Athlekinetix Blog

Have you or someone you loved ever boasted about  a feat of athletic prowess such as ‘I can run a 7 minute mile’ even if the last time they ran a 7 minute mile was 20 years ago. Ex high school and college athletes are particularly guilty of speaking this way while resting a plate of nachos on their expanding beer bellies. It is sort of like someone who was obese and then went on to lose a tremendous amount of weight, but still looks at themselves in the mirror and sees a fat person staring back. The perceived reality is often quite different from actuality. It is an interesting phenomenon with competitive athletes, in particular, that they always consider themselves one step away from being able to reclaim their physical achievements of the past, even if they never exercised a day since then.

What is so fascinating about this way of thinking, however, is that there is some hidden truth to this. This past weekend Coach Raphael Lima of Midtown Weston Aquatics swam the Miami Open Mile. Basically, this is a mile long swim in the ocean instead of a pool. Why this is noteworthy is he came in second out of over 1000 swimmers and was only 30 seconds shy of coming in first place and beating Gary Hall Jr., a 3 time Olympian and gold medal swimmer.

Raphael, at the peak of his swimming career, was the 7th fastest sprinter in the world and is the current Brazilian world record holder for the 4×100 relay. With this resume, why would I be surprised he almost finished first this past weekend against an Olympian? The truth is Raphael is 28 years old and is not in any way close to being in the shape he was at the height of his swimming career.  In fact, he hasn’t trained seriously in a pool for years. Gary Hall, who won the Miami Open Mile, just this past Olympics in Beijing, was a finalist in the Olympic Trials. Raphael’s recent swimming has consisted of 2 or 3 times a week with adult swimmers who are swimming for recreational exercise. In addition, Raphael has never swam in the ocean before and is not a long distance swimmer. What makes his achievement even more remarkable is he was wearing a “drag suit” which adds extra resistance in the water. He thought he was going to swim this just for fun.

Something happened, though, the second the buzzer went off. The competitive athlete in him that he thought was long ago retired resurfaced in all its glory. All of a sudden, a champion swimmer emerged in the water determined to win gold.

Anyone can be an athlete, if they train like an athlete. And anyone who used to be an athlete can become one again. Raphael’s minor victory in the ocean was a major victory in his mind. He proved to himself that he still has what it takes to win. Better yet, so does everybody who has ever dedicated years of discipline and training to their sport. All Raphael could think at the conclusion of the race was ‘Wow, imagine if I actually started training again.’

If you were an athlete in your past, take this opportunity to wake up the athlete you used to be. Be careful to not expect to be at the top of your game after a very long hiatus. But, instead realize that the athlete you once were never abandoned you. Your body may look and feel different today, but that competitive spirit that once drove your success can be reignited. Look at Dara Torres if you need extra inspiration, a 41 year old Olympic silver medalist with a baby. Train your body as the athlete you once were, and that athlete will re-emerge before your eyes.

What does Darius Rucker, lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish and now chart-topping solo country artist, know about fitness? More than you realize. When their album Cracked Rear View dropped in 1994, it was deemed an overnight sensation and went on to become the 12th best-selling album in music business history.

There are several things interesting about this. First, what the world thought of as ‘overnight success’ and the reality behind the success of the album were quite different. Hootie and the Blowfish had been working day and night for 10 years prior to the release of the album at any gig they could in order to play their music, get heard by as many people as possible, and try to make a dime to cover their expenses. This same principle applies to fitness. When people see someone who has lost weight or transformed their body, it is assumed that it happened overnight. What people were not privy to, however, were the hours of sweat and nutritional discipline required daily to make lasting change possible. Hootie and the Blowfish knew that one day they would be successful because they worked diligently to make that happen. Darius Rucker was interviewed and said, “We just believed in our music.” What they were doing for the previous decade before they struck it big was build the foundation for success one day at a time.

The same goes for your body. Change does not happen instantly. But, if you make the choice every day to lead a healthy life and eat right most of the time and exercise hard most of the time, your body will change. Guaranteed. If you believe in your body, like Hootie and the Blowfish believed in their music, you will be the next overnight sensation.

