Get your backside in gear!

By Boko Suzuki

I’m starting this blog post with an uncomfortable truth: I’m old. And my knees are the same age as me. They have a little wear and tear related osteoarthritis and some days they get cranky. Earlier this week they were complaining but I was planning to do a workout here:

Fun facts about Red Rocks amphitheater:

·      seating capacity: 9525

·      elevation: 6450

·      steps: a helluva lot for someone with grumpy knees.

So what to do? Here’s what I did: first I did some gentle mobilization through my knees’ full range of motion. This does a couple of things: first of all, the movement stimulates the release of synovial fluid, which lubricates the knees. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it allows me to check for things like instability or acute pain; the kinds of things that suggest structural damage. Once I was satisfied that my knees were structurally sound, I did some exercises to strengthen my posterior chain – Romanian deadlifts and Nordic hamstring curls.

Okay, what is a posterior chain and why would activating it help my knees? Anatomically speaking, the posterior chain comprises the muscles that run down the entire backside of our body but the part that is key for me doing an activity like a Red Rocks workout is made up of the glutes, hamstrings, and calves. When I climb the steps at Red Rocks I need to use my quadriceps muscles as well as my glutes, hamstrings, and calves. But almost without exception, my clients who complain of knee pain have an imbalance between their quads and their hamstrings. Here’s how it works:

Your quadriceps muscles are agonist muscles in knee extension, or in English, they work to straighten your leg (think of the leg extension machine at the gym). Your hamstrings are agonists in knee flexion; they work to bend your leg. But your hamstrings are also antagonist muscles in knee extension. There are lots of really technical biomechanical reasons (a link to a good article below for nerds like me) for why this protects your knee but a simple way to look at it is this: when you put your foot on a step and push yourself up, the quads act as a gas pedal and the hamstrings act as a brake. Now my friend Chad recently purchased a Porsche 911. This is a really, really nice car and I will refrain from making midlife crisis jokes about Chad but I want you to imagine that this car, which has a top speed of 188 miles per hour, has faulty brakes. Most likely a warning saying, “brake failure” would light up on the dashboard. If we understand that pain is your body’s warning light mechanism and that the brakes on your knee extension are faulty if your hamstrings are weak, we start to understand how a quad/hamstring imbalance can lead to knee pain.

I ended up having a lovely Red Rocks workout with no knee pain and I encourage you to: get your backside in gear!

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10755275/

Good form – what is it and why should you care?

By Boko Suzuki

Photography by Kacey Cole

Many people, when doing strength training, try to use good form. Here are some common reasons:

·      Because their personal trainer told them to

·      Because some random guy with big muscles told them to

·      Because someone on YouTube told them to

In my humble opinion, there are two very good reasons to use good form:

·      Because good form allows you to target the goal of the exercise, e.g. a lat pulldown that works your lats, not your traps or low back.

·      Because good form lowers your chances of injury

So what is good form? There are lots of definitions but in order to keep things simple I would boil it down to two things:

·      Good form primarily works the target muscles, as in the previous lat pulldown example. There will always be ancillary muscles involved in any movement and that’s a good thing, but if the target muscle isn’t the prime mover (the main engine of the movement), you won’t get the results you’re hoping for.

·      Good form minimizes compensation. Compensation is an important short term survival tool, as in a limp when you have an injured leg, but persistent compensation reduces the effectiveness and increases the injury risk of an exercise.

But how do you know if you’re using good form? At the risk of sounding self serving, there is no substitute for a qualified fitness professional coaching you. I understand that’s not available to everyone so here are a few markers that indicate whether you’re using good or not so good form:

·      Understanding the prime mover of an exercise is important. There will always be assisting muscles (synergists) but they should not take over as prime movers. Here are a few examples of prime movers: Bench press, pushups – pecs. Pullups, rows and lat pulldowns – lats. Curls – biceps. Skull crushers and cable pushdowns – triceps. Squats – glutes and quads. Deadlifts and RDL’s – glutes and hamstrings. Overhead press – front deltoids. Lateral raise – middle deltoids. Bent over lateral rise and face pulls – rear deltoids.

