Step Out: Walk To Stop Diabetes With Us

Fitness Together

For the second year running, the Fitness Together MA Owners Cooperative has assembled 35 studios from across Massachusetts and Rhode Island to serve as the Official Health and Fitness Sponsor for the American Diabetes Association of Eastern New England’s Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes.

Now through year-end, participating Fitness Together locations will work together to raise over $25,000 for the ADA Eastern New England Chapter. Each studio has its own fundraising page to make donations. Clients, their families and friends are all invited to join your local studio’s walk team to help us reach our fundraising goal.

Why Fitness Together?

Not everyone is motivated to eat right and exercise. People who need a structured program with ongoing coaching and support in a private setting do well with Fitness Together. Our nationally certified personal trainers take a team approach to working with our clients. We understand the emotional and physical challenges which inhibit people from sticking with a program and getting positive results. We know how to motivate people and make exercise fun. It’s not all about dieting. It’s about helping clients feel better, look better, get healthy and learn how to make lasting lifestyle changes.
Register or make a donation for your Fitness Together Step Out Walk team today!

Choose your studio from the list here, click on the team captain’s name and then choose either:

Click here to Sponsor Me (make a donation) – or -
Click here to Walk with Me (help raise money)

 

 

 

 

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Step Out Videos

ADA NE Celebrates Last Year’s Fitness Together’s Successful Step Out Fundraising

 

Step Out For Diabetes: ADA New England Celebrates FT NE

Steve Lichtman accepts Certificate of Achievement awards for Fitness Together at the ADA’s StepOut Rally on August 10 at the Franklin Park Zoo.”

“It’s a natural fit for our clients to make the most of their workouts and support a fantastic cause at the same time,” said Jeff Jervik, president and CEO of Fitness Together Holdings, Inc. “Diabetes is a major health issue affecting more than 25 million Americans.

1st collector for Step Out For Diabetes: ADA New England Celebrat…
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ADA New England: Our Step Out Campaign Was A Success

Steve Lichtman accepts Certificate of Achievement awards for Fitness Together at the ADA’s StepOut Rally on August 10 at the Franklin Park Zoo.

“It’s a natural fit for our clients to make the most of their workouts and support a fantastic cause at the same time,” said Jeff Jervik, president and CEO of Fitness Together Holdings, Inc. “Diabetes is a major health issue affecting more than 25 million Americans. Diabetes incidence continues to grow, now reaching epidemic proportions and it’s a disease that deserves more attention, deeper support, broader education and swifter action from people and organizations that can help like Fitness Together.”

ADA Step Out 2011: Walk for Diabetes will take place Oct. 1, in Worcester, Mass., Oct. 2 in Providence, R.I. and Oct. 22 in Boston.

“We are very appreciative of the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Fitness Together studios and their teams of trainers for taking on this important issue”, said Chris Boynton, Executive Director for the Eastern New England area of the American Diabetes Association. “Fitness Together’s mission to help their clients live healthier, happier lives is very much compatible with our mission to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the quality of life for all those living with the disease.”

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Check out the study the Fitness Together MA Owner’s Cooperative has undertaken to examine the impact of fitness and exercise on Type 2 diabetics.

Go to our page to join the StepOut Walk for 2011 or donate to help fight Diabetes.

Red Lentil & Bulgur Pilaf Recipe

Red Lentils

As clipped by Bryan Carey, Assistant Manager of FT Dedham from The New York Times

Recipe By Martha Rose Shulman

Uncooked, soaked red lentils have a refreshing flavor and a sprout-like crunch. They also retain their beguiling salmon hue, contributing welcome color to this pilaf.

Ingredients
1/4 cup red lentils
1 small onion
3/4 cup brown lentils
3 garlic cloves, 1 crushed, the other 2 minced
Salt to taste
1 cup coarse bulgur
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, lightly toasted and coarsely ground
1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, or a mixture of parsley and dill
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint
Juice of 1 lemon (to taste)

Directions
Place the red lentils in a bowl, and cover with cold water. Soak for up to two hours or overnight in the refrigerator. Drain. The lentils should taste fresh, with a pleasant crunchy texture.

