SpecFit Team Three

WEEK 10

MY ENERGY LEVEL IS SO HIGH

By Mark Clem

The 10 weeks are completed. I have lost 20 pounds or more of fat and gained some muscle. My waist is 4 inches smaller.

A great deal of time and effort was spent on my flexibility and it is quite evident in my shoulders and legs. 

My energy level is so high I am asking my wife for things to do which has her in amazement. She says I can’t talk about our sex life so I won’t.

The 10 weeks were as much a rehab project as an exercise program. When you have had 40 years of neglect and 10 weeks to perform a miracle, what can you expect.

I didn’t realize how bad my fitness level was. I thought running on a basketball court and tennis court were affording me some level of conditioning. Not true.

Most of the exercises I have done in the past 10 weeks, I have never seen or done before — much like the food I now eat and recognize in the store. You should try it. You might be as surprised as I am.

Being semi retired, I am able to set aside some time each day for structured exercise and for the final two weeks I have done just that.  Now one to two hours during the day are devoted to doing all the Witch Doctor (WD) exercises and some cardio work just to piss him off.

I will need to take the weekends off to have some pain free days each week. At 60+, I think that’s the only way to have pain-free days.

Week 10 has special significance for me. Ten years ago this week, I suffered three heart attacks.

The first one felt like indigestion but the second one, 24 hours later landed me in the cardiac care unit where, the next day, I went into ventricular fibrillation, which meant my heart started to seriously malfunction and I saw a bright light.

The hospital staff were quick with the paddles and got my heart back on track. I woke up with a lot of strange faces surrounding my bed. A few days later, following an angiogram (inject dye into arteries supplying blood to your heart to find blockages), I had a third heart attack.

The next week they did an angioplasty (clear the blockages with a small balloon) and implanted two stents (look like Chinese finger locks) that keep the coronary arteries open where the blockages were.

My eating habits got better after that — but not great as I now know.

I feared then and for a long time that intense exercise might trigger another heart attack. WD kept cardio to a minimum for his own peace of mind.

There wasn’t enough time and I may not have been able to do any of his exercises if there was also a cardio component. 

I have another 20 pounds to lose by August 10. 

Thank you all for following our blog. Thank you, Mark, for putting up with me; I’m sure it wasn’t easy.

And thanks to The Spectator for giving me this wonderful opportunity to get back something I didn’t realize how much I had lost.

MARK HAS FAR EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS

By Mark Young, Nutrex Solutions, nutrexsolutions.com/

As we enter Mark’s final week, I’m sure you’re all excited to see how he made out, but I’d like to preface this week’s update by saying thank you to the people who made this entire project possible.

First, I would like to thank Health editor Florence Sicoli and The Spec  for putting this whole thing together and organizing this project from start to finish.

I would also like to say a sincere thank you to Russ and Meghan Lane from Mind Body Connection Studios on Nebo Road for graciously allowing us to use their incredible facility for our training sessions. Their spacious facility is a great place to train.

Despite Mark’s lighthearted jabs about the pain inflicted by our friend Conor Collins (otherwise known as Thumbs) at the Foot Knee Back clinic in Ancaster, I can honestly say that he has done a tremendous job in dealing with Mark’s postural issues and joint pain.

Conor’s hard work and input has certainly resulted in a reduction in Mark’s pain and it has made my job a lot easier. Thank you for all of your efforts.

And last but not least, I would love to thank my beautiful wife Stacey, who is also a trainer, for being there to support me and to give suggestions and advice for Mark’s program. Something would definitely be amiss if I took credit for anything without mentioning her name alongside mine.

Now on to the results: As you might recall, Mark had set out a few very specific goals at the beginning of his 10-week journey. Let’s see how he made out.

Goal No. 1: To complete the final four miles of the Boston Marathon alongside his wife.

Mark pursued this goal with great enthusiasm and, despite his bad knees, managed to run and support his wife as she completed the final stretch up Heartbreak Hill. This is a huge achievement, and I’m so proud that Mark was able to accomplish this. 

Goal No. 2: To lose 20 pounds.

As of our final weigh in, Mark has officially lost 17.5 pounds over the course of 10 weeks. Although he’s probably not happy that he didn’t hit the 20-pound mark, I can sincerely say that I’m impressed with his average loss of 1.75 pounds per week. Given some of the early dietary deviations that took take place, I’m very happy with this result. 

Moreover, this rate of loss was attained with only two days per week at the gym, which is quite realistic to maintain as opposed to a more time-consuming plan. If Mark continues on the same course he’ll be able to hit his 35-pound weight loss goal by the end of the summer!

Goal No.3: To shrink his waist by four inches.

Mark nailed this one by losing an amazing 4.25 inches off his waist!  Now if only I could get him to buy some smaller shorts so they’ll stop falling down when he’s skipping in the gym. 

In all seriousness, though, Mark stated in his first blog post a long-term goal of reaching a 36-in waist, and I think that’s only months away if he keeps on doing what he’s been doing to this point.

Goal No. 4: To reduce his lower back pain.

Back pain is a tricky for a couple of reasons. First, when someone has back pain you need to sort that out because you can’t continue to train around it forever. However, in the meantime you need to try to provide a training stimulus that will result in weight loss without provoking pain. 

This is often a difficult task as the back can be fussy with certain exercises and pain-free with others.

Secondly, there is no single diagnostic tool or test to tell why you’re hurting. Granted, X-rays and MRIs are great, but when they come up negative you can often end up with a lack of diagnosis and ongoing back pain that nobody can seem to treat. People in this situation often end up with a cabinet full of pain medication and no real solutions.

I think that the greatest problem is that back pain has many causes and most people are so fixated on the notion of having a weak back (and trying to strengthen it) or a tight back (and trying to stretch it) that they fail to see the real problem.

In Mark’s case, his lower back pain had little to do with his back at all, but with the muscles surrounding his hips. Once we sorted that out, I’m proud to report that Mark’s lower back is now completely pain free!

The bonuses:

If you’ve ever watched an infomercial you know that there are often a number of free bonuses that come along with any great purchase. Exercise and nutritional changes aren’t without similar perks.

On Mark’s last training session with me he completed 3 sets of 10 repetitions of normal push ups on the floor! From his starting position on a high incline (which makes the exercise much easier) he has progressed week after week and has completely shattered my expectations. 

Mark’s wife and son were present to witness this event in history along with the loud grunts and moans that frequently accompany his workouts.

Although this might seem like a rudimentary task to some, when I first met Mark he was completely unable to get up from the floor without assistance from his hands on his knees or to climb steps carrying anything heavier than a feather.

Now he can get up from the floor with ease (both legs) and climb stairs with a few bags of groceries. For anyone who has felt the physical limitations of getting a little older, you’ll know what a huge feat this is — and now you know how quickly it can be improved.

Perhaps most importantly, Mark has reported a drastic decrease in his knee pain (having had nine past knee surgeries between both knees) and an equally dramatic drop in his shoulder pain. With pain comes immobility and with that comes weight gain. 

By taking care of these issues alongside our main targets, we’ve guaranteed that Mark can continue this lifestyle for a long time.

The wrap:

At this point I sincerely want to thank Mark for all of his hard work and dedication along the way. He has been a fun and exciting person to train and I will honestly miss our training sessions together. 

I know this plan can be difficult at times, and Mark has made tremendous strides in a short time to make it part of his lifestyle. I wish him all the luck in the future, although if he just keeps doing what he’s doing, I’m sure he won’t need it.

I also want to thank you, the reader, for following along as we documented Mark’s journey. I hope you’ve enjoyed following the process and, more importantly, perhaps it has inspired you to write the story of your own fitness makeover.

Thanks to all for reading.

WEEK 9

I LIMPED TO MY SESSION WITH THUMBS, BUT I WALKED OUT

By Mark Clem

One more week to go. The Witch Doctor (WD) brought in the blue (harder) roller this week. Oh the pain is everywhere again.

I was doing very well with my leg squats but WD can’t stand to watch me try to skip and he figures stepping on the box is better cardio. I started to do the step but felt some pain in my thigh muscle just above my knee. No stepping or skipping today!

WD told me to have Thumbs look at it the next day.

It was my last visit with Thumbs for a while because he is going away for a holiday. It will be a holiday for both of us. 

In the morning, when I told him about my strained thigh muscle, his eyes lit up like I was giving him a going away present. I limped in but walked out.

