Wisely pick who your mentors are!

We can have many influences that determine who we become. Mentors can make or break us as professionals. Due to the internet, we don't ever need to meet the people that have the biggest influences on our lives.

I have many training mentors whom I have never met. Mike Robertson http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/blog is one who I have spent a lot of time studying in the last few days.

Mike does a great job of explaining the training ideas that I have in an easy to understand manner. He and I share training philosophies. An example: Pain is a symptom. The key is finding the causes. Einstein was quoted as saying, spend 90% of your time defining the problem and 10% on the solution.

The next time your back is bothering you, spend enough time figuring out why before you come up with a solution to the pain.

2009 Tour De Donut

Yea, it's been a while since I posted anything on this blog. Does anyone reads my post anyway?

This Sat. July 11, over one thousand cyclist will travel to Staunton IL to race the 2009 Tour De Donut.

I have participated (or worked) this event since moving to this side of the river in 1993.

Training has been going well. My bother Gary is going to come up from Austin TX to race just like last year. I have the Cannondale R1000 ready for him to ride. Stopped by a LBS to buy some new cleats for the shoes he will use. He had trouble clipping in at the start last year, being the great brother I am, I waited for him to catch up with me and blew any chance to ride with the leaders.

For anyone who doesn't race on a regular basis, the start of this race can be scary. There are many non-racers who try to stay with the lead group on the way out of Staunton. A lot of them don't know how to hold their line. (or a steady pace)
I always breath easier once we hit Renken road.

Something else that bothers me is the amount of riders that act like we are on a closed course. I've been hit by a car before, it ain't a whole lot of fun. Be careful out there.

I use to ride without eating any donuts until I heard a conversation between Roger Kramer and Joe Booth. (Two of the founders of the TDD) Roger made a great point. Eating donuts is the point of the race. I feel that the TDD organizers (the Boeing Bike Club) should get rid of the non-adjusted times. We all know that the true winner is the rider with the lowest adjusted time. If you are at the awards ceremony, you know that the crowd admires this winner much more than the non-adjusted winners.

If you ride the TDD this Sat, be careful out there, give the guy on a 99 Litespeed classic and his brother on the 99 Cannondale R1000 some room, AND EAT SOME DONUTS. That's the whole point.

Cyclists at risk for bone loss

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-cycling16-2009feb16,0,1785648.story

My solution. Learn to lift heavy and lift often.

How to Stand: Perfect Posture = Perfect Technique

This is part one of an article that was posted on Dr. Mercola's web site. (I can't remember how long ago) I will post the other parts in the near future.

By Dr. Ben Lerner

When helping to prepare Olympic athletes for battle, we have very few weeks and very little time each day. Time always seems to be against us. However, working with Olympians became great training for working with non-Olympians. Why? Most everyone feels they have little time for fitness in today's fast-paced world.

In preparation for life or the Olympics, you need a program you can quickly put into any schedule, yet is super-duper effective and totally safe. Injury is not an option for potential medalists or busy people.

This week's column illustrates how to get the greatest bang for your buck, meaning how to get more from your workouts while spending less time and optimizing injury prevention.


All exercise and stretching, as well as all movement in life, needs to be performed as close to Perfect Posture as possible. God designed the body using all of the vast, highly technical laws of science, mathematics and physics in order for your "Body By God" to best deal with gravity. When maintaining your posture, the muscles, joints and bones are at their strongest and most stable. This will allow them to be able to withstand large or repetitive forces without suffering injury.

Perfect Posture

* The head is up and back so the ears line up over the shoulders, and the arc (lordosis or reversed "C" curve) in the neck is maintained
* Shoulders are rolled back in the joints
* Upper back flat and not arched or humped
* Belly button is out and hips back so you have an arc (lordosis/reversed "C" curve like the neck) in your lower back called the "weight lifter's arch"
* Knees are slightly bent to provide shock absorption

Remember to maintain this posture during all stretches and exercises. Any exercise or stretch that calls for a disruption of posture means it is unhealthy, or you are doing it wrong.

How to Stretch

Due to sitting, driving, working on the computer, getting out of shape and the effects of gravity, certain muscles get too short or too tight. This can create an injury during lifting or cause you to develop joint pain and degeneration over time.

To compensate for the natural muscle shortening that occurs due to our modern, unnatural lifestyles, stretching is critical to perform before, during and after every workout.

Short Muscles and Their Stretches

Hamstrings: While standing, put your foot up on a chair or bench. Keeping perfect posture (head up/shoulders back/weight lifter's arc in your back), bend down slightly toward your foot, making sure to keep your head and shoulders up. You should feel a stretch in the back of your leg and calf.

Calves: Stand 2-3 feet away from a wall and lean against it while keeping your back and legs straight so you are bending forward at the ankle only. You should feel a stretch at the Achilles tendon and calf muscles.

