The plain and simple truth

People are always asking what to do to lose weight.  Do I do tons of cardio? Eat less? Does lifting weights help?  The purpose of this blog is to shed a little light on a very confusing subject.  So here goes.

I want to preface my explanation with a thought.  Think of it as reprogramming your body to be lean instead of  calories in/calories out.  Does burning more calories than one takes in (calories in vs. calories out) work for weight loss?  Yes...BUT...come on now, you know there was a ''BUT'' coming!  It does work for as long as you are able to maintain the caloric deficit, but it does nothing to improve your metabolism.  As a matter of fact it actually slows it down.   You create the deficit by doing one of two things, overtraining or under-eating.  Overtraining leads to pain and injuries.  Under-eating leads to malnourishment, lack of energy and most significant, loss of lean muscle tissue. (You'll know why this his a big deal after you read the next few paragraphs).   The bottom line is with the calories in/calories out approach will help you lose weight in the short term.  Some of the lost lbs are  from fat, but a lot is water and muscle tissue.  The bottom line is it "works" if you are looking for a temporary short term fix that will ultimately slow your metabolism :-)

So here it is...not my system or idea...just a little thing called science.  There is no secret or magic, weight loss, or more accurately fat loss, is a combination of eating right, lifting weights and doing cardio.  The more accurately you do all three, the better the results.  If you lift and eat fairly well but don't do cardio, you may get some results but probably not what you are looking for.  If you do cardio and lift, but don't eat right, its the same.  The bottom line if you accurately address all three components you will get the results you are looking for!

Lifting- Muscle burns fat!  It is the only tissue in the body that can do that.  When you are performing a good resistance training program you are building and activating muscle.  The more you do this the bigger, better and stronger you fat burning "engine" becomes.  Now that you've got the engine, you need to run it!

Cardio- Cardio is running your engine.  It puts you in a state where you have the potential to burn a lot of fat.  Fat burns when you are in an aerobic state.  Aerobic means "with oxygen".  Which means the stronger your metabolism is the more fat you burn all day long!  I mean, with are technically using oxygen all day, right?  When you increase the intensity and do it over a longer duration at a good intensity, your body needs to expend more fuel.  So during good cardio activity, you can burn a lot of fat, if you have fueled right! 

Eating- Now in order for the engine to run, you have to fuel it right!  This is where proper eating comes into play.  This is far more complex than this blog so I am going to give you the nutshell explanation!  Fat is burnt in a 2 step process.  It is released from a cell and sent through the blood stream to muscle to be burned.  (see, you gotta have muscle :-) ) In order for this to happen your blood sugar has to be level.  Blood sugar controls everything.  To regulate blood sugar you need the right combination of nutrients in the right amounts at the right time.  Sounds kinda complicated but it's really not!  Your body can regulate blood sugar for 3 to 4 hours, thus you need to eat every 3 to 4 hours.  As far as the amount goes, you never want to be hungry after a meal.  You want to feel full but not over full or bloated.   As far as the content goes, every meal must contain a protein, a little fat, and 2 types of carb (energy carbs and nutrient carbs).  Any lack of protein will lead to a rise in blood sugar.  Any lack of carbs will cause the body to canabalize protein for fuel, which catabolizes muscle.  (we know that is bad now, because muscle is the engine and the last thing we want to do is damage the engine) Everything in the body is built from protein.  Fat aids in certain metabolic processes and it helps slow digestion and keeps you feeling full.  Energy carbs (grains, wheats, etc) are the preferred source of energy and nutrient carbs (fruits and veggies) give you the vitamins and minerals that keep you healthy.  This is the optimal food combination to keep blood sugar level.  You fuel like this and you put your body into the correct state to burn fat.

So if you are lifting, performing cardio and eating correctly you have the potential to reprogram your body into a fat burning machine!  That means when you stray from the path (for example at a wicked holiday party filled with cookies, cupcakes and Corona ;-)) you don't suffer that much.  Your body will burn through the "bad" food quickly with minimal damage.  You literally become a fat burning machine!  Man, of of a sudden I am really hungry.   Going go crush a turkey on whole wheat sandwich loaded with veggies and an apple :-)

Happy Holidays

Every year since Stevenson Fitness has been open we have had a staff holiday party.  This year I did things a little different.  I was thinking about what makes Stevenson Fitness so great, and it is not just the staff, it is the members as well.  So we had the first ever "everyone is welcome" Stevenson Fitness holiday party.  And as I suspected, it was awesome!

I can't lie, I was a little nervous about putting this together.  It would have been horrible if no one showed up. I was thinking that we would probably have a decent turn out, with people coming and going during the 2 hour time we had allotted.  I have never been so pleased to be so wrong!  Most of the gym members did in fact show up and stayed the whole time!  It was so awesome!

