Breakfast with a "Big Mac"

Big Mac lost 90lbs in a year.

While the day to day, week to week, month to month swings imitated the Ivari life path of ups and downs, during the four years Mac and I have been training together he has maintained a consistent level of success against that goal. 

This business affords you the opportunity to meet many vastly and uniquely different people and to appreciate that their goals and aspirations are just as diverse. It's an interesting, challenging, confounding and infinitely rewarding choice and while Macs story isn't unique, it is special.

Diagnosed with type 2 diabetes Mac made the decision to get into the face of the issue and dedicated himself to reinventing his lifestyle chioces as they related to exercise and nutrition.

While he had a background of team sports, specifically rugby, father time had conspired against him being able to continue to play competitively and so transitioning and adapting to other forms of exercise was not an issue as it was already a part of his life culture. He has a strong dedication and work ethic.

The most inspiring aspect of Macs story for me has been his independent willpower and industrial strength discipline and comittment towards nutrition. 

Mac and I have made a regular video blog of the journey called "Breakfast with a Big Mac". You can watch a sample episode of this series on my youtube channel Ivari Fitness LLC. Hit subscribe to continue following Mac's inspiring journey.

This is a written introduction to that series in the words of the man himself. Over to you Mac...

I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes about 5 years ago, my weight had ballooned to 330 pounds, mostly due to lack of exercise and a steady intake of pop and sweets. I immediately began to change my lifestyle, cutting out sweets and pop, eating better, and committing to daily exercise. 

My idea was to slowly gear up the amount and difficulty of exercises, as I knew that if I hit it to hard too soon, with the shape I was in, an injury would be likely. So, I began by walking, grabbing my iPod and headphones, cranking up the Zeppelin, and just heading out. One hour walks daily (in the winter in Chicago) became two hours, then three. My weight began to come down, I was feeling better, so I cut back the walking and bought an elliptical machine for the basement. Soon I was doing two-hour sessions and worked up to the maximum difficulty level of 20 on the hill and random programs (eventually I wore out the elliptical machine and had to replace it). I also began to add in some weight lifting exercises as well, specifically low weights and high reps.

The doctor had originally told me I should lose 50 pounds over the next year, I told him I’d do it in three months. He said that would be great but was an unrealistic goal. It took me 99 days to lose the first 50. I eventually dropped 90 pounds, to 239.5, which was great but really a bit light for my frame. I slowly over the next year balanced out to around 250 pounds, which I feel is really my fighting weight. I was diagnosed as “Diabetes Free” and no longer needed to take any medicine to treat it. My weight has been creeping up lately, and I admit that it is difficult to keep the weight off, but my goal is to always try to hover around 250 pounds, which is where I feel most comfortable, fit, and flexible!

There are two things that people said to me about my weight loss that I am most proud of. The first was my doctor, who told me that he personally had 28 patients with Type II Diabetes and I was THE ONLY ONE of them who actually lost the weight to improve my heath. The rest of his patients struggled with the weight lost and had kept on the meds. The second was my good friend Dan, who joked while watching me in a rugby match that I “looked like I was driving a new sports car around out there”, a comment on my new-found level of cardio fitness.

A chance encounter with Wez, at a vegetable and fruit grocery store (!), led to him becoming my personal trainer. We had met before a few times, as he had been the head coach for several years of my old rugby club (Chicago Griffins), but we weren’t close friends at that time. We had a great conversation about fitness and weight loss, and I mentioned that I was a bit bored with my workouts and they were becoming stale. Once he came on board, and we began weekly workouts, my whole knowledge and experience of exercise changed. He is an excellent instructor and coach, and the workouts he creates for me are always interesting, challenging, and varied. He also is sure to keep my various injuries in mind, and includes exercises to strengthen those areas and avoid further injury to them.

