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Club Emerald
3028 78th AVENUE SE
MERCER ISLAND , WA 98040
ph: 206-232-7080
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Fit & Healthy Column
Living by the ‘two hours ready’ rule
By BRYAN WELCH
Mercer Island Reporter Columnist
Jun 13 2011, 11:16 AM
I’ve never been a goal-obsessed person. Seemingly, I’m just not wired that way. As a kid, trophies would go in the closet, and paper awards were stuck in a book somewhere. Blessed with what I refer to as “no rear view mirror,” it’s always been about moving forward and not about looking over my shoulder. Clients groaning about repeating a rigorous exercise from our last session have learned to appreciate that particular phrase. What’s done is done. The past is just that; the future stands ready for your attention. Success or defeat, I try not to harbor it and carry it around for more than a few minutes, and seek only to learn from the experience rather than the outcome. Now, to misinterpret this as noncompetitive or undisciplined would be a big mistake, as every challenge willingly accepted is met with full fury and resolve. You’ll get my best shot, I’ll expect the same from you, and then we’ll both move on.
Many people are wired completely the opposite way. Recording splits on the track, evaluating a race day performance based on this year’s time compared to last year’s, or wanting to reach a short-term strength platitude never before achieved such as being able to do 100 push-ups or run a 7-minute mile can provide fuel for many. As long as these goals move you forward, then more power to you, as there are as many paths to fitness excellence as there are excellent athletes.
Fortunately for me, I am married to someone who exhibits the no-looking-back principle as well, and we click pretty seamlessly when it comes to working out. For example, seconds after finishing the Portland Marathon, cutting through the post-race vendor stalls, my wife Katie and I laughed about the ice cold beer provided on mile 25 and agreed it was a nice way to finish off a long morning of exercise.
In lieu of goals, we’ve come up with what we call our “two hours ready” rule. The basic premise is that on any given day, in any location and climate, we should be physically prepared to work out for two solid hours without rest. It doesn’t mean it’s going to happen, and everybody will have a different level of intensity throughout those two hours, but if today someone asked you to go running or walking, to play tennis, or go water skiing for a couple of hours, could you do it? If not tennis, then substitute pickleball. If it’s not a half marathon in San Diego, then it’s mountain biking the hills of Sun Valley. Whatever the choice, do you have the physical and mental wherewithal to push it hard for two hours and be recovered and ready for two more hours tomorrow? If you’ve locked your keys in the car in Bellevue, can you jog over the bridge to Mercer Island, pick up a spare set and return? Are you two hours ready?
The human body has 206 bones, over 600 muscles, a heart capable of pumping 2,000 gallons of blood per day, and the lung capacity allowing at least one of our species to hold his breath under water for an astonishing 19 minutes (the current world record!). We are amazingly explosive, have tremendous stamina, strength and speed, and are designed to move relentlessly throughout each day. Watching our 2 1/2-year-old son, Braydon, climb stairs at the park and then shoot down the slide over and over again, chase ducks, kick a soccer ball, throw a tennis ball, stand up and squat down a hundred times in the sand box, hang from the monkey bars and then jump like a kangaroo all in the name of fun, and it’s apparent that it takes years of sitting to drain this energy from a person. Practice makes perfect, and we’re perfecting the art of sitting.
When did we wash away all this youthful energy and fun? Of course, exercising our brains is at least as important as the physical tools we develop, but somewhere along the way we stop evaluating and encouraging kids on the exercise plane and start to quantify everything by grade point averages and test scores. The competition funnel begins to narrow the field as fewer and fewer kids can play a given sport through high school and college, and fewer still can make a living at it. Jobs and families and books and movies all compete for our playtime, and this fabulous fitness mechanism sits idly by, waiting to be taken out and tuned up. The days turn into weeks, the weeks into months, and the average American gains two pounds of fat per year every year after high school. Two pounds of fat is equivalent to 7,000 calories of over-indulgence each year, and equals roughly 24 hours of bicycling annually. That’s only two additional hours of training each month. Imagine the benefits of being two hours ready on a daily basis, not monthly.
Until we get it, until we can turn on the next generation to the freedom and power that comes with being ready to play physically, our per capita medical costs will continue to lead the world. In spite of the massive amounts of money spent, our life expectancy is slightly lower than average amongst developed countries. We have the highest incidence of obesity, and at some point have to question our future as a world leader. These questions would be better asked and answered on the move, maybe over the course of a couple of thoughtful hours swinging from the monkey bars.
