by heart. You’ll probably feel a little apprehensive going your first time, but there’s nothing to fear. When you go to your first class be sure to say hello to your instructor, and let them know that it’s your first time. They should spend a few minutes with you showing you how to get the correct adjustments and fit on the bike to make it the most comfortable and efficient for your workout.

One of the things that I really think is cool about spinning, is that just about anyone can do it. It seriously requires no special skills. Unlike a treadmill, there’s really no balance, or danger of falling off. If you can walk… you can do a spin workout.

There’s three main settings on a spin bike as far as fit goes, seat height, distance of the seat from the handlebars, and handlebar height. Once you know your settings/numbers, it’s a breeze. I set my seat height to a “J”, the distance from the handlebars is set to “4”, and the height of the handlebars is a “6”, I just try and remember J46.

The pedals of the bike are two sided with two different options. One side has a “cage” that you can wear tennis shoes with and they slide into it and rest on the pedal. The second side is configured to allow cycling SPD style shoes to snap in to the pedal. It’s exactly the same as road/mountain bike SPD pedals. Click in by stepping down on the pedal, and kick your heels out to clip out. You quickly learn that you can use your body to press down on the pedals as well as pull up on the pedals using either pedal configuration.

The last setting you’ll need to know is the tension knob generally below the handlebars which adds resistance to the front wheel. There’s really not a way to measure it, turning it clockwise adds more resistance simulating a hill and turning it counter-clockwise removes that tension. If you’re pedaling at a high rate of speed, and you need to stop the pedals quickly, you can mash down on the tension knob by just pushing it down, this acts like an emergency break and stops the motion of the cranks.

My first class I was kind of clueless, the instructor was very nice, and helped me fit the bike correctly, I had a small towel, and a bottle of water, and my trusty heart rate monitor for measuring the calories I burned during the class. I got on bike and had my first ‘duhhhh’ moment. I’ve ridden bikes a lot over the past two years, long bike rides, like 70 miles in a half day, and I had forgotten bike shorts. It wasn’t awful without them, but I’d rather have the extra padding and shorts that were made for cycling than not.

My second ‘duhhhh’ moment came about 15 minutes in to the class when I realized when the instructor was saying to make a turn, it wasn’t the direction of travel. It’s a stationary bike, “How am I supposed to turn???” I remember thinking, well, what she meant was to turn up more resistance on the tension knob, increasing the difficulty of pedaling, and giving you a more challenging work out. They play fun, fast music, and the instructor wears a microphone, it’s in a decent sized studio, but with the music, and microphone, and echoes sometimes it’s hard to hear what they’re saying.

My third moment came when I realized I had sat in the middle of the room. I couldn’t figure out why everyone else was flanking the sides of the room until about 2/3 of the way through the class and I looked up…. no fans above me. Everyone else was pretty much situated under large fans that blow a nice cool breeze. Look up, duhhhh!

I do have to say that working out with a group of people, being challenged to work hard and being part of a group mentality absolutely pushes me to a new level. I’ve tried to replicate the experience on my own, but it’s just not the same. I really like the spin classes, and most of the instructors so far have been a lot of fun. I’d really encourage you to give it a try if you’ve never tried it. I’m in my fourth or fifth week of spinning twice per week, and I can’t see getting tired of it any time soon.

If You’re Going to Buy One Thing, Make it a Heart Rate Monitor

Receiver unit (and watch).

Out of all the tools I use (and there’s a lot), the one that I use hands down the most is my heart rate monitor (HRM). It’s basically a watch, and a chest strap that is worn under your shirt. You can’t even tell when it’s on, but it wirelessly sends my heart rate data to the watch, so I can see my current heart rate. You program the watch when you set it up to know your height, weight, and age. Based on this data, and your heart rate metrics during a workout it calculates your caloric burn, this information is very useful.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to purchase one. They range from $40 – $500. The more expensive ones combine GPS and mapping functionality for running and other distance sports. I have a very inexpensive one, and it’s old. I had bought it years ago, but it still works great. I’ve pretty much used the “Polar USA” brand, this is my second one. At the time of this writing, this one is $66 on Amazon.com, and has pretty good reviews. Some of the more complex ones will even sync via Bluetooth to your wireless smart phone, I really don’t need something that fancy at this point.

The strap you wear, you don’t even notice it.

I use it in conjunction with a lot of the cardio equipment at the gym. When you get on any equipment that’s compatible with wireless heart rate monitors, you can then work out without having to keep your hands on the built in sensors. What’s really great is the machine that’s linked to your HRM then has a much more accurate count of the calories that you burn because it’s calculated off your actual heart rate instead of a best guess. Just make sure to enter your weight and age details into the cardio machine.

The cardio equipment just lights up with your hear rate when you walk up to it.

I use the the information from the heart rate monitor with a lot of the other applications that I use to track my weight loss goals. The main one, Lose It, I use to always log the amount of calories I burn when exercising. When you’re on a calorie budget designed to create a calorie deficit, you can subtract your exercise calories form your overall food budget. Lose It even says you can eat those calories, but I don’t. So if you eat 1500 calories, and exercise for 600, you take 1500 and subtract your workout, leaving you 900 calories eaten for the day. This would cause you to be 600 calories under your already low budget of 1600 for the day, a very good deficit.

One of the other very cool things you can do with a heart rate monitor is to do is track your training to keep your rate in a certain zone. To make sense out of figuring out what zone you should be working in, let’s talk about Resting Heart Rate (RHR) and Maximum Heart Rate (MHR). To calculate your RHR, lie down for 20 minutes, where you can see a clock and take your pulse several times, whatever the lowest value is, that’s your RHR. Your MHR is 220 – your age. MHR is kind of subjective, but most people agree with the 220 – age calculation.

