Captain Ahab’s BodyBlog

After finishing our morning workout my wife wanted to pick up a couple of things from the store and while she was doing that I went next door to the local bookstore to browse while I waited for her, and while I was looking at the fitness and bodybuilding magazines this older lady starts speaking to me in a very loud voice.
“I know you, you’re into fitness and you were on the cover of that magazine.”
I turned to look at her and she continues on…
“My name is Irma and I am 71 years old and I was a personal trainer for over 40 years. I may not look like it right now but I still lift weights and do yoga and Pilates.”
Now this was obviously a very outgoing lady and the next thing I know she pinches a bit of a roll of flesh around her hips and continues, “I might have a bit more here than I should have but I am Austrian and I love my desserts, but I don’t have arthritis or high blood pressure and I am out walking every single day. I think I look pretty good for my age.”
I start to say that I think she does also when she just continues on…
“Everyday I am trying to get people in my apartment building, some as young as 50 or so to go for a walk with me and they tell me they are too tired. I tell them that you are too tired because you are not going for walks. I tell them that they need to lift weights but they look at me like I’m crazy.”
She proceeds to tell me that she is always trying to get folks to exercise. Then I find out she goes to the same gym as I do and it seems we have never run into one another because we work out at different times of the day.
Apparently she had recognized me from the cover shot and story in Beyond 50 magazine and went on to tell me that she loves the fact that I am trying to get as many people to embrace fitness as I can. She tells me that she volunteers at the local senior center and leads them in exercises and takes them for walks and tries to keep them active.
As I was telling her that I thought what she was doing was great she reaches up and wraps her hands around my left bicep and says, ” I really like your muscles.”
So with a growing crowd both listening to her louder than average (or necessary) voice and watching her holding onto my bicep though I am still smiling, I start to blush.
Here I was enjoying having met this wonderful gal but wishing that she would not only use her indoor voice but also unwrap her hands from my left bicep.
She finally lets go but then takes my hand in both of hers and says, “ I am so glad that I got to meet you. Getting to meet you has made my day.”
Wow. Here was a lady who had been a personal trainer for over 40 years, who volunteers to help keep seniors active and who pushes and cajoles folks half her age to get out and exercise and she was glad to have met ME, and meeting me made HER day.
“No,” I told her, “ I am the one who is really glad to have met you, and YOU have made MY day.”
I made sure to find out what time she was going to be at the gym next and both my wife and I are going to make sure to spend some time with her.
It is not every day that you get to meet someone this special.

How often do you get to meet a 71 year old lady who had been a personal trainer for over 40 years and who is still that active with that outgoing of a personality and who knows the value of lifting weights and exercise?
She just reaffirmed to me why working out and why getting others to exercise is so important.
She just reaffirmed why I am committed to getting other people to embrace fitness.

She truly made my day.

 I have heard this term bandied about and used quite a lot but usually only when it comes to home renovations. I don’t believe I have ever heard it used when it comes to fitness or when attempting to make a body transformation, and so from now on I am going to start utilizing it on a regular basis and stressing how important it is when it comes to fitness.
I bring this up because the other day my wife (bodyspace: judimax) and I were in between sets at the gym and I looked around and for whatever reason or maybe because we were both seating, I decided to see if other people were sweating also. It was about 11:00 AM and there were about 30 people working out with about 10 doing cardio and the other 20 doing some sort of weightlifting exercises.
The temperature in the gym was far from hot but I had sweat running down my back and my wife’s workout top had indications where sweat had soaked through and in looking around we saw only one other person sweating. This was a young man in his early twenty’s who was working his legs and was pushing himself pretty darn hard at this point doing one legged dumbbell squats. My wife and I had been doing a back workout and as always she was pushing me and I was challenging her and there was not much slacking off.
In looking around I saw many of the same people who I normally see at this time of day and they were doing most of the exercises I have come to know them to do and in taking notice I actually saw how little they were working or pushing themselves. I also saw that every single person doing cardio was either reading or watching the TV and not one was breathing hard or had broken a sweat.
A large number of these same people had previously approached either my wife or myself and asked how we had managed to get into such great shape and also how they could achieve the same results. We had taken the time to talk about the Body for Life program we followed and its nutrition, weightlifting and cardio segments along with explaining high intensity cardio and what good form when lifting weights was and how they needed to try to push themselves a little bit more each and every time they either lifted weights or did cardio, or they would not be able to effect positive changes in their bodies. We had actually shown a couple of these folks what we meant by pushing harder and challenging themselves and had them do a work out with us. In looking at these folks I saw a number of them putting very little effort in, in the way of exertion. I saw them lifting very light weights and using poor form, and not sweating and these were both men and women. I saw one man who is always there who uses very heavy weights along with the worst possible form doing his usual 4 to 6 inch biceps thrusts. I can’t call them curls because he bends his back and thrusts his hips as well as keeping his elbows locked and rocks the barbell up and down. Then after 4 to 6 reps and still not sweating he sits down for at least five if not ten minutes before repeating any of the exercises. I have heard this same man complain about not seeing results.
I know that there are a number of people in our gym who really have great bodies and I know these people to push themselves hard when they are working out and I have seen them sweat.
The young man I mentioned a bit earlier who was sweating had a very good body that I am sure many other young men would like to have and I believe he achieved this body through a number of things, one being sweat equity. I know that my wife and I both received our results with the addition of a lot of sweat equity and I am sure that if any others want to achieve good results from their workout regime they also need to put in the required amount of sweat equity.
I guess it doesn’t matter if it is a home renovation or a physical body transformation you won’t get too far without a good old fashioned dose of sweat equity.

 Having whole grains in a person’s diet has long been associated with a reduced risk of cardio vascular disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity, and when it comes to whole grains or any foods made from whole grains they should contain all three components of the original grain kernel, which are the bran, germ and endosperm.
Typically when manufacturers are refining grains that process ends up removing a lot of the good parts from the whole grain, which are the bran and germ resulting in a loss of beneficial dietary fiber, B vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
When it comes to the labeling of grain products the manufacturers can be and many are guilty of being a little, how shall I put this, of yes… deceitful, and that is why it is best to not only educate yourself about the process but also to take the time to read labels. An example of why it pays to read labels and an illustration of what some companies will do is in one company’s brown bread, which they made with refined totally white flour and just so you thought that you were actually getting something nutritious they turned the white flour brown with the addition of molasses which they sold as brown bread. So just because bread is brown does not mean it is made with whole grains.
Grain products labeled “multi-grain,” “wheat flour,” “stone ground,” “100 per cent wheat,” “seven grain” and even “cracked wheat” can be and usually are Madison Avenue marketing words designed to make us think that we are getting something nutritious, but the products in question are usually not whole grain products but rather a marketer’s trick to make you think it is a whole grain food. Wheat flour is used to make most white breads and multi-grain just means a variety of grains are used in the product.
When looking for and choosing wholesome, whole grains make sure to look for the word “whole,” it should appear before the grain ingredients name. For example, the first ingredient in a whole-grain cereal might be whole oat flour and a good quality brown bread should be made with 100% whole-wheat flour.