Bryan Welch is co-owner of Club Emerald on Mercer Island.
Mercer Island Reporter Columnist Bryan Welch can be reached at getfit@clubemerald.org.
Mercer Island Reporter
Fit & Healthy Column
By Bryan Welch
February 16th, 2011
“Vigorous exercise is a fountain of youth for many.”
Jack LaLanne has done his last push-up. 96 years young, his unbridled enthusiasm and relentless energy are forever captured in the archives of grainy black and white television history. His message was a simple one, the results undisputable. Workout more, eat better, live with more vitality.
You’ve heard the stories that helped secure his legacy. He once ripped off a thousand push-ups in 23 minutes to promote his new fitness television show. He added a thousand pull-ups the following year in a little less than 90 minutes. At 60 years old, he swam from Alcatraz to Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, towing a 1,000 pound boat, and oh yeah, might as well be shackled to make it a challenge. How many of us can do 95 consecutive fingertip push-ups? How many of us will do that for our 95th birthday?
His legacy is all around us. I glanced around the gym and thought I’d find an example or two of those who embody these fitness heroics, and was pleasantly surprised to find not just a couple of people who fit the bill, but dozens. People in their 60’s, 70’s and 80’s who have embraced the use it or lose it principle of longevity. Walking, running, yoga, spinning, aerobics, cross-training, strength training, triathlon training, swimming, tennis, golf, and hiking were all mentioned as activities…and that was just from the 70-plus group.
Representing the 60-plus crowd, I grabbed Bill Curry to ask what his exercise parameters were. A former reporter for the Washington Post and now a first class photographer, he is quiet, charming and pursues all things with his unflappable determination and customary excellence. He is battling stage 4 prostate cancer, and never have I heard him speak with anything other than optimism regarding his treatment or outcome. Bill hits the weights several times a week, busts out over 100 push-ups every day, and spends 45 minutes on the treadmill, elliptical, or recumbent bike 4 days per week. Throw in a yoga class or two, and the belief that “there really is no other option so you may as well make it a get to, not a have to” and you have a guy who understands what it’s like to play hard when the stakes are high.
As the most common form of cancer in men in this country, a long-term Prostate Cancer study recently published by the Harvard School of Public Health targeted a group of 2,700 participants diagnosed with the disease after 1990. Dividing them into sedentary, non-vigorous, and vigorous exercise groups, the men exercising showed a dramatically improved chance of survival. Significant numbers include a 35% increase in the survival rate for the non-vigorous group and a whopping 61% for the vigorous exercisers. Bill Curry is definitely playing for the right team.
Zita Manik is as fiery as a sunrise in Hawaii, and her boundless energy takes her on walks with her dog for 4 to 5 miles each day during her free time. She’s lean, with sculpted arms and legs, and those elastic muscles still allow her to do the splits with seeming ease. She gives everything she has in a spin class, pushes herself through Step aerobics and Muscle Club classes, maximizes that flexibility in yoga classes, and adds personal training to top off the tank. Skiing, hiking and kayaking are other outdoor pursuits. “Exercise really is an anti-depressant, and it makes me feel happy. I wish all seniors got it instead of relying on medications.” A better, more physical representative for the 70-plus age group would be hard to find.
Do you think it’s just your body which functions better with exercise? The New York Times recently highlighted a study which showed that brain health is affected by strength training. We’ve known for a long time that there are neurological improvements in brain function after sustained cardiovascular training, but only recently have researchers begun to add resistance components to this testing. The results indicate that an increase in muscle mass corresponds with an increase in the formation of new cells in both the memory and thinking portions of the brain in lab rats, and will now act as a precursor to human trials. “What are you waiting for” Jack LaLanne would implore.
Eloise Kent is often shocked by the behavior of “old people”. Boasting a brilliant sense of humor and a spring in her step, her physical acumen is outshined only by her mental prowess. Quick with a greeting or an amusing anecdote, she is the poster girl for young forever. “I don’t necessarily like doing this stuff, but I see what happens to old people if they don’t do it and I’m determined to not let that be me someday…hey, by the way, doesn’t the oldest person in the gym get some sort of discount or something?” “I’d have to see your I.D. to verify that you are even a senior citizen”, I tell her. At 86 years young, she’s a fixture on the treadmill and works her way through a balanced upper and lower body strength training routine 3 times a week. A few free weights, some isolation machines, and a little core work ought to do it. “Did you know I took your mother to lunch Friday?” she asks. “The men were lined up around the block by the time we finished” she adds with a smile. Ah geez.
