And Snap! The Job's a Game!

The hardest part about sports and fitness is deciding what you like to do.

Think about it: you will not continue with an activity if you do not enjoy it, no matter how "useful" or "rewarding" it is supposed to be. If it's not fun, it's not worth your time.

But how do you decide what you like? Try it all. Sign up for tester or sample classes, no matter how weird the activity sounds. If it interests you, give it a fair shake. Only once you've tried it can you decide you don't like it.

While I now know my first love is running, I didn't always know that. In junior high, I was subject to oodles of sports I could cross off my list:

• basketball (the hoop was way too high for this vertically challenged person)
• volleyball (how do other people manage to volley in the direction of the net?)
• tennis (tiny ball, small racket: need I say more?)
• badminton (see reference to tennis above, but add a giggle when thinking about the word "shuttlecock")

When I finally got to sports I liked, it was hard to choose the final one. I was on the eighth grade soccer team but discovered long distance running in high school. I stayed with it for years, took time off in college (when the dogs would let me) then started up again soon after beginning my life in the workaday world.

So, I found out what I liked to do. Then came the question: when?

I never thought I couldn't exercise while working for a living. Time might have been at a premium and my schedule prevented it for a while, but I figured the opportunity would arise. After all, my dad ran every day at lunch for decades — so what was my excuse? Being winded after walking up one of the steepest staircases in the Metrorail system was my anti-excuse.

Now, I try other things from time to time. When the weather is bad or when I want to give my spine or neck a rest from its daily five-mile pounding, I climb on the stairclimber or the elliptical. I have tried zumba (very cool!) and bellydancing (very fun!), kickboxing (which threw out my back, bless its heart) and step aerobics (snoozeville).

So find something that you find fun and use that as your excuse to get fit. Chances are, you'll succeed if you enjoy what you're doing.

- Chris

The Right Time

I was in the gym this morning to meet with a client and, as usual, I perused the room to make sure no one was doing anything dangerous.

Really, almost every day, someone is doing something dangerous. Today was no exception.

A guy on the cable lat pulldown machine was pulling the weights down way too fast, then letting them drop when he put them in the reset position. This wrenched his shoulders.

Too many people exercise too little control over the weights they try to lift.

The proper timing for each repetition is five to seven seconds: two to three seconds on the contraction (shortening of the muscles), and three to four seconds on the ecentric motion (lengthening of the muscles). Remember: always breathe out on the exertion.

If you remember only one axiom, let it be this: it's not about how much you can lift, but how much you can lift safely.

Change Up Your Routine

Has this ever happened to you?

You want to add some muscle or maybe lose a couple of unwanted pounds, so you go to the gym and put together a routine. You work out two, three, four times a week. Within the first couple of weeks, you see results.

Because this routine is working for you, you keep at it exactly the same way. For the next three or four weeks, the routine does its magic, and you are pleased.

Right around week six, the magic ends. The results that came so quickly and easily at first suddenly come to a screeching halt. (Remember: your mileage may vary.) You stay at it for another month, but you're having a Barry Manilow moment — trying to get the feeling again. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. You're at a standstill.

Less than three months in, you're out. Why put in the effort if there's nothing to be gained? You let your gym membership lapse in disgust.

Next thing you know, the weight slowly comes back. All that work for nothing.

Here's how to get back to the fast track: change your routine. Sure, it worked at the beginning, but that was then. This is now, and your body has smarted up and acclimated to the amount of stress placed on it.

One of the best ways is to constantly keep your body off-balance by cross-training. By doing different sports, different exercises, you constantly put different stresses on different muscle groups. That's the difference.

So, instead of lifting first before a cardio session, mix in the cardio by jumping rope between your weight lifting sets. This keeps your heart rate elevated for maximum fat burning — and may shorten your time at the gym.

Or completely reverse your routine. For example, if you lift large muscle groups to smaller (like you should have been doing to begin with), lift smaller muscle groups to larger from time to time. You'd be surprised how different it feels.

It doesn't take much, as you can see — just be sure to try anything you can think of to successfully and safely keep your body off-balance.

If you have questions or suggestions, leave them in the comment section below. Let me know how this works for you.

The Importance of Cross-Training

With Chris' help, I manage to get to the gym nearly every day. Being a personal trainer, I need to be at least as fit as my clients.

For the past three months, the gym where I currently work was undergoing major renovation. During this time, the variety of equipment and facilities was very limited.

My workouts during this time consisted of (several types of) push-ups at home and jogging a couple of times a week. I also managed an occasional visit to the free weight room at the student athlete training facility.

However, that has all changed since the gym re-opened this week. Nearly every day this week, I have had access to — and made ample use of — the new cable equipment for my weight training.

Today, for a change of pace and to practice my cross-training, I swam. Swimming provides a good cardio workout and good overall body toning.

Three laps into my swim, I thought my arms were going to fall off. I switched to the breast stoke to take some of the stress off my shoulders. Then my back tightened up.

