My first experience at working out in a gym environment was at the University of Iowa Fieldhouse[wiki]. In the midst of my awakening of understanding how to correct long standing health problems, this was my first, real experience at working out for personal health versus my short stint in my high school football program. To be honest, I think I’ve workout harder for my personal health than I ever did in the days when it meant being competitive, but that could just be a difference of time and mentality.

Regardless, there is one thing that you’ll find at any workout facility, and that is etiquette.

This shouldn’t prevent you from going to a gym or workout facility, but there are just some things that I’ve noticed over the past few months that consistently confound me.

Not cleaning up after yourself. – This has many different variations, and I know I’m barking up a tall tree. However, it’s amazing that even the most civilized looking person, meaning the people that leave the gym wearing the utmost professional attire as they walk out the front door at 7AM, will leave weights where ever, not clean the cardio machine after drenching it in their own sweat, or not cleaning a bench or machine after they use it.

I know that I’m just as busy of a person in a chaotic world, but it’s not tough to take a moment and not leave a trail. The world will thank you for not spreading various microscopic things that can be spread by leaving your sweat behind. That’s what the paper towels and spray are for, especially in the heart of cold and flu seasons.

Ear piercing levels of listening to headphones, so loud that I can rock out to what your listening to in those ear buds jammed into your canals. – This is more of a PSA rather than an annoyance. Save your hearing. You can rebuild your body, but life only gives you one pair of ears. Take care of them.

Walking away from a machine or bench in the middle of your sets. – This is the most bizarre thing that I have yet to understand, and the way to deal with it is a delicate one. Here you walk up to, for example, the cable pull-down machine, and no one is around. In fact, there is no sign of someone using this contraption at all. Adjust the seat to your height, set your weight, and prepare to do your first set. Suddenly, someone walks up and says they were using it and have two more sets left.

You don’t have any idea where they went off to or where they just came from. They might have gone to the water fountain, ran to the washroom, or went over to converse with a friend across the way. Granted it’s nice to know because you haven’t given this other person a chance to clean up the machine, but it’s down right bothersome. It’s almost as if you have to keep tabs on the whole facility to know who is doing what, where, and when so you don’t run into this awkward situation. In the end, you want to be kind, let this person or persons do what they need to do, and then it’s your turn.

Still, I say don’t wander away. You snooze, you lose, and I’ve been on the crap end of the spectrum before as well. This is also why I carry a bottle of water with me to the gym. Makes it much more convenient to get a sip of water to quench the thirst without wandering away in the middle of a routine.

These are the main things that tend to get my mind reeling, and it’s probably the psychology student in me kicking in, dissecting the social aspects of this human interaction. If anything, perhaps other folks will think twice about these things as gym goers, and the real reason I even mention it here is overhearing other members mentioning these exact same things in conversation. As the song says, voices carry.

Rebecca did something pretty spectacular about a month ago. We’ve been working pretty hard on some projects with sixty4media in the last few months, so she asked what she could do to make it up to me. Working a full time day job, the only time I can get to these projects is in between work and sleep. So, I said that a gym membership would be nice, but she one upped me.

We now have one year memberships to Fitness World in exchange for reports on her progress with getting back into shape and an ad on her sidebar for the duration of the membership. That isn’t bad at all, so I figure I might as well add a bit to the one year deal and provide some feedback on my experience with their facilities and services.

To begin, I thought I would explain more of where my inspiration to workout comes from and why I go to the gym or run in the morning.

Photo credit: Miss604 on Flickr

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had stomach problems. It wasn’t unusual for me to miss about 20 days of school, from elementary to high school, from being sick, most of the them being flu like symptoms. In the years ahead of my teenage years, I went through a variety of tests to figure out why, but doctors could never find anything.

Have you ever had a barium follow-through examination? That stuff tastes gross, not to mention the numerous x-rays you have to take during this process with some huge machine sandwiching you onto a table. At that age, it was a tad scary.