Cut the onion in half. Finely chop one half, and set aside. Combine the other half, intact, with the lentils and crushed garlic clove in a heavy saucepan. Add the bay leaf and 3 cups water. Bring to a boil, add salt to taste, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 30 to 35 minutes or until the lentils are tender but still intact. Taste and adjust seasoning. Remove the onion, garlic clove and bay leaf.

Place the bulgur in a 2-quart bowl. Place a strainer over the bowl, and drain the lentils so that the hot broth covers the bulgur. Add enough water to cover the bulgur by 1/2 inch. Cover the bowl, and allow the bulgur to sit until fluffy, about 20 to 30 minutes. Strain and press out excess liquid.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium heat in a large, heavy skillet. Add the minced onion. Cook, stirring, until tender, about five minutes. Stir in the garlic and cumin, and continue to cook until fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute. Stir in the bulgur and the brown and red lentils. Add the herbs and the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, and toss together. Remove from the heat, add lemon juice and pepper, taste and adjust salt. Serve hot or room temperature.

Yield Serves six.

Advance preparation
You can make the pilaf hours ahead of serving, but do not add the herbs. Reheat in a microwave or in a nonstick skillet over medium heat, then stir in the herbs and serve.

Nutritional information per serving
248 calories; 1 gram saturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 40 grams carbohydrates; 10 grams dietary fiber; 11 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste); 12 grams protein

Martha Rose Shulman is the author of The Very Best Of Recipes for Health: 250 Recipes and More

By the way, here’s a great Red Lentil Soup Recipe

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Bryan Carey, Certified Personal Trainer FT Dedham
Bryan Carey is a certified personal trainer through International Sports and Science Association (ISSA). He holds a bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology from Bridgewater State University, along with CPR and AED certifications. He has always led an active lifestyle, becoming passionate about fitness in high school where he wrestled all four years. He trained friends for sports and general fitness and became nationally certified his freshman year of college. Bryan believes in well-balanced workout routines, combined with sound nutrition and cardiovascular exercise. He also believes exercise should be a routine and consistency is one of the most important factors of fitness.

FT Dedham

Check out FTGetsResults more information on all our studios across Northern New England

The Best Ultimate Strengthening Leg Exercise

As clipped from Livestrong

Overview

The barbell squat offers your legs the most effective muscle-strengthening workout. Resistance training places stress on your muscles, introducing a force which builds muscle strength and power. Compound movements like squats recruit multiple muscle groups, helping work out the many muscle groups in your legs. Before starting a resistance workout regimen to strengthen your legs consult a physician.

Anatomy
The major muscle groups within the legs are the quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus maximus, adductors, gastrocnemius and soleus. The quadriceps spans across the front of your thighs and the hamstrings run along the back of your thighs. The gluteus maximus, also called the glutes, stretches across your rear hips. The adductors run along your inner thigh. The gastrocnemius and soleus muscles make up the calves. Barbell squats work out each of the main muscle groups in the leg, making this exercise the best movement to build strength in the leg muscles.

Exercise Form
Step under a racked bar and place your shoulders under the bar. Push through your legs, dismounting the bar from the rack. Take one step back, keeping your torso straight. Maintain a shoulder-width stance, keeping your head up throughout the movement. Bend your knees and slowly lower the bar. Lower yourself until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Push through the heels and extend your legs until you stand up straight. Do four sets of 12 repetitions to develop strength in your legs. Rest for 90 seconds between sets to allow for adequate recovery time.

Other Exercises
Doing squats alone won’t help you develop optimum leg strength. Include exercises like leg presses, dumbbell lunges, leg extensions and leg curls in your resistance training regimen to power up your legs. Jumping rope and running are two forms of aerobic activity which increase leg strength, improve heart health and promote weight loss.

Tips
Keep your knees behind your toes throughout the movement to avoid placing stress on the knee joint. Warm up with five minutes of light jogging to bring blood into the leg muscles. Stretch for 10 minutes to reduce the risk of injury.