·      Check in with yourself after each set, at the end of your workout, and the next day. If the target muscle(s) you worked feels “used up”, or “pumped”, or even “good sore”, that’s an indication that you achieved your goal. If, on the other hand, you feel pain or discomfort in your joints or in your adjacent muscles, that’s a red flag. You will not necessarily get injured doing one workout with poor form, but if you don’t correct things, your chances of injury rise. A lot.

·      Taking a video of your exercises can be very revealing. If you find someone well qualified (NOT a fitness influencer) on YouTube demonstrating an exercise (Dr. Aaron Horschig at Squat University and Dr. Mike Israetel at Renaissance Periodization are two of my most trusted sources), you can compare how you look to how a qualified professional looks. You may be surprised to learn that there is often a significant gap between how you look and how you think you look. The movement should look balanced and in control and it should be repeatable (every rep from your first through your last should look very much the same).

If at all possible, find yourself a good coach and have him or her teach you and monitor you for good form. Strength exercise can be a good thing but strength exercise that you can sustain for a lifetime is a really, really good thing.

Hypertrophy 101

Hypertrophy 101

By Boko Suzuki

Photography by Kacey Cole

hy·per·tro·phy

/hīˈpərtrəfē/

noun

PHYSIOLOGY

1. the enlargement of an organ or tissue from the increase in size of its cells.

"the hypertrophy of the muscle fibers"

Why should you care about hypertrophy if you’re not a bodybuilder? What if you don’t want to look bulky? What if you just want to look lean and toned? What if you just want to be stronger or more confident?

Here’s why: because hypertrophy can help you reach any of these goals. You can build muscle and not become bulky. You can use hypertrophy to become leaner and more defined. You can become stronger and more capable through hypertrophy. Let me explain.

First of all, the image that many of us have of hypertrophy – the pro bodybuilder, e.g. Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime – is an extremely rarefied example. This is hypertrophy taken to its very furthest and is achieved by a vanishingly tiny percentage of the population. The statement, “I don’t want to lift weights because I don’t want to build too much muscle” is like saying, “I don’t want to take up running in case I accidentally run a two hour marathon” or “I don’t want to play pickup basketball and inadvertently start dunking.” Building muscle by mistake is SIMPLY NOT POSSIBLE.

What is possible is to become leaner (muscle is metabolically more costly than fat so muscle gain raises your resting metabolic rate, i.e. you burn more fat at rest), stronger, less injury prone and more confident. This is what’s happened to me and believe me, no one has ever accused me of being too big and bulky!

Sounds good, right? So how do you achieve hypertrophy? It helps to understand how it works. Did you know that you have the exact same number of muscles as the biggest bodybuilder in the world? Hypertrophy doesn’t increase the number of muscles in your body but it does increase the size of your muscle fibers. It does this essentially because of two things: stimulus and recovery.

Strength exercise is the stimulus and nutrition, hydration, supplementation (to a lesser extent) and sleep (to a much greater extent) are all part of the recovery. For your muscles to grow you need both stimulus and recovery and the more dialed in you are with each of these, the better your results. So here’s my basic guide to hypertrophy (I say basic because if you want to start a regimen of anabolic steroids, testosterone supplements and human growth hormone and become a pro bodybuilder, I’m not your guy. There’s lots of info on the Internet if you want to go down that rabbit hole.):

Stimulus

·      If you’re getting started in strength training, I recommend lifting 3-6x/week. It’s difficult to build muscle or strength if you’re working out less than 3x/week and 7x/week will lead to burnout and injury.

·      At first, you’ll get the most bang for your buck with big, compound movements like squats, lunges, deadlifts, bench press and rows. Once you’ve been lifting for a few months and you’re starting to see some results, you can then start to focus on smaller muscle groups like arms and shoulders.

·      Volume is important for hypertrophy. If you wander into a gym and do a handful of pushups, that’s probably not going to be enough stimulus. A good basic guide is 10-12 total sets (think 3-4 exercises for 3 sets each) of 10-15 reps. The reps should point you toward the correct weight. If you can’t do 10 reps, the weight is too heavy for hypertrophy purposes. If you can easily do more than 15, it’s too light. You should feel challenged but at no more than 80% of your maximum effort.

·      Good form matters. In fact, that’s going to be my next blog topic. It matters for two very good reasons: a) it greatly lowers the risk of injury and b) it directs the stimulus to the correct muscles so that you get the best results. I highly recommend at least a consultation with a qualified fitness professional (and no, YouTube and Instagram don’t count).