However, there were some words said that the receptionist heard at the other end of the clinic. Her face was quite red when I walked by on my way out. It was 8:30 in the morning and there were no other patients around. Thumbs books me early so I don’t scare off other clients.

I am starting to sweat and continuing to swear during each session. WD appears to have seen and heard it all before. Only five more pounds to go. WD was impressed.

No swimming or cycling this week, but I thought about it every day. WD has introduced more new exercises this week with unusual names that I will let him describe.

I found someone to put healthy food in front of me twice a week, this nice lady at Subway named Hilda. I just tell her “the usual, don’t supersize or make it a combo”.

Loren’s run on June 12 is a fundraiser for Wever Community Hub after-school programs. Maybe I should go in disguise and spy on him. See how fast he is and what race strategy he uses. Better yet, I could be the mystery runner in the race and find out what he’s got.

I am looking forward to the weekend — no WD,  no Thumbs and no pain until Tuesday.

MARK’S HARD WORK IS PAYING OFF

By Mark Young, Nutrex Solutions, nutrexsolutions.com/

Well, we’re in week 9 and Mark has lost 3.5 more pounds bringing his grand total weight loss to 14.5 pounds!

His weight is now 205 pounds which means he is officially at the high end of our 10 week goal of 200-205 pounds one week early. 

His hard work is really paying off!

Here’s a little breakdown of how Mark’s week went:

DAY 1

Lower Body Push – Box Squat
Today seemed like yet another normal day, but in the midst of Mark’s warm for this exercise he suddenly complained of a pain in the front of his right thigh. Some might make the decision to pack up and go home for the day. Others might choose to press on and deal with the pain later.

Instead, my solution was to drop this movement and work around the problem to maintain a training effect without further aggravating that particular muscle. While a lot of people tend to train through pain, it is important to remember the difference between pain associated with exercise and pain associated with injury. 

Injury pain is like the “service engine” light on your dashboard.  You can ignore it, but it is there to give you a warning. If you don’t pay attention to it, you’ll probably regret it later. Your best bet with a small strain like this is to go home and put ice (not heat) on it. More often than not, it will heal up on it’s own within a couple days.

Lower Body Pull – Hyperextensions
Since Mark’s muscle strain was in the quadriceps on the front of the thigh, we switched the focus on his workout to the hamstrings and glutes on the back of the leg instead. Since we had a little more time to work with, Mark had the benefit of being able to perform a couple extra sets of this exercise. Truth be told, people usually need more work on the back side than the front side anyway.

Unilateral Lower Body – Single Legged Romanian Deadlift From A Box
As I mentioned last week, I like to do single legged movements to prevent one side from becoming stronger than the other. Today we dropped the step up movement from last week as this would likely cause pain to Mark’s strained muscle.

Instead, Mark learned a tricky movement called a single legged Romanian deadlift from a box.  Done correctly, this movement requires very little weight and can tax the glutes and hamstrings beyond belief.

However, because it is difficult to learn and teach this movement often saps a lot of time from a workout. Fortunately, its effects are tremendous if you take the time to learn it properly.

We shortened Mark’s workout today to focus more on stretching at the end and to get him home quickly to get some ice on his leg.

DAY 2

When Mark arrived today he noted that his leg had much improved so hopefully he’ll be back to 100% for next week. Usually an unexpected muscle strain will clear up quickly if care is taken to rest it and apply ice.

Last week Mark paired a row and some incline push ups in an alternating fashion, but today I wanted to step up the intensity a little more as I felt he handled last week exceptionally well. 

Instead of alternating the exercises, we performed supersets where one exercise is immediately followed by another with no rest.

For example, Mark would perform one set of a horizontal pulling motion like a row followed immediately by a horizontal pushing motion like a push up. After that he would take his normal rest interval before repeating the whole superset again. 

I should note that Mark hit 10 repetitions on all three sets of his incline push ups and I’m excited to say that next week he should be able to perform at least a few regular pushups on the floor!

Last week we paired a dumbbell pullover and a dumbbell shoulder press as our vertical pull and push. But since there was still a little shoulder pain on the right side, I opted to remove the overhead pressing in favour of some side raises until we can sort that out.

As next week is our final week I’m anxious to see how Mark will make out, but I’m confident that every ounce of his hard work will pay off.

WEEK 8

EATING EVERY TWO HOURS IS HUGE ORGANIZATIONAL CHALLENGE

By Mark Clem

My skipping is so good now. Half the time I stop because I’m pooped and the other half is when the rope wraps around my neck.

All my talk about swimming and cycling on my days off didn’t happen. There weren’t any thunderstorms that prevented it, just a lack of motivation. So many other things get in the way of exercise that I need a lot of motivation to overcome them.

I did two sets of 7 push ups and one final set of 10 push ups this week. Granted I am not doing them flat on the floor but I’m not doing them leaning against a wall anymore either.

Chin ups aren’t happening yet, but I plan to do at least one before the 10 weeks are up. I love Sundays and Mondays, they are the only days of the week I don’t hurt all over from what the Witch Doctor and Thumbs have done to me. There’s another reason not to swim or cycle on my days off.

I read fellow cadet Loren’s blog, he is getting lots of cardio work and I’m not. He is running in a 5K race on June 12, just 10 days before our Father’s Day race. June and Geetha are also doing 5K runs next month.

I wonder how much beer Loren can drink and how many chicken wings he can eat. I hope Ray’s Place has volume pricing!

I wonder if I can swim 30 lengths between periods of the hockey game tonight.

Let’s not talk about the diet other than to say eating every 2 hours is a huge organizational challenge. I will eat whatever is put in front of me. The problem is there isn’t a line up of people putting food in front of me each and every day.

If I’m left to fend for my self, that’s when the 2 hour feeds go out the window and bad stuff ends up in front of me somehow.

Come September our youngest daughter is off to university, she will take all the bad food in the house with her, then what am I going to do?

STARTING A SPLIT ROUTINE

By Mark Young, Nutrex Solutions, nutrexsolutions.com/

Each week Mark’s weight training routine has consisted of several movement patterns that have been split up the following way.

DAY 1
Horizontal Pull – Rowing type movements
Horizontal Push – Push up type movements
Lower Body Push – Lunge or squat type movements

DAY 2
Vertical Pulling – Chin up or pull down type movements
Vertical Pushing - Lateral raise or shoulder press type movements
Lower Body Pull – Bending movements at the hips like pull throughs

You can see all these exercises at www.youtube.com/nutrexsolutions

This week I decided to introduce a split routine where Mark essentially trained one half of his body on one day and the other half on another day. 

Split routines offer some advantages over whole body type routines in that they really allow you to tax each part of the body and allow the other part to recover more fully from intense exercise on the previous week.

Granted, there are times when anyone can benefit from whole body training, but Mark needed a change so we could progress his intensity. This week I opted to put Mark on an upper/lower body split which allowed him to focus on his lower body on Tuesday and his upper body on Thursday.

Here are a few highlights of Mark’s resistance training sessions. Warm ups, core work and stretching were done, but are removed here for brevity.

DAY 1
Lower Body Push – Box Squat
As was mentioned last week, my goal for Mark was to gradually reduce the height of the box he used to squat to until he had a greater range of motion. 

From last week to this week alone Mark was able to increase the range in his squat depth by at least two inches.  It doesn’t sound like much, but that’s a huge accomplishment in one week!  Again, no knee pain.

Unilateral Lower Body – Step Ups
With the lower body, “unilateral” is just a fancy way of saying “one leg”.  While the squat pattern trains both legs together in a useful way (i.e., you have to squat in and out of a chair), I really like single leg movements because they help you do things like get up from the floor, climb stairs, and iron out side to side strength imbalances. As a bonus, movements like the split squat hit both the front and back of the legs as well as the glutes.

In Mark’s case, he had mentioned when he started with me that he has trouble climbing stairs while holding anything in his hands because his legs just aren’t strong enough. To rectify I had him perform step ups onto a high bench. 

The key with this movement is to not jump off the toes to assist you up onto the bench, but to use the planted leg to pull you up. I think Mark enjoyed this one, but I couldn’t tell with all the expletives that came out of his mouth.

Lower Body Pull – Hyperextensions
This exercise can be done for either the lower back or the glutes and hamstrings. Personally, I believe that the lower back rarely needs strengthening (it is usually tight or poorly controlled, but not weak), so we focused on the glutes and hamstrings. 

