Motivation

Every July, I'm amazed by the Tour de France.  Say what you will about cyclists and doping, but the sheer commitment that these men make to achieving a goal, to overcoming an obstacle is simply astounding.  


I can't help but be motivated by their performances and commercials like this from Versus don't hurt either - 










And finally, an excerpt from one of Chuckie Veylupek's (the triathlete with spiked hair that used to be on the 90's gatorade commercials) best blogs - 


"When we commit and act, we're confronted by our comfort zone. Naturally, we're tempted to quit and we're very much encouraged by ourselves and others (but never mind them) to do so. If we forge ahead regardless, we expand our comfort zone and learn a valuable (and necessary) lesson, and the commitment grows stronger. Of course, that just repeats the whole cycle and we're forced to push our boundaries a little further once more."



You can check out the whole thing here, but do it after your workout, after you've followed through with your commitment, after you've pushed your comfort zone.  

Success Stories - Part II

Gina Westbrook-

            I have struggled with my weight for years. At the age of 33, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and it just exacerbated the problem. For the past two years, I had been exercising 3-4 times per week but had no weight loss at all. I have since realized that my exercising was just allowing me to maintain my unhealthy eating habits and I was using my hypothyroidism as a crutch. At the end of 2009, I decided that I was going to change my eating habits and commit to losing weight in a healthy way. I spoke to my good friend, and now personal trainer, Stephanie Sherwood, and we developed a plan of action. I wanted to make a true lifestyle change, not just diet. I started my journey on January 3, 2010, and have lost 27 pounds to date. I found an application for my iPhone that has assisted me in logging every piece of food that I put into my mouth and every minute of exercise I perform. My eyes have been opened to the true nutritional value of our food and I have become much more knowledgeable as to what food is best for me. I’ve been asked on numerous occasions “what have you given up?” I can honestly say that I have not restricted anything from my diet. I exercise portion control and count calories. It honestly has been one of the easiest things I have done in my life. I have made exercise and eating healthy a part of my life.

            The second part of my story involves my husband. I believe he started his weight loss journey one week after I began mine. He mirrored what I was doing with making wise food choices, and exercising. He has lost a total of 35 pounds and is more energetic than I can ever remember. In addition to lifting weights and toning his body, he has also focused and increased his cardio workouts. He looks and feels better than he has in a very long time. We have shared our journey to a new healthier lifestyle and have both embraced it. We exercise together at the gym 2-3 times per week and have started riding bicycles together every night. We hold each other accountable in the food choices we make, and also in getting daily exercise.

Success Stories - Part I

Brian Smith

My fitness journey began when I hit 285 pounds.  At 6’3”, I could carry some extra weight but I had no energy and with a family history of diabetes and heart disease I knew it was time to make some significant changes.  I had been a yo-yo dieter all of my life and had tried diets from Atkins to Weight Watchers and everything in between.  I knew I could lose weight, but keeping it off was an entirely different matter.  I was too embarrassed to ask for help.  I joined the DAC and started slowly.  My first goal was to run an entire mile in 8 minutes.  I focused on cardio, hitting the elliptical and treadmill 3 to 4 times a week.  I also started lifting weights with a good friend who was on a similar journey.  I fell in love with resistance training, but had no idea what I was doing.  Rather than ask for help we lumbered along and lost weight, but the progress was slow and I had no focus or direction.

Once I lost 30 pounds I stalled out.  I felt that diet was the key, so I invested in a calorie counting book and a food diary.  I know people think that keeping a food diary is draconian, but I kept one for 3 weeks and did not change the way I ate.  The number of calories I was consuming was astronomical.  I studied the science of calories, and determined what a healthy amount of calories for my age and goals would be and set about a strict routine of recording everything I put in my mouth.  It was near that time that I got up the gumption to ask about a trainer at the DAC.  That was the smartest decision I made.  I was placed Andrew, at that time a new trainer who had just come to the DAC.  He assessed my goals, my abilities, and put me to work.  He’s not as intense as Jillian Michaels, but just as tough!  It was similar to my first golf lesson, when I learned that everything in my gold swing was wrong.  I thought how hard can it be to do a squat, but with Andrew I learned that virtually all of the resistance training I had been doing was compromised by poor form and lack of structure, the benefits had been minimal. 

Andrew designed workouts for me that fit not only my lifestyle but my goals.  He taught me how to incorporate cardio with resistance for maximum benefit and helped me learn to work out not only harder, but smarter.  I do not use a trainer every time I come to the gym; rather I asked for work out routines that would last me for a period of time and working toward certain goals.  Since I started my journey I have lost 75 pounds.  I am now at 210, and I am healthier than I have ever been.  I dropped from a 44 to a 34 pant size and I’m not done yet.  I’ve learned to listen to my body and I’ve also learned that I can do just about anything physically that I set my mind to.  I love the challenge.  It has improved my self-confidence as well as my stamina and mental acuity.  I have found a wonderful support mechanism in the trainers and staff at the DAC and have encouraged anybody that will listen to get at least one session with a trainer, if nothing else to check form and help develop an age and ability appropriate plan for fitness. 