Recovery

·       Sleep, sleep, sleep: Your muscles don’t grow in the gym. They grow while you sleep. Try to get 7 hours of quality sleep. Get on a consistent schedule and stick to it.

·       Nutrition: Don’t overthink it. Get enough protein (1g/lb of body weight/day) and carbs (not only are carbs not evil but they give you energy and spur muscle growth) and a moderate amount of healthy fats like olive oil (even healthy fats are more than twice as calorie dense as protein and carbs so go easy) from as natural, minimally processed foods as possible. If food is not recognizable in the form that it grew, if you can prepare it instantly or order it at a drive through, it’s probably not going to contribute to your muscle growth or health.

·       Hydration: again, don’t overthink it. If your pee is pale yellow or clear, you’re good. If it’s dark yellow, drink more water. If it’s any other color, see your doctor!

·      Supplementation:  Unless you’re an advanced lifter, things like creatine or BCAA’s are not likely to make much difference. Don’t bother with pre workouts: it’s an unnecessary source of artificial sweeteners and color dyes; if you need the caffeine, drink some coffee. Most commercial multivitamins are junk and a waste of money but because most people have some deficiencies it’s a good idea to consult with a dietitian or certified nutritionist.

That’s it – happy lifting!

Recovery – when NOT to train

By Boko Suzuki

Photography by Kacey Cole

Exercise in general and resistance training specifically, is well established to be good for your physical, mental and emotional health in a myriad of ways. So the more the better, right? Well, not exactly. Like exercise, proper hydration is good for you and drinking enough water is important for good health. But when taken too far, excess water intake can lead to hyponatremia, a dangerous electrolyte imbalance that can be fatal. Similarly, excessive exercise can lead to rhabdomyolysis, a serious condition in which damaged muscle tissue releases protein into the bloodstream. But unless you’re a Crossfitter, overtraining more typically results in excessive fatigue, plateauing of gains, and increased risk of injury. Something you want to avoid; in fact it’s been said that it’s better to be 20% undertrained than 1% overtrained.

So how do you avoid overtraining?

It’s helpful to understand how strength training works. When you do resistance exercise, you provide stimulus to your body, which responds to the type of stimulus you give it by making a (hopefully) desirable change. This is the S.A.I.D. Principle (specific adaptation to imposed demands), as illustrated when you do bicep curls and your biceps respond by getting bigger and stronger. Easy peasy, right? Well, it’s not quite that simple. The “S” in S.A.I.D. means that we need to be mindful about the specific result we want in giving your body stimulus. If we want stronger muscles, we may want to lift heavy loads in the 3-5 rep range. If we want bigger muscles we may want to go slightly less heavy in the 10-30 rep range. What if we want “toned” muscles? This would require a combination of moderate reps/moderate loads, increased cardio and decreased caloric intake.

But all of this is just stimulus. By and large, changes don’t occur in the gym. They mostly happen when you sleep, when your body repairs itself from the rigors of training and rebuilds, hopefully better and stronger. This is why proper nutrition, hydration and sleep are at least as important as exercise. This is also why overtraining, when stimulus and fatigue is greater than your body’s ability to recover, leads to poor results and increased risk of injury.

So how do you avoid overtraining? (Didn’t we ask this question already?) Here are some guidelines:

·      Monitor how your body responds to exercise. If you have two or more sessions in a row when you are unable to perform up to your usual standards, i.e. you’re getting weaker rather than stronger, that’s a sign that you need to back off.

·      Pay attention to the demands of your non gym activities. If you’ve done hours of yard work or gone for a long hike, or in the case of my Colorado Ballet dancers, just performed Sleeping Beauty, you probably are not going to be able to do a normal strength training session. Your body doesn’t know if you’re in a gym or not.

·      If you notice changes in your sleep patterns (oversleeping or insomnia) or your appetite, unusual weight gain or loss, or you feel overly fatigued, you may be overtraining.

·      If you’re having an increase in nagging injuries, that’s a red flag. A good thought is that your body responds to exercise by rebuilding and responds to injury by healing. It’s a lot to ask your body to do both at the same time.

