Category: Exercise

Yesterday, I narrated how I transformed from being a dog-hater to a dog-Lab-er. I love dogs. No day passes when I don’t play with, squeeze, talk to and walk our four Labrador Retrievers: Bolt (8 yrs. old, brown), sisters Butter and Bean (2 yrs. old, yellow and black), and the puppy of Bolt and Butter, which we named Burger (she’ll turn one this Nov.).

Thanks to this no-thanks pandemic Covid-19, one “positive” has been our being able to spend more time with the dogs.

Jourdan Polotan, my BCBP brother, taught us a formula that we practice. Jourdan calls it EDA: Exercise, Discipline and Affection. The man we call the “Cesar Millan of Cebu” because of his ability to let dogs stay calm and follow his orders, Jourdan advised that EDA should be done in sequence. Before showing affection to your dogs, let them exercise and provide discipline first. Remember this acronym: EDA.

Twice daily, we let our dogs exercise. At 5:45 a.m., our househelp take the dogs on a 20-minute uphill/downhill stroll. They also do their “business” (poop) during this time. Late afternoons, it’s my turn to bond with Bolt, Butter, Bean and Burger. Yes, the 4Bs. I bought two leashes from Caminade and each leash has two chain extensions. With each hand pulling a leash with two mini-chains, I’m able to walk all four Labradors by myself.

Exercise is essential for dogs. I read an article last week that Germany will soon enact a “Dogs Act,” a law requiring that dogs be walked twice a day. Exercising with dogs serves a dual purpose: Both you and your pets get to sweat (in my case, with the 4Bs) and you’re able to fulfill another B: bond with them.

During this pandemic, dogs have an added role in our lives. They help us relax and feel better. Dogs possess healing powers. 

In “The Mood-Boosting Power of Pets” (from HealthGuide.org), the article says: “One of the reasons for these therapeutic effects is that pets fulfill the basic human need for touch.. Stroking, hugging, or otherwise touching a loving animal can rapidly calm and soothe you when you’re stressed or anxious. The companionship of a pet can also ease loneliness, and most dogs are a great stimulus for healthy exercise, which can substantially boost your mood and ease depression.”

In “How Dogs Can Help with Depression,” the author Greer Grenley writes: “Dogs can contribute to your happiness. Studies show that dogs reduce stress, anxiety and depression, ease loneliness, encourage exercise and improve your all-around health. For example, people with dogs have lower blood pressure and are less likely to develop heart disease—just playing with dogs has been shown to elevate oxytocin and dopamine, creating positive feelings and bonding for both the person and their pet.”

Everybody needs some extra love these days. The world’s best anti-depressant, it’s said, has four legs, a wagging tail and comes with unconditional love.

“A dog,” they say, “is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.”

I wore a face mask while biking last Friday. At first, while warming-up and the pedaling was relaxed, it felt normal and good. No complaints. But after a few minutes and when the bike pointed upwards, my breathing turned heavy. It felt uncomfortable. As the trajectory of the climb turned skyward, I had difficulty breathing. My washable cloth mask felt like a suction. As I exhaled, it pushed outward; when I inhaled, it stuck to my mouth. 

Out-in, out-in. This is not good. I stopped. 

I don’t know about you but I can’t exercise with the face mask on. Walking, yes. Leisurely cycling on a flat asphalt, yes. But anything that involves the heart pumping over 121 beats per minute, no. 

Running with the mask on? I can’t imagine doing it. I’ve seen Chipi Borromeo running loops around Phase 8 in Maria Luisa Park and I’m amazed at how he’s able to keep his stride.

You’re panting and sweating and struggling to engulf oxygen; your lungs are expanding and compressing — on an unmasked 9-kph run. Now cover your nose and mouth and restrict the air flow into your lungs. I can’t do it.

“Wearing a face mask while exercising may be a risky affair,” wrote Jahnavi Sarma in, “COVID-19: Wearing a face mask is important but avoid it while working out,” from thehealthsite.com. “This is because, when you exercise, your lungs need more air. As a result, your heart pumps more blood, which is why your heart beat increases. But when you are wearing a mask, there is restriction in the flow of air to the lungs. This can make you feel light headed, breathless and tired. Your lungs may collapse if you really overdo it. You may also be in danger if you have any underlying health conditions like heart disease and hypertension.”

