The "Perfect" Exercise Program

I was asked this week to describe the "perfect" exercise program.  Not one to shy away from the tough questions, I have to admit that one may be impossible to answer.  But it did make me think. 

I had somebody else come by and talk to me about walking, claiming that walking was the "perfect" exercise.  I don't know about that.  Walking is good but it might not always be enough.

I know without a doubt that the perfect exercise program is different for everybody.   I also know that everybody should do something.  There just isn't much excuse not to. 

The view from my "desk" (which is really just a countertop that separates the rehab clinic at Cherokee from the fitness center at Cherokee) is this:  to the left is the cardio area with treadmills, elliptical machines, and stationary bikes with the obligatory bank of television sets.  Straight ahead are benches and rowing machines.  To the right is the turf where we take athletes to work on skills in preparation for return to their sport and where most of the CrossFit classes are held. 

Just beyond that is the sprint track, where we work on running form and agility drills.  Turn to the right and you see a bunch of machines of different flavors, the squat racks, and lots of dumbbells and free weights.  Literally inches away are two of those benches made for doing sit-ups and "good mornings."

So obviously, I've got a lot of tools at my disposal in the pursuit of fitness.  But there is more...so much more around here.

Behind Cherokee is the Maryville Little League Park, which makes for a nice area to walk.  On the other side of Field #4 are 124 brutal stairs that lead up to Blount Memorial Hospital.  Those are a favorite of those that favor that kind of pain.

We're not even that far from the Greenway Trail that goes from Pearson Springs to Alcoa's Springbrook Park with side trails into several communities along the way.  With the latest addition across the new Alcoa pedestrian bridge into Culton Creek area, the total mileage is 21 miles.

We may have more fitness centers per capita than any place in America and although I have a bit of a vested interest in a couple of them, I do hope they are all full of people pursuing good health. 

About a third of our county actually lies within the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, with trails galore.  Literally our back door.

A short drive gets you to Tellico Lake.   Have you ever been on the trails that border the lake with several entry points, most of them off of East Coast Tellico Parkway?  Blount County should have annexed Greenback and everything between here and Tellico Lake and if we had done so, over half of our county's border would be a lake.   Even without that annexation, a full quarter of our northern border is Fort Loudoun Lake. 

A canoe trip out of Ish Creek last week reminded me of what a great resource that lake can be.  I've yet to paddleboard on it but I can see that in my future.  Then there's Little River, which opens up a whole new world of possibilities.

And don't get me started (you don't have to) on what incredible roads we have around here for bicycles.

There are just too many options not to do something.  Walk, hike, bike, swim, lift weights, play tennis, run, row, paddle, climb those 124 stairs...whatever. 

And at the end of all this I've decided simply that the "perfect"  exercise program is the one you will do.

Biking at 107

Let's be honest here:   People who exercise regularly are really trying to do one thing--stay young and/or live longer (same thing, really).

Oh, there's a certain part of the population that just wants to look better and spends their gym time looking in a mirror but the way I've always looked at that is that I really don't see much benefit to being a good looking corpse.   Dead is dead and I want to live a long life and be healthy toward the end.  So my exercise program is more focused on being healthy and fit.

As Kenny Chesney says, "I want to go to heaven, just not today."   I want to be like that 107 year old guy on the White House steps yesterday only I want to ride my bike to get to DC for the ceremony. 

It really all started when my dad had his first heart attack when I was 5 years old.   I decided then that I wanted to be like my dad in many ways but that wasn't one of them.   Because of that, I have never really been "out of shape."  Never.  

Sometimes better shape than others but that was only when life got in the way.   A very long time ago, I built exercise and fitness into my lifestyle and have barely waivered since.  

I've often talked about the "how to's."  Today, I want to talk about the "why's."

Exercise so that when you get out of bed in the morning, it doesn't take half an hour to get to the bathroom.  Exercise so that you are less likely to fall as you get older.  That one is huge.  If you're old and you fall, you break stuff.

Exercise so that your weight stays in control.  We know that there a lot of health problems that result from obesity.   Avoid obesity, avoid lots of health problems.

Exercise so that you can enjoy play and tolerate work a whole lot better.   One of the concepts that is extremely difficult to teach is that someone that does manual labor all day still needs to exercise.

I would suggest that it is probably more important that the person whose job is quite physical get regular exercise than it is for most people.   Their job has them do the same thing so they end up strong in only those things that they do on the job.   That creates muscle imbalances that result in injuries.   Trust me...my clinic is full of those people.

