Todd Taylor's Blog - Fitness

Swimming Tips – Gear

Todd M. Taylor — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 03:34:15 GMT

Unless you swim naked, you’ll probably need to buy a few items. Over the years, I’ve found there are a few ‘must have’ items and a few items that are complete wastes of money. Keep in-mind that that I consider myself a fast recreational swimmer, but I’m not a racer. Products that give me a high ‘bang-for-the-bucket’ are usually my favorites.

Swim Suits

Being a guy, I can only speak about my experience with men’s suits. Obviously, if you want to swim fast, wearing a pair of surfer shorts is about the equivalent of riding your bike with a parachute tied to the seat. You’ll get great exercise wearing them, but you won’t likely be fast. I personally prefer the ‘jammer’ style short which happens to look about the same as my bicycling shorts that I wear in the summer. I’m afraid I just can’t see myself wearing the Speedo-briefs.

Suit style aside, I’ve found that the ‘p’-word (polyester), actually is the better route to go. I started out swimming with the more expensive Speedo suits that were mostly Lycra blends. They looked nice and made me feel fast, but they didn’t last long before the chlorine started to wear them thin. I tried the much cheaper Speedo jammers that are a polyester blend and I really like them. One pair easily lasts a whole season of swimming without totally losing shape or getting thin spots. The other benefit is that you can usually buy several pairs for the cost of one of the higher end Lycra suits.

Flip-Flops

Whatever you want to call them, make sure you wear some kind of foot protection when you’re not in the pool. In addition to keeping you from slipping and falling, they also protect your feet from nasty funguses. Have you ever had Athlete’s foot? You really don’t want it, and there’s a real good chance you’ll get it if you don’t protect your feet on a public floor.

Goggles

It would be pretty hard to recommend a single pair of goggles that fits everyone, so I won’t. When swimming indoors, I personally prefer a pair of clear lenses that don’t limit my peripheral vision… which usually means I like goggles that make me look like a dork.

I also prefer goggles with an adjustable nose bridge. I’ve never had any luck with the goggles that have the fixed nose bridge, they never fit right.

Most goggles come with some kind of anti-fog coating that never seems to last very long. To extend the life of the coating, I highly recommend not getting the inside of the goggles wet with pool water when possible. The chlorine seems to quickly remove the coating. When my newer goggles fog-up, I usually take them off for a few minutes to let the fog go away, then I put them back on. I’ve also used the Tyr anti-fog solution, but it doesn’t seem to do anything. If someone has a better way to keep goggles from fogging-up, I’m all ears!

When you find a pair of goggles you really like, I’d suggest buying like 50 pairs of them. It seems like as soon as you find a pair you like, the company stops making them and then you have to start all over again.

Swim Caps

If you’re not wearing a swim cap, well, I feel sorry for your hair. It took me weeks before I was used to wearing a cap, but now I feel naked without one.

I recommend a silicone cap over the latex kind. The silicone caps last longer and don’t seem to pull on your hair as much. I haven’t tried a Lycra cap yet, but knowing that Lycra suits don’t last long, I wouldn’t expect a Lycra cap would either.

Swimming Tips – Hair Care

Todd M. Taylor — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 03:07:42 GMT

If you’re swimming in a pool for any length of time, your hair is going to take a beating. It won’t be long before your hair is going to look and feel like straw. So what do you do about it? Well, here’s what works for me.

First, buy a silicone swim cap. Yeah, I know they feel weird and are hard to put on, but they’ll help save your hair. They’re made of several different materials, such as Lycra, silicone, and latex and I’ve tried the latter two. I highly recommend the silicone cap over the latex. It’ll cost you just a little but more, but it’ll last a lot longer and it won’t pull your hair out (as much).

I haven’t tried a Lycra cap yet, but since Lycra based suits don’t last very long in a pool, I can’t imagine a cap would either. I found latex caps to be very hard to get on, they pull my hair, and they don’t last long before they rip apart.

Second, take a shower before you swim. Yes, I know, you should be doing that anyway. However, I’m kind of shocked and somewhat disgusted at how many people skip the showers and just jump in. Yuck. Anyway, when you shower, make sure you get your hair good and wet to absorb all the water it can. Then put your swim cap on. What this does is it keeps your hair from absorbing all the heavily chlorinated pool water because it’s already full of the shower water. Granted, the shower water might have some chlorine in it too, but not as much as the pool.

