January 17, 2009 at 2:15 pm · Filed under Diet and Nutrition, Fitness and Exercise
The local high school running track, that is.
Despite some minor lateral ankle pain, I decided to give this running lark another go this morning. All in all, the run went well - covered four miles - but did walk now and again, and had some minor pains in toes of my right foot.
I’m not sure what’s going on there, but I suspect because of previous injury I am unconsciously changing my gait slightly and then consciously trying to correct for what I perceive to be poor form, which is just creating a mess. I hope that as I get more comfortable and confident again in my running, it will go away and feel more natural.
There were times in the last couple miles where everything seemed right: running was easy, no pain at all. Of course, once I became aware of it, the moment was gone and I was right back to over-thinking my form.
That said, ’twas a good run overall and I feel better for having done it. I just wish I had eaten something beforehand so I would not have been tempted to stop at the McDonald’s near my house and undo my 40 minutes of running with 10 minutes of eating. Gah!
Ah well, can’t undo what’s done been done. So, movin’ right along.
February 5, 2008 at 9:25 pm · Filed under Better Than Themselves, Diet and Nutrition, Fitness and Exercise
No, not that one.
Commitment.
I am convinced that, unless you’re of those rare few genetically-destined to be large, your weight problems (and resultant health issues) are simply because you are committed to being one way and not the other. You can say you don’t have the energy, you don’t have the time, you don’t want to look silly in the gym, but it all comes down to your choosing to be, as I was to an extent, a fat slug. You choose to be committed to your desk, your sofa, your television, your Twinkies.
Change, corporate, personal, or otherwise, takes dedicated effort. It takes a vision of where you want to be, and a willingness to commit to getting there, no matter how hard it may seem. Even when you fall off the path, you have to get right back on it and try to do better.
Check out this guy:
Two years ago, Phill Novak weighed 387 pounds.
Reality hit in January 2006 at a Pittsburgh Steelers game. Novak had gone to smoke a cigarette.
“We were walking back up to our seats, and I started getting winded,” says Novak. “I didn’t feel right, I started sweating. I didn’t think I would make it back up. My heart [was] beating a million times a minute; I thought I was having a heart attack.”
“A lot of things went through my head, about saying goodbye to my kids,” says Novak choking back his tears. “I told my friend, ‘This is it, I’m not going to live like this no more.’ ”
Novak, who was approaching his 40th birthday, made it through the football game. As he ate two double-cheeseburgers and a milkshake, he began to think about the limitations of obesity and how it was keeping him from living a full life.
The next day, Novak devised his own game plan and started his weight-loss journey.
He began simply by walking — one mile a day and eating a low-carbohydrate diet of 15-30 grams a day.
“I walked off my first 100 pounds,” he says. “Walked it off, an hour a day. I lost 100 pounds in seven months.”
I thought my losing 20 pounds in two months was impressive, but this guy has me beat hands (and double-cheeseburgers) down.
Two years later, Novak has lost a total of 192 pounds. Today, he runs 30 to 40 miles a week, works out two to three hours a day, does yoga in the morning and squeezes in a push-up whenever he gets a chance at work.
Now maintaining his weight at 195 pounds, Novak says he’s made a lifestyle change and rarely takes a day off from exercise.
I know the feeling.
I hate if a workday schedule keeps me from getting in my planned workout, and on a long weekend I keep looking forward to being able to use the office gym. I would half chalk it up to having a somewhat addictive personality and the other half would be that I am seeing real results from my efforts. Pants I used to squeeze into now fall off of me. Looking in the mirror I see muscles that, until recently, were just the stuff of my own biological rumors. Not to be a walking cliche, but I honestly believe I have knocked years off the clock (even if it only gets me back to where I ought to be).
Doesn’t much hurt that I got hit on in the elevator the other day after working out. Hey hey, look at me, Pavlov’s dog. *Arf*
Anyway, getting here has taken focus and dedication. I’ve had to eat more carefully, abstain from as much of the tasty amber nectar of the beer gods as I might want, and push myself in the gym when I think, “Wow, I’d really rather be in a meeting about some incredibly boring business topic right about now.”
As I have begun to transform myself, a number of coworkers have asked how I am doing it.