One of the interesting things that made Hootie and the Blowfish unique was it was a combination of pop, blues, folk, soul, and rock. The diversity of the music made it ‘hard to pigeonhole’ and appealed to a wide demographic as a result. Your exercise program should reflect this same principle. If you are a one trick pony, you better throw in some rock and roll and even a little rap once in a while if you want your body to look different tomorrow than it does today. If people around you can pigeonhole you as a runner, spinner, or weightlifter, you are in danger of being in a fitness rut. Keep your workouts unpredictable and shake things up and you will achieve your fitness goals.

Darius Rucker, after Hootie and the Blowfish, expanded his wings as a solo artist and tipped his hat in R&B. This was met with a lukewarm reception from his fans and his debut album bombed. This too will happen to you from time to time in your fitness endeavors. How many competitive athletes go from being phenomenally fit and at the top of their game and then struggle with weight issues when they retire? Hopefully, Charles Barkley you are reading this right now. Or, if you trained intensely to run a marathon and did all you hoped to do and more, but then never ran another mile in your life, Hootie speaks to you too. It is hard losing weight and keeping it off or being at your athletic best and staying on top. Just like Darius Rucker, you will bomb at some point and want to give up.

Darius Rucker didn’t give up and either will you. In 2008, he transformed himself again into a country singer. His first solo chart single “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It” went on to become the first number one country hit by an African American artist since 1983. Get out of your comfort zone, try something different with your exercise routine, and set new goals for yourself to train for and achieve. The definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. If your mind and body crave a change, do yourself a favor and change the way you eat and exercise.

Pilates has been the rage for several years now with celebrities and the mainstream public alike. Pilates is an excellent form of exercise which can lengthen your muscles, increase your flexibility, and strengthen your core. What Pilates is not, however, is the miracle weight loss wonder that celebrities tout it to be. Who can forget Star Jones on The View losing 100 plus pounds? How did she do it? Pilates, of course (and maybe a little gastric bypass surgery thrown in as well)! Madonna, who is really just one big muscle and exercises constantly, attributes her body to Pilates too. All Pilates, huh? My favorite is Jessica Simpson who was recently thrown under the bus for her most recent weight gain, gave a shout out to Pilates for her new slimmed down physique.

I love Pilates and think it has its place in a well-balanced exercise program. But, for weight loss alone, I find these claims highly unlikely. A complete exercise program for maximum weight loss works your cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength and endurance, balance, flexibility, and core conditioning. An hour of Pilates burns less than 300 calories an hour and does not condition your cardiovascular system at all. Specifically for weight loss purposes, cardiovascular exercise in which your heart rate is elevated needs to be present.

It is a disservice to people desperately struggling to lose weight to see celebrities lie about the means to which they were successful. The fitness magazines are no different with their features success stories of “regular people” who have dropped major pounds. The weight loss myths that are propagated  through these magazine stories are not helpful to the people at home wanting to replicate the successes of what they see in others.

How many times have you seen celebrities, especially, give birth and the next week be thinner than they were when they were pregnant? Besides making me sick, I love the reasons given for their rapid weight loss. It’s always breastfeeding and running after the children that’s responsible for their successes. I breastfed all 3 of my children and run after them all the time. I can personally attest this method of rapid weight loss is a bunch of bunk. By not sharing the truth about their diet and exercise secrets with mainstream America, people are left confused as to why their results aren’t the same when they are doing the same routine that celebrities purportedly do.

In the most recent issue of Shape magazine, there was a weight loss success story where a person lost 70 pounds by “walking to do errands, parking in the furthest spot in the lot, and going up and down the stairs in her house.” Don’t get me wrong, kudos to anyone that loses 70 pounds. But, if you are sitting at home trying to lose 70 or more pounds yourself, DON’T BE FOOLED! It is terrific advice to lead an active life, but if weight loss is your goal, emulating this prescription for success won’t quite cut it.

It astounds me that people of all walks of life are still in the closet about how they truly successfully lost weight and kept it off. In this world of TMI, when people share every nuance of their life with each other, it is a sad reality that people are so private about how they lost weight when it could really make a difference in other people’s lives who are struggling with the same issues. My grandmother always said ‘I was born on a Tuesday, but not last Tuesday.’ We are not dumb. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Lasting weight loss requires a healthy balanced diet and regular moderately intense exercise, the more intense the better. Especially if it’s Pilates!