Since Wez has been training (teaching) me, I have added a rowing machine to my workouts, as well as kettle bells and elastic bands, Bosu ball and Swiss ball, and numerous stretching and balance exercises. I also now utilize a chest-strap heart rate monitor, which provides me with a way to determine how effective each workout has been, and to track them in order to chart my progress. Wez has insisted on my only having a single session weekly with him (even when I wanted to go two a week) as that it would be best for me to continue to do my own “homework”, which is my workouts on my own. So, in addition to seeing him weekly, I try to do a variety of some sort of exercise five days a week, sometimes two in a day if I have time. And variety is important to me, so some workouts are weights and stretches, long and short ellipticals sessions, rowing, bike riding (weather permitting), going for walks or hikes, attending rugby practice, and combinations of these activities.     

I often wish I had learned how to exercise like this when I was younger (in my 20’s), I’m sure my rugby skills and overall health would be much better now. 

If you’re interested, here is my advice for weight loss, these strategies helped me:

Eliminate sugary food and beverages (pop, candy, desserts, orange juice, etc.)

    -I haven’t had any pop in years

    -I ate grapes to control my cravings for sweets

Eliminate beer (I did for this for the first few months…)

    -Drinking leads to bad late-night food choices such as burritos and White Castle

Eliminate fast and junk food

-I replaced pretzels for chips and fries, even though they are carbs, the pretzels got me past desiring chips and fries

-Plan to have healthy snacks or fruit on hand so you don’t get hungry and give into fast food, apples travel well and are sweet and filling

-I still zip lock bags of nuts and pretzels to have on hand 

Eliminate/reduce carb intake:

-Only eat “minimal” carbs early in the day, breakfast, or lunch at the latest, never at dinner

-Reduce carbs by throwing away the top piece of bread in a sandwich

-Eliminate ALL potatoes, rice, and pasta

        -Eat a salad with fat-free dressing and a protein for dinner (chicken, streak, pork)

        -If you’re still hungry, have a second serving of the protein

        -I lost a lot of weight eating a large salad and two steaks for dinner 

    Never eat after 6 pm! I mean never!

    Exercise within your limits! 

-Don’t injure yourself which leads to giving up

Write down and track your weight every day.

        -Be patient and stick to your weight loss plan

-Weight loss is an up and down proposition, even if it goes up for a few days, if you stick to your plan, it will come down even more.

-I made up a large graph, and marked my weight loss (or gain) daily, so I had an excellent visual of my progress, which I found was a great motivator

    Write down and track your workouts every day

        -I still do this

-I can tell you the date and type of every workout I’ve completed for years                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

5 reasons to conduct your job interviews on a Concept2 rowing machine

Have historical hiring strategies failed you in your ability to identify the right talent?

Have you ever thought you just made the hire of the century only to find out that your hiring process really didn't identify the right characteristics for the position?

In my twenty year career as a Lumberjack (seventeen of which I was a hiring manager) interviewing for specifically skilled tasks that the consistently proper execution of literally kept the applicant alive. These are the top five charactersitics that with acumulated experience and wisdom I settled on in the order of their importance

• Grit
• Character
• Preparation
• Coachable
• Initiative 

Your top five may be different and surely contextually relevant to your business and/or industry, and certainly my chosen list is prioritized by being applied into one of the most dangerous industries in the world? 

Whatever your chosen field, heres a novel idea that I have come to realise as a fitness instructor, could be the key to unlocking the characteristics you're looking for in an employee.

Try this strategy the next time you put out a position vacancy.

"Candidate needs to demonstrate an ability to row 1000 meters on a Concept2 rowing machine"

Radical?

While running is the doyen of exercise options for its convenience, the Bicycle (it could be argued) is the greatest fitness invention ever! The concept2 rowing machine is the rubics cube of fitness equipment. It can literally fit into the back of your car. "Tiny space, big workout". This machine could literally become the foundation peice for your corporate wellness program.

Lets explore each of the charactersitics I ended up trying to find in members of our team...

• Grit

The first thing you know for sure is that the applicant really wants this job.

In her book Grit, Angela Duckworth concisely and accurately describes Grit as "the power of passion and perseverance". Does the person have the ability to endure over the long haul? 

