Taking it to the Next Step with My Trainer

By Jackie Adams
CNN

Hardly a day that goes by that you won't find Tracey Wygal working out at the gym. Tracey Wygal weighed 295 pounds before starting a "clean diet," keeping a food journal and exercising.

The 30-year-old middle-school teacher does cardio exercise, strength trains and follows what she calls a "clean diet."

That's quite a change for a woman who tipped the scales eight years ago at 295 pounds.

Wygal first started gaining weight in her early teens. A fast-food diet and little to no exercise helped her pack on the pounds, and her weight ballooned to over 200 pounds.

"It was my first year out of college, and that number, along with being diagnosed as morbidly obese, was very frightening," remembers Wygal. "I went to several doctors, trying to get them to prescribe a weight-loss pill."

But none of her doctors would give her the quick fix she was looking for. Instead, a physician handed her a 1,600-calorie-a-day diet and told her to start moving.

At first, Wygal was shocked and refused to begin a diet that she thought was too restrictive. Even though her weight was rapidly approaching 300 pounds, she believed she had a pretty good diet and an active lifestyle.

As her weight crept up, Wygal grew more frustrated, and eventually she decided it was time to gain control of her life.

She started by keeping track of her daily calorie intake in a food diary and soon realized that her eating was worse than she thought.

"I was amazed by how many calories I was eating," Wygal said. "The food diary showed me that I really needed to get my food intake under control and helped me maintain my diet realistically."

She also started exercising.

At first, Wygal says, she was too embarrassed to go to a gym, so she bought an elliptical machine and started working out 15 minutes a day in her apartment.

"It was all I could do at first. I didn't give up, though," she said. "Gradually, my endurance improved. After losing about 30 pounds, I decided to join a small gym."

Several months later, Wygal was ready to take the next step. She hired a trainer and began a short strength-training program.

That's when something clicked.

Instead of feeling intimidated, Wygal started to love her workouts and the physical changes taking shape with her body. Ready to take the next step, she joined a larger gym, began researching different workouts and got into weight training.

Over the next three years, she lost 120 pounds and dropped seven dress sizes. Wygal, who's 5 feet 10 inches tall, says the fear of gaining weight motivates her to stick to her diet and exercise regimen because she never wants to look like she did at 295 pounds.

Now comfortable with her weight, which she says fluctuates between 170 and 180 pounds, Wygal works out at least five to six days a week. She says the key to losing weight and keeping it off is being honest about what you eat, writing it down and staying consistent. She wants people to know they can do it, but there are no quick fixes or easy outs -- just hard work.

"It won't happen overnight," Wygal advises. "Know that it will take time but it is worth it in the end."

Dad loses 30 pounds, climbs Kilimanjaro with teen daughter

As a personal trainer, and a father, I found this success story very inspirational....

By Jackie Adams
CNN

From the outside, Bill McGahan looked like he lived a pretty good life.
He had a great marriage, four beautiful children and a great job in real estate. But the truth of the matter was, he weighed 225 pounds, and he felt horrible.

McGahan, who was in his mid-40s, was extremely overweight. He could barely fit into his clothes; he snored loudly and didn't have the energy to play with his then 12-year-old daughter and 8-year-old triplets.

Bad eating habits, alcohol and a sedentary lifestyle had caught up with McGahan, who said he began to realize he could no longer eat the way he used to in college.

"I was on the see-food diet: What you see is what you eat," said McGahan. "Tons of carbs, pasta, pizza, steak, fries ... all the good stuff."

McGahan knew he needed to change his eating and exercise habits, but he wasn't getting the results he wanted at the gym. There also was something more important than losing weight -- he wanted to be healthy enough to play baseball and spend quality time with his kids.

He hated working out, so instead of focusing on diet and fitness -- he decided to set another goal.

"Fathers who are in their mid-40s sometimes struggle to find things to do with their seventh-grade daughters," said McGahan. "They're just not interested in the same stuff."

McGahan and his daughter started searching the Internet for something they could do together. After scouring dozens of Web sites, they finally settled on an unusual plan -- to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

"To me that was a great thing because it gave my workouts and my running a purpose," said McGahan. My objective was to get to the top of the mountain and get to the top of that mountain with her ... and have a good experience doing it."

