Get Fit Slowly

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I’m in a bit of a tight situation. Actually, tight isn’t the right word. You see, my clothes do not look good on me. They’re just too big. In November, I was wearing mostly size 36 waist pants, but even the one size 38 pair of pants that I reluctantly convinced myself to buy was too tight. For some reason, I have a lot of “skinny shorts” that will last me through the summer, but I only have a couple of size 35 and size 34 pants. These fit me fine now, but when Summer comes to a close, I’ll find myself either wearing dirty clothes, wearing big clothes that don’t fit, or even worse, doing lots of laundry.

It’s time to give away the big clothes so that I have nothing to fall back on. I understand that. I will never let myself buy a pair of pants bigger than 34 again. But that’s not the real problem here. I still plan on losing 10 to 15 more pounds between now and 2009. So, when Fall rolls around and the gloom returns to Oregon, I’m going to have to find some type of solution.

I’ve already done a little home improvement project on my belts. I put a few new holes in them with my trusty drill so I can cinch them up a bit tighter. But now they flop around at the end because they don’t reach the next belt loop on my pants.

I don’t really want to buy two new wardrobes, so unless you all have suggestions, I guess I’ll just make do with the clothes I’ve got now and have something to look forward to and some incentive to get there faster. For now, I’ll stay in wardrobe limbo and think of some other creative alteration techniques. Perhaps I’ll wear two pairs of underwear?

I’ve always loved the Olympics. Despite NBC’s uncanny ability to squeeze all the joy out of the games, I leave my self-imposed “no TV zone” every couple of years to watch the world’s top athletes compete. When I was a boy, I actually wanted to be one of those top athletes. (Though I had no idea the amount of work that would be involved.)

Christian and Dennis at 5-in-5 recently spent a day trying to see how well they could do at five Olympic events. When they were finished, they compared their results to those of Olympic athletes. Here’s their video:

I love this on so many levels. First of all, how many people ever actually try this stuff? Like many of you, I’ve found myself wondering, “Yeah, just how hard is that anyhow?” (Well, not about the still rings. Those guys are amazing!) But how many people actually get off the couch to test themselves?

Second, these guys are pretty fit. Admittedly these aren’t events for which they’ve trained, but they’re still in good shape and pretty indicative of the average athlete. That they can’t even come close (spoiler!) to the Olympians is perhaps unsurprising, but humbling nevertheless.

Finally, I like the ingenuity that Christian and Dennis display. I especially like their impromptu hurdles.

In a related story, Kathryn Bertine, a former competitive ice sakter and a professional triathlete, decided to find out just how difficult it is to make the Olympic games.

Does it require a lifetime of training and devotion? Would an average person with an athletic background have any shot at all?

You can read her story in ESPN’s “So You Wanna Be An Olympian?”

Now that I’m nearly 40, I no longer harbor any illusions that I’ll one day be on an Olympic team, but I still find the games just as inspiring as ever. I may never be a world-class athlete, but I hope to one day be a Lee Avenue-class athlete!

In personal finance, the Holy Grail of money seems to be “passive income”. When most people talk about passive income, they mean money that you earn without any active involvement in the process. There are actually very few true sources of passive income (despite the promises of hucksters), and even those that do exist (rental properties, dividend-yielding stocks) aren’t purely passive. (Well, maybe dividend stocks are.)

Lately I’ve become enamored with the idea of passive exercise. I’ve long praised the wonders of walking to the store — a classic example of what I mean by “passive exercise” — but now I’m discovering other sources of activity that mirror the exercises that I choose to do for fitness. I don’t do these activites specifically for the exercise, but the exercise is an added bonus.

Picking berries, for example, can give me an amazing stretch. We have a couple of low-bush blueberries. My hamstrings get no better stretch than when I’m harvesting this fruit. The other day, Kris and I picked beans at a nearby farm. I stretched a lot of muscles trying to stay comfortable.

Also, over the past week we’ve been working to clean my mother’s house. I’ve noticed that carrying heavy loads from one room to the other gives me a great workout, very much like lifting weights.

Or when I climb our stairs every day, if I take two steps at once, and move s-l-o-w-l-y, I can get a good stretch in my quads.

Now obviously these passive exercises don’t isolate muscles the same way a proper weight-lifting session would, but I do feel that looking for ways to get just a little more exercise each day help with my overall fitness goals.

I’d actually love to find more ways to squeeze bits and pieces of “passive exercise” into my everyday life. Do any of you do stuff like this?

SWEATS TOGETHER!