If your job is sedentary, you need to exercise.  That one should be more obvious.

I've often said that it is more important for the 40-something to exercise than it is for the 20-something to exercise.   One of the things that comes with aging is a loss of strength.  Exercise helps combat that.

All this becomes much like the oil commercial--pay me now or pay me later.   Either stay fit now or pay the price later.

I've got one fellow who came to me at 89.  His family was telling him that he needed to slow down, that maybe it was time not to do all the things that he does (he leads a VERY active life).   I asked him what he wanted to do and he didn't want to slow down, he wanted to do more.  And continue to do more.

I recommended CrossFit workouts to augment his regular bicycle rides.   Something else might get him but I'm betting that in 10 years he's still doing what he wants to do.

I'm 60 and I understand my limits (most of the time) but I see no reason to hit the easy chair.  There's too much fun stuff out there for that.

Like I said, I want to bike from here to Washington at 107.  And if not, I'll die trying.

Don't Take It For Granted

Right after Maryville's regular season finale, a 48-7 win that clinched the District Championship and concluded a perfect 10-0 season, I caught myself reflecting on the good fortune that we have had.  

How many teams get to win championships?  And do it year after year?   Offensive Line Coach David Ellis and I, the senior citizens on the MHS football staff, often reflect that doing this stuff never gets old.   We repeat this mantra with each trip to the state championship game.

It doesn't even get old practicing through November, when the weather turns decidedly worse.  It never gets old doing what we love to do.  It never gets old practicing on Thanksgiving morning and having breakfast as a team--if nothing else, it means we've made it as far as the semifinals.

It never gets old heading to Cookeville or Murfreesboro or wherever the state championship game happens to be.  And I hope we never take it for granted.  

So the next day, after a long day of power washing, when the joints were aching and the fatigue was significant, I found myself in a nice warm shower and the question hit me (and this is where this whole thing might seem tangential but really isn't), what things do we take for granted.

Like the warm water coming out of the shower.  It felt great.  But what if the hot water heater wasn't working or the water pressure wouldn't provide but a trickle?   The reliability of the water heater is something that we take for granted.  At my house, we depend on South Blount Utilities to make sure there is adequate water pressure and the water is clean.  But do we stop to think that there are people whose  job it is to make it so?

Or what about the people around the world for whom a hot shower is not even an option.  I tried to look up how many people in the world go without warm water but all I got was that a billion people don't have access to clean water so you can assume that they don't have warm water for showers either. 

What else do we take for granted?

Sometimes it's the little stuff.  We take it for granted that the alarm clock will go off when it supposed to and we won't miss the important appointment on our morning schedule.  Or it doesn't go off and we're late for work and that creates a whole bunch of problems.

But we forget the big stuff too.  We take it for granted that the streets are safe--that law enforcement is doing their job and that most of us never encounter criminals or criminal acts. 

We take it for granted that the food we are served in a restaurant is fresh and clean and never think about the government entity whose job it is to make sure that is so. We never stop to think about the fact that bridges and cars and appliances are safe. We depend on others to do that.   Our nation's system of checks and balances (including our judicial system) help provide those guarantees. 

We take our health for granted until we don't have it.  We take it for granted that we will wake up tomorrow morning to a new day. 

My prayer for today:  May I never forget my many blessings and never take for granted those many minor miracles that make life better and easier.   And thank you for the sweet taste of victory.

"Successful" Adults

Some saw last week's column as a chastisement of overbearing parents.  Others saw it as simply the glories of being a grandparent.

I guess it's a good thing that people see things differently.  I can tell you that column started with the simple concept that all children deserve to feel like they are special.  

And they do.   The worst player on the team deserves to feel special.  The kid from a dysfunctional family needs the time when they feel special.

Sports are where a lot of them get that.  And it's not about winning games.  It's bigger than that. 

One thing I don't care for is giving everyone a trophy--I think that is a mistake.  But I am most definitely in favor of every kid out there having someone to cheer them on--supporting them, encouraging them, and loving them. 

This week a fellow that I remember as an excellent baseball player but who may not have been the best student asked me what I thought was the secret to raising kids.  He had read that column too.

Without personalizing this one (which I am too prone to do), let me just simply give you my opinion, which was the answer I gave this guy.

Before I do that, let me qualify all this by saying that there is definitely more than one way to "raise" kids.   There are many different and good parenting styles.  

