Reversing diabetes

A great article on CNN.com, which is one of my favorite on-line news sites these days.

I have some personal experience with this because my mother has had Type II diabetes her entire life, and my father (The Fergus) has just recently been diagnosed.  Whereas my mother's situation has been long term and chronic, my father has been able to make a significant change in his health. 

"The side effects of the medication are really unpleasant," he tells me.  I actually see better results if I watch what I eat and exercise. This comes from a man who did not exercise during his adult life, until the last 5 years.  Since then he has began began exercising, made moderate dietary changes, and has participated in running races ranging from 5K to marathon.

Articles like the one linked above, and my dad's experience are really encouraging.  But it makes me wonder.  What is the message that is being communicated to people who are diagnosed with this disease?  Do physicians make the effort to really convey the importance of lifestyle change?  Or is it easier (and more profitable) to prescribe the medication?  And are clients being referred to resources that can help them make the changes, such as a wellness center or personal trainer. 

Exercise gives you more than health and fitness

This afternoon it was snowing like crazy here in DC. So I got some warm running clothes on, put the leash on Kokolulu (my dog,) and headed out into the snow for a run.

At first there were cars everywhere. It was a total rush hour, commuter traffic jam, cluster out there. People were angry, honking. Even the snow plows were stuck in the traffic jam. But soon I was down a trail running in the woods, away from it all.

Immediately I felt my head clear and my stress dissipate. With the fresh snow and muted twilight, the trees were a beautiful black-and-white photograph. When you exercise outside, you get to see things that people who spend all their time indoors miss out. Sunsets (and rises,) wildlife, fresh air, pretty vistas, and remote locations. My mind can wander and my body feels alive.

Exercise gives you so much more than health and fitness. You see things, feel things, experience life in ways that you would otherwise completely miss.

I am in a job search right now for a Wellness Coordinator or Corporate Fitness position. The reason why I strongly believe this can happen is that EVERY time I meet someone here and tell them that I am a fitness coach, they say "I could sure use your help." People want this benefit. They need this benefit.

Helping people improve their health is not complicated: they need information, motivation, and inspiration. But the benefits go FAR beyond the individual and the physical. When the transformation occurs, a person comes alive. They feel a new energy and vitality that quickly becomes infectious to others.

An organization certainly wants healthy people: it helps from the insurance and benefits side.  But if we think more broadly, an organization that embraces wellness/fitness is one that ENERGIZES employees.  Corporate culture becomes a strategic advantage when individuals feel valued, and they are encouraged to be physically, mentally, spiritually their very best. 

This company realizes a strategic benefit far beyond health and fitness.

Boot Camp Mayhem; Instructor Personalities

I had a good friend from church recently approach me about teaching a boot camp.  She gets together with about 20 friends 2 x per week to do a boot camp workout.  She described her disappointment when the boot camp instructor called one of the women a "F-up" for showing up late.  It seemed this was part of a small but persistent pattern of disrespectful and negative leadership style.

Perhaps it is due to the biggest looser, Boot Camp DVD's, or a distorted perception on behalf of consumers of what should happen at a boot camp. Perhaps some instructors were subjected to abusive or negative leadership themselves, or they get off on a power trip.

There is no excuse for calling someone a F-up.  There is no excuse for being mean spirited or belittling someone no matter what their performance or effort.

I suspect I have been misconstrued in the past and her someones feelings.  But I am certain of one thing: I respect and dignify every client I work with.  I want to be positive, supportive, and appropriately challenging.  If your boot camp instructor makes you feel bad, fire him or her.

RIP Jack Lalanne

Jack Lalanne showed that fitness and wellness can help you defy the effects of aging.  Here is a list of his accomplishments.  My personal favorite was his 70th birthday, when he swam 1.5 miles while towing 70 boats behind him...while handcuffed! 

Cool video with accompanying soundtrack

I came across this cool animated video of a runner.  The only problem is that the narration is not in English.  Does anyone know what the narrator is saying?  It is very soothing.  If you want to add some more peppy music, mute the original video and add some Dandy Warhols to the mix. 