I couldn’t have made up the existence of the Lingerie Football League if I tried. The fact that the kickoff of the Lingerie Football League fall season was featured on the front page of the Money section of the Sun Sentinel and is expected to have a sell-out crowd in the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise is downright frightening to me on many levels.

First let me quote you exactly what we are dealing with here. I’ll give you a hint. It has as much to do with football as Kentucky Fried Chicken has to do with chicken. “Seven-woman teams will play each other clad in bikini tops, short shorts, and helmets.” Are we sure we’re not talking about Hooters? With team names like Chicago Bliss, this is a football game where poles should replace footballs.

The people that fought tooth and nail for the enactment of Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based on sex for activities, namely sports have to be disgusted by this. The impact of Title IX with girls being able to participate fully in high school and collegiate sports programs has permanently changed the face of athletic departments in this country. Our girls are being raised to know they have the same opportunities as boys to excel in competitive sports and to be fully recognized as female athletes. Then something as demeaning as this comes along.

Fans pay up to $85 a game and fill up an arena that U2 sells out in. It is a 20 week season based on major financial gain. I’m going to go out on a limb on this one and assume these games aren’t intended for men to ‘bring the whole family.’ This means this will be a predominantly male-only crowd cheering wildly for nearly naked women. Sound familiar?

What bothers me most is the charade of this being a football game. Call a spade a spade. Women tackling each other, scantily clad, in front of thousands of screaming horny men doesn’t sound like Monday Night Football to me.

Women have fought long and hard in this country to be viewed as smart, athletic, and qualified as men. Shame on the men who waste their time and money to see glorified porn on the football field and shame on the women ”athletes” of Lingerie Football. For real female athletes who have dedicated their lives to their sport, this is a slap in the face.

It’s interesting that the article about Lingerie Football was in the Money section and not the Sports section of the newspaper. The Sports editors probably saw this and had trouble with the ‘football’ part of Lingerie Football. Surely we’re smart enough to see this is a step backward not only for female athletes, but for the strides women have made and will continue to make in order to be treated fairly in this country.

Justin Timberlake probably did not have President Obama foremost in his mind when he sang about ‘bringing sexy back.’ But, maybe he should have. Recently, the 44th President has not only been described as one of the most intelligent presidents our country has ever had, but also one of the hottest. How many other Presidents have we had or other world leaders for that matter, who have chiseled pecs and sport six-pack abs? We’ve come a long way since the rotundness of Grover Cleveland and William Taft, our country’s fattest Presidents in history.

In fact, many of our past leaders have been downright unhealthy. Obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes have plagued presidents for years. Even in our country’s recent history, President Clinton had open heart surgery after serving his terms in office and Vice President Dick Cheney was a poster boy for heart disease.

President Obama is setting a new standard of health not only for future Presidents, but for all world leaders. Leading by example, he has set the bar high for ordinary citizens like us as well. His dedicated, disciplined approach to exercise is one of the most selfless things he can do as President for our country. President Obama’s approach to fitness is like the safety pitch on airlines that we have heard over and over. “If traveling with small children, place the oxygen mask over your mouth first, and then your child’s.” Airlines know that you are useless in protecting your child from harm if you haven’t taken the safety precautions to allow you to breathe first. President Obama’s 90 minute intense daily workout of running, resistance training, and playing basketball is his way of filling up his oxygen tanks so he can be around to lead our country while in the best mental and physical shape possible.

Exercise is a non-negotiable part of his daily agenda just like security briefings and meeting with world leaders. Shouldn’t it be a non-negotiable in your life too?

The economy must be getting better, because top stories in the news today are about beauty pageant scandals and not about banks going under. The beauty of beauty pageants historically, is they have always been marred by scandal. This is almost more fun than the talent competitions of yesteryear. Who doesn’t remember Vanessa Williams posing nude and losing her crown in the 80s? I bet she’s had the last laugh on that one with her flourishing career on Broadway, TV, and movies.