I've seen kids that grow up with parents that have unreal expectations end up taking a different path than that which their parents outlined for them but ended up as very successful adults.

And when I speak of "successful adults," I'm talking about well-rounded, happy, adults that contribute responsibly to society, culture, and the environment.  That are good neighbors and, when blessed, good parents. 

Not rich.  Not even admired, for admiration sometimes betrays the true self.

I've said many times that I don't see many bad kids but I've seen lots of bad parents The result of that too often is that the kids don't have a chance. 

I've also seen bad parents produce good kids.   You might ask yourself what qualifies me to make that judgments.   I've been around kids and sports for most of my 60 years.  It's part of my job.  And I've seen enough bad parents to know one when I see one.

Like the dad that really precipitated the last column.  As his daughter dribbled the soccer down the field, he ran along the sidelines exhorting her to "run faster, run faster." But when she narrowly missed the goal with her kick (it was a really great kick, by the way) you would have thought she had missed the kick that would have won the World's Cup for her team.   His pain/disgust was way more than noticeable.

So, what does it take to be the Good Parent?

You've got to be there for them.  Win or lose.   When they do good or when they do poorly.  You don't make excuses but you do keep it in perspective.

Read to them when they can't and then listen to them, not just when they read.  Do stuff with them.  Give them opportunities.  Give them guidelines and a foundation of trust and goodness. 

Shape them only as God might fluff clouds.

It's All About the Child

The late, great Jim Dykes once told me "I like your column but you need to get off that (expletive deleted) bike fetish."  In other words, I write about the bicycle a little too often.

So every time I start to tell you more about the bicycle or how wonderful it is to ride around here, I stop and ask myself if I'm violating Mr. Dykes revered admonition.   Sometimes, if the story is too good not to be told, I forge ahead anyway.  But generally, I stop and write about something else.

Jim Dykes, if you don't remember, was a long-time newspaperman in these parts.  His column in the old Knoxville Journal was one of the funniest and smartest tomes you will find.  His compliment (I took it as such) was maybe the greatest day in my life as a columnist.

If you've been reading, you know that I'm now a grandad.  Six times over, even.   7, 6, 4, 3, 2, and 7 months.  We are blessed that all six live in Blount County.   I can't imagine what it would be like for them to be half way across the country or, like my buddy Steve, half a world away. 

I've heard many a grandparent confess that if they knew that grandchildren were going to be this good, they would have skipped kids and gone straight to grandkids. It really is that good.  However, I really enjoyed my own children too much to say that but my wife-oh my goodness-she loves those babies.  Heaven is an infant in her arms.

In the next few years you might get tired of hearing about my grandkids, just like Jim Dykes was tired of reading about my bicycle.   Maybe Rhetta Grimsley-Johnson (my other favorite columnist) will be the one to tell me to back off on grandkid stories.

But as with everything I write, there is always a message.  Self-proclaimed as "preachy," I do always try and be a teacher (my first profession) here.  

Anyway, while attending soccer games for the three oldest last Saturday, watching my kids and all the others out there, I found myself stepping back and looking at things differently.   I mentioned that a couple of weeks ago.

There seemed to be as many grandparents out there as there were parents.   I can tell you that the grandparents were generally better behaved than the parents (did I really yell at the referees back then?) but then and now, the kids just wanted to play.  

At 7,6, and 4, they really didn't care what the score was at the end of the game.  I'm pretty sure no athletic careers were being etched in stone out there on a blustery morning on Everett Hill but you might have thought otherwise had you been there.

What I saw out there were kids running around and having fun.   Some took it more seriously than others and sure, some were better than others.   But each of them "needed" to be out there, sometimes for very different reasons.

 And what I came to realize most clearly was that every child deserves to feel special.  Mine, yours, every single one of them.  Because they are. 

So when I'm faced with the decision of riding bicycles on these glorious roads and trails we have around here with my buddies or watching grandkids play soccer, you're going to find me shivering on the sidelines.

All About the ACL

ACL.  It's an acronym, but most people don't know what it stands for.

Oh, they know what it means.  They know that it is in the knee.  They know that if it is torn that the season is over.  They know that it rarely means good news.

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament is in the middle of the knee and is easily the most important stabilizer of the knee.  In other words, it is essential to holding the knee together.  You might be able to do some things without a good ACL but not many.

It crosses from front to back, attaching the lower leg bone (tibia) to the upper (femur). 