Third, use a moisturizing conditioner when you get out of the pool. I’ve tried various, expensive shampoos that said they were specifically created for removing chlorine from my hair. They were all worthless. I don’t use any shampoo when I get out of the pool, I just douse my hair with moisturizing conditioner, leave it in for a while, then rinse it out. Since I usually swim in the late evening, I usually wash my hair the next morning in the sink and skip a shower. That gives my skin a chance to catch-up and not get too dry.

Let me know if you find these tips useful and enjoy your swim!

Bike Helmets with Built-In Bug Screens

Todd M. Taylor — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 15:29:31 GMT

If you’re a remotely serious cyclists and you wear a helmet (which any remotely serious cyclist should), you’ve undoubtedly come-across the situation where a bug direct-injects himself into your helmet and won’t come out. Helmets in the late 80’s and 90’s had lycra covers on them that covered the air holes and prevented this problem. However, it seems like many of the most popular helmet companies seem to not think that getting a hornet, wasp, or a mad bee in your helmet isn’t a problem.

I did some research on this last night and found that quite a few manufacturers actually make helmets with 'bug screens' in them:

Unfortunately, most of these helmets are rather expensive (most over $100) and many are difficult to purchase because they are made by small European manufacturers…. But they do exist. Some brands, like the Shain and the LAS, have metal bug screens which sounds like a good idea to me in terms of durability of the screen.

After asking about such helmets on a cycling forum, apparently many cyclists just retro-fit their current helmets by buying a small piece of screen and taping it into their helmets or sandwiching the screen between the helmets foam and the outer shell.

Good Bye Selle Italia, Hello Fi´zi:k

Todd M. Taylor — Sat, 13 Aug 2005 06:29:50 GMT

After riding a Selle Italia Flight Titanium saddle for a few years, I decided that it’s not likely the seat is going to “break-in” any more and the only way I’d get my butt to stop hurting after my rides was to try something else. I tried the SaddleCo Flow because it seemed like the perfect saddle: light, airy, and had a ‘suspension’ system kind of like my Herman Miller Aeron office chair. In theory it was nice, but it felt like I was riding a cookie-cutter so back to the store it went. I recently purchased a Selle Italia SLK saddle, but it went back to the store after just two rides. It looked cool, but was just too narrow and harder than my Flight.

I finally decided to bite-the-bullet and get a Fi´zi:k Aliante that I’ve heard so many good things about. My local bike store had some and I was really impressed… except I wasn’t impressed with the $260 price for the carbon version! So I bought a titanium version on eBay for $150… kind of a risky investment since that is a LOT of money for a saddle I’ve never tried and couldn’t return.

No need to return this puppy… I love it! After only one ride, it felt great (or should I say that my butt felt great!) I’ve never had a saddle that made me happy on the first ride before. I can’t remember ever coming back from a ride and not feeling any pain in my butt… it was almost unusual to me to be able to focus on riding and not how much my rear hurt.

What I think makes this saddle so nice, aside from its ample padding, is the carbon and Kevlar shell. My Flight saddle had a very hard plastic shell (and so did all the other saddles I’ve owned except the Flow) which doesn’t give at all. The Aliante’s Kevlar shell is rigid but has a little give to it which I’d assume helps absorb some of the road shock, kind of like the SaddleCo Flow saddle, only better because there are no hard plastic edges.

For anyone who’s looking for a ‘cool looking’ saddle that doesn’t weigh much and still offers great comfort, I’d suggest giving this one a try… if you don’t mind transferring the pain in your butt to a pain in your wallet!

When is a Sport a Sport?

Todd M. Taylor — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 05:15:50 GMT

I’ve often wondered what the difference is between a ‘game’ and a ‘sport.’ To me, golf and football are really games, where as running marathons is a sport. I found a better definition (if that’s what you want to call it) in Mike Celizic’s article, "7th Tour win gives Lance immortality." Mike writes:

“Sports are contests in which people compete physically, matching a skill or skill set against others. That’s my definition, at least. My cut-off line is anything you can do better while drinking beer. So billiards doesn’t make it. Nor does darts. Those are games.”

By his standard, I guess that would make golf a sport. Hmmm… I’ll have to think about this one a little longer.

Eliminate Lower Back Pain while Kayaking?

