Brad Gibala

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Archives for February 2009

Mont Tremblant Ski Resort: Quebec, Canada

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After five days at Mont Tremblant near Montreal, Canada I am officially back. What an awesome trip it was. Mont Tremblant far exceeded my expectations. My hopes were not up because I had a feeling that it was not going to be able to compare with the places out west in Colorado and Wyoming that I have been too. Luckily for us, it snowed every day we were there. Nothing crazy, but 3 to 7 inches is plenty to soften up the runs to make a good wipe out not hurt as much. The mountain was bigger than I expected and the runs were long enough to get from top to bottom without feeling dead tired but still making it feel like big mountain skiing.

Mount Tremblant Canada

The village was a lot of fun with its cool bars and restaurants and the nightlife was not too shabby either. I brought my snowboard, skis, and snowblades there and did all of them on different days. My favorite had to be the days I used my snowblades on. They are just so much fun because I could turn on a dime. Since they were that much smaller I did feel a bit more pressure being put on my knees to stay up on them.

We decided this year to only do the afternoon ski on 3 days and a full day on the last one. The difference in price from a full day pass to a half day pass was $77 to $59 in Canadian $$. Four hours on the slopes going all out is a very good workout to begin with. In the past we have pushed ourselves all day and had nothing left for the next day. I will say that I felt like I was in very good shape and did not feel sore at all. As a matter of fact, the most muscle discomfort I had was sitting in a Ford F-150 with 4 other guys for 11 hours there and 11 hours back to Detroit. All of the P90X I had done before I left made the trip that much more enjoyable. I did the legs and plyometrics workouts more than I normally do to get the legs ready for 4 days of raging on the slopes.

I give the trip to Mont Tremblant “Two Thumbs Up” and I would definitely go back there again.

Its that time of year again when me and some friends of mine head off for our annual “Mancation.” We have been going on this trip for about 6 years now. This will be the first year when we do not fly somewhere. Economy stinks around here in Michigan and we are all counting our pennies. Instead we have gone on the idea of driving 11 hours from Detroit to basically Montreal instead. It sounded like a lot but when you think about the hour it takes to get to the airport to be two hours there before your flight, plus flight time, then getting a rental car and driving to the hotel it takes about 11 hours anyways. Even if we spend $400 in gas, that would only be one plane ticket. With 5 of us driving in a Ford F-150 (its gonna be tight with 5 dudes) and splitting the bill its going to be about $80 per person there and back for gas…hopefully.

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Mont Tremblant does not look like the mountains out in Colorado, or Wyoming that I have been to recently. This one is defintely smaller. It does keep up with our theme of no repeat trips so this will work. I decided to get a couple quick workouts in before we left. I did Kenpo X for the first time in awhile on Monday. For Tuesday I went to the gym and did 3 miles on the treadmill with a .5 mile swim and did a round of plyometrics. I am feeling sore all up and down my back today though. I think it was because I wore “weighted gloves” for the first time doing a workout with Kenpo. That little extra weight made a big difference. The plyometrics was necessary to get my legs ready for 3 full days of shredding.

I will update next week when I get back if I did anything awesome on the slopes. Rage!!

Thursday (2/19/09) We show up in Quebec at 8 am after driving in snow through the night and head right to the mountain. Conditions were awesome with fresh powder. I brought out my snowboard and did that the whole day. Surprisingly, I felt fresh while getting maybe an hour of sleep. Legs felt strong the whole time.

Snowboarding At Mont Tremblant In Canada

Friday (2/20/09) Busted out the snowblades I got for Christmas and had a great time on those for about 4 hours that day. They worked a lot of muscles around my knees and my lower back. Realized I needed to stay in a lowered crouched position to keep my balance without falling. Again, felt great after skiing.

Saturday (2/21/09) Brought out my skis today. It was my first time skiing this year and it was not as fun as yesterday because we stayed up a little bit later the night before and I was just tired out on the slopes. I still went all out and had a good time. Legs are still feeling good.