All week, the family had been talking about running the Bush Pasture Park Cross Country Series. We were all excited: Megan (3 1/2) for her 500 meter run, Pam for her 3K, and me for my 5K. The plan was to meet another family with two small children for dinner and family exercise. The moms would run the 3K, the girls would run the 500, and the dads would run the 5K. Like I said, we were really excited. However, as the day approached, I lost most of my excitement, the forecast had steadily climbed all week into the upper 90’s. Remember that I’m mostly a treadmill, fan in my face kind of runner. I’m starting to enjoy running more outside, even though it’s a lot more difficult for me. But I don’t like the heat…AT ALL.

As the day approached, my anxiety rose. All of those pre-race jitters came back. To top it off, I haven’t been training for a race, just running for maintenance purposes. And, this time I had competition. The dad I was running with has recently started a training program for the Honolulu Marathon. Supposedly, he’s a slow runner. But to me a slow long distance runner turns into a much faster short distance runner. At the beginning of the race, he looked me in the eye and said that his goal was first to finish, and second to run a 10-minute mile pace for the race. I thought, “hmmm…I should be able to beat 32 minutes easily.” I glanced back at him dubiously.

My suspicions were quickly confirmed. I ran my first mile in 8:08. He was right behind me. I ran my second mile in 9:30. It was hot and I was tiring. Again, he was right behind me. I ran my last 1.2 miles in 9:14. YET AGAIN, HE WAS RIGHT BEHIND ME. After cherry picking the whole race he decided to pass me with about 150 meters to go. I was mad. Really mad. I didn’t want this race to end like the last one where I got passed in the last bit and wasn’t able to regain that position. So I picked it up and ran as fast as I could and passed him back with about 3 meters to go…if that.

I finished in 26:52, which was almost exactly half of my 10K race back in May. There’s no way that I could have kept that pace up for another 5K. I’ll blame it on the heat.

Overall, it was fun, yet hot night. I’ve now run 2 organized races this year, which is 2 more than I’ve run in the previous 33 years. I didn’t enjoy myself as much this time. I’ll take a non-heat-wave race over this one any time.  The best part about the whole night was spending time together with my family in an active way.  I strive to have my kids see me exercising, whether it’s on the treadmill, or at an organized event doesn’t matter.  As long as they know it’s important to be active.

And to the Dad running with me…Next time I’ll follow you.

I had another physical therapy appointment yesterday. I wasn’t subjected to the intense pain of deep tissue massage this week, but my therapist did show me several new exercises she’d like me to focus on.

“The real question is, can I run yet or not?” I asked. It’s been two weeks since my last run.

“No,” she said. “Your leg is too weak. I want that IT band to heal, and I want you to strengthen your quads. The harder you work at that, the sooner you’ll be able to run.”

Point taken. Dana (my physical therapist) knows that I haven’t been able to stretch as much as I’d like. I’m not shy about admitting it. “Until your leg gets stronger,” she told me, “you can walk, bike, or swim. But no running.”

And so I’ve been re-learning the joys of the long walk. Over the past week, I’ve walked four times.

Actually, I’m having trouble finding a route that’s long enough. I keep picking courses that I think will give me a lot of distance, but they end up shorter than I anticipate. Today, for example, I thought I’d go five or six miles. I ended up going 3.66 miles in exactly an hour. (My walking pace has always been about 3.6 miles per hour — what’s yours?)

Walks are nice because they give a fellow time to look at his surroundings, to listen to the birds, to watch the other folks out exercising. I also re-discovered my love for audiobooks. When I commuted half an hour each way to work, I listened to a lot of books on tape. I also listened to them on afternoon walks. I haven’t listened to a book in six months, though, until I began walking again recently.

So for the time being, my plan is to:

• Focus on eating healthy food in sensible amounts.
• Perform a stretching regimen at least twice a day, focusing on my hamstrings, quads, and glutes.
• Incorporate walking into my daily routine.
• Bike regularly once my beloved Bianchi Volpe is back from the shop.

These things should not only help arrest the weight that’s creeping back around my belly, but also help me resume my path to fitness and weight loss.

Lots of us who exercise regularly stretch for some reason or another. For example, a recent poll showed that Americans stretch to help prevent injury. Both the Norwegians (who stretch before exercise) and Australians (who stretch after exercise) stretch to prevent soreness, enhance well being and increase their performance. Even with all of these differences, one thing is true. “Exercisers and coaches everywhere…tend to have passionate convictions about the merits of stretching, or lack thereof.”

