---Congratulations Diane Halfman! She just completed 3 months of a transformation program where she achieved some top accomplishments. This includes gaining 29 lbs. of lean muscle, a total loss of 18 & 3/4 inches, 15% body-fat in 10 weeks, and 26.2 lbs. of excess, unwanted body-fat! Wow! Her trainers included Personal Trainer Janet Bertrand & Pilates Instructor Andrea Krakower. Her coaching was guided by Jeanie Callan Barat, www.thefitnessjeanie.com, who oversaw her program and made it all happen. Nice job Diane!

 

---MT. Whitney Climbers

 

Congratulations Bill Osborne, Jeff Blum, and Hank Zapizek for ascending MT. Whitney on August 28th. MT. Whitney is 14,494 feet (over 44,00 meters) tall, and is the highest point in the contiguous, lower 48 states. You truly are studs!

 

---Mission Bay Triathlon

Congratulations to FQ10 client Iris Wilnai and FQ10 Athletic Coach Ryan Burgess who competed Sunday, October 5th in the Mission Bay Triathlon. Ryan Burgess achieved his goal of completing the race in under 80 minutes by crossing the finish line at 79 minutes and 55 seconds!

 

 

 

 

--- Are you on Facebook?

If so, we would love to have you in our network so become a fan of Fitness Quest 10 today! Go to www.facebook.com and search "Todd Durkin." We look forward to hearing from you!

 

 

 

 

What are some quotes that you live by?

"With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable. The steeper the mountain the harder the climb the better the view from the finish line."

 

• 33.3 % of men can be classified as obese (a Body Mass Index ≥ 30)
• 35.3 % of woman fall into that category
• Most disturbing, 16.3 % of children and adolescents aged 2-19 years are considered obese, with even more tagged as overweight.

I know people out there that are already shouting and screaming that BMI is a lousy indicator, because BMI does not take into account those that are "heavy but healthy." Although true, individuals that have higher levels of lean body mass are by far the exception, NOT the rule, so frankly I think hiding behind that logic is a cop-out. The truly terrifying fact is that the numbers continue to rise, and I really don't believe it's because our country is packing on the muscle. Obesity was given "epidemic" status before the turn of the century, yet it only gets worse year after year. But I'm not saying anything you don't already know.

We’ve reached a point in our society where the problems associated with obesity are given a passing thought, if that. One simple fact exemplifies the problem: as a country, we spend close to fifty billion dollars (that’s $50,000,000,000.00!) in the health, fitness and diet industry, yet our country continues to lead the way in obesity rates and their associated illnesses. As the brilliant Mr. Einstein said, we will never be able to solve this problem if we use the same kind of thinking used when we created them. This is a serious societal problem, and if we continue using short-sighted, low-cost, stop gap measures, nothing will change, and we will all be feeling the effects in a rather short time.

I am not trying to be outrageous when I say again that we are facing a crisis. To spend more and more on a problem that gets worse and worse is insanity- literally, if you define insanity as doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. This is happening because there is no single magic answer that will make it all go away. It’s going to be hard, and I truly believe that it is going to be one of the biggest challenges we as a society have ever had to face, but if we band together it will ultimately be one of the greatest obstacles we have ever overcome. Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t our country founded on overcoming daunting obstacles? I am also speaking from experience, not from the convenience of a lifelong lean and healthy body. I was one of the statistics. I have battled the bulge my entire life, but it’s a battle I feel I have finally been winning in the last few years. I’m here to tell you that there is hope. We CAN change. If this article reaches just ONE person and inspires them to take that first step and inspires them to a lifetime of health and fitness, then I have done my job.

The first place we absolutely HAVE to act is with our children. Type II diabetes was once called adult-onset diabetes, but we haven’t been able to do that in years due to the number of children being diagnosed with diabetes. I mean KIDS are having gastric bypass surgery! Just a few years ago, that was supposed to be an extreme last result for excessively, morbidly obese adults. If you think this issue isn’t too deep, just read some of the sentiments of the kids and parents opting for this surgery. They’re broken people- they feel like they have exhausted all options, and this is their last hope that will solve all their problems, but here’s the catch- it won’t unless we address the deeper lying issues! Parks and play-time for kids have been long gone. If you just went around and took a look at a middle (or sadly even an elementary) school, you would see that the overweight and obese children are now actually the overwhelming majority in too many American cities.