Sunday (2/22/09) For my last day at Mont Tremblant my buddy Dave and I went all day. It kept on snowing the whole time we were there so there was 2 inches of freshies out there. I enjoyed the snowblades so much I figured to end the trip with those. Didn’t feel sore after getting at it for 6 hours. My knees were a little achy but this is expected because of all the banging the knees take from hitting bumps.

We were not going to be able to drive all the way back to Detroit that night. We left right from the mountain driving for 4 hours and made it to Kingston for the night leaving us with a 6 hour drive in the morning.

Project Dad

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When I was down in Cancun last week my dad came up to me and asked to help him get into shape. Dad told me that he was amazed at how far I was hitting the golf ball when we went golfing in Mexico. I was out driving him by at least 50 yards. Before I started doing P90X we would hit about the same distance.

I was surprised when he asked me because my dad does not “reach out” that much for help anymore. He is a retired pipe fitter who worked at Ford for 38 years and was a Lt. Col in the Air National Guard for 25 years. Dad is making the most out of retirement right now. He is on 3 golf leagues in the summer, a bowling league that him and my mom have been on for 30 years and started playing on a 55 and over men’s volleyball league that gets together 3 times a week. Him and my mom also spend 3 weeks every year down in Cancun with their time share. All in all a great retirement lifestyle.

My dad is 58 years old, about 6’3″ tall and is probably in the 235-250 pound range. We like to call him “The Giant.” He towers over everybody. When he worked at Ford for all those years he was on his feet throwing wrenches around. This was a workout on its own. He had little time to do any kind of exercise because he was working 12 hour days to support the family. What a nice guy.

One problem I have noticed with dad over the  years is that he has the worst flexibility of anybody that I know. He started complaining about shoulder problems back in the 90s and it was comical to my brother and I to watch him throw a football or baseball. Imagine a QB getting hit in the chest while making a throw and the ball floating in the air. Its all he could do. His shoulder is worse now. Even though he still keeps active with volleyball, golf, and softball those activities at the level he is playing is not really a “workout.”

How can I not help my dad. I mean, the guy has done everything from wiping my ass when I was a baby to helping me pay for college. All he is asking is to help him get in shape. I have to do this. My issue is what direction to take. Dad has not had a workout routine since the early 90s and he is out of shape. I am concerned about doing P90X with him because P90x is for people who have some sort of physical fitness base already. Oh well, if it takes a little bit longer than it takes a little bit longer.

This is a round up of the first week of us working out together.

We get started this past Monday. I am wondering what workout to start out with. I decide to go with P90X shoulders and arms because he has told me his shoulders are a weak point for him. Plus, there are no pull ups involved. It takes only a few minutes before I know this is going to be a challenge. The stretching routines showed how unflexible he is. Then we get into the workout and I can hear his shoulder popping even with using very light weights. I am not trying to push him because I want to make sure he can complete an exercise and maintain good form. We completed the workout but it took about an extra 30 minutes because we had to stop the DVD to share the dumbbells and resistance bands. Plus, I needed to show him the right way to do things.

On Tuesday I decided we were just going to do the X-Stretch DVD because after seeing his troubles just loosening up I have come to the conclusion that we need to work on limbering up that 58 year old body before we worry about lifting weights. Again, he struggled with a number of the stretches and I had to help him hold a pose just so he could do it right. Do I have my work cut out.

For Wednesday the workout of choice was P90X chest and back. I kept wondering how we were going to be able to do this one because the DVD moves pretty fast and with us sharing equipment I knew it was going to take 2 hours with Ab-Ripper to do. Plus, with all the push ups and pull ups, I just wanted him to be able to do it with good form. Form was going to be an issue. Dad could not do 1 regular push up and this is the first exercise. No big deal. He tried “girl push ups.” His form was shaky at best but was able to do 10. On came the pull up portion. There was no way he was going to be able to do a pull up. So I got the resistance bands and set him up like the other people working out on the DVDs. I thought I had shoulder problems (from washing cars when I was 19) but after the first pull from him on the resistance band brought out the weirdest popping sound I have heard. It sounded like an antique door hinge being moved for the first time. This continued for the whole workout. He said he could feel it stretching and I could tell he was trying. Getting through the Ab Ripper X portion was another story. It will be awhile before he can even finish 25% of it with good form.

