Happy Father’s Day to all of your dads out there!

Especially my dad, Bill, in Scottsdale, Arizona!

Thank you for sacrificing so much to get all 4 of us children on the road to being responsible, contributing adults.  (Well, most of the time, I guess.)

As much as Father’s Day is a cause for celebration, there is an alarming trend happening to our dads, especially as they reach middle age and on.  The majority  of our fathers’ (not you, daddy) are in the worst shape of their lives right now and are facing a disease process called, “Metabolic Syndrome X”.

If you like details, please read below for an excellent description of Metabolic Syndrome from www.MedicineNet.com:

If you like the BOTTOM LINE, scroll down to the picture

What is Metabolic Syndrome?

The main features of metabolic syndrome include insulin resistance, hypertension (high blood pressure), cholesterol abnormalities, and an increased risk for clotting. Patients are most often overweight or obese.

Insulin resistance refers to the diminished ability of cells to respond to the action of insulin in promoting the transport of the sugar glucose, from blood into muscles and other tissues. Because of the central role that insulin resistance plays in the metabolic syndrome, a separate article is devoted to insulin resistance.

How is metabolic syndrome defined?

The definition of metabolic syndrome depends on which group of experts is doing the defining. Based on the guidelines from the 2001 National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel (ATP III), any three of the following traits in the same individual meet the criteria for the metabolic syndrome:

1. Abdominal obesity: a waist circumference over 102 cm (40 in) in men and over 88 cm (35 inches) in women.

2. Serum triglycerides 150 mg/dl or above.

3. HDL cholesterol 40mg/dl or lower in men and 50mg/dl or lower in women.

4. Blood pressure of 130/85 or more.

5. Fasting blood glucose of 110 mg/dl or above. (Some groups say 100mg/dl)

The World Health Organization (WHO) has slightly different criteria for the metabolic syndrome:

1. High insulin levels, an elevated fasting blood glucose or an elevated post meal glucose alone with at least 2 of the following criteria:

2. Abdominal obesity as defined by a waist to hip ratio of greater than 0.9, a body mass index of at least 30 kg/m2 or a waist measurement over 37 inches.

3. Cholesterol panel showing a triglyceride level of at least 150 mg/dl or an HDL cholesterol lower than 35 mg/dl.

4. Blood pressure of 140/90 or above (or on treatment for high blood pressure).

Here’s the Cliff Note Version in pictures

Need some good news?

Although Metabolic X syndrome can be deadly and debilitating, it can be easily reversed!

The most common cause of metabolic disorder is the unforgiving combination of a lack of exercise and poor diet.

THAT we can fix.

Here are the 7 Father’s Day Fitness tips I promised you!

1.) Lay off the Brewskis

How Alcohol Makes You Fat

-After passing through the esophagus and into the stomach, 20% of the alcohol is immediately absorbed into the bloodstream.

-The remaining  80%  travels to your intestines and is absorbed from there.

-Alcohol is treated by your body as a toxin.  From the intestine, the alcohol travels through the bloodstream into the liver for detoxification.

-In the liver, the alcohol is broken down into acetate and acetaldehyde which IMMEDIATELY instructs your body to stop burning fat.  And even worse than that, the acetyl CoA actually signals your body to MAKE more fat.  A double fat whammy!

What Does this Mean?

-A 12-ounce beer contains about 0.6 ounces of alcohol.

You body can only handle .5-1 oz of alcohol an hour.

Most of you drink more than 1 beer in a sitting.

If say, you consumed 5 beers, your body would be not only be inhibited from fat burning for up to
6 hours, you would actually be storing fat for those same 6 hours.

Ouch!

The more you drink, the longer your body is inhibited from
burning fat in addition to a greater fat build up from excess acetyl CoA.

One day of binge drinking can set you back days if not a full week when
it comes to fat loss!

-Worst-case scenario? Mixing alcohol with sugary beverages promotes even further fat gain due to the resulting insulin surge that triggers fat storage.

The Bottom Line

If you want to be lean, you must minimize ALCOHOL consumption!  For a better bad choice, choose wine or hard liquor and “light” beer.  Limit alcohol consumption to 1-2 days/week with a 1-2 drink limit per day.

References:

Campbell and Volek, “TNT Diet: Targeted Nutrition Tactics”

2. Work that Lower Body

Most dads (or guys in general) just want to do the “show muscle” workout that emphasizes the upper body.  This is a great way to go if you are going for the Johnny Bravo look: nice upper body with chicken legs for wheels!

