The game olan

The Game plan

Ok so here you are out many months after you achieving your fitness goal and you haven’t done anything but sit and relax and now you look at yourself and all that weight you had taken off and told yourself that you would never see again has now come back. Wait! It has just not come back but for good measure you have gain an additional amount of weight that well you are telling yourself you need to finally get rid of.
So you try every diet in the world only to find out that they don’t work. Let me repeat, THEY DON’T WORK!!!!! So now what do you do? A year back you had really been in really good shape and you remember how you did it but you are just not motivated to go back to those extremes. So what to do? What to do?
Well, let me first start out and tell you that the only way you are going to lose those unwanted inches is by using the fuel you have consumed and there is no other way to do it but activity. Dear I say exercise? I know I just turned some of you off but there really is no other way to keep it off. If you stop eating eventually you will either die or you’ll start eating again and more than you did prior to your binge. Remember one thing though, it is not the foods fault that you got the way you are. Food is not our enemy. Ok so let’s get to the game plan….
As you all know I keep things simple and this is no different. Exercise should be part of your life, not your life, so I suggest no more than 30 minutes a day in the gym that is all. So here is how I would break it out and I am giving you the formula that has helped may lose hundreds of pounds and get in better shape.
Week 1
Monday: Get to the gym and sit on recumbent bike for 30 minutes and then go home.
Tuesday through Friday: repeat Monday

Week 2: Begin to introduce weights back into your program

Monday: Now get on that recumbent bike for 10 minutes and then go to the treadmill and walk for 5 minutes. Then begin to introduce weights back into your 30 minute program. Today do chest work only.
Tuesday: Same warm up and then today is back work only
Wednesday: Same warm up then do a leg workout
Thursday: Now I want you to do 15 minutes on the bike and then give me 15 minutes on the treadmill. Let’s see if we can’t get a good sweat on the treadmill to make it worth the trip.
Friday: Same warm up as Monday and then abs work for 30 minutes
Saturday and Sunday Take off

1 Month: Now you should be getting into a routine that should last you a while.
Monday: Let’s start with 5 minute warm up on treadmill or bike and then go hit the weights. Today is a great chest day so let’s get that going. After the workout let’s get bake on the treadmill and run for 10-15 minutes then go home. Your chest workout should not take any more time than 15 minutes (without talking to you friends and neighbors)
Tuesday: Let’s start with the same cardio and then let’s get some back work in then finish the same as Monday.
Wednesday: Yes, its legs day!!!!! Make this as enjoyable as possible. Start by getting on treadmill with an incline of at least 10 and go for 10 minutes then hit those legs like they have not been hit before and then end with a 5 minute cool down on treadmill or bike.
Thursday: Great day for Shoulders so go ahead and hit them and first give me 10 minutes warm up and at the end 5 minute cool down.
Friday: Let’s make this your cardio do. Turn on that music, make that television louder, get focused and give me 30 minutes of hard, sweat off the brow, heavy breathing cardio.
Saturday and Sunday: days off. Enjoy your weekend!

That one month routine should last you a few months before we will need to change it up a little. Notice how the gym does not become your second home but just s stop off place to get what your body so needs to do… exercise. Now stop screwing around and go get it done.

The effects of Detraining

I was reading an article the other day that was emailed to me by a friend and after reading the article I thought it best to write my thoughts out and share it with everyone who reads this. Now the article dealt with biking and what physically happens to a person when they physically put the bike up for the season however I want to expand upon that and discuss the implications of what happens when after getting yourself in better shape we decided to take time off or we feel as though we have made it and we decided to relax. In a nut shell there are some good points and some bad points of taking time off after working really hard to get yourself in good shape but let’s just go thru the process that everyone and I mean everyone, goes thru when they stop working out. So here we go.

So here you are, you’ve reached your goal and your feeling pretty good about your success. Now you feel as though you want to take some time off and enjoy your new found freedom and life.

Day 1: This is the day after all of your success. You feel good and strong and self confident. You feel as though you just concord the world and everybody can see that and complements you on your new you. Now your body is now in a repair mode and for the next three days your body is repairing itself. All the muscular damage you may have done is now being repaired and the process of it returning to normal has begun. On the average in three days your muscles have had time to fully recover; muscle carbohydrate stores (glycogen) have been topped up, muscle fibers damaged during hard training is being fully repaired, and favorable metabolic changes in the muscles have had time to occur.

