What of Overweight Personal Trainers

So last night I was fortunate enough to score tickets to a local professional Ice Hockey team, and while I found it really difficult (as if I was murdering a family member) cheering for the home team and not the Philadelphia Flyers (who were not even playing), I did just that. However, in between periods and even during periods when play was slow (read as: no one was getting slammed against a hard wood board!) my wife and I began an conversation with a fella behind us. Primarily because this guy made it abundantly clear that this was his first hockey game, that he was taken here by someone he was training, and that his profession was a personal trainer. Obviously without halt my wife and I turned so quickly we probably caused permanent brain damage. An interesting thing about our turning so quickly. It's a psychological effect known as "Attentional attunement." You can do a few neat little studies to test this effect. For example, if you are a teacher or a tutor, then do this right before a big exam. Ask them to remember a list of words, say 50 or so. 30 of those words should be randomly selected words, the others should be related to tests, test anxiety, etc (e.g., words like: test, mark, grade, question, etc). Chances are if you students play along with this little experiment (and care about their grades) they will be much better at remembering these test-related words. The same is true with just about anything. Alcoholic 'hear' and remember more words that deal with, well ethanol injected liquids. Similar effects can be shown in people addicted to drugs and sex. It even occurs in relation to race perceptions, but that's for another post. When it comes to fitness (addicts) we are not immune. Put a group of people who care about losing weight into a lab and ask them to remember a set of words that include words such as fat, skinny, weight, calories, etc. Guess what words they remember best?  

So in the few minutes it took for my wife and I to recover from our minor head turning concussion, our eyes began to re-focus and what we saw was 1) amazing, but 2) not uncommon. There, sitting behind us was one of the largest men (& I dont mean muscular) I've ever laid my eyes on. He must have easily been 350, maybe more, pounds.  This couldn't be the guy pitching himself as the Personal Trainer, could it? Yes, it was. This is now the third time I've met a personal trainer that, well, is fat! This seems completely inane to me and makes me wonder how this guy could even get a client, let alone be allowed to graduates PT school. I mean, it's tantamount to being a Cracker Barrel regular who's profession is nutritionist - makes not fucking sense. I wonder about these people: why did they get into this profession? Where they once thin? Are they trying to battle their own issues with being overweight? Do they think they represent the epitome of fitness and thus people will be lining up around the corner to sign up for a PT session with them? Well I could never, in good conscious do such. I pay for my wife's PT sessions and we agree that we would not pay over $100/month to someone who did not "look the part" - you could be educated until you are blue in the face, but damn it, if you cannot practice what you preach then how I can I pay you? I couldn't. Not sure how anyone else feels... Could you pa your hard earned $$ to an overweight PT? Why? How? 

Opposites don't attract and make you fat!

I really believe this one when it comes to fitness, friends, and well in my case, marriage!

In my experience there are two types of women (people for that matter) in the world: 1) Those who appreciate the benefits of exercise and thus engage in it and 2) those that recognize the benefits of exercise, but who do not engage in it. Now, within the former group there are subtypes of people - those who really like to exercise; who like it when their body is in motion; who love to play sports and engage in rigorous exercise routines, and who probably would so even if the benefits were not there. Then there are the other subtypes, those that do it because "you are supposed to", because "its good for you", etc, and loathe every stinking minute of it. I find myself, quite happily in the former subtype. Of the latter main type - those that do not engage in fitness - well it is hard work and tiresome and takes time and effort and planning and distracts from your personal life so I understand, but this post isn't about those lazy bastards. 

I am fortunate to also be in the category of having married a woman who is like me. We both exercise, a lot, and we both enjoy it. OK, not every workout is like a day in Mr Rogers neighborhood, but generally we like the feeling of working out and being fit. I truly believe that when it comes to selection of a long term romantic partner fitness is a huge factor. I was married once before. My ex-wife was, well, one my say, a lazy turd. Not only did she loathe exercise of just about any sort, but she ultimately developed an allergy to her own sweat! I am serious! So even a brisk walk was out of the question. This, as you might imagine, created quite a rift between us. I woke up every morning and hit the gym (I prefer morning workouts when Testosterone is high). By the time I got home from my workout she had left for work. So we spent a lot of time apart, which at the time was find by me. That was not the major issue that my fitness program created. Rather it was more social. For example, on a night out I would make plans to hit the gym with a workout partner the next morning. Now this is particularly easy for me because I don't experience the phenomenon related to ingesting large quantities of alcohol generally known as a "hang over." Never have had one, hope I never do because they appear to be a really big pain in the ass. So Saturday morning I'd be up, as normal, bright and early off to pump some iron. Grunt groan and schlep those weights!  I would often receive comments from her about my fitness regime. I was "too serious about working out" (coming from someone who never did a shred of exercise nor played a sport). I was "wasting money on a gym membership." I was "getting to musclely." Then when some of our friends started noticing me lose weight and get fit and commenting on it, well things got even worse. Sublt things that it took me a while to come to - like baking batches of cookies (I am about the biggest sucker for a batch of cookies that you will find and cannot stop at 1 cookie, rather I eat about 2 dozen in a sitting, seriously!) Then on several occasions a girlfriend would comment, "steve, your arms are getting really big." It was not a flirt, but you know you get if someone makes that kind of comment about your partner. First time, it is ok and you interpret it as it was probably meant - nice that they notice, and that they are right. Then, as it happens more and more often there is a tendency to develop a paranoia about it. Hm, I wonder if s/he wants to get it on with my wo/man? Bitch! Dick! Asshole! etc. Obviously, we were completely different. I loved to workout and would always take the opportunity to do so - whether it be to jet off to a touch football game on saturday or to just hit the gym regularly. Well that situation did not work out. 