Here’s the point: Be careful. While there’s no denying that wearing of masks keeps you and those around you safe (and, I know, it’s mandatory everytime we go out), be careful when you wear one while exercising.

Listen to your body. With extreme workouts like sprints, 14K runs or high-intensity interval training (HIIT), for example, in case you feel lightheaded, stop. Sit down. Check the intensity of your effort and make sure it’s within the light-to-moderate range. Avoid symptoms like dizziness. Take your mask off and breathe normally. 

There was a 26-year-old runner from Wuhan, China who was hospitalized after complaining of chest pain after a 6K run. Doctors concluded that his lungs collapsed — possibly because of his mask that limited his ventilation and impaired his oxygen levels while running. 

To me, if you can exercise alone or be at a far distance from other people, this is best. Maybe there’s no need to wear that mask. Run at night or very early in the morning and in an area where there’s nobody around. Exercise in isolated or private areas. Workout at home.

My wife Jasmin and I were scheduled to run the London Marathon. 

It was set on April 26 — just 41 days from now. But yesterday, I received an email from the organizers: the Virgin Money London Marathon, one of the planet’s biggest events drawing over 40,000 runners, will be postponed to October 4, 2020.

Like the marathons in Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Barcelona and Boston —  like the NBA, PBA, and possibly the Tokyo Olympics — sports are put on hold.

Which led me, while scouring the internet, to ask these questions: Should we continue our individual sports and exercise? Is running good for us during this threatening state of the Covid-19?

The quick answer is Yes. Exercise boosts the body’s immune system to make us stronger and more resistant to infections. 

In the article, “How to boost your immune system to avoid colds and coronavirus,” Amy Fleming of The Guardian wrote:

“To be immunologically fit, you need to be physically fit. ‘White blood cells can be quite sedentary,’ says Prof Arne Akbar, the president of the British Society for Immunology. ‘Exercise mobilises them by increasing your blood flow, so they can do their surveillance jobs and seek and destroy in other parts of the body.’” 

Exercise is good. But here’s a word of caution: “light to moderate exercise.”

Marathon training, like what Jasmin and I have been doing (25K to 28K runs on Sundays), is not light and moderate. It’s extreme.

“Hard, continuous, long-effort exercise like marathons and ultra marathons can lower your resistance for 24 to 72 hours, and lead to increased colds and respiratory illnesses for a week or two,” wrote Amby Burfoot in the Women’s Running article, “This is Exactly How Running Impacts Your Immunity.”

In simple language: Yes, it’s good to sweat but don’t overdo it. The dictum “more (exercise) is better” is not to be applied these days when we want to be more immune to illnesses.

“Too much exercise volume and intensity turns the corner on what experts refer to as the J curve—and your risk of infection goes up,” added Ms. Burfoot.

“After a marathon, your immune state is close to that of an older, not particularly healthy individual,” warned exercise physiologist David Nieman. “And those are the ones getting really sick and sometimes even dying.”

So, what should we all do?

First, the basics, added Ms. Burfoot: washing of hands for 20 to 30 seconds several times a day; sneezing and coughing into the elbow (or best, using tissue paper); and avoid touching our face with our hands. 

Mr. Nieman added a few more tips in his article, “The compelling link between physical activity and the body’s defense system.” He said:

1) As you workout, run and exercise, make sure that you also get ample sleep and recovery. 2) Avoid overdoing your workouts. 3) Skip the gym. Exercise outdoors. 4) Monitor yourself for early signs of sickness or overtraining and stop or adjust. 

Be safe and continue working out, my friends.

 

This Wednesday, we welcome not just a new year but a new decade. The “2010s” decade has passed and we unveil a brand-new 2020 to 2029 term.

What will this new 10-year era bring us? We can plan, dream and create “New Decade” Resolutions. But life has many turns and twists that we’ll never anticipate. 

My aspiration for all of you, dear readers?

For each one to embark on a pursuit of getting healthier and fitter. 

How? By making exercise a priority in your life. That’s why I’m excited for the 2020 Cebu Marathon participants. Over 1,200 will run the 42K and 1,600 the 21K (plus several hundred more for the 5K) this January 12, 2020.

To all runners in CCM: Did you know that you will be one of the first lucky people in the entire world to run a marathon this new decade? I did a quick Google search and there are only a handful of 42K runs in the first days of the new decade.

