Heart Series: The Truck

The Bryan heart testing truck is coming to LPD on Tuesday July 16th and Tuesday July 23rd from 0730-1500 hours. To make an appointment call Bobbie at 402-481-8018. There are four tests being offered on the truck and you can pick and choose among the tests. Bobbie will be able to help you pick the right tests. The tests are:

Carotid Artery Ultrasound Screening:   This painless, non-invasive screening detects plaque deposits in the carotid arteries.  These plaque deposits are a leading risk factor for stroke. 

Cost: $40

Abdominal Aortic Ultrasound Screening:   This painless, non-invasive screening detects the presence of an aneurysm in the abdominal aorta.

Cost: $40

 

Peripheral Arterial Disease:  A painless, noninvasive test called the ankle-brachial index (ABI) compares the blood pressure in the ankles to the blood pressure in the arms to determine how well blood is flowing.

Cost:  $20

 

Atrial Fibrillation:  Atrial fibrillation is the most common heart arrhythmia, affecting 2.2 million Americans.  

Cost:  $10

 

There is also a calcium test that will likely be available at a later date/time. Bryan did this for LFR in the past and there were some employees, who with the help of this testing, were able to get some medical treatment that ended up saving their lives.

 

e-mail lpd1143 for more details or call 402-481-8018 for more details.

Fitness at 50: Herschel Walker

Over the past weekend I caught the tail end of a documentary about Herschel Walker. For those of you who are not familiar with Herschel here's a quick summary of his life and accomplishments.

Herschel played running back for the University of Georgia from 1980-1982. In those three seasons Herschel rushed for over 5200 yards on 994 carries, averaging 5.3 yards a carry and rushed for 49 touchdowns. Herschel was on the Heisman trophy ballot all three years of his college career and won the Heisman in 1982.  Herschel was also a consensus All-American his entire college career.  Herschel left college early to play pro football. First, for the now defunct USFL and then for the NFL. Herschel ended up playing a total of 15 pro seasons and if you combined both his USFL and NFL numbers he would have rushed for over 13,000 yards putting him at number 5 in the NFL's all time rushing list. 

Herschel in his 20's

After retiring from football Herschel pursued various fitness related endeavors including a black belt in Taekwondo and competed in the Olympics at bobsledding. Eventually Herschel started a career in MMA at the age of 48. He ended up winning both of his fights, as knockouts.

Herschel at 48

One of the craziest things about Herschel is his training style/program. Herschel has always maintained that he never touched a weight before he went to college and even today prefers bodyweight exercises. Herschel has a daily regimen of 750-1000 pushups, 2500-3000 sit ups, and 500 dips.  He also jogs about 5 miles a day.

Herschel's a certified B.A. but it's funny to hear how he started working out. According to Herschel he was an overweight kid in a poor part of town with no access to gyms. Instead of whining about it Herschel began the pushup/situp routine that he does today. To a degree Herschel is just a genetic freak, I doubt many of us could obtain his physique following his routine. But my favorite thing about Herschel has got to be his drive/desire to try and master new things. Most would be content with being one of the best college football players ever and then just sit around getting fat but Herschel went out of his way to stay in shape.  Herschel wouldn't let his age be an excuse. At this point it's not just about fitness it's really about an attitude. We all know people at work and other areas of life who for lack of a better word give up when they reach a certain age. You don't have to do Herschel's routine it can be as simple as walking, weight lifting, hiking, biking, slow pitch softball etc. to a degree we're like sharks if we stop moving/learning, that's when we truly die.

How to deal with a crappy workout

It's happened to all of us at some point in our 'training'. We came to the gym ready to workout but about 10-15min into the workout there's about a 1,000 other places you'd rather be. Or you start your morning run routine and just a few blocks away from your house and you are walking, tired, tight, just not feeling it. It happens to everybody and it sucks when it does. Some people depend on that release of endorphins from exercise to get through the day like those 16 year olds buying 'incense' to get that 'totally legal' high. When things like this happen it's hard to stay motivated and focused on your goals, string a few bad workouts together and you might quit all together. So let's look at what you can do to recover from a crappy workout. After the bad workout ask two questions:

1) Have you been resting enough?

 An overlooked aspect of any workout is often rest. In bodybuilding land it is well known that your muscles do all their growing when you are resting. Endurance athletes, especially runners, are obsessed with rest as well. Running is hard on your joints and spending 5-6 days a week road running can destroy your body. Look at any 5K or marathon training plan, there's rest in there and it's not optional. So look at your past workouts. If you have been hitting it hard lately and had one day as a set back take that as a cue from your body to back off for a day or two and ease yourself back into it.  In addition to the actual workload look at your sleep patterns lately.  This job is tough on sleep schedules and its no surprise that sleep deprived athletes can struggle in the gym.

2) What have you been eating?

 In some lackluster workouts I can almost pinpoint the thing that I ate or drank that affected my performance the next day or so.  If you ate a pint of ice cream last night or a two packages of Eileen's cookies instead of good vegetables/fruit and healthy complex carbohydrates you should expect to struggle in the gym the next day. Food is fuel and crappy fuel equals crappy performance.  Of course if you spent the night out boozing then you are not only dehydrating yourself but you are also likely staying out late and alcohol actually hinders your sleep, the proverbial double whammy.  In looking at my own nutrition I'm amazed at how little water I can take in sometimes, drinking coffee, Red Bulls, diet pops etc. instead of water.

 Often you can diagnose the reason for your bad workout by looking at the above two questions.

 'Gee whiz Tom I went for my run this morning and I only ran 1.5 miles instead of my usual 4 what gives?'

'Well Bill didn't you spend last night drinking beer with your buddies and then eat that cheeseburger that has a Krispy Kreme donut as the bun?'

There are however times when you are doing everything right and you still have a bad workout. You basically have two choices: Power through your lackluster workout or take a break.  Both have their time and place. My recommendation is to try to feel the difference between tiredness and injury.  If you are injured then rest up and let it heal. If you are just tired then I'd say work through it but mentally lower your expectations for this workout and tell yourself you will make up for it the next time.

Bill's Donut Burger is real

PRANCERCISE!!!!!!!!

 I'm still trying to figure out if this is a joke or not.  The more I watch it the more I think she is just that excited about prancercising.  Seeing how happy she is I think it's time to re-evaluate our physical fitness assessments for the department.  Imagine how many more people would participate in the voluntary vet assessments if we could do the prancercise gallop around the south parking lot instead of just boring running.  Prancercise does have it's own book, website and accompanying blog (which is likely wildly more popular than mine).  See Prancercise.com for more.

  Yes Prancercise is hilarious; but there is something of merit to it.  When it comes to exercise the best workout is the one you actually will do.  I don't care if it's running, biking, weight lifting, CrossFit, boot camps, swimming, yoga, or martial arts.  If you wanna put on your favorite white tights, jacket, ankle weights and go prancing down 'O' St go for it.  It doesn't matter what it is just as long as you get moving.  Do what you enjoy it's that simple.