Recognizing the quiet heroes...
By BRYAN WELCH
Mercer Island Reporter Columnist
Oct 05 2010, 10:57 AM · UPDATED
You’re 5 years old. Something is wrong. The other kids race by at a hundred miles an hour. You stare quizzically at your parents as they speak, the sounds are garbled, and their expectant stares do nothing to unravel the mystery. Your younger sister speaks easily and often, and you see the smiles and laughter on faces all around. You catch a few words now and then. Dumb. Slow. Mentally retarded. Your discomfort only increases in school as you try desperately to pick up strands of dialogue while the teacher faces you. If she turns her back, the world goes black again. Other kids have noticed your difficulties, and you sense the looks and conversations about you, with the obvious laughter at the punch line you’ve become.
Your parents are at a loss and believe the diagnosis of the “experts.” You’ll never keep up; you’re just not right. You spend hours with your dad as he tries to shape your mouth as you utter vowel after vowel. Your speech improves, but both parents smoke and often times your ears and lungs are congested and it feels as if contorting your mouth into any shape is pointless. You begin to read lips, and understand more acutely that something is wrong. You adapt enough to survive and are passed on through second, third and fourth grades. Your dad dies when you are 10 years old, and there is no way forward.
Finally, in fifth grade, Mrs. Hammond takes notice and tells your parents that you are not dumb or slow, or any of the other huge labels that have been hung around your neck for years. You can’t hear. You read lips, you strain to catch different frequencies, you cheat if you have to, but you simply miss too much to participate.
Hearing tests will diagnose a 60 percent loss in normal hearing level, presumably a birth defect, though I hesitate to use that word in any capacity as the connotation can alter not only perceptions but outcomes. After receiving hearing aids, you can finally hear most of what is going on. Hope blossoms, only to be crushed under the weight of a smalltown American upbringing. Friendships have already been formed, roles already assigned, and you’re the oddball. Sixth, seventh and eighth grades are still misery, but you’ve discovered a weapon. You can act out. Disobey. Rebel. Fight back and ignore and show your anger. Cheat openly and dare anyone to kick you out. The day you graduate from high school, you are already pregnant. You get married and divorced within 10 months. You move out, move back in, and finally your family picks up and moves to Seattle when you are 21 years old. Your son is 3, and you need to work, you go to trade school and become a welder.
Throughout all the trials and traumas, all the uphill battles and facing a sea of doubters, you’ve always had a release. It’s a thread of sanity found in the weight room. A solitary exploration of self, a way to quiet the demons and release some of that energy. It’s a time to lift and struggle and conquer something that has a definitive boundary. It’s not elusive or mean. It doesn’t pass judgment or render any decision against you. You can simply lift the weight or you can’t. You can push it 15 times or you can’t. It will wait quietly for you, but offer no criticism or praise. The steel needed to get up every morning and get on with it is forming with every single repetition.
This story has a happy ending. Today, Holly Gould is a vibrant, attractive, sweet, shy, accomplished dental hygienist with a 19-year-old son who hopes to attend the University of Washington next year. She has recently married, enjoys skiing, golf and ice skating, and continues to lift weights. Although technology has greatly improved hearing devices, at work the various pitches and sounds emitted by the dental drills render them useless. Years of lip reading and studying human movements and facial expression allow her to instantly identify the needs of her patients and glide through a full day’s work. Thanks to countless hours of verbal cueing with her dad, her speech is perfect.
We live in a time when self-aggrandizement is common, where we want to share our accomplishments instantly with friends and family. We tweet our status at the grocery store or post a notice on Facebook with our whereabouts at the mall. Celebrate your accomplishments, sure. Celebrate life, definitely.
I’m relieved that there are quiet heroes alive and well out there — people who have overcome many things and don’t feel the need to tell the world. They adapt, they overcome and they inspire. Challenge yourself to become a better person, and forget the naysayers. Achieve because you want to, and use the tools at your disposal to their utmost. Celebrate the effort, not the outcome, and ultimately take a moment to truly appreciate the gift of life.
Congrats to Club Emerald for making the Puget Sound Business Journal's
"Top 25 Health Clubs" List 11 consecutive years!
Club Emerald
3028 78th AVENUE SE
MERCER ISLAND , WA 98040
ph: 206-232-7080
getfit
