Train For Life

School is back in session which means we had to buy new school clothes for our 5 & 8 year old. 

 Something jumped out at me when my wife was describing how she had a difficult time finding clothes that fit them, mainly pants.  The “normal” sizing charts have changed.  Many, if not most, of the pants my kids were trying on were fine length wise, but were all too big in the waist.  The clothing manufacturers have actually started to change the size of clothes based on what is “common” in today’s world, or this country at least, not what is “normal”.  A majority of  the clothes my kids tried on were all too big in the waist area.  This also caused me to remember that when I go buy new jeans I also have the same problem.  Two changes that seems to be making it’s way into clothing specs for adults is that people’s stomachs/waistlines are bigger and their asses are flatter.  No one has an ass anymore.  People are sitting around twice as much, not exercising as much and as a result their butt muscles have atrophied and the stomachs have grown.  Every time I try on jeans they are big in the waistline and tight in the ass.  Sounds silly, but it’s true.  I thought it was maybe just that particular brand, but it’s not.  As a result I’ve started wearing ass-less chaps.  I digress.  The majority of clothing manufacturers are changing the sizing charts to accommodate larger people.  I guess I can’t blame them, business is business.

 Next time you drop your children off at school, take a look around.  Children are getting larger and larger, and beginning at a much younger age as well.  I’m 40, if you’re my age, think about your friends when you were in elementary school.  I had class sizes of 25-30 kids and I can remember maybe 3 or 4 kids that were overweight and the rest were usually rail thin.  All we did was run around all day.  During summer, I was out of the house by 8am, on my bike and wouldn’t stop until my mother threatened us to get us in for dinner.  After dinner, we were back outside until it was dark.  Things are different today as we all know. 

I work with elementary school kids during the summer and I hear the same story from parents when they are signing their kids up for my athlete’s camp.  “My son plays football, he’s a big kid for his age, he plays football, he’s about your size and he’s only 13.”  They say this like their child is advanced or well ahead of other kids when in actuality they end up just being very overweight children who have a very hard time controlling their own bodies.  It’s a shame.  This country seems to have a fascination with size, bigger is better.  Bigger houses, bigger cars, bigger cups of coffee, super sized servings. We’ve lost all concept of what is actually “normal” in terms of  size or in terms of what we actually need.

Food quality is definitely worse, there are a greater number of bad food choices available, technology has diminished the amount of activity required by us to get work done or to entertain ourselves, and parents either just don’t seem to care about what their kids eat, or just don’t know what are good and bad choices anymore.  I see parents focusing on what is the best “unhealthy” choice  they can make while shopping.  Which is the healthier of these cookies, which is the healthier soda, diet or regular, low sugar this, low fat that, but none of the foods being decided upon are actually real food.  The biggest decision when going to the store should be whether or not you can afford the organic veges or non-organic veges, not whether you should be getting Newmans organic Oreos or regular Chips Ahoy.  

The simple fact is that in this country 50% of the population is overweight,  and 33% percent of the population is obese and these numbers are rising rapidly. 

Are you happy with your current body?  When you get out of the shower and see yourself in the mirror are you happy with what you see?  Are you happy with your current physical performance abilities?  Do you want your children to feel the way you do?  Do you want to be around for your children? Do you want to be a physical burden on your children when you are in your later years?  Do you want your children to feel good or embarrassed about themselves and about their bodies?  These are the things I think about.  This may sound somewhat shallow on my end just focusing  on the physical body, but the physical and emotional side of all of us are closely connected.  This goal of being physically healthy comes from the inside first.  You can’t really have health in one and not the other. 

Every child should feel good about themselves regardless of their weight but the fact is that there are many kids who do not feel good about themselves because they are overweight and embarassed.  It is our responsibility as adults and as parents to make it easier for them to be healthy.  Make the path easier for them, change their environment so it’s easier for them to make  better choices!  Change your own shopping behavior.  It’s much easier to go to a store and not purchase unhealthy food then it is to buy junk food and then not eat it when it’s in your house staring you in the face when you open your cupboard.  Think about the fact that you can have a positive or negative impact on your children’s mental and physical health by what you feed them, what you give them access too, and what you teach them, and by what they see.  The negative results may not be immediate but look around. 

Another excuse I hear is..”It’s in our genes”, “My parents were overweight, so I’m overweight”.  Not true.  That’s you just saying “I don’t care enough”, “I don’t want to be bothered”.  Much of it is learned behavior, and the situation you were put in.  You can’t control how tall your kids are going to be, or how large their frame is going to be but you can control how much fat they store on their body and your own body as well.  You have some control over whether they are going to get sick every other week or perhaps just once throughout the school year.  These things are influenced by our food choices and whether or not our bodies are getting what they need to be strong on the inside.  Don’t use the “gene” excuse.  Bodyfat is the one variable we have the most control over and it’s dictated by the daily choices we make and how we live our lives. 

  Answer this quesion…Is there anything more important to you then your child’s health? 

I remember an instance when my son was about 3.  He was at daycare and the provider said there was a minute where he stopped responding to her and was just in a daze and it appeared he was almost in a seizure like state.  At that moment, nothing else in the world mattered.  Everything else in my life was of no importance to me except my son’s health.  It scared the shit out of me like nothing else ever had!  It turned out to be nothing but I’ll never forget it. 

It’s our responsibility to lead by example and give them a chance because the way things are now they don’t have much of a chance.  You don’t have to be a complete nut over every single thing your kids eat,  you just have make it easier for them to make better choices.  You’re body can tolerate a treat here and there, it just can’t tolerate being assaulted  day after day, year after year.  If you aren’t willing to make the effort for yourself, at least make it for them.  It’s  up to us.  Respect the fact that you were blessed with a child with a perfectly healthy, functioning body.   Some are not as fortunate as you.