Performing this exercise by bending exclusively at the hips instead of at the lower back will maximize the contraction of the lower body and leave your muscles quivering.

DAY 2
On this day I had four specific exercises that I wanted to do, but instead of the conventional method of doing straight sets, we alternated one exercise with another.

For example, Mark would perform one set of a horizontal pulling motion like a row followed by a normal rest interval. Then he would perform a horizontal pushing motion like a push up. This is not to be confused with a superset where one exercise is done immediately after the previous with no rest.

What the alternating method does is keep the rest intervals short enough to allow the heart rate to stay up, but allows the specific muscle groups involved in the exercise a longer time to recover.

For example, training normally you might do a row and then wait 1 minute to perform it again which doesn’t allow a lot of time for that muscle to rest. With alternating sets, you perform your row, rest, perform another exercise, rest, and then come back to the row several minutes later. 

This allows the muscle to rest more fully and lift more weight while still keeping the body moving by doing something else in the interim.

Today we paired an incline dumbbell row and an incline push up for horizontal pulling and pushing. I should note that Mark hit 10 push ups on a very low incline today and I’m confident that he’ll actually do at least a couple on the floor by the end of 10 weeks.

We also paired a dumbbell pullover and a dumbbell shoulder press as our vertical pull and push today. While Mark still has some postural issues to work out, he appears to be able to do some overhead pressing with only slight pain in his right shoulder now. 

After a little work on his deltoid (i.e., percussing it lightly with the meaty part of the hand) the pain went away, but the arm still remained weak. This is obviously an area we still need to work on, but it didn’t go to badly for his first time doing overhead work.

All in all, I think Mark is making incredible progress and I can’t wait to see how this all winds up.

Thanks for following along!

WEEK 7

OK, OK, I’M BACK ON THE DIET!

By Mark Clem

Remember all those things I signed at the beginning? One line of one document read, “follow all the recommendations in supportive eating program the trainer specially designs for you to meet your stated fitness goals.”

That darn weight loss goal that I got seduced into making is still haunting me. I’m back on the diet.

I really was only off for about an hour until the witch doctor (WD) found out that I was revolting.

Skipping is improving marginally but, like I thought, the better I get the tougher it is.

No sign of the hard roller but the one I use is getting very easy except for one spot on my left thigh which is still very very painful.

I am now doing pull ups on a slide table with noticeable improvement.  The workouts are getting tougher but I am able to do them so far.

Next week on my days off, I will start swimming and biking to boast my stamina. My son came in this week to get his body fat measured with the light sabre. He has 13% body fat to my 26%. 

WD says he has shadow abs which means when the sun shines a certain way and casts shadows on him, he appears to have fabulous abs.

Now he is exercising and dieting too so he can lower his body fat to single digits and have real abs that look great in any light. Lock up all your daughters 18 - 22.

Loren has accepted my challenge for a race on Father’s Day. We are keeping the time a secret to avoid huge crowds of fans seeking our autographs. Ray’s Place better increase their beer and wings order for that week.

A group of ladies come into the gym to do a fitness class as I am wrapping up. The last thing I do each session is stretching. The ladies find my moaning and groaning during the leg stretches to be hilarious. I slink out of the gym with my male ego shattered. 

MY GUY IS BACK ON TRACK

By Mark Young, Nutrex Solutions, nutrexsolutions.com/

Last week Mark hit a stumbling block. His weight jumped and he was obviously having a little trouble with nutrition. His meal frequency had fallen off in favour of convenience and he was finding it hard to get the right foods when he needed them.

In many cases, this is where most people fail. AT this point they don’t fail because they don’t know what they should eat or what exercises they should be doing, but because they feel like they’ve hit an obstacle and they flat out quit.

What I’d like to highlight for everyone out there who has hit, or is currently hitting this point, is that the people who are successful with weight loss aren’t the ones who don’t have any obstacles.  They’re just the ones who choose to find a way to deal with them.

In Mark’s case we used a simple two step solution:

Step 1 – Identify the REAL problem

Mark was not eating as frequently as he was supposed to. As much as this is an issue, it was not the real problem and simply saying “eat on time” probably wouldn’t work. 

The real problem was that he was allowing his schedule to dictate when he had time to eat instead of planning times to eat and allowing his schedule to fall around these times.

Step 2 – Create a plan to deal with the problem

We discussed creating a schedule by putting the important things in his life (health, family, friends) before the least important things (work, laundry, bills). When you make time for these things, the results come. 

The bottom line, though, is that while most people get stuck on step 1 of this process by listing all of the obstacles that prevent them from succeeding (otherwise known as excuses), it would only take a little effort to get them to step 2 and the results would start flowing in.

Now here’s a little breakdown of Mark’s training week: Global Warm Up, Foam Rolling, Dynamic Mobility Work, Movement Prep: 

To be honest, there have been few changes in this regard since day 1, but Mark will be the first to tell you that the foam rolling has become much less painful and his range of motion and joint pain is much improved.

That said, I’ve had several requests for more information on each step of this warm up so I’ve decided to include links to our 3-part series on our warm up progression for your reading pleasure.

You can check them out these website addresses:
www.nutrexsolutions.com/2008/07/02/mobility-for-the-masses
www.nutrexsolutions.com/2008/07/09/foam-rolling-the-secret-weapon
www.nutrexsolutions.com/2008/07/16/decrease-the-pain-increase-the-performance

Resistance Training – Day 1

Horizontal Pulling – Face Pull: This exercise variation allows us to continue to train the muscles of the mid back with a slight emphasis on some of the less used muscles called the lower traps which have a very strong role in posture and shoulder health.  In Mark’s case, these will do wonders to minimize his shoulder pain.

Horizontal Pushing – Push Ups: Granted, we haven’t changed this exercise much except for the fact that we’ve progressively been lowering the box that Mark puts his hands on to do his push ups each week with the eventual goal of doing these on the floor. These are great because they don’t usually cause shoulder pain in people with ongoing issues.

Lower Body Push – Box Squat: When Mark first came in and told me that his knees hardly had any cartilage left I’m sure he was positive that he’d never be able to squat again without pain. However, with all the mobility work we’ve done and proper retraining of the squat pattern Mark is now able to squat down without any knee pain at all. As the weeks go by we’ll gradually increase Mark’s range of motion and he should eventually have no problem squatting from any surface.

Core Work, Stretching and Cool Down:

With some input from Conor (a.k.a. “Thumbs”) I’ve included a few more stretches into this regime, but he’s sworn me to secrecy as he doesn’t want me to give away all his tricks. OK …that’s a lie. I’ve only got so much space to write so perhaps I can touch on this more in a later blog.

Resistance Training – Day 2

In the case of this workout, I’ve carefully selected a small number exercises and we’re rotating through them on a biweekly basis so there’s nothing magical to report here. 

While I could easily come up with any number of exercises that might be of use here to make me sound like the most knowledgeable trainer on the planet, I’ve identified a very select few that Mark can do without pain and, more importantly, bring the results that we’re expecting.

Instead of thinking about progressions in terms of timelines, I like to proceed to a new variation only when Mark has mastered the previous one. 

Just as you probably wouldn’t attempt teach a child to write before they can speak, you shouldn’t train a person to do an advanced exercise before the basics become easy.

WEEK 6

MY FOOD DIARY IS HISTORY!

By Mark Clem

Week 6 is gone and so has my strict adherence to the Witch Doctor’s (WD) diet. I am not willing to modify my life to revolve around when I eat and what I eat. The diary is history too! I am going to eat healthy and eat often — but that is it. 

To compensate for this deviation, I am going to increase my cardio work on my off days when I don’t see the WD. My stamina is one area that has not changed over the 6 weeks and this increase in cardio work should help that.

Thumbs (massage therapist) has me black and blue so you won’t see me with my shirt off for a while, too hard to explain the visual effects of active release.

I am learning to skip since WD switched me from doing steps while he records my work and devises new exercises. Skipping is hard work when you are learning and probably stays as hard work once you learn because you can last longer before you either trip on the rope or strangle yourself.

The roller is getting easier so WD says he is bringing a harder one. Great! My shoulders are so weak and my weight so great that I still can’t come close to doing even one chin up but I believe I will be able to do at least 5 by week 10 (if I lose another 10 pounds).

