Thursday, May 3, 2012

Staff and Weights and Shoes, Oh My!

     There is a lot to report in this post.  Staff - I want to just put in a plug for the UNC Wellness Center at Meadowmont.    Not only are they dedicated and hard working, but they are friendly and extremely knowledgeable.  Yesterday, I met with Liz, one of the staff - a licensed nutritionist.  I brought a copy of our family's menu.  And please let me digress for one moment to tell you what a wonderful wife I have.  Not only does she do an excellent job of taking care of our children by playing with them, nurturing them, bringing them to doctors' and therapists' appointments, feeding them and all that goes along with that  (One is 2 years old and one is a one year old) but she also has been extremely supportive of my/our new lifestyle.  We came up with a 4 week rotating menu.  It also includes a list of "special items" that we select from for having on Saturdays.  Here is a link to a copy of our menu:  4 Week Rotating Menu on MSN skydrive
     I went over our menu with Liz and she was very pleased that we had items like fish and chicken fairly often.  I discussed my daily eating regimen with her including snacks.  She suggested that when I have my mid-morning and afternoon snacks, that I balance out the carbohydrates with a protein (some cheese, peanut butter or nuts).  She also suggested adding some vegetables to my standard lunch (I usually have a turkey and cheese sandwich on whole wheat with mustard and a few whole grain wheat thin crackers).  Liz discussed portion sizes at dinner and emphasized the importance of having half the plate be vegetables, one quarter whole grain carbs and one quarter lean protein.  (And using a smaller plate, not a giant one like at some food establishments).
     Weights - This morning was the first morning that our team's trainer, Paula, was out of town.  She is going to be racing, GO PAULA!  She left us in good hands.  Many of the staff have offered to work with us in Paula's absence.  A few of us on the Green team like to come in to work out very early in the morning (well maybe not like to, but it is more convenient for our busy schedules).  As a result, we probably won't be working out with them.  There are a few of the morning staff that I'd like to mention.  Nollie opens a few days a week and she is a great trainer and Whitby!  Whitby was my trainer this morning (who I openly apologized to for thinking his name was "Wimpy"...I swear that's what I heard someone say his name was).  He gave me a tour of the Free Motion equipment.  Paula called it a "Free motion, full body workout."  I only did cardio  yesterday and I'll do the same tomorrow because usually you don't work out the upper and lower body on the same day and you don't work the same muscle groups on consecutive days so they can rest.  Whitby explained proper technique for each machine and let me know when there was a variation for each machine.  He told me that there was one machine in each muscle group that he would do first because they use more than one muscle in the group and the other machines isolate one muscle at a time.  If you work the individual muscles, they tire and when it comes time to use them all together, you don't get as much benefit from that machine.  One is the free motion squat machine (lower body - quads, hamstrings and calves) and the other is the free motion shoulder press (upper body - biceps, triceps, shoulders, back, core).  Maybe it doesn't sound like that shoulder press should use all those muscles, but if you lean forward and don't use the back rest and follow proper technique, it SURE does.  Monday I'll do chest, back, arms and shoulders and then Tuesday, I may be getting my directions from Nollie.
     Shoes - If you've been following the blog, you may have noticed my comments about ankle and foot pain.  Paula had noticed that I was turning out my ankles while walking on the treadmill.  I also have tight calves and hamstrings (and Paula also says hip flexors).  Some of this tightness is due to sitting all day.  Some is due to genetics, but some is also due to having to correct for my ankles.  A friend at work who used to work at Fleet Feet, told me that people should get new shoes every 500 miles.  When you add all this to the fact that my wife took a picture of me standing still and my ankles were very turned out and my feet were getting more sore,
I went out and talked to someone at the New Balance store.  The sales associate sold me a pair of stability cross-trainers (there is a roll bar in the side that helps prevent your ankles from turning out).  The minute I put my foot in the shoes, 90% of the pain in my foot went away.  I was told to try the shoes for a few days and if I had any problems, come back and they'd see about giving me some inserts for them.  So far, so good. 
 
     I'm also icing my feet using a trick my wife learned - freeze a bottle of water and roll it under your feet.  It works well.

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