I’ll keep it simple.  I had limited time and felt like getting a whole body session in, moving a bit, and getting sweaty.  I didn’t feel like I had a heavy workout in me this day.  This is what I did.  I’m not going to describe each exercise in detail for the sake of keeping this short.  This is what I consider a great form of  ”cardio”.

1:1 work/rest ratio.  30 seconds of work, follwed by 30 seconds of rest.  The work is continuous, no pausing at the top or bottom of the movement.  When you actually try to not stop at the top of the movement and take a breath, you’ll be surprised at how much rest you were actually giving yourself.

1) Sumo deadlift, 135lbs - 30 seconds

2) Pushups with one hand elevated on a box, switching hands and sides every rep – 30 seconds

3) Jumping or Plyo step ups, one leg for 30 seconds, then the other leg for 30 seconds, no rest in between legs- in order to qualify as a plyo or a jump you have to actually get off the box when you “jump”- rest 30 seconds.

4) Squat & Row off a cable column, 60-80 lbs - squat deep with arms extended in front, then row to your ribcage as you come up….fast!

5) Lateral band shuffle – attach a moderate resistance band to a fixed object, then shuffle out about 3 steps as fast as you can, shuffle back in and try to change direction as fast as you can. Face the opposite direction and repeat.  30 seconds each side.  No rest between sides

It should take 5:30 to perform the circuit.  3:30 of fast paced work, 2:00 rest.

If you’re asking “where is the ab work?”  It’s in the deadlifts, the pushups, and the squat and rows.  Crunches, leg lifts, and planks aren’t the only thing that work your abs.

I performed this circuit 3 times with a 2 minutes rest  in between each full circuit.  If you get through 3 or 4 circuits and you feel like it wasn’t that difficult, you probably didn’t work hard enough or you are in phenomenal shape.  It’s the effort and intensity that you put into your workouts that makes them challenging and effective.

If you’re not healthy on the inside, it’s going to make it very difficult to look healthy on the outside.  There are exceptions to every rule, looks can be deceiving, but for most of us we need to first focus on our internal environment when we are trying to make improvements in our health.

The following are few things to consider before attacking a new workout and/or supplement program. 

First, if your digestive system isn’t working correctly, anything you put in your body will most likely not get assimilated properly and make it to the proper tissues.  You could be wasting alot of money on supplements if this is the case. The best quality supplements will do nothing in this case except empty your wallet.  It’s estimated that a large majority of the population (90+% by some) is HCL(stomach acid) deficient.  Hydrochloric acid, which is what is produced and present in our stomach, helps with the digestion of food.  Low levels could lead to poor digestion, gas, heartburn, bloating, cramps, leaky gut syndrome, allergies, etc.  This is the very first thing one needs to consider.  You could eat all the healthy food and supplements you want, if it’s not getting digested and broken down properly, it’s not making it to your muscle tissues.  One easy way to test for this is to take some HCL tabs (they usually come in 200-250mg betaine hcl capsules w/additional enzymes likes pepsin) in the middle of your next meal, preferably a meal that contains protein.  If you feel a warm sensation, or possibly a burning sensation with one capsule then that means your HCL levels are most likely OK and you don’t need to supplement.  If you don’t feel anything, during the next meal take 2 capsules.  If nothing still, take 3 and so on.  I’m sure there is a maximum safe dosage but it slips my mind at the moment.  There are plenty of online articles about the subject.  Once you reach a dosage where you feel your stomach get warm then take 1 less capsule then that dosage at every meal.  If your stomach starts to feel warm again after a while, then reduce dosage again by 1 capsule and so on.  Eventually the dosage needed will be reduced.  This is supposed to essentially retrain your stomach to produce the proper amounts of HCL so you can digest your food and supplements appropriately leading to better absorption of amino acids, vitamins, minerals, etc.

 A second supplement that you should consider is an L-glutamine supplement.  Among the many things it does for you, like help with recovery from exercise, support your immune system, and reduce sugar cravings, it also helps repair the lining of your intestinal walls that may have been damaged due to low HCL levels, leaky gut syndrome, eating processed foods, or the various chemicals your exposed to every day.

Third, you may want to get tested for food allergies.  There are many labs that do this.  Some are more thorough and will test a larger variety of foods, at a higher price of course, but it will be well worth it.  You may be eating foods you are intolerant or allergic to that may be causing problems that you would never associate with your food intake.  You could be eating broccoli thinking you’re doing the right thing and be allergic to it!  Symptoms can be anything from simple  headaches, skin rashes, lethargy, joint pain, weight gain, high blood pressure, depression, to things as serious as seizures.  They will give you results that let you know what foods you are not allergic to, foods you are mildly allegic to, and foods that you are highly allergic to.  These are tested against your blood.  I’m not sure if different labs use different tests, or what tests are more accurate.  You can probably find that info online fairly easily. 

You could also simply try an elimination diet.  This is when you remove certain things from your diet for a period of maybe 2-3 weeks and see if you notice any difference in how you feel, or a reduction in any symptoms you may be experiencing.  You should start with the most common allergens..wheat, dairy, eggs, sugar, corn and then try different foods after that.

One more option is to use what is called the Coca pulse test.  This test  involves you taking and recording your pulse at certain times of the day.  Upon waking, going to bed, before each meal, and in 3 -30 minute intervals after each meal.  After a few days you will get your average range, and your high and low rates.  After each meal you will record what you ate and what your pulse is.  A higher than normal pulse rate is an indication of a possible allergic reaction to the foods you just ate.  At this point you would try the elimination diet previously mentioned and monitor your symptons.  You can find out more specifics about this test online.