Read more

Visit FTGetsResults for more information on our FT Studios across Northern New England

Trainer Tips: Day at the Race!

by Michael Cardoza, Vice President Operations, Lifestyle Fitness Corp.

Clients often ask us why we (trainers and fitness professionals) work out the way we do.  Obviously our trainers want to live a healthy life and look good but some of them have other reasons for pumping insane amounts of iron or logging crazy amounts of  miles on their own two feet.

For instance check out this article on Bill Coleman, Assistant Manager of FT Cohasset.  Bill competes as a powerlifter at the age of 52.  We also have Kate (Dedham trainer) and Ashley (Westborough trainer) who both take part in road races ranging in distances anywhere from 5K to a marathon.  Stan (Dedham trainer) is a competitive natural bodybuilder.  Personally, I am a triathlete.  So why do we torture ourselves through high levels of exercise just to compete in  these types of events.

We all have different reasons for doing what we do and personally my primary motive is my competitive spirit, as my wife so kindly puts it.  This past weekend I had the opportunity to enter a local triathlon as a late entry.  The late entry is due to the fact that we had our first child 5 weeks ago and my swim, bike and run training has been at a minimum.  So I was unsure how well I would do.  Because I still find the time to fit alternative workouts into my schedule I felt my fitness was at a point that I could still finish the race strong.  There were no expectations to get on the podium but at least I could get some of that competitive energy out of my system.

After each race I like to cool down by stretching near the finishing chute because I can see others finish the race.  I always get goosebumps when I see someone come across the line with emotion because I can imagine the type of dedication that person had to train for this event.  Most of the emotional finishers that I am referring to are not your typical skinny athlete and clearly it took a huge commitment for them to even get to the starting line.  My hat always goes off to those people, more so than the winners.

This particular race really changed my perspective on why I toe the line.  Yes I am still competitive, but after finishing 2nd in my age group, which most people would be more than happy about, I found I was more excited that I ran into a client after the race.  She was there supporting her husband in his first triathlon race.  So why was I excited to see her if she wasn’t racing?  There are two main reasons:

• She verbally committed to doing that exact race next year. She was clearly inspired by watching the race and somewhere found her motivation to commit to a new goal. That is exciting!

• She was with her daughter who is at an age where she absorbs everything around her.   She just witnessed her mother get excited about committing to this race next year and her father finish a race and have fun doing it.  This is leading by example.

The reason why Ashley pounds the pavement or Bill lifts large amounts of weight is no better than the other.  The important thing is that they have a reason or inspiration to achieve something.  As a new father the driving force behind my long workouts is no longer competition, but rather inspiration.  I want to show my son how to live a healthy lifestyle and I want to inspire others the way our client was inspired by her husband finishing the race this past weekend.

What drives you to be active?  Visit us on FaceBook and tell us what inspires you.  Maybe your story will inspire someone else!

In Health,

Michael

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Michael Cardoza Vice President Operations
Michael has been with Fitness Together since 2003. Michael started with Fitness Together as the manager of Dedham and has also managed the Norwell and Westborough studios. Before taking on the Vice President role Michael was the Area Director for Lifestyle Fitness Corp. Lifestyle Fitness Corp. owns and operates Fitness Together studios in Dedham, Cohasset, Norwell and Westborough.  Michael has been a certified personal trainer since 2001. He earned a finance degree from Bentley College and a master’s degree from the University of London (North London Campus).

He believes staying fit requires a lifestyle commitment. He feels a balance of strength training, cardiovascular training and healthy nutrition are the key elements to staying healthy. Michael has been active his entire life. He was a three sport athlete in high school and played soccer at the collegiate level. Now, he prefers staying active through strength training, triathlon and any other outdoor activities.

