The Fitness Guru

t’s been a while and I had forgotten about this one. It is a glowing example that exercise doesn’t have to be about simple repetitive movement; it can be part of a greater learning process. It can provide the opportunity to multitask. So sit back and enjoy watching others exercise, and let me know how it inspires you!

Whole Foods has created a new incentive program for their employees: get yourself healthy and you can receive a bigger discount on Whole Food purchases. The benchmarks for “healthy employees” include Body Mass Index (BMI), blood pressure, cholesterol level and not smoking.

At face value, it seems like a great idea: inspire the work force to live a little healthier by motivating with discounts. But dig a little deeper and the issue becomes problematic.

My number one issue is BMI. BMI is an individuals height relative to their weight. The concept is that fatter people will have higher BMIs than thinner people. The problem is that BMI doesn’t take into account whether the weight is fat or muscle. So yours truly, who stands at 6’2″ and weighs 195 lb is termed “overweight” according to the BMI, even though much of my 195 lb is muscle and I am in pretty good shape.

BMI is an issue across the board in situations like this. I have had problems with insurance companies not wanting to insure me because my number was too high. And Wii Fit deems it appropriate to make my Mii avatar wander through exercises sporting a bit of a spare tire around the mid-section. Consequently, Whole Food workers who are getting it together and getting fit may not be able to receive the discount simply because, in losing fat weight, they have built up more muscle.

My second issue is that, though Whole Foods is rewarding healthier lifestyles, there doesn’t seem to be a plan in place to help the less fit members of their community into that lifestyle. The incentive program, though generous, might not be impetus enough to inspire those less fit to get their acts together. The frustration of trying to conquer Mount Health is simply greater than the financial prize at the end of the rainbow. (Note: please don’t hit me with the comments that “being healthy should be reward enough.” We’re talking about the incentive program.)

So final score? Whole Foods gets points for trying to do something, anything, to make its workforce healthier. But this is simply Healthy Workers 1.0 and now follow up steps should be taken to assist all the workers to a healthier way of life.

Check this out: The Tournament of Champions squash competition held at……Grand Central Station? Seems to work. The game video looks terrific, but, as you can see from the still, it just seems a little odd to have this big glass box in the middle of rush hour.

Give me your ideas for other exciting competitions and the rather odd venues they can be held.

Ask me what sports I like and I am at a complete loss to suggest anything that I DON’T like. Oh, there are some that I don’t like to watch for one reason or another, but I am pretty game to try anything.

Except this……

Base Jumping.

What the hell?

Honestly, walk up to the edge of the building and jump off. Go ahead. HAHAHA NO WAY. Not me, friend. Go ahead, call me sissy. I don’t care.

So I was REALLY excited to find this clip of people jumping off the brand new tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Enjoy the tape. And don’t try this at home.

This week we have a lower body workout with a lot of cardio intervals. The music is heavily ’80′s, with a little ’90′s thrown in for flavor.

Download it, try it out and let me know what you think.

Remember, the podcasts are for you. Let me have some feedback so that we can give you the best possible workout!

Click away!

….oh yes they did….

Not quite sure what the message is here, but if you ladies are looking to get something for that special man in your life this Valentine’s Day, this may be it.

I’ll be honest….I did a double take and had to squint when he was working his oblique……

And, with that, may the message boards LIGHT UP…….

Here’s the latest from the week that was. All things considered, pretty busy week. So grab a cup of coffee, kick back, and give a read…..

Junk food may make you depressed (though “Twinkie” is still a funny word- heh heh)

All this “lack of fitness” is starting to effect the military!

The good news: obesity rates aren’t rising. The bad news: it’s because most of us are already fat.

Watching TV will shorten your lifespan.

The response to the Personal Training Podcasts has been terrific!! You all seem to be getting into the idea of CyberTraining 1.0.

This week’s workout is a focus on upper body work with some cardio thrown in for fun! It’s 55 minutes from soup to nuts! Give it a whirl.

This week’s upper body focus is a result of a request for an upper body workout. It’s that simple. Ask me and I’ll make it happen. Also, let me know what soundtracks you want. If you want to workout to all Sinatra (hey, ya never know) tell me and I will post the podcast.

These workouts are for you! Let me know how best to shape them!

Monday was a pretty rough day. First, Mark McGwire, one of baseball’s most powerful batters of all time, appeared on Bob Costas’ show on the Major League Baseball Network to announce that, indeed, he had used steroids in 1998, the year he broke the home run record.

I was shocked.

I had no idea there was a Major League Baseball Network.

Earlier on Monday, Brooklyn had lost one of its own. Joe Rollino had been struck and killed by a mini van as he went for his morning walk in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. Mr. Rollino, Puggy to his friends, was 104 years old. Others called him Mighty Joe Rollino, for he had made a name for himself as a strongman. Not just any strongman, but, as an elloquent obituary in the New York Times points out, possibly pound for pound the greatest strongman to ever live. Frequently, he would swim in the water off Coney Island, at one time holding an eight year streak of swimming every day ( in 1974, the story goes, he braved a 6-degree day to go swimming.) Louis Scarcella of the Coney Island Polar Bears, a group that braves the cold waters all winter long, said of Joe: “He was known as the Great Joe Rollino, and he was great. You knew he was great just by standing next to him. He just had that humble confidence and strength. It shined.” A new member of the Guru community mentioned that he had once met Mr. Rollino a couple of years ago, when he was the ripe young age of 102, and his handshake was extraordinary powerful. He skipped red meat, alcohol and cigarettes. And of course, he had his daily walks.

I’d like to think that’s the way Mighty Joe would want to go: hit by a car during his morning walk while still feeling powerful.

McGwire? What can you say about him? He had a great start to his career, winning the Golden Glove in 1990. But then he had a couple of less-than-stellar seasons and, who knows, maybe he figured juicing would set him up for better performance, more accolades and more money. They say he and Sammy Sosa saved baseball from all the negativity of the strike a few years before. But at the end of the day, both he and Sosa will make it into the record books with asterisks next to their names. Sure, great achievements. Would they have been great players if they hadn’t juiced? Sure. For me, they would have been marginally better if they had avoided years of denial and simply admitted what they had done.

But they did, Blanche, they did use the juice. And then denied, denied, denied.

So a tip-of-the-hat to Mighty Joe Rollino: the Strongest Man in the World.

Sometimes strength is measured simply by integrity. And Mr. Rollino, 104 years old, shined.

And the Winner is…..

It was a very difficult process. So many of you submitted great entries. But after dozens of entries, some hand wringing and debate among our judges, the winner of the First Annual Guru Makeover is…….

Christine Barker of DUMBO, NY!

Stay tuned for updates on Christine and her fabulous makeover.

And thank you to everyone who entered!! We are going to have lots of other great contests in 2010, so stay tuned!!

Podcasts

So a few brave people have tried the new Free Personal Training Podcasts and the feedback has been fantastic. It’s so easy to use. Download the podcasts from our ever-expanding library HERE, add the podcast to your iPod, and come into the Guru for a workout with your Cyber-Trainer. Michael will guide you through a variety of workouts with an eclectic mix of music and various workout times! Check it out now and catch the wave!!