Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Time to Get "Back" in Shape!

The key word in that phrase is "Back". Everybody can look back at a point in their lives when they were, relatively speaking, "in shape". Everybody.. Even if it was as far back as when they were 8 or 9 years old playing town soccer or tee-ball. There's a point in everybody's life they can look back on and say, with conviction, "i was in shape then".. Of course with the rising epidemic in childhood obesity, especially in children under 5, that is changing. In the USA we are now raising children who, if asked in the year 2040, "when were you in shape?", their answer will honestly be "never". But we're not in 2040, and I'm asking you now. When were you really in shape? Are you in the best shape of your life right now? If not, then why not?

When I was in my 30's I worked out at a number of different gyms. I picked my gym based on the monthly fee and how long I had to commit to. I lifted weights. I ran on conveyor belts listening to my iPod, watching ESPN sportscenter. It took me 2 hours to get in a workout that got me little in the way of results. I could lift heavier weights and run faster on the belt after a couple months, but then the stale routines would stop yielding results, I would get bored with it. I couldn't stand going to those gyms. I had some muscle definition but I wasn't strong. Nothing that I did in those gyms translated to results in the real world. It translated to results in the mirror. On a scale of "time wasted", second to the hours I wasted in bars when I was in my 20's is the hours I wasted in those gyms in my 30's. At about 35 years old I realized I was not in shape, and if I wanted to get "back" in shape it would have to be the shape I was in when I was about 10 years old, playing "kill the man with the ball", or riding my bike with my friends 10 miles into Groton center to the penny candy store to buy a handful of Swedish fish for a dime, or running through the woods with fake rifles playing "army", or raiding the Hatfield's crabapple tree and going out in the sandpit with my friends using a garbage can lid for a shield and having apple fights. Did I ever lift weights back then? Did I run on treadmills? Did I do "flys" on the pec deck? How ridiculous is it to even think it? So why, now that I'm older, does it make any more sense to do any of that stuff if what I really want to be able to do is...... anything i want on any given day? I want to race my bike, climb mountains, go kayaking, play soccer with the kids I coach, show my own kids what fun an active lifestyle is. Is bench press or biceps curls going to help me do any of that? Ummm... no, I don't think so.

I turned 43 yesterday. The only person getting any younger than me right now is Benjamin Button. I continue to get in better shape and turn back the clocks. I ride my bike, I hike mountains, I do bodyweight exercise, I do kettlebell work, I throw around medicine balls. I work full body movements, with and without resistance that translate to the real world gains so that I can do everything I want to do. I've adopted a healthy lifestyle and diet that complements my natural training so that I stay healthy, have incredible amounts of positive energy, and can achieve absolutely anything I put my mind to. If somebody asks me "when were you in the best shape of your life?" my answer is honestly, right now. I have figured it out.

This is why people come to Dynamic Strength and Conditioning. Initially they come because they want to get "back" in shape. They stay because they want to be in the best shape of their lives. I figured out what it took to get me there, and I know how to get you there. Michele and I develop programs that are guaranteed to get you where you want to be if you are willing to do the work. I hear comments about the cost because they compare what Dynamic costs to the $20 a month chrome and fern palaces. It's not a fair comparison. I'm giving you a structured 12 week training program, designed to increase your strength, muscular endurance, power, energy levels, metabolism, lean body mass, mobility and flexibility, instructed by professionals who live it, love it, are passionate about it, and are certified to teach it. We give you nutritional guidance and help you adopt a healthy lifestyle that complements your activities and goals. Is that what you're getting for $20 a month at Planet Fatness. Is that what you're getting from the "trainer" at Globo with the flashy smile, the bulging, bodybuilder muscles, the khaki pants, and the clipboard as he sets the pin in the pec deck for the 3rd set of 10 as he chats up the hot chick in spandex working out next to you? Oh yeah, and that "trainer" doesn't come with the price of admission either.... At Dynamic, in the past year I can't count how many times I have heard "I'm in the best shape I've ever been in", or, "Hey, I'm going to do _________, I never would have thought I could do that before!". I watch as people shed inches upon inches of bodyfat, increase their functional strength, muscular endurance, and mobility by orders of magnitude. Don't know about you, but to me that beats the hell out of listening to some meathead at the water cooler talking about how he just benched 325. 