FT Cohasset

FT Dedham

FT Norwell

FT Westborough

Find more info on Fitness Together Studios across Northern New England on FTGetsResults.com

New Research On Fitness & The Reversal Of Diabetes

by Martha Hicks Leta

Last year Fitness Together studios across Massachusetts and Rhode Island undertook an ambitious study to examine the impact of a 26-week individualized fitness training program on people with diabetes and pre-diabetes.

At the start of the study Joan Hill, Registered Dietitian, Certified Diabetes Educator and Licensed Dietitian/Nutritionist (RD, CDE, LDN) said, “Through this observational study, we will better understand the impact of diet and exercise on diabetes control, high blood pressure, one’s sense of well-being and the costs of medications.”

As the study nears completion, the data is showing a distinct correlation between lifestyle changes to a reduction in weight, body fat, diabetes medication and an improvement in overall sense of well-being and health.

A recent article by Dr. Mark Hyman, MD entitled “New Research Finds Diabetes Can Be Reversed” examines another study that, as it turns out, supports the data emerging from the Fitness Together study.

The scientific study, entitled Reversal of type 2 diabetes: normalization of beta cell function in association with decrease pancreas and liver triglycerides concluded that the right kind of changes in diet and exercise in diabetics “reversed most features of diabetes within one week and all features by eight weeks.”

We’re not surprised. Dr. Hyman says that he sees this regularly in his medical practice. “With focused, strategic, scientifically based nutritional intervention, combined with exercise, stress management and sugar and insulin balancing nutritional supplements, many of my patients completely reverse their diabetes. And the side effects—more energy, better sleep, improved sexual function and weight loss—are all good.”

What this means is that while Fitness Together clearly is part of the solution, our nation’s health policy model needs to change dramatically from supporting illness to preventing it. “If we have a known cure, a proven way to reverse this disease, shouldn’t we be focused on implementing programs to scale this cure?” asks Dr. Mark.

The results of Fitness Together’s comprehensive set of data on 24 subjects will soon be made available. In the mean time, it’s nice to see that Fitness Together trainers and clients know the value of hard work and lifestyle changes in achieving and maintaining health.

New Research Finds Diabetes Can Be Reversed

Article sent to us by Dr. Mark Hyman, from his site DrHyman.com

I have recently spent more time in drugs stores than I would like helping my sister on her journey through (and hopefully to the other side of) cancer. Rite Aid, CVS and Walgreens all had large diabetes sections offering support for a “diabetes lifestyle”—glucose monitors, lancets, blood pressure cuffs, medications, supplements and pharmacy magazines heavily supported by pharmaceutical advertising. Patients are encouraged to get their eye check ups, monitor their blood pressure, track their blood sugars, have foot exams and see their doctor’s regularly for better management of their blood sugars—all apparently sensible advice for diabetics.

But what if type 2 diabetes could be completely reversed? What if it wasn’t, as we believe, an inexorable, progressive disease that has to be better “managed” by our health care system with better drugs, surgery and coordination of care? What if intensive lifestyle and dietary changes could completely reverse diabetes?

A ground breaking new study in Diabetologia proved that, indeed, type 2 diabetes can be reversed through diet changes, and, the study showed, this can happen quickly: in 1 to 8 weeks. That turns our perspective on diabetes upside down. Diabetes is not a one-way street.

If we have a known cure, a proven way to reverse this disease, shouldn’t we be focused on implementing programs to scale this cure?

We used to believe that once cells in your pancreas that make insulin (beta cells) poop out there was no reviving them and your only hope was more medication or insulin. We now know that is not so.

Continuing misconceptions about what causes diabetes and our unwillingness to embrace methods know to reverse it have lead to a catastrophic increase in the illness. Today one in four Americans over 60 years old has type 2 diabetes. By 2020, one in two Americans will have pre-diabetes or diabetes. Tragically, physicians will miss the diagnosis for ninety percent with pre-diabetes or diabetes. (Below I tell you exactly what tests to ask your doctor to perform and how to interpret them).

