Please tell me I am wrong!

I have now been with the VA’s MOVE program for about 4 months, and I am ready to quit! When I signed up for this, it sounded really good, and the name, MOVE, implies action, but, so far, all I have seen or heard, are discussions on portion size, and hearing questions and answers that are just so absolutely basic, I feel like I have stepped into an elementary school classroom! I am sorry, common sense will tell you, fried chicken is worse than boiled chicken, fresh green beans are better than canned, and steaming them in water, is better than sauteing them in butter, simple stuff, right?

When I signed up, I had some sort of fantasy that the group really wanted to MOVE and get results, that we could go to the gym, even a fitness center, something, but no, the big MOVE event for next month is a walk in the park, literally, well, ok, that is some sort of action, but, unfortunately for me, the ROI is not worth it. What I mean is, I can only walk a very short distance, like maybe 100 yards, before the pain is so intense I have to sit. However, if it is to walk into the gym, then sit on a bench, do an exercise that actually does something besides get your shoes dirty, it would be worth it. Walking or standing are the two things I have to limit, I only can walk so far, total in one day, or I am stuck on the sofa for a day or two! If we were going to the gym, the benefits of that type of exercise, would make up for the pain, I would be getting a Return On my Investment, just walking, all I get is the pain and zero benefit.

I know that most of the folks in my MOVE group are much older than I, but, weight training is good for everyone, walking is about the least valuable of all exercises, if the same amount of effort is applied to weight training, the benefits will far exceed what one gets from a walk, as far as I am concerned, walking is only good for getting from the car to the free weights in the gym. Yes, there is a bit of cardio involved with walking FAST, but your heart gets a workout with weights too.

What is the whole point? Gaining lean weight (muscle), will increase your body’s ability to burn fat, even when you sleep, walking is only good for burning a few calories at that given time, and the muscles used for walking, will get used to that stress very quickly, and unless you start carrying weight, while you walk, you will peek in just a couple of  days. If that is all that the MOVE program is about, it is not worth the gas money to get there.

Gym Etiquette: Peace and Quiet or Grunt and Groan?

Have you ever been in the middle of a set, and someone close by, is making loud grunts and groans, then you see that the weight that person is using, is not enough to even warm up with?

This happened to me today, there was this young guy, maybe 20 or so, and in great shape, who was doing a set of bench press, and he had a 35 on each side of the bar, along with 3 of those little bitty things, like 2.5 pounds or something, and he was grunting as if he had 500 lbs on the bar! Luckily, I had already finished my heavy set, before he added the second pair of tiny plates to the bar. I was doing a set of dumbbell pullovers, then the grunting started, and since I had seen what the kid had on the bar, I lost my focus and laughed so hard I almost dropped the 75 lb dumbbell on my head! Thinking that the noise would soon stop, I waited, but, the kid added that third tinker-toy to the bar, and did another set with his massive 130 lb load, while making even louder grunts and groans, the only thing missing was the usual fart that accompanies that much effort, when he finished that set, after all of that noise, I would have thought him to be done, but no, I saw him grab 2 more of those plates, that honestly could be used for key chains, I was sitting there, my towel over my face laughing, I couldn’t take it any more!

I wasn’t the only one, there were two or three others also laughing, one guy, doing dumbbell shoulder presses, dropped his and almost fell off the bench he was sitting on. I couldn’t take it anymore, I didn’t want to embarrass the kid, had I stayed any longer, I would have wet myself laughing! I couldn’t even finish my workout, I had lost my focus, and laughing zaps my strength, so I just called it a day and left.

The moral of the story is simple, if you are a “vocal” person, and train in a setting where others have to hear you, keep it down, anyone can see the weight you have on the bar, and unless it is heavy, keep your little girl sound effects to yourself, it is just rude, funny, but rude.

Weight Loss: What works?

When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Can you tell by looking, or stepping on a scale, whether you are too fat or just too heavy? No, you can’t, that is why a body fat measurement is vital to any weight or fat loss program, without this simple test, you don’t know whether your efforts are doing good, or bad. Most people assume that they are just too heavy, and all of the fad diets, and fancy pre packaged meals focus on this to make money from the unfortunate, fat, ill-advised consumer.

Yes, if you are active, work hard, and yet eat the wrong food, and drink too much, you can still be fat, and maybe one of those fad diets can do you some good, at least temporarily, the same goes for the fancy pre packaged meals, but, how do you know what is working? Measure your fat!

The graph above is for me, for about a month, with un-regular measurements, meaning, I did a couple of fat measurements only a couple of days apart, here and there, and it looks like the curve flattens out, when in reality, it doesn’t, so, let’s just use the results for my example.

Over this time period, I lost a total of about 18 lbs of body fat and gained about 11 lbs of lean body weight, for a net loss of 7 pounds. It is recommended that one should lose no more than about 2 pounds a week, but no one ever says anything about the details of fat vs lean weight.

No matter what diet you get on, all they ever talk about is weight, eat this, lose weight. The problem with that is that you can do more harm than good, by simply losing weight and not monitoring what type of weight, fat or lean, is being lost, and this is the most important detail, but all they care about is selling you a book, a membership, or some over-priced food!

