Fitness & Health
Weight lifting, running, biking and general health
As my doctor says: 'I have a keen sense of my body and its expected function/performance'. Starting pretty much in grade 8, I made a personal commitment to excel in the area of personal fitness and health, and that has meant training and educating myself continuously about physical fitness and diet since 1974. It is both a hobby for me, as well as a basic requirement to maintain my 'balance' in life. I am quite passionate about fitness, diet and general health issues, as my friends, family and doctor will attest to.
My mom and dad were very health conscious in the 1970s so I grew up eating well and being influenced by a father who rode his bike to work, and had a well-used membership to the YMCA - a place he took us to train as teenagers (he also played tennis 4-5 times as week). He enrolled us in karate, took us for bike rides and runs, and encouraged us to join the elementary and high school track teams, which we most certainly did.
By grade 9 I was a ranked short distance (200m/400m) runner, placing 8th in the province in 1976 in the 400m. My brother and sister were even better runners than I was. While I kept up track through-out high school, I was mostly interested in weight-lifting where I would spend countless hours in the school gym, encouraged by the gym teacher (who loved weight-lifting) as well as working out at home. I kept this up in university, working out and running all the way thru college.
Once out of college I joined various gyms with various training partners continuously until the present day with periods where I sometimes was in better shape than others - for instance, while I peaked in bench-pressing strength in high-school (>260lbs when I weighed 130lbs), I was over-all stronger at age 24, and again at age 34 (biggest muscle mass). When I turned 40 I switched to running more seriously so as to burn off some fat that had accumulated around my body - and competed more and more successfully in 10k and 1/2 marathon events, posting my best times in the 47 minute range for 10k distances. I was attempting to break 45 minutes when I tore my (knee) medial meniscus and had to switch to biking for my cardio workouts.
Since age 45 I have also focused more on core stability and strength, partly to keep my lower back healthy and pain free, and partly because I generally ignored my core strength in my earlier life and needed to catch up in this important area. I am now training in a fairly balanced mode, featuring biking, strength training and core stability work in equal measure.
Weight Lifting
Pro body builders like Arnold Swarchenegger, Frank Zane and their contemporaries were the gods of body building in the mid-1970s. The whole sport of weight lifting had recently gained a degree of respect by 1974 and many young adults across North America, like myself, were starting to purchase gym memberships and weight lifting equipment and trained to get 'those big muscles' too.
I remember getting into a fight with a school yard bully in grade 8 and going home afterwards and convincing my parents to help me purchase my own weight lifting set. I also bought some books on the subject and quickly set about designing a workout schedule and program to develop myself into a muscular teenager. I created a pulley system in the basement in order to train my pecks (chest) and lats (V-back) and also built a sturdy bench press. I ate tuna sandwiches for lunch and had protein powder shakes after workouts as well.
Two of my best friends, Mark Thomson and William Yu were also bitten by the weight lifting bug and together we often trained at one of our homes, and also traveled to hear pro body builders talk at local gyms when they came to town. By grade 11 I was arguably the strongest kid in my high school, at least in terms of upper body strength.
Today strength training and muscle building is considered a critical element in any balanced fitness program (cross-training) yet many people that I talk to seem to hate weight lifting. I always loved it because it was the quickest way to change the look and feel of my body - by setting out a comprehensive workout program and schedule, within a few months you could look completely different. I have always been hooked.
Arnold at his 'Mr Olympia' peak in the early 1970s:
Working out in my backyard with Mark Thomson in grade 10:
Running
After my track days in high school, running always took a distant 2nd place to weight lifting. My brother-in-law, Steve Fleck, got the marathon running bug in his mid 30s (after having been a competitive athlete in his earlier years) and slowly set about converting me into a runner. As my 40th birthday loomed I took stock of my worsening physical condition (blame it on being CEO of Intrinsyc for the prior 6 years) and decided that the cure for my ills wasn't more weight lifting, but instead a major dose of cardio - and running is the most efficient way to burn calories there is (in comparison to biking or swimming or any stationary equipment use).
So in January of 2001 I started to walk/run/walk until I managed to complete my first 10K race in under 60 minutes by mid April. After that I steadily increased my speed and distance via interval training. During this period my weight dropped from 185lbs to 168lbs and I felt stronger and younger than I had in years. I started to run with a number of co-workers and business associates who had always been strong 10K runners and soon I was targeting breaking the 45 minute 10K barrier, and eventually hoping to break 40 minutes.