My wife, Michelle, is my fitness buddy.  She has encouraged me and I have encouraged her.  Healthy living has become an integral part of our lives.  I am also encouraged by all the “senior gym rats”.  I see guys like Roger Fenlaw working out almost every day and find inspiration in his dedication and spirit and he offers a kind word of support almost without exception.   Andrew continues to train me, or as I like to say “find new ways of torture”.  I am no longer intimidated by the gym; rather I have found a very supportive environment where people really care about my success and the success of others.  I occasionally attend group fitness classes, but prefer to push myself on my own.  I work out 5 to 6 days a week and with the use of my Timex Ironman Watch I strive to burn at least 1000 per workout.  I have found a healthy mix of resistance and cardio training and like to change my workouts and the tools that I use on a regular basis.  Variety is truly the spice of a good exercise program.  I still keep a food diary, but have found that I can pretty much eat what I want as long as it is in moderation.  I have learned what a healthy portion of food really looks like and lo and behold am satisfied at the end of a meal.  Since struggling to run that first mile I have run hundreds of miles, done numerous 5K runs and have improved my time in most of them.  I was excited to discover that I have only one chin and that there was muscle underneath all that flab just waiting to get out.

At the end of the day it was my decision to change the way I live.  I realized that until I crossed that bridge, no diet was going to keep the weight off; no amount of exercise was going to be the magic fix.  It is a change in perception.  I don’t diet, I try to live healthy.  However, I owe a debt of gratitude to the staff and members at the DAC for helping and encouraging me at every step.   

Top Ten Nutrition Mistakes, Pitfalls, and Opportunities for Success

1. Eating too many things made in plants and too few things grown on plants. 
1. As a whole, our society is very dependent on engineered foods.  Not that this is always a bad thing, but if you’re purchasing more foods in the aisles of the grocery store rather than on the outside, you’re daily nutrition probably has some holes in it.  Start consuming more things without a label – an apple, a carrot, a filet of wild salmon – and less things that have an expiration date. 
2. Not realizing the drawbacks of alcohol
1. True, red wine has good antioxidant properties, but how much?  One glass per day for women, two glasses per day for men.  Alcohol inhibits your body’s ability to use fat as fuel, therefore when you drink, you’re storing fat.  The beer gut isn’t a myth after all. 
3. Snacking on calorie-dense foods
1. There has been a late push for eating 4-6 smaller meals throughout the day rather than the 3 squares that were previously thought to be healthy.  While more consistent food may help keep your metabolism running, adding 3 snacks to the 3 square meals really just adds calories.  If you’re aiming for the mini-meal plan, make sure that you’re actually consuming mini-meals, probably 300-600 calories for most people, not simply adding a handful of chocolate chip cookies sandwiched between a big lunch and a big dinner.   
4. The “Good for You, Bad for You” complex
1. Very few foods (or exercises, or most things in life) are completely good or bad.  Realizing that foods do not have inherent properties, but rather can be “good” in the correct amount at the correct time or “bad” if consumed in the wrong amount at the wrong time.  Eating your weight in apples at midnight will still cause you to be twice as large when you wake up.   
5.  The truth about carbohydrates
1. Continuing with #4, carbohydrates are not inherently bad for you.  In fact, eating complex carbohydrates (sweet potatoes, vegetables, whole grains) can be an excellent way to recover from workouts and enhance your brain’s ability to function.  The best times for these carbohydrates?  Directly after your workout. 
6. Eating in reverse
1. It is way too common for us to go with little to no breakfast, a small lunch, and then a progressive dinner from 6-10pm.  We have a daily opportunity to eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper in order to really improve not only our health, but our energy levels and mood as well. 
7. Not knowing how much you’re consuming
1. The average American has no idea how many calories they’re eating, much less how much protein, fat, or carbohydrates.  Try taking a food diary for a day, week or month and really put a pencil to how much you’re consuming.  After all, what gets measured, gets done. 
8. Choosing a fad diet
1. The grapefruit diet?  The lemonade made with lemon juice and maple syrup diet?  Honestly?  Let’s look at what has worked for healthy people for hundreds of years – natural foods eaten in moderation.   
9. Calories while working out
1. How many times do you see someone having a Gatorade (or other sports drink) while walking on the treadmill?  The average person has to walk an extra 1.25 miles just to burn the calories in the Gatorade!  If that doesn’t help, let’s look at the name and marketing for Gatorade – it was made for the University of Florida football team and is marketed by professional triathletes, basketball players and tennis players.  So the next time you’re exercising as hard and as long as Tim Tebow, Chris Legh, Dwayne Wade, or one of the Williams’ sisters, feel free to have a sports drink, otherwise let’s stick to water.    
10. The sweet spot
1. Try substituting your weekly (or daily) chocolate chip cookie fix with fresh fruit.  My favorite – a small bowl of pineapple, peaches, kiwi, and mango.  The blend of sweet and tart satisfy the craving and the fiber helps fill me up.    

