Shaping Up At the National Institute of Health and Fitness, Part 2

I recently spent a day and a half at the National Institute of Health and Fitness in Midway Utah. I shared my first-day experiences in Part I. 

7 A.M. – I missed the hiking group — I waited in the lobby, forgetting that the  group meets at the tennis courts for the hikes.  At about 7:02, I made a quick stop in the restroom, and  apparently just missed trainer Jared Jones when he stopped by the lobby looking for me.  At about 7:10, I asked the desk clerk if she had seen the hikers, and she said Jared was in the lobby a few minutes before. She also mentioned that the hikers usually meet at the tennis courts.  Since by that time the group had left (assuming I’d decided to sleep in), I set off on my own. Since the Wasatch State Park is just down the road, there are miles of hiking trails and scenic country roads. I found the Huber Trail, and followed it for about a half hour, then looped back to the paved road.

On my way back to Zermatt, Jared stopped in the van on his way to pick up the hikers who had left at 6 a.m. and finished a steep, rigorous 6 miles.  Dr. Sorenson and Steve Eddington (managing partner of Zermatt and the Homestead) were part of that group. Eddington told me he asked the Sorensons to bring their fitness program to Zermatt to help establish it as a wellness destination.

“The Sorensens understand and impart what it takes to help guests lose weight, become stronger, transform their bodies, reduce inflammation, get past Type 2 diabetes, eat delicious food and never go hungry,” he said.

8:15 a.m. Breakfast started out with a green drink. It contains 2 servings of veggies, including the ever-popular nopal cactus, which helps regulate blood sugar, according to studies. A bit of apple juice gave it a pleasant flavor.  And, just in case you want MORE nopal, you can help yourself to a platter of it on the table.  Then there were veggie burritos — whole wheat tortilla, beans, potatoes, and veggies. I kept thinking those chunks of potatoes MIGHT be pieces of chicken, but no go. But since I’m not much of a meat lover, I really didn’t miss it.

9:30 a.m.: Jared did a seminar on designing your own exercise program. In an earlier conversation, Jared mentioned he used to work at The Encore at Wynn Las Vegas, and Bob Harper of  “The Biggest Loser” sometimes did Jared’s spin class. He said Bob would often “buy out” all the other spots in the class so it was a one-on-one class.  So, we’re being trained by a guy who has worked out Bob Harper!

From Jared’s seminar, I realized that exercise physiology has changed a lot over the years.  Some of his caveats included:

You can’t out-exercise a bad diet.  Fitness is about 70 percent nutrition and 30 percent exercise, so you can’t eat a ton of junk thinking you’ll just “work it off” at the  gym.  “Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym,” he told us.

The old idea of “sticking with” the same exercise routine has been tossed out, because your body gets used to it. “Frequent change elicits the greatest result,” Jones said. “Constantly vary what you’re doing.”

Instead of the traditional method of using your heart rate as a monitor, use a “rate of perceived exertion.”  10 is Maximum effort, where it feels impossible to continue.  Nine is very hard, you can barely breathe and maintain a conversation.

7-8 is vigorous, where you’re short of breath but can still maintain conversation.

4-6 is moderate, where you can exercise comfortably for over an hour, breathing heavily but maintaining conversation.

The old-school aerobic training concept of  “long, slow distance” is being replaced by “high intensity intervals,” where you might do five two-minute rounds of a certain exercise, as hard as you can go, with a one-minute rest in between. Jared said he has put this idea to the test in training for races. Instead of running miles upon miles, he’s doing more sprinting, resting, and sprinting again. He’s gotten better times in races, while spending less time training. And, less time training is easier on your joints.

The law of de-training is that for the amount of time you take off from exercising, it will take twice as long to get back to that fitness level.

Jared, who is into the CrossFit program, favors “total body exercises” such as “Wall Balls” (squatting, throwing a medicine ball up to the wall and catching it), and the dreaded Burpees. Back in my 7th grade PE class they called them “squat thrusts.” I hated them then and I hate them now…but I hated zucchini back then too. Maybe I could learn to like them.

When asked if it’s harder for a heavy person to work out, Jared said yes, it is.  He noted that personal trainers sometimes have a hard time with empathy — most have always been fit, so they don’t realize how hard it can be for their clients. He was at a training class, and the leader had him put on  a vest, backpack, etc.  weighted with 60 pounds (the most  weight that one of his clients had lost). He soon realized how tough it was to do a workout with that much extra weight. Another trainer who was wearing an extra 100-pounds was unable to even complete the workout. And these guys were trainers who are strong and fit. He said that experience  helped him to have more empathy for his heavy clients. What seems to be an easy workout isn’t as easy for a heavy person. To gauge their amount of exertion, Jared will sometimes casually ask a question; when they answer, he knows if they are out of breath or if they can still maintain a conversation.

10:45 a.m.: Jared put some of his high intensity interval training to the test with the Cardio Interval class.  We worked on “Guts and Butts,” with a circuit of exercises like planks and doggie-lifts, and some killer-ab exercises. In between we did rotated using the bikes, treadmills and ellipticals. It was all done “Tabata” style; with about 20 seconds going hard, and resting for 10 seconds. On the elliptical, you did 20 seconds going forward, then 20 seconds going backward.  If this is supposed to create “muscle confusion,” it certainly did the trick!

12:30 p.m.: Lunch started out with….you guessed it, a salad bar and nopal (Can you say “no” to nopal??) followed by butternut squash soup.

Studded with chopped veggies, it was a departure from most butternut squash soups, which get their creamy texture from high-fat cream. When I added a tiny grind of salt and several grinds of pepper, that kicked up the flavor a lot. One of the guests kept obsessing all during lunch about bacon, despite everyone else’s attempts to change the subject.  He said one morning, he went into the hotel restaurant and asked them to cook 2 pieces of bacon for him. But a few minutes later, he saw Dr. Sorenson walk in, so he discreetly canceled his order! We had a good chuckle over that, although I wondered what the point was of spending  time and money for this fitness program if he was just going to sabotage his efforts? But, I shouldn’t judge, since I have only been here a day. After a week (or several weeks, as some guests have stayed) I might also be fantasizing over bacon, or  at least a chunk of sharp cheddar.  At this point, however, my appetite was pleasantly satisfied by the NIHF meals.

1:30 p.m. It’s “Safe Sun” time.  Yes, sitting out at the pool is good for you! Dr. Sorenson has done some research, even written a book, on the importance of vitamin D.

2 p.m. McKenna put us through some tough drills with Aqua Dynamics. Dreams of lazily floating in the water were replaced by running back and forth, twisting, kicking etc., all the  while pushing down on the foam hand-weights. The retro music such as “Mamma Mia!” and Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean” made me think how exercise has changed a lot since the old 80’s-style leotards-and-legwarmers days.

3 p.m. Zumba-time.  This was a fun, less-intense workout than the interval training classes.  And, it was my last class of the day.  I bid farewell as the group was preparing for Yogalates.  With my recent knee surgery, I knew I wouldn’t be able to do a lot of exercises that put weight or stress on my knees.

I was a bit sorry I would miss the Friday night graduation dinner — grilled salmon! Some of the guests (including Mr. Bacon)  were really looking forward to that.  Vicki Sorensen has told me that if a guest really wants animal protein at other meals, it can be done.

I walked out of there feeling proud that I had made it through five exercise classes, plus a morning hike, during my short stay. And I ate so much nopal it’s a wonder I didn’t start start growing cactus spines! Along the way, I learned some things to help jump-start my own fitness program. You can find out more about NIHF at  nihf.com.