Friday, June 06, 2008

BIGGEST LOSER 4 -- WEEK 7

Have you ever been so proud of someone you just wanted to burst? Of course you have—if you’ve ever had kids or grandkids.

Well, last Friday, I took 22 of the Biggest Losers out to the H.S. football field and laid down a challenge: 8 laps around the track (2 miles), with 25 body squats, 25 pushups and 25 sit-ups after each lap (200 total)!

The challenge was actually a mental one as much as a physical one. To my amazement, no one said anything—not one complaint, not one argument, no one bargained. They all just kind of gave me that faraway look and said O.K. What a great group!

My plan was actually to have them do half that much—4 laps around the track (1 mile), and 100 total body squats, pushups and sit-ups. I wanted to see how they’d react though. Plus, when it got tough, I wanted them to remember that it could have been twice as much, and that would keep them going.

Don’t think I was taking it easy on them. Even a mile is tough when you throw in 25 squats, pushups & sit-ups in between each lap—try it sometime. In addition, they were supposed to run anytime they could.

If they were pretty good at running, they were to run the whole thing, as fast as they could. If they hadn’t been running much, then I wanted them to at least try to jog at times down the straight-aways.

After they got back in from the 1st ¼ mile, I let them in on the secret and they were all pretty happy about it. But you know, I think they would have done it even if I hadn’t cut it in half.
This is that kind of group.

Take Judy Rush for example. She’s lost 22.2 pounds to date in 7 weeks. That’s great, but she’s lost 70 pounds total, including the 47 pounds she lost before we ever met her. You could see why, if you watched her working out with the group.

Judy has some pretty serious knee problems, but she never quits. She even does the squats with everyone else, although she has to modify them, going just halfway down on the one side. I even saw her sprinting down the back straight-away!

No wonder she’s lost 70 pounds. She might never win this contest, but she’s still a winner, and a great example. She also takes your excuses away.

Everyone finished the workout, and they all agreed it was pretty tough. I challenged them to try the 2 mile version sometime. Anytime you put some running intervals in between full body exercises in a workout, you’ll burn a lot of calories.

This week’s winner was Gary Lane, who joined us at the start of Week Two. Gary lost 2.0% of his body weight and 5.4 lbs during the week. He received a $15 Subway gift card from Dimond Brothers Insurance.

Next week, I’ll give you everyone’s two-month totals and tell you how we’re going to turn it up yet again. We’ve got to keep things moving—and these guys and gals can take it. Right now, it’s time for my workout!

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