The goal supercharged him into action. He eliminated greasy, fat-laden food from his diet and began eating more healthy cereals, salads, lean meats and raw vegetables.

The 6-foot-1 father, with the help of his trainer, was able to build up his body strength and increase his endurance which allowed him to run 25-30 miles a week in order to prepare for Mount Kilimanjaro.

All of his hard work and training paid off. In 2006, McGahan and Sara reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, one of the highest peaks on Earth.

"We were 100 yards from the top and we knew we were going to make it," McGahan said. "I put my arm around Sara and said, 'You did it, Sara,' and she said, 'No, Dad. We did it together.' "

McGahan said that was one of the greatest moments of his life.

One of the best parts of the trip was getting to know his daughter, McGahan said. He was impressed with her and inspired by her determination.

So what does Sara, now 14, think about all of this?

"I love my dad," said Sara. "He's really funny and I was glad I took the climb with him."

The father-daughter duo have already set their next goal -- to climb seven summits around the world.

In June, he's climbing Mount Rainer with two high school classmates. One month later, he'll scale Mount Elbrus in Russia with his wife and daughter.

"I want to get to these next couple of mountains and I want to do it with her," said McGahan. "I'm not giving up."

"I love my family more than anything, and I want to make sure I'm around for a long time so we can climb many mountains together..."

Tax Day!

Did you pay your taxes today?

I know, I know... But, like it or not, our government wants our money so they can spend it in all of the ways that you and I appreciate the most...

Having said that, what I like about Tax Day (what's to like you ask?) is it reminds me that summer will be here soon. And, that if I haven't been consistent, and focused, about my workouts and my diet, now is the time to start.

So just a little reminder that it's going to get "hot..." so get Motivated, and get Fit - NOW!

Start your day with Breakfast

I remember sitting at the breakfast table with my mother and grandmother when I was a little boy. They would tell me I couldn't leave the table until I had finished my breakfast - even if it meant I was going to be late for school. I had to eat everything on my plate.

Well, guess what?

New research has found that adolescents, who eat breakfast consistently, have a lower Body Mass Index (B.M.I), eat fewer fat calories, and exercise more than teenagers who skipped breakfast or who only ate breakfast intermittently.

Dr. Mark A. Pereira, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota, and a co-author of the study believes that “eating a healthy breakfast promotes healthy eating throughout the day, and might help to prevent the eating of fast food and junk food.”

The authors also believe that eating first thing in the morning may help stabilize blood sugar levels that can help to control cravings, regulate appetite and make it less likely to overeat.

Furthermore, adults who ate breakfast everyday, full of whole-grain and fiber-rich foods, were less likely to have blood-sugar problems, diabetes, high cholesterol, and were also less likely to be obese.

I encourage everyone (especially my clients) to eat breakfast consistently. I truly believe it is the most important meal of the day - My Mama told me so....

Stressed?

As a fitness professional, I deal with work related stress all of the time. My days are usually filled with both professional and personal stress that may manifest itself in many ways
(mentally, emotionally and physically), and so I work very hard and practice ways to reduce that stress; and recommend that my clients do the same.

There are many tell-tale signs that you might be suffering from the effects of stress, including:

• Muscle Tension

• Back Pain

• Gastrointestinal Discomfort

• Headaches

• Fatigue

• Feelings of Irritation and/or Frustration

But, there are also many ways you can reduce the effects of that stress:

• Exercise Regularly
  

• Eat a Healthy and Nutritious Diet

• Get Enough Rest

• Engage in Leisure Time Activities

• Practice Meditation and Relaxation Techniques

If not addressed, stress can have long-term effects on your overall health and well-being. And, may lead to chronic and debilitating conditions such as cardiovascular disease, stomach ulcers and chronic pain.

It's never to late to start to try to reduce and combat stress, and its effect on our daily lives, the people we work with, and the one's we love.

The following article talks about work-related stress and its effect on employee productivity.