Carla did an awesome job organizing the whole shindig.  Chrissy helped with the newsletter and flyers to promote it.  Jenna did most of the shopping.  Julie brought in some decorations and tasty deserts.  Holly brought in veggie trays (nutritional nerd:-) ) Marisa and Kevin helped decorate the gym.  Bray volunteered to dress up as Santa.  Okay, well he lost a bet and had to...too bad USC couldn't have scored just a few more points against UCLA.   Many of the vendors in our plaza donated great prizes which were raffled off.  Saralyn's donated some delicious food.  And of course Hal showed up with a grocery cart full of corona.  So many people, staff and members alike, contributed so much to make this event so fun.  My cheeks were literally sore from the huge smile that was plastered on my face the whole night.  It was absolutely awesome!

People won prizes.  Kids played on the equipment.  My son ran around with his face covered in chocolate cake.  Members talked and bonded with each other.  In a room that is normally filled with push ups and sit ups there were cocktails and cookies.  In a room where you normally hear grunting and shouts of "how many more reps?",  you heard laughing and holiday music.  People all stayed well past "closing time".  Everyone even helped clean up.   This event really summed up the whole mantra of Stevenson Fitness which is family and community.  Everyone had a really great time, from men to women and adults to kids.  The diversity was incredible.  I received emails and texts before I went to bed that night from people telling me what a good time they had and suggesting future events.  It was really really awesome!

Afterwards several of us went to a local bar called the Canyon Club.  They had a great 80's cover band and people continued to sip...er...chug cocktails  and dance the night away.  I want to give a shout out to Chris V. for awaking from a deep sleep and coming out to make sure everyone got home safely.  As my near perfect night was winding down,  I began to give hugs and thanks and say my goodbyes.  As I gave my last hug and watched Rachelle, who offered me a ride, head to the exit, and before I went to meet Jessica and Chris to head home I stopped for a moment.  I just paused and smiled, reliving the great night that had just occurred.  I awoke from my temporary reflecting daze, now ready to leave and I realized....EVERYBODY LEFT ME!!!!!!!!!  I had no money and my cell phone was dead, so I began my 45 minute walk in the freezing cold to my home!  Chapped lips and a runny nose aside, the night was still in fact awesome!

Stevenson Fitness Summer BBQ coming 2009!

Thanksgiving thoughts...

I have 2 thoughts that I think help people keep a good perspective on life...they seems, well, thanksgiving-ish to me...

1)appreciation of progress

2)realizing an increased sense of potential

I know that I am, as are many of us, guilty of sometimes doing a little too much of number 2 and not enough of number 1.  I think about how I can make my business grow or how I can get in better shape.  And that is a good thing!  It is important to know that you can improve yourself.  It is important to set goals and go after them.  BUT, it is equally as important to realize what you've done and what you have.  To look back at how fit you have become, or how far you have come with your family, or how you've built a business.  I mean, what's the point of working for more, if you never really appreciate what you have???

So as I am setting personal goals for my family, business and myself to be the best I can be, I am also stepping back, taking a deep breathe and smiling because I realize how great life is.  I have a great family, great friends, and great gym (with great members ;-) )...and for all of this, and for all of you, I am truly thankful.

The half marathon

"Where there's a will there's a way...and big big blisters!"

Let me preface this by stating that as many of you may or may not know, I am an athlete.  I sprint, olympic weightlift, and I used to be a competitive martial artist.  I do not, however, distance run.  I am not built for it, I don't enjoy it and I never do it!  That being said...

The night before the half marathon in Coronado, California, I sat with my wife at a restaurant/bar called "Nicky Rottens" in San Diego's historic gaslamp district and watched Brock Lesnar pound on Randy Couture in a UFC pay per view event.  After seeing Lesnar repeatedly drop his fists onto a prone Couture's face for 10 straight seconds I posed a question to my wife.  I said "How bad do you think that hurts?".   Little did I know that I would know that pain, only mine lasted for about 2 and a half hours :-)

I am not a runner.  I do very short duration cardio and lots of lifting.  At Stevenson Fitness we wanted to create more opportunities for people to work together.  So a client approached me about creating a running team to train and run a half marathon.  I thought it was a great idea (it turned out that it was in fact a great idea).  I helped her put the team together not realizing that now they expected me to run.  What have I done?  I now have to run 13.1 miles.  I get tired driving that far.  Am I really going to be able to do this.

Race time.  I lined up at very back of the crowd.  I had 2 goals: 1 was to finish and 2 was to never stop running.  I can't lie, i had my doubts.  As I looked at the people in front of me I saw a lady with balloons that said 2:30.  That is where I set my goal.  I would try and stay behind them.  That is a good pace for me.  The buzzer went off and the race was on.

The race was to benefit handicapped athletes.  It was very inspiring to see, other than the fact that most of the handicapped people were kicking my butt!  I did manage to pass a group of blind runners.  The bummer was they couldn't see me ;-) But in all seriousness, it really felt great to see so many people coming together for a good cause.

The first 4 miles were pretty uneventful.  I actually surprised myself and felt pretty darn good.   It did, however, create a false sense of what was to come. I think I expected to feel this way the whole time.  This would not be the case.  I started to realize that at mile 5.