From 1983 to 2008, world-wide diabetes incidence has increased 7 fold from 35 to 240 million. Remarkably, in just the last 3 years from 2008 to 2011, we have added another 110 million to the diabetes roll call. And increasingly small children as young as eight are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (formerly called adult onset diabetes). They are having strokes at 15 years old and needing cardiac bypasses at 25 year old. The economic burden of caring for these people with pre-diabetes and diabetes will be $3.5 trillion over 10 years.

If we have a known cure, a proven way to reverse this disease, shouldn’t we be focused on implementing programs to scale this cure? Unfortunately despite this extraordinary new research, the findings will likely be pushed aside in favor of the latest greatest pill or surgical technique because behavior and lifestyle change is “hard.” In fact, with the right conditions and support, lifestyle diet and lifestyle change is very achievable.

What did research show?

Reversing Diabetes: Can it Be Done in a Week?

The study, entitled Reversal of type 2 diabetes: normalization of beta cell function in association with decrease pancreas and liver triglycerides, was exquisitely done. The bottom line: A dramatic diet change (protein shake, low glycemic load, plant-based low-calorie diet but no exercise) in diabetics reversed most features of diabetes within one week and all features by eight weeks. That’s right, diabetes was reversed in one week. That’s more powerful than any drug known to modern science.

We know from gastric bypass patients that with rapid changes in diet right after surgery, within just a few days, without significant weight loss, diabetes goes away—fatty livers heal, cholesterol levels plummet. Some theorized it was because of changes in the stomach hormones related to the gastric surgery. Others, including the researchers of this new study surmised that maybe it was just the drastic change in diet. So they went about studying just the diet change without surgery.

They studied 11 people with diabetes and compared them to a control group. Through very sophisticated techniques including MRI imaging, they measured their blood sugar and insulin responses, cholesterol levels and fat in the pancreas and liver (some of the hallmarks of diabetes) before and after diet changes at 1, 4 and 8 weeks.

What they found was revolutionary. The beta cells—the pancreas’ insulin producing cells—woke up, and the fat deposits in the pancreas and liver went away. Blood sugars normalized in just one week, triglycerides dropped in half in one week and reduced 10-fold in eight weeks. The body’s cells became more insulin sensitive and essentially, in just 8 weeks, all evidence of diabetes was gone and the diabetic patients looked just like the normal controls on all the testing.

While this may be surprising to most, it is something I see regularly in my medical practice. With focused, strategic, scientifically based nutritional intervention, combined with exercise, stress management and sugar and insulin balancing nutritional supplements, many of my patients completely reverse their diabetes. And the side effects—more energy, better sleep, improved sexual function and weight loss—are all good.

What most don’t realize is that pre-diabetes and diabetes exist on a continuum and both dramatically increase the risk of heart attacks, stroke, cancer, infertility, sexual dysfunction, depression and dementia. You don’t have to get diabetes to be at risk for all those problems. That is why it is so important to get your doctor to diagnose pre-diabetes early and implement an intensive lifestyle program to help you reserve it.

You may be at risk if you have extra belly fat, have a family history of diabetes, gestational diabetes, are in at risk ethnic group (Asian, Hispanic, African American, Native American, Middle Eastern), have high triglycerides (> 150 mg/dl) or a low HDL (< 50 mg/dl) or have high blood pressure.

If any of these apply to you or you have other cause for concern, here is what to do.

How to Reverse Your Diabetes

First, get your doctor to test the following:

• A 75-gram glucose tolerance test measuring BOTH glucose and insulin fasting and 1 and 2 hours later. Your fasting blood sugar should be less than 100 mg/dl and your 1 and 2 hour sugar levels should be less than 130 mg/dl. Your fasting insulin should be less than 10, and your 1 and 2 hour levels should be less than 35.
• Triglycerides should be less than 150 mg/dl and HDL (good cholesterol) should be over 50 mg/dl, and the triglyceride to HDL ratio should be less than 4. These ranges are meaningful only if you are on no medication.
• Newer cholesterol tests measure the size of your cholesterol particles and is very effective in diagnosing problems with pre-diabetes early. In fact, this is the only cholesterol test we should be performing.

