Programmed Water

Cal Barber-Personal Trainer at Bally’s Total Fitness

What happens as you go through the ageing process? Well, you shift. It all shifts. It is either rapid or gradual but it all moves away from your grasp. I have always been a skinny woman. I still am. I have little arms and legs but something started happening a year and a half ago that I at first was amused by. I started gaining weight, eight pounds of it. Pure fat. I developed the dreaded apple shape. What to do? My daughter was summary in her observation. “You have a muffin top”. Okay now I had a label and with that label a need to do something about the bad ol’ muffin top. How did I get into this situation I wondered. Was it the Greens plus power bars that I love to this day? They are so good for you. Any health food fanatic like me would understand that instantly. All you have to do is read the label. Okay so was eating up to four a day at a whopping 1,000 calories over doing it? Did I eat when bored or needing a little love? Yes I had become an emotional eater. I had also become a computer addict. The only exercise I got was leaning back in my chair while still very much plugged into the computer and scanning the room first to the right and then to the left. I did this with the intent that it would somehow address the mess around me. Did it clean up my house and set everything into the proper order both physically and energetically? No but I do suffer from extreme optimism …. it was a good try. About this time a friend of mine snapped a picture of me. It was a side view. I could not see my toes at this point and I looked six months pregnant. When he showed it to me I howled with laughter. I also had accepted the project of reclaiming my body and my health.

I tried Curves but it was a little too fluffy for me. I ended up at Bally’s Total Fitness in Glendora, CA. After about a year of gym membership, good stuff started happening. I got so old, 65, that the government picked up the tab. That is right. The program is called Silver Sneakers. Not every gym has it but mine did. With the sign up to Silver Sneakers comes one work out with a personal trainer. Okay, now we are talking. I spent a training session with Cal. He got me on this cut in half, squishy ball that wiggled and had me hold weights out in front of me and probably lift them, I can’t remember. I do know that the tendency to stick my but out for balance was curtailed… Yes indeed. I had to keep my back straight. So I asked the obvious question. “How many people have you dropped?” He assured me none and so I relaxed about my health and wellbeing. When I started lifting the weights the inevitable happened and I went over backwards….Not very far of course, about two inches. He had my back. Cal was working with my balance and with my stamina. He would work me and then take note of my pounding jugular and than ask in a straightforward manner how was I doing? I could have said that he was killing me but I would not admit it. So I told him “Fabulous”. Okay I lied. He finished the session with some time on the elliptical trainer. He said that I needed to go at least 3.2 miles but I could not. He stood there and watched me, gave me the look. He did not have to say anything. I knew that he knew that I was just not cutting it.

It is a slow process, getting the metabolism up and firming up the muscles. It is slow going reversing the body from where it was headed. I even gave up 38 years of being a vegetarian. I felt the fatigue in the body. It just needed the flesh protein so it could build muscle. As soon as I started eating it the belly fat shifted. Cal said that I could have remained a vegetarian and gotten the amount of protein that I needed but it would have entailed eating a lot more. My body was not interested in upping my food intake. So I went off to Trader Joes and rounded up some wild caught salmon.

In our radio interview with Cal, he gave us the facts as we all know them. You have to burn more calories than you take in if you want to loose weight. You can not simply cut out meals because it is the process of eating combined with the exercise that boosts the metabolism. Big, big mistake for those who do not know the diet game. It is not done by skipping a bunch of meals. All you will manage is muscle loss. It is the wrong direction to go. He said five meals a day with some of them snacks. You have to get the metabolism up in order the burn the calories. I asked him why that bad old belly fat stays around. He said that if you do the same thing to the body, the same work out, the body adjusts to it and it plateaus. He said that you have to shock the body, change the pace, startle it out of the routine. He also talked about healthier food choices. Places like McDonalds provide you with poor protein and carbs. It is not very easily digestible foods. Poor food choices contribute to poor circulation and hardening of the arteries.

Karen Duffy, my co-host, asked him about the folks who come into the gym that have been inspired by the television program The Biggest Loser. He reminded us of the reality of that circumstance. Those folks live the program, 24 hours a day. They train 12 hours a day. Someone who comes into the gym for their workout has the rest of their day, all 23 hours of it, to get themselves into caloric overload. Cal said that it is a three pronged process, Nutrition, Exercise and Proper Rest. With a trainer you enter into an agreement… You set your goals and the trainer helps you to achieve them. What are the kids doing now days? They are like me, sedentary, tied into that computer. All they are exercising is their hands. I have seen some damaged hands, over used. It is a tricky world out there. How smart do we have to be to play this game? Very.

Cal Barber was the state champion in track and field. He said that he had excellent coaches. He is now offering that service to others. He also, besides being the head trainer at Bally’s, does Sport Specific Training. He works with athletes and gets them ready for the next level in their careers.

Cal Barber is at 626 963-0281/626 905-3566

Karen Duffy and I co-host the radio program, Global Wellness Naturally at internet radio www.KSGVRadio.com. Karen is the owner of Lotus of Light in Glendora, Ca. where we both practice our healing arts.