Under New Management

The Tension Builds (It’s Almost Monday)

By KELLEY HOLLAND

Published: March 23, 2008
The New York Times

THE feeling is familiar: you are savoring the last of a leisurely Sunday lunch or a long walk in the park when you abruptly realize that your weekend will be over in a matter of hours. In an instant, you are deep in what John Updike called the “chronic sadness of late Sunday afternoon.” As you envision the to-do pile on your desk, the meetings on your calendar, and that trip to Topeka on Tuesday, your mood shifts again, your muscles tense and your head begins to ache.

You have a case of workplace-related stress. You also have plenty of company.

Poll results released last October by the American Psychological Association found that one-third of Americans are living with extreme stress, and that the most commonly cited source of stress — mentioned by 74 percent of respondents — was work. That was up from 59 percent the previous year.

Some people would not be alarmed by this. When David W. Ballard, the association’s assistant executive director for corporate relations and business strategy, talks to executives, “the concept that stress can be a bad thing is sometimes foreign to them,” he said. “They say stress is a good thing. It motivates them.”

But excessive stress is different, and extremely expensive for employers. Highly stressed employees are absent more often and are much more likely to leave their jobs. When at work, they tend to be significantly less productive — a phenomenon known as presenteeism, which can be even more expensive than frequent absences, Dr. Ballard said.

More than half the respondents to the survey said they had left a job or considered doing so because of stress, and 55 percent said that stress made them less productive at work.

With costs like that, you’d think that companies would devote considerable resources to fighting the problem. But a survey published last year by Watson Wyatt suggests that they aren’t. For example, some 48 percent of the employers in the survey said stress created by long hours and limited resources was affecting business performance, but only 5 percent said they were taking strong action to address those areas.

“Everybody knows it’s an issue, but no one wants to look at it and address it,” said Shelly Wolff, Watson Wyatt’s North American leader for health and productivity. Employers view excessive workplace stress as an enormously costly problem that no one quite knows how to fix, she said. “There’s a fear of opening up something you can’t control,” she said. “They feel it’s going to open Pandora’s box.”

One problem is that stress can be subjective. Some people may feel permanently tethered to the office by their cellphones and laptops, but for others those devices are liberating. One person’s dreaded business trip is another’s respite from pressures at home.

That means there is no one-size-fits-all way for employers to reduce office stress. But putting in place a variety of initiatives is still simpler and less expensive than dealing with extreme stress once it arrives.

"Working More, Sleeping Less" Part 2

This is a Follow-up post to "Working More, Sleeping Less"

Sociologists at the University of Maryland are reporting, that their research shows, that most Americans are in fact getting the recommended average of 8 hours of sleep a night.

The study, Not So Deprived: Sleep in America, 1965-2005, does state that Americans who get fewer than the recommended number of hours have heavy work schedules to blame. But, it also concludes that most Americans, in spite of their work schedules, still average the recommended number of 8 hours of sleep a night.

The Simple Push-Up

Jack Lalanne is considered by many in the fitness industry to be the "Godfather" of the fitness movement. Jack Lalanne opened the first modern health spa in the U.S. in 1936. And in the early 1950's, with his Jack Lalanne TV show, he was able to reach millions of American households extolling the virtues of exercise. Jack Lalanne was also the first to encourage men, as well as women, the disabled and the elderly, to work out with weights. And still today, continues at the age of 93, to promote exercise and the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

Long-live Jack Lalanne!

An Enduring Measure of Fitness...

By TARA PARKER-POPE

Published: March 11, 2008
The New York Times

As a symbol of health and wellness, nothing surpasses the simple push-up.
Practically everyone remembers the actor Jack Palance performing age-defying push-ups during his Oscar acceptance speech. More recently, Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon professor whose last lecture became an Internet sensation, did push-ups to prove his fitness despite having pancreatic cancer.

“It takes strength to do them, and it takes endurance to do a lot of them,” said Jack LaLanne, 93, the fitness pioneer who astounded television viewers in the 1950s with his fingertip push-ups. “It’s a good indication of what kind of physical condition you’re in.”

The push-up is the ultimate barometer of fitness. It tests the whole body, engaging muscle groups in the arms, chest, abdomen, hips and legs. It requires the body to be taut like a plank with toes and palms on the floor. The act of lifting and lowering one’s entire weight is taxing even for the very fit.