I expect the intensity of my workouts to increase for the last 3 weeks. WD has to look good among the trainers (at my expense). I promise after the 10 weeks I will maintain daily activity 12 months a year for the rest of my days.

By August 10th 2009 I expect to have lost 39.5 pounds so the work doesn’t end after 10 weeks. Like I said so long ago, the challenge will be to stick to the changed eating habits and increased activity level.

I liked Loren’s Week 4 blog. He now has a partner to push him. I want to add to the push. I challenge you, Loren, to a race anytime on Father’s Day June 21 at Bayshore Park. The distance will be 5K. The winner gets free beer and wings at Ray’s. The loser pays. I will watch your blog for a response.

PUTTING THE ROCKS IN THE JAR

By Mark Young, Nutrex Solutions, nutrexsolutions.com/

Any trainer worth their salt knows that it is going to be a bad week when their client suddenly stops bringing in their diet record.  It is at that moment when you know that you’re going to need to have a serious discussion.

When Mark showed up on Tuesday he was up about half of a pound from last week. It wasn’t a big deal, but given that there was no diet record, I had a feeling that this was only a taste of things to come.  By Thursday Mark had gained an additional 3.5 pounds!

Fortunately, Thursday was also assessment day and we were going to have a chance to measure his progress and to have a chat about getting back on track. Below are the measures we took.

Waist Measurement
Starting measurement: 44.5 inches
Current measurement: 41.75 inches
Loss: 2.75 inches!
Despite the moderate weight gain this week, this number proved to be excellent. More importantly, this takes Mark within three quarters of an inch from his 10-week goal of getting his waist down to 41 inches.  Since abdominal fat is also highly related to cardiovascular risk, Mark is improving his longevity with each inch he loses here!

Weight
Starting weight: 219.5
Current weight: 214.0
Loss: 5.5 pounds
Despite the drop in his waist measurement, this number left a little to be desired. If I didn’t know Mark had gained back four pounds within the last week I wouldn’t have considered this a bad loss so far, but knowing that made the number a little disappointing.

Prior to this weigh in, Mark had been on target to reach his 10-week goal of weighing in between 200 and 205 pounds. Now it is possible, but will be much more difficult. He’ll really need to buckle down if this is to be a reality.

Body Fat Percentage
Starting percentage: 27.0%
Current percentage: 26.3%
Loss: 0.7%
Body fat percentage is a measure of the percentage of your body that is fat. Beyond simply using the scale, this is the single most important measure of body composition.  It is a function of how much fat you’ve lost and also how much muscle you’ve gained so it gives you a ton of information. In Mark’s case, I would have expected a greater drop this week, but since his efforts weren’t what they needed to be, it didn’t turn out quite as well as I’d hoped.

Fat Weight
Starting fat weight: 59.3
Current fat weight: 56.3
Loss: 3.0
Not too shabby, but not excellent. My guess is that this may have been closer to 7 pounds without this week’s gain.

Muscle Weight
Starting muscle weight: 160.2
Current muscle weight: 157.7
Loss: 2.5 pounds
The main idea when losing weight is to gain or maintain muscle while simultaneously losing body fat. This is what gives the fit or toned appearance that most people are looking for. In the very worst case scenario, the maximum amount of muscle lost should account for 1/3 of the weight loss.

I should note here, that rapid weight loss plans promising 30-40 pound losses in a short time ALWAYS result in dramatic losses of muscle which will leave you looking like a smaller version of your current self with the same body shape. 

In any case, about 45% of the weight Mark has lost to date is muscle so this can mostly be attributable to one of three main causes.
1. Not enough total protein
2. Not enough total calories
3. Skipping snacks and going to long without food. Definitely

After speaking with Mark it was easy to determine the root cause.  Since his nutrition plan hinges on the notion that he should never go more than 3 hours without food, this appears to be his biggest issue. 

As with most busy people, planning is the single most important key for Mark’s long term success and that was the focus of our discussion to get him back on track.

The Rock Jar
I once read a story in a book called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People that was so powerful that it has stuck with me ever since.

As the story goes, a university professor walks into a lecture hall and places a rather large empty jar on the desk and, without speaking, reaches under the desk and begins placing several large stones inside the jar. Once he is done he asks the class “Is this jar full?”

The class responds “Yes”.

Again, without talking, the professor reaches under the desk and pulls out a large container of coarse gravel and begins pouring it into the jar with the large stones. He occasionally shakes the large jar and eventually all of the gravel falls into the spaces between the larger stones. Once again the professor asks “Is this jar full?”

Having caught on to the game, the class responds “No”.

Finally, the professor reaches under the desk and pulls out a bucket of sand which he proceeds to dump into the large jar. The small grains fall between the gravel and the larger rocks until the jar is finally actually full.

“The point of this example” said the professor “is that the larger stones represent the truly important things in our lives and the gravel and sand represent those millions of other small things that keep us busy, but aren’t really that important. If you put the big rocks in first, the smaller stuff will just fall in around it. If you try to put in the smaller stuff first, you’ll never have room for all of the big rocks”.

In Mark’s case, his days are so hectic that he often forgets to eat when he should or finds himself without food at the appropriate times. Instead, I’ve asked him to plan his days ahead by “putting the big rocks in the jar” and allowing the rest of his day to fall around them.

To do this Mark will have to determine what is truly important to him and begin by putting those rocks in the jar first. In the literal sense, this means scheduling times for meals in his calendar and building his day around those.

If his health and his weight loss are truly important, these must become the big rocks and they must be among the ones that are put in first.

If you think scheduling meals is little extreme, consider the fact that people used to actually sit down for breakfast, take time for lunch each day and spend time as a family at dinner time. 

Now we’ve become so fast paced the many of us skip breakfast, wolf down our lunch at our desk  and eat a reheated dinner standing by ourselves in the kitchen before we race back out the door to some meeting or event. Maybe I’m being nostalgic here, but I personally think a little structure might just be a nice change. 

For Mark though, even if his puts the rocks in the jar to begin with, it is more important that these “rocks” are not displaced for other seemingly urgent and important things in the heat of the moment. 

After all, other things may seem important at the time, but without our health we have nothing.

WEEK 5

MORE PAINFUL THERAPY, BUT MY SHOULDER, BACK ARE PAIN FREE!

By Mark Clem

It has been five weeks completed and five weeks to go. Ten pounds are lost for good and ten pounds to go.

As I suspected, therapeutic massage really means pain. I much prefer the other kind. The one minute of active release that the Witch Doctor (WD) did has now become 30 minutes of active release with Thumbs. That’s the nick name for Conor, the massage therapist who, for half an hour, buried his thumbs deep into every tight muscle in my body — and there were lots.

The other half hour was spent doing deep massage of my larger muscles. It felt like he was ripping the flesh right off my bones. I got him back when he pressed hard on my hip flexors and had me extend my leg slowly. There was a natural gas leak in the clinic and one of the treatment rooms had to be evacuated.

What can you expect, given what I have been eating for the past 5 weeks?

As Thumbs was recovering, I thought about making a dash for the exit and running home. But then I realized I was in my boxers and I think there is a bylaw in Ancaster about running around the streets in your boxers .

More time with WD is spent on exercises now — and especially this week because The Spec sent a videographer to record my workout. I had to do everything twice, once to show him what I was doing and once to film it. I hope he can remove the bad words that I screamed out near the end of a few exercises. Was I ever a whipped puppy after that session.

Each session consists of some familiar exercises and some new ones. I thought that meant I was progressing, but WD says he is just adding some variety. Why doesn’t he add some easy ones?

Some very good news: For 5 years I have had a very sore shoulder since ligament surgery. The pain is now completely gone as a result of the WD strengthening the shoulder muscles and Thumbs doing active release on all the muscles around the shoulder.

The same is true for my lower back. And even my left Achilles tendon is much improved. I have more energy so I can do more things longer. Being more active is a good thing.

I did two sessions in a row this week and I don’t know how some of the other cadets are doing 5 sessions a week, every week. I have had a total of 9 sessions since the beginning while some of the others have had 25 sessions.

It sucks to be old!

MASSAGE THERAPIST CAME TO MY CADET’S RESCUE

By Mark Young
Nutrex Solutions,
nutrexsolutions.com/

We’re about half way through our journey now and Mark is down a total of 9.5 pounds! That is just shy of our 2 pound per week weight loss plan and it puts Mark right on target to hit his 20-pound weight loss goal by the end of our ten week program. 

