HJBR Jan/Feb 2022

TRANSFORMATION 30 JAN / FEB 2022 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE   were referred to as “dynamic warmup” (I affectionately referred to them as dynamic conditioning!) in which, before every work- out, I would spend anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes warming up to execute my work- outs. The same amount of time was spent in active recovery, which involved stretching and cool down. The last principle I want to highlight is the low-impact conditioning, which, for obvious reasons, saved my joints and muscle tissue from breaking down too much through the years of training. Reducing the wear and tear on my joints back then, enabled me to engage in all the activities I love today. Al and Erik were truly pioneers in this area of mechanical strength training and recovery. Editor How can we who are older or more sedentary utilize some of those techniques to avoid injury as we begin lifestyle change that will include more physical exercise? Fontenot First, I would recommend building a vision for what you hope to accomplish. If you are older, your goal might be to gain some flexibility or improve your balance. If you are younger, it might be to gain muscle and/or burn body fat. If you have been sed- entary for quite some time, you may wish to improve your cardiovascular condition. Fig- uring out what your ultimate aspirations are is vital in establishing a direction to head. Once you’ve done this, then consult your physician, as then you will have pertinent questions to ask him/her with regard to your goals. It is important to have a clear understanding of any physical or mental limitations that you may have, so you can set up an appropriate exercise regimen. Then, establish what kind of routine is feasible for your lifestyle. Some of you will have more spare time than others, and some may have little spare time at all. Figuring this out early will help with your ability to comply with whatever protocol you choose to engage. I would also recommend start- ing slowly then building up as you go. See what your body and mind are capable of from wherever you are starting so that you don’t get discouraged and go right back to where you came from. Editor OK, so, most of us are not world- class athletes. We often work 12-hour shifts, and even if it is only eight hours, that doesn’t include drive time. We have kids, perhaps a partner. We have shopping to do, meals to fix, a house to clean, schoolwork to help with, bills to pay, activities to attend … an attempt at a social life. There simply are not enough hours in a day, and we haven’t even laid in the stress of working during a pandemic. We know we should be more active, healthy, but where is the time? Help me understand how to put the oxygen mask on me first. My inclination is to put it on others first, and someday I will put mine on. Fontenot This is a subject that I am particu- larly sensitive to as a coach in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for 10 seasons, and anyone that knows anything about coaching under- stands that there is very little free time to engage in anything outside of work. It was not uncommon to work 16 to 18-hour days. I would attempt to carve out 30minutes prior to the workday starting to get a workout in. It worked periodically. At other times, I was just too swamped with work/meetings/ practice or being sleep-deprived to be com- fortable with that setup on a daily basis. The volume of stressors seemed unsurmount- able at times, but upon further inspection and motivation, I managed to formulate a system that worked for me based on one fundamental idea — that no workout is too small! For a former professional athlete to buy into this idea took me a lot of reps and infor- mation gathering. There are many studies out there that show that postprandial (after- eating) walks of as little as 10minutes can be beneficial for burning not only calories, but fat as well. I would leave the cafeteria, head up to the third floor (where my office was) and head out into Lambeau field to do laps inside the stadium. On a typical day, I could get in 3 to 4 laps at a decent pace. I under- stood this was a practice I could implement after every meal at work (where all of them were), and, at the end of the day, I would have gotten in 9 to 12 laps, equating to 2 to 3 miles! What started happening on the front end of this exercise, which was completely unin- tentional, is that I began to eat a lot smarter: I ate more balanced foods and foods that were more nutrient-rich and easy to digest so that I was comfortable walking immedi- ately after meals. If I was fortunate enough to find myself with another few minutes of spare time during the day, which I often did, I would do bodyweight squats, pushups and anything else that I could come up with to burn more calories and increase my heart rate. Not only was this helping my body, but my mind was more clear and focused, even later in the day when I would typically start to fade. Editor Do you think belonging to a gym is necessary to maintain fitness? Fontenot I think it all depends on what your ultimate goals are in fitness. If my goal is to have a chiseled, muscular body that could end up on the cover of Muscle and Fitness magazine, then yes, I should probably join a gym or at the very least have weights in my spare bedroom. If my goal is to maintain physical and/or mind health, then no, a gym is not necessary. There are plenty of good paid subscrip- tion apps out there, ranging from Peloton, Ladder, Fitbit and a host of others. There are also many that are completely free apps, such as Nike Training Club or the Johnson and Johnson Official 7 Minute Workout apps. I would suggest doing a little research on these and reading reviews as there are many to choose from. Most fitness apps incorporate the option to engage in body- weight exercises (no weights required) and also offer workouts requiring dumbbells or kettle bells for any kind of weight resistance training. Many apps and websites also offer