Week 5 - Your Workout is a Metaphor for Life

Hello Readers! Before I get into the meat of my topic today, I would like to share with you three pictures.

The first picture is me (circa 1981) taken in high school. I had the prototypical 80's look - big glasses and big hair. The photographer actually told me I looked like I was in an ornery mood. You would not want to know what was going on inside that big head of hair. Teenage angst? Maybe. Or it could be gas.

The second picture is me, when I joined TD Bank. It was 11 years ago this week that I was hired by the Wealth Management division of TD Bank. This was the photo on my security badge. Two things to note about me: 1) I had an eerie resemblance to Harry Potter with the prominent glasses. Yup, I actually wore them. 2) I carried extra weight on my face, forcing a double chin effect.









In my third picture, an almost miraculous change. I finally dropped the oversized shades, most of my hair is still there, and the double chin is no longer there and my face became tighter. Any tighter and people would think I was taking botox injections.

The point of all of this is to stress two points: 1) If Harry Potter had committed a murder 11 years ago and became a fugitive, you would not have been able to find him today, and 2) You can definitely realize life changing benefits when you commit to a regularly scheduled fitness program of exercise and eating right (most of the time!).

There are many lessons that you can learn from your extra-curricular pursuits that you can apply to the more structured areas of your life (say, your career and your family life).

For example:

1. The pickup hockey game can be a metaphor for life


2. The youth leadership program can be a metaphor for life


3. Overcoming a health problem can be a metaphor for life


4. And ... a weight loss and fitness program can also become a metaphor for life.

This is what my trainer alluded to when we were talking this week. In this space, I want to draw that connection between lessons I learned while engaged in a weight loss and fitness program and how they relate to my personal and working life. There are several virtues that I'm enhancing that are transferable to my next career, whatever that will be. These are qualities that make you a winner in the eyes of your peers.

Let's examine them:

Persistence - When I set a health-related goal for myself (lose 30 lbs) and then developed an carry out a plan to achieve it (i.e. lose weight or planning to see my abs pop out), I'm doing all that I can without giving up on my plans. With the goal that I firmly set in your mind, I also have an image of a vibrant, healthy person in my mind. I want to be that person and I'll do all I can to be that person. I'm not going to give up at any cost, because that goal is meaningful to me.

Those same virtues can be exercised in the context of my working life. I want to carve out a career change and I'll do all that I can using the same principles that I bring to my time in gym after work.

Consistency - My efforts toward my weight loss must be scheduled. It is not much good if I say I will workout 3 times this week and I only make it to the gym one day during the week. It is more effective to make a date with the gym by scheduling in my calendar, not by verbally etching the dates in my head. I work with a trainer 3 evenings a week (Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings). I'm not a morning person. How many bloggers do you know are really morning people? If for some reason one of the dates falls through then I reschedule on another day and place it in my calendar.

When I talk about consistency, not only am I talking about similar schedules week to week, I'm also referring to consistent effort during the time I'm at the gym on a given night. As my trainer said, there are nights when I may not feel as good for some reason or another, but my effort must be the best that I can possibly give, given the circumstances.

Again, I can take the same lesssons here and apply them to my working life. If I'm to be successful in my working life, I must bring a consistent approach to work everyday to get results. My mission is to make a career change, but I must perform with consistency now with what I do today.

Communicating effectively - If my fitness goals are to progress as smoothly as planned, I must communicate effectively with my trainer. This means simply telling him where I feel pain or muscle strain after an exercise, or even if I don't feel strain. It also means telling him what I think works or what doesn't work. If I'm feeling a burn after leg extensions due to a build up of lactic acid, he needs to know this so that he can help me in developing an effective exercise plan. Reaching my fitness goals requires more than just following what he tells me to do. I must also communicate effectively with him so that he knows that the workout is, in fact, working.

Again, moving to the workplace, if I'm to be successful, I must exercise open and sometimes candid communication with managers. Open communication is effective, because it eliminates the fear of saying something that may ultimately open the doors and clear a misunderstanding.

Inspiring others - You may not believe it, but I intentionally go to the gym with one of my intentions being to inspire others around me. I feel that my mission is to be a guiding light to others who live a physical disability and God has given me the gifts to make this a reality. I bring a strong work ethic to my workouts and I believe the others see that.