At this point I think it is important to reiterate that this is being done with only 2 days per week in the gym, almost zero formal cardio, and absolutely no crunches.

When secondary issues become primary

When I first met Mark, he mentioned that one of his goals was to reduce his back pain. Little did I know at the time that he also had shoulder pain, knee pain and an Achilles tendon that flared up with pain regularly.

What rapidly became apparent to me was that dealing with these problems wasn’t only a good idea, it was essential.

While dealing with these issues isn’t necessarily Mark’s primary goal, each one imposes a barrier that limits his exercise ability and will ultimately prevent him from losing weight the way he should. 

More importantly, if he doesn’t take care of them now, they’ll eventually end up preventing him from exercising at all in the future.  When you’re 60, you have to start thinking ahead.

As I mentioned last week, I put in a call to my friend Conor Collins, who is a massage therapist at the Foot Knee Back Clinic in Ancaster, to get some assistance dealing with Mark’s issues. 

I did this primarily because I believe this will accelerate the rate at which Mark’s foam rolling and mobility work will bring results and allow him to train harder for continued weight loss.

However, I also did it because Conor is a brilliant guy to have on my side and he can help me identify and correct Mark’s issues faster that I could possibly do on my own. After all, it isn’t necessarily what you know, but the number of resources you have at your fingertips that can help you bring big results quickly.

All the best fitness guys and girls I know have a network of other excellent professionals that they can call on. For me, Conor is one of those guys and I’m positive that Mark’s results are only going to take off from here.

The workouts

 

This week the workouts were similar to those we did last week with only a few exceptions, so I won’t bore you with the details. 

However, I should note that one thing that we’ve done thus far is to always have Mark stepping up and down onto an aerobic step between sets to keep his heart rate up and to facilitate fat loss. 

This saves time by preventing him from having to do “cardio” after his workout and allows him to get more exercise within the limited amount of time we spend together.

This week I decided to step it up a notch and have Mark jump rope between sets to increase the intensity.  To say that this was the ugliest attempt at skipping I’ve ever seen wouldn’t be far from the truth. I’d honestly heard jack hammers that were quieter.

Fortunately, Mark quickly picked up the rhythm and was skipping like a champ within minutes. If you haven’t done this in years I’d highly suggest you give it a try. What you might have done for an entire recess in elementary school will probably leave you gasping for air in less than a minute. 

WEEK 4

I MISSED MY WIFE AT FINISH LINE, THANKS TO SLOW BOSTON TROLLEY
By Mark Clem

I did the Boston marathon with my wife — well a portion of it, and a very steep portion. It’s known as Heartbreak Hill and it comes around the 20 mile mark. I ran up it and down it (2 miles) and then caught the trolley to the finish line. The trolley was slow and my wife got to the finish line first. It wasn’t good to not be there when she arrived. Not my fault!

The Witch Doctor (WD) tried something called active release on me — he buried his thumb deep into the muscle under the arm called "lats". If anyone ever suggests you try it, run the other way as fast as you can for as long as you can. It hurts more than child birth or kidney stones. (I have had one but not experienced the other first hand.)

We are now into full work outs, no cardio, very weird exercises with funny names that I will get WD to explain in his blog. By the end of
Week 3 I had noticeably greater energy levels and was nearly pain free in my shoulders. Now in Week 4, WD has increased the degree of difficulty in the old exercises and added some new ones.

I am at the point where I am considering putting a hit out on WD so I can get a new merciful trainer. Anybody want to trade? After the workouts on Tuesdays, I have just recovered by Thursdays and it’s workout time again. Sundays and Mondays feel good but that’s only 2 days a week.

WD keeps telling me by the end I should be pain free. The end feels a long way off.

In a workout we spend one third of the time getting me flexible enough to do the exercises the other two thirds of the time. WD is suggesting I might benefit from a therapeutic massage once a week. I have a hunch that therapeutic means more pain. I would prefer a no pain flavour once a week but that’s not going to happen. Some how I gained half a pound in Boston.

WEIGHTY VISIT TO BOSTON; AND ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE
By Mark Young
Nutrex Solutions,
nutrexsolutions.com/

Day 1:
Mark lost three pounds last week, so I had hoped that he would be on track again this week. But instead he experienced a half pound gain. While I was glad he’d been out of town for the weekend to support his wife as she ran the Boston Marathon, I was disappointed with this gain. 

Truthfully, I’m not so much upset with the gain as I am with the fact that so little planning was done in an effort to avert it.

I certainly believe that vacations should be relatively care free, but business travel or short trips such as this one can and should be handled much more effectively. In the coming weeks, Mark and I will be working on travel strategies to ensure that leaving home doesn’t mean abandoning a healthy lifestyle.

Here’s how Mark’s day went today:
Global Warm Up, Foam Rolling, Dynamic Mobility Work, Movement Prep:

This week we added some additional foam rolling for the calves to facilitate the hamstring flexibility and changed almost all of Mark’s mobility drills. Essentially, we’re still working on the same things, but I wanted change the way the joints and muscles were affected and to keep the workout fresh.

Resistance Training:
Horizontal Pulling – Incline Dumbbell Row
Different exercise. Same goal.  Still trying to target and strengthen the upper back muscles to improve posture.

Horizontal Pushing – Incline Push Ups
Same exercise as last week, but we lowered the bench to make it harder. Mark will be doing push ups on the floor soon.

Lower Body Push – Split Squat
Interestingly, on only his third lower body workout, Mark was able to complete two full sets of split squats without holding on for support at all. In fact, he did so well that I think he may quite possibly be able to progress to a more difficult variation (called a Bulgarian squat) within another couple weeks! This is huge progress!

I should say here that this does not mean that there was any less profanity while this exercise was going on. Apparently there is a scientific correlation between the amount of strength Mark gains and the number of four letter words he knows.

Core Work:
As was discussed in a previous blog, I absolutely despise crunches.  I believe that the primary function of the “core” muscles is not to cause bending and rotation, but to prevent them by strongly supporting the spine in a neutral position.

Plank: Up until this point we’ve been using an exercise called the plank to teach Mark to contract and strengthen his abdominals in a stable environment. However, my experience has show that it is rare that the central abdominals (a.k.a. The Six Pack) is weak.

This week, to add a little bit more “fun,” I decided to progress Mark to an exercise called a dead bug. If done correctly, this exercise is very difficult and teaches you to control your pelvis by strongly contracting your abdominal muscles. In particularly, this exercise places a greater emphasis on the external obliques that are often weak in people with lower back pain. 

To see a video of this exercise and some of the other exercises outlined in these workouts you can visit youtube.com/nutrexsolutions. By the way, if you’ve decided to try this exercise and it seems easy, you’re doing it wrong.

Stretching and Cool Down:

We’ve continued to address Mark’s tight hamstrings and calves. In fact, Mark’s legs easily reached 90 degrees when testing his hamstring flexibility today so we’re both very happy with the result.

Day 2:

Today Mark and I had a discussion about his progress and I think we’re both very happy with how things are going. He’s playing tennis without pain in his shoulders and is experiencing some great increases in his mobility. We both agree that he’s made great strides, but that we could possibly make them better.

So, we’ve decided to have Mark continue with his foam rolling, mobility and stretching routine daily at home to accelerate to process. While I don’t agree with intense daily exercise (quite frankly I don’t think it is necessary or maintainable with a novice trainee), low intensity stretching and mobility work is most effective when done frequently. 

In fact, frequency is actually more important that intensity when it comes to this type exercise.  Once he has achieved enough mobility he’ll be able to go back to doing these drills only within the context of his two normal workouts to maintain it.

Mark has agreed to put in 10 minutes per day on this little routine that will definitely speed his results. I’ve also put in a call to a friend of mine who is a massage therapist to see if he can help us out in dealing with some restricted muscles. Not everyone can afford to shell out for a massage therapist and that’s fine. It might just take you a little longer to get to where you’d like to be. In Mark’s case, we’re going to use every tool in our arsenal to maximize his results.  After all, that’s what you’re waiting to see isn’t it?

Here’s how Mark’s workout looked today:
Global Warm Up, Foam Rolling, Dynamic Mobility Work, Movement Prep: 
Same drills as Day 1. Despite my downplaying it, Mark is making great progress here.

Resistance Training:
Vertical Pulling – Cable Pullover
Just a different variation for the same muscle. By hitting the lats on the outside of Mark’s back we can increase the V-shape of Mark’s torso which will give the illusion of a smaller waist.