So lie on the couch and eat Kristy Kremes, right? Maybe not. Here are a few strategies I’ve found to be useful when my body tells me to back off: Instead of running or lifting I might swim or take a yoga class. I may lift weights but reduce the loads significantly (often by half) and focus on technique. Or I might do some active recovery; go for a walk, do some stretching, play some golf.

Last time I checked, they only give out one body per customer so you need to make yours last a lifetime. Prioritize recovery!

Cardio – a practical guide

Cardio – a practical guide

By Boko Suzuki

Photography by Kacey Cole

Cardio exercise: something we all know we should do but few of us do for three reasons: A) we hate it B) there’s so much information about what type of cardio is best – slow, steady state or high intensity interval training – that it’s difficult to decide what’s best and C) we hate it. We really, really hate it. So what to do? Read on, intrepid reader!

I’m going to address B) first because that will shed light on the problem of A) and C). So which is better, slow, steady state cardio or high intensity interval training? The answer is YES.

Assuming that your doctor has given you the green light to do cardio exercise (and by the way, some form of cardio exercise is appropriate for EVERYONE but your doctor may recommend certain types over others for your specific health condition), here are the pros of slow, steady state:

·      If we define slow, steady state cardio as any activity such as walking, running, biking or swimming that we can sustain continuously for 10-20 minutes or longer, it can be a great way to burn calories. Even if we assume that high intensity cardio will burn calories at a higher rate, the total time spent doing slow, steady state will usually result in a greater net calorie burn.

·      It has a great stimulus to fatigue ratio, i.e. it will burn calories but not tire you so much that you can’t do more the next day.

·      Many forms of slow, steady state cardio can be done with little to no special equipment and with a relatively low skill component.

Here are the pros of high intensity interval training:

·      If we define high intensity interval training (H.I.I.T.) as short bursts of 10 seconds to a minute at anywhere from 80% to max effort punctuated with rest periods, it can be a very time efficient way to burn calories and build endurance.

·      Even if the calories burned in a H.I.I.T. session is modest, there is some evidence that there is a post exercise calorie burn.

·      H.I.I.T. sessions tend to involve high speed, athletic movements so they are great for sport specific training.

So which is better? Personally, I do a bit of both and I find them both beneficial. I like jump rope, martial arts and kettlebell training for H.I.I.T. and biking, swimming and running for steady state. But here’s the key point:

THE BEST CARDIO IS THE CARDIO THAT YOU ENJOY. BECAUSE IF YOU DON’T DO IT, YOU WON’T BENEFIT FROM IT.

So try different things, including sports like pickleball, frisbee or beach volleyball, to find what you actually look forward to doing. If it’s a chore like sweating on the treadmill at the gym, that may not be for you.

In fact, the anthropologist Herman Pontzer has found that human beings tend to compensate for large energy expenditures by conserving energy in other activities. In other words, if we knock ourselves out at the gym, we tend to spend more time in front of the TV. But my personal observation is that if I expend energy doing something I enjoy like going for a long bike ride, I feel excited and energized and less likely to be sloth like.

Here’s a fun concept: N.E.A.T. (Non exercise activity thermogenesis). It’s a fancy way of saying any activity outside of traditional exercise that burns calories, e.g. walking, doing yard work, playing with your dog. The best part is that N.E.A.T. has a great stimulus to fatigue ratio without the physical and mental cost of “working out.”

So find the activity that gives you enjoyment, even if it doesn’t look like traditional cardio. Gardening? Dog agility competitions? Live action role playing sword fights? Go for it.

Stay tuned for future articles where I’ll dig more deeply into nutrition and other fitness topics and remember: how you age is a choice.

Strength training is for everyone

By Boko Suzuki

Photography by Kacey Cole

Here are some misconceptions that caused me to avoid strength training for the first half of my life. You may find some of them familiar:

·      Strength training is for steroid fueled muscle heads and competitive athletes; it’s certainly not for the average joe like me.

·      Strength training is all about vanity and Instagram selfies; who wants to spend so much time thinking about their body?

·      Strength training is dangerous! If I lift heavy weights my joints will spontaneously explode.

Here’s what I’ve found in the second half of my life (I’m now 61 and I started strength training at age 30):

·      Strength training is for everyone. Unless you live in a bubble, you will need to lift heavy things like suitcases and groceries. You will need to withstand the wear and tear of moving around in the world and withstanding the constant force of gravity. And unless the idea of sarcopenia (the loss of muscle mass and strength, often associated with aging) appeals to you, strength training can mean the difference between enjoying the activities that matter to you or gradually getting weaker and less capable.