There is in fact a "runner's high" and I hit it! I felt great!  For about a minute, then it was over and I hit something that was the onset of what must be called "runner's low".  

Uh oh.  Why are the inside of both of my feet burning?  That would turn out to be the 2 golf ball sized blood blisters that were forming on my feet.  They were the kind of blisters that elicit a high pitched "yikes!" from people I showed them to.  Oh well, i'm tough, sort of, I can take it, i mean it's only another...uh...8.1 freakin' miles! Checklist: 2 burning feet.

So now i'm trying to run on the outside of my feet to avoid putting pressure on the blisters that will definitely leave scars, which makes the outside of my knees hurt.  I am definitely breaking down and I still have a long way to go.  So I look at the guy rumbling along in front of me.  He is older, maybe mid-sixties, and not the leanest guy around.  I read the back of his homemade tank top.  It read "Hell, i'm slow!  But i'm doing it!"  As I nod my head as if I was saying "good job old man", I realized something.  I'm freakin' behind him!!!  So I pick up my pace because of a stupid condition I have (like most men) known as "ego", which does nothing but exacerbate my burning feet and recently added burning knees.  Checklist: 2 burning feet and 2 burning knees.

There are always little things that newbies don't know.  At mile 6 my left shoulder and back started hurting.  Apparently, even though it is small, when you carry an ipod in the same hand it takes its toll on your body after 6 miles.  I switched hands but the damage had been done.  So let's look at the checklist: 2 burning feet, 2 burning knees, 1 burning left shoulder and neck...sweet!

So its 95 degrees with no breeze.  I was getting a little warm to say the least.  The nice thing is there are water stations every mile and a half or so.  So I had been pretty smart and taken 2 cups at every station, 1 to drink and 1 to dump on my head to cool down.  This plan was going really well until the surprise gatorade station.  Why would I assume that all of a sudden there was something other than water in those cups.  You would think Gatorade would at least have a banner or poster, but nooooooooooooo!  So 7 miles in I chug a cup of water and dump a cup of gatorade on my head.  Not sure if you know this but Gatorade is really really sticky.  My sun glasses are now stuck to my face and it has dripped into my eyes.  Checklist: 2 burning feet, 2 burning knees, 1 burning left shoulder and neck, and 2 burning eyes. 

Goo?  I ate something called goo!  Everyone told me that i would need to re-fuel half way through so make sure I get some "goo" at mile 8.  First of all I should have known by the name "goo" that it would not taste good and probably not have a good consistency.  And a note to all supplement manufactures, taking a gross product and giving it the flavor of a good food (in my case apple pie flavored) does NOT NOT NOT make it taste good at all!  And apparently goo gives you gas.  Checklist:2 burning feet, 2 burning knees, 1 burning left shoulder and neck, 2 burning eyes and 1 upset stomach.

My wife is really cool.  She is 7 months pregnant and she is an avid runner.  She's done many races including the LA marathon.  She, in support of me, offered to meet me at mile 10 and run the rest with me.  This was absolutely awesome!  Truth is I really needed motivation and encouragement at that point and she delivered.  But here is the kicker.  She is 7 months pregnant but no one knows that she jumped in at mile 10.  People just assumed that she ran the whole thing.  She heard shouts of "you go girl","so awesome" and woos and cheers in general.  And I looked like an unselfish hero who slowed down to help and support her.  The ironic truth is that I was in fact slowing her down and couldn't finish without her keeping me from quitting.  Thanks honey :-)

Mile 12- The last mile.  I think the body knows when it is almost done and taunts you by shutting down right before it hits the end of something.  For example, when you have to go to the bathroom really bad, the closer you get to the toilet the worse the pressure on your bowels gets.  That is the way mile 12 was for me.  It seemed much longer than all the other individual miles.  When I made the last turn, and could see the actual finish line, it looked like I would never get there.  For a second I thought it was a joke like the carrot held in front of the horse that he could never actually catch.  But I ran and it got closer, and closer and closer.  I looked back at my wife and then took off sprinting. (not because I am an awesome runner, but I sure as hell was going to get this done as soon as possible).  I crossed the finish line.  I had done it.  I finished and had done so without stopping.  Final Checklist: 2 burning feet, 2 burning knees, 1 burning left shoulder and neck, 2 burning eyes, 1 upset stomach, and 1 REALLY BIG SENSE OF PRIDE!

The truth of the matter is this.  Where there is a will there is a way.  If you set your mind to something you can do it, no matter what it is.  As long as you don't give up when you hit adversity and difficulty, and blisters for that matter, you can achieve whatever you want.  It is important to remember that the only thing that can stop you is you.  That being said, despite the pain and soreness ( that is still lingering), it was a great experience that included commradery, teamwork, persistence, determination, inspiration and a ton of other awesome values.  I was really glad I did and wouldn't trade this experience for anything at all...blisters and all :-)

P.S. I am officially retired from distance running :-)