“You are just using your own body and your body’s weight,” said Steven G. Estes, a physical education professor and dean of the college of professional studies at Missouri Western State University. “If you’re going to demonstrate any kind of physical strength and power, that’s the easiest, simplest, fastest way to do it.”

But many people simply can’t do push-ups. Health and fitness experts, including the American College of Sports Medicine, have urged more focus on upper-body fitness. The aerobics movement has emphasized cardiovascular fitness but has also shifted attention from strength training exercises.

Moreover, as the nation gains weight, arms are buckling under the extra load of our own bodies. And as budgets shrink, public schools often do not offer physical education classes — and the calisthenics that were once a childhood staple.

In a 2001 study, researchers at East Carolina University administered push-up tests to about 70 students ages 10 to 13. Almost half the boys and three-quarters of the girls didn’t pass.

Push-ups are important for older people, too. The ability to do them more than once and with proper form is an important indicator of the capacity to withstand the rigors of aging.

Researchers who study the biomechanics of aging, for instance, note that push-ups can provide the strength and muscle memory to reach out and break a fall. When people fall forward, they typically reach out to catch themselves, ending in a move that mimics the push-up. The hands hit the ground, the wrists and arms absorb much of the impact, and the elbows bend slightly to reduce the force.

In studies of falling, researchers have shown that the wrist alone is subjected to an impact force equal to about one body weight, says James Ashton-Miller, director of the biomechanics research laboratory at the University of Michigan.

“What so many people really need to do is develop enough strength so they can break a fall safely without hitting their head on the ground,” Dr. Ashton-Miller said. “If you can’t do a single push-up, it’s going to be difficult to resist that kind of loading on your wrists in a fall.”

And people who can’t do a push-up may not be able to help themselves up if they do fall.

“To get up, you’ve got to have upper-body strength,” said Peter M. McGinnis, professor of kinesiology at State University of New York College at Cortland who consults on pole-vaulting biomechanics for U.S.A. Track and Field, the national governing body for track.

Natural aging causes nerves to die off and muscles to weaken. People lose as much as 30 percent of their strength between 20 and 70. But regular exercise enlarges muscle fibers and can stave off the decline by increasing the strength of the muscle you have left.

Women are at a particular disadvantage because they start off with about 20 percent less muscle than men. Many women bend their knees to lower the amount of weight they must support. And while anybody can do a push-up, the exercise has typically been part of the male fitness culture. “It’s sort of a gender-specific symbol of vitality,” said R. Scott Kretchmar, a professor of exercise and sports science at Penn State. “I don’t see women saying: ‘I’m in good health. Watch me drop down and do some push-ups.’ ”

Based on national averages, a 40-year-old woman should be able to do 16 push-ups and a man the same age should be able to do 27. By the age of 60, those numbers drop to 17 for men and 6 for women. Those numbers are just slightly less than what is required of Army soldiers who are subjected to regular push-up tests.

If the floor-based push-up is too difficult, start by leaning against a countertop at a 45-degree angle and pressing up and down. Eventually move to stairs and then the floor.

Mr. LaLanne, who once set a world record by doing 1,000 push-ups in 23 minutes, still does push-ups as part of his daily workout. Now he balances his feet and each hand on three chairs.

“That way I can go way down, even lower than if I was on the floor,” he said. “That’s really tough.”

Does Caffeine Cause Dehydration?

A review of the research by scientists at the University of Connecticut, and others, does not confirm that long-held belief.

They found, that caffeine consumed in moderate amounts had only a mild diuretic effect on the body. And that there was no significant difference in the amount of urine, and the levels of electrolytes lost by the body, after ingesting caffeinated beverages.

So, does that mean that we can drink as much caffeine as we want?

Absolutely Not!

Caffeine is absorbed through the lining of the stomach, which increases your stomach acid production and may put you at greater risk for developing a stomach ulcer. Caffeine acts as a stimulant for the central nervous system, which can make you hyperactive and restless, alter your heart rate, and may interrupt your sleeping patterns leading to an increase in insomnia. And too much caffeine may increase a pregnant woman’s risk of miscarriage.

Most of us don’t know how much caffeine we consume on a daily basis. Did you know that many over-the-counter medications contain caffeine? Caffeine can also be found in chocolate. And, ever wonder why those very popular “energy” drinks make you feel so good? You guessed it! They are loaded with caffeine and lots and lots of sugar.

