Notes from Watching My Wife Disappear

BY RJ NICHOALDS

PSIA-NW TECHNICAL TEAM

For those of you that know me or have skied with me in the last couple years, you know that I have two young girls at home. Carissa is twenty five months and Kirby is nine months as of the time I wrote this article. With these children only 16 months apart, you can imagine what the last three years have done to my wife’s body and physical condition.

I am writing this article for two reasons; first, not to tell you about my kids, but to share with you an inspirational story on how my wife recovered from this abuse of her body. And second, because I have NEVER participated in a PSIA event where someone hasn’t told me that they are out of shape and need to get going on a fitness program.

Her efforts truly inspired me and I hope this story inspires you too.

In January 2006 we sat down to discuss some goals for the upcoming year, and a primary one for Lisa was to compete in the “Body for Life Challenge”. I knew very little about Body for Life except it meant my wife getting in shape, so who was I to argue? Quietly, I thought to myself, “ya…I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Well, a couple weeks later she was still dragging herself out of bed at 5:00 AM and heading downstairs to our basement to get her work out in. By the time I got up at 6:00 AM, she was already done and headed to the shower. While this was difficult for the first couple weeks, she soon began springing out of bed really looking forward to getting up in the morning.

Two weeks went by and we took some progress photos. Four weeks went by and we took more progress photos. Every two weeks, we saw a little smaller version of Lisa. Twelve weeks later, I was looking at and living with an entirely different person. Not just physically, but emotionally. Her self confidence jumped enormously and her mind set with the chaos of two little girls running and screaming around the house was much more at ease.

How did she do this?? She followed the Body for Life Challenge to the last detail. This program is a three tiered approach. In order of importance they are: diet, weight training and cardiovascular training.

Diet

Eat six small meals a day with balanced portions of Protein, Carbohydrates and Fat. Your portion sizes should be the following: Your protein portion should be the size of the palm of your hand. This should be cooked very lean with minimal oils and sugar that will create empty calories. Seasoning is fine as long as sodium, sugar and fat are minimal.

Your carbohydrate should not exceed the size of your fist. This portion should include whole grain rice, a potato or some kind of whole grain pasta. It is important that you choose “whole” foods as opposed to processed foods. We ate a lot of brown rice and sweet potatoes. The only time we ate any bread, it was whole grain bread that crunched in your mouth.

Your vegetable portion can be all you want. Just make sure they are steamed or grilled and you keep the condiments to a minimum. A very light spray of olive oil along with a light seasoning was all we needed.

Weight Training

The reason weight training comes before cardio is the idea that increased muscle mass burns fat. Therefore, if you have more muscle, the more efficient fat burning machine you will be. This is entirely different thinking than I was used to. I always thought that if you want to lose weight, you just have to spend hours doing cardiovascular work. Not true!! As far as the weight training goes, here are some main points.

You do not need to be a member at a gym. A few sets of dumbbells and a bench or Swiss Ball is all you need to get started. Work your body parts systematically. One work out is the upper body which works: chest, back, shoulders, arms (biceps/triceps). The Second work out is legs and abs.

Treat your abs like any other body part. In other words, if you want definition in your mid section, don’t do crunches every day until you throw-up! Like any other muscle group, these need to be worked to failure and also have time to recover.

Here is how it works! The Body for Life program uses a “Highpoint Principal” of sets and reps for each body part. For each of the first four sets, you increase the weight while decreasing the number of reps. The fifth and sixth sets are a “compound set” where you drop the weight, do 12 reps of the same exercise and with no rest, immediately do a different exercise for the same muscle group to 12 reps or failure.

For example, let’s consider doing the chest as a body part Set 1 - Dumbbell Chest Press - 12 reps 40 lbs - rest 1 minute Set 2 - Dumbbell Chest Press - 10 reps - 45 lbs - rest 1 minute Set 3 - Dumbbell Chest Press - 8 reps 50 lbs - rest 1 minute Set 4 - Dumbbell Chest Press - 6 reps 55 lbs - rest 1 minute Set 5 - Dumbbell Chest Press - 12 reps 50 lbs - no rest Set 6 - Compound Set Push Ups 12 reps/failure - rest 2 minute Move to a new body part and repeat the process again

Finally, it is very important that these sessions last no longer than 46 minutes for two reasons. First, too much time spent in the gym can result in over training and doing more damage than good. Second, keeping within the time keeps it short and sweet and easy to get on with the rest of your day.

Cardiovascular Training

During the entire twelve weeks Lisa never spent more than 25 minutes on the treadmill. Cardio can be done on a bike, Stairmaster, elliptical trainer, jump rope or whatever enables you to quickly change the speed and resistance.

In the Body for Life program, their thinking is that if you just go at the same pace for a long time, you will eventually burn muscle. Less muscle mass, reduces fat burning cells, resulting in reduced fat. So their thinking is to do “High Point” interval training in the cardio, similar to the weight lifting. Highpoint interval training is a short series of five minute building exercises that pushes your heart rate to the max level, and back down for short mid level recovery.

The level of intensity works like this. On the low end at Level 1, you have the intensity of sitting on the couch watching TV. Level 2 would be standing, and so on up to level 10 which is all out focused effort. A true level 10 experience is where you can honestly tell yourself you gave it every single ounce of energy you have. A true “high point” comes from your mind, not your muscles. But it does allow you to access deeper into your muscles.

The cardio program works like this: Minute 1&2 - Warm up - Level 5 intensity

Minute 3 - Level 6

Minute 4 - Level 7

Minute 5 - Level 8

Minute 6 - Level 9

Minute 7 - Level 6

Minute 8 - Level 7

Minute 9 - Level 8

Minute 10 - Level 9

Minute 11 - Level 6

Minute 12 - Level 7

Minute 13 - Level 8

Minute 14 - Level 9

Minute 15- Level 6

Minute 16 - Level 7

Minute 17 - Level 8

Minute 18 - Level 9

Minute 19 - Level 10

Minute 20+ - cool down

Stretch, shower and get on with the rest of your day.

Program Overview

This is a six day a week program. You eat six “clean” small meals a day. You work out six days a week alternating Upper Body Lifting - Cardio - Legs and Abs -and Cardio. This regimen is alternated every week, so some weeks you lift upper body twice, and on another week, you work legs and abs twice. You also have one “day off’ a week where there is no exercise and you can eat anything you want.

Finding that extra hour in a day was not that difficult. Based on the reasoning that your energy level will increase, thus you will need less sleep; it is obvious where you find the time. Get out of bed One Hour Earlier!!!! I guarantee you will feel better and have more energy throughout the day. You will also kick start your metabolism first thing in the morning and keep burning fat more efficiently throughout the day.

According to Body for Life, “failure to plan is planning to fail.” Get a journal, build your plan for the next day and record your actual results. Do this for 12 weeks and you will be off to a healthier, fitter you.

Summary This is a great program. If it is your objective to get in shape, this is a great place to start. It is truly an educational guide for nutrition and exercise. My wife has helped educate and truly inspired me. My hope is she will inspire you too.

If you are serious, go to your favorite bookstore and pick up Body for Life, by Bill Phillips. You can also got to http://bodyforlife.com/

Any questions, please contact me or my wife Lisa. The PSIA office will gladly provide you with our contact information. If you don’t believe me, a picture is worth a thousand words.

In closing, a very close friend of mine said to me once, “I have six pack abs………….they’re just in the back of the fridge.” This program will give you the opportunity to get them in front of the fridge.