There is a PCL, or Posterior Cruciate Ligament, but it very rarely gets injured and even when it does, a lot of people can function normally without it.

Too often, it seems, I have had to deliver the bad news that the ACL had been injured.  And trust me, EVERY athlete knows that means bad news.   It's the injury they fear the most.

Before I go on, let me offer a few statistics.   Females have a lot more ACL injuries than males.  At a ratio of maybe 8-1.  Most of that is anatomy but part of it is that a lot of female athletes avoid strength training either until they are older or just avoid it altogether.  Or go about it all wrong.

There are roughly 100,000 ACL ruptures per year in this country, with a significant portion of those being athletes.   The tear occurs most often with a twisting or deceleration injury.  About 70% of all ACL injuries do not involve contact.

Football gets blamed for a lot of the ACL injuries but there is no sport that is immune.  And not playing something is unacceptable.   That leads to a sedentary lifestyle and that simply isn't an option if your health is important to you.

But there is good news.   Because of advances in orthopedic surgical techniques and rehabilitation, you will be healthy again one day.   Not today, but sooner than you think.

I will often see someone that has had surgical repair to their ACL within a few days of that surgery.   Your first thought might be "that's too soon," but I assure you it is not.   We know that early intervention means good results.  It might hurt a bit to move that knee (again, not nearly as much as you think) but in the hands of a skilled physical therapist, that movement will not only be essential to the rehabilitation process but will also rapidly help you to feel much better.

Most ACL rehabilitation programs are "criteria-based," which means that they are largely driven by the progress of the patient.   Basically, that just recognizes that some people heal quicker than others.   Still, there often can be no substitute for time so there are certain principles that we must all follow that are based on evidence.

At various times in the past couple of decades, there has been an attempt to return athletes to competitive sports as quickly as possible.  We now know that practice can be a big mistake.   It is far better to allow adequate healing while at the same time restoring things like motion, strength, balance, and agility.  It's going to take at least 4-6 months and there is really nothing you can do to shorten the rehab.

One of the most gratifying things that can happen in my profession is to be there when a young athlete gets back to their sport, especially that point when they realize that their knee is normal again.   If you were there when they first hurt that knee and can relate that heartbreak to the joy of return, it is especially sweet. 

George Quarles: Building Young Men

Friday night was Maryville High School's George Quarles 200th win as a head football coach.  Keep in mind that that writing about him is a great personal risk for me--he avoids the limelight like the plague and he could fire me tomorrow.  But I wrote about him once before and he didn't fire me so I'm going to take that risk once again.

After all, it isn't every day that somebody wins 200 high school football games.   In only 15 seasons as a head coach.  

Since becoming Head Coach in 1999, he has lost only 14 games.   Let's take away the three losses in his first year (1999) and the first four of 2000, when his team started the season 0-4 before reeling off 11 straight wins including his first state championship as a head coach.   That means that since the incredible run of championships really started, he is 190-7.  

Think about that.   In that stretch, 6 undefeated seasons.  Nine state championships, more than any coach in Tennessee high school history.  

I mean, goodness!  200 wins!   That's amazing.   He may have reached that landmark the fastest of any high school football coach in history. 

But let me tell you the best thing about him:  He builds character.  Sure, every coach everywhere talks about building character but Coach Quarles does it.   Every day.  

The next best thing about him (in my opinion) is that he builds work ethic.   Put those two together and he builds good young men.   The football thing just happens to go pretty well because of both of those things too.

I'm asked often what it is about Maryville that makes the football team so good year after year.  I don't know that I have any better answer than anybody else.   Dedication, buy-in, winning attitude, confidence, preparation, coaching...the list could be long. 

But it all starts with the humble man at the helm. 

Well today, I'm going to tell you the inside secret about George Quarles.  The one main thing that sets him apart from almost every coach that I've ever known.   Vision.   That's it.   He has it.

He can see everything.  Everything.   A lineman makes a wrong step? Coach Quarles has the best offensive line coach in the country in David Ellis and yet he still sees the field so completely, he can see that lineman and every other position on the field, including what the opponents are doing. 

It is uncanny, really.   That ability helps him to be...well...George Quarles.   And you and I can work and study and we can never have that "thing" that sets him apart. 

It has been my pleasure to walk the sideline with him for almost every one of those 200 wins and more hours together on the practice field than either of us would want to admit.   Thank you, Coach Quarles, for the opportunity.  And congratulations