Chest Muscles/Front Shoulders: Stand by a wall or in a doorway and put your hand against it at eye level. Move or lean forward, away from your hand, until your arm is straight and being pulled back enough to cause a stretch in the chest and shoulder muscles. Change the level of your hand to below the waist and above your head in order to perform this stretch at three different angles.

Front of Neck: Roll your shoulders back, pull your chin in and then roll your head back so you are looking up at the ceiling behind you. This is done to stretch the front of the neck. The muscles and ligaments in the front of the neck get tight due to the forward head posture created by driving, watching TV or sitting at a desk or computer.

Hold all stretches for 10-15 seconds, back off slightly, take a deep breath in, and then let it out while you repeat the stretch for another 10-15 seconds. Each time you go back down while breathing out, you should be able to stretch farther. Do each stretch at least three separate times to achieve the maximum benefit.

How did I end up here?

Keith Sutorius Personal Training Philosophy.

Fitness should be a life long goal. It is something that takes time to develop. There are no miracles. It has taken years to get into your current condition and it will take some time to get the results you desire. A properly designed exercise program will challenge you in little steps. I consider strength training like learning to walk. There is a gradual progression. (You have to learn how to crawl and then walk before you can run) I will show you how to progress from a beginner to a more advanced type of training. Proper technique must be mastered before you begin pushing yourself with an exercise. This maximizes the benefit of that exercise while minimizing the chance of getting injured.

Everyone wants to look good. Exercise will improve the way you look. More importantly, it will improve the way you feel.

How do you begin an exercise program? The most important part of an exercise program is the planning, or goal setting. You would never build a house with blueprints. Why would you try to build a better body without analyzing how to do it?

A properly designed exercise program will include strength training, aerobic conditioning and flexibility training. Of these three things, I feel that strength training is the most Important part of the program. During the 1980's and most of the 1990's I thought aerobic conditioning was the most important part of an exercise program. Due to the knowledge gained by working in the Physical Therapy Department at Barnes West County Hospital, combined with becoming a National Strength and Conditioning Certified Personal Trainer in 1996, I have learned how much more important keeping ones strength level is as we get older. The thing that physically changes the most as we age is our strength level. I feel that strength training is the closet thing we have to the fountain of youth.

The program will teach you how to use strength training and flexibility to improve the way you look and feel. You will learn the proper technique and the reasons why each exercise is important. I will provide you with a physiologically and scientifically sound program that is tailored to your needs. There are a lot of misconceptions out there about fitness, and as a personal trainer I will teach you the truth about what works.

Why did I become a Personal Trainer?

Fitness is my passion. I love to learn more about it every day. Knowledge is power. I want to share this power with you. What is the most important thing that you own? Your health: I can teach you how to treat it like the precious commodity that it is.
It is later than we think. The time to get in shape is before we are so weak that it is necessary.


In 1984 my father had a heart attack. This was an eye opener. I began studying aerobic exercise and how it effects the heart. To this day I like to bicycle 3 - 5 times per week to keep my heart in good shape. Even with this amount of exercise, I was getting fatter. Why? I was not spending much enough time on strength training. During the 1980's I had spent more time strength training. I was in better shape then. All the aerobic exercise did nothing to keep the muscle I already had. Without strength training, I was getting weaker every year.

Since the fall on 2001, I have added 2 - 4 strength training sessions per week and the level of fat in my body has steadily decreased. The muscle added burns calories 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

I love the way a human body can be changed through exercise. You can abuse it for decades, and yet with a properly designed exercise program, it will respond by becoming stronger.

Article #1 (From My Computer)

While looking for something on my computer I stumbled onto some articles that had been forgotten. I hope you enjoy reading them. I will give credit to the author when known.

Article Number 1:

How can you increase your metabolism? (Author unknown)

Metabolism is simply the rate at which the body processes energy, or burns calories. Think of metabolism as the setting on the body’s "furnace". The higher the metabolism, the more calories your body burns, even at rest.

Factors that influence metabolism include genetics, age, sex, activity level, food intake and body composition. Go ahead and blame your parents for genetics and those factors which you can do nothing about, but you do have control over your activity level, food intake, and body composition. These elements play a crucial role in your body’s metabolic rate.

An important factor to understand regarding metabolism is that the body’s primary fuel source during lower energy output activities (sleep, sitting at your desk, watching TV, riding the bus, etc.) is fat. These activities occupy most of your time. When you increase your metabolic rate, you begin to burn more calories in response to all the activities. And the more likely that your body will be using stored fat as an energy source.

The main focus of any worthwhile fitness plan should be to increase metabolism so the body’s furnace is set at a higher level. Some ways to increase metabolism include:

1. Build more muscle.
More of the body’s energy is required to maintain muscle mass. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories your body will burn. In fact, about 50 calories are consumed for every one pound of muscle mass per day. Therefore, the more muscle you carry, the more calories your body burns—even at rest.

