Hills and Intervals: Training for Speed

There are two aspects of exercise I want to attempt to turn my readers onto. They are intervals and hills. Each of these is great for developing speed and increasing endurance. Intervals are periods of intense exercise interspersed with active recovery periods. You may do intervals running or biking to build better speed. It is my understanding that to run a fast mile you should do 200 meter intervals, sprinting 200 meters and then slowly jogging until you feel you could do another 200 meter sprint. You should also spend time running or cycling hills.

There are many ways in which you can use hills to best get yourself in shape. You could go on a moderately paced hike to the top of a mountain or go jogging and seek out a hilly route to follow. There are also a number of hill specific exercises you can do on hills including sprints, lunges and backwards running up hills. There is a video on youtube entirely devoted to hill training. If you would like to look it up you will be able to find it under Bloom to Fit.

There are two types of intervals you can do: aerobic and anaerobic. Aerobic intervals are longer but less intense than anaerobic intervals. The 200 meter sprint intervals I previously mentioned are anaerobic intervals. Anaerobic intervals are especially good for developing your top speed- or sprinting- for either cycling or running. Aerobic intervals last for about 10 minutes and are great for increasing your lung capacity. The goal with doing intervals is to slowly decrease your rest periods and this way increase your speed. It takes discipline and motivation to do interval training but it is essential for optimum performance.

Illness and Incarceration

There are many reasons to be concerned with how mental illness is being treated in modern society. One of these is the prevalence of those dealing with mental health issues in jail or prison. The population of those with mental illnesses in jails and prisons has grown since the deinstitutionalization movement in the 60's and 70's. In this time, the concept of integrating those with illnesses into society was at the forefront of mental health care. As this occurred, the number of beds available in state hospitals began to drop. In the last 50 years the number of state hospital beds has fallen from 600,000 to 40,000.

Jails and prisons are now administering the majority of mental health treatment in America. Rikers Island is the largest provider of mental health services in the country, housing approximately 3000 people with illnesses. It is estimated that mentally ill inmates on average are incarcerated 8 times longer. The expense to keep mentally ill inmates incarcerated is 7 times that of non-ill inmates. Mentally ill inmates are housed in disciplinary units approximately 6 1/2 times as much as their non-ill counterparts.

I was able to interview a jail superintendent for this article. I asked him pertinent questions related to the treatment of mental illness in jail, its effectiveness and the decriminalization of mental illness. In speaking to him I was able to gain some insight into the subject I would not be able to get from doing research on-line.

I think it is important to understand the experience of others dealing with mental illness for my own personal recovery. I think this article will also be informative for those who are closely related to someone with an illness and to those that are just interested readers.

In the interview I did with the jail superintendent, he gave me a number of reasons why we see so many people with illnesses being incarcerated. 32% of his inmates are mentally ill. He specifically mentioned that he sees people who are undiagnosed or uneducated about their illness. Often times they will be experiencing financial difficulties and do not know how to keep their medication regimen going. He told me a story of a young lady who had no income, and her family had severed their ties with her. Her landlord warned her that if she didn't leave her apartment he would call the police, as she was not paying her rent. She had nowhere to turn and did not want to be left on the streets. She was eventually charged with criminal trespass and put in jail.                     

The superintendent also let me know that he did not feel that proper mental health treatment was as accessible as it should be in the community. There are stricter criteria for being admitted to hospital- much more so than a jail. Also, the option of putting a person in jail rather than bringing them to a hospital where they can be admitted is an "easy" choice for police officers. We would not want to see someone go to jail that could be admitted to a hospital to receive proper care. However, the superintendent told me he has seen people who were diagnosed in jail and given proper medication. In some instances like that he says that he has received phone calls from former inmates who said that the treatment they received in jail dramatically improved their lives.

Illness and Homelessness

There is a major homelessness problem amongst the mentally ill. I myself have been homeless. Although I had two jobs I was having trouble for a little while when I was 20 finding a reasonably priced apartment. I was living in a resort town at the time. At that time in my life I was a ski instructor. In the time that I was between apartments I stayed in a storage unit. It was winter but my sleeping bag and wool hat kept me fairly warm.

