On balance

Here’s another thing that is quite cool. Part of my dynamic warmup (see “On stretching”) every day is a set of ten knee hugs. Simple enough... you hug one knee to your chest while standing, then drop that knee taking a step forward, and hug the other one. Funny thing is that when I first started with Fitness Together, my body was so out of balance that I often had to reach out with one hand to touch the wall, to stay straight upright.

No longer true. Now I can stand easily, because my legs are stronger and my body is re-finding its center of gravity.

It’s fun to have lost a bunch of weight, to be so close to my personal target weight and not even yet halfway through the program. But it’s these little things - like finding my balance literally and metaphorically - that are starting to add up, and make me realize that this is a life change, not just a change of pants size.

On breathing

Another part of exercise that seems obvious, but isn’t... when I started working out, I found myself often holding my breath during exertion. Heavy weight or big sprint? Somehow my body thought it logical to take a breath and hold it until the strain was over.

The trainers have taught me to breathe deeply with every exertion. Every time I push up the barbell, exhale. During a sprint on the treadmill, deep breaths. At first it felt like too much, like I was hyperventilating, but as I’ve learned to slow down during repetitions (keep your heart rate high, but don’t hurry through it), it’s become more natural.

The ‘why’ is simple: more oxygen = better for my body. No surprise there. But there’s an added benefit. The more oxygen I get flowing, the harder I can push my body. And the harder I push my body, the more calories I burn and benefit I get from each workout.

Having an in-body experience

May 15 was the 4 week anniversary of my start date...

Weight: from 191, down to 175 lbs
Waistline: down 2.5 inches
and even more importantly...
Resting heart rate: from 83, down to 75 beats per minute

Who is this person in my running shoes?

Woke up Saturday and felt drained from the long week of traveling to the Chicago trade show. So I went for a three mile run... and felt much better.

This would never, ever, ever (and my wife adds one more "ever") have happened a month ago.

Fresh Food Forever

Somewhere in the back of my mind I always figured that nutrition labels on food were just about liability. After all, litigation and the lottery have become the New American Dreams, so nutrition labels are probably written by teams of liability strategists, to cover food makers' backsides from class action lawsuits.

Although there are certainly people at the FDA worried about the flab-factor of many Americans, at the end of the day, it's pretty clear that nutrition labels are necessary because we've decided that food preparation is a chore rather than a pleasure. That the food which requires the least effort and least cost is "best" for our lives. So we outsource what we put into our mouths, to people we've never met. If we're going to do this, a food label is pretty handy, as is an ingredients list.

But lately I have been meeting more and more Chattanoogans - like Julian - who are trying to build their lives around making people healthier (and, dare I say it, happier!). Like John Sweet of Niedlovs Breadworks (his breads have 4-6 ingredients and actually taste like bread... instead of additives), and Erik Niel whose glorious fresh fish dishes are posted daily on the blackboard at Easy Seafood, and the Keeners of Sequatchie Cove Farms, whose food is part of a very natural food chain that begins with sunlight and ends with delicious eggs, produce and meat.

These days I am eating out of a can or a frozen cardboard box less than ever before in my life, and as a result, I don't have to squint to read the fine print on food labels. As an added benefit, I am also building relationships with people who make my food. And enjoying not only health benefits but also flavors that they've created... which are better than what I could get from a food processing plant halfway across the country.

Just the spring rolls, please

Was in Chicago all week at a trade show, and every evening went to great restaurants with the company and our clients. Places like Smith & Wollensky, Bin 36, and two great fusion restaurants. Most fusion cuisine is marketing fluff, but these were nice blends of spice and subtlety - Le Colonial (French/Vietnamese) and Vermillion (Indian/ Spanish).

My point? Eating the right serving-size portions was tough, because of the variety of delicious options on offer. And although I admit to having more my allotted 3 oz glass of red wine at a couple of these shindigs, I found that it really was possible to eat right - thanks to a month of good practice. If I hadn't had a solid month under my belt, I shudder to think of the overindulgence.

The trick, I found, was that I could get great flavors without bulking up on portions by ordering two appetizers only... and if I had an entree I made sure it was fish or lean meat, with lots of good green stuff to eat on the side.

On stretching

Here's another advantage that you wouldn't get at the gym... after each resistance workout and before the 15-20 min of cardio exercise, the trainer stretches me out. Five different stretches for legs and four for back and arms, to loosen up the muscles we've just put through the ringer.

Why not a full stretching before the workout? Despite what we all heard growing up in gym class, stretching cold muscles before an intense workout does not loosen them up, but actually stresses them and can even tear them, causing you to become fatigued quicker and get less benefit.