Moving that ability to inspire others to the workplace can have the same effects. When I demonstrate to others my effective communication skills, I'm also demonstrating my leadership potential to the organization. My goal is to untap that potential and make more use of it to inspire others to personal greatness.

Overcoming obstacles - I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude and accomplishment when I master an exercise movement that was once considered almost impossible. Squats are a very good exercise because they effectively strengthen the muscles in your core. Before I started working with my trainer, I could barely bend my legs while standing ... then I put my hands on the back of a bench and then bent down ... then I began supporting my squats by hanging on to a pole and then squating until my gym shorts barely touched the seat ... now I'm squating with only one hand hanging on to the pole. So you can see that a move that I once considered almost impossible is now POSSIBLE given the right approach!!

Obstacles in the workplace can also be conquered with the same approach. They can't be resolved right away in some cases, but with a thoughtful plan in place, most obstacles can be eradicated over a period of time. I sit on the Employment Equity Council committee at my workplace, TD Bank. For years, companies like mine have struggled with accommodating the needs of their employees who live with physical disabilities. For example some of the staff need to have their workstations redesigned to help them manage their space in the office more effectively. Also, some staff who are sight impaired need to work with computers that allow them to view their work properly. Fortunately, these barriers are being torn down, but it doesn't happen overnight. The obstacles toward achieving an all-inclusive workplace are slowly being overcome, but it requires persistence, consistent effort, effective communication, inspiration (and some perspiration!!) to make it a reality.

I firmly believe that often the best and the most talented workers to be applied to a given project are those on the outside looking in. They are considered undiscovered talent only because they either can't make it through the front door of the office because of building structural barriers or because we fail miserably at understanding their needs and demonstrating compassion in realizing that they have a lot of expertise to share. Let us all work together to ensure that we are all given the same level of playing field to make use of our talents no matter the obstacles.

God bless all of you.

Week 4 - Why am I Doing This?

It's almost one month into my new fitness routine and already feeling better and hearing the compliments from folks.
I'll just keep eating those Tim Horton's cookies - more about that later! My favourite vice. They should be the cornerstone of a well balanced diet. I can see it now, my readers will be sending me boxes of Tim Horton's cookies to my office.

Sometimes I ask myself, "Why am I doing this?" It's a rhetorical question, but it begs a serious response. Why not just go home after work and park myself down in front of the TV and eat cheezies? A long time ago, I used to do that. I used to fall asleep in front of the TV and wake up well past midnight feeling groggy. The next day I would wake up feeling fatigued and empty inside. My weight had ballooned to 240 lbs, and while I was not in any immediate danger health wise, my blood pressure had risen in a fairly stressful job and was starting to go on medication.

Recently, I jotted down some responses to the question "Why am I doing this?"
Here is what I wrote .....

1. To add years to my life and life to my years - By putting in time at the gym now and building my stamina, I may not notice the benefits now, but certainly it should translate into a longer more rewarding years down the road. Spina Bifida is not a debilitating disability, but as I age, things are more likely to go wrong for me. My kidneys may malfunction, arthritis could set in leaving me to rely on walking aids such as wheelchair or a walker. Kidney malfunction is one of the leading causes of death in people with SB (Spina Bifida). By increasing my flexibility now through a consistent exercise program, there is a chance I can at least delay the impact of wear and tear on my body. I read on the Internet that people with Spina Bifida can live fairly normal lives, but their quality of life is only with them until they reach their 60's. I don't necessarily agree with that. I also have learned that my birth was well timed. Prior to the 1960's child with SB had a much lower rate of survival. I was inspired by a story I read about a lady in her 70's who had SB and was an accomplished pianist and recently parachuted from a plane. I have also read about a young man who was born with SB, but is now a successful personal fitness trainer and entrepreneur.
2. To make myself appear more youthful - I'm sure that it goes without saying that people who are fit will always look younger than their real age. Why look 45 when you can project the youthful enthusiasm of someone 20 years younger. For me, I call it Middle Age Crisis. But middle age crisis doesn't have to be a bad thing. There is nothing silly about delaying the aging process.


3. To increase my mobility - Everyone with SB could benefit from having more mobility to carry out everyday tasks that others may take for granted. This afternoon I tried to pick up a large pot of mums and carry them from the backyard to the front of the house by the stairs. I had difficulties keeping my balance while squatting down to pick them up and walk.