·      Yes, there can be a vanity element to strength training. But if we’re honest with ourselves, we all think about our bodies and often it’s in negative ways. Is it not healthier and more positive to take whatever body we’ve been given and make the most of it?

·      Strength training, done correctly, is actually one of the least dangerous activities we can do. According to a study in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, the incidence of injuries in the sport of powerlifting is much lower than in sports such as soccer, basketball or running.

Most importantly, and I’m going to use italics because I feel so strongly about this: in my opinion the risk in NOT strength training is unacceptably high because of the elevated injury rate among those who lose muscle mass and strength.

So how to start strength training? The first step is to visit your doctor to make sure that you don’t have any medical restrictions. Once you’ve been given the medical green light, I suggest you start by simply moving your body. Paul Chek codified fundamental human movement into seven primal movement patterns: Squat, lunge, bend, push, pull, rotate and gait. Preferably with the guidance of an experienced fitness professional, start with your body weight in doing movements like body weight squats, body weight lunges and hip hinges, scaled pushups (if you’re not strong enough to do a floor pushup you can use a bench or even a wall) and resistance band rows (pulls). Remember that body weight training is strength training and in fact some of the best conditioned athletes like gymnasts and martial artists only train with body weight.

When you’re ready to take the next step in adding resistance I advocate free weights. Most people think that the machines at your local gym is the place for beginners to start but I find that for people starting out in strength training, machines tend to overemphasize muscle isolation and underemphasize learning core control and coordination of different body parts. Contrary to popular thought, I think that machines are best used by the advanced lifter who has built a solid base of strength and who wants to hone specific body parts.

To be clear, free weights don’t necessarily mean barbells loaded with hundreds of pounds; in fact, I suggest starting with dumbbells and resistance bands or cables. But how to calculate weights, repetitions and sets? Here are some basic guidelines:

On one end of the spectrum, athletes training for maximal strength (i.e. powerlifters and strongmen competitors) will work in the very heavy range for sets of 3-5 or even single reps, while bodybuilders will often work in the 10-25 rep range. For the rest of us who want to build a little lean muscle and get stronger, I suggest starting in the 8-12 rep range. Start with a weight that’s light enough that you can do at least 8 reps with good form; if you can easily do 12 you can go up a bit in weight. Two good guides are R.P.E. (rate of perceived exertion) and R.I.R. (reps in reserve). If R.P.E. ranges from 1 being no effort at all and 10 being absolute max effort, an R.P.E. of 7 is a good starting point. If you’re working at an R.P.E. of 10, your R.I.R. will be zero, meaning that you have absolutely nothing left in the tank. I strongly caution you against working in this range; even advanced lifters typically only hit an R.P.E. of 10 in competition. Yes, you should be working hard but I would suggest that you aim to have 2-3 reps with good form left in the tank.

What about volume? A good starting point is 10-12 total sets, e.g. three different exercises of 3-4 sets each, 2-3x/week. As you advance, you can start to add volume but you should always feel recovered and ready to go each workout.

What can you expect in terms of results? These can vary widely depending on factors like age and genetics, but if you compete not with others but with the previous version of yourself, look for small victories like a 2% increase in the weight you lift or a visible difference in the mirror. Remember that true progress is the accumulation of small improvements over time. But when you start to notice that everyday activities like going up stairs or carrying groceries become a bit easier, you know you’re on the right track.

Stay tuned for future articles where I’ll dig more deeply into nutrition and cardio and remember: how you age is a choice.

This is 61

By Boko Suzuki

Photography by Kacey Cole

I just turned 61 and recently posted pictures from my first ever fitness photo shoot. On the Internet. Where people can see them. Why on earth would I do that? Two reasons: first of all, I’ve been working really hard on my fitness and I want to show off the results, dammit. But more importantly, I want to show people that moving into one’s 60’s doesn’t have to mean the beginning of a long, inexorable slide downward toward the grave. On the contrary, I believe that one can improve one’s fitness at any age. Really.

