Exercise to Excellence
Using the ‘L’ word during the holidays
By “J. T.” John Toves

It’s clear to everyone by now that our country is in great need of a “lifestyle” change, and these changes to the direction of our government, our economy, and our consumer habits are urgent. Excess, lack of control and lack of awareness are at the core of these needed changes and should not be delayed. Can we take this one step further and inspect our personal health and fitness, even during the holidays?

Clients are willing to discuss their lifestyles all year long except during the holidays, so I often do not push it at this time of the year. But with all that’s happened to the country, and the acknowledgement that these important changes are urgent, why not? During the holidays, many studies show negative impacts to our health and fitness by excessive eating and drinking and less, if any, exercise. We then spend the next six to nine months working to reverse these impacts. So, let’s also look at what changes we can make in our lifestyles this holiday season.

A recent (September 2008) study from Harvard’s School of Public Health focused on how a combination of lifestyle factors might influence mortality. Researchers showed that “women who followed a combination of healthy lifestyle factors – not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, regular physical activity and a healthy diet – had a dramatically lower risk of dying from all causes during the two-and-a-half decades of the study. Furthermore, their risk reduction surpassed that from following any single healthy factor alone.”
This large-scale study (77,782 female participants) conducted over a 24-year period estimated the impact of a combination of lifestyle factors on mortality. Data revealed, “during the follow-up, 8,882 deaths were recorded, including 1,790 from cardiovascular disease and 4,527 from cancer.” Rob Van Dam, the assistant professor who led the study and his colleagues estimated that “55 percent of deaths from all causes, 44 percent of cancer mortality and 72 percent of cardiovascular mortality during follow-up could have been avoided if participants had never smoked, engaged in regular physical activity, avoided becoming overweight, and ate a healthy diet.” Clearly, this study underscores the importance of making healthful lifestyle changes.

I have a brave client who is committed to making some lifestyle changes despite the holidays. Hilary is a young, successful business owner with a very heavy business and social schedule, but she wants to do her best to make changes even though she knows at times she’ll still make some bad decisions. Hilary was challenged recently with a friend’s bachelorette party, but her strategy was simple. She anticipated the extra cocktails, ate only half of her dinner meal, and danced whenever she could throughout the evening. Instead of joining her friends at the spa the following day, she exercised at her friend’s gym. That evening, she split her dinner meal with a friend.

On her first day back after the party, she returned to her regular workout plus a walk/run on the beach, tracking her mileage on www.mapmyrun.com. “Fulton to Sloat and back is five miles. And it was so exhilarating being on the beach!” she exclaimed.

That night, however, Hilary had a difficult time with food choices, starving after all her exercise. She ended up with a cheeseburger, but with salad instead of fries, followed several hours later with a P&J sandwich and a soy ice cream sandwich for dessert. I trained Hilary a few days later and was thrilled when she said she would do 40 extra minutes of cardio after we were done. When I asked her how she thought she did over the weekend, she said, “It was hard and I know I made some bad choices, but I’m proud that I put a good amount of effort trying to balance it all!”

This is just my point: We don’t have to throw in the towel because it’s the holidays. We can take it one day at a time and use creative strategies where we can. It’s time for a change, and that time is now!

Happy holidays!
J. T.

John Toves, also known by his clients and friends as “J. T.,” is a certified trainer at the Jewish Community Center and at the new Action Fitness in the Marina. He tailors programs for strength and power development, functional training and weight
loss. Contact him at 415-812-9065 or jt@northsidesf.com.