I was performing some home renos in 2003 and stepped off a ladder 2 rungs too high (I misjudged the number of rungs and thought I was at the bottom) and stiff legged down 3 feet onto my left foot. I felt the knee 'give' un-naturally and spent the next 3 days icing it down to try and get the pain and swelling to go away. When I went running the next week I found that my knee was 'stiff' but not painful so I ran on it for a number of weeks, always finding that I could not really finish my runs due to the stiffness and dull pain. Finally I got an MRI and booked myself in for the necessary surgery (see below) to allow myself to get back to the running which I had so learned to enjoy.
MRIs aren't that high resolution so I did not know before hand how badly I had injured myself. It turned out that I had to have 2/3rd of my medial meniscus removed and the advice was to stop running for long distances. I had a rough rehab period and it took me 6 months before I tried running again. Within 2K I had to stop due to the pain and swelling. That was a shock to me. I bought a sports brace and tried again and it helped, but I am still limited to attempting the occasional 10K race - non-competitively. At least I can run when I really need to now.
Running another 10K race with my brother-in-law Steve Fleck in 2002:
Biking
After I tore my medial meniscus (left knee) I received 'strong' advice from my surgeon (Dr. Brian Day) not to continue running long distances post-surgery, and take up biking or swimming instead. So I asked for and received a very trick Rocky Mountain ETSX-70 cross-mountain race bike for my birthday from my family in 2004. It was just the ticket to get my knee back into walking shape and also burn off some calories in the UBC Pacific Spirit Park next to my home in Vancouver. With endless trails stretching from the Fraser River to Spanish Banks, with lots of varying terrain, it is an ideal play ground for my biking endevours. Whistler also beckons with its huge variety of trails and down-mountain bike park.
My eldest son, Perry, has also been bitten by the cross-mountain biking sport and now has an ETSX-10 that he bought with his own money. We spend some precious time together on the trails which is fantastic, given how hard that it can be to share time and experiences with teen-age boys.
Perry and I have both added road race bikes to our inventory and can now be found putting in 30-60kms bike rides around Greater Vancouver every few days. Biking is my primary cardio outlet these days and in many ways I have stopped missing my old running days.
My awesome cross-mountain (27 lbs) Rocky ETSX-70 (click here for the ETSX web site) full-suspension bike:
My equally trick (16.1 lbs) Trek 5.2 Madone road race bike (click here for the Trek 5.2 web site):
[Click here for a high res image]
Slick-rock biking in Moab, Utah with my YPO forum group (2006):
Coming back from a nice ride in the local woods with my sons Colin and Perry (2007):
Personal Performance Analysis
When I weight lift I use a combination of paper logging of strength and body dimensions and an excel spread sheet on the computer. I also log my blood work from my annual physicals on the computer and compare my trending for all major blood components.
Technology has come to the rescue for cardio training with handheld GPS based units that interface with computers and also allow for the uploading and sharing of information with others on the Internet. An early device which I used until last year was the FitSense unit here:
My old FitSense 'personal dashboard' unit:
My current Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS enabled 'personal dashboard' unit (click here for the product listing on Garmin's web site):
One of the Internet based uploading, analysis, and mapping applications that I use with my Garmin unit (click here to check out Motion Based for a cool web application):
Exploring Private Health Care Options in Canada
I started to use the services of private healthcare providers in Vancouver in 2000 for my Intrinsyc executive team annual physicals where a full day was spent with a range of healthcare professionals to interview, test and analyze each of our team member's lifestyles and mental/physical health issues. As my children grew older I wanted to introduce them to these types of premium healthcare services but none were available for families until 2005 when the Copeman Healthcare Centre (click here for more information) opened its doors for business in Vancouver. My whole family now has access to top flight healthcare professionals, in a relaxed and personalized environment, and enjoys comprehensive healthcare services, as I have had for the prior 6 years.
Some Canadians feel that private healthcare is a cancer attacking their socialized healthcare system. Their strongest argument is that the best and brightest doctors will be pulled out of the public system into the private system (in fact, the rise of private healthcare is serving to reduce wait times for publicly funded services by offloading the system). Their weakest argument is that our individual rights and freedoms must be curtailed in order to force the socialist agenda of 'equality for all'.
My view is that the government should provide basic healthcare to all for free, but that the concept of equality is ridiculous and plainly not realistic - not only can wealthy people travel to gain access to premium healthcare in the US, but not allowing people to spend their own money on their own healthcare needs and wants is criminal. Premium healthcare is something that people should be able to purchase if they so desire it. I have used it with great satisfaction and count my quick knee operation in particular as money very well spent.
