The following is from an interview with “Healthy & Fit Magazine”, which featured Tom in April of 2011.
Why do you believe in fitness?
Great question, there are many reasons, let me begin by saying my fitness has been an exercise in inconsistencies for a good portion of my life. I believe like most people you try to stay in a groove, and for many reasons you just don’t follow through in a solid pattern. It was however a serious illness two and a half years ago that made me believe in the benefits and importance of being a fit person. I had developed bi-lateral pneumonia, was rushed to the hospital and spent six days there, two of which were in isolation because they thought I had tuberculosis.
That was a very scary point in my life.
The strangest thing happened though, I recovered relatively quickly, (a couple of weeks), and I asked the Pulmonary physician specialist how this could happen, becoming so sick so fast and then recovering so quickly. He explained that anyone can carry a bug and get sick at anytime and it was my level of fitness that led to my recovery. I was in decent shape, and he stated that many people do not recover from such a severe case, some take a long time, some unfortunately die. Whoa! That was my epiphany, time to devote the rest of my life, (a long one I hope) to doing everything I could to improve, physically.
It was time to take it to the next level.
Fitness saved my life that I am sure of. Sometimes it takes an event like this to see the light; I am blessed and very lucky to have a second chance. So why do I believe in fitness, it can save your life, and give you back God’s gift, health.
Believe it, live it, embrace it, it is the only life you have.
How have you developed your habits?
I have sought out experts in the field, hired a personal trainer to help me develop a solid routine, one in which I am efficient with my time, and maximize the effort needed to reach my goals; I am trying to be the fittest, healthiest person I can possibly be.
It takes time to develop habits; however I believe that once you find what makes you feel the passion to become healthier, it really becomes much easier. I know that it is all worth the effort, that it helps my mental capacity, which I can tell you implicitly is a fact. I went back to college at 40, and without my getting back into some kind of a routine physically I never would have finished college, which I did completing my Bachelors degree in 2006 at 46 and my Masters degree at 49 in 2009.
You try and attend classes as a non-traditional student with a bunch of MSU 20 something’s, you need to develop an edge.
I found that the best I could do was get in short sessions at lunch, I made the most of it and got it done as well as I could; habits develop from a desire to improve and a passion for becoming stronger, mentally and physically. Habits become a way of life; good habits can save your life.
I found many friends at the gym, developed accountability, and finally understood that it really is selfish of me to NOT train and exercise. My family needs me, my job needs me, and lastly I need myself. Once you realize these things developing habits is a lot easier.
And you feel so much better, habit, oh yes.
What steps have you taken to be healthy?
Nutrition is paramount. I learned by reading great books, and they help you to understand all of the factors. Fitness and being healthy really does not have to be a difficult chore, however I believe that without the knowledge gleaned from mentors and great books you can wander aimlessly, never finding the groove.
It is that groove that can change everything.
I now know and practice several things that contribute to my increased health thanks to knowledge. I understand that sugar is a major problem, so I avoid empty carbs, such as pastries, soda, and processed cereals and we do not drink any alcohol.
Sodium is a problem, my mother is a salt season heavy mom, eliminating salt, and switching to sea salt to help balance my PH was critical.
I drink over 100 ounces of water daily, I fill 3- 1.5 liters of water and take them with me to work. That way I know I have gotten my hydration, this is very important.
I understand and consume healthy fats, Nutiva coconut oil by the tablespoon twice daily and Carlson’s fish oil for the omega 3’s, they all help maintain my cell structure, healthy fats are so very important.
I do take multivitamins and when I train and lift hard I drink a protein shake, with plant based hemp protein, flax and cinnamon post workout. We also take spiralina and chlorella at night in addition to drinking green tea. That with mineral water and citrus to help with the PH is also important.
We eat a lot of whole foods, complex carbs, (vegetables and fruit) daily. In addition Sandy and I both drink wheat grass tea in the morning, along with our home processed juice, yes we juice at our house, and the Champion Juicer gets a workout just about every week.