So, enjoy a cup or two of coffee with your breakfast in the morning. But, think twice before having another one, or an energy drink before your workout, and try not to eat too much chocolate right before bedtime-try a warm glass of mik instead.

Working More, Sleeping Less

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) are reporting, that new data shows many adults living in the U.S. are sleeping less today than they did two decades ago. The average number of hours most adults spend sleeping is about six, according to the CDC and the NSF. They report that many Americans are sleeping less, in order to accomplish more, during their waking hours. And that finding the balance in-between work, family and leisure time activities seems to escape many people.

The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults get seven to nine hours of sleep a night, and that children need even more.

So why are we depriving ourselves of sleep?

The main reason: work

According to the new data, most of us are working longer hours, and many of us are bringing our unfinished work home. We spend on average-in addition to our normal work schedule-four and a half hours per week, working from home.

So, what does that make us?

Tired…

What can we do about it?

Well, we can try and get more sleep. But, if you find that sleeping more is almost impossible,
here are some techniques you can use to insure a good nights sleep:

• Go to sleep at around the same time every night.
• Make sure your bedroom is dark, well ventilated, and at a comfortable temperature.
• Avoid stimulants (TV, caffeine, nicotine) right before bedtime.
• Use a noise machine to drown-out outside noises, like traffic.
• Use visualization and/or meditation to help you fall asleep.
• And most importantly… EXERCISE!
  

Research has shown, that regular, low-intensity exercise helps people who are suffering from fatigue (not associated with a serious medical condition) boost their energy levels.

So, for those of us who are overworked and aren’t getting enough sleep… GET MOVING!

Visit: The Sleep Foundation to learn how you can improve the quality of your sleep.

Does Weight Lifting Make a Better Athlete? Maybe...

By GINA KOLATA

Published: February 28, 2008
The New York Times

MIKE PERRY, a 31-year-old rower, trained by himself in Ann Arbor, Mich., for six years while his wife attended medical school. Now he is a member of the United States rowing team and hopes to be selected in a couple of months to compete in the Summer Olympic Games.

These days, he works with a coach and a team, and for the first time he is also going to a gym twice a week and lifting free weights for his upper and lower body, and doing a lot of core exercises, he said. His coach insists upon it. Mr. Perry, though, said he cannot tell whether weight lifting is helping his performance.

His 29-year-old teammate, Mark Flickinger, thinks weight lifting has helped him. He said it is difficult to distinguish between the effects of training by rowing on the water and weight lifting at the gym.

But, he added, after three years of working with weights — including lifting to failure, the point at which he cannot do another repetition — he has become a better athlete. The training “improved my P.B.’s by a substantial margin,” he said, referring to personal bests, his best performances.

As it turns out, the question of whether weight training matters to serious endurance athletes is a matter of debate.

Researchers who study weight lifting, or resistance training as it often is called, are adamant. It definitely helps, they say. But other experts in the field are not so sure.

Gary R. Hunter, a professor of exercise physiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is a believer. He cites, for example, a recent study involving middle-distance runners. Three months of resistance training, he said, improved their leg strength and running efficiency, a measure of how much effort it took to run.

And, he said, it is not just runners who become more efficient.

“There is no doubt that an appropriate weight-training program would improve efficiency in pretty much any athlete,” Dr. Hunter said.

William J. Kraemer, a kinesiology professor at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, said lifting weights also can increase endurance and reduce the risk of injury, especially to connective tissue.

And don’t worry about becoming too muscular, Dr. Kraemer said.

“The fear of getting really big is not plausible for most people,” he said. Competitive distance runners and cyclists, who are naturally slender and light, “don’t have the muscle fiber number to get really big,” Dr. Kraemer said. “I can train them until the cows come home and they are not going to have big muscles.”

But other researchers, like Patrick O’Connor, an exercise scientist at the University of Georgia, are not convinced.

Dr. O’Connor points out that the weight-lifting studies, as is typical in exercise science, are small. And each seems to examine a different regimen, to measure outcome differently and to study different subjects — trained athletes, sedentary people, recreational athletes. It becomes almost impossible to draw conclusions, he said.