To my dear readers: This 2020 Decade, aim to run a marathon. Join an Ironman 70.3 race. Train for a Spartan race. Not interested in enlisting for an extreme-type of sport?

Pay for that full-year gym subscription. Purchase that treadmill that you’ve long-planned to acquire. Buy the most expensive sports-related equipment that you can’t afford. 

Remember: the more you spend on something, the more you will use it. 

Spend on sports and fitness.

Specialized Bikes (through AutoFocus Bike Center) has incredible deals of up to 60 percent off. Visit their Facebook page and order that road bike.

Aim to incorporate sweating into your daily routine. Like eating and showering and brushing teeth, target to brisk-walk or swim or play badminton each day. Climbing stairs to your 8th floor office building is a guaranteed way to increase your heart rate. 

Increase your heart rate. If you don’t have much time, go for a 15-minute sprint (or sprint to the top of your building stairs). Any way to force your heart rate to spike to 190 beats per minute (for a short period) is good.

Climb in the morning, climb down and up to do an errand; do the same climb for lunch and before you leave the office. Don’t take the elevator.

Walk to work. Run to work. Bike to work. 

As the author Jim Rohn once said, “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” 

 

One of the most famous bodies in all of Cebu is that of Alan Choachuy, all of 217 lbs. If you think that’s heavy and obese, consider this: Three months ago, he weighed 309 lbs. But, after eight weeks inside “The Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition,” he lost 62 lbs. Then, after getting ousted from the camp, he arrived in Cebu even more determined: he lost another 30 lbs.

Alan lost 92 lbs. in 10 weeks. “My goal is to weigh 180 lbs.,” he proclaimed.

The Biggest Loser contest? “I joined for fun,” he said. “How often can a fat guy like me get an opportunity to get into reality TV that has a good purpose: To be healthy!”

During the auditions, Alan, who turned 40 last February, was one of the last to enlist, lining up “very late in the afternoon while others lined up at dawn.”

How did he lose 62 lbs. in two months? “In the camp, I did cardio elliptical, stationary bike, running, boxing, spinning and strength training. But the most effective was the Metabolic workout by Coach Jim Saret; it’s a short intense workout that hits 70% of your max heart rate. Ex: the basic 10 jumping jacks, 10 squats, 10 push ups, 10 lunges but repeat as many as you can in 4 minutes and as fast as you can. Sounds simple but as you get to your second set you start to see stars. Haha! Increase number of minutes as you get stronger and faster or carry dumbbells etc.; it not only helps you lose weight, it helps you get fitter and stronger faster.”

When Alan left The Biggest Loser last July 25, he continued his fitness program. In fact, just last Monday morning, as I drove up to Ma. Luisa Park, I saw one man pedaling the mountain-bike. He was alone. He climbed the subdivision’s steepest part.

It was the ABS-CBN star. “That was a 1.5-hour bike ride,” he said. “I started at our house in Mandaue then went to Maria Luisa. I did three laps; it takes 10-12 minutes uphill to the main intersection then back downhill on the right side where a red Ferrari and yellow Porsche are parked. I chose Ma. Luisa because it’s a short but very steep uphill.” (On biking, years before he joined the TV show, Mr. Choachuy was popular among Cebuano bikers because of Big Al’s, a series of MTB events he sponsored from 2005 to 2007.)

With The Biggest Loser, Alan was highly-respected. “It was a great experience in the Camp, especially when I was treated like leader not only for the Blue team but for the entire group. Never in my life did I think that 16 people from different parts of the country would give me so much respect. And to think I am from Cebu.”

His motivation? “My wife, Caroline, and my kids, Carmichael, Carlisle, and Alana,” said Alan. “I want to grow old with my wife and don’t want to burden my children in the future because of my unhealthy lifestyle.”

He adds: “I also thank my dad, Alexander Choachuy Sr., where I learned my leadership characteristics. I have not thanked him enough and now I have chance to thank him and my Mom.”
On the quest for healthy living, Alan is not finished. When he e-mailed me his schedule, I thought it was Noy Jopson’s Camsur 70.3 Training Regimen.