Currently, there are two studies being conducted that are asking about the effectiveness of stretching. The first study, being performed in Norway, asks its subjects to undergo a 13-week regimen. 1/2 of the participants are instructed to perform a 10 minute stretching exercise before and after their workouts while the other 1/2 are asked to abstain from stretching during the same time period. The participants enroll on the internet and report weekly on the study’s web site where they tell about muscle soreness, injuries and feelings of looseness. So far, 1700 people have enrolled in the study and they researchers are still actively enrolling more. If you’re interested in participating, go here.

While the first study is geared towards all forms of exercise and the exercise regimen isn’t prescribed, the second study, sponsored by USA Track & Field is specifically geared towards those of us who run at least 10 miles per week. This study is also still accepting new subjects and is asking whether stretching BEFORE exercise affects injury rates in runners. In this study, participants are given a stretching program, or are asked to not stretch for three months and they have to report their injuries during that time frame.

Whatever your opinions on stretching may be, it’s safe to assume that someone out there disagrees with you. For me, stretching feels good–especially after a run. I hardly ever stretch before a workout, but I love the “looseness” I feel afterwards. I know I’m not the most flexible person in the world and stretching is the only way that I know how to increase flexibility. I say do what works for you, at least until there’s a definitive answer as to whether stretching actually provides some type of benefits.

The last few weeks have been some of the toughest in my life.

I’ve powered through, though, on adrenaline and because there’s no other option. My mother is in the hospital and must be cared for. I’ve elected to become a “professional” blogger, and I must write to eat. My in-laws, who were in town last week, must be entertained. And through it all, the normal daily routine must continue.

Something had to give. That something has been exercise. I’ve been to the gym three times in the past three weeks. I’ve done two short sessions of aerobic activity (and one longer session, which I’ll describe later). For a while, I was barely doing any stretching.

For the first few days of this crisis, my diet went well. In a way, it went too well. During the three or four days of most intense stress, I had no appetite. I ate very little. But as soon as the pressure eased, my response was to turn to food. I bought a box of Lucky Charms and ate them over two days. I consoled myself with cookies.

I put a stop to this after only a few days, but then I faced other challenges. While Kris’ parents were in town, we ate out for nearly every meal. I’m getting better at making healthy choices in a restaurant, but after almost a week of that sort of lifestyle, I can really feel the change in my body. I feel bloated and gross.

So, it’s been a rocky couple of weeks, but I don’t feel too bad. I still have the mindset of a guy who wants to get fit, who wants to lose weight. I’ve been sidetracked for a while, but things are settling now. Yesterday morning I made a healthy breakfast. I ate well for lunch, too. (I had leftover restaurant food for dinner.) And I’ve resumed exercising.

Things will be okay.

Biking
Last Saturday morning, I finally had a respite from life. “I should go for a ride,” I said. “But all I really want to do is sleep.”

“Go for a ride,” Kris said, “You’ll feel better.”

It took me a long time to get out the door, but I did it. As I pushed down to pedal away from the house, I heard something fall to the ground. When I went back to look, nothing was there.

I biked north to the Springwater Trail, then into downtown Portland. Bike and foot traffic was thick. Portland’s annual food festival was being held along the waterfront, and I had to weave my way in and out of clusters of folks enjoying the mild summer morning.

At the mid-way point of the ride (about mile ten), I crossed the Steel Bridge to head home. As I did, I passed a group of runners coming from the other direction. My heart ached. It was the 4:20 runners from my marathon training group. My group, the 4:30 group, was somewhere behind them. They were doing the run I’d so looked forward to: the first twenty-mile group run and actually on the marathon course. “Next year,” I told myself. “Next year.”

I hoped to see my friends from 4:30, but our paths didn’t overlap. Instead, I headed home. Crossing the railway tracks in Sellwood, something felt strange on my bike. I looked back to see my rear wheel was twisted and rubbing on the brakes. “Yikes,” I thought. I pedaled three miles to he nearest bike store.

Apparently the sound of something falling to the ground at the start of the trip was actually a spoke popping loose. “We can fix that,” the mechanic told me. I also asked that he fix the left shifter, which works on a sort of “when I feel like it basis”. “That’ll take some time,” he said. He has to order parts, which means it may be a couple weeks before I can use my bike again.

Stretching
Since last Wednesday’s physical therapy appointment, I’ve tried to be better about stretching. “How did things go this week?” my physical therapist asked at the beginning of our session. I told her about Mom and about my hectic schedule and confessed I’d done little stretching. She admonished me to try harder, and I have.