Around this same time, I was a chunky kid. I wore somewhere between 34-36 husky jeans at one point, and this somewhat followed me to college (aside from that one year I went out for football in 10th grade).

Somewhere near the age of 21, I was tipping the scale at 245 pounds. My diet was hardly the best, and the most exercise I would get would be walking to and from class. I can recall my knees hurting when I would take the stairs all the way to my dorm room on the seventh floor for that little bit of extra exercise, but it was a clue that I really needed to do something about my weight.

To be completely transparent in this story, I took up Tae-Bo. My roommate would leave early in the morning for class, so I took the opportunity of being woke up at an ungodly hour to put the tape into the VCR and follow master Billy Blanks for 30-60 minutes at a time, steadily dropping weight a little bit at a time.

Right around this same time, I came down with the flu pretty bad, and it just so happened that I saw an ad a few days earlier about a flu study they were doing at the School of Medicine on a new drug that would help fight the flu. Better yet, you got paid!

Poor college student. Paid medical study. You do the math.

I got my examination, confirmed that I had the flu, and left the doctor office with a bottle of pills and a journal to document a month of my personal health combined with five more visits for consultations and tests. The subsequent exams consisted of blood tests and a variety of other check ups, but it was the blood that really started to make things interesting.

Three days into the study, I went in for one of these exams. Blood given, I was good for a week until I had to check in again. On that visit, things got interesting.

“When you came in for you previous visit, were you drinking heavily the night before?”

I had the flu, and when I’m sick like that, I don’t want anyone to look in my general direction yet alone drink alcohol. I realize I was going to one of the top 10 drinking schools in the nation at the time, but there was no way in hell that I drank anything within three days of having the flu.

Apparently, my bilirubin levels were off the chart, much like that of someone who is an alcoholic or who had been drinking at least four drinks or more the night before. These results were the same each of the following visits I made to the doctor’s office, and it wasn’t until the final visit that I made that everything made sense. Well, to the docs, but not to me.

“All of your blood tests have been the same through this entire process, and we have come to the conclusion that you are not having an allergic reaction to the drug but that you have what is known as Gilbert’s Syndrome.”

Because I was jaundice as a new born, this was the explanation they gave me. It’s what causes you to have yellowness of the eyes, caused by a high bilirubin count in your blood stream. I can only guess that I got the placebo in this study at this point because the doctor thanked me for my participation and opened the door for me to leave.

Was I going to die? Was this thing fatal? What the hell did this doctor just tell me? The thing is, this person was just a student, so they couldn’t tell me anything more than what their mentor told them to say. It was up to me to figure the rest of this out.

Going to that internet thing, I started search for as much as I can, and there wasn’t much to find until I stumbled onto a site based out of the U.K. that was a community of folks who had found each other to share their stories of living with this condition. That’s where I found a variety of people who had similar stories to myself as well as some who had it far worse. It was a wealth of information, but I didn’t realize this at the time.

Gilbert’s syndrome, often shortened to the acronym GS, is the most common hereditary cause of increased bilirubin, and is found in up to 5% of the population (though some Gastroenterologists maintain that it is closer to 10%). The main symptom is otherwise harmless jaundice which does not require treatment, caused by elevated levels of unconjugated bilirubin in the bloodstream (hyperbilirubinemia).

The source of this hyperbilirubinemia is reduced activity of the enzyme glucuronyltransferase which conjugates bilirubin and some other lipophilic molecules. Conjugation renders the bilirubin water-soluble, after which it is excreted in bile into the duodenum. [wiki]

I tried diet changes throughout my entire life, but nothing ever worked. When this thing kicked in, at its worst, it felt more than awful. You would get feverish, chilled, sweaty palms, your stomach would feel like it was imploding on itself while the rest of your body wanted to curl into a ball from the pressure, nausea, and then the final stages of your digestive system would kick in. It could last for 20 minutes or a few hours, but it never seemed to pass soon enough.

Lay still. Be stationary. Don’t move. Don’t talk to me. Just leave me be. It will pass.