That may be one reason why different athletes end up doing different weight-lifting exercises. Chris Martin, a 31-year-old chemical engineer who has an elite racing license from USA Triathlon, the governing body for the sport, works on his entire body. But for his legs, he does exercises like leg extensions using one leg at a time, to correct any muscle imbalances or weaknesses. Mr. Martin, who lives in Lawrenceville, N.J., said he got the idea from coaches and from his own reading.

“Cycling and running are one-leg-at-a-time activities,” he explained. And one-legged exercises “recruit more muscles that help the hips.”

Steve Spence, who won a bronze medal in the marathon at the 1991 track and field world championships in Tokyo, is also a proponent of one-legged exercises. Now 45 years old and the head cross-country coach at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, Mr. Spence enters local 5-kilometer races and typically finishes in about 15 minutes.

“I feel that every major breakthrough with my running has come after a period of strength training,” he said. He attributes this to the emphasis he puts on leg exercises, but he also believes that working his upper body and abdomen helped.

Other athletes concentrate on exercises that require them to jump or leap to develop explosive power.

And many top athletes spend lots of time in gyms lifting weights, and many trainers and coaches swear by it.

For example, the distance runners who are part of Team Running USA do resistance training for 30 to 60 minutes six days a week, said Terrence Mahon, a coach for the team. This group includes marathon stars Deena Kastor and Ryan Hall, the winner of the Olympic marathon trials last November.

“We do it all,” Mr. Mahon said. “We do upper body, core and lower body. The stronger the athlete is in a total body perspective, the more efficient they become as a runner.”

The Team USA runners do five to six exercises per session, he said. For example, upper body exercises may include pull-ups, the overhead press, bench press, rowing and exercises for the biceps and triceps. Lower body exercises include step-ups, squats, single leg squats, snatches and the leg press.

The main problem with weight lifting is that many people do it all wrong, said Kent Adams, the director of the exercise physiology laboratory at California State University at Monterey Bay. They don’t have a program or a goal. Technique may be sloppy. Or, Dr. Adams said, they use weights that are too light. Muscles need to be stressed if they are to respond, he said.

Dr. Kraemer is on the same page. One study, he said, found that women tend to lift half or less of what they could lift. And this happened even when women were working with personal trainers, he said.

“There is so much misinformation,” Dr. Kraemer said. “It’s a quagmire out there.” He recommends trainers certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association, which also supplies educational information. Dr. Kraemer is a past president of the organization.

The right trainer, these researchers say, can be helpful when people are learning to lift weights. Not only can trainers teach proper technique, but they also can help people develop programs that meet their goals.

“I hate to say that a trainer is required for everybody,” Dr. Adams said. “But I think it is an excellent way to learn.”

That said, though, the evidence that weight lifting can improve performance is equivocal enough to leave plenty of room for the skeptics. And not every successful athlete spends serious time lifting weights.

DR. O’CONNOR, for example, lifts weights for health, for enjoyment and for vanity’s sake (he does not want an emaciated upper body, he said), but stops lifting when he is training to run a marathon. Those muscles, he said, “are just dead weight you have to carry around.” He adds that a sport like rowing, swimming or running requires specific muscles and nerve-firing patterns that may best be developed by actually doing the sport.

“If your goal is to improve running performance, then weight training should probably mimic the running pattern,” he said. “If you do leg extensions, you can get stronger, but people don’t run like that.”

That’s pretty much what Cathy O’Brien, a 40-year-old distance runner, thinks. She started racing when she was 12 and ran the marathon in the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games.

“As far as resistance training, I have always been a minimalist,” she said. She does push-ups, pull-ups and dips for her upper body, and abdominal exercises, but does not work her legs.

“I think that running is the best thing for running results, ” Ms. O’Brien said.

Kevin Hanson, a coach for the Hansons-Brooks team of distance runners, is of like mind.

“We do some weight training,” he said. But other than some abdominal exercises, “everything we do is for the upper body.”

He has a ready answer for runners who ask about doing exercises for their legs.

“You let me know if you think we are not working your legs enough,” Mr. Hanson said. “There’s a lot more we can do to beat you up. But you don’t have to lift weights.”