Mental illness is one of the very top causes of homelessness. Studies show that 30% of homeless people suffer from severe mental illnesses. Often time's people dealing with symptoms of mental illness become estranged from their support systems and have difficulty in the work place. I have had experiences like this myself. I have had trouble at times both keeping jobs and finding jobs. It seems as though people with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are especially vulnerable to homelessness.

One study shows that 27% to 36% of patients discharged from state hospitals in MA and OH were homeless within 6 months. Unfortunately out patient services cost a lot of money and are not made available to many people with illnesses. Another study shows that 60% of the chronically homeless suffer from severe mental illness. It is an unfortunate set of circumstances that people dealing with mental illness face.

There are many improvements that could be made within the system to help alleviate some of these issues. In my experience I have seen that hospitals could be staffed with people that know more about the problems their patients face. They could also attempt to educate their patients about their illnesses more. I would have benefited from these types of accommodations myself. One example of this is that in my experience I have not seen one peer recovery specialist on staff at a hospital. Treatment must continue after leaving the hospital aswell.

Struggles and Schizophrenia

I am someone who is dealing with schizophrenia. It is in remission now but I have had many struggles with this illness in my lifetime. It's hard to say exactly when I started experiencing symptoms of schizophrenia. I was diagnosed at the age of 27, after a suicide attempt. It is more likely that I first became ill in my teens.

I had my first encounter with the law when I was 17. I was driving under the influence of alcohol. I ran a red light at an intersection and was pursued by a police officer. I ran red lights on a regular basis at that time in my life. I had stolen goods in my car. I had stolen stereo equipment from a person's apartment earlier that night. The police officer who pursued me eventually detained and charged me. I was charged that night and awaited to be seen in court that weekend in jail.

I was lucky, the charges I faced were consolidated and as it was my first time in the court system I was given the opportunity to go through court diversion. Court diversion is for young people facing their first criminal charges. If you do what you are asked to do in court diversion you will eventually have no charges on your record. I had to do some community service and take a course for drunk drivers. Unfortunately I hardly learned my lesson.

I had future encounters with the law. I have spent some time in jail. One time in particular I was plagued by paranoia. I thought in order to be safe I would have to go to jail. I assaulted a police officer and did 4 months for it. I got out of jail and still believed that people would harm me if I didn't do something about it. This led to my suicide attempt at the age of 27 I mentioned earlier. I went to the hospital after my attempt was and diagnosed with schizophrenia. I left the hospital not feeling any better.

I went from the hospital to a group home. This group home provided an environment in which my feelings of paranoia subsided. I appeared to all parties but myself to be doing well. I knew that the symptoms of my illness were just below the surface. I have said in another article in this blog that delusion makes you feel as if you are alone. The consequences of this feeling of being alone in my case were that I did not share of my paranoid beliefs. I felt that only I could understand my own circumstances. I left the group home after having been there for 2 1/2 years, still delusional but not quite as paranoid. Eventually the paranoia caught up to me again I felt I was not safe. I again got myself put in jail.

I can now look back on all of this and feel as if it has made me into a stronger individual to have struggled this much. I regret things I have done. I have also managed to overcome my illness. I now know that no one is going to harm me. I do not suffer from delusion and I hope that I can help others that have had are struggling similarly to how I did.  I feel that life has been unfair to me but at the same time I would not wish to have an easy life. I have always revered those who had major struggles and were able to make great contributions to our society. It is my belief that I can come out of my struggles better than I was when they laid ahead of me. I will attempt to use my experiences to make a greater contribution to society than I would be capable of otherwise.

Fiber: A Healthy Choice

Fiber is currently a dietary buzz word. Fiber is carbohydrates that can not be digested. It is very important to eat a diet rich in fiber. You should be eating foods rich in fiber more than you probably think. In fact males under the age of 50 should be consuming 38 grams of fiber a day. Women from the same age group need a little less fiber. Their daily recommended fiber intake is 25 grams. Still when you consider that a "fiber rich" may have as little as 3 grams in a serving 25 to 38 grams is quite a bit. Luckily many different foods contain fiber. Such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes.