You would think that having this happen to me in the middle of college courses would be the final straw, but it was actually when I was sitting in the studio for a taping of Late Night with Conan O’Brian[wiki] in New York when the final straw came. I couldn’t use their restroom even though I told them I was ill. I couldn’t take it anymore. I got up and went for the door just as the warm up guy finished his set, and they escorted me out of the studio and to the front doors of 30 Rockefeller because once you leave the studio, there is no going back.

My friends stayed for the taping while I wondered downtown for somewhere to deal with this “attack” (as I had come to call them). It just so happened that there was the remnants of a hurricane passing over the city and caused half of downtown New York to shutdown that day. In the driving rain and empty streets of Manhattan, I found a deli four or five blocks away to take shelter in, use their restroom, and get some nutrients in the form of V8 juice and bread.

All I could think about was the things I read on that website, and the one thing I hadn’t tried was exercise. It was at that point that I decided that I was going to start as soon as I got back, and that was going to be beyond what Mr. Blanks could show me on a video tape. I was tired of these episodes, and this was by far the worst experience I had from any of them.

That following summer was one where I played a lot of roller hockey with my friends. When I wasn’t playing, I would practice in the parking lot with just my skates, stick, ball, and a net. All of that did a lot for my health, and I could feel myself getting better. Then that fall, I was inspired by a roommate at the time to take up running. I haven’t stopped since.

I also made a dietary change in that eating an entire, thin crust, medium Domino’s pizza for dinner became a thing of the past. KFC is never a good place to get a meal, but I used to frequent their chicken strips on a habitual basis. Soda pop lost its place as well. I cooked more for myself and was more conscious about what I put into my body.

In a year, I dropped 90 pounds and numerous inches. I’ve probably gained some of that weight back in muscle, but that’s because I joined the gym at the Fieldhouse[wiki] and started lifting weights. My health got noticeably better and better, and the attacks became less and less. It’s an added bonus when clothes start fitting better and those knees don’t hurt when you climb stairs, but not having those episodes as often made life so much better.

Getting up at 7AM to go running took on a whole new meaning, regardless of how tired you would be when the alarm went off. You were getting up to feel good for the next month or year, and it’s still the same today.

There is a time here and there when my body will go through a minor episode, but it’s not nearly as impacting as memory serves me. Flu bugs and colds still creep up like anyone else, but those “attacks” are different now. I like having a little more control over how bad they hit me because Gilbert’s Syndrome is with me for the rest of my life.

This is why I workout. It’s important for me to feel good about my health and maybe fit into those pair of jeans a little better, but there is a far greater force driving me to run 6k or lift weights in the morning before work. I just want to get through my days.

What a cruddy feeling it was to hear and read about this morning. I took a Nalgene water bottle up and down Mt. Fuji, not to mention all over the Kanto Plain while in Japan, and it was my best friend through my remainder days in college.

As with everything else in this world, they might cause cancer.

Mountain Equipment Co-op pulls Nalgene water bottles from shelves

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Whether you drink it murky and straight from the tap or you take it filtered, there are new concerns today about water containers. One of the most popular refillable bottles has now been pulled from one store’s shelves.

Mountain Equipment Co-op will no longer sell the popular Nalgene bottle. That was supposed to be the healthy choice but now we learn it’s a product made with bisphenol A, which is a component studies have linked with higher cancer and disease risks. [...]

Health Canada is examining the risks but the findings won’t be available until at least late Spring. [news1130]

I bought the bottle in the picture above at Deakin Equipment during their fall clearance sale just a few months ago. I think we have a few other Nalgene bottles in the apartment, if not close look-a-likes.

Maybe it will turn out to be nothing, but it’s certainly something that you don’t want to hear about when you drink at least two or three, full refills of water out of this bottle nearly everyday. I’m really inclined to wait for more word on the situation before I think about using my lovely, beloved Nalgene bottle again.