4. To appear attractive to others - When you watch your diet and weight and maintain an admirable level of fitness given your own life situation, you will be attractive to others. Physical looks have little to do with attractiveness, but when you are physically fit from the inside out, you are attractive to others. No if's, and's, or but's. If you look after yourself the natural way, you will be rewarded for your efforts. People will eventually compliment you for your appearance, as I was today. There is no vanity in making yourself look attractive to others, especially when the compliments come out of nowhere from people of the opposite sex LOL :) A few weeks ago a lady working at the desk in the fitness club called me "handsome." It made me think. It may have been a simple compliment, but a compliment to prop someone up is a powerful confidence builder.


5. To enjoy good food - When you workout regularly, your reward would be to eat your favourite food without worrying about the consequences. Life should not be about deprivation. For me, Saturday is my day to relax a little bit more and enjoy eating some foods that are probably more calorie-rich. My vice is those chewy gourmet cookies at Tim Horton's. After my Toastmasters meeting today I walked down to Tim Horton's at Dundas and had two of those nice, chewy, delicious chocolate chunk cookies - guilt-free, because I know I'll be back on track the next day.


6. To prosper - It's well known that people who are considered physically fit for their ability live prosperous, rich lives. Now, I'll leave it up to you to form your own definition of prosperity, but if you took a survey of all the folks who owned a gym membership and exercised on a consistent basis, you'll find the large number of those folks are successful entrepreneurs, people working in management level in a Fortune 500 company, or people who live otherwise successful, balanced lives.
   

Before I close this week, I wanted to comment on the importance of maintaining a good attitude when you face adversity in tasks in your professional and working life, and especially toward your fitness program.

About five years ago when I joined the club where I still presently workout, I had a personal trainer work with me for about 10 sessions to familiarize myself with the equipment. Although I had set some goals for myself then, looking back I was not ready for the experience. Perhaps I didn't know what I really wanted. I didn't push myself beyond my comfort zone and I either canceled out sessions last minute or came late. In other words, I needed an "attitude check."

This time around when I began working with a trainer, I vowed that I would not fail this time. After 16 weeks, I wanted to look back on this experience and proclaim that I was successful in reaching the goals I set out before me. When I trainer asks me to do 15 repetitions, I wanted to do it. If he asks me to do 5 more, I'll do it, no questions asked, because the difference between 15 and 20 repetitions could be a huge benefit to me.

When you carry a wholesome attitude with you and apply yourself to each and every challenge, you cannot fail!

Week 3 - Realizing What Doesn't Work

I'm not a newbie to exercise in the gym. That much you know by now. However, my progress toward my goals would have been more steady had I known then what I know now. What are my goals? I guess I should try to quantify them as much as possible. Hey, I'm analytical by nature and I work in a numbers business, for what it's worth.

If I were to set goals, I could say the following:

• To lose 25 lbs by December 31st
• To lose 5% body fat by December 31st

But I don't know if they are reasonable goals .... Perhaps you, the reader, could provide some input and inspiration here.

In my space here this weekend I would like to give you the flip side - to provide you with a litany of advice to show you what won't work if I'm to make progress to my fitness goals. Now I'm not going to suggest that everything I've done in the past 7 years has been met with total failure. Actually, I've done a lot right, having lost 50 lbs since the age of 37.

Here is my top ten list of things that haven't worked:

1. Consuming too many foods rich in carbohydrates toward the end of the day. After a workout, it is important to eat a snack rich in proteins to repair muscle fibres.
2. Not performing my exercises with a full range of motion. If you don't carry out your repetitions utilizing a full range of motion from beginning of a rep to the end, you are likely only performing half of an exercise or less, and only receiving half the benefit.
3. Avoiding exercises on the body parts that are my "weak link." For example, my weak link, of course, are my legs. In the past I would place more emphasis on upper body exercise and cardio. I would get defensive about leg exercises because of the strain placed on other parts of the body. However, if I learn to do leg exercises safely, I can eliminate that fear.
4. Those exercise gadgets you find on the Home Shopping Club. Some of them are OK, but most of them are junk and a waste of money. There have been so many gadgets produced to work your abs that the advertisments have become tiresome and a clique. I have this large abdominal machine at home that is supposed to work my abs. Instead, it takes up too much space in my house because I can't fold it down and store it away. It makes a great drying rack for laundry, though.
5. Daydreaming between sets. I used to spend too much time at the gym reliving events at work. I learned to leave my work issues at work.
6. Spending too much time at the gym. When I didn't see results I would just put more time in at the gym. I shouldn't be a slave to the gym, as the gym is there to help me reach my personal goals.
7. Using exercise machines that could be unsafe for me. I have used the stairmaster because it made me sweat readily and because it is a tough workout; however, it started to place some unsafe strain my back. Eventually, I backed off on it, and now I'm not using it at all, for now anyway.
8. Staying with the same routine for too long. It is good to be patient with a workout routine, but how patient when you don't see results over time?
9. Not getting enough sleep the night before. When I was younger, I could get by on much less sleep. However, as I get older, ample rest between routines takes on greater importance. I find that when I don't sleep well the night before, my exercise routines are simply not very effective. I tend to lack the necessary intensity. I'm turning up the AC when I have to now.
10. Waiting sports on the TV at the gym. I have often caught myself easing up on the elliptical trainer to watch a critical 5 minute stretch of play during a hockey game. With the Blue Jays and the Leafs playing below expectations, I find myself caring less about them, so maybe this a good thing.

With the guidance provided by my trainer I'm learning better workout habits and looking forward to finally seeing results as I press on the next several months. Cheers to good health!

Week 2 - Getting the right form

Just completed my first full week of my new and exciting exercise program - Tuesday, Thursday and Friday night!

Personal stats:
Age: 45
Height: 5" 8.5'
Weight: 192 lbs (hey, my home scale says only 188 - what gives?)
Body fat - 35%

Have you ever heard of the saying "No pain, no gain?" In some respects I suppose it is true. Right now, I'm feeling muscle pain that I have never felt before. Whenever I sit down I feel it in my thighs and in my butt. The quads are probably one of the largest muscles in the body, so I'm expecting some great gains down the road ........ but patience, I need patience. Actually, it is not so much pain, as it is just an ache. It hurts only when I sit down.

I went to a store this afternoon where prices were slashed up to 80% off. Now, I really hate shopping and would rather make all of my purchases on the Internet if I had a choice. But my mother thought that I really needed new pants and finally convinced me to check out this warehouse clearance centre.

Well, I came and left pant-less ... I mean, I didn't buy any pants after all. The trip to the store was not in vain. I learned that I have now dropped from a size 42 to size 36 within one year. So what's the point in buying new pants? Especially when I continue to drop pant sizes.

Now, enough about being pant-less and more on the subject of muscle ache. It appears that the reason for the muscle ache is that under the patient guidance of my trainer at Good Life Fitness Club I'm finally learning proper form and technique in my exercise program. For years I was afraid to push myself in my leg exercises and for my other exercises my form and technique definitely needed work.

With a positive attitude and commitment I will develop better exercise form habits. Form is everything! If my form continues to be poor, I ask myself what's the point in dedicating myself to 3-4 nights a week at the gym? When form is effective, you can workout less and workout smarter.

Getting the right form in my exercise routine is similar to the level of dedication that a professional athlete must achieve in order to be the best in their chosen sport. For example, a baseball player must learn the mindset of constantly adjusting their form to be able to hit major league pitching. The little things like standing too far back in the batters box, holding the shoulders too high and even stance can greatly impact the batter's ability to hit the ball, not to mention their batting statistics.

The same is true of a person when they train at the gym. Not pulling the chest out, not looking up and not breathing properly can greatly impact their training success and goals, whatever they may be. I could also go on and list other faults. In some cases, bad form and technique can also lead to injury.

Parts of my legs, especially my feet, are numb due to paralysis as a result of being born with spina bifida. If I have bad form in my leg exercises I may never know. I won't feel much pain and that is rather scary.

So you see why form is sooooooooooo important. Now enough on form. I think I have beaten this baby to death - right?

Let's briefly talk about food choices before I close this week.

As mentioned, when it comes to working out, form is everything. But when it comes to everything you do from the moment you wake up in the morning to moment you go to sleep at night, the state of your diet is said to be 80% of you.

In other words, there is no point in working out at the gym if your diet is not where it should be. I know this well. I have experienced it. I lost my first 50 lbs by just exercising regularly and without any conscious effort on improving my diet. However, it has become apparent that if I'm to reach my desired weight, I have to pay more attention to my diet.