And here’s the program I use for my patients to reverse diabetes:

• Eat a low glycemic load, high fiber, plant-based diet of vegetables, beans, nuts, limited whole grains, fruit and lean animal protein
• Vigorous exercise (fast walking, running, biking, etc.) 30 minutes 4-5 times a week and strength training 20 minutes 3 times a week
• Take a good multivitamin, fish oil, vitamin D and blood sugar and insulin balancing nutrients (including chromium and alpha lipoic acid)

Remember, pre-diabetes and diabetes is not a one way street and the solution is not at the bottom of a pill bottle or the end of an insulin syringe, it is at the end of your fork and in the shoes on your feet!

Now I’d like to hear from you …

Do you think diabetes can be reversed? If so, how?

What methods have you tried to gain control of your diabetes or weight gain? How have those methods worked for you?

Why do you think accessible, scalable, lifestyle solutions like these that actually reverse chronic illness are not more frequently prescribed in conventional doctor’s offices? How can we change this?

Please visit my site to give me your comments.

To your good health,

Mark Hyman, MD

MARK HYMAN, MD has dedicated his career to identifying and addressing the root causes of chronic illness through a groundbreaking whole-systems medicine approach known as Functional Medicine. He is a family physician, a four-time New York Times bestselling author, and an internationally recognized leader in his field. Through his private practice, education efforts, writing, research, advocacy and public-policy work, he strives to improve access to Functional Medicine, and to widen the understanding and practice of it, empowering others to stop managing symptoms and instead treat the underlying causes of illness, thereby also tackling our chronic-disease epidemic.

Dr. Hyman is Chairman of the Institute for Functional Medicine, and was awarded its 2009 Linus Pauling Award for Leadership in Functional Medicine. He is on the Board of Directors of The Center for Mind-Body Medicine, and a faculty member of its Food As Medicine training program. He is also on the Board of Advisors of Memhet Oz’s HealthCorps, which tackles the obesity epidemic by “educating the student body” in American high schools about nutrition, fitness and mental resilience. As a volunteer for Partners in Health, Dr. Hyman worked on the ground immediately after the Haiti earthquake and was featured on 60 Minutes for his work there. He continues to help rebuild the Haitian health-care system.

Dr. Hyman is founder and Medical Director of The UltraWellness Center in Lenox, Massachusetts,where he directs a team of physicians, nutritionists and nurses who utilize a comprehensive approach to health. Before starting his practice, he was co-Medical Director at Canyon Ranch Lenox, one of the world’s leading health resorts. While at Canyon Ranch, he co-authored the New York Times bestseller Ultraprevention: The 6-Week Program That Will Make You Healthy for Life (Scribner) – winner of the Books for a Better Life Award honoring the best self-improvement books each year. He has since written UltraMetabolism: The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss, and a companion public television special. His latest book and PBS special, The UltraMind Solution, a comprehensive approach for addressing the causes of mental illness and cognitive disorders, was released in January 2009. The Blood Sugar Solution book and companion PBS special will be released in March 2012, addressing the global epidemic of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

On the Uphill Climb to Champion: FT Cohasset’s Bill Coleman

By Martha Hicks Leta

If you’ve crossed over the 50-year age mark you’ve probably gotten the “witty” birthday card or two: “Once you’re over the hill, you only pick up speed!” or worse, “Over the hill? What hill? I don’t see any hill!” Whatever the so-called witticism, the implication is that 50 is the threshold to Heaven’s waiting room, where the food is bland, afternoons are spent nodding off in front of “Wheel of Fortune,” and your teeth spend the night in a glass jar. While that may be true for some, it couldn’t be farther from the truth for Cohasset native Bill Coleman who, at the age of 52, qualified to compete in the World Drug-Free Powerlifting Federation’s Championship in Muskegon, MI.