Vertical Pushing – Lateral Raises:We didn’t change this exercise much since last week, but we’re slowly increasing the weights.  Mark experienced no pain in his shoulder this week at all. Now THAT is progress!

Lower Body Pull – Hamstring Pushup: I like this exercise because it allows us to simultaneously hit the glutes and hamstrings. This was a new one for Mark and based on the amount of cursing I could tell that it is going to become a new favourite.

Core Work, Stretching, and Cool Down: Again, we stayed with the dead bug progression for Mark’s core and did the usual stretches.  We’ve also started including a quad stretch as these have seemingly been tighter lately.

WEEK 3

I STILL HAVE MY MAN BOOBS
By Mark Clem

A week has passed and I have had two sessions with the Witch  Doctor (WD). The last session had no assessment work, so it was a good indication of what the remaining weeks will be like. I can sweat and ache all over yet do very little movement, very interesting.

I always thought of a gym as fashion statement time for women and run or pedal time and sweat for men. Not true. A group of women have a session before me, no fashion statement, lots of pulling, pushing, reaching and sweat.

At weigh in, I had lost 4.5 lbs. in 2 weeks. Not bad but I still have my man boobs. Hopefully they will be gone before the 10 weeks are up in case there is an after picture to compare to the before picture.

There has been lots of fruit during the day and bran buds in the morning. I bury the bran buds in fruit and yogurt so I hardly notice they are there.

The WD continues the punching, pulling and pretzel work so that I can do the exercises and get some benefit. A note to those readers in their 30s and 40s: Get some time with a skilled trainer now, have him or her determine what you need to work on and then do it forever. Do not wait until you are in your 60s and decide it would be a good idea to get into shape. It's not pretty and it's very painful both at the time and for days after. Thank goodness I have access to our neighbours hot tub. I leave a toonie each night I go over.

There are several exercises that I hate and the WD knows it. In hind sight, it would have been better not to let the WD know, but the screams and foul language are impossible to control. It begins with lying on a firm (hard) foam noodle and rolling back and forth on each thigh like rolling paint all over my thighs. It may sound easy but it's not and it's painful.

Next comes the leg lunges with hands on hips and legs far apart. Each time the knee of the back leg must touch the ground and your back must be straight. The rest of my family can do this, but they aren't 60 with upper leg muscles that are a "train wreck".

The last difficult one (so far) are these push ups at a 45 degree angle (feet on the ground and hands on a weight lifting bar well secured to some apparatus). The WD says I will soon graduate to standard push ups and eventually have my feet higher than my hands (reverse position). Hopefully that will be in week 10 at the earliest.

Some good news — I could hold the "plank" for 1 minute. I could have lasted longer but I have learned that the WD would use that against me in subsequent exercises. He wanted a minute, he got a minute and he was visibly surprised that I could do it for a minute.

Do you think this was a trap and I took the bait?  The "plank" is a standard push up position (up position) but on your elbows.

Until next week. Remember "No pain, no gain."

HE’S DOWN MORE WEIGHT
By Mark Young. Nutrex Solutions, nutrexsolutions.com/

Mark walked in today and was ready to jump on the scale as is customary at the start of each week when we meet. This week he was obviously spot on with his plan as he managed to successfully drop an additional 3 pounds bringing the total for 4.5 pounds in the first two weeks on the program.

At this point I’m very happy with Mark’s success and expect he’ll continue to do very well. However, I do want to note that maintaining this rate of loss (greater than 2 pounds per week) is not expected or necessarily desired. While it might be easy to lose 30-40 pounds in a ten week span with a severe diet and exercise regime, it is much more likely to return than if the average weight loss is closer to one or two pounds per week. 

This is what my wife and I like to call the “soon ripe, soon rotten” scenario that is seen with most rapid fat loss plans.

Typically a bigger weight loss is expected in the first weeks of a plan, but if Mark’s weight loss continues to exceed the expected amount by too much, I will eventually add food to ensure that his results are permanent. 

Granted, this is not necessarily as sexy and exciting as losing a huge amount of weight in a short period of time, but it is the single most effective method for long-term fat loss. Period.

Here’s how Mark’s day went today:
Global Warm Up: 5 minute light walk on treadmill to increase body temperature as per usual.

Foam Rolling: As discussed in previous blogs, our primary goals here are to help Mark repair his hunched posture and the improve the condition of the tissues in his legs so that he’ll have less pain in his lower back, shoulders, and knees.

The routine will remain the same until progress is made which should start to occur within the next couple of weeks.  As a general rule, the longer you’re body has been in a certain position, the more difficult it is to change.

Dynamic Mobility Work & Movement Prep: These were kept the same as last week, but the time spent on each is becoming much less as Mark gets increasingly familiar with the drills.

RESISTANCE TRAINING:
 
Horizontal Pulling – The Seated Cable Row: I kept this the same as last week with a few minor exceptions. First, I selected a wider hand position on the bar as I found that it was difficult with Mark to really get a good squeeze in his mid back with previous hand spacing. 

Then I bumped up the weight a little to give Mark more of a challenge then last week.  I think he was very impressed with this, but couldn’t tell through all the four letter words he was expressing.

Horizontal Pushing – Incline Push Ups: Last week this part of the workout was a little aggravating for me.  The incline push ups that I had Mark perform with his hands elevated on a bar to make them easier were too easy and normal push ups on the floor were too hard. My secondary exercise choice (the incline dumbbell press) only proved to give his left shoulder some grief.

Since I personally find that push up variations are often easier on those with shoulder pain than free weights, I decided to try this angle of attack again.  Instead of the 10 repetitions I had Mark perform last week we aimed for 15 and this seemed to be enough to increase the difficulty to a suitable level with no shoulder pain at all.  Problem solved.

Lower Body Push – Split Squats: Of all of the exercises Mark will do during the course of this program, I think this one will be his biggest nemesis because it is just so darn difficult for him.  We kept it pretty much the same as last week, but it did seem easier.  In future weeks we’ll be gradually taking away Mark’s ability to hold on to a bar to assist himself up.

Interestingly, Mark cannot get up from one knee without using his hands to assist him which is something I see in a lot of clients over the age of 55.  If this is the case for you, you need to learn and practice this exercise until you can do this with ease.

Stretching and Cool Down: Mark’s hamstring flexibility is coming along nicely and we’re starting to see some moderate improvements.  However, I decided to try something a little more advanced to speed the process along.

In the book, Anatomy Trains, by Thomas Myers, he talks about something called the superficial back line that is essentially a line of connected muscle and connective tissue than runs from the underside of the foot all the way up the back of the body and over the scalp to just above the eyes. Based on this concept, if there is a restriction anywhere along that line it can affect other elements of the system along the same line.

If it helps, think of getting a pull on a thread in a sweater that causes bunching. Since the thread runs throughout the sweater, a pull in one place can cause tightness elsewhere along the same thread.  In this case, if there is a restriction in the calf or the bottom of your foot, your hamstring flexibility may be impaired.

To test this phenomenon for yourself you’ll first need to bend forward at the hips to see how far you can reach. It is important to restrict all motion to the hips here and prevent rounding of the lower back to get a true measure of hamstring flexibility.

Now grab a tennis ball, place it on the ground and begin rolling the underside of your foot. Make sure to use a reasonable amount of pressure and go along the length of the foot on the inside, middle, and along the blade of the foot.

Personally I’ve found that most people have a tender spot just in front of the heel which needs the most work. I’d suggest spending about 1-2 minutes on each foot.  Now retest your flexibility.

By rolling the bottoms of Mark’s feet (as was discussed in a previous blog) and stretching out his calves, I hope to increase his hamstring flexibility above and beyond would normally be expected in a 10 week span.

The Anti-Cardio Weight Loss Plan, Week 3 – Day 2

As some of you may have noticed by now, I haven’t had Mark do much in the way of “cardio” that would be expected on a typical weight loss plan and that’s because, like most of you, I hate cardio.

While I do commend those who truly love to run, I would hazard a guess that most people just don’t get excited about the notion of spending hour after hour on a sunny Saturday afternoon cooped up in a gym or dank basement on a treadmill or elliptical. And more importantly, if you want to lose fat and have a healthy heart, you don’t have to.

