Tuba Fitness (Long--sorry)

[TonyZ]

Hello TUBENETTERS!
I don't do a whole lot of new posting here, but I've been doing a lot of thinking lately and wanted to see where the community stands on personal fitness. Now, let me begin by saying that I'm no fitness nut or anything. I'll tip back my share of good (translate: not American animal urine that substitutes for beer) beers and eat my way through a pile of Fish and Chips (Old bag O' Nails in Columbus,) but fitness has always been a tough thing for me. Even when I do completely knock off the "bad" foods, I have a difficult time making my metabolism keep up with what I do eat, translate, if I don't move, the gut gets bigger. When I was about 27, I topped the scales at 285 lbs. I am 6 feet tall, and large build but that was TOO much. I decided then to lose it. In two years of walking 45 minutes a day and COMPLETELY knocking off fat foods (cheese, ice cream, etc.)...I hear you all groaning...I lost 90 lbs. That was the smallest I had been since 9th grade. Of course, as we know, as the body grows older, the metabolism slows. Life took the career changes (good ones), I married, have a kid....suffice it to say that i spent more time on the rump than on the move. I gained about 45 lbs. back. I was quite unhappy, so this past May, tipping the scales at 245, I decided to do it again. I walked every day and altered the diet slightly. Honestly, I wasn't ready to give up everything that I enjoy. That makes the task virtually impossible. I started to lose. I lost 10 quickly, then hit the first plateau. It always happens, but you just have to get through. However, try as I might, I couldn't break that barrier. Of course I then realized that I'm 37 now, and things don't work like they used to. I needed to do more. My friend and colleague at Capital University is a marathon runner. He and I discuss running all the time, but I have always feared it. I could take no more than about 50 strides before huffing and puffing to the ground. While sitting in the pit for "The Lion King," I happened to read an article in his runner's magazine that talked about interval running -- i.e. changing the pace. Some marathoners actually walk about 26 minutes during their run (9 mins. running, 1 min. walking) I figured this could work for me. About 3 months ago, I started running. 2 blocks at first, then walk 2. Then every day, as my body allowed, I would extend the run. I am now up to 3.6 miles per day with NO walking. I had injured both knees in intramural basketball in college, and feared that I would never run, but it has not been a problem. To make an apologetically long post longer, I urge you all to incorporate fitness into your daily life. Not everyone can run, but most of us can walk, or lift small weights, or just move around. The life of a musician, while intellectual, can be quite sedentary. I'm not trying to preach, nor do I claim to have any answers. I only know what worked for me. My playing is better, my attitude is better, and, yes; even with 3 teaching jobs, I found the time, or rather, made the time. I urge you all to move if you aren't already!!

Sorry so long winded. If I'd have practiced like that, I'd be amazing!!

My best to you all!

ps...I'm back down to 220 and still losing

[Leland]

Good to hear!

It's amazing how little exertion is required for daily life. I can no longer imagine being unable to jog even a couple miles.

I had a friend who started marathon training nearly from scratch through an AIDS Marathon program. She had done some sports back in high school, but was no longer athletic by any means. They started out with short distances, and separated the runners into ability groups. They did the same interval training as you describe, but with varying ratios of running & walking. Between April and October, she progressed from being slow & painful within half a mile to actually making it through the marathon.

The human body just wasn't designed to sit around all day. Now that we don't need to walk for miles gathering nuts & fruits, or chase animals for meat, or run away from other animals so that we don't become meat, we have to substitute other activities.

[Rick Denney]

ps...I'm back down to 220 and still losing

Congratulations on losing it the second time around. It's always harder to lose the second time.

I weighed 275 at age 36, and then went on a fitness binge and trimmed it down to about 195. During that time, the endurance-sport bug bit and I started doing triathlons. That culminated in completing Ironman USA in Lake Placid in 2000, at which I weighed 205 (at least at the start of the day).