2. Moderate aerobic exercise.
You don’t need to spend hours each day on the treadmill, bike or running path. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends as little as 20 minutes of aerobic activity 3 to 5 days per week to achieve fitness, health, and weight management goals. In fact, excessive aerobic exercise may result in the actual loss of lean body mass if caloric requirements are not met, which in turn lowers the metabolism.

3. Increase activity throughout the day.
Instead of using the elevator to get to your fourth floor office, use the stairwell. Park further away from the supermarket door instead of trying the find the closest parking spot. Spend one of your work breaks during the day walking the office halls. Lose the remote control. The point is to get up and MOVE, especially if your job requires you to sit during long periods of time. It also gets you in the habit of increasing your activity level on a regular basis.

4. Eat like a horse, not a bear.
Sound crazy? Think about it. Horses graze on small amounts of food throughout the course of a day. Subsequently, they have very lean, muscular frames. Bears, on the other hand, eat large amounts of food spaced further apart. They carry far more body fat on their frames. Humans are no different. Research supports that the production of thyroid hormones can be negatively affected by repeated bouts of dieting and calorie restriction. Five or six meals spaced evenly from 2.5 to 3 hours make it easier for the body to digest throughout the day; this increases metabolism over the long term.

5. Avoid fad diets.
Fad diets are usually those popularized in the media. They usually call for severely reducing or even eliminating nutrients. "Eat no carbs." "Eliminate all fat." "Eat only protein." Or focus only on one kind of food like The Grapefruit Diet, The Cabbage Soup Diet or "Eat nothing but salad." Current research by the USDA on unbalanced meal plans tells us that too much or too little of any nutrient is likely to result in problems with long-term weight management.

6. Skip the fast food.
Fast food is typically loaded with fat. Fat is relatively easy for the body to absorb and does not require the energy expenditure that protein and carbohydrates do in digestion and assimilation. A gram of fat yields nearly twice the calories as a gram of protein or carbohydrates. Replacing caloric consumption from high amounts of fat to equal portions of protein and carbohydrates stimulate greater caloric usage. However, be sure to not completely eliminate dietary fat. Instead:

7. Eat balanced meals.
Meals should contain adequate and balanced amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fat. In order to support lean body mass, fuel workouts and encourage fat loss, many nutritional experts suggest a 40-20-40 breakdown of these nutrients for each meal. That is, 40 percent of calories from protein, 20 percent from fat, and 40 percent from carbohydrates. An example of a "balanced meal" would be a chicken breast, baked potato, and broccoli. And remember what Mom always said: "Eat your veggies."

8. Drink more water.
Thirst is often mistaken for hunger. Chronic dehydration can also result in mental and physical sluggishness. Be sure to consume at least 64 oz. (8 cups) daily and more when you are exercising.

9. Deal with stress.
Stress increases hormones, such as cortisol, which encourage your body to store fat instead of burning it. Try yoga, meditation, listening to calming music. Exercise, by the way, is a great stress reliever AND it will help to promote lean body mass.

10. Get enough sleep.
Studies have shown that people who don’t get enough sleep have slower metabolisms. Get enough sleep so that you can awake in the morning relatively easily and are not tired throughout the day. Naps during the day can help, too.

While the time it takes for metabolism to increase varies per individual, you can expect to see changes in the body in as little as three to four weeks. The great thing about increasing metabolism is that it makes it easier to keep the extra pounds off over a longer period of time…your body is literally turned into a fat-burning machine.

Increasing your metabolic rate should be the primary goal of any fitness-related/weight loss program. It helps you to become one of those people who can seem to eat anything you want. Before you know it, you’ll have one of those bodies that everyone is dying to have.

What can Squats do for you?

Use it or lose it.

I haven't wrote about my mom's death yet. The past two years have been very tough on my dad. My mom happened to died from colon cancer on July 13. When visiting her that afternoon, she was still very aware of her surroundings. She ever asked me how the Tour De Donut went. (Her biggest concern was how many donuts I ate) My parents would have been married 59 years this past July 31.

It seems like my dad (who turned 85 on Aug. 22) has aged a lot since her diagnosis in Sept. 06. Up until that point he use to comment about how much older the other men his age appeared. He stopped working out on a regular basis while helping mom deal with all the side effects of her illness. His ability to move has decreased a lot in the last two years.

Since the funeral, I have made it a point to take my dad out for lunch once per week.
He has been making comments about how hard it is getting for him to walk and climb stairs. I would ask him about exercising, and he would comment about having to get back into his routine.

Last Thursday we were taking after lunch and he brought up the exercise subject again. I asked him if he would like to try some squats for me. He agreed.

First I had him squat in front of a chair. He is able to control his descent to about 60 degrees before his muscles give out. I then had him try some squats while holding onto the counter top. Same range of motion as in front of the chair. We talked about how it felt to control the movement. His focus is now on controlling how he sits down onto chairs.

If you are looking for a simple way to improve your leg strength, focus on how you squat into a chair.