I think that weight training workouts should be progressed to the point where they create a metabolic demand by getting your heart rate up so that you are getting some form of cardiovascular conditioning while training. In fact, many of our clients either step up and down on a step or even skip between sets to get this effect. 

Sometimes we might even add a couple brief (i.e., 30 second) sprint type intervals during a workout.  Beyond that, I simply do not believe that running, spinning, or any other form of long, steady, boring cardio is needed at all.

Now don’t get me wrong, I do believe that physical activity is important. I just don’t think it should be something that you hate.  Mark plays a few hours of tennis per week and referees some basketball games. Occasionally he’ll go for a long bike ride on a nice day. My only suggestion to him is that he performs at least 3 additional hours of activity outside the gym per week.  

Whether he does that walking, playing tennis, bike riding, or in a spin class is up to him. The key is that he does what he enjoys and doesn’t set himself up for failure by doing something that he doesn’t want to do in the first place. If you love to run, then run. But if you hate it, then find something you love to do.

Here’s how Mark’s day looked today: Global Warm Up, Foam Rolling, Dynamic Mobility Work, Movement Prep: 

Since you’re probably staring to get the drift here, this is going to remain pretty much the same until progression is needed or I identify something else that needs addressing. I did change one ankle mobility drill for Mark to continue to loosen up his calves, but the rest was left unchanged.

RESISTANCE TRAINING:
Vertical Pulling – Modified Pullup: Mark was able to increase his strength on this exercise by 2 levels this week.  However, I should note that strength typically jumps rapidly in the first 8-12 weeks of training due to changes within the brain and nerves, but the most noticeable muscle changes don’t start until after this period so it is always important to keep training beyond this period if you dramatically want to improve your appearance.

Vertical Pushing – Lateral Raises: Last week when doing this exercise I had Mark rotate his thumbs upwardly to decrease the pressure on one of the tendons in his left shoulder (the supraspinatus).  However, my experience has lead me to believe that this is most likely to happen when one of the other muscles (the subscapularis) doesn’t perform properly which allows this pressure to take place.

To test this theory on Mark, I gently massaged this muscle on the underside of his shoulder blade with my thumb to break up some of the restrictions that prevented it from working properly.  If you’ve never had the “pleasure” of having this done, I can assure you it is not the happiest experience of your life, but it works.

Consequently, Mark was able to lift more weight this week without using a modified hand position.  He also had no pain at all until the third set where it started to creep in to the left shoulder again.  My guess is that with continued work on this muscle Mark will have no pain limitations on this exercise at all. 

Lower Body Pull – Cable Pullthroughs: As would be expected, Mark increased his strength by 20 pounds on this exercise this week.

Core Work: Although we’ve done some core work until this point, I have purposely chosen to leave it out because our philosophy is a little different and is bound to make some people upset.  Nonetheless, the time has come and I’m ready to jump into the fire.

Essentially, we believe that stability balls and balance equipment have only limited application in core training and are most often used as a marketing gadget to draw people into fitness facilities.  Scientifically speaking, they do have some proven applications in rehabilitation, re-injury prevention, and advanced training, but beginners have absolutely no business using these.

We also think crunches are junk and most of our clients haven’t performed a crunch in years. In my experience, crunches cause more back pain than they fix and there are loads of other options that will yield results that are just as good in terms of strength. 

Interestingly, when they try to herniate discs in spinal research labs they place them in a machine that bends them back and forth until they pop. Kinda sounds like a crunch to me. Frankly, I think there are better options and I’ll detail our progression more in upcoming blogs.

Truth be told though, your nutrition and overall fat loss routine has more to do with the way you stomach looks anyway.  If you want a six pack or a flatter stomach, you need to start in the kitchen instead of the gym.

Stretching and Cool Down: We continued our assault on Mark’s calves and hamstrings and the results are coming steadily.

NUTRITIONAL NOTES:

When reviewing Mark’s nutrition log from last week I noticed that he’d done exceptionally well, but (as with most clients) my biggest concern is the longevity of the plan. I noticed that Mark’s snacks, which are primarily focused on fruits and vegetables, were a little repetitive and boring. Here’s a suggestion I gave him for a nutrient dense snack that will kick up your taste buds.

Nutrient-Dense Snack
In a blender add:
* 5-6 pieces of chopped fresh pineapple
* 1 big handful of baby spinach (trust me, you won't even taste this)
* 4-5 frozen strawberries
* 1/2-1 cup of water

Take something as simple as a few fruits and some nutrition packed spinach and turn it into an instant favourite. Even your kids will eat this!

WEEK TWO

WHAT IS A CHICK PEA?
BY MARK CLEM
I thought I was 210 lbs but on the Witch Doctor's (WD) scale, I'm 219. Once WD saw the weight, he whipped out my new diet for life.

I have no idea what a yam, sweet potato, lentil or chick pea look like, and I have no idea what quinoa is but I now know what they taste like … different!!! My kids eat this stuff all the time. Where have I been?

The good news is I can eat three meals a day plus snack two hours after each meal. The bad news is … well you can figure that one out.

Come hell or high water I am going to get under 200 lbs by the end of 10 weeks  and lose another 15 lbs by the end of July.

During the second session there was a mix of exercises and continued assessment. WD punched me and bent me like a pretzel as standard prep to allow me to get through the session. WD introduces each exercise and makes it look so easy, then I try it and I am sure the gym gods breakout in laughter.
WD looks around the gym and creates some slight modification so I can do the exercise and have it hurt just as much as the standard way. I started swearing uncontrollably after five modified push ups.

I thought my upper leg muscles, front and back, were in good shape after the bike trip from hell last summer, all the tennis I play and all the basketball games I referee. Not so. WD says my upper leg muscles are a "train wreck."

Next week he will focus on lower leg muscles, I can hardly wait. More swearing occurs during leg lunges that I lost count once and had to start over.

As I am leaving WD tells me my thighs, which I can't feel, will hurt the next day — and really hurt the following day, which is when I am next back. That's if I can work the pedals on the car.

GETTING THE BALL ROLLING
BY MARK YOUNG
When Mark showed up for his first official workout, he was already down 1.5 pounds! Cutting out the OJ and the increased meal frequency has already started to work its magic.  Obviously he was fired up now so we got right down to business. 

Here’s how the day played out:
Global Warm Up: 5 minute light walk on treadmill to increase body temperature.
Foam Rolling: Foam rolling (otherwise known as self myofascial release) is becoming increasingly popular in the fitness world and is used primarily to break down restricted tissues in the body and allow for proper movement.  Some might compare this to a deep tissue massage without the expense of paying $60 per hour.

In Mark’s case, we’ve found that he has a very rounded upper spine leading to a forward slouched position called kyphosis. Essentially, this makes his posture look a little bit like Quasimodo and puts his shoulders at risk for injury (hence the previous 3 shoulder sugeries).  By foam rolling his upper spine we can regain some of the normal position and put his shoulders in a safer position for exercise and pain prevention. 

We also foam rolled the sides and fronts of Mark’s legs with our softest roller which left him screaming and calling out for an epidural.  Interestingly, when these muscles are not restricted this movement should be totally pain free, but when they are restricted, knee pain is usually present (note the previous 9 knee surgeries). In other words, knee pain doesn’t always come from the knees themselves and I think this is definitely the case for Mark.

Dynamic Mobility Work: Without going into too much detail, dynamic mobility work is rapidly replacing static stretching as the number one choice for warm ups in the well read fitness community.  In essence, the joints are taken smoothly and rhythmically through various positions to increase joint temperature, make muscles more flexible, and reduce injury risk.

They do this without the loss in strength that is common with static stretching. Mark’s drills were specifically chosen to address his tightest muscle groups…which were pretty much all of them.

Movement Prep: There is no doubt that you’ve seen Mark’s comments about being punched and twisted. So I feel some clarification is needed here so you don’t think I’m totally nuts (since I am only marginally nuts and that just isn’t fair). 

Essentially, when Mark first walked in the door he could barely put his arms over his head. However, what I’ve discovered is that in that case the deltoid (shoulder muscle) is often tight and pulls the head of the humerus (upper arm bone) up into the shoulder socket preventing motion.

By banging lightly on the shoulder muscle for about a minute with the meaty part of the hand, you can release this tension and restore motion. If it helps, think of “The Thumper” back massager and you should get the idea of what that feels like. After only 60 seconds, Mark could easily reach overhead with little pain.