We are not huge beef fans, when we do consume beef it is lean, we eat lean chicken and fish, ground turkey is great.
And any kind of food that comes in a box is taboo.
Eating at night, past eight is a mortal sin, and of course getting your rest is critical.
We do frequent both Better Health and Foods for Living; both are great stores for organic foods. We do only buy organic milk, it is a lot more expensive, but cutting out those growth hormones and antibiotics is worth the money for our family
Being over 50 also means getting your physical and blood work, and if necessary a stress test. Since I have endured the illness in 2008 my cholesterol, weight and blood pressure have steadily gone down, my cholesterol ratio was 2.2 this year, HDL was almost 80, outstanding according to my physician.
Weight management, eating whole food and exercise, I learned it all in Chris Johnson’s book “Nutrition”, and I would highly recommend it, that book has changed everything in our lives, really.
What makes you so committed?
Commitment is in my mind defined as a pledge or a promise, when you become a father a husband and a dad you intrinsically are obligated to taking care of yourself. Unfortunately so many of us lose the balance in our lives, and then components in our lives become off kilter. We work too hard, we live to fast, we do not take the time necessary to eat properly and exercise, time becomes an all consuming factor.
Sometimes we are not lucky enough to have that moment, that second chance, I fortunately did, and I plan on making the most of it. That is why I am so committed.
I love my wife and children with all of my being, and I owe it to them to be the best that I can possibly be, committed, it is easy when you have that brush with death. I am a very lucky guy; life is a gift, make the most of your time.
Describe your weekly workouts/activities
Wow, this may sound crazy but you asked-
During the work week I get up at 4:00am to be at the gym at 5:00, and meet my training partner at Go Workout (they open at 5:00am, a very nice luxury), Tuesday-Friday, my day off varies depending on my wife’s schedule, she works at Ingham Medical and during the winter we try and share driving our youngest daughter to school, so I will take a day to help out. Her schedule is a typical hospital rotation, changes weekly, so my days off rotate.
On Monday I train with a friend at MSU, IM West opens at 6:00 so I have a little more time.
My workouts are pretty consistent; I always start the session with 25 minutes of cardio, normally interval train on the elliptical. However sometimes to change it up I will do a power incline walk on the treadmill. After the cardio warm-up we will do some moderate static and dynamic stretching, you really want to stretch warm muscles. That typically will last about ten minutes.
One thing about starting early you have the time to really not rush, I hate rushing through a workout. You want to be efficient, however at 51 years old you have to be careful not to incur an injury, that and training with younger people you want to show them you still have the stuff.
I am a huge believer in core strength and utilize the BOSU extensively, and I have gotten pretty good at many BOSU movements. Normally that core work will happen right after the stretch session.
At that point I now have about an hour to lift, and depending on what my training partners and I have done that week, what body part it could be a variety of lower and or upper body, arms, bicep, triceps, and or back. I like to set up what we call quads, four movements that we super set together, then we do a HIIT set, (jump rope) for thirty seconds. At that point you get your water, take a minute rest and then repeat. If everything is going good you can get three sets of four movements in and then move on to another quad. Basically it is a fast paced free weight lift session, I like to incorporate a push and pull routine with our lift sessions, and it is all about BALANCE.
I do have the luxury of working for the University so I do get in a cardio session at lunch occasionally.
Sometimes I will meet my wife Sandy after she gets off work and work out with her at Go Workout, around 4:30-5:00, just some light stuff, cardio and machine stuff. I do have her free weight lift at least once a week, and I spot her for her movements. I believe it is critical for women to lift and utilize resistance training, especially as we get older.
Sandy and I also will do the Saturday Pilates group fitness class and the Sunday spin class, this is dependent on her busy schedule, and (she works at Ingham Medical). I really enjoy spending the time with her in this environment, some couples play golf, or tennis or whatever, we like the time together at the gym, just call us crazy.
One thing I must mention is that I have been taught the importance of form and quality of movements. I have been guilty of over lifting and that can lead to overuse injuries, posture and form are of paramount importance when training, fast is not good, patience and quality wins the race to fitness.