The reason for my weight being stuck in a long, long plateau could be two-fold: 1) Up until now, I haven't pushed myself hard enough on the weights and 2) I'm consuming the wrong nutritional food groups at the wrong time of the day. We more or less touched on the first reason earlier in this blog. Lets look at the second reason.

For some reason, I like to eat cold cereal for breakfast and then I also like to eat another bowl when I get home from my workout in the evening. Most cold cereals have high protein composition, which is good. Protein helps to build and repair muscles after workouts. However, cold cereals are also high in carbohydrates. Carbohydrates provide the body with energy to carry out the day's activities and demands. They are good in the morning for breakfast, but not necessarily as desirable in the evening in a snack. After all, why do you need the energy that carbohydrates provide the body when you are just winding down for the night?

Therefore, it was recommended to me that if I wanted a good choice for an evening snack that I try cottage cheese. It is an excellent source of protein and, as mentioned earlier, protein builds muscle fibers and repairs muscle strain after a workout. Personally, until last night, I had never eaten cottage cheese in my entire life, and I thought I would gag on it . It was recommended to me that I try the fruit bottom cottage cheese by Nordica. Well, when I ate some last night, I must confess that it tasted almost like fruit yogourt. You know, I can actually learn to like cottage cheese, just like a future good friend that was recommended to me but I shunned him or her because they weren't to my liking at the time.

Well, that's enough on food talk for today. I'm sure that I will talk more about food choices in the near future as I learn about them.

If you are interested in knowing, my choices of topics each week will be based on recurring themes that I encounter every week in my fitness journey and through knowledge passed on by my trainer.

Talk to you later!

Week 1 - Starting Over

This entry, almost two months from the last one, brings with it a message of rebirth for me.

After eight years of working out at the gym with essentially the same workout plan with some tweeking, I'm starting over. When I stepped into a gym for the first time, I was carrying around almost 250 lbs and my blood pressure was very, very high.

Since then, I have watched my weight drop almost 60 lbs and my blood pressure is now well within control. I still have some weight that I would like to take off, but I'm sure it will come off.

My new goal is to work on a new fitness plan to maintain my mobility as I age. I really believe that I cannot be of service to my friends and family unless I'm at my best. I'm at my best when my fitness level affords me the opportunity to help others in their times of need.

Am I going through a mid life crisis? Perhaps the tell-tale signs are there ... over 40, searching for youth ... But I firmly believe there is more potential for improvement in how my body functions. While most people living with the form of spina bifida I have are using wheelchairs and other walking aids to get around, I still am very functional. I no longer take that for granted and I see it as a gift from God. I want to take this gift and use it to improve the lives of others around me who live with physical disabilities. I'm still not sure how I want to do this, but my answer will come in time.

Perhaps my speaking and writing background will open a door for me some day.

This week I began a 16 week program with a personal trainer to help me achieve that increased mobility that will serve me well as I age. I don't fear aging, but I do fear having to watch my body debilitate. I want to rediscover some of the mobility that I had when I was in my 20's. I don't want to have to rely on a wheelchair and grow fat!!

Over the next 16 weeks I will use this space to take you through my workout plan as I rediscover my mobility, increase my strength, raise my stamina and hopefully shed some more pounds along the way. I hope that as I strengthen my core muscles, I can take some pressure off my joints.

My old workout plan was no longer serving me and this week I began working with my personal trainer on some new goals.

In my first session, he assessed my capabilities by taking me through some workout moves that I normally would have used in my time spent in the gym. I was encouraged by the fact that I seemed to manage everything that was expected of me.

During my second session that week, I acknowledged that my quadriceps were sore. I cannot ever recall a time when my legs developed muscle soreness. Usually when my legs were sore it was a form of joint soreness that was with me for days on end. It must have coem from the lunges and squats that were asked of me. In the past, I never bothered with lunges and squats because I didn't think I could do them properly. I was afraid I may hurt myself.

At the end of the week, I learned some valuable lessons:

1. I needed to raise my fitness plan to a new level if I was to realize my goal of increasing my mobility and strength.
2. There is some untapped potential for developing more strength in my legs.
3. If I was to be successful in reaching my goal, I had to learn to communicate effectively with my trainer.