Top Tips for Creating Your Health Revolution

While looking for a description for 2010, I stumbled upon several – the year of the tiger (the Chinese calendar), the year of baby steps (in the economy) – but I really prefer “The Year of the Revolution.”  We often hear of New Year’s Resolutions, but make note, this is not simply a haphazard decision to eat better and work out until the BCS National Championship game, this is the year of the Revolution, a fundamental change in the way we think about our bodies, our finances, our relationships, our society and our health.  The following are the DAC’s top tips for beginning this transformation:      

1. Have a plan.

One of January’s biggest mistakes is heading to the gym or out on the road without a plan of action.  When we’re headed to war against our stress or those holiday pounds, it’s imperative to know when and how to properly attack.  How much cardio should I be doing?  Do I need to lift weights?  What about stretching and rest?  What should I eat?  All of these questions should be answered in your plan as you begin to take action.

2. Be proactive about difficulties.

Things are not going to slow down in order for you to add a healthy lifestyle.  It’s important to foresee the difficulties we’re going to have with our plan and set up positive outcomes for when they arrive.  This keeps us from having to make the decision in the heat of the moment – we’ll already have our mind made up.

3. Hire a trainer or get a coach.

I’m always intrigued by the fact that superstar athletes have several coaches and trainers and yet the average male thinks, “Why would I need a trainer?  I know what I’m doing.”  The truth of it is that a trainer or coach can be lots of different things – a motivator to get you to the gym when you want to head home, a teacher for new exercises, an encourager to keep you on the right track, a planner when you don’t know the next step to keep moving forward, a coach for tweaking your form, a role model when you need a healthy paradigm.  Nor does a trainer have to be expensive – one hour a month at the cost of Saturday night’s dinner could get you a dynamic, progressive workout plan, a nutrition baseline, and a renewed energy in pursuing good health.

4. Drink more water.

The fountain of youth might very well run with crystal clear water.  What else can improve your muscle tone, enhance your skin, satisfy your appetite allowing you to eat less, increase the speed and strength of muscle contractions, and replace addictive behaviors like smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol.

5. Eat less food made in plants and more food that grows on plants.

Eating naturally is one of the best health changes any individual can make.  Simply replacing your bowl of cereal with fruit and eggs, your plate of enchiladas with a grilled chicken salad, your chocolate chip cookies with fresh berries, and your rice and pasta with grilled vegetables can make a huge difference in waistline, your energy levels, and your immune system.  Try it for a day, a week, or even a month – don’t eat anything processed. 

6. Dial in your mindset.

If we have an attitude of success and positivity, we will have a much better chance of creating the outcomes we desire.  In all things, Event + Response = Outcome.  Rarely do we have control over the Events in our lives; we always have control over our Response.  Eliminate the negativity and create the life you desire.   

Core Training 101

Core Training 101

When you’re ready to really start training your core (and remember, I’m not talking about those six pack abs, I’m referring to your shoulders, hips, and everything in between), it’s time to move away from crunches and step up to the plank and its progressions. 

Phase 1:

Front Plank

Start with the front plank with the elbows and toes on the ground and the rest of the body as flat as, well, a plank.  A perfect plank should look like you are standing horizontally.  If you’re not able to hold this position for 40 seconds, don’t consider moving on to phase two.  If need be, start on your knees and build to going 40 seconds on the toes. 

Phase 2:

Stability Ball Rollouts

Once your plank is longer than 40 seconds, build in stability ball rollouts for twice a week for three weeks.  Start with rolling a larger ball out less and move toward rolling a smaller ball out farther.

Phase 3:

The Wheel

Only after completing phase 1 and 2, it’s time for the wheel.  Now, the moving piece is a full arm’s length away and it will become much harder to keep your lumbar spine in a stable position. 

Phase 5:

Glider Rollouts

The gliders now add a frictional component and will force your core to work harder to pull the body back in.

Phase 6:

TRX Rollout

By using the whole body as the moving lever, the TRX rollout or fallout is a great progression that can be modified by changing the length of the straps or by moving the foot position. 

Phase 7:

Body Saw with the TRX or Gliders

Finally, the last progression begins in the front plank position with the feet in the TRX straps or on the gliders.  The exercise commences when sliding back so that the shoulders move toward the rear and are no longer over the elbows before returning back to the starting position.  The greater the core strength, the greater the range of motion.  

Club Closed on Friday, January 29

The Downtown Athletic Club will be closed on Friday, January 29 due to the inclement weather and hazardous road conditions.  We will be open regular hours on Saturday, January 30.  Please be safe today!