Making figures more attractive

We see one weird and wacky fitness gadget after another, yet we still find ourselves plodding away on the timeless gym classics – treadmills, stationary bikes, steppers and rowing machines.

Despite the boredom and frustration sometimes voiced by gym rats and bunnies, our beloved cardiovascular (CV) machines are well and truly here to stay.

I believe the boredom-in-the-gym syndrome we often complain about is partly due to our reliance on numbers. Everything we do is expressed in numbers – it’s three sets of 10 of this exercise, 15 minutes on that machine, and two kilometres on the other.

It’s all about figures, but unfortunately not the kind we enjoy looking at after all our hard graft in the gym is over and done with.

It can sometimes be very hard to motivate yourself to push harder on a treadmill or stepper when all you are confronted with are a series of meaningless numbers on a flashing machine console in front of you.

The problem with numbers is that they mean little when we can’t relate them to anything. The same concept applies to lifting weights. Nobody breaks doors down to watch a powerlifter pick up weights close to 300 kgs off the floor, which is a relatively common achievement for established heavyweight powerlifters.

But when a strength athlete lifts a car set on an apparatus of roughly equivalent weight or even less, as in a World’s Strongest Man contest, we watch in awe. Who cares about 200 kgs or even 300? Those are just numbers, but a car is something we all know belongs firmly planted on the road and not an inch higher.

This idea alone separates an underground cult sport (powerlifting) practised by athletic outcasts, from a professional strength sport (strongman) that is televised and enjoyed by millions around the world. So if it works for sports entertainment, it can certainly work for us in the gym.

It’s time to get some drama in there and put some meaning behind all those numbers. So today we will explore five ways to make your CV training a little more interesting, which like for our iron-wielding brothers could spell the difference between obscurity and a body coveted by millions.

Mix in some numerical facts related to our beautiful island with a little imagination, and we can cook up an interesting series of workouts that help put the figures into perspective.

Challenge one: Climb the stairs of Portomaso tower. Most stepper consoles indicate the number of floors climbed during your workout. Portomaso consists of 23 floors.

For a great bout of intense CV training, let’s see how fast you can climb 23 floors on the stepper. Once you set a personal record, keep track of it, and strive to break it at regular intervals throughout the next couple of months.

Challenge two: Run across Malta. Log the distance you cover each time you run on the treadmill, and see how many workouts it takes you to cover 27 kilometres.

This is the longest distance between the two furthest points on the island, as the crow flies.

A little over the distance of a half-marathon race, this could, in theory, be completed in one session; however, even a relatively fit runner would do well to complete a half-marathon in under two hours. So for a reasonable target the rest of us can shoot for, aim to complete the distance within a week, completing the stages of your journey with every workout.

Challenge three: Cycle all the way round Malta. The entire shoreline of Malta right the way round full circle to back where you started, measures 136 km. If you could theoretically run across Malta’s two widest points in a week as in the previous challenge, then you should be able to cycle round its entire coastline in a week too.

Set the stationary bike at a comfortable resistance, get into a rhythm of about 75 to 85 pedal revolutions per minute, and watch those metres clock up.

Challenge four: Row to Sicily. The Concept-2 rowing machine is possibly the world’s most popular indoor rower, and can be found in most fitness centres in Malta. The standard Olympic distance for water racing is two kilometres, but let’s keep things interesting.

The shortest route from Malta to Sicily by sea is 93 kilometres. Log your distance each time you row as in the previous challenges.

If you hit the Concept-2 four times a week for close to 6,000 metres per sitting, you could complete the epic voyage within a month; a fantastic achievement when you consider the Concept-2 rower is a highly accurate simulator of authentic water rowing.

Challenge five: The in-gym Malta Ironman Race. Here we will combine the previous three challenges back-to-back, and see how many days it takes to complete.

Start with challenge four – a row from Sicily to Malta. Follow up with Challenge three – a cycle round Malta, and finish off with Challenge two – the run across the island.

If you can complete the challenge within five weeks, consider yourself a champion of gym fitness; and definitely among the top one per cent of fitness enthusiasts the world over.

Remember, look at your gym figures differently, and watch the most important figure of all transform before your very eyes.

info@noble-gym.com