Somewhere in that week I get in a day off, that is one of my problem areas, rest. However I understand that to maintain that edge you must have adequate rest, sometimes you may have to have an active rest day at the gym, just a casual light workout, and those can be a nice change up.
Describe your diet (be as detailed as possible):
I am a whole food lover, converted from a regular box food American. I have a pretty regular routine as far as my diet is concerned, so here it is.
I have to say that prep is the most important thing to eating healthy, and I give Sandy all of the credit for keeping our fridge stocked and veggies and fruit ready, it takes a lot of time to cut up broccoli and all of the other veggies I take in my lunch, kudos to her.
My day always starts off with wheat grass ice cube tea, (very first thing, always), 6 ounces of our homemade beet juice we make every 10 days or so, (beets, spinach, carrots, apples, lemon), it is the total best, and then I do an apple cider vinegar (1 ounce with water). I then do my Carlson’s fish oil, 1 tablespoon, 1 tablespoon of Coconut oil and my supply of vitamins, multi, B,C, D, baby aspirin, CoQ10, a bottle of water and a cup of coffee and I am off to the gym, it opens at 5:00am.
I make my lunch every day when I get home from work; it is the only way to make it to the gym early, not having to mess around with that first thing. My lunch will consist of two bags of mixed veggies, carrots, broccoli, radishes, and celery with a few grapes mixed in to break up the mix, those I will grab throughout the day, however the bulk of my complex carbs are eaten in the afternoon. I take 2 apples, 1 lemon, (yes a lemon, I peel it and eat it just before noon). I make what I call my homemade granola, almonds, pumpkin seeds, dates, figs, prunes and raisons and depending on how long of a day I anticipate that will determine how big a bag of goodies I take. I also take a palm sized piece of chicken, two Greek yogurts, a banana, and a hardboiled egg.
I premix my week’s supply of my special 9:00am cereal and post workout shakes on Sunday and refrigerate. My cereal is ¼ cup steel cut oats, 2 tablespoons hemp protein, 2 tablespoons whey protein, cinnamon and raisons. Mix with water in a Tupperware and refrigerate, that’s right no cooking. My shake is similar, 1 tablespoon hemp protein, 1 tablespoon whey protein, ½ teaspoon L-Glutamine amino acid and 2 tablespoons of steel cut oats. Mix with water in my Tupperware cups (16 ounces) and refrigerate. I take one each every day.
The lunch I take sounds like a lot of food, and it is, however I eat small stuff every 2 hours (sometimes earlier) but you keep it small, and I will bring something home, normally unless I work late and then I have enough food to last the whole day.
I do a second serving of the oils and vinegar when I get home, exactly like the morning.
If I am home on time we enjoy light dinners together, normally fish or chicken breast, salad and a veggie of some kind.
I try really hard not to eat after 8:00pm, which can be the kiss of death. A cup of green tea, spiralina, chlorella along with 8 ounces of mineral water helps, and I do those supplements at night.
We do take a free day on Sundays, and normally that will involve our favorite, ice cream and brownies. The free day is one that I learned from Bill Phillip’s “Body for Life”, that’s another good motivational book that I have had for a long time; I would recommend that one also.
Advice you have for others who are looking to be fit:
- Start slow, and be safe, develop a compelling “why”
- Hire a personal trainer to customize a program that meets your level of fitness and time constraints, there are so many great gyms in Mid-Michigan and personal training can save you in the long run.
- Make it a group affair, either with one other person or a group fitness class. Accountability really helps when you have that “I don’t feel like it day”.
- Evaluate your nutrition; feed your body good fuel. Empty calories are killing us, so whole foods as much as possible (slowly at first) are very good for everyone, small meals throughout your day
- Water, water, water
- No soft drinks, none, and limit alcohol, if not eliminate completely (again empty calories)
- Energy drinks are a plague
- Find something you are passionate about, something that you like to do, motion is lotion
- Walk
- Become educated and take your time, develop your reason for living, and believe in yourself.