After 35 minutes of swimming laps, I was really uncomfortable because my back was so tight.

Knowing my back needed to be stretched, I went home and asked Chris to help me stretch. Being the kindhearted soul she is, she was more than happy to help me out. She gently leaned on my shoulders as I poised forward. I heard a "pop" — which never is a good thing — and now I have tremendous pain in my right hip.

This is what happens when you don't cross-train.

So, to be truly fit, remember to work at all five categories of fitness on a regular basis:

• muscular endurance
• muscular strength
• flexibility
• cardio fitness
• and a healthy body mass index (BMI) (which I will discuss in my next post).

This will keep you in better shape and out of the chiropractor's office (except for the all-important regular fine-tuning Chris advocates).

Working Out at Home is a Snap

For those of us who really do not have the money — or desire — to join the gym, stay home.

It is very simple and inexpensive to set up a gym at home, and I've already made the shopping list for you:

• 40-pound dumbbell set: $39
• stability ball: $25
• jump rope (for those with good knees): $10
• a stair stepper (for those with shaky knees): $25

For less than $100, you have everything you need to work out and become fit at home.

If you are a tech-head who wants a little more accurate a workout, pick up an inexpensive heart rate monitor for about $30. (For use on the heart rate monitor, please refer to my previous blog entry, "Doing the Math for Fat Burning.")

This equipment stores very easily. The dumbbell set comes in its own case and the stability ball can be deflated between uses.

But remember: out of sight, out of mind. Store the equipment so it's not underfoot — but keep it in plain sight so it can serve as a reminder to stay in shape.

Doing the Math for Fat Burning

Let's talk about weight loss.

For weight loss, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends maintaining a heart rate of 70-75 percent of the maximum heart rate for 45 minutes a day.

That's great, but how do we determine that heart rate range? How do we know what 100 percent of our max heart rate is?

The good news is you don't have to know these things. Just use the Karvonen Formula.

The Karvonen Formula for 70 percent of your max heart rate:
Start with 220
Subtract your age
Subtract your resting heart rate
Then multiply this by .70 (which is 70 percent)
Then add back in your resting heart rate.

Let's do mine for practice. I am 47 years old and my resting heart rate is 68.

For me, the formula looks like this (for 70 percent):
220-47=173
173-68= 105
105 x .70=73.5
73.5+68= 141.5

for 75 percent:
220-47=173
173-68= 105
105 x .75=78.7
78.7+68=146.7

My target heart rate is 141.5-146.7 for 45 minutes for weight loss.

For Chris, who is 43 with a resting heart rate of 60:
220-43= 177
177-60=117
103 x .75=87.7
87.7+60=147.7

220-43= 177
177-60=117
103 x .70=81.9
81.9+60=141.9

Chris' is 141.9-147.7 for 45 minutes for weight loss.

Go ahead -- do yours!

Rehydration: Take It Easy

Nearly everyone I see in public is clutching a water bottle: in the mall, in the office, walking down the street.

I see people walking half a mile holding their water like a lifeline, stopping often to drink from that omnipresent water bottle.

And I say: take it easy.

It's not that people exercising do not need to watch their hydration level. One should be properly hydrated, and we need to drink a certain amount of fluids to keep our bodies healthy. However, people are taking the recommendation to ridiculous lengths.

Physician Heinz Valtin, a kidney specialist and professor emeritus of physiology at Dartmouth Medical School, states that the "8x8" recommendation is a myth.

Now, that doesn't mean that people who exert themselves do not need to remain properly hydrated. What it means is that people need to drink enough. Diuretics (including my personal favorite, iced tea with a little Herman honey) count toward the daily total.

Drink enough to feel sated, and drink regularly enough to avoid feeling dry. But don't go overboard.

How much is enough? According to Greg McMillan, an Arizona exercise physiologist and running coach, a person's urine should be straw-colored ("When the Heat Can’t Be Outrun," (New York Times, October 11, 2007). Drink too little and your urine is much darker; clear urine means you may be drinking too much water. (If your daily vitamins are orange, that will color your perception, so gauge accordingly.)

Too much water can be dangerous: ask the British runner who died in April, or the other 14 people who were hospitalized for the same affliction. Drinking too much water dilutes your body's vital minerals, including sodium, a very important chemical.

Athletes absolutely need to pay attention to their hydration levels. However, don't go crazy. Sports drinks such as Gatorade and Powerade are designed for the professional elite athlete. That means the calories and other essential body chemicals are vastly elevated for the average Joe or Josephine.

Brett Favre needs to down some sport drink after a day's workout because he has worked out his body for an extended period of time. I, on the other hand, don't need to consume that much because the calorie intake will outweigh the rehydration benefits.

Long story short: leave the water bottle at home if you're making a trip to the grocery store. Drink a few glasses of water during the day at work. Drink enough if you're going to work out. However, don't develop a drinking problem.

- Chris