Your legs and rear are some of the biggest muscles in the body.  Muscle IS your metabolism.  These muscle groups are the key to torching your gut. Not working your legs out is like going to a gun fight with a water pistol!

a.) Training your whole body (legs included) helps you burn more calories each workout, and maximally depletes your body’s glycogen stores (the sugar in your muscles) to allow for more total body fat burning

b.) The more lean muscle mass you have in your lower body the more calories your body will be burning day in and day out.

c.) Working your legs generates the largest increases in natural anabolic hormone levels which translates into more total body muscle and less ugly, unwanted body fat.  THIS is what we’re going for!

So if you want better abs,  start using those legs! You only need 3 total body workouts per week that train your upper body, lower body, and core within the same workout.

3.) Train that WHOLE Upper Body!  (Do something besides presses and curls!)

I totally understand why guys aren’t motivated to train their legs. Unless you are wearing a speedo, no one is going to see them!

However, if you are trying to develop a really nice upper body, you need to start venturing outside the realm of bench presses and curls.

Your lats, the muscles that extend from your arm pit to the bottom of your rib cage, are the biggest muscles in your upper body.  They are the muscle responsible to promote that V-taper that makes your waist look smaller and give you that “manly” shape.

Start doing at least the same amount of pulling exercises as you do pushing ones  (if not more) unless you want to end up like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. We spend most of our day hunched over at the computer and we need to develope the muscles that will pull you back upright!

You don’t really EVER need to do strictly bicep work to get those guns to pop!  Compound movements like rows and pull-ups work your biceps just as hard and since they allow for the use of heavier loads, they also provide a better growth stimulus to maximize results in minimal time.  Use your time wisely.  Work on your back!

4.) Accept the fact that you probably need some professional fitness advice

There’s a lot of confusing and even conflicting information out there dealing with health and wellness.  One of my superstar clients that has lost over 100 pounds the hard way (diet and exercise lifestyle change) said this,

“What you don’t know will hurt you, but what you think you know will KILL you”

Consider hiring a professional to coach you through the process of life change.  Don’t get sucked in by quick fixes.  You don’t need anyone to deliver you already cooked meals.  You need to learn to prepare healthy, unprocessed meals for yourself.

You need to know how your body works and then figure out what changes you are willing to make to give it what it needs.

It’s unnecessary to spend hours at the gym with no plan.  Find out through a qualified fitness professional what WORKS!  Hint:  Hours of cardio doesn’t.

Consider joining Strategic Boot Camp where we empower you with the fitness AND nutritional knowledge to take you from where you are to where you need to be.  Get off of those maintenance meds.  Live to play with your grandchildren.  Be an active participant in your own future.   It’s your choice.  Choose wisely.

Dads- quit being so stubborn and macho. It doesn’t make you any less of a man to hire a personal trainer or join a boot camp because your wife and her lady friends do it. In reality, your wife (and women in general) are simply smarter than you because they effectively outsource their fitness needs to an expert whereby you try to re-invent the wheel on your own with little to no results.

If you want to lose your gut, follow the lead of the ladies

5.) Make the time for a 5-minute warm-up

You simply can’t afford to NOT warm-up. It’s like pushing the pedal to the medal in the dead of winter in your frozen car- It’s not going to work.  You might even end up damaging yourself beyond repair.

Below is a great 5-minute body weight warm-up we use in our boot camps:

Alternate between 50 s of work and 10 seconds of rest for each exercise in the following warm-up circuit:

1- Walking “High Knees”

2.  Running “High Knees:

3.  Walking Lunges

4.  Walking Lunges with a careful spinal rotation

5.  Arm Circles in all directions.

6.) Forget The “no pain-no gain” attitude.

Pain is a good thing as long as it’s the right type of pain as outlined below:

When exercise BURNS YOUR MUSCLES that’s a good pain- this means you are pushing past your comfort zone to inspire change, working with intensity to torch calories and build muscle, and burning sugar so your body can burn fat for hours and hours after your workout.

When exercise HURTS YOUR JOINTS that’s a bad pain- it means you are quickly wearing down the structural integrity of your joints.  Poor exercise form and technique, loads that are WAY too heavy, lack of flexibility, and no warming up (see #5) are the most often abused criteria.  (All the more reason to heed tip #4 and seek professional help!)

My friend, Rich Wills at Fit Niche says that “if you can’t smile and mean it while you’re running, you’re probably running too hard !”  (I think I’m running too hard, Rich!)

I have worked with too many dads who have beaten their bodies down Nothing’s more depressing than a dad who can’t play with his kids or participate in recreational activities with his family or buddies.  Exercise smart!

7)  Spend some quality time with your children!

You have the opportunity to be the greatest influence in their lives.

Here’s a great quote for you:

“Dad didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it”.-Clarence Budington Kelland

Happy and Healthy Father’s Day to all of you heroes out there!

Enjoying the journey,

Whitney Cabrera BSN, RN