Since I watched SiCKO[imdb] the other night, I figured I would loft some thoughts out about it. It’s not easy because I certainly have an appreciation as much as a total annoyance with Michael Moore[wiki]. It’s nothing politically related, just a matter of preference. He’s good at what he does, but there is a certain point where you just want stop watching or listening to the guy for the sake of enjoying the silence.

Overall, a pretty good movie. Even being a documentary, it entertains as well as educates people on the reality of the health care system in the states. Being in Canada, there are people here that are surprised by it. It’s rare, but some folks, even this close to the border, have no frame of reference as to the state of the system in the U.S.

“But you guys are supposed to be one of the richest nations in the world.”

I’m not going to get too deeply into that statement, but the reality of it should give any American a reason to say, “Yeah, you know, you’re right. But why don’t I have any health care coverage unless I have a sweet job with sweet benefits?”

I had a job with the University of Iowa, a state owned and funded institution, for nearly a year before I started to display my lack of satisfaction with the position I had. Being a broadcast engineer, I was working with high voltage equipment on a regular basis. I even crunched my hand under a 200-pound power supply to a FM transmitter, covered by workman’s compensation but no broken bones or bleeding.

It was that instance that freaked me out. You’re told how vital you are to an operation like that, but working in the most hazardous position in the whole place, they never gave me medical coverage at the start. I mentioned that I was going to have to find something else with benefits, meaning leaving the stations. I had medical within a week or so after that, dental came a little while later.

My story pales in comparison to some, but it’s tough for nearly anyone. You can get any job anywhere, but the first question out of anyone’s mouth is, “Benefits?” Sometimes that American dream gets limited by what job you can or can’t do simply by working the job you hate because it has more benefits than the job you want or love. It’s an awful catch.

The one point that I constantly point out to people about this subject is that the main reason we don’t have anything protecting the health of the U.S., such as a universal or socially controlled medical program, is taxes. That American dream is the ability to have whatever you want, as much as you want, and the opportunities are, supposedly, limitless to achieve it.

But don’t you dare make Americans pay taxes. No one wants to pay extra money to the government for anything, even if that means that universal health care coverage would mean anyone working a white collar job to the three part-time jobs, single mom of two kids would have the same amount of medical coverage in the event that either of them contracted a life threatening illness like cancer or TB. The only difference between those two people being socio-economic status, and there is a good chance, rich or lower class, neither would budge on the thought of giving more of their money to the government in exchange for free health care or reduced cost of medication.

That’s when the title of SiCKO starts to make sense to me. It’s a sick circle that the U.S. has gotten itself into. I would love for it to change, but that would really take a revolution of a magnitude that I can’t fathom. That’s not to say that the system here in Canada is the perfect example of what to do, but there isn’t far to look for the positive effects this could have for an entire nation. After all, wouldn’t it be nice if the government cared more to spend money on its own people?

Actually, it’s more like I have a shin splint[wiki], just in my left calf. It’s been with me for about a week, but the ache won’t go away. You tend to do the stupid thing and just consider it a tired muscle, but I’ve taken the last few days off from my routes.

Rebecca set to the Google this morning and found that you should replace your running shoes every four hundred miles. I’ve often considered the every six months rule, so we did a little math.

I’ve had these current pair of shoes since my birthday, last September, but started using them in November. That makes it about eight months, so there’s strike one. Taking an average of running 10k for each day that I run, which is about three times a week, the roundabout total number of miles in this pair of runners is 600. Strike two.

Working the Google some more, I found this really good page about shin splints and running.

What Are They

Shin splints is a common term used for a half a dozen lower leg problems ranging from nerve irritations to tendonitis to stress fractures. The most common type that is experienced involves the tearing away of the muscle tissue that attaches to the front of the lower leg. The beginner runner and the runner that resumes training after a long lay off are most susceptible to this injury. The connective sheath attached to the muscles and bone of the lower leg become irritated, resulting in a razor-sharp pain in the lower leg along the inside of the tibia or shin bone. Shin splints can be felt anywhere from just below the knee down to the ankle. The pain may diminish after warming up but then returns a few minutes after the completion of a workout.