Now I know you’ve seen all those doomsday statistics that people start losing muscle mass and gaining body fat in their 30’s. I also know that you’ve seen all those articles from so-called fitness experts describing the “appropriate” ways to exercise in your 50’s, 60’s and above. Go for a leisurely walk with Pickles the pug. Lift very light weights. Sit in your La-Z-Boy and wiggle your toes. Okay, I made that last one up but you get the idea.

Here’s the problem: this is a self fulfilling prophecy. These “experts” start with the assumption that you are fat and weak so they recommend activities for a fat and weak person and – voila! You end up fat and weak.

Now for the disclaimer: before you jump on a mountain bike and start hurtling down a fourteener, check with your doctor to make sure you don’t have any preexisting conditions that would take certain activities off the table. Equally importantly, have a fitness consultation with a qualified fitness professional to determine the appropriate starting point for any exercise program.

So assuming that it’s safe for you to exercise, what the heck is an appropriate way for you to work out? Now, I would definitely recommend that you start any exercise program under the guidance of a qualified fitness professional, i.e. someone preferably with years of experience and multiple certifications. But here are some basic guidelines:

·      Never push into pain. Pain is nature’s way of telling you that what you are doing is unsafe. If you experience pain in any movement that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have injured yourself but you need to stop before tissue damage occurs. The people telling you things like, “no pain, no gain” have helped many chiropractors and orthopedic surgeons buy summer homes.

·      Start with basic, unloaded exercises like body weight squats and elevated pushups (hands on a bench or even a wall) before progressing to more challenging exercises. Everyone wants quick results and flashy exercises but real results come from gradual progress over time. Not sexy, I know, but true.

·      Having said that, progress occurs in the area just outside your comfort zone. The area where things just start to become uncomfortable is where the stimulus for your body to change happens. If you think of exertion on a scale of 1 (sitting on a couch eating Cheetos) to 10 (an activity so strenuous that you could only do it for a few seconds), 7 is a good RPE (rate of perceived exertion) to aim for. More strenuous than is comfortable but not so strenuous that you feel pain or are unable to maintain good form.

·      Lift weights. This is for everyone and I mean everyone. When I was recovering from neck surgery a few years ago I was under strict doctor’s orders not to lift anything heavier than a half gallon of milk, which is roughly 4 pounds. But that’s still 4 pounds! Think about your everyday life and what a bag of apples, let alone a bag of groceries, weighs. Which makes more sense: to start lifting weights similar to what you lift in your everyday life in a controlled environment with careful attention to form or to grab a 35 pound bag of dog food at Costco and hope for the best? Start with body weight exercises (see previous bullet point), then use a weight you can easily handle and when that becomes too easy (you’ll know when that happens), gradually increase the load.

·      Do some cardio. Walking is great and actually an underrated way to burn calories but if you want to do something more strenuous, unless your doctor tells you not to, go for it. I just finished doing a seminar with Mark Smith, perhaps the world’s foremost expert in cardiovascular training, and his research says that high intensity cardio is beneficial even for heart transplant patients! Listen to your body and slow down when you get tired.

Those are the basics. If you pay attention to pain to avoid injury, if you find an appropriate starting point and if you consistently progress from that point, you can achieve improved fitness for the rest of your life. Stay tuned for future articles where I’ll dig more deeply into nutrition, strength exercise and cardio, and remember: how you age is a choice.

Why I quit the gym

By Boko Suzuki

Until recently I had a membership at a large gym, which might seem odd to you since I’ve been running a personal training facility for over three years now. But this large gym had amenities like a swimming pool which I used often until coronavirus changed everything. Now of course, the thought of sharing a crowded facility with other members who may or may not be wearing a mask or social distancing seems not worth the risk.

I’ve seen several gym owners online advocating for the return to normal of their large, membership based facilities, using the argument that right now health and fitness should be foremost in people’s minds. I certainly understand that the owners of large gyms want to remain financially viable and I wholeheartedly agree with the idea that one of the best things any of us can do to protect ourselves against the coronavirus is to keep our immune systems strong by leading a healthy lifestyle.

My question is: can that healthy lifestyle only exist within the walls of a large commercial gym? I think the answer is clearly no. I, like everyone, am hoping for a return to normal life, and I look forward to being able to use things like a swimming pool again. But I think the idea that we can only get fit on machines in a commercial gym is a fallacy and one of the traps that have led to us becoming a profoundly unhealthy nation.