Alan’s daily routine: Early mornings, he runs and bikes for up to 2.5 hours. In the afternoon, he’s at Fitness First for another 2.5-hours of strength-training, metabolic, and core exercises. “I work out between 3-5 hours a day,” he said. “My journey has not ended and have no plans to stop. Plan to run half-marathon in Sept. and maybe a full marathon in 2012. Also, planning on going back to triathlon, and soon, the Ironman; it’s easier to lose weight if you are preparing for an event.”

A full-time architect who, together with his associate, Archt. Peter Bordador (a Cebu Hall of Famer in football), works to change our perspective of homes and buildings, it was his own life outlook that was changed by The Biggest Loser.

“Not only am I healthy now but it gave me a new perspective in life. I learned that it is never too late to make a change… that before you change others, you should look yourself in the mirror.”

Each day, I sniff. I get a high. My nerves grow edgy, my body weakens and I feel low, low, low—if I don’t inhale this drug. It has permeated my system. I can’t get rid of it. My red blood cells have been infiltrated; my mind, brainwashed.

I am an addict. I choose to be. For years and hours and decades now, I’ve hidden it, exposed it, written about it, fantasized. Yes. This addiction I fantasize about. Each day. And, like any craving, it started small. When I was small. It grew. Like addictions do. It enveloped my anatomy. At first, I resisted, No!—but then, like all enslavements, it was too irresistible. The lure pulled me. And, the more I inhaled, the more sweat my body exhaled.

I am an addict. We are all addicts. Maniacs, we are, of something. Cigarettes. Coffee. Cars. Cocaine. Coke. Computers. Chocolates. Chatting. We are submissive to something. We crave. This is part of being human. This is normal. Addiction is normal. Yet, the sad reality is, most addictions are bad. They’re damaging and vicious. They suck us into a dark and deep hole that, unlike the Chilean heroes, we can’t climb out of. Most addictions are these. Drugs. Sex. Food. The habit of visiting Waterfront Hotel’s second floor to sit on a high stool and wave your P10,000 goodbye—that’s a habit. Bad.

I am an addict. But this habit I covet is the same one plenty lust after: like those who visit Waterfront Hotel’s basement floor to sit on a high stool called the stationary bike, pay P10,000 for four months—that’s a habit. Good. I am addicted to anything that moves me. Literally. Pedaling. Cutting through the invisible air to traverse from the banner called START to another signage called FINISH—that’s my addiction. And I’m not alone. Thousands, too, are addicts.

Take this latest fanaticism. Every Sunday at dawn, while thousands used to party on Saturday nights and snore hours later, now everybody’s up and running. This stimulant everybody’s perspiring. It’s an addiction.

This obsession is good. It’s an addiction that should be made an addition: Husband invites wife to dance who invites best friend Carol to badminton who invites daughter Steph to taekwondo who invites classmate Rhea to triathlon who invites dad Mike to swim who invites officemate Paolo to triathlon. That’s addition. That’s addiction.

I am a maniac. And I love it. I feel weak when I can’t perform this obsession. Daily, I do it. Writing this piece? Prior to almost every story I type, before my mind can execute, my body needs to excrete liquid. It’s called sweat. And it’s this exercise of the body that flexes my brain to release “creative juices.” Addiction is a juice. It powers the body. From a lethargic, shoulders-drooping, fatigued state, I’m erect and raring to march—thanks to this fascination to perspire.

I am an addict. If I awaken at 3:20 in the morning and can’t go back to sleep, that’s because I didn’t get enough addiction. From sweating. For here’s what I’ve concluded: A good night’s sleep is achieved when I’m most tired—from heavy dosage of exertion during daytime. Formula for sweet dreams: exercise = better sleep.

I am an addict. I hope you, too, become one. Like breathing unconsciously or bathing each morning or digesting rice every breakfast, noon, and night—habits we perform by instinct—do include another type of good-habit to your daily repertoire. Sweat. Yes. Be addicted. Tell yourself, like I’ve brainwashed myself for decades, this: I am weak when I don’t run. Or bike. Or lift weights. Or dribble the basketball and shoot. Or badminton smash. Or tennis volley. Or grass-walk and par-putt in CCC. Do anything to weaken your body for 40 minutes daily—then you’ll be strengthened. But do it daily. Like an addict. For you’re no addict if you skip sessions and inhale only every Sunday, right? Inhale sports. Let’s all be addicts.