For November I increased my weight training a bit. My own personal opinion is that during the cold and dark winter months the body naturally goes into a form of anti-hybernation. You sleep more and eat more. Optimum conditions for gaining muscle mass. So I upped my weight training.

For weights right now I’m doing some good basics:

• Front Squats
• Box Squats
• Straight Leg Deadlifts
• Bench Press
• Military Press
• Front Row
• High Row
• Low Row
• Pulldown

Along with some limited accessory movements:

• Facepull
• Haney Shrug
• Seated Calf Raise
• Standing Calf Raise
• Dumbbell Shoulder Raise

Later I’ll post my set/rep plan if you’re curious at all.

For cardio, I’m still working on the Maffetone plan, riding Zone 2 on my Polar FT80 HRM which for me is between 130 and 140 bpm. Very tough to do, but I’m figuring it out, and committed to 3 months overall to see if it does work. Haven’t run any stats on it yet, and I don’t know intuitively yet either. I wrote a post about the Maffetone plan HERE. I’m mostly riding the treadmill right now, averaging about 20 miles a week of running and walking mixed. I’m working toward either growing to 30-ish miles, or incorporating other crosstraining cardio into the blend.

One important event that occurred is that the garage, even with an insulated roof, dropped below 50 degrees, the temperature at which my electronics start to go nuts. On the agenda is insulating the walls and doors, which might extend the season some, but without a heat source, it will eventually drop. That’s a major project, maybe someday.

I have a treadmill in the basement, but it’s right under the cold air intake for the furnace – tons of fun till you’re warmed up 😉 I have permission to bring some of my stuff in, and maybe I’ll build a really cool Home Cardio Theater out of it, if I can spare some time. If I do, I’ll post progress reports on it, to keep you in the loop, if anyone is interested.