It's much better to warm up jogging and go through some dynamic stretches: at the beginning of each time at Fitness Together I start with 5 minutes on the treadmill, then go through a series of hugging my knees to my chest, forward and lateral lunges, rotating my arms at the shoulder, and sometimes jumping jacks. This gets my heart rate up and my muscles ready to be worked.

And then the big stretching-out at the end has two purposes (I asked Jonathan for the details). First, when you strain muscles, lactic acid builds up in them, which is why you get sore. The trainers stretch my body in ways that are is sure to hit each muscle group that we exercised, so the lactic acid gets released. Meaning I'm not so sore the next day. Second, it helps improve flexibility - which is important not just so you can be 'bendy' but because flexibility is related to balance. And as I get older, I want to keep as much control over my balance as possible.

A more sensible 'splurge'

I asked Julian more about the idea of consistent nutrition with the occasional "splurge"... (by the way, here's Julian to the right, if you haven't met).

First of all, the exception proves the rule. And the rule is three meals and two snacks per day. Each meal is one complete protein, one starchy carb, and one vegetable or fruit; each snack is simply a complete protein and a fibrous carbohydrate (could be a great piece of parmigiano reggiano and some grapes). For more detailed nutrition info, drop him an email at juliankaufman@fitnesstogether.com.

So... given the plan, Julian likens the "splurge" to a minor trauma. "The body can handle incidents of trauma quite well," he said. "If you fall and scrape your knee when you walk out of the studio, in 7 to 10 days you won't know it happened because the clot and scab have healed. But if you get severely injured, you'll be hurting for a while."

"I really hope that for comfort foods, people are learning that you can make any food nutrient-dense instead of toxin-dense," he continued. "I.e. a chocolate chip cookie can be made with apple sauce, vegetable oil, dark chocolate, flax seed, walnuts and whole wheat flour... instead of hydrogenated fats, milk chocolate, refined sugar, and refined flour."

Sensible, and satisfying.

My new nutrition

Okay, this weekend is a good time for me to talk about nutrition because on Thursday night our company had its fifth birthday bash - Happy Bday, Tricycle! And I cheated a bit.

"Cheating" doesn't mean what it would have a month ago - when I easily could have downed seven slices of pizza and two of the wonderful cake that my wife made (I'm unapologetically impressed by my missus). But I did have a sandwich that included a slice of salami and a half piece of that cake. Not exactly lean or lowfat.

So am I getting obsessive? Nah. And even for people following his meal recommendations religiously, Julian encourages us to take a wee break from the rules once a week, so long as we don't go overboard. Because when you take a whole-life view of fitness... being obsessive, guilt ridden and frustrated is no healthier than gorging on junk food.

A lady who was on the treadmill beside me last time asked what I think about FT's online journaling concept. I ought got to say, keeping an online journal of what I eat has been freeing, rather than guilt-inducing. Because I'm more aware of what I eat, and because of the accountability. I see the faces of Julian and Kyle floating in the air, there in the grocery store, between me and the frozen pizzas.

This is the sort of report that I send: what I ate yesterday. As you can see, I'm not hurting for flavor or for being full.

Saturday 6.02
breakfast - 1 Tablespoon of natural peanut butter on Niedlov's "Four Seed" bread
snack - handful of raw almonds
lunch - homemade wrap of hummus, arugula sprouts and spinach on a whole wheat tortilla
snack - orange
dinner - 1 serving of tofu, 2 new potatoes, 1 serving of fresh green beans, sauteed in olive oil and lemon pepper
and, all day long - lots, lots, lots of water.

Trainers who are not just qualified, but certified

Because I am at Fitness Together every weekday, I've worked out with five of the trainers at FT Frazier so far. Kyle (manager at the Frazier workout suites), April, Chris, Jason and Jonathan. Each of them is a great reminder of one thing that sets this experience apart from what I'd get with a gym membership. Education.

Meaning, their education. Because they have degrees and certifications in health and exercise science, they apply their knowledge to my situation, for my benefit. One big time where I've seen this in action, is when I first started out. During the fitness and nutrition assessment, and during the first couple of workouts, they were taking even more notes than usual. Now I see that this is because they were getting a feel for what I can do.

So when the workouts started in earnest, it was not just a matter of plugging me into a program. And it certainly was not like those gyms where the trainers are hired because they are spandex pseudo-studs or hottie hopefuls in halter tops - and are trying to make me look like them ASAP.

Instead, qualified, certified specialists are assessing where I am physically, developing goals for where I need to go, and then truly coaching me along the way.

Of course, their education is rubbing off. I might not be able to point to my medial deltoid yet, but I am learning circuits and sets of exercises designed to work my body in the right ways, for the right results. And I'm only 1/6 of the way through the program....