1 week: Now you are thinking about going back into the gym and actually you should or at least get active again. This is important because this is the time when most begin to really fall off the wagon and begin the process of going back to their “other” life. Now you are beginning to forget about the hard work it took for you to get to where you were and in some cases you don’t want to have to revisit there. However I will tell you, your body is use to if not accustomed to that level of activity (exercise).
At this time because of the time you have taken off, you are beginning to put back on some weight. Now not much, no more than 5 to 10 pounds but it is not too noticeable as of yet. Also pertaining to your heart, you begin to feel sluggish and your heart is not pumping as efficiently as it did just a week earlier. This is due to the inactivity and the fact that your heart has not needed to work too hard. But mentally you are thinking that everything is still feeling alright and you have not lost too much of your fitness. Your cloths are still fitting pretty good and mentally you still feel OK.

1 month: Now your old life style is back in force and full in swing. All that working out and all the trimming and all that drive has driven away from you now. You are beginning to see those bulges again and those skinny clothes aren’t fitting as they did just a few weeks ago. Your afraid to get on a scale because you know that you have gained back some of that weight you took off and told yourself that you would never go back to. Well, unfortunately the reverse process has really taken hold now and what you were able to do just a few months ago, you can’t even come close to now. Why is that?

Well, you muscles are no longer as efficient as they once were. The biochemical pathways that you had developed to help your muscles burn the fat efficiently have deteriorated and now they are back to the way they once were. On top of that your muscle mass has deteriorated. This is not good, not good at all.

6 months: At this point you are no longer that person you want to be and you are fully back into your old life. You have gained all if not even more of your weight back. You may have tried to go back to the gym a few times but with no avail, your motivation is just not there and now you have lost all that confidence you once had. You feel embarrassed to tell people what happened to you just 6 months earlier and in some cases you may not even ever bring it up in any conversation and if someone does you are quick to change the subject.

Not good! At this time your circulatory system is even worse than it was before you started exercising the first time. Your heart is working harder than it has ever worked before and your musculature system is depleted to a point where you can do none of the things you could do just six month earlier.
1 year: At this time you want to try again but this time you want to make it stick. ‘THAT’S IT THIS IS FOR LIFE!” I hear a lot but what people don’t realize is that it will be twice as hard to get to the same point as you did one year prior. Your body has put in place some safety features that will not allow it to lose the weight or get yourself in good shape as it once did. Your body is going to hold onto the fat longer and this will be frustrating because you will be putting in the work and seeing little success. All the while you will be putting a huge strain on your heart to pump like it once did a year ago and that in itself can be damaging. When you gained all the weight back and you lost all your fitness, your heart had to work really hard, again, just to keep you alive. Now you’re asking it to push even harder, think about it. Can you say potential stroke?

However, the good point is that at this time, with you coming back, there is hope but you need to be smart about it and have a realistic game plan and most importantly, make this your final time. Finally make this part of your life… forever. In my next blog I will discuss the game plan.

Bad days

We all have them. They are a part of life. The question that we should be asking ourselves is not when will they be going away but, what are we learning in the midst of them. Have you ever heard the phrase, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”? There is truth to that on so many levels.

I know of a person who over the last several years had just not had a really good life. According to him there have been glimpses of day light but shortly thereafter to find himself back dealing with issues and pressures that many will probably never have to deal with or understand. He told me that it has gotten to a point now that when he has a good day he almost dreads it because he knows that on the other side of it will be an equally bad day. The question he constantly asks himself however is, “What am I learning from this?” He tells me that in every situation there is a lesson that he needed to learn but the biggest lesson that he is learning is that he is not really in control but God is. I would roll my eyes every time I would hear that but this is what he shared with me…

A few years back his family went through a major health issue, cancer, which almost took the life of his wife but did take the life of his mother. At that same time his financial situation was bleak at best and he almost lost all of his possessions including his house. Just to add insult to injury as his families health was failing and his business was struggling to stay open and he finds out that through an error with his bank his house had the potential of going into foreclosure which destroyed his credit rating and he lost all of his credit. He tells me that at one point he just broke down and cried. He did not like life and really began to feel bad for his kids. Why? Because if his life was this bad for him he could not imagine his kids having to go through this pain and survive.

He then tells me that 15 months later things began to change for no real reason. The bank mailed him a letter and approved his “Making Homes Affordable” application and his family illnesses were getting better. He did lose his mother to the fight but his wife is fine now and his business was saved. When I asked him what he did to get on the other side of these issues all he did was say, “I really did nothing but pray that some people would come along side me and help me through them and every time I prayed… they did.”

At the time I met with him he had just come from achieving another personal mile stone and was very happy with his results. He tells me that when we are happy and have no problems it is easy to praise our Maker but is that real praise or is it selfish and conditional. “Hey God, as long as I am happy and things go my way, I will praise you but if they don’t, are you really in control?” Does this attitude sound familiar? Don’t we all feel that way most of the time? But have we ever learned anything through good times? I know I haven’t.

I just saw him the other day and he tells me that he is now faced with even greater trials. I wonder how God will work him through these and what lessons he will learn while going through them. I can honestly say that as weak as he thinks he is, when many look at him, to them he looks very strong. I can only hope that he gets to the other side of his issues and rejoices at the blessings that have to be on the way. Remember this, for every bad day that we go through there is an equally and opposite effect… a good day.