Push-ups
Through this all, I’ve been dogged about completing my steps on the one hundred push-ups program. I completed week three, column two last week, and am working on week four, column two this week. Every day I think, “There’s no way I can do this.” But every day I surprise myself.

Final thoughts
I’ve gained three pounds in the past three weeks. Before all of this started, I weighed 187 and was getting readings of 24% body fat from my scale’s impedance sensor. Now I’m at 190 (with higher readings some days!) and the scale tells me I’m at 28% body fat.

So, here I am, eager to get outside and exercise, but unable to run (by orders of the physical therapist) and unable to bike. What’s a fellow to do? Turns out I can still walk! I took an hour walk yesterday, and I’m contemplating a two-hour walk this morning. An if that isn’t good enough, I can always go to the gym and park myself on a stationary bike for a couple hours. (Actually, the 2.75-mile walk to and from the gym would be perfect.)

Finally, a couple of notes:

• I cancelled my Cycle Oregon registration yesterday. I’m not prepared and my bike is out of commission. Maybe next year.
• I’ve resigned myself that I won’t run the marathon this year, but I still might walk it.
• Meanwhile, as soon as my IT band allows, I’ll begin building a slow, constant core running workout into my life: a couple of short runs during the week, and then maybe 8-12 miles on the weekend.

The past month has been crazy for me. I’m ready for some peace, quiet, and especially some routine.

Last Wednesday, I rose early and headed out to the gym before the kids woke up. I arrived just in time for the 5AM spinning class at the gym. Before we moved down here from Portland, I used to attend spinning classes twice a week at the local YMCA and loved them. The music was awesome, the instructors were motivating, and the equipment was top of the line. My experience here was a little different. The class was small, the room was dark, the music was blah, and the equipment was subpar–not to mention, the class was really easy. Or so I thought.

So after 45 minutes on the bike, I headed down to the weight room for my 5X5 workout. I figured that I was already warmed up since I’d been on the bike for so long so I racked my weights for my first set of squats. I shouldered the bar, stepped back, spread my feet, aligned my toes, and in the words of the people at the 5X5 forums, I “put my ass to the grass.” Wow! Was I in for a rude awakening. My left quad balked the first time I went down. I didn’t think much of it on the first rep, but by the time I squatted for the fifth time, I knew I was in trouble. I didn’t finish my other four sets, but I did finish the rest of my workout.

So I spent the rest of the day hobbling around with a sore left quad. Thursday was worse, and I was beginning to think I did something more than strain it. But Friday I went for an 18 hole walk and it was feeling better. Still stiff, but not bad. Saturday and Sunday steadily improved and now I’m back in the game.

So I had a minor setback in terms of lifting weights. But it was a real eye opener for me. My legs, although they do look GOOD, aren’t quite ready to be increasing weights on the squat bar every time I work out. But I really like the 5X5 program. So I’m going to modify it a bit for a couple of weeks. Instead of increasing my weight each time, I’m just going to get in some reps of a lighter weight and concentrate on proper form and hip/hamstring flexibility. In the long run, I believe this will serve me better. After all, I’m not looking to get buff from the lifting, I’m really looking to build a better metabolic base for myself by adding muscle. I’ll head back to the squat bar on Wednesday so my quad can have a full week of rest before I put it back to the test.

This is a guest post by Brigid. It originally appeared in Public Safety Communications, the magazine of The Association of Public-Safety Communication Officials.

When we were growing up, we learned a lot about life through stories. Some of these stories, although full of good intentions, didn’t convey the best message. Cinderella and Snow White gave hope to the working-class girl. Jack found his fortune in a handful of magic beans. Rapunzel found redemption when all she loved was lost to the wicked enchantress. In the end, everyone gets what they had been dreaming for and lives happily ever after. (Bah!)

We all know better than that — or do we? Do you find yourself at the mega-mart store, perusing the supplement aisle for the latest and greatest pill that magically melts fat away? How often do you consider starting one of those expensive pre-package food programs?

Truth be told, when we put our hopes into these self-proclaimed miracle weight-loss programs, we’re just kissing frogs. We wish vehemently for a prince who will save us from shopping in the plus-size section and deliver us from cheesecake. We wander from diet to diet and try all the fat burners known to man, hoping that one of these frogs will become that prince, but to no avail. Cinderella wakes up to her iniquitous stepsisters and a shoe that doesn’t fit.