To calculate a zone value:

•  RHR – MHR = Working Heart Rate
• Calculate the required X% on the working hear rate as Y
• Add Y to your RHR this gives you the max heart rate for that zone

There are a number of different zones, with different stages of cardio endurance:

• Energy Efficient / Recovery Zone – 60% – 70% – Basic endurance, and a good zone for losing weight.
• Aerobic Zone – 70% – 80% – Develops your cardiovascular system, you get the benefits of aerobic development and some fat burning.
• Anaerobic Zone – 80% – 90% – Anaerobic threshold is pressed, amount of fat being used is reduced in this zone.

Some of the newer heart rate monitors will even do some of this work for you. 🙂 I’m a techie, and I love the tech toys, so anything I can do to geek out and lose weight you’ll probably eventually read about. A lot more reviews, tools I use, and opinions on technology applied to fitness and weight loss is in the works.

Running – A Necessary Evil

It burns a lot of calories!

Let me state for the record that I hate running. I hate it. I’m not good at it, I enjoy almost nothing about it, but it’s something that’s working for me right now. I’ve been running a flat 5K two to three times per week. When I first started it took forever, and I had to walk for long portions of it. But over the past few weeks I’ve gotten way better at it. I can run for a mile at 6 mph (which is SLOW for most runners) now without a break, and can finish my 5K in around 35 – 38 minutes, which again is slow for most avid runners. I’m trying to run the whole 3.2 miles at 5.5 mph or above. It’s challenging for me still, but I’m building up endurance for sure.

My advice is that if you’re trying to lose weight, just get on a treadmill and go. Don’t worry if you can only run for a minute or two, just get out there and start doing it. Do what you’re capable of, and build on it. I’m trying to challenge myself more each time I go. Some days are great, I get done with my 3.2 miles, and I can go more, and I do. Other days, I’m struggling through the first mile. That’s all part of this process, some days are great, others are awful. I try to be happy with my good days, and know that the bad days are just a temporary thing.

I hate this thing.

There’s a myriad of options when you get on a treadmill, manual mode, weight loss, timed run, interval training. I usually just pick a timed run, and set it for 45 minutes and go. Remember if you’re using the heart rate sensors by holding on to the machine, to push the options button and enter your weight and age. Most of these machines calculate calories burned based on an average 35 year old. Putting in your weight and age, will ensure that it reports an accurate calorie burn. I don’t like to hold on to the handles when I’m running, I wear my heart rate monitor and it wirelessly links to the treadmills at my gym. When I walk up to the machine, it shows my hear rate. It’s nice to have that information available on the screen, so I don’t have to check my watch while I’m running. It’s also nice because it produces a very accurate representation of the calories I burn while on the machine. You also get a way better workout by not hanging on to the machine, I remember seeing a Biggest Loser episode where Jillian Michaels said that holding on during your run or workout decreases the work you’re doing by 30%. If I’m working out to lose weight, I want to be as effective as possible. I want to burn my 500 – 700 calories for the day, and get out of there!

Putting the treadmill on an incline is going to cause your muscles to work harder, more strain, and a much tougher workout. I’m not to that point yet, but when I can run a 5K in under 30 minutes, I’ll start ramping it up (no pun intended). I typically listen to music when I run, and try to focus on whatever the TVs are displaying at the gym. I try to leave my body and kind of check out mentally.

The thing I do like about running is that there is almost always some kind of fun run, or 5K that is happening somewhere. I find that when I have something to keep me accountable, I’ll train for it and continue to work out. If I know in 2 months that I’m going to run a 5K, I want to make sure I run the whole thing, and not walk through any of it. I’ve done one 5K with my daughter several years ago, and that was fun. I’m going to do a run in December, and that’s just one more thing that will keep me motivated and focused to keep working out.

Spin Class – A Beginner’s First Impression

Finding new things to do at the gym to keep your workout fresh and invigorating can be a challenge. I have a road bike that I used to ride a lot (planning on getting back on it in better weather) so I thought that trying a spin class at my gym would be a good idea.

I did my geek due diligence of doing some internet searches on what to expect in a spin class, how they work, etc. I already own bike shoes that clip to my bike’s pedals and was excited to learn that the gym’s spin bikes use the same system. I found the class online using an application on my iPhone, added the class to my calendar, and was looking forward to checking it out.

One of my colleagues at work is a hard core biker, so I asked him about spin classes. He smiled, and was excited to tell me his impression, we sat in his office and talked a bit about it. “First of all, let me tell you the number one thing you have to know about ALL spin instructors…. they are all full of it.” I was a little taken back, he further explained “They’ll tell you to add more resistance to your bike, and convince you they’re doing the same, but I think a lot of them pretend to add that resistance, or don’t do as much as they’re telling you.” It made me laugh to hear his thoughts, as it’s someone in my office that I have a great deal of respect for. He went on to tell me several useful things about going for the first time, told me that I’d be hurting the first few times, that it can be a tough workout, but the synergy of spinning with others creates an energetic, fun, and challenging workout.

He’s 100% right, on the mark about all of it. It was a monster first workout for me. A 45 minute class I burned over 600 calories, and was dripping with sweat. They play music and the instructor has a microphone and tells you what to do as you go through each part of the class. Some classes focus on a big hill climb, with sprints in between. Other instructors have different styles, spin to the music, go balls out for 5 minutes, and then slow down for a bit. The one thing that I really enjoy is that it’s fun, upbeat, and the time goes by fast. All of the instructors that I’ve met so far are very upbeat, positive, and welcoming.

The point I’m trying to make is you should go outside your comfort zone and try something new, try something that you maybe wouldn’t consider doing. I’m doing the spin class twice a week now, and it’s fun, I’m starting to get to know people, and having a lot of fun. Anything you can do to add fun to your exercise routine is a good thing in my book.