I happily provide them the workout templates, the schedule, the ideas behind what I am doing, but they quickly fall into two classes of people: those who hope to find the time to take care of themselves (but seldom do) and those who know this is what they need to do. I can easily compare and contrast two women with whom I work - one is a professional type, looking to be healthier and knowing she should, but our very first workout together was postponed because of her schedule (apparently lunchtime was reserved for caloric intake). Another woman, one of our hourly employees, asked me for my aerobic routine and I gave it to her - and she was in the gym the next day, and today as well, busting her ass to do the hardest 20 minutes of her life. When her coworkers taking leisurely strolls on the treadmill asked her how she was doing, she confessed it was hard but she was not going to quit.
That’s commitment. Commitment in the face of your own weakness and the attempts of your friends to bring you down to their level of effort (or lack thereof).
Even though I might be ahead of her in the fitness race, seeing her effort and dedication was a huge inspiration. I made a point of approaching her afterwards and letting her know how great I thought she had done, because I sincerely did think that.
Here’s hoping she (and I) keep it up!
January 30, 2008 at 5:34 pm · Filed under Diet and Nutrition, Fitness and Exercise
More from the world of medical research:
Increased Fitness Associated With 50% to 70% Reductions in All-Cause Mortality
Sure, yes, we all know exercise is good for you, but perhaps some people need to hear just how good it can be for one’s longevity.
January 23, 2008 — One of the largest studies ever to link exercise capacity to mortality risk should motivate physicians to pay as much attention to patients’ exercise capacity as they do other major risk factors, researchers say [1]. Their study of older male veterans suggests that the adjusted risk of dying was reduced by 13% for every 1 metabolic equivalent (MET) increase in exercise capacity; men with the greatest exercise capacity reduced their mortality risk by 70%.
“For a little bit of investment you get a lot of a return,” lead author on the study, Dr Peter Kokkinos (Veterans Affairs [VA] Medical Center, Washington, DC) told heartwire. “In a time where health insurance in this country is going through the roof, we could do something like walk for thirty minutes a day and reap major benefits.
The study involved did focus on older male veterans, so perhaps the copious benefits of vigorous exercise only apply to them, but I have my doubts.
Favorite quote from the article:
“For god’s sake, if we could walk on the moon we can certainly walk on earth.”
Dr. Kokkinos, we have people who will circle a parking lot for five minutes to find a close spot rather than having to hoof it an extra 50 steps. These folks probably wish it was the moon so that walking would be 1/6 easier - hell, maybe they could just bounce their way to the doors of the Food Court in that case. And eat six times the normal weight of Cinnabuns.
People need to do more. They know they need to do more. They choose not to do more, because it would require effort and be an admission that they have failed in some manner. I know, because I was turning into a fat slug who thought that bacon cheeseburgers, beer, and watching movies on the couch was a fine way to live - and then, well, you know, things changed.
If news like “you will live a lot longer” doesn’t motivate someone to take better care of themselves, there’s not much any of us can do - even on the Moon.
January 30, 2008 at 5:01 pm · Filed under Aging and Avoidance Of, Diet and Nutrition
Happy happy joy joy news for those among us who exercise and enjoy a frosty amber/brown beverage* on a somewhat regular basis:
Staying Active and Drinking Moderately Is Key to a Long Life
Woot! Hooray! Woot woot!
January 11, 2008 — Both physical activity and a moderate alcohol intake are important to lower the risk of fatal ischemic heart disease (IHD) and all-cause mortality, a new study shows.
The study, published online in the European Heart Journal on January 9, 2008, shows that people who drink moderate amounts of alcohol and are physically active have a lower risk of death from heart disease and other causes than people who don’t drink at all, and that people who neither drink alcohol nor exercise have a 30% to 49% higher risk of heart disease than those who either drink, exercise, or do both.
I will post about it soon, but as part of my new healthy approach, I decided to get a physical.
Based on results from a few years ago, I expected to find high cholesterol and high blood pressure on the list of what ails me. Happily, my cholesterol came in under the high level and I have now twice received comments from nurses on how good my blood pressure has been.
Given that I was drinking probably a little more than was good for me in the past, I can only imagine that there’s been a rapid improvement from reducing beer consumption and greatly increasing my physical activity. Too bad I didn’t have a physical before deciding on a change, as I am curious just how rapidly the body can begin to remedy things when given the impetus to do so.
If nothing else, we can all tell our teetotaling friends, athletic or not, that they are killing themselves.
For the love of God, man, have a beer!
Do you want to die?!
* Try as I might, I just can’t consider the pale yellow yuck of Bud, Coors, or other mass-produced domestic swill to be beer. Sorry. You’re welcome to it - look at it this way: that’s more for you!