Todd M. Taylor — Tue, 31 May 2005 21:25:50 GMT

One of my favorite summer activities is kayaking. Not only is it great exercise and a neat way to see nature, my wife and I seem to get a similar work-out because she is quite a bit lighter than I am, thus she uses less effort to go just as fast as I do.

Unfortunately, I typically find that within a half-hour of kayaking, my lower back really aches. It aches to the point that the finishing my kayak trip sometimes becomes more of a chore than a pleasure. I found what I think could very-well be the reason for all this pain from a user named Jed on KayakForums.com:

This may not apply in your case but some people experience back pain that is caused by hyper-extension of the lower back. Tight hamstring muscles can prevent the pelvis from rotating forward far enough to allow the lower back to maintain it's natural curve. Constant extension of the lower back then leads to sometimes significant discomfort.

An easy test for this is to sit in your boat with your normal posture and try to rotate your pelvis forward as far as you can by trying to push your belly button out towards your knees. This will contract the muscles of the lower back, rotate the pelvis forward and move the whole torso forward somewhat. If the natural curve of the lower back returns when you do this, then tight hamstrings / bad posture may be the culprit.

This type of aggressive posture does more than just relieve some types of lower back pain, it also pulls the back away from the seat back / back band and allows the paddler to balance naturally with the torso slightly forward of vertical. By returning the pelvis and the lower back to a more natural posture, torso rotation is greatly enhanced which then leads to more power from your stroke.

Lastly this posture greatly enhances the paddlers ability to work the extreme ends of the boat especially the forward quadrants and nearly eliminates reliance on any type of back support. I suspect the latter is something the back band manufacturers and sellers would prefer we did not know.

As a bicyclist who has the naughty habit of not stretching before each ride, my hamstrings are typically very tight. Reaching my toes is nearly impossible! I’ve always told myself that I should really integrate stretching into my fitness regimen, so perhaps now is the time to start.

Do you LIVESTRONG?

Todd M. Taylor — Fri, 14 Jan 2005 01:10:16 GMT

As a bicyclist, I probably one of the first to be interested in Lance Armstrong’s LIVESTRONG campaign. Ever since he won his 6^th consecutive Tour de France, it seems like everyone and anyone can be seen wearing his LIVESTRONG armbands. Most wearing the band could probably care less about biking or the Tour de France, but are likely supporting the fight against cancer for which this band symbolizes.

Will I’m all for people supporting cancer research (I have two of the bands as well), I have to wonder how many people who buy these bands actually “live strong” and how many just buy the bands in the hopes that their $1 contribution will contribute to what is someday the cure for cancer? To me, the point of the band, beyond the $1 contribution, is to tell people, “Hey! I’m choosing to lead a better life for myself and not just become another over-weight, lazy human! I am going to 'live strong' by taking care of my mind and body so that it I may lead a better life.” Obviously, Lance truly is “living strong”… his body is in better shape than probably 99.999999% of the rest of the world and that’s probably the reason why his body was able to fight off his cancer.

Improving your own health through proper diet and exercise as well as encouraging others to do the same will do more for fighting cancer than monetary contributions and yellow bands will do… yet how many people who buy these bands take a serious look at their own lifestyle and make the change to “live strong”? As of recently, the government (well, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration) recently changed its recommendations for good health to basically stating, “eat less, exercise more.” This includes 30-minutes to an hour of exercise every day in addition to recommending that we eat a ton of fruits and vegetables, grains, etc. Typically, when the government makes a recommendation, it’s not setting a very high standard but more of a “minimum requirement”… do you get as much exercise as they recommend? Heck, I like to think I’m active and even I don’t!

The American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, and the American Heart Association have teamed-up to address this problem of people simply not taking care of themselves by creating a web site called Everyday Choices. You may have already seen their television add called “Protect Yourself” which depicts a woman who locks herself into her apartment to protect herself form intruders, only to plop-down on the couch, light-up a cigarette and eat some junk food. (You can see this commercial and get many other useful health tips on the Everyday Choices web site.) Unfortunately, I knew far too many people who smoke, eat a steady diet of junk food, and are nearly allergic to exercise, yet these same people often sport a yellow band on their wrist. Isn’t something wrong with this picture?

Anyway, I know it’s hard to truly “live strong”, at least by my standards… but I’m going to keep trying.