Mark’s left glute also proved to be weak in a series of muscle tests and since weak glutes are often related to lower back pain (remember that back pain reduction is one of Mark’s goals) we decided to address this issue. After trying an exercise to strengthen the muscle is still proved to be week so we tried two other little “tricks” to get it firing again.

So, in Mark’s words, we “twisted the leg like a pretzel” to stretch his piriformis and “tugged on his leg” to allow for some traction on his lower spine and the muscle tested strong. As it turned out, the nerve was restricted somewhere between the spine and the glute and with a couple of minutes we’ve got Mark back in full working order and ready to train.

With repeated stretching and proper exercise programming these alterations should become permanent and Mark will be able to keep everything firing at top speed with little effort.

Week One

MY EATING HABITS ARE IN FOR A SHOCK

BY MARK CLEM

The first session will start as soon as I read and sign the following:

- Agreement and waiver  letter from The Spec outlining conditions and release if I'm  injured 
- Two questionnaires from my trainer (10 pages). Any "yes" answers and I'm off to the doctor for a  letter. I got some yes answers. 
- Consent letter from my family ddoctor. Good to go. 
- Consent letter from my cardiologist. Good to go. 
- Consent letter from  my orthopaedic surgeon. No weightlifting over the shoulders and no  squats. 
- Consent letter from  my neurologist. No heavy weightlifting while standing. 
- Consent letter from  my urologist. Prostrate will probably shrink with the rest of your body. 
- Consent letter from  my wife. Where is the will? 
- Consent letter from  my mother-in-law. How much are you leaving my daughter?

Both my editor, Florence, and my trainr, Mark Young,  want to know what my specific fitness goals are. Each time I attempt to write them down, I end up with "A Bucket List" like Jack Nicolson and Morgan Freeman — yet not as expensive to do. In business and possibly in life, you should set goals that are quantifiable, measurable and attainable.

My short-term goals (next 10weeks) are first, to run the final four miles uphill (heartbreak hill) with my wife at this year's Boston Marathon (it’s her first anniversary as a breast cancer survivor). I want to be able to run 11-minute miles for four miles and then collapse.

My other goals are to lose 20 lbs., lose four inches off my waist and get rid of my back pain (not my mother in law, that's neck pain).

My long-term goals (2009 and beyond) are to get back to the 36-inch waistline I once had. To lose 35 pounds would get me to a weight that I can't remember what it feels like being at (my wife has a picture for reference). And to get through my "Bucket List."

A mid-term goal is to be at the Boston Marathon again next year, do heartbreak hill again and to cheer on June Bobolo (a fellow Spec Fit winner) in her quest to complete the Boston marathon.

For my first meeting with trainer Mark, I wore my best gym outfit, which happens to be my only gym outfit and is what I sometimes wear to cut the grass in the summer.  Mark and I set the goals for the 10 weeks and he made sure they were realistic.

My eating habits are in for a shock, so many fruits and vegetables I will become a rabbit, at least a regular rabbit. He had this machine which measures body fat by shining light through your body. No matter how high he turned up the light it never came through. It said I had 27 per cent body fat and that I should be at 14 per cent. I thing the batteries were low in the machine.

Next we did the assessment exercises. My left arm and left leg failed some strength tests so he punched me in the left shoulder, twisted me like a pretzel and yanked on my left leg for a minute. When he retested me, the left arm and leg were suddenly stronger and more flexible than the right.

Mark is a certified witch doctor and that is his nick name for the next 10 weeks, The Witch Doctor.

Since we are both named Mark, we thought that for the next 10 weeks we would be known as M2 for M squared. It sounds better than M&M, which I can't eat anymore.
We are going to meet twice a week and I need to get three hours of good exercise per week in addition to the two hours with Mark. I need to keep a diary of every time and every thing I eat and drink, which Mark will review each time we meet.

I can hardly wait to see what happens when Mark doesn't like what he sees in the diary. I know it's going to hurt and motivate me not to do it again. Looking forward to next week

MY GAME PLAN FOR HIM
BY MARK YOUNG

After speaking with Mark Clem briefly on the phone the other day, I can tell you that he is nothing but ecstatic about his opportunity to participate in the Spec Fit project. He informed me that he's never won anything before, so I am absolutely stoked to be his first "win.”. He really seems anxious to get started and begin his training.

However, what stuck with me most about Mark is that he did something above and beyond what we’d expected. In February, Mark submitted his application to be one of our training cadets for 10 weeks. However, he didn’t stop there. 

Instead of resting on his backside and waiting to see if we’d select him, he decided to do it anyway.  He didn’t know if he was going to win, and it didn’t really seem to matter. Mark had committed to making a change one way or another — and that is what separates him from most people. If you want something, you just have to go and get it … and he did.

Mark joined a fitness bootcamp class that not only increased his physical conditioning but more importantly also showed just how much he deserves to be a part of this project because he has decided to make a change with our without our help. 
Now that I’m on board, I can only hope that my individualized program will take him to the goals he can’t even imagine right now.

I'm not a big fan of assessing how well somebody is going to do based on an initial discussion, but I will say that Mark certainly has the deck stacked in his favour. He's got an enthusiastic trainer (that’s me), a supportive (and very active) wife and a city-wide support network to cheer him on (that’s you).

Keep your eyes peeled for the next 10 weeks. I think this is going to be a whole lot of fun.

Those who know me best know that I’m very detail oriented and have a Type A personality. To say that I’m bordering on obsessive compulsive wouldn’t be much of a stretch. As such, I have a strong desire to systematize everything so that is exactly how we’ve designed our Nutrex Solutions training model.

Now before I begin my diatribe, I do want to say that I realize this post may seem as dry as the Sahara to some, but rest assured that the fun and excitement will ensue in future posts. I just feel that this needs to be said up front so you know the game plan fromDay 1.

Our system for creating results looks a little bit like this:
- Assess to get a baseline: Measure every important variable to determine a starting point. You can’t plan your trip without knowing where you’re coming from. In Mark’s case, we took his weight, body-fat percentage, measurements and various other postural, strength  and flexibility measures.
- Set goals: Knowing your destination is equally as important as knowing your starting point.  Otherwise you’re just driving around aimlessly. You could be spending a lot of energy, but if you don’t have an end point you’ll probably end up right where you started in the first place.

To set goals we determine specific, measurable and realistic goals.  Most importantly, we like to create a timeline for those goals. After all, a goal without a deadline is just a dream.

Mark has decided that his goals for the next 10 weeks are to lose 20 pounds, shrink his waist by four inches and reduce his back pain. I think that these are all very realistic goals and that his sense of physical and emotional wellbeing will also skyrocket.

However, against my better judgment, Mark has informed me that he would like to run the final four miles of the Boston Marathon alongside his wife in a few weeks.  While I think this is a noble goal (it is very admirable that he wants to cheer on his wife), I think his history of chronic knee pain and a total of NINE previous arthroscopic knee surgeries should preclude him from undertaking this goal.  Whether he listens to me or not is another story.

- Create a plan: It is my job to determine the best course of action to get from point A to point B. 
From an exercise standpoint, Mark and I will be meeting twice per week, and I’ve asked him to keep up with his other sporting activities including tennis and cycling for an additional three hours of weekly exercise.

Nutritionally speaking, my initial focus with Mark is going to be meal frequency. Ideally, my goal is to have him eat within an hour of waking and to prevent any more than three hours from passing where he doesn’t eat something. 

To use an analogy, the metabolism is like a fire, and you don’t want to leave it without fuel for so long that you let it smolder out.  Adding frequent logs to the fire keeps it burning strongly, which results in a metabolic inferno that burns calories all day long.

Another major detail is that I’ve asked Mark to stop his daily consumption of five glasses of orange juice that results in at least 500 additional calories per day or 182,500 calories per year. While I highly recommend consuming all fruits and vegetables, fruit juices often offer too much in the way of concentrated calories and sugars.

- Execute the plan: If creating the plan is my job, then this is the part our dear friend Mark Clem will be responsible for. His adherence will determine his success or failure. However, with you, the readers, and me, apparently the “Witch Doctor,” he’ll have no choice but to put forth the hard work and bring home some incredible results.

- Reassess: Over the course of the 10 weeks, we’ll have periodic reassessments to make sure Mark is on track toward his goals. By using a diet record (which I’ve asked Mark to keep) and tracking every workout, we’ll be able to refine and revise our plan to ensure the single best possible outcome for him.
Stay tuned.