Coming Soon!

          At the beginning of this New Year, I am leading a weight loss program that will take my clients into the Spring—at which point I hope they will be at new levels of health and fitness. In previous programs, I provided as many resources as possible to the participants and attempted to instill in them that spirit of determination, investment in the future, and diligence that helped me change my life about half a decade ago in college.
 
          I am convinced of the value of weight loss programming because it is a system that overcomes many of the major hurdles to success: ambiguous goals and training timeline, go-it-alone mentality, poor knowledge of exercise technique and methodology, personal fears of being in a gym setting alone, lack of accountability, and the list goes on forever.
 
          However, as invested as I am in this training tool, I have never put myself in the mix with my clients from a dietary and investment standpoint. I have envied their clarity, focus, and singular devotion. I think it is because exercise is part of my life to the extent that I can sometimes float along on autopilot—even as I continue to challenge myself. So I am planning with my wife to take on a more restricted diet for the duration of the program, and I am going to develop new goals—just like I require of the weight loss participants.
 
          I hope that this process makes me more considerate of the challenges and concerns of my clients, but I also hope to derive new energy and results. It should be entertaining to say the least, and I am honestly looking forward to it. I’ll keep you posted!

I just don’t get it…

          Throughout my life and career as a personal trainer, I have been perplexed, overwhelmed, and disheartened by a very common behavior that seems almost universal. I see it in myself at times, and I wonder how someone devoted to health and fitness promotion could exhibit it. It is simply put a sabotage lifestyle marked by yielding to unhealthy behaviors such as binge eating, drinking, avoiding positive routines, and generally indulging in immediate gratification over long term balance. It is that sort of diseased thought process that says “what the heck? I might as well!” “We’ll deal with it tomorrow.” “Maybe the consequences will pass me by.”

          It is painful for me to observe this behavior in other people who seem to have given up on life—who behave in ways that cause me to cringe, merely because they have given up on the fight to be more, to be better. I recently saw an episode of Bridezilla where a young bride-to-be exhibits this sabotage mindset to an almost comical degree. She must have everything her way, and when she fails to fit into her expensive dress, she opts to beg her parents for a new one without any attempt to change her eating or exercise. In fact, she actually scoffs at exercise and eats scoops of ice cream after being forced to work out. The whole show is meant to be humorous, but I was disgusted. This individual would rather eat herself into a new, expensive, and larger dress, than deny herself the pleasures of overindulgence.

          In response, my wife made the insightful observation that everyone around her pays for her poor decision making! Ultimately, she will pay for them too, if she doesn’t experience a conversion of sorts. The show highlights how we can be blind to the effect we have on others through our choices and bad habits. I believe we are each called to more, and we each have a group of people who share in our triumphs and failures. Don’t we owe it to them to give them more success than tragedy?

          So what can be done to temper us against this insidious foe? How can we ensure that it doesn’t get the best of us? The solution, I’m sure, is more complex than I am qualified to prescribe. However, I do know that we must have a core system of values—a sort personal honor code by which we live. That set of values must incorporate knowledge of the fact that our actions “echo in eternity.” Our values must play out in every part of every day. Every decision, great or small, must adhere to that standard. Yes, we will fall, time and time again. But the beauty of the system is that it forces us to continually strive for something more—that ideal existence that we know is possible but fear most days to make reality.

 

Thoughts From a Trainer 1

Having been in the health and fitness industry for a fair amount of time, I can honestly say I love what I do. I love learning more about the functions and mysteries of the human body. I love coaching people to new limits of performance. I love instructing individuals on new trends and established scientific principles. However, there are a few challenging truths I have encountered. The main difficulty stems from the fact that the element that makes me a good trainer—namely having a heart for people—makes it hard for me to only attempt to impact those who pay for my services. Oftentimes I sit in the gym and watch ordinary people just like me come in for their daily workouts. They can be passionate, motivated, energetic, but they go nowhere. Days, months, and even years may pass with no apparent change.

Maybe it is the teacher in me, but I want to go up to these individuals and give them lectures on exercise science, anatomy and physiology, and exercise prescription—all within a 10 minute conversation. I want to give them the knowledge to take flight. However, I must hold myself back, because even with a positive motive, I can appear rude, pompous, and my interaction can actually have a counterproductive effect. I don’t mean to sound as though I am sitting upon my ivory training tower, but the truth is that everyone can benefit from proper education—whether it comes to exercise or any other pursuit worth doing. Yet, I am still searching for appropriate ways to serve the entire gym, especially those who don’t elect to pay for my training.

My second challenging observation is that, as a small businessman, I must convert my skill and passion into a commodity—a line of products with flashy names and competitive pricing. I think a lot of trainers get into their training careers thinking that they are joining the Peace Corps or a philanthropic organization—and it is to an incredible degree. But we have to eat too! And I dare say that many trainers wake up one day and realize that their idealistic motives must be pushed aside for the real, the practical, the inevitable and unavoidable salesmanship. The great trainers adapt and incorporate profitable business techniques with their unique vision. I am attempting to achieve this feat—an accomplishment that literally drowns hundreds and even thousands of aspiring trainers every year. But I must say that it is worth every ounce of the effort, and I view it as my initiation.