As a Lumberjack you had to work out in all weathers under intense production pressure and commit to handing off the product to the next phase of the production line in a way that constructively contributed added value to not only the quality of the product itslef, but also the superior performance efficiency of the team.

Can the person deal with adversity? How does the candidate behave under pressure? 

For some positions relative to the rowing example I might want to see an applicant go full blast, for others a more sedate pace would suffice as their choice might lead me into recognising traits of point two

• Character

The biggest question you should be seeking an answer to is, can the person fit in with the culture of your team?

If you already have people on your staff that passed the 1000 meter challenge, then the answer is probably a yes. Why?

A team generated common cause, a set of short, medium and long term goals, strategies and innovations that are being striven towards, written down and committed to is a unifying challenge that contributes positively to the process of winning. If this person is prepared to put themselves up for this type of scrutiny to go after an opportunity to work in your company, they are by definition expressing character and independent willpower. 

Undoubtedly the applicant is demonstrating an ability to cope with challenging and unusual circumstances. Lets face it, this is a unique approach! Yet by taking it on, I believe they all show something entirely separate from Grit...

An openness to giving novel approaches and solutions a go. This can often propel your business, product and/or service forward in a way never seen or even thought of before. Nevermind their ability to problem solve. Knowing they had this in front of them going in ticks that box and brings us to point three

• Preparation

Prior to turning up for the interview, did the applicant e-mail or call to ask such questions as, do you have a shower at your office? Will I be expected to complete the distance under a certain time?

Did they bring a towel with them? Did they come in the stipulated dress code if requested, with a kit bag for exercise clothing?

Your answers to these questions among many others that may emerge prior to, during and after the row will tell you a lot about where on a continueum of 1-10 the candidate sits relative to demonstrating an ability to first of all plan for this in a disciplined, logical, professional manner, but also how much ownership they show, or conversely how much leadership and training they may require for the proposed role. Which is the ideal lead in to point 4

• Coachable

Ideally you'd hire on the spot if the candidate answered all other questions perfectly, had done his research on the company and it's key employees, was dressed appropriately, polite and easily engaged around the watercooler, turned up early and blasted out a 3.20.

Healthy body, healthy mind. An applicant that has a fitness training ethic usually has a strong work ethic. This candidate however may have zero experience on a rowing machine.

As a professional person conducting hiring interviews your credibility and leadership are on display and are being scrutinized too. You have to be able to share credible research knowledge for the process and/or be able to demonstrate the technical and performance capability to complete the task yourself. Or of course be able to rattle off a killer time.

In the context of this premise you may even want to outsource this component of the hiring process.

If you go down this road you want to be a able to know in the case of a first time rower, did the candidate do any research at all about rowing a Concept2 prior to the interview?

Is that a deal breaker? Perhaps not.

Maybe they blast it? Maybe they struggle valiantly and excitedly? Maybe they were confident enough to ask the right questions and accurately execute the answers?  

Bottom line is. Are they coachable?

• Initiative

Once you've established answers to all of the above, at this stage of the interview process you'll have critical insights into the necessary elements of courage and tenacity and by default the candidate should have demonstrated a level of initiative. How?

They applied for a challenge and thats uncomfortable, yet rose above the eccentricity of the process to take it on in the hopes of landing the job. 

It could be argued that if they neither researched rowing nor asked questions about expectations for this part of the process prior to the interview, brought a set of clothes, a towel, were resistant to technical coaching, nervous and unsure, then initiative has not been demonstrated.

The big question you need answered here is ultimately that with leadership through the induction and training phases do you see the candidate being able to work at a high performance level unsupervised and that if/ when they require assistance are they accurate, decisive and concise in their search for a solution, did they exhaust other avenues before consuming other resources and can they take direct communication? 

My premise challenges the paradigm of interviewing process and posits a new approach that can arguably propel leadership management and hiring process in business franchises into the elusive high performance bracket.