Injuries
In addition to the usual running injuries (everyone who runs eventually gets injured - foot problems, knee problems, back problems - from overuse, improper balance or kinetic motion, lack of stretching, lack of core strength/cross-training, etc.), I have managed to do permanent damage to a few areas of my body as follows:
Tearing my right (shoulder) rotator cuff
When I was in my mid 30s (1996) I got into heavy weight lifting as a way of building more muscle mass. Shoulders are one of most complex and fragile joints in the body and I managed to rip some of the tissue in my right shoulder which put me off weight lifting for almost 5 years because of the pain and lack of mobility in my shoulder as a result of the injury. I never got an MRI but to this day my right shoulder is slightly stiff and hurts if moved to extreme positions.
Tearing my left (knee) medial meniscus
As per my running story above, a fall from a ladder did me in here. Unlike many people who manage to tear this body part as a result of overuse, my injury was more severe and therefore I suffered a longer than usual recovery period, post surgery, as well as permanent limitations in the use of my knee for sports or running.
The video of my knee surgery (3:53 min:sec, 25MB)
Performed by Dr. Brian Day at his Cambie Surgery Clinic, October 2004
With my high-tech Breg Fusion XT sports brace I can do most sports:
(click here for more information on the Breg Fusion XT brace)
Lower Back
My lower back has taken a serious beating over the years as a result of endless home renovations where I lifted many heavy objects with improper spinal protection, eventually causing damage to my L4/L5 disk (now generally classified as 'degeneration') and my L5/S1 disk (which was mildly herniated).
I have spent years and years and countless visits to chiropractors and physiotherapists looking for pain relief, and now I pretty much have my own technique for treating my 'flare-ups' via the use of a spinal traction table, stretching, core stabilization work, and icing. The table pulls the spine apart, and in the process re-aligns it nicely, and takes all of the pressure off of the disks and impinged nerves. After 20 minutes of on/off traction, I slip in an ice pad and let the area chill down, reducing the inflammation. The pain is relieved and the spine heals quickly. A very solid investment for anyone suffering from lower back pain (see your healthcare professional first).
(click here for more information on the Saunders Hometrac)
Managing GERD - Acid Reflux
Early in 2007 I was diagnosed with having GERD - gastrointestinal reflux disease. Like 60% of adults in their mid-life, some stomach acid was migrating up into my throat and was creating burning/painful sensations ('heart burn'). Most everyone goes through the same process - first they can't sleep from the pain, which comes on strongest at night, next they think there must be something wrong with their heart (in my case I have extensive annual cardio exams and this was ruled out quickly), then their nerves 'kick up' because they become over-sensitive to the heart burn sensation (there are more nerves in and around the GI tract than anywhere else in the body - hence the opportunity for trouble), and finally they develop other GI problems such as over-sensitivity to a range of foods.
The LES (lower esophageal sphincter) is the stomach valve which is supposed to keep the stomach acid in the stomach. But as we age that valve gets weaker, and certain foods like chocolate, spices, and alcohol can weaken it faster. In some cases part of the wall of the stomach can migrate upwards as well, temporarily blocking the valve open (a 'hiatus hernia').
Like nearly everyone else that stumbles into this problem, I was put on proton pump inhibitor (PPI) medication which does a very effective job of reducing stomach acid to levels low enough to allow the burned tissues to heal, and the rest of the GI tract to also calm down and get back to business. But in my case I was mildly allergic to the PPI meds and also had another issue that was not properly diagnosed - I had finished an antibiotic regime in the fall of 2006 for a digestive infection contracted while biking in Europe and it had killed off my normal GI tract bacteria and my whole system was out of whack.
I went thru 3 different types of PPI meds until I found one that I could semi-tolerate (Prevacid and Nexium were off limits, but Pantaloc was OK) and then I switched to old-fashions Zantac (an H2 blocker - the prior acid reflux prescription of choice for GERD) which I do not seem to react to. But the real resolution to my problem came when I started to take over-the-counter digestive enzymes and probiotics (taken just before each meal). Once I had been on these for a few days my whole GI tract calmed down and all of my food sensitivities disappeared. I still have occasional GERD 'heart burn' when I eat the 'wrong' foods (too much fatty food - which creates a lot of stomach acid, or spicy food, or red wine).
After almost 9 months after the onset of my GERD symptoms I was pretty much fully back to normal on all levels - all I do now is eat a bit more carefully (just an excuse to eat healthy food all the time) and keep a lower stress level (yes, stress is likely a part of the problem too as I have lived a very dynamic and high energy life/career).