Good health at 50

There will be a point in one’s life when they will be looking at turning the big 50. When that comes will you be physically ready? Lately I have been asked by many people how it is that I can be as “old” as I am and still look and have the physical numbers as I do and I think it is time that I write this all out so that those that are older than I and younger than I can understand. Now please note, I am not bragging nor am I saying that I have all the answers. I can only go by my own experiences and what I have seen that has gotten me this far in my young life.

On January 2014 I went to my doctor like I do every year for my annual physical. A few hours later I received an email from him with my results and I was really surprised at where my numbers stood. I won’t bore you with all the details but I will highlight a few of them.

Weight 180

Height 5’10”

Cholesterol 155 (Last year it was 110 don’t know what happened)

HDL >39.9 54.6

LDL <130 121 Triglycerides <150 60 PSA 0.0-4.0 0.28 Testosterone 280-800 970 Resting Pulse rate 51 When I look at my Red blood cells and White blood cells they were in excellent standing. Now the question so many have asked me is how I am able to get such numbers and here is what I believe is my formula. I believe that it is quite simple, do those things that are beneficial to the body and those things that are not, well, just don’t do them. 1) I try and get 6 to 8 hours of sleep a night. Now that always doesn’t happen but then I will find myself a few minutes during the day when I can close my eyes and relax. It is amazing what 30 minutes can do when you are tired in the middle of the day.

2) I eat 3 square meals a day. That’s right Breakfast, lunch and dinner. My biggest meal of the day is Lunch followed by breakfast and then dinner is very small. I never stuff myself at night. I don’t see the point. Why fuel my body to just sit down afterwards and fall asleep. Most people have a very small breakfast practically no lunch and then find themselves really dragging in the middle to the end of their day and then go home and devour the fridge.

3) Alcohol has not touch these lips since first year of college and that was 30 years ago. I just don’t see the point of drinking until you feel weird. Some people call it “putting a buzz on” but what they are really doing is destroying their brain cells and making their bodies work harder than they should. This also goes for cigarette smoking. Never, never, never. I have seen what it does to so many and I just don’t see where my body will benefit from it.

4) I exercise every day. Once a day I get a good 30 minutes of exercise in. Did I say every day? Yes every day even when I go away on VACATION. What better time to really get your body in really good shape but on vacation when you really have nothing else to do but enjoy and relax. There is no better relaxation then when you finish a workout and know that you accomplished something good for your body.

Now some of you are going to say that I really don’t understand how busy you are. You may be right but just take this into consideration, I start seeing people at 5am and don’t finish seeing people until 8pm from Monday to Friday and then on Saturday I see people from 5:30am till 2pm and at 7:30am I teach an aerobic class. Also, I am married with 3 children (18, 15, 13) and the 13 year old is a girl… shall I say more on that subject. Once a week my wife and I still find time to go out and look at each other and in a few weeks we will be married 22 years and I am an active member of the United States of America Track and Field Association and a High School soccer official. I know what it is to be busy but I still find time to do those things that I know in the end will benefit my body.

So many have asked me about how I am able to look and feel the way I do. So many want to know my formula and well, now you know it.

(6-8 hours of sleep) + (3 meals) + (no foreign substances in my blood stream) + 2(daily exercise) =
Healthy Life
Try it! It’s never too late.

Short Term verses Long Term work outs

“I spent three hours in the gym today”
“I can’t go to the gym because I just don’t have the time”
Do you hear these excuses? I do and all the time. This is the reason why I believe that people can get what they need to get done in 30-40 minutes and no longer. Yes, this includes cardio work and weight training. There have also been studies that have proven that short term workouts are much better for the average person than long drawn out workouts, even when it comes to building muscle or losing weight.

The following excerpt from an article published in the UK Telegraph, "6 Minutes of Exercise A Week As Good As 6 Hours" by Peter Zimonjic, elaborates on this study.

"Just six minutes of intense exercise a week does as much to improve a person's fitness as a regime of six hours... Moderately healthy men and women could cut their workouts from two hours a day, three times a week, to just two minutes a day and still achieve the same results, claim medical researchers".

No, I think this is a bit extreme but I understand where he is going with this. So let me put my little spin on this. Studies have been done through several Universities that, in their final assessment they found that with short term work outs (less than 1 hour) your caloric burn can stay with you up to 2 days whereas with long workouts, (more than 1 hour) when you are ready to leave and go home, your body is pretty much back to normal. They have shown that your caloric burn has stopped by the time you get out to your car.

Look at it this way, you should be trying to make working out part of your life, not your life and if you are going to spend hours at the gym, it is no longer a small part of your life but it has become a large part of your daily life. I can see how this can drive people away, especially since our lives are so busy in so many other important areas.