This has absolutely nothing to do with vanity. This has to do with the health of millions of children and the overall health of our society. I’m not here to play the blame game and say “This is how we got here”, and I’ll be the first to tell you that I don’t have all the answers. So much of the issue is ingrained in our daily life that this is going to take massive social reform, but something absolutely has to change. We have reached a point in our culture where temporary and immediate gratification, satisfaction, and entertainment have replaced overall health and well-being as priorities in our lives. Instead of living a healthy lifestyle, people just go about their routines, holding on to hope that they don’t end up a statistic, and if the do, “Well, my doctor seems like a really smart guy, so I’ll just have him and his friends fix me.” News flash: why don’t we NOT BREAK DOWN IN THE FIRST PLACE! Here is another piece of disturbing news, and this is the one that I know will bother some people (I welcome the criticism: my e-mail address is This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ). Most of the information we get on a societal level is WRONG. By the time the information gets to your brain, it has been so washed down, distorted, and stripped of its original scientific merit that it is very easily misconstrued. What’s worse, it’s often pushed by individuals with serious counter-producing incentives. They will flat out LIE to you and distort the truth to separate you from your hard earned money, whether or not what they are selling is actually good for you. I want you to really think about that. The next time you hear anything about a “hot new trend” in the diet or fitness industry, take 5 minutes and see who funded the study.

Once again, this is going to take individualized action on a wholesale level. At Fitness Quest 10, we do our part by training our youth with the mantra that we are educating, motivating and inspiring future pain-free, active, and productive adults. But our reach only goes so far. Gandhi said “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Take action yourself. Organize parents and fight to get physical education back into your kid’s schools. Unplug the TV. Get active yourself! Kids, especially very young children, more often imitate their parents than listen to them. It doesn’t take much- get the whole family together for 1-2 dinners a week and go for a walk afterwards. If we all just sit around and talk about the problem and say “you should do this”, or “[insert government organization] should do that”, nothing will ever change. Again I’m going to stress the societal impact of the problem, so I’ll quote one of the greatest leaders our country ever experienced. It was JFK who famously said “Ask not what your country could do for you, but ask what you could do for your country”. It is time that we rise up. We live in an amazing place that I’m not ready to lose, and there is nothing more powerful than a large number of the population demanding change. Whatever you do, don’t sell yourself short and feel you can’t make a difference. What starts at the town level grows to the city level, then the county, then the district, then the state, and before you know it, our entire country is back on its way to leading the world in a healthy direction!

Ryan Burgess is the Director of Football Development at Fitness Quest 10 and lives to motivate, educate, and inspire people to work hard, persevere, follow their heart and pursue their dreams. In his perpetual quest to prove that overweight kids can outgrow their unhealthy past, the former collegiate Offensive Lineman completed his first triathlon on October 5th, 2008.

Athlete Corner: "To the High School Athlete - 4 Things to Learn in 4 Years" By Brett Klika, CSCS, Fitness Quest 10 Director of Athletics

 

High school athletics is a great time for youngsters to learn valuable lessons about life. Teamwork, commitment, competition, discipline, and sacrifice all make up the backbone of athletic competition and transiently, success in life. The latter of the last two, success in life, should be of primary concern when working with high schoolers. As I have written before, statistics suggest that about 1% of the 7 million participants in high school athletics will receive a scholarship to a division 1 school. Less than 1% of that 1% will ever play a sport professionally. Another 1% of that 1% will be able to support themselves and their family for life from athletics. As you can see, very few high school athletes will use their actual athletic skill in their future professional lives. For this reason, it is essential that when working with high school kids, we always keep the "big picture" in mind.

Whether you’re a high school athlete, or the parent of a high school athlete, the four years in high school athletics can lay the foundation for a life of health, wellness, and success in athletics! Working with as many high school athletes as I have, I’ve seen many mistakes in regards to how high school athletes are trained, the habits they form, and their thought process in regards to sports. The following are suggestions based on my personal experience, along with my conversations on the topic with top collegiate and professional athletes, men and women, from a variety of sports.

1. Have designated time off from your sport.
Sports go year-round for most serious athletes in high school. Tournaments, games, practices, and other training take up a majority of an athlete’s time. Injuries, stress, mental fatigue, and just plain boredom can significantly impair an athlete’s performance. These are all manifestations of non-stop, monotonous training. Every serious athlete I have trained would benefit from a month off every year from their sport, in addition to at least 1 day off per week. During that month, they don’t sit on the couch all day; they have a chance at different pursuits. Focusing on a different aspect of training, facilitating a social life, relaxing, or doing another hobby. When a sport becomes an athlete’s primary identity, it’s not only unfortunate, it’s dangerous! Of course coaches will put on the pressure to compete non-stop. The fact is, the month off will put you ahead of everyone. It gets you excited to play again.