Here’s why: most of us at various times have resolved to get fit and, although those resolutions are usually well intentioned, they tend to become derailed easily. If you join a gym more than 3 miles from your house, statistically you’re unlikely to use it regularly. If the hours or the ambience or the equipment don’t suit you, the gym becomes an impediment to working out rather than a motivator.

Here are some ideas for improving your fitness without needing a gym:

·      Cardiovascular fitness doesn’t have to mean getting on a treadmill or elliptical: walking, hiking, running, cycling, rollerblading, jumping rope, kayaking, canoeing, rock climbing, tennis, martial arts, tai chi, yoga – these are just a few activities that you can do outdoors while observing social distancing.

·      Strength training doesn’t have to mean machines or “lifting”: body weight exercises like body weight squats, lunges, pushups or pullups, resistance band work, kettlebells – these are not only all easily done outside a gym but they are also cost effective. Having an elaborate home gym setup is nice but hardly necessary.

·      Getting healthy and boosting your immune system doesn’t mean just cardio and strength: paying attention to your sleep, nutrition, hydration and stress levels is vital; simple breathing exercises can have a huge positive effect; mobility and body awareness work can vastly improve the quality of your movements and your overall enjoyment of life.

·      Working with a highly qualified fitness professional 1-on-1 can give you the tools you need to do the preceding health and fitness work. Is this self serving? Yes it is! Do I believe in this passionately? Absolutely!

No one can give you a bulletproof guarantee that you won’t contract COVID-19. But thinking outside the commercial gym setting and doing the little things to get fitter and healthier can help. Look at it this way: no one I’ve ever worked with has regretted getting fitter and healthier.

Forming Habits – Good Ones!

By Boko Suzuki

Every year around February, we in the fitness industry see people dividing themselves into two groups: one group has not only followed through on their new year’s resolution to get healthier but has formed a habit of working out that is starting to gain momentum; the second and unfortunately much larger group has fallen back into old routines that rarely involve exercise. What is the difference between the two groups? Do some people have discipline and self control coded into their DNA while the rest of us are doomed to be weak willed and lazy? The answer, in a word, is NO. According to Dr. Wendy Wood, Provost professor of Psychology and Business at the University of Southern California, willpower has very little to do with forming good habits. In her excellent book “Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick”, Dr. Wood explains how willpower and, in fact, conscious thought are not the driving forces in forming habits, good or bad.

So how do we change our behavior? Because, after all, when we are either trying to start and sustain a positive, healthy habit like exercise or stop a negative, unhealthy habit like smoking, we are in the business of behavior change. I highly recommend reading Dr. Wood’s book (and no, you can’t borrow my copy) but for now here are her three bases of habit formation: context, repetition and reward.

To explain the role of context in habit formation, Dr. Wood uses the concept of friction. When resistance to a behavior is low, we are more likely to engage in it; when it is high, we are less likely. When the Surgeon General reported in 1964 that tobacco was the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, the percentage of smokers in this country did NOT change. But when laws were enacted that banned smoking in workplaces and restaurants, smoking went from 40% of Americans to 15%. Higher friction.So how do we use friction to change our habits? If, for example, exercise is a habit we want to form, we can find a gym that’s on our way home from work. According to a 2017 Wall Street Journal article, people who traveled 3.7 miles to the gym went five or more times a month while people who traveled 5.1 miles only went once a month. I keep a packed gym bag in my car so that wherever I am I’m ready to work out. Wearing gym clothes under your work clothes, having an exercise mat in the middle of your living room, placing a stability ball instead of an easy chair in front of your television – all of these reduce friction. We can also increase friction to curtail habits. Most of us know that Oreo cookies in a basement storage closet (or better yet left on a supermarket shelf!) are much less likely to be eaten than ones on our kitchen counter. Studies show that simply placing foods we would like to eat more of in a visible place and foods we would like to eat less of behind a closed kitchen cabinet can change our eating habits.