Either way, if there is anyone out there that wants to be my benefactor so that I can do this pro-bono, let he know Haha!

The video below is of a man that I would never have the above issue with haha… I’d be begging him for advice!

Holiday Fit: Why Wait Till January?

          During this time we celebrate the season, create memories with family and friends, and enjoy a rest from the madness of work and our typical routine. However, this break from the ordinary can be detrimental to our health and fitness by introducing bad habits and creating a health “debt” for the New Year. A few facts are provided below to put everything in perspective:

          Health Debt = Weight gain (from fat) + reduced cardio fitness + decline in muscular fitness + increased stress levels + a sedentary lifestyle.

Weight Gain:

          We all joke about gaining 4 or 5 pounds during the holiday season, but let’s break it down. 1 pound of fat = 3,500 calories; 3,500 X 5LBS = 17,500 stored calories! That means that it would take you literally 35 workout sessions, assuming you burn 500 calories per exercise bout, to shed holiday bulk. This concentrated physical activity must be paired with a calorie correct diet just to recover. Before you dig in this year, ask yourself if it is worth spending at least a month, possibly more, merely to return to your pre-holiday shape.

Reduced Cardio Fitness:

          Studies show that it takes a minimum of 3 cardio sessions per week to improve and retain cardio fitness numbers. Sadly, the time and work you have invested this year by adhering to that number can rapidly diminish after only a couple of weeks of being sedentary. Fitness will literally dissolve if you let it! In other words, if you are finally feeling in shape, not getting winded, and continually looking for more challenge in each workout, you can expect to feel sluggish, lethargic, and depleted by the end of the holiday season. Who wants to start out the year feeling like a slug?

Muscular Fitness:

          Similar to cardio fitness, your body’s skeletal muscle system requires a minimum of 2 days a week of structured strength training to retain and improve its composition and function. It is widely known and continually validated that muscular fitness impacts your ability to move, carry out activities of daily living, burn calories, retain healthy bone density, avoid and recover from injury, and overall functional capacity. Yet, declines in muscular fitness (deconditioning) are evident as early as 2 weeks after you cease training. That means that all of the benefits you are enjoying now could be gone by the end of holiday festivities if you aren’t working out.

Increased Stress Levels:

          With holiday fun and revelry comes heightened stress, and resultantly this means that you will store fat, feel horrible, and engage in unhealthy activities to self-medicate. The endorphin release you typically derive from cardio and weight training are not present, so you will naturally crave the endorphins found in chocolate and certain other foods. The only way to decrease these stress levels is to engage in activities that restore the balance by managing and releasing stress. By continuing to exercise during the holidays, you will feel better, and you will instantly improve your chances of actually enjoying the season!

Sedentary Lifestyle:

          Arguably, one of the most detrimental, unhealthy, and unnatural behaviors known to modern man is a chronic lack of physical activity. Why? Simply put, humans are designed physiologically to move. Our fitness and health declines almost exponentially if we do not, and our capacity to function and exist independently diminishes as we age. If you invest in exercise and a highly active lifestyle throughout the year, why set a negative trend for yourself? Why set a precedent of not moving? Yes, routines are thrown off and exercise is inconvenient, but the consequences of not being active for even a couple of weeks are far worse than the “inconvenience” of a morning jog or midday walk. I’ve heard it put that you become what you train for. If you train like a sprinter, you will begin to perform like one. If you train like a swimmer, you will begin to look like one, as your body attunes itself to your lifestyle. Well, if you train like a couch potato, you will perform and look like one, without a doubt.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

          Stick to a program. Don’t necessarily train your hardest, but stick to a routine that will promote the retention of your current fitness level.

          Buy cheap, portable exercise equipment (like elastic bands) that can be carried out of town or keep making time to go to the gym during the holidays.

          Be careful to watch the quantity of foods you eat, while allowing yourself simultaneously to have some treats.

          Drink lots of water and avoid over consumption of high sugar drinks (hot chocolate, egg nog, punch, etc.) or alcoholic beverages.

          Don’t put out candy or snack type foods at your house. You and everyone else will eat them! I know I do!

          Exercise on every major holiday. Who says you can’t work out on Thanksgiving? It’s your life, your health, and your body. Don’t’ watch football—play football or take a family walk. Great memories can be forged doing active things.

          Remember what your current fitness goals and values are. Holding yourself to a standard will liberate you from having to overindulge to feel festive.

          Also, remember that the holidays are about family, friends, faith, memories, service, charity, and so much more—NOT food!

          Devote thought and conversation to the New Year and what your goals are NOW. Determine where you improved and what kept you from improving in the past year/s. Goal-setting now will make temptation easier to overcome, and when the New Year comes, you will be able to hit the ground running—instead of limping!

Have a Happy Holiday Season!

-Andrew Kurek

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