But there is a caveat: Being fit and healthy is nothing but good for tuba players. But time spend running and biking is time away from the instrument. My tuba playing regressed considerably during my six-year fitness binge, because I spent too much time training my legs and lungs and not enough time training my lips and musical mind.

In all things, balance. As a triathlete, I fed on increasing challenges and accomplishments, but eventually reached the ceiling of my ability and motivation. Then, I burned out (my time-trial bike still has the Ironman numbers taped to it). If your temperament will tolerate it, building moderate and maintainable fitness patterns into your life is the better way to go.

In the end, I was left with the better eating habits, but no longer train to any great extent. In the couple of years following the Ironman I gained about half what I'd lost back, but I'm at a balance I can maintain at present, even if that means I again jiggle a bit around my middle. But I spend much more time playing the tuba, and thus my tuba playing has improved again.

Rick "who knows one other tuba player who abandoned the instrument because of the triathlon bug" Denney

[Rick Denney]

(Strange tangent, but Rick's signature reminded me of it. Was it worth it, Rick?)

It depends on your goals.

This is not something I'd have said even two years ago, but since you asked:

Men in their middle years usually get fit for one of two reasons: 1.) They are trying to attract women, or 2.) they've had a health scare strong enough to motivate action. The sorts of men for whom being fit is part of their nature never get unfit in the first place. And the sort of athletes who have a shot at being world-class never have to wonder if they should pursue it--they are driven to do so.

I was motivated by the first item (though it didn't work in the end), not by any built-in fitness or athletic nature. But after a while, it fed on itself just like any compulsive activity, with the need to earn glory by achieving the next slightly more difficult challenge. There was no noble goal involved. People are awe-struck by doing an Ironman, but just about anybody could do it the way I did it. If you think of it as the culmination of a two-year effort, it's not that difficult. One wise athlete once said that running a slow marathon requires no more training and effort than running a fast 5K. But the latter requires real talent and those without such talent are left with the former to prove themselves.

In the end, the training interfered with the life I hoped it would bring me. I did the IM a couple of months before my wife and I were married, and that was time I'd rather have spent with her. I came to resent the training during the final buildup. Some endurance athletes say that their training lifestyle is good for their homelife because of the fitness it brings. But I've seen lots of triathlete relationships break up because the training time interfered with the together time. Let's face it: Sports are a solitary activity and participants do it for selfish reasons. As long as they and their families commit to it together, there's no problem. And if they keep it in balance with their other responsibilities and activities, there's no problem. But it doesn't always happen that way.

My wife is much happier that I spend the time I used to spend training at home, even if it's playing the tuba. At least we are breathing the same air, and that is important.

So, was it worth it? Yes, at the time. When I was single with no family responsibilities, and without other goals (such as improving on tuba, which my girlfriend at the time didn't care about), it was a valuable experience and I'm glad I did it. But it would be bad for me now.

And I was not trying to be the best at anything, but rather merely to survive an ultra-endurance event. I finished the Ironman in 15:19. I was just getting off the bike and starting my marathon when the third-place finisher finished. That put me in 1100th place out of 1300 finishers. To attain excellence rather than mere survival, I would have had to make a much longer and a much deeper commitment (plus, I'd have needed some serious talent). I would have had to recognize that such a commitment would absolutely exclude any distractions, including work, family, and other hobbies. Those olympic athletes in sports that don't support them still seem to find jobs that don't interfere with training. And even if they do get enough support to avoid having to work, they find spouses who will tolerate the single-minded training (for a while) or they leave spouses who don't. In all cases, they become utterly single-minded towards that goal. Nothing less will do.

In fact, it isn't a lot different than what it takes to succeed as a professional tuba player. But at least playing the tuba training is done at home.

Again, what price are you willing to pay?

Rick "telling it like it is" Denney

[MaryAnn]

Currently, I'm a collegiate fencer in his prime (24 y.o.) I keep in good shape, but I've been kicking the idea around of putting the tuba on a back burner, still playing, though, and training for the Olympics.