If you want to find guidance in any children’s story, consider the Tortoise and the Hare. The turtle knew that he wasn’t anywhere near as fast as the rabbit. Fortunately, he also knew that speed wasn’t the key to winning the race. The one essential quality he needed to foil the rabbit was perseverance, a quality the hare didn’t possess. All our little shelled friend had to do was put one slow foot in front of the other. He crossed the finish line first and also earned the respect of his friends. As a bonus, he got to enjoy seeing the rabbit throw a complete fit. (He never liked him much in the first place.)

Although there is very little chance that I’ll win unless all the elite runners in the race decide to pop off to the pub for a beer, I’ve still won in my own right. Sometimes you have to redefine winning. Winning isn’t about being first; it’s about coming in at your own speed but knowing you’re far better off than the people who never ran at all. Winning is about getting back onto the path when you’ve strayed from it. Winning is about determination in the face of all those rabbits that laugh at you for being slow.

As you go through your day, think of the turtle and how each small step got him closer to the finish line. Each turtle step is like making one good choice, such as replacing a soda with a glass of water. In and of itself, it won’t make you fit, but if you continue to take a small step every day — a salad with dinner, skipping the fries or just eating slower — it will keep you heading in the right direction.

As for living happily ever after, I know a lot of miserable skinny people. So that part is entirely up to you.

The average child in America eats in a restaurant 167 times per year! That’s more than three times per week. With piano lessons, tee ball practice, private tutoring, ballet class, and homework, it’s often easier for parents to hit the drive thru at the local fast food joint than it is for them to come up with a home cooked meal. Being a stay-at-home-dad, I can totally relate to taking the easy way out when it comes to feeding kids. But you’ve got to be careful with what you choose to put in front of your kids on a regular basis.

There’s new research from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (the same folks who publish the awesome Nutrition Action Health Letter) suggesting that some of the so-called kids meals found in fast food restaurants contain more calories than most children need in the entire day!

Ninety-three percent of 1,474 possible choices at the 13 chains exceed 430 calories—an amount that is one-third of what the Institute of Medicine recommends that children aged four through eight should consume in a day.

Losers (and a winner)

• Chili’s–94% of 700 possible kids meal combinations were too high in calories and one had more than 1000 calories.
• Burger King–A “Big Kids” meal has 910 calories
• Kentucky Fried Chicken–a “laptop meal” with popcorn chicken, baked beans, biscuit, Teddy Grahams, and fruit punch contains 940 calories.
• Subway–Really, there’s only one winner when it comes to fast food for kids, or anybody for that matter. The “Fresh Fit for Kids” meals (a mini sub, juice, and apples,raisins or yogurt) contain about 420 calories–just right for 1/3 of an average kid’s daily food intake.

What’s a parent to do?

Obviously, families should stay out of fast food restaurants whenever possible. But for a lot of us, that’s easier said than done. Here are some suggestions to help bypass the drive thru and start making healthier choices for your family.

• Get the family involved in meal preparations–I spend a lot of time in my kitchen with my kids–and they’re real young. My toddler runs around and plays on the floor while my three-year-old tosses ingredients together, mixes them in the bowl, and helps to set the table. It’s one of the ways that I get stuff done without setting my kids down in front of the TV. It also makes for great together time and leads to lots of fun discussions
• Get a slow cooker–Spend 15-20 minutes in the morning chopping and adding ingredients to the slow cooker and head out the door. When you come home from your day’s errands, the house smells awesome and dinner’s ready for your family. Just dish it up and serve it to the masses. I don’t actually do this but it’s something I’m interested in trying. I hear great things about slow cookers from lots of my friends who have busy lives.
• Cook ahead–There are lots of ways that you can cook for the future. Not only does it save you time, but some say it helps with losing weight. At least one reader of GFS has suggested cooking ahead for the week so you don’t have to think about the food you’re eating. And just look at all those diet programs that ship you your food so you don’t have to worry about it. There are lots of great ways to cook ahead. You can intentionally make leftovers so that you can have the same diner twice, or even three times in a week. Reheat the leftovers and you’re good to go. Personally, I would rather make a double recipe and freeze one of them. That way, even though you’re eating leftovers, you can eat them a week or two later than the original meal. This helps to eliminate the boredom that comes from repeatedly eating the same thing.

There are lots of ways that families can help themselves when it comes to staying out of the fast food trap. The trick is to find what works for your family, then practice and refine it until it becomes a habit. With a little patience, and some dedication, you can change eating out back into what it was when you grew up–a special treat for you and your family!