The most recent brouhaha has to do with a Miss Universe contestant from Australia who was deemed too skinny by judges to continue at 5′11, 108 pounds. I don’t think it takes a genius to figure out that she could benefit from a few extra Big Macs. The judges found her physique to be an impediment to her ability to be a role model to young girls because Miss Universe is an event which promotes “healthy, proportioned bodies.” I love the fact that we are still parading women around as ‘bodies’ to be judged by others on beauty. We have a long way to go with providing role models for young women if beauty is defined so superficially. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for healthy, proportioned bodies over skinny, anorexic ones. But aren’t women ready to be seen as smart, strong, and powerful instead of just pretty?

The underlying story of this scandal I found even more troubling. Pageant Director Deborah Miller defended the contestant by saying she “had Macedonian heritage which accounts for her extreme thinness just like Asian girls tend to be small.” Huh?! Wow, that is not only bizarre and unheard of, but arguably racist at the same time. Maybe the Australian contestant just doesn’t eat. This seems more likely and even more troubling possibility to me than her Macedonian heritage.

As if this wasn’t fun enough, there was an equally big scandal involving Miss California in the Miss USA pageant. She was asked by a judge, who happens to be gay, her opinion of gay marriage and she said “In my country, I believe marriage should be between a man and a woman.” Whatever your personal beliefs, this woman wasn’t the smartest tool in the shed. She didn’t get the rule book on the Q and A section of pageants. Nobody really cares about her opinion about gay marriage or Iraq, for that matter. The interview portion of these pageants is supposed to be a way for pageants to showcase the “intelligence” of the contestants. Who are we kidding?  Bring me back the bad accordion playing and tap dancing any day rather than this charade.

I am offended by both scandals this week because they both objectify women. If you have to starve yourself and parade yourself in front of the world at Miss Universe in order to be told that you are beautiful, I find that very sad. On the other hand, when pageants pretend to be anything but a beauty contest and claim that women are being judged for their minds in addition to their bodies in the “interview,” I find myself incensed. These interviews are patronizing and demeaning. Maybe the real point of them is not to reveal intelligence on behalf of the contestants, but to make me yearn for the godawful swimsuit competition!

The bottom line is there are no good messages that are being conveyed to young girls through beauty pageants. The ‘anorexic look’ with Miss Australia or the ‘too stupid to tow the neutral pageant line look’ with Miss California highlight everything that is wrong with beauty pageants. Maybe instead of blasting contestants for being poor remodels, we should finally do away with beauty pageants altogether.

Earth Day celebrations revolve around tips we can do every day to help save our planet. Recycling, turning off the lights, unplugging chargers to our computers and cell phones when not in use, and low energy light bulbs are just some of the ways to conserve energy and slow down global warming. For the most part, these are not new concepts to anyone by now.

What is new is that losing weight is another way to help reduce the spread of global warming. Recent studies have shown that fatter people contribute more to global warming than thinner people. The new buzzword is ‘carbon footprint.’ People who are a normal, healthy weight have a smaller carbon footprint than people who are overweight.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cite the socioeconomic impact of obesity besides the physical impact. The rationale behind this premise is that heavier people eat more food. Researchers for the CDC found that overweight people “consumed 18% more food energy than thin people.” They also found that more transportation fuel energy was needed in order to support the heavier people traveling in cars, buses, and airplanes. Conclusions from this study showed 3.8 million tons of carbon dioxide resulted from the extra fuel needed for transporting an increasingly obese population.

Is all of this just another fat-bashing tactic to blame overweight people for all of the ills in our society, even going so far as to say they are ruining the world we live in? I hope not. The truth is there are some things all of us, regardless of our weight, can do to create a smaller carbon footprint.

Carpooling to school or work each day is better than everyone driving solo, but walking or biking is even better for our bodies and our planet. Instead of sitting in carpool lanes for a half hour, start and end your day with a family bike ride to and from school.

Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. Consuming less red meat has been found to be beneficial not only to heart health, but also to the health of our environment. Cows emit toxic methane which is a harmful pollutant to our air. When choosing fruits and vegetables, select a wide array of colors. Remember as a general rule, the darker the fruit or vegetable, the better it is for you. There has been a big push recently for eating seasonally. Try to support your local farmers and load up on the foods that are in season. For example, it is conceptually wonderful to be able to eat strawberries in the middle of winter. But, considering strawberries don’t grow up north in January, you know those strawberries have to travel a long distance to get into your bowl of cereal. Minimize this unnecessary fuel consumption by eating foods when they are locally grown near you.