At the end of the day you have to look at the big picture. You go around one time and it's up to you how you're going to spend it and how you're going to feel. It's all up to you. It was not pre-determined that you would be in the best shape of your life at 10 years old or that you would spend the last 20 years of your life with a counter full of medications and a calendar full of doctor appointments. Only you have the power to determine how you will spend the rest of your life. A lot of it also depends on your goals and motivations. If your goal is a healthy lifestyle, having a lean, athletic build and being able to do absolutely anything you want to do as long as you're around, then Dynamic is definitely the place for you. 

We have a free week going on right now, with sessions on MWF at 5a,6a,9a,12,6p. Tu/Thu at 7p. And the week wraps up with a field workout at Nashua South High School at the track at 8am. There is no cost and there is no commitment. You owe it to yourself to check it out. It's time to get "back" in shape!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

It's All Your Fault...



Martin Rooney offered me a billion dollars a couple days ago. $1,000,000,000. That's a lot of zeroes that would solve a lot of problems, wouldn't you say? But, there was a catch (of course). In this case, I could have the billion, but I would die in 24 hours. Not a difficult decision for me, I decided to live. My life is worth more than any amount of money. Let me put the question to you, and I'll even make the catch a little less harsh for you. If I was going to give you a billion dollars (by the way, you know it's a buttload of money when it takes less time to spell the amount out than to write out the actual number), but, if you accept it you only have 6 months to live, would you take the money? Of course you wouldn't. And if you would, then now would be the time to go back to facebook and become a "fan" of The 50th Anniversary of the Big Mac! Looking at it as money -vs- life, it's a no-brainer, right? So when this question was put to me, while it was immediately apparent what the response would be, it wasn't immediately apparent what my response meant. Think about it, we've just decided that our lives, the only ones we'll ever have, are worth more than all the money in the world. So why, in many cases, don't we treat it that way? Why are 65% of Americans overweight and 30% obese? Why is the age group between 2 and 5 years old the fastest growing segment of obese people in the country? Why are we dying at an increasing rate from diseases that are avoidable with behavioral changes? 

The answer is that we choose to. We choose to die from diseases that didn't exist 100 years ago that are a direct result of poor eating habits and lack of exercise. We choose to be fat. We choose to "let ourselves go". We choose to bring our children to McDonalds and Chuck E Cheese. There is not a person on the planet that thinks McDonalds is a healthy choice. Not a fucking one! But 60 million people per day (PER DAY!), spend $24,000,000,000 (24 Billion!) per year on their swill. And they do it by choice. We choose to be fat, we choose to be out of shape, we choose to allow our 5 year olds to develop Type 2 Diabetes, it's our fault. If you buy a $70,000 dollar Mercedes, you put the best gas in it that you can. Why then, when you just decided that your own life is worth more than a billion dollars, do you pour diet soda and other zero calorie, artifically sweetened drinks into your own body when they leach the calcium from your bones, take the paint off cars, and have been linked to cancers? 

At the same time, there are those of us who choose to be fit. That is also our fault. If you're in shape it's your fault. If you eat right, it's your fault. The same way it's a person's choice to take their family to McD's, it's a person's choice to have chicken, broccoli, and brown rice for dinner. If you work out 5 or 6 days a week, solid workouts that increase your metabolism, raise your energy levels, build strength and endurance, that's your fault. If you're in the best shape you've ever been in, it's your fault. If you get your kids involved in sports and fun activities, coach their teams, take them hiking and biking, then it's your fault when they're lean, fit, and flexible. How great is that! 


our fault...

obese-kids
and so is this....

You have the power to make your own choices. Nobody is going to choose for you (unless you're a kid and you're reading this, then your parents will choose for you, so make sure you give them this to read). What you decide to do, to eat, to be. It's all on you. You have one shot, one life, and if you're still reading this then you've decided that that life is worth more than any amount of money. It's your choice what you're going to make of it, and it's your fault when it happens. Accept the responsibility, and hold yourself accountable. It's harder to make the right choices, that's why so many people struggle with their weight and are out of shape. Because it's easy. You need to be strong and put in the extra effort to make the right choices. If you do, then great things can happen. You will never regret it. You've decided that it's worth more than anything to you so it's up to you to act on that. I've said it before, I can not put a price on my health. I'm in the best shape I've ever been in and I continue to get in better shape because I choose to be. It didn't just happen. I'm turning 43 this month and I continue to improve my health and wellness on a daily basis. Every action and every choice I make contributes to it. It is all my fault.