I met with Coleman on a blisteringly hot July afternoon at the Fitness Together studio he manages on Route 3A in Cohasset. Bill, a barrel-chested, squarely built guy with a copper-colored buzz cut, greets me in the blessed air-conditioning with an easy smile and a firm handshake. He looks like he could have been a cop or a drill sergeant in his former life, which might be intimidating, except it’s pretty clear from the start that he likes to laugh. I’ve arrived during a lull in the normally busy schedule of clients coming in for their regular personal training sessions, so we park ourselves by a sunny window at the front of the studio and chat as Bill sneaks bites of his sandwich. It turns out we know some of the same people from former careers in local radio and television. There’s one particularly insufferable person I suggest is “a legend in his own mind” and Bill’s laugh comes out in an impish giggle that evokes a kid hiding in a tree house waiting to drop a water balloon on his sister’s head.

But he grows serious when talk turns to his current obsession, Powerlifting, which is what I’m here to ask him about.

“Powerlifting,” he says, “is a sport that involves three different lifts: barbell squat, bench press and deadlift. Meets gauge how well you do on those three disciplines.”

The competitions Bill enters are sponsored by the American Drug-Free Power Lifting Federation, which provides venues for amateur athletes to compete in legitimate, standardized, drug-tested power lifting. Lifters are divided into specific age and weight classes, competing “equipped” or “unequipped.” Equipped lifters wear an incredibly tight-fitting polyester squat suit, a deadlift suit and bench shirt. They are also permitted wraps for knees, wrists and a belt, whereas unequipped or “raw” competitors are only permitted the most basic garments. Bill competes equipped. The suit is quite challenging to get into, he says. As he describes it I get the image of trying to stuff a Thanksgiving turkey into a beer koozie. It’s not the sort of thing you want to work up a sweat in, he tells me, but it’s necessary to have such support when lifting weights of this scale. We’re talking hundreds of pounds.

It might not seem like a stretch for a personal trainer to be in the kind of shape necessary to compete in powerlifting; even less of a stretch for a guy whose father, the late broadcast personality Ken Coleman, aka “Voice of the Red Sox,” was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame. But the fact is that Bill got into the fitness game relatively late in life. His father’s influence led him and his brother not onto the playing field, but into the radio business. Older brother Casey was a sports caster in Cleveland while Bill worked in the music and sales end of broadcasting. For a while he had his own big band show at WPLM, but was mostly involved in sales. “I was Billy Crystal in ‘City Slickers,’” he says with a chuckle, “I sold air.”

In those days he spent more time at the kind of bars you put beers on rather than the kind you put weights on. Bill’s first wake-up call came when he developed diverticulitis and the doctor gave him the order to drop some of the weight he’d been gathering over the years. He joined a gym and was faithful about going, saw results at first, but nothing spectacular. “I didn’t know there was a difference between working out and training,” Bill says. “I maintained a certain level of fitness, but I never got great results.”

Then in 2001 Bill met professional trainer Saul Shocket, who started writing programs on training for him. Shocket was impressed by Bill’s level of commitment and he began showing him the ropes of competitive powerlifting. By then Coleman was in his mid-40s, late in the game some might say, except that Shocket himself was in his 60s when he set a world record for the deadlift.

By working with an experienced trainer like Shocket, Bill was able to see steady improvements in his skill and strength with each competition. But more than that, he saw that training was helping him navigate the emotionally-gutting challenges mid-life was suddenly hurling at him, the kinds of challenges that drive most people to the kind of bar you put beers on.

“I was about a year or two into training when I lost my father to bacterial meningitis, and then my brother died of pancreatic cancer and shortly after that, my mother passed away. Somewhere in there I got divorced, too. This was all in the span of less than 5 years. The training helped me deal with all the associated loss and stress. People think of exercise as a way to get physically stronger, but I saw then it was much more than that.”

When Bill recognized that fitness was more than a hobby for him, he began taking steps toward making a career out of it. “Learning how to train inspired me to become a trainer myself. I saw that there are things in exercise science that could allow people to achieve goals they never thought of before. It’s fun to know that at my age and weight that I can do more than 90% of the people my age.”