How Are They Caused

There can be several causes for shin splints. Only when possible causes are identified can shin splints be eliminated.

Possible causes include:

- Tight Achilles and calf muscles.
- An inexperienced runner just beginning to run.
- Running on uneven terrain.
- A sudden increase in faster running (speed work).
- A sudden change from soft to hard running surfaces.
- Running in worn down shoes.
- Excessive uphill running.
- Poor running mechanics which include excessive forward lean, excessive weight on the ball of the foot, running with toes pointed outward, landing too far back on the heels causing the foot to flap down, and overpronation. There is a drill that I do with my runners at Selah High School called silent running. I have them run on the track as quiet as possible. With the feet landing properly very little noise should be heard. Of all of the possible causes, pronation is the most likely to be overlooked, as it was for me in high school.

Strike three. I’ve got the worn down shoes combined with uphill running. I tend to pay a lot of attention to my mechanics, making sure that I take care of my knees in the long run. I’ve got the “silent running” thing down pretty well because I know that I’ve scared my share of people when I run up behind them and pass.

Getting new shoes is on the list of things to do very soon, but I’ll have to let this heal a little bit before getting back on the routes in full capacity. It’s not horrible as much as it’s just an annoying pain to have. Stretching and massage only does so much. Time is the only, real cure, but there are some other things I’ll try in the meantime.

Oddly enough, I was actually thinking about this morning while I was running a long route of near 10k. Talking with Corinna about it, we couldn’t come up with a good understanding of what “runner’s high” is exactly.

I get the concept. It implies pretty much what it means, but I ventured to good ol’ Wikipedia to see what I could dig up. This is actually apart of the article for endorphin, the naturally occurring chemical in your body that is responsible for getting you “high”.

Another widely publicized effect of endorphin production is the so-called “runner’s high”, which is said to occur when strenuous exercise takes a person over a threshold that activates endorphin production. Endorphins are released during long, continuous workouts, when the level of intensity is between moderate and high, and breathing is difficult. This also corresponds with the time that muscles use up their stored glycogen and begin functioning with only oxygen. Workouts that are most likely to produce endorphins include running, swimming, cross-country skiing, long distance rowing, bicycling, weight lifting, aerobics, or playing a sport such as basketball, football(soccer), or American football. [wiki]

Ok, being the good neuroscience student that I was in college, I get what it is now. What I don’t know is if I’ve ever had it or what it’s like when you obtain this state of foot pounding zen.

The only thing I can think of coming close to this is not feeling the soreness in my legs as I start out compared to being twenty minutes into a route. To me, that’s just a sign of muscles loosening and warming up. Been doing a bit of swimming in the last few days, and I try to do some lunges and squats in between running days for a bit of resistance training. Even after running, I stretch out to prevent stiffness.

Runner’s high is said to make you not feel pain because, chemically, that’s what endorphins are designed to do. I’m just a little lost as to if I should be feeling happy, running faster, or having some sort of vision of colors, a la Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey[imdb]. I just don’t know what it actually feels like.

When my parents came to visit, they brought something into our house that we haven’t seen enough of around here. Fruit. What they left behind has been a incredible discovery that I should have seen or been aware of for a long time. Oranges and bananas are great post run foods.

I thought about looking around to see what I could find out about this, and here is my “duh moment” for today.

In general, most endurance athletes should eat a diet that is composed of 55 to 65 percent carbohydrates. Bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, fruits, energy bars and vegetables are excellent choices for your post workout meal. Potassium rich foods such as bananas and oranges will help replace lost electrolytes. This is important, because low electrolytes have been linked to muscle cramping. Consuming protein along with carbohydrates can stimulate glycogen replacement. Active individuals should consume 10 to 15 percent of their calories from protein, or 0.5 – 0.8 grams protein per pound body weigh It will also help repair damaged muscle tissue. If you are staying away from animal products, you can get protein from beans, legumes and soy products. In addition to carbohydrates and protein, be sure to consume plenty of fluids in the form of either water or fruit juice. [mamashealth]

Sure, it’s a women’s health site, but I’ve found more, useful information that has aided my health from sources like this. Regardless, I’ve also noticed a slight increase in craving fruit during and post run. I think since I’ve made the conscious link to the source of goodness for my body, my brain is yearning for the nourishment as soon as it can get me directed on the route home.