My new wife, on the other hand, is the best thing that has ever happened to my fitness and I! She, Austen, loves to workout! She is an addict like myself and we compliment each others addiction perfectly right down to the low cal high protein post-workout snacks!  we are truly birds of a feather and we workout together :-)

Austen and I sometimes even workout together. For example, we are doing another (5K) run in two weeks. We will sometimes spot each other or show each other new exercises that we (think we) created. Then we push each other - come on baby, one more rep, you can do it, dont quit on me now!!! In the gym we have very similar attitudes about fitness and about the consequences of not maintaining our fitness. I love that about her. However, this similarity is just the icing on the cake. The cake is loaded with characteristics that are wonderful.  I have notice for a long time, that inside and outside the gym she is supportive of me, and I of her. In just about any situation we can turn to our best friend and ask advice, emote, or simply vent! It is not judged, it is not devalued, it is just information exchange that is taken for what it's worth. If advice is asked, because we are similar, the advice tends to be that you might expect of someone who has known you for your entire life (past and present, if there is a past life... LOL!) But all this support, love and compatibility became abundantly clear to me while we were working out. She put a premium on finding time to workout. One weekend in a New Jersey Winter we were snowed in. Worried about whether we'd get to dirty our workout clothes we started up the 4X4 truck and took a try at getting to the gym. I think the first day we didn't make it because the roads were a mess, but rest assured we made a little home circuit to compensate. The second day we were snowed in, we were able to get out and get to the gym, which to our surprise was open. Yeah they were open - it's like a drug dealer going on vacation - it doesn't happen! They had to be open to feed our, and others addictions. And feed they did. We had a great workout, if I recall correctly, and went home and snuggled in the snowed in house, which was not "really" snowed in. 

Anyhow, in all this there is a message - opposites don't attract and they (might) make you fat. I think many of us have been subject to starting the new dating relationship and forgoing a number of things - working out is almost always one of them. Like when the economy goes bust (as if that would ever happen) extras go, and the gym for many people is extra! Finding someone who shares your enthusiasm and dedication to fitness and exercise is paramount for a healthy (figuratively and literally) relationship. Now go find yourself a gym rat girl! ;-)

Mixed martial arts - it's good for ya!

Tonight, finally, after being in the Atlanta metro region for about 5 weeks, I was able to get myself out to a local dojo to take part in a mixed martial arts class. Actually it was a Muay Thai (Thai Kickboxing) class. I had taken about 4 Muay Thai classes when I lived in England and while the workout and techniques virtually killed me, the benefits to my fitness were profound. I noticed when I was did these couple of sessions prior to my Las Vegas wedding that I was tight! I lost about 8-10 lbs of body fat (was hanging around 12% body fat, which for me is outstanding!).  Then I moved back and I stopped. I still train very very hard and work hard on functional muscle strength and circuits. Tonight reawakened me to the benefits associated with martial arts training. Let me explain:

To start we warmed up. This consisted of 3 sets of 5 exercises, each performed for 1 complete minute and moving to the next exercise without rest. After completion of each of the 5 exercises then you got 1 minute rest. So this is what constituted the 1st 18 minutes of the session.

Set 1 (each exercise performed continuously for 1 minute): Pushups - Squats - Burpies - Frog Leaps - Side twist pushups

1 minute rest

Set 2: pushups (either clap pushups, or a variant where you lift your entire body, legs and feet too, off the ground - toe grab squats - leg lifts - frog puhups - hindu pushups

1 minute rest

Set 3: kick with right leg out straight to hand - repeat with left leg - right kick to side with hip twist to hand - repeat with left leg - alternating knees to elbows

Die. No, seriously, stretch.

After this "warm up" we did some drills. We started with alternating 1 minute continuous Thai kicks to pads. Then we did push, or jab kicks to the pads.

OK that took about 25-35 minutes.

Now we did the "cool down" which consisted of 100 Thai push-ups, which entails doing a push up and then clap your partners hand at the top of the movement. We followed this with 100 Thai situps. Here your partner sits on your quadriceps, when you are in the down position of the sit-up a third person smacks your belly with a kick pad. Ugh!!!!

Absolutely grueling, but worth it.

Low fat, low calorie sausage and peppers over high fiber pasta

Yes I said LOW FAT!

Pan fry 5 links of low fat italian seasoned sausage
While that is cooking, slice up 1 green, 1 red, and 1 yellow pepper. Place in a crockpot/slow cooker
Crush 3 cloves of garlic, toss them into the slow cooker as well.
Add about 1-1.5 cups of your favorite spaghetti sauce (I used Ragu tomato and basil)
and
Add 1.5 cups of water to the slow cooker
Chop about 1-2 handfuls of baby portabella mushrooms in quarters. Toss into the slow cooker
Add salt, pepper, dried chili peppers, garlic salt, dried oregano, dried italian seasoning and about 6 fresh basil leave (torn to peices) to the slow cooker mix.
Now that the sausage has had some time to cool off, cut it into about 2-4 oz size chunks. Using turkey sausage 4 oz serving should be about 200 calories (hence the low fat, low cal)
Toss those sausage chunks into the slow cooker
Cook on high for 2 hours.
At the 2 hour mark add 4 chopped Roma (plum) tomatoes to the slow cooker
Re-season to taste (I added a dash more salt, some pepper, some more dried hot chili peppers, and 4 more whole basil leaves.
Turn the slow cooker to low and allow to cook for about 4 more hours. The sausage should pretty much melt in your mouth.

Before serving boil some high fiber pasta to pour the sausage and peppers over.  Sprinkle with a dash of parmesan cheese.

Enjoy a low fat, low calorie, high protein and high fiber dinner. Yummy!