Still, training had challenges that weren’t so fun. At one point Bill hit the wall; he couldn’t get past the 400 lb. mark with the deadlift. “For some reason, each time I tried to pull that weight, I failed. I realized it was more of a mental issue than a strength issue.”

Fortunately for Bill, his trainer had seen this sort of thing before and knew how to fix it. He sent Bill to a hypnotherapist.
“After seeing the hypnotherapist, I was able to lift the weight and have gone up almost 50 more pounds in that lift since. “ To date, Coleman’s personal bests include 446 lbs for the dead lift, 415 lbs for the squat, and 280 for the bench press.

The big test came last February when Bill entered the 2011 Cabin Fever Open in Rockland. A win at this meet would qualify him for the World Drug-Free Powerlifting Federation’s Championship in Muskegon, MI the following June.

Going into the meet Bill felt better than ever; a win was right in his pocket. But then during a routine warm-up something in his knee popped. He knew it wasn’t good, but he wasn’t sure how “not good” it was. “I knew I was going to have a challenge. I iced my knee immediately and that was about all I could do.”

He wrapped the knee extra tight and went for it. The squat came first. He had three tries to get it right or say goodbye to his chances of competing in Worlds. He set the weight at a conservative 325 lbs. and made his first attempt. But when he came up from his squat the judges weren’t having it. Not deep enough, they said. Bill shook it off and reset himself. Second attempt, same thing; the judges didn’t like it. Bill dug deep for his third attempt and nailed it. Now he had to make it through two more events, which meant a total of six more heavy pulls.

Going into the bench press the knee was still aching, but Bill tried to stay positive. “(I hoped) the bench press was manageable,” he says, “but when doing heavier weights you need to drive with your legs, so it was potentially troublesome.” His first attempt at 245 lbs. was successful but still far shy of the 280 lbs. he knew he was capable of. He tried to push up the weight in his next two lifts, but couldn’t do it. Still, the first lift was enough to keep him in the game.

For his final qualifying event he’d have to face down his old nemesis, the lift that had put him up against that mental brick wall not long before. The deadlift is said to be the most challenging of all the gauged lifts because, unlike the other lifts, it begins with the weight at its most difficult point, lying dead on the ground with no stored energy to help move it along.

Reaching down to make his first pull, Bill might have taken a moment to consider the stakes. Knee injuries come with the territory for aging athletes, but still, guys in their early 50s don’t always recover from blown out knees. And at this point, Bill’s livelihood depended on his ability to train others, which at times means having to step in quickly and intervene if clients can’t manage an exercise. It was a lot of pressure. Again, he made the decision to go for it.

He says simply, “I made my first deadlift, qualified for the Worlds with a second attempt at 425 lbs and just missed a personal record at 465 lbs.”

But qualifying to compete in Worlds was bittersweet. After the Rockland meet his knee didn’t recover in time and he was unable to participate. A few visits to various doctors told him he’d need surgery after all. Still, he thinks it was worth it. “I know now that once my knee heals I’ll be able to work my way back to that level of competition. I’m a lot stronger now than I was as a younger man.”
Bill hopes to qualify for Worlds again in 2012. If he’s unable to compete in the squat, he plans to compete in the deadlift as a single event. “My powerlifting goals are 4-3-5. That’s 400 lbs for the squat, which I’ve already passed, so I would re-adjust that to 450. Then 300 lbs for the bench press and a 500 dead lift.”

It occurs to me that if he reaches those goals Bill could lift my entire family. Including the dog.

Bill finishes his sandwich, wipes his hands on a napkin and wads it into a ball. He leans back and looks out past the Fitness Together logo and into the blazing parking lot. “My long term goals are to perform at the best of my ability for as long as I can. Even though I’m getting older, I’m still getting fitter and stronger.” He turns back and smiles. “That’s pretty amazing. It’s good to be in my early 50s and know that I’m moving forward, getting better.”

It is pretty amazing. And it doesn’t sound at all like a guy who thinks he’s over the hill. It sounds more like a guy who’s just begun to climb it.

Bill Coleman manages our FT Cohasset studio

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