Cadence in Running and Fitness Walking

"CADENCE" pt. 1

 

Cadence refers to how fast your feet are moving, otherwise referred to as "turnover" or "rpms." The main idea here is that you should increase the speed of your feet.  For example, if you are on a stationary bike there is usually a readout for RPM.  On the bike continually work on increasing this number.  If you are initially at 50, aim to increase to 65-70.  If you are at 65, try to hold 80-85.  If it is too difficult to sustain the higher cadence continuously then use "intervals;" short chunks of high cadence interspersed in steady cadence. 

 

Keep in mind this is increasing the speed of your feet, not the "level" of resistance. You can get better benefit and increase your fitness by keeping the resistance at a relatively easy level.  Just move your feet faster.

 

The same holds true for fitness walking.  If you are walking to get into better shape, increase your cadence.  Moving your feet more quickly will get you breathing harder and moving faster.  This is not to say take longer steps. On the contrary, it usually means that you should take shorter steps.  In the case of walking, it is important to use your arms to set the rhythm for your feet.  You must bend at the elbows and keep your wrists close to your ribs.  Now get those arms pumping in short quick strokes.  No wild swinging.  Short quick strokes. 

 

An easy way to gauge your walking cadence is to count left-foot strikes for 15 seconds and multiply by 4.  That is your rpm cadence .

 

Fast feet, the arms are moving...you will notice with the increased walking cadence that it is easy to hold quite a bit of momentum.  That is good.  Now the trick is to keep holding that momentum.  You will be breathing a little hard but not gasping for breath. If you are gasping, then take shorter steps.  But keep the cadence up. 

 

This kind of training--high cadence paired with low resistance/short strides--challenges the body to make a special kind of adaptation: "neuromuscular."  Namely, your brain develops the ability to signal your body to move quickly.  Once you get good at taking short steps with high cadence, then soon you will be taking medium length and longer strides while at the same time holding that higher cadence. Same with the bike...high gear + high cadence = speed.  

 

I figured this out while training several women in a Power Walk class.  After 4-5 weeks of power walking , I realized I was improving my own fitness.  Keep in mind I was in prime Ironman form (10:11 at Vineman).  But during those Power Walk sessions we always kept high cadence, which really added strength to my legs and stamina to my lungs.  

 

Okay, I can't resist making an Ironman triathlon comment.  If you are training for an ironman, or for most people a marathon for that matter, you are well advised to spend some time doing power walk training.  Not only is it a gentle break from running, but in all likelihood you will spend a significant amount of time walking during your race. 

 

Fitness clients get out there and try it!  Increasing cadence will feel awkward at first, but stick with it.  Remember, "short quick steps."  On a treadmill or outdoors, count left-foot steps for :15 and multiply x 4.  On the stationary bike, watch RPM. 

Ron Crozier's Birthday Run

Okay so this isn't exactly a timely post but it is a good one.  This summer I was training for the Vermont 100 miler so I was looking for some company on a long training run.  My good friend Ron had a birthday in a few days so I suggested...let's celebrate your birthday by doing a run...a really long run.

This also happened to be in the middle of the summer in TN so it was oppressively hot most days.  Besides, both Ron and I are married and you can't exactly go do a seven hour run without resulting in a unhappy wife.  So we devised the idea to do the run in the middle of the night.

We pulled up to Cheatham Wildlife Management Area at the very back of the park.  This is what we saw....

The gate to the natural area was on a large gauge gravel road which we departed down after midnight. 

This day was Ron's 35th birthday so our goal was to run 35 miles.  It was still quite hot but not as hot during the day time and sun light.  We took plenty of water and kept up with the nutrition/electrolyte intake...

Photo: Ron is either flashing a gang sign, or saying "I'm this many."

This was a great chance for me to test run my Columbia Mobex pack.  I later used this pack for a double crossing of the Grand Canyon, and some other challenging training runs.

We didn't have any formidable wildlife run ins, and we didn't find any puppies in the woods.  Just this frog.

We were both glad to be back to the car after 7 hours and 35  miles.  This was Ron's most epic run ever.  It is good that Ron got this run in because he has a new project that is taking up most of his time these days.