The bottom line is losing weight and being healthy are important. The fact that global warming is now added to the list of reasons you should lose weight is perhaps a bit unfair. We all should do our part to protect our planet for generations to come. If eating healthily and exercising more can benefit our environment, than this seems as no-brainer as recycling paper and plastic. If a new dress size wasn’t extrinsically motivating enough for you to lose weight, perhaps saving our world will be just the right motivation.

Weighted vests have been around for a while and have been popular for training firefighters and competitive athletes. For firefighters, training with this extra weight not only mimics the weight they have to carry on the job but also enables them to increase their cardiovascular and muscular endurance. Athletes train with weighted vests intermittently in order to become faster and stronger in the sports they compete in. The idea behind them is that exercising with extra weight fools the body into thinking you are heavier than you are so that when you compete without the extra weight, you will have more speed and endurance.

Weighted vests make sense for these two populations. The question becomes are they a valuable exercise tool to have in your arsenal as well? The positive side of weighted vests is that they arguably cause you to work harder and burn more calories and you probably will do both if you exercise with one. However, for me, I think the negatives outweigh the positives for use of these vests for the mainstream exerciser.

I actually own a weighted vest and exercised with it on and off for a year. I used it for walking and running and have since come to the conclusion that there are other ways to work hard and burn more calories without subjecting your body to the downside of the weighted vest. These are the problems I found with it.

The first issue I had with the weighted vest had to do with vanity. It seems petty, but true nonetheless. If you are not exercising as part of a team or firefighter department and you are wearing this vest outdoors or in a gym to exercise whereby you are the only one donning this weighted vest, you will feel  slightly odd and have a sense that you are drawing unwanted attention from people around you. This is not an inconspicuous accessory. Be prepared for stares and questions from strangers.

Another problem I had with the vest is it puts unnecessary strain on your joints for no reason. Don’t get me wrong, the weighted vest runs circles around the 80’s craze of people wearing weighted wrist weights and ankle weights. Those were an orthopedist’s dream for the stress they put on joints. Even though the weight with the vests is more evenly distributed around your torso and is similar to the extra weight your body would carry if overweight; your knees, hips, and ankles are still not stress free. Extra weight whether manufactured or real puts extra burdens on your joints when exercising. The idea of exercise is to lose weight in order to preserve your joint health, not add weight which will create future problems with your knee, hips, or ankles.

Proper fitting of the weighted vests, especially for women, was a concern of mine as well. The vests are sized in general sizes, but are not custom made for your exact body type. There are adjustable straps, but it is difficult to get a tight fit, free of gaps, without chafing issues. If you are running with a weighted vest that is too loose, your body will compensate for this imbalance which will put a strain on your muscles and joints. If on the other hand, you adjust the vest for as snug a fit as possible, the straps are irritating on your bare skin and the vest can restrict your breathing as well. This should not feel like a corset. The problem with this vest, if you are a lone exerciser, is that tightening or loosening the straps is difficult in order to get the ideal fit. Also, with the addition of sweat these vests become not only slightly nasty but more uncomfortable to exercise in.

I ultimately hung up my vest, but that is not to say that it doesn’t occasionally have a place in your world of exercise. I found that it was ultimately safer for my joints and body to work harder and burn more calories by upping the intensity and duration of my exercise rather than exercise with a weighted vest.  You decide what’s right for you.

There are two distinct camps of runners, treadmill runners and outdoor runners. Running on the treadmill and on the road have their advantages and disadvantages. But, the reality is in order for a running program to be comprehensive in distance and speed, both should be incorporated in your workout. Even for the diehard outdoor runner, there are times when training on a treadmill is a necessary evil.

If the weather outside is prohibitive, it is better to train on an indoor treadmill than subject yourself to extreme weather which will ultimately compromise the integrity of your run and potentially even your health. In addition, if you want to be a faster runner, there is no better piece of equipment than a treadmill to aid you in increasing your speed. Doing speed work on the treadmill will translate into faster runs on the road for you in the long run.