There are a number of health benefits to fiber. One being that it can assist in weight loss. It is considered to be a more satiating food than what many others are so you will feel full from eating a fiber rich food. It also takes a little longer to chew which will help you not over eat. Fiber rich foods also are often times low in calorie, an added bonus. A high in fiber diet will also protect against heart disease and diabetes.

There are two types of fiber soluble and insoluble fiber. Insoluble fiber helps with regularity while the soluble fiber helps lower cholesterol and glucose levels. Sources of insoluble fiber are whole wheat flour and bran, nuts and many vegetables. Sources of soluble fiber are oats, peas, beans, apples, citrus fruits, carrots and barley.

The average person takes in about 15 grams of fiber a day. Less than the minimum recommended intake this is 20 grams. If you are interested in increasing your fiber consumption I offer here a few tips on how to do this better. First increase your fiber consumption slowly over time. Increasing your fiber intake too quickly could cause gas, bloating and/or diarrhea. Also you should drink a lot of water with your fiber rich diet. Adding things like seeds to your salads and vegetables like carrots as a snack can be helpful. You will want to replace your breads, cereals, rice and pastas with ones that are whole grain.

Circuit Training

Circuit training is a series of exercises repeated in rapid succession. It is intended to keep your heart rate up to burn a lot of calories. It can be a great time saver as it combines cardio with resistance training. If you choose to do some circuit training you should choose lighter weights to do more repetitions, at least 15 repetitions per exercise. It is important that you include exercises that will get your heart pumping. I find that whole body exercises in which I use my legs are best for this. You may select one or two whole body exercises with the rest maintaining your heart rate but not necessarily accelerating it too much. This is because the work out should be maintained for at least 20 minutes, so pace yourself.

You do not need weights to do circuit training. It is possible and good practice to do circuits of body weight exercises. I do most of my circuit training with kettlebells. I have a 25 lb. and two 15 lb. kettlebells. There are a lot of exercises you can do with kettlebells which makes them well suited for circuit training. As you could imagine you would not attempt to do 20 minutes of bench presses or bicep curls. The variety of exercises and muscle groups you train during your workout can effect how well you keep your heart rate up while you are training.

 

Here are some example circuits you could try.

 

15 push-ups followed by 50 jumping jacks, 60 second plank, and 50 jumping jacks then repeat the circuit starting with push-ups

 

Or

 

30 push-ups, 10 pull-ups and 60 seconds of jumping rope then repeat

 

Or

 

25 sit-ups, 20 push-ups and 60 second plank then repeat

 

Or

 

20 lunges, 10 half burpees, 30 second wall sit and 50 jumping jacks then repeat

 

You may adjust the number of reps in the workouts listed above to better suit your needs. There are of course many bodyweight exercises that you can do that I have not listed and that would be great for circuit training. Try to incorporate circuit training into your routine at least once a week. I would say that you could ideally do circuit training 3 times a week. You will get leaner, stronger and be faster before you know it.

Contemplative Practices: Not Just Meditation

Contemplative practices such as meditation promote a pure state of consciousness. Meditation is a single type of contemplative practice. It is commonly used for developing calmness and focus. The contemplative practices include journaling, yoga and prayer. The purpose of contemplative practices should be to develop awareness. In the development of awareness you can also realize an interconnectedness of all life as well as an appreciation for all that is living.

You may easily do at least one contemplative practice on a daily basis, I personally journal every day. I also have recently started taking a yoga class and meditate occasionally. I believe most importantly to your personal contemplative practices is that it is meaningful to you. If you find peace in gentle movement you might want to try Tai Chi, if stillness is most relaxing to you than meditation could be of some use and prayer might help those that want to develop a relationship with god.

In my journaling I believe I develop my awareness through communicating that which is weighing heavily on my mind and what is in my heart. I write each day and notice patterns and improvements in the subject matter of what I write. When I first started writing in my journal a lot of what I wrote was about my workouts. I now go deeper into my feelings. It is this way that over time a contemplative practice will make you more aware of yourself and your surroundings.

Take time out of each day for your personal contemplative practices and you will grow into a stronger and more insightful individual. Your practices will relieve stress and promote an overall sense of well being. Over time contemplative practices will bring different aspects of a person's character into focus. Your heart and mind will be unified in focused attention.