2. Get in a training regiment.
The two most important things about a training regiment for high schoolers are education and commitment. When you stop to think about it, a high school program is an athletes introduction to organized exercise, and may be the only supervised program they ever undertake. Most older guys getting hurt in gyms do so by doing things they “learned in high school”. Good technique, good design, and good execution need to be the absolute foundation of a high school training program. Too many coaches get carried away with numbers in the weight room way to early in a youngster’s development. Not only does this put them at risk of injury, it compromises performance later in their career. When an athlete learns to do something well, they continue to improve their entire career. In general, high school boys need to improve their lower body strength, girls need to improve upper body strength. Talk to a reputable trainer from a reputable facility to design a program.

3. Learn the basics of cooking and nutrition!
I’m not talking about 7 course meals custom made for specific nutritional needs, I’m talking about scrambling eggs, grilling a chicken breast, boiling pasta, using a rice cooker, and making a turkey sandwich. I’m talking about having the knowledge that Taco Bell is not real human food. Bad eating habits while living at home turn into worse eating habits when you move out. What you eat is your fuel for athletic performance. Athletes need to learn as well as practice these principles from a young age. I lived with wrestlers and baseball players in college. The wrestler would starve and dehydrate himself, and then survive in hot dogs from Circle K. Another roommate could only make cereal and lived on fast food. They always “felt like crap” during practice. Both were riddled with soft tissue injuries during their entire careers. More significantly, they are both overweight now at 30 years old. I wasn’t a ground-breaking athlete in college, but the way I ate and trained allowed me to get the most out of my limited genetics in soccer and lacrosse.

4. You don't have to play a varsity sport in college to compete in your sport.
A college scholarship is often on the minds of many high school athletic participants. Don’t get me wrong, getting school paid for is a huge financial burden off of ones shoulders. Varsity college athletics is a tremendous experience as well. If you refer, however, to the statistics, a college scholarship is not in the cards for everyone. I’ve seen many a melt down after parents have spent money on club sports, a special collegiate athletic “liaison”, private lessons, etc., and not one scholarship offer comes to the table. While this is frustrating, it’s a primary example as to why the “process” of athletics needs to be the focus. Athletes should truly love the sport they are playing. Nearly every college has large intramural programs as well as club sports. Club sports can be very competitive, often travel across the U.S. and other countries is involved. In addition, the time commitment for club sports in considerably less than varsity athletics. This allows athletes other pursuits in college such as studying abroad, getting job-related work experience, and other valuable life experiences. If it happens, a college scholarship is great, if it doesn’t, it’s not the end of the world!

Learn to use high school sports as a vehicle to live a long, happy, healthy life!

Brett Klika is the Director of Athletic Performance at Todd Durkin's Fitness Quest 10 in San Diego, CA. He specializes in youth fitness and athletic performance, overseeing a staff of 8 strength coaches developing programs for over 300 youth per week, both athletes and non-athletes. He presents around the world to both trainers and corporations with Todd Durkin Enterprises on a variety of health, wellness, and athletic performance topics. Brett can be reached at . For more information, pleas visit www.fitnessquest10.com This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

This article may be reproduced and distributed with inclusion of author’s biographical information.

Serving Size	What it Looks Like
Grains
1 cup of cereal flakes	The size of a fist
1 pancake/ waffle	A compact disc
½ cup of cooked rice, pasta	½ of a baseball or an ice cream scoop
1 slice of bread	A cassette tape
Potato	A computer mouse
Fruits and Veggies
Apple, pear, banana	A baseball
1 cup mixed fruits	A tennis ball
½ cup cooked veggies	A fist
1 cup raw veggies	A rounded handful
Dairy
2 oz low fat cheese	2 dominos or 6 dice
1 cup Low fat/ fat free milk or yogurt	A fist
Meat and Beans
3 oz fish, 1 chicken breast, ¼ hamburger patty	A deck of cards or palm of hand (no fingers)
2 Tbsp Peanut Butter	A ping pong ball
½ cup cooked legumes	An ice cream scoop

Cara Regas (MA, ATC, ACE certified) is a strength and conditioning coach at Fitness Quest 10. She teaches Cardio Class at the center and would love to help you fit into a new pair of jeans by combining your knowledge of portion control with cardio!