(Strange tangent, but Rick's signature reminded me of it. Was it worth it, Rick?)

Hmm. I just started taking fencing lessons a month ago...hardly collegiate or in prime, but what the hey. I did take fencing in PE way back when I was at IU in music school, and I seem to remember at least the basic form. Although back then we were taught left hand up in the air and now they want it down by the waist.... the leg workout is still intense.

Jogging in Tucson only works the cooler six months of the year unless you have a different genetic makeup than I do. I've been trying to find something indoors and air conditioned that I could do in the summer. Fencing so far is fun but expensive and I dont' know yet if I'll stay with it. It seems to be more of a "reaction sport" like ping pong than an endurance sport like jogging. so far.

MA, whom everyone thinks is "in shape" because of the 100# sopping wet but who actually is just a genetically thin couch potato.

[TonyZ]

Again, what price are you willing to pay?

Rick "telling it like it is" Denney

Just to clarify:

I spend about 45 minutes a day, 5 days a week. It is simply to stay healthy for my family and myself.

A noble goal, indeed!

My obsessions are my family and my tuba.

As you said, all things in balance. No need to be a fanatic to be healthy!

...On the count of three...everyone...MOVE!!

[MaryAnn]

Strangely enough, my beautiful wife is still attracted to my disgustingly obese self . So far, no health scares...my heart rate at rest is around 60, my blood pressure is low-average, and my cholesterol is well below 200. My motivation? I would like to give my feet and knees a break, and I would like to wear some of the extremely nice (thrift store-bought) clothes in my closet that fit me five years ago.

Congrats on having a wife you loves you. To lose weight, I recommend the following: give up all wheat products and all sugar/sweeteners. If you like beer, probably that too. I found I was scrambing to find stuff to eat minus wheat and sugar/sweeteners. I did it because I found I was allergic to wheat, but I dropped 10# in about a month....I didn't need to drop the weight but feel way better without the allergens in my diet.
YMMV.
And, yeah on the thrift store clothing....it's the way to go. Let the rich people buy it new, we can buy it used and pay 2$ instead of $200.
MA

[Rick Denney]

Strangely enough, my beautiful wife is still attracted to my disgustingly obese self . So far, no health scares...my heart rate at rest is around 60, my blood pressure is low-average, and my cholesterol is well below 200. My motivation? I would like to give my feet and knees a break, and I would like to wear some of the extremely nice (thrift store-bought) clothes in my closet that fit me five years ago.

I did say "usually", heh, heh.

As Daniel Pinkwater recently "quoted" from his father: "If you vant to loose vate, don't eat no bread, don't eat no dessert, finish your vegetables, and exercise three times a veek." He claimed to have received that advice 50 years ago.

When I completed an Ironman, I weighed 205, was still jiggly around the middle, and competed in the Clydesdale category. My resting heart rate was 42, my BP was 110/50, and didn't feel tired unless my daily run exceeded 10 miles. My "body mass index", which medical-school idiots use to assess obesity, was 26, which was considered too high. At their recommended 170, I'd have looked like a prisoner of war.

Fitness and weight are not tightly linked. Eat to be healthy, exercise to be fit, and throw the scales (and mirror) in the garbage if they control your life.

Rick "whose wife wants her husband around, not out training incessantly" Denney

[TonyZ]

Lisa, excercise is completely over-rated. Enjoy life. One day, all of these excercise nuts will be laying in hospitals, dying of nothing.

And I'll be able to walk to the hospital...with my tuba on my back

[runelk]

I play the tuba for a living and have run 20 marathons and 6 ultras. I have had NO running injuries since I started running and plan to continue running till I'm in a pine box. Almost anyone can run if they LISTEN to their body. If something hurts, somethings wrong, stop running.
I seriously think that exercise, any type, will help you with playing a musical instrument BUT there has to be a balance between the two.

my .02 worth

Albert