Father & Son Warrior Dash

In August I ran in a 5K Warrior Dash with my 2 sons, John and James. You can read the complete story here in a published newspaper column. It was a hoot!

DigiFit Testimonial

Check out my glowing testimonial about DigiFit, the fitness app I use on my iPhone 6 for all of my Beach Body workouts.

Getting my back into P90X

In April 2012, weighing in the mid-150s and in good cardiovascular condition but with no muscle tone to speak of, I began Tony Horton’s P90X. I had been doing some light weight training at the gym where I am a member but nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to embark upon. The first month was grueling. I awoke every morning with stiff and painful muscles in literally every part of my body. But somewhere around day 65 or so, I started seeing results. I finished the program and took a few weeks off to rest – and then I started the program all over again… and again for the third time. This past June I took two weeks off for my annual hike through the Peruvian Andes. Upon my return, I began P90X2, finished that and then went back and started P90X again – for the fourth time. I am now in the 7th week and loving it. Meeting with the gang on DVD every morning has become a regular part if my day. They have become my workout buddies. Mondays usually involves an hour of chest and back exercises – push ups and pull ups – of every variety (see the schedule above) until you’re so dizzy you’re almost blind. But the results on this soon-to-be 59-year old are satisfactory although admittedly the transformation has been slow to come about. The old Nike ad reminds me “There is no finish line.” And the importance of establishing a daily exercise regime has become a priority in my life. Check out my recent newspaper column, Confused about your weight? Ask a personal trainer, that appeared in North Jersey’s Sunday, December 15 Suburban Trends. 

 

Think you’re fit? Stand up!

My column published yesterday in North Jersey Media Group’s Suburban Trends deals with the topic of standing up – literally. You can be in the best shape of your life, “killing yourself” by exercising strenuously every day but if you sit at a desk for more than 6 hours, you are literally killing yourself. For me the solution was that I sold my big, comfy executive desk and bought a stand up desk. You may just need to get up and move around more. But do something other than sit around and vegetate like a couch potato.

Not all elliptical trainers are created equal

When I’m coasting during a week of “rest” from the normal daily weight training regimen, I’ll still go to the gym and spend anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour on an elliptical trainer. As long as there’s something interesting to watch on one of the overhead TVs, I could go on and on. But not all ellipticals are created equal. In our gym, the standard elliptical machine rarely gets my heart rate out of the 120s. I barely break a sweat despite pushing the setting up to 15/20 and choosing a challenging program. So I have given up wasting my time on a standard elliptical and instead have started cardio workouts on something more challenging, like the Precor EFX 5761. Check out the results I logged today using my MIO Alpha heart rate monitor watch synched to DigiFit. You can see from the graph of my heart rate the two “mountains” I climbed in this challenging program. And it was a good calorie burn too.

Finishing P90X2 at last!

It was back on June 24 that I began my journey through P90X-2. As a 3-time graduate of P90X, I thought I knew what to expect but the “2” program was completely different. Lots of different moves, many off balance. Different types of stretching. Longer warm-ups, three phases, weeks long that were completely different from each other. And almost every exercise involving the core. This is week one of rest. I’ll take another, possibly two until resuming my own program – a mixture of the original P90X with its traditional stretching and heavier emphasis on weight training – and P90X2, taking from that program what I liked. But get ready! P90X-3 is coming in December!

    

What is the goal of exercise? Or is it simply its own goal?

While out on my road bike yesterday I had lots of time while pedaling through a hilly, 18-mile course to ponder the question, why do I exercise? For me that answer is multi-faceted: For longevity, a better quality of life, to look better, to improve my strength, endurance and flexibility, to have more energy especially for my young, 9 and 11-year old daughters. But there’s more. I have been faithfully dedicating myself to this regimen of exercise for so long that it has actually become something I enjoy for itself. In other words the means has become the end. But not completely. Once a year I spend 2 weeks trekking through the Andes Mountains in Peru working side-by-side with indigenous Quechua missionaries in the work of New Testament distribution. As you may imagine, trekking from one Quechua village to another in the Peruvian Andes requires great endurance and cardio-vascular capacity. So my exercise regimen indeed has a spiritual component. I recently uploaded a short, 11-minute video of our trek through the Cordillera de Huayhuash last June. You may view it by clicking this link. 

Ahhhh… about those “cheat meals”

I am dedicated to follow a strict regimen of monitoring daily calories consumed and burned through exercise using the Lose It! app as well as recording protein/fat/carbohydrate ratios. I almost never allow myself a “cheat meal” – OK – Thanksgiving and Christmas perhaps. But for me a “cheat meal” doesn’t consist of sweets i.e. cookies, cake, ice cream etc. nor do I gorge myself on huge portions. Maybe I’ll eat a little more of the good stuff or eat it prepared in a way that I otherwise don’t normally do. Last week we hosted missionary-friends from Peru in our home for 5 days. Of course we took them to the Peruvian section in town where we all enjoyed Peruvian cuisine including tostones (fried plantains) chicharrones de pescado (fried pieces of fish) and fried yucca (like French fries but yucca is not a potato but a starchy vegetable.) There was so much food on my plate that I shared a third, ate a third and took a third home for the next day. And I suppose that’s the best way to “cheat” – in moderation. (When I got on the scale on Monday morning I hadn’t gained a pound!)

“There is no finish line”

Last night “PAP Upper” was on the schedule for P90X2. My wife had a meeting at school so I was home alone with the girls. “Oh daddy can we do P90X with you?” My older daughter asked. “Sure,” I answered, “But it’s a tough workout. Think you can handle it?” Stupid me! They more than handled it. While I did pull-ups using a band, my older daughter did real pull-ups on a chin-up bar. We had a great time together encouraging each other. The ease with which they completed the workout reminded me how much youth is a factor in being in shape. Nevertheless, being fit in your 50s is what this blog is all about. And like that old Nike advertisement reminds me: “There is no finish line.”

Healthy pancakes – seriously!

P90X creator Tony Horton has commented on people who eat pancakes for breakfast: “They blob on the butter and cover them with syrup – that’s not breakfast it’s a birthday cake! Why not go ahead and put a candle on it!” I have a better idea; improve the pancake and chuck the butter and the syrup. Here’s how. Combine in a blender; 4 cups of instant oatmeal, 4 scoops of vanilla whey protein powder and a tablespoon each of baking powder and baking soda. Mix at lowest speed until all solids are blended and the oatmeal has been reduced to a flour-like consistency (about 1-2 minutes.) In a separate bowl combine 4 mashed very ripe bananas – the softer the better – 1 cup of vanilla or strawberry no-fat Greek yogurt, 1 cup of liquid egg whites, 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract and 1 cup of either Skim Milk Plus or fat-free vanilla almond milk. Using an electric hand-held mixer slowly blend the solid mixture with the liquid until it is smooth. Cook batter on a non-stick pan or a non-stick electric pancake skillet set to 325 degrees; 4 minutes per side. They’re great with almond butter, peanut butter and sugar-free Smucker’s preserves or a little honey. So good you’ll want to slap your grandmother! (Keep them refrigerated until ready to eat and heat in a microwave. They go pretty quickly in our house but I’ve taken a dozen with me on vacation and they remained fresh for a week.

(Nutritional information: Each pancake contains approximately 116 calories; 1.4 g fat, 17.6 g carbohydrates 8.3 g protein.)