I believe that 30 to 40 minutes of working out is sufficient for Joe Public because, face it we are not trying to become Olympic athletes, but we are only trying to get ourselves in much better shape and maintain it over the rest of our life. How can you do everything in 30-40 minutes? It’s easy. When you get to the gym already have your workout in mind and plotted out so that once you are off the treadmill (only 10 minutes) you can immediately get right to work. Now because you are only going to be working out for 30 to 40 minutes, the usual 10 minute water breaks are not necessary. Once you finish with one exercise immediately move to the next exercise and continue this until you get everything done. Then at that time get some water and get ready to leave.

Now for your Olympic athletes and those that are sports specific this idea will not work because there is so much more that goes into understanding the training necessary to be on the top of your game for that particular sport. However for Joe public just wanting to get fit and stay in shape, 30– 40 minutes daily is just fine.

You need motivation?

I love my wife and I know she loves me. I am confident that regardless of what happens to me she will always love me. But does that give me the right to not give her my very best in all that I am and all I do?

I love my wife so much that I want to give her my all at all times. I want to be the best I can be, not so I can brag about who I am and what I can do but so that I make her even more proud of me. I know that regardless of what happens to me she will love me, but should I not try and give her even more reasons to love me? I keep my body in good condition not just for my own edification but so that when she is out in the public she can really feel proud of what I look like and who I am. Just as my love is unconditional towards her and her love is the same for me, because of that it makes me want to give her more than my very best.

This last week I had a conversation with a few members about this one subject. I asked them a really stupid question, “Does your spouse love you?” I knew the answer because I knew each one of their spouses but I was trying to make a point, understanding that, why would you not want to give them your very best. Their problem was motivation. They just can’t seem to get motivated long enough to make a difference in their physical lives as they tell me. My next question was if they love their spouses and their resounding response was “of course”. My next statement was, “then how could you not find motivation in just that?” the room went silent.

So what is it going to take America for us to finally wake up and see that we need to improve on our health? One day when your spouse or significant other tells us that they are seeing someone else and when we see that other person they look like “a knock out”? Or when our doctor tells us that we have a major illness that could have been avoided if we had been in better shape? Or when you finally lose a limb because of the diabetes we contracted due to weight and diet issues? What is it going to take before we wake up and get yourself in better shape? We have all the excuses on why we shouldn’t get up and get going but in the end are we really showing our spouse or significant other how much they really mean to us? Or are we being selfish and resting on the fact that our spouse loves us enough to have to take care of us when we are down.

What more motivation does a person need then the unconditional love of their partner? It is truly selfish to receive love without giving it back tenfold. Do we want or need motivation? Look at our partners and ask yourself a question, are we really giving our partners the very best we can give them? If the answer is no or maybe, then what more motivation do we need. Enjoy your day.

To be or not to be...and then why not

Are you out of shape? Can you stand to lose some pounds? What real long term or short term benefit is there in being out of shape? I can’t think of one however, I can think of many benefits to being in shape. But I am not going to write to you the obvious, but ask you a few questions.

1) When you look in the mirror do you like what you see?
2) Do you feel uncomfortable going to a beach or pool?
3) Can you run a mile if you had to?
4) Could you walk a mile if you had to?
5) Do you have to shop in the big and tall stores and not because your 6’5” or taller?
6) When you are around other people do they look like they feel sorry for you?
7) Do you get out of breath easy?
8) Can you walk up two flights of stairs without stopping and not getting out of breath?
9) Can you walk up one flight of steps without getting out of breath?
10) Do you need to take medications just to get going in the morning?
11) What if you stopped taking your medications, what would happen?
12) Do you spend more than $10 a month of medications?
13) Are your cloths fitting tighter than they use too?
14) Do your friends think that you are older than you truly are?
15) If your kids wanted you to play an active aerobic game, could you for more than 10 minutes?
16) Can people look at you and say to themselves that they want to be like you?
17) Can people look at you and say that they want to do what you do?
18) When you go to the doctor, are you ever nervous about your physical results?
19) Is you general physician your best friend because of all the health issues you may have?
20) Are you tired of having to take so much medication just to get going?

If you honestly answer these questions and any or all of them are answered yes, then what are you doing to change your situation? Just complaining about your situation does nothing. Telling your friends who may be in the same situation as you does nothing to improve your situation. Just praying about it without any action does nothing. Getting depressed and feeling sorry for oneself does nothing. However putting a systematic plan together and finding a person to help you and keep you accountable will yield you positive and long lasting results. Now get off the couch and do it. If you need help, every morning I post an exercise on my FB page Parkers Place Total Fitness. Like us on that page and enjoy the benefits of a good practical workout. Enjoy…