Matt Metzgar

LeBron Comes of Age

I was fortunate enough to watch LeBron James' fantastic playoff performance last night.  It truly was one of the best individual performances I've ever seen.  I lived in Ohio when LeBron was in high school, and I remember when they would offer his high school games on pay-per-view.  You could tell then he was going to be a star, and now his immense talent is starting to blossom.

His team may or may not win the championship this year, but it certainly seems LeBron is bound for a championship and bound to become one of the game's all-time greats.

Signs of the Apocalypse II

I came across this news item yesterday and couldn't believe it.  Apparently, the manager of a Wendy's in Houston was shot over some chili sauce.  The store policy is to give each customer three packets of chili sauce, but a customer in the drive-thru demanded 10.  After arguing with the manager, the customer opened fire and shot the manager several times in the arm.

What's this world coming to??!!  Soldiers are dying overseas to protect our freedoms and yet citizens here are getting shot over chili sauce.  It makes you wonder...

The Long Tabata

I've been toying around with a new sprinting routine, and so far it's been pretty favorable for me.  It's a simple twist on the Tabata protocol.  The Tabata routine is a 20 second sprint, followed by 10 seconds rest, and then immediately repeated for 7 more sets. 

What I've done is just extend the rest periods out and incorporated it into a long walk.  First, I take the distance I normally cover in 60 minutes of walking.  Then, every five minutes of the walk, I perform a 15 to 20 second sprint.  The long rest periods really make a difference as I don't feel exhausted after the workout, which is what sometimes happens after performing the traditional Tabata routine.  Also, the sprints cut the total time of the walk from 60 minutes down to around 45 minutes or so.

This type of extended sprint workout, which I call the "Long Tabata," is probably better for weight loss/weight control due to its longer duration.  It doesn't target aerobic fitness as much as the original Tabata workout, but that's a part of the trade-off.