My Trip to Texas

We had been working on Dad’s In-Truck fitness plan for several months before we finally got a chance to get together for a few workouts and in-person training. Over the last several months we had been able to see each other for a few hours or an occasional overnight visit. During these times we were able to talk in broad brush strokes about form, diet, journaling… the basics of transitioning into a fit lifestyle. With the exception of short hikes on his visits we had not been able to work out together.

In the last few months Dad had lost 25lbs, converted much of his mass from fat to muscle, and changed his shape drastically without cardio training. He felt like he had reached a plateau and would not be able to continue to progress without adding cardio into his regimen; but how can he get cardio in the truck!!? His goal for our visit was to work on cardio so that we could show him ways he could take his cardio on the road.

A walk around the block at Dad’s country home is one mile according to the odometer in the family car: a fine way to measure distance before walking or running a route. Another way is to pull up a program like Google Earth or MapMyRun.com and use one of their measuring tools. We did that and learned that his block is, in fact, one mile, but also that we could add a block to make a two-mile loop. Walking once per day, we were quickly up to a four mile walk in less than 40 minutes with about a 25lb pack. We learned that you can get a great cardio workout, soft on your knees, even if all you can do is walk 20 minutes away from your truck, and 20 minutes back to your truck.

As you may know, we also had the P90X program to work with. Dad has been working the P90X resistance workouts in the truck, but wasn’t sure he was ready for this intense level of cardio. Further, he knew he could do the cardio workouts in his occasional hotel stays (if he had a portable DVD player) but he didn’t think he could do them in the truck; he doesn’t yet have the confidence to do these workouts outside the truck but I bet he will soon. In addition to our walks, we did some DVD based cardio workouts.

The workout space for cardio type exercise is about 30 inches across, 50 inches long and 72 inches tall. There isn’t a lot of running and jumping that can be done in following a DVD. I do think that with modification for low-impact, focusing on control, that many of these programs can be modified to get the heart rate significantly raised for the early months of a driver’s transition to “super-fit.”

PlyoX is considered “The Mother” of P90X workouts. In the cool of the morning, before the family was awake, my wife joined Dad and me for a PlyoX workout session. Dad followed Pam, the program’s example of how to modify the moves for low impact. The program was hard on him, as it needs to be, but he made it all the way through taking a few short breaks and jumping back in with both feet. To modify PlyoX in the truck, a driver will need to focus on NOT JUMPING but rather moving their feet quickly to the next position. Stay low, keep the knees soft, and don’t kick the gear shifter.

KenpoX is a fun and fast paced karate type workout that I have thought Dad could do in the truck with some modification. It involves many punches and kicks of various types and directions. Where kicks are in a series of different directions, they would need to be modified to one direction for a few reps, then possible repositioning quickly to kick the other direction a few reps, but other than that, there should be room to stand, punch, and kick for 45 minutes even in a 30”x50” box. When he reviewed it, Dad found that the warm-up couldn’t be done in the truck: it would need to be modified. Sub nearly any other warm-up and stretch from this or any other cardio workout and you can overcome this challenge! Dad left that workout ready to do this DVD in the truck.

My sister, who I love, has been seeing a father-daughter team of trainers at Ladies Workout Express in Leander, Texas. The father, Mike, is a big fan of the P90X and Insanity programs and my dad has raved about the work he has been doing for my sister and the results he has helped her get emotionally and physically. Mike had wanted to get the whole family together to discuss our role in helping Sissy get fit. We had a chance to tell him what we have been doing with Dad. Then we all scheduled a Saturday family workout after-hours where we performed Insanity: Pure Cardio.

Right now you are thinking, “WHAT!!???” Yes, Insanity is marketed to be the hardest workout ever put on DVD… and I believe it is. Here’s the deal: Dad can get the same results as me at significantly different fitness level by giving his best the same way I do. Sissy can get as good a workout as my wife giving her best the same way my wife does. The same is true of CardioX, PlyoX, KenpoX, every Insanity workout, TurboFire, and any other workout that a person can do. The trick is modifying when you need to, taking breaks when you need to, and giving your own 100%. Dad had to take lots of breaks. We all took a few… I think the Texas air and some fatigue broke down my wife and I a bit… then we all jumped back in and finished.

Mike showed Dad how he could type up the work-out and follow it with a stop-watch or timer to do without a DVD player… this also can be done with any of the programs once you know them fairly well.

In five days we did three new DVD based workouts that I believe can be done in the truck until they can be done outside the truck. We walked countless miles in the form of laps around the neighborhood or around the tourist attractions we saw with the family. Most importantly, we broke through many walls. Dad became resolute in the fact that age will not stop him from doing this. He became aware of the convenience, power, and impact of walking at a good pace with a light backpack. Sissy saw that we are all trying every day to live a more healthy life while Dad saw his place of leadership in that; my wife was able to be a big sister in that as well.

Mostly, we had a bunch of fun as a family! I believe that exercise has to be fun or you probably won’t stick with it. Sometimes fun might just be a family suffering through something together… I come from a sick family… whatever the case, when the family gets involved to support and uplift each other, only good can come from it. When a family is neutrally unsupportive, it’s a coin toss. If a family is discouraging or sabotaging, it will likely fail. We can talk more about that when we discuss peer support.