Unfortunately, one of the biggest complaints of running on the treadmill is the overwhelming boredom which makes running arduous and painful. You quit prematurely on the treadmill because you can instantly, by the push of a button. Furthermore, because it is impossible to be stranded far from your car or home if you are running on a treadmill, the ability to quit with no consequences makes quitting even a more appealing option.

The ability to stay motivated on a treadmill is extra challenging because you are not physically going anywhere. With treadmill running the visual cues and distractions of the outside are completely absent. In spite of this, there are some tricks you can use to fool your mind on the treadmill in order to help keep you running without going crazy. 

Studies have shown that watching yourself in a mirror can make your run faster and easier. I don’t know about that one unless you are narcissistic like myself! But, I’m game for trying anything that promises ease and speed. The key here is to be distracted by outside diversions when running on a treadmill, especially if distance is involved. Where running outside can be a time of quiet contemplation, treadmill running almost requires music or television to help pass the time. Watching the numbers turn on a treadmill is like watching water boil. I guarantee you water boils faster. If you are running a long distance on a treadmill, cover the numbers with a towel. This will make you think you are going further than you really are.

I have a friend that saves podcasts of her favorite shows for treadmill running only. She only gives herself permission to listen if she is running on the treadmill. It is also fun sometimes to play with the speed and incline of the treadmill to create an intense interval workout. Maybe start out the first mile or two at a slower pace and then for the next mile, increase the intensity a tenth of a mile every minute. Another possibility after warming up at a comfortable pace is to go at an extraordinarily challenging pace for you for one minute and then lowering it back down to your original pace for another minute. Keep this dynamic going for 20 or 25 minutes and you will have run a punishing pace for half of that time, a pace you wouldn’t have been able to sustain for a continuous period of time. Another great way to incorporate the treadmill, especially if you really hate it, is to create a circuit workout using the treadmill. Run for ten minutes, stair step for 10 minutes, and row for 10 minutes and then repeat. This way you haven’t abandoned running, you’ve just changed it up.

Before you abandon the treadmill entirely, take advantage of the accuracy of distance and pace that it provides by creating challenging workouts for yourself at the touch of a hand. If done right, incorporating treadmill runs into your workout, will make you a faster and stronger runner on the road.

It used to be when you heard of knee or hip replacement surgery, you thought of an 80 year old with severe arthritis. This is far from the case today. In fact, knee replacements are expected to increase 525% by the year 2030 and hip replacements are expected to double from 285,000 to 573,000.

Arthritis and old age are still reasons for this radical surgery, but there are many other reasons that people of all ages should pay attention to. The average age of joint replacement surgery keeps getting younger and younger. A primary reason for this is obesity. Even being overweight and not morbidly obese puts unnecessary continuous strain on your joints. Regardless of age, if you are overweight you are twice as likely to develop arthritis in your knees and hips which could lead to future joint replacement surgery. Studies have shown that for every pound of weight you lose, ‘you are taking 3-5 pounds of weight off of a bad joint.’ Exercise is critical in not only helping you lose weight, but in preserving your joint health as well.

Another reason joint replacement surgery is becoming more common in people in their 40’s to 60’s is actually a positive one. People are living longer than ever and are leading more physically active lives than ever before. Being sidelined because of a bum knee or hip at 90 is different than at 50. It is a great reflection of health in the middle age demographic when people are putting their ability to stay in shape as a priority for their later years. Knee and hip replacement surgery is a godsend in this regard. It is adding quality not just quantity to people’s lives.

That said, however, it is often these physically active lives that are another cause for joint replacement. Overtraining, lack of cross training, and ignoring joint pain and injury are all causes for knee and hip problems in the non-elderly. The ‘more is more’ philosophy to exercise is taking a toll on your joints. Impact exercises like running every day for years with no break, adversely affect your joints even if you are in excellent cardiovascular health. It is important to listen to your body and intersperse your impact training with strength, flexibility, and balance training. Incorporating yoga into your workout regimen will help immensely with stretching and flexibility.

Knee and hip replacement surgery gives many people a new lease on life and an ability to be active for years to come. But, by maintaining a healthy weight and being kind to your joints in the way that you exercise, hopefully this surgery will prove unnecessary for you in your lifetime.