Waist
Not
Why run toward a better body when you can crawl? The Pitch’s first Fitness Crawl, January 25–February 4, lets you sample workouts from Bikram Yoga (910 West 39th Street), Synergy Fitness (4233 Roanoke Road), HealthRidge Fitness (17800 West 106th Street, Olathe), Wellspring School of Allied Health (9140 Ward Parkway), Sylvester J. Powell Community Center (6200 Martway, Mission), Brazil Academy (11441 Strang Line Road, Lenexa), Cave Bouldering Gym (3150 Mercier), Next Level Fitness (4013 Sterling), Leonardo Peçanha Nova União (1737 Oak), Kansas City Ballet School (500 West Pershing Road), and Brass Boxing & Fitness (7110 Wyandotte). Sign up (and see the full class schedule) at fitnesscrawl.com. 6
the pitch
january 2- 8, 2014
Kinda Healthy Living continued from page 5 those irregularities into account,” Prier said. The next step: muscle-activation technique, which seeks to jump-start those weak muscles. So Prier had me lie down so that he could target those nerve and muscle areas by massaging them or having me resist pressure he applied to those spots. The idea is that this sends signals to the spinal cord that those muscles haven’t been working properly, which in turn awakens them. From there, the actual workout begins. Biofit is big on resistance training, but the regimens are tailored to the clients’ personal goals. “It’s just a matter of you telling us what you want — whether you want to run a marathon or you want a six-pack or bigger muscles,” Prier said. “We’ll figure it out. You just show up, and we’ll take you through the workouts and get you there.” Prier also continually stressed the importance of nutrition, an ongoing source of confusion for me. On my third visit to Biofit, I was given a body-fat-percentage test. Heffner took my height (6 feet 1 inch) and weighed me (191 pounds), then used an instrument that grabbed at and measured the excess skin in various parts of my body. Then that information went into a formula, which determined that I have 16.2 percent body fat — 159 pounds of lean mass, 31 pounds of fat — which, I was surprised to learn, falls in the “healthy” range. We agreed that 10 percent body fat, which would drop me to about 180 pounds, would be a reasonable goal to set. I then took the opportunity to pepper Heffner with a variety of nutrition-related questions. How many calories per day should I be shooting for? “For you, at first at least, I’d recommend
pitch.com
3,000 calories per day, assuming you’re engaged in moderate activity — exercising three to five days a week. Of that food, I’d recommend 30 percent proteins, 20 percent fats and 50 percent carbohydrates. And obviously, it’s important to remember that 3,000 calories of fish, chicken, brown rice and sweet potatoes is different than 2,800 calories of pizza.” What’s an ideal breakfast? “There’s that saying that you should eat like a king in the morning, a prince in the afternoon and a pauper at night. And I think that’s mostly true. So for breakfast, maybe crack four eggs, do just the egg whites for two of them, have a couple pieces of wheat toast, maybe some potatoes or hash browns, maybe a little turkey breast.” What’s a good lunch? “Today I had boneless, skinless baked chicken, Broccolini florets and roasted garlic couscous that I made at home. Smoothies and shakes are good for lunch if you don’t love vegetables. Throw in an apple, banana, berries, spinach — you can put a lot of greens and veggies into a smoothie, and the taste is masked by the fruits.” What’s a good dinner? “Maybe a salad with some grilled shrimp or salmon, an oil-based dressing, and some tomatoes and peppers.” Is it better to eat a bunch of little meals throughout the day or eat three square meals? “Personally, I prefer eating throughout the day because it stabilizes the blood sugar and keeps you from having that huge desire to gorge at dinner.” What’s the healthiest kind of alcohol to drink? “Straight alcohol — the less mixers the better. Think about a margarita. They add all kinds of sugars and juices to those things on top of the alcohol. You have a big margarita at dinner and you’re adding 1,000 calories to the meal.”
Clockwise from left: Prier and Heffner, of Biofit; Prier; McQuinn showing us the ropes. Is vodka healthier than whiskey? “Not in any way that significantly matters.” Are there any especially effective ways to lose weight in my bulging stomach? “You really can’t target body-fat loss. When you start losing weight, you lose all over. But if you have more weight to lose in your stomach, it’ll seem like it’s harder to lose. That’s because there was more there to begin with, so it takes longer to lose it.” Hard truths. But on my way out the door, Heffner did give me one bit of advice with a little sunshine in it: “I think the 80–20 rule is a pretty good one to go by,” he said. “Stay locked into these healthy foods about 80 percent of the time, and the other 20 percent of the time, you don’t have to feel guilty about going out for pizza and beers. You can be realistic about this stuff. You know, I’m not going to go to my daughter’s birthday party and not eat the cake.”
B
efore he was a personal trainer, Derek McQuinn played college football at MidAmerica Nazarene University. He transitioned from that into a career on the professional wrestling circuit. He went through the Harley Race Wrestling Academy in Eldon, Missouri, and spent seven years knocking around the Midwest as “Dangerous Derek.” He even made it onto a couple of WWE events, playing the bad guy against the league’s superstars. His signature hold was the “Spear of Mass Destruction.” About a year ago, McQuinn relocated from the Lake of the Ozarks to Kansas City, where he was raised. He trains clients at Excel Wellness Studio, at 11705 College Boulevard, in Overland