3 Great Beginnings: The First Quarter

Off to a Great Start

Ken: We were off and running after the evaluation process. I was excited because it was December, not February, and I had a highly committed partner in Tim. Our sessions three times a week really got me going on my strength and balance training with Tim providing an appropriate S1—Directing leadership style. He told me what to do and how to do it, and closely supervised my performance. With my flexibility, I was a D2—disillusioned learner, so Tim provided the S2—Coaching style I needed, with lots of direction and support. I looked forward to being around Tim. Besides being an expert in the field, he's a fun guy. His studio is only a couple of miles from our house, so it's really convenient. The time to drive back and forth, plus our session, takes less than an hour.

Having Tim work on my flexibility and balance, in addition to strength training, really helped. In addition, I went to the Egoscue clinic. Since I hadn't been there in a while, they started me off with an evaluation.

They take pictures of clients from the front, back, and both sides and that way can tell if and how a client is out of alignment—which has a lot to do with flexibility and balance. Based on that analysis, they give you an S1—Directing style menu with a series of yoga-like exercises for you to do to regain alignment. For years, the Egoscue Method® was key in saving Jack Nicklaus's back.

My son Scott was rear-ended by a car going 55 miles an hour a number of years ago. Doctors said he needed back surgery but he did Egoscue instead. He has been religious about doing his exercises ever since and has had few problems.

The problem for me was that I wasn't yet motivated to do the Egoscue stretches on my own without close supervision. Why? Because they were hard! And hard wasn't fun. I just wasn't ready to handle an S4—Delegating leadership style. Initially, it works best if you go to the clinic to do your exercises under the watchful S2—Coaching eyes of their supportive staff. Unfortunately, the clinic is 25 minutes from our place, so going for a supervised one-on-one session takes two hours, and that's hard to fit into my schedule.

For that reason, I took my assistant Mike Ortmeier with me to learn my menu so he could give me the appropriate S2—Coaching style at home. When he was with me, I did my exercises. When he wasn't, I didn't. I realized Mike and I needed to work out a clear routine if I wanted to add Egoscue to the flexibility work I was doing with Tim.

In terms of my aerobic exercise, I bought a recumbent bike. I found that it was perfect for me because it didn't hurt my back or legs the way trying to walk briskly for a couple of miles did. I wanted to build up to walking again, though, because I had set a goal for the following summer that when we got to our family's cottage in upstate New York, I wanted to walk the dirt and gravel lane going from the cottage to the main road and back. It's so beautiful there, and a round trip is about two miles.

Since Tim couldn't be with me every minute to provide the S2—Coaching supervision I needed to motivate me at home, I provided two structures of my own. First, I tried to schedule several weekly early-morning telephone calls during my workout time so I could get on the bike, put my phone on speaker, and kill two birds with one stone. When I didn't have a call, my second strategy was to watch sports on ESPN. I needed something additional to do while I was on the bike; otherwise, it got boring. Doing two 15-minute sessions a day—one in the morning and one at night—was easy. It was initially a little push to increase it to 30 minutes in one exercise period.

In regard to nutrition and weight control, another D2— disillusioned learner area for me, I benefited from two sources. As Tim mentioned, the nutrition advisor in Dr. Rice's office, Sabrina Zaslov, was helpful. To provide the direction I needed, she developed a daily menu with healthy choices I liked for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as snacks. I remember hearing a speaker at a conference say that when it comes to breakfast, lunch, and dinner, most of us choose between three options for each meal. He said the key to losing weight was to find three healthy options for each of those meals.

To reinforce Sabrina's direction and also provide the support I needed, I rejoined Weight Watchers. Even though I was following Sabrina's plan more than theirs, I liked to go to the meetings. The groups are typically about 95 percent women, and every time you lose another five pounds, you get a star and a big hand from the group. As a person who likes to get caught doing things right, I love that reinforcement. While I have been enthusiastic about Weight Watchers in the past, my pattern had always been to go for a while and then get busy and drop out. Then I would join again and follow the same pattern. But with their great instructor Marie, who had done a program at our company, with Tim and Sabrina leading the way, and with encouragement from Margie, Scott, the rest of my family (including the famous Joy), and my work colleagues, I believed I'd be able to hang in there with Weight Watchers even through the holidays.

At the end of December, Margie and I decided to go to Rancho La Puerta Spa just across the border in Tecate, Mexico. It was a great way to top off that first month as well as to make sure that the new year got off to a good start on my fitness journey. We stayed in a cabin that was about a half mile from the dining hall and the main fitness facilities. It was a real S2—Coaching environment. Every day I did a session on the recumbent bike along with others who also weren't in top shape, and I also worked out almost every day with a member of the staff, Manny Hernandez, on strength, flexibility, and balance training. In addition, I had some sessions with a fabulous Feldenkrais teacher, Donna Wood, who was a miracle worker with flexibility. In terms of eating, it was impossible to get myself in trouble. All the food was high nutrition, low calorie, and delicious. There was no diet soda or booze except on New Year's Eve, when we were offered a glass of wine.