The second basis of habit formation is repetition. It’s not earth shaking news that repetition leads to habit formation but how much is required? When I worked for a big box gym we were told (and told to tell our clients) that it takes three weeks to form a habit. That’s a very popular number that has been thrown around for years but it’s actually not at all accurate. How much repetition it takes to form a habit depends on the complexity of the behavior. If our goal is to form a habit of drinking a glass of water every morning, that will probably take less repetitions than a goal of taking a daily yoga class. So how do we achieve that magical number of repetitions? In my experience working with clients as well as my own personal experience, I’ve found that there are two powerful concepts that can keep you on that repetition path. First of all, using the concept of friction, make the goal much, much smaller. If you’ve never taken a yoga class, the chances of your taking a daily hour long class and sustaining that behavior are very low. But if you simply made the goal that you would do one downward facing dog a day, that’s a much more doable goal and one that can grow into a full blown yoga class. I’ve given many of my clients homework with the instructions that if they do ten minutes, or five minutes or even one minute a day, they’ve succeeded. Those clients tend to not only meet but often exceed that modest goal. The second concept is this: repetition doesn’t mean perfection. If you miss a day of whatever behavior you’re trying to form into a habit, you haven’t derailed all your progress. Habit formation is not that fragile. Rather than thinking perfection, think persistence.

The third basis of habit formation is reward. As much as we’d like to think that our conscious brain is in charge of our behavior, Dr. Wood’s research indicates that about 43% of our behavior happens habitually and subconsciously. Dopamine, often referred to as the reward chemical, is a neurotransmitter that reinforces behavior in our subconscious brain. Without dopamine, behavior rarely persists. So how do we stimulate dopamine production? One way is to make the behavior FUN. If you hate an exercise program you will ultimately quit but if you enjoy martial arts or dance or ice skating, you will stimulate dopamine production and reinforce that behavior. If you are a social creature you may need to join a group class to enjoy working out but if you’re more solitary by nature you may get more enjoyment out of running on your own. Another way to produce dopamine is by setting a very short term, doable goal and reaching it. If you set out to do five pushups and you do five – dopamine!

So create a context for your desired behavior by reducing friction, repeat that behavior and have fun doing it! You may be surprised by the results.

Five tips to survive your new year’s fitness resolution

By Boko Suzuki

1. Start with Why. What I’ve learned from hundreds and hundreds of fitness consultations is that the number one reason people fail to reach their fitness goals is not clearly identifying why they want to get fit. I suggest making a list of several reasons why you want to get fit and then read the list to yourself to identify the one that really matters to you. You might be surprised.

2. Set yourself two goals. Yup, just two. First, set a long range, best case scenario goal and don’t set yourself any limits or time frame. It can be doing a pullup or entering the Olympics but it should be something that really means something to you. Next, set yourself a small, doable goal. Use the “floss one tooth” principle: if you make your goal really small you’ll probably not only meet but also exceed it. Think something like five minutes of cardio or three pushups. Focus on getting to your small goal, then set another and focus on that. If you reach enough small goals you may find yourself getting closer to your big one.

3. Get help. I don’t mean start therapy, unless that’s one of your goals. I mean get expert advice. And by expert advice, I mean find the most experienced and well qualified fitness professional you can and get some personalized guidance. You only have one body so imagine you needed to find a qualified surgeon; hopefully you wouldn’t just go with the first one you find. Do a little research, talk to other clients, ask your fitness professional lots of questions. A little time and effort in finding the right guide can be the difference between finding a successful fitness program or continuing to struggle.

4. Accept the ups and downs.So many people start a fitness program but something derails them; an illness, a family matter, work pressure, travel. If your program doesn’t allow for interruptions or missed workouts, you’ll quit at the first disruption. Accept that you’ll have good days and bad days, missed workouts or even missed weeks. But if you take the mindset that every step you take, every small effort you make (uh, oh – I feel a Police song coming on) gets you that much closer to your goal, you have a much higher probability of success.

5. Embrace the process. Goals are great but at the end of the day, if you don’t enjoy the process you’ll probably fall short of your goals. Everyone wants to be a great musicians or athlete but almost no one wants to put in the practice it takes to get there. Something I’ve observed in every great musician or athlete I’ve ever met is that they enjoythe process. They play their sport or their instrument with the same passion whether there are 20,000 people or nobody watching. So find the fitness program you enjoy, the one that inspires and excites you. If you hate running, that’s not going to be the program that works for you. If it’s not running maybe it’s kickboxing. Or dancing. Or power lifting. Whatever it is, once you find it I promise you that you’ll not only achieve great things but you’ll look forward to every day in getting there.