I’m going to have a banana now. The 10k this morning in this beautiful Vancouver weather was astounding.

Ok, I’ll admit it. I listen to a fitness podcast. Does that really surprise you though? I like to be somewhat healthy, mainly for combating my Gilbert’s Syndrome[wiki]. It also helps that running bug that I have. (Although, with my parents coming to town this weekend, I won’t be doing the Sun Run this year, not that there aren’t a billion other running events that I can do this summer in Vancouver.)

Listening to the Fitness Attack the other day, this episode caught my attention because any runner can relate to the topic of those cramps you get in your side. I always called them “side cramps”, but the term “side stitch” is a newer one to me. I like that one better, so from now on, that’s what I’ll call them.

You can listen to the 60 second episode yourself, but I transcribed the tip below for my own purpose. If you are a regular runner or person who exercises, you might be able to use this or even expand upon the topic.

One common and annoying problem that can develop during exercise is a sharp, stabbing cramp you might feel just under the lower edge of your rib cage, known as a side stitch. One way to over come this is to perform deep, belly breathing by maintaining a strong, core muscular system. You can minimize the appearance of this exercise related, transient related abdominal pain, and leave the stitches to the tailors and the surgeons. [fitnessattack]

I don’t get them a lot, but my mental mantra while running is that I don’t stop to walk unless I feel pain or the urge to throw up. Gross, I know, but you can’t simply stop when tired if you’re a more seasoned runner. When I get tired, then I’ll slow up my pace to a slow trot, but the point is to keep moving. It’s usually that first 20-30 minutes that is always the hardest, and if a side stitch pops up on me, then it’s around that time, maybe once every three weeks.

I knew the miles upon kilometers of pavement and trails weren’t all for nothing. Now that science says it’s true, then you have to believe it.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A long-term moderate exercise program can reduce the risk of colds among older women, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

In the first randomized clinical trial to investigate the impact of moderate physical activity on the common cold, researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found that post-menopausal women who worked out regularly had about half the risk of colds as those who did not exercise. [...]

The researchers found that the ability of moderate exercise to ward off colds seemed to increase over time. In the last three months of the study, the group of women who were only stretching were three times as likely to catch a cold as those who were exercising regularly. [...]

“With regards to preventing colds, it seems you really have to stick with exercise long term,” Ulrich said.

The results were seen as important in understanding the health benefits of exercise, Ulrich said.

“It may apply also to other age groups, it may apply to men,” she said. “In the past, immune studies have been quite consistent among men and women. I wouldn’t expect that to be different.” [reuters]

In the seven years that I’ve been running and working out, I find this to be pretty true. College is a petri dish of illnesses, and it seemed like it would be a yearly event that I would go through the various, air born whatever-it-was that was going around. My days prior to that were constant illnesses, some of them linked to a condition that I have called Gilbert’s syndrome[wiki]. It seemed that the “thing that’s going around” would always hit me about a week before it reached the masses.

Working out helps all of these things, not to mention the lack of colds. If and when I have colds now, it’s either very subtle or horribly painful. When something is able to break through your immune system and get you, chances are, you’re going to go down pretty hard. I probably make more effort to get sleep now compared to my high school and college days. That always helps.

Knock on wood, but it’s been nearly a year since I had a run in with a case of strep throat, the flu, and a sinus infection. Oddly enough, that was all a short time after I moved to Vancouver. I chalk that all up to being exposed to new surroundings and getting my initiation to the lower mainland. What a way to welcome me to my new home.