So, what works? Yes, exercise, but, not just any exercise, because things like spending hours on a treadmill, will cause you to burn muscle, as well as fat, and that is not good, because muscle is your best friend when it comes to burning fat, so, what do you do? Resistance training, more specifically, weight training, is the answer, but, this too must be done properly, or, it is not much better than running, you must train heavy! No, you don’t have to become a power-lifter, but a man, doing a set of curls with a dumbbell that weighs about the same as a beer, just will not give you the desired results, the effort must hurt!

Before you get crazy, and do something dangerous, by hurt, I mean it must be something beyond what you would normally do, like drinking a beer, we have all heard the term “12 ounce curls”, and personally, I have done sets of 20 or 30 in the past! What I am trying to say is that it requires a bit of “discomfort” to get results, the keyword being, Intensity. Intensity, is what determines whether any exercise does anything, and it must be adjusted to your own level of fitness or health, so, get informed, if you go to a gym, or fitness center, the trainers there should be able to help you, and if you let them know that you want to gain muscle as well as lose fat, by training with weights, they can get you started in the right direction.

Just remember the old K.I.S.S. acronym, which means, Keep It Simple Stupid. If you eat food, as close to the way God made it as possible, meaning, NOT PROCESSED, and without added sugar and so on, and start training with some good ole iron, you can do it!

What is the MOVE Program?

Today was my second meeting with the MOVE program, and somehow, I still feel a bit disappointed. The VA offers the MOVE Program to help us overweight Vets to lose weight, the name implies action, but, so far, it is a basic, and I mean very basic nutrition class. The first meeting, we read a story about a 600+ pound woman that lost weight by kicking a ball around her apartment, this meeting we played a “Jeopardy” like game, after our standard weigh in. Yep, that was it. Oh, by the way, I was the “biggest loser” this month, I lost 9lbs.

I never expected much from the program, after all, it is a government thing, but, at the weigh in, and they saw I had lost weight, I broke it down for them as to the fact that I had lost about 16lbs of fat and gained almost 6 lbs of muscle, something that one would think might make someone ask a question or two as to how, and yes, it was mentioned that I was going to the gym, but that was as far as it went, a wasted opportunity in my opinion.

I had told them the month before that I was going to get the software etc to keep track of fat loss, when I told them the numbers, the doctor for our group said something like “oh yeah, you mentioned that before”, why was there not more attention paid to this? From what I can see, as long as you do not gain weight, everybody is happy!

Somehow I feel that the name MOVE implies some sort of action, but, the highlight of the meeting was how many nuts make up a quarter cup? I have to be honest, the nutrition stuff doesn’t mean a hill of crap if you don’t have any exercise. The nutrition councilor even mentioned that briefly, while explaining an answer to one of the questions in the game we were playing. She told us that there was a lady in a wheelchair that started doing leglifts with a small weight and eventually got out of the chair because of it, but that was about it, again, a missed opportunity to actually teach the group or even maybe motivate someone, but no, it was all about somebody ringing a bell or blowing a whistle to answer the next question. The game itself is not where I have issues, it was actually an ok thing, you can find similar ones here, but, the meeting only lasts an hour, and so did the game, and everyone there participated, it was fun, but, was it productive?

I am usually way too critical about everything, and, in this case I am sure of that, but, as I see it, this MOVE Program is a waste of time. Here is the good news, we don’t have another one until April, something to do with Spring Break and somebody’s kids or something, to be honest, I don’t want to go back, but, I will, because somehow, I need to help. Being fat is not fun, being old and fat is even worse. I missed six years of training because I was in pain, and couldn’t breath, now that I have meds for this, and know that my pain is there forever, whether I train or not, I am sticking with it, the gym has been my life since I was a kid, I need to help others, it keeps me motivated. If you read this, and are a member of the MOVE Program, do as I am going to, Take Charge! Make the Move Program be more like the name implies!

Gym Etiquette: Flirting and Training, a big no no!

Gym Etiquette is one of those things that have “evolved” over time. Back in the day, throwing plates, chalk bags or even dumbbells was a normal thing. Getting mad that you missed a lift, or something was out of place was common. This was also a time when girls were not often found in a gym, but when they were, they were serious about training. Women almost always hung out in those “girly” places, like “spas”, and  then “fitness centers”, but now, even a “Gym” like Golds, is nothing more than a fitness center, I often wonder if Joe Gold saw that coming back in the day, I doubt it.

Anyway, here we are in the present, and today, I just almost had to have a talk with one of the trainers. I have no idea what the exercise is called that he was attempting to teach this little girl, but between the two of them, there was more talking, and flirting, than training going on. What is the problem with that? Well, for one, it ties up the equipment, and another, it makes the trainer look like he has lost control of the trainee. Yes, I said it, control!

When at the gym, it should be all about the training, not flirting. Even though in this case, it was the girl, not the trainer, that was starting the “small talk”, but, his lack of control was obvious. When he would attempt to teach, the girl would dodge the lesson and move on to how she came to the gym 6 days a week or more. To be honest, that girl could go the gym 100 days a week and never get a workout! I’m sorry if I sound too strict, but, by not keeping the girl focussed on training, he was wasting her time, time she is paying for! Being nice is not a good quality for a trainer, a trainer should be tough, and rigid, otherwise it shows a bad example, goofing around, joking, flirting and anything else that distracts you, or anyone else, from the work at hand is just wrong!