Staying with the stretching routine I picked P90X Yoga X for Thursday. Dad struggled with the first 30 minutes as he could not do the “vinyasas,” “upward dog,” or even”downward dog.” What I kept noticing was his hamstrings. Those things just do not bend. For those of you who know what the “downward dog” yoga position is, imagine only being able to straighten out your legs to a 45 degree angle and not the full 90. I would help him push his legs back to a straight position and hold for 5 seconds and release. Yoga made him work up a sweat. It took almost 2 hours to do because I knew I had to help him get into the right form to do it correctly. After we finished he said he was surprised as to how much of a workout Yoga was.

For Friday I decided to test dad and we did Plyometrics. It had been some time since I had done Plyometrics so it was going to be good for both of us. Dad did make it through the whole workout with small breaks in each exercise. He was not going that fast but this was expected. I could hear him breathing and he worked up a sweat. Good enough for the first time doing Plyometrics. So good that I am giving him the weekend off. What a nice son I am.

I am happy that he keeps asking me to help. In his first week he worked out 5 days in a row and kept coming back for more. Very impressive. His main goal is that he wants to be able to continue playing golf, softball, volleyball, and other activities as he gets older. He tells me that he sees guys in their 70s who can barely get around and he does not want to be like them. Also, how many of our elders do you see with the hunched over look? A lot. This is why I am emphasising all of the stretching. Nobody wants to see a hunched over 70 year old giant. Another thing I noticed was how much more I enjoyed working out with him. It kept me focused and pushed me to try to do one more chin up or push up. It has been awhile since I had a workout partner. My brother and I started P90X in the beginning and then  he started working a weird schedule making it hard to get together.

Me and Dad

Me and Dad in Cancun Jan 2009 – I Know What I’m Going To Look Like When I’m 58

We did not take any before photos of him yet. Once we do I will post them so everybody can see how he is progressing. I am keeping track of everything he has done so far and will post updates every 30 days.

(Week of 3/9/09)

Dad is doing ok but his eating is kind of pissing me off. We met up to do the Power 90 Sweat Phase 3-4 and he decided to eat a hamburger and fries before we worked out so he could have some “energy.” I don’t get this logic. A apple or banana would have been better instead of fries and a burger. The body just cannot process that type of food before a workout. Maybe after it could with the metabolism being high. Then I learned from mom that he had ice cream 3 times this week.

He does have quite the sweet tooth but without a change in his diet all of this working out is not going to get him in the kind of shape he wants to be in. Him and mom have a copy of the nutrition plan and know how to cook healthy meals but its just a matter of changing habits. I might need to go through the fridge and the drawers and throw all of the junk food out.

(Week of 3/2/09)

Power 90 is helping Dad out though because since he is so out of shape that the workouts are helping him gradually. He has told me that he is starting to feel more flexibility in his body already. For me to stay with it though we are going to have to skip to Power 90 Phase 3-4. Hopefully these workouts will be a little more intense and push me a little harder.

Monday (2/16/09) To feel ready for my vacation to Mont Tremblant I needed to get in some cardio and had to do something with Dad included. I decided to get out Kenpo X for the first time in awhile. I am not really a fan of Kenpo because I don’t feel like I get that much out of it. When I signed up to be a Beachbody Coach and bought the “Showcase Pack” there were a set of weighted gloves in there. I decided to put them on and use them. What a difference it made. Throwing all of those punches with just a little bit more weight made a huge impact. It was Dad’s first time doing it so he had a little trouble keeping up and having good form.

Tuesday (2/17/09) I went to the gym and did 3 miles on the treadmill and .5 mile swimming. Dad said he was ready to workout and I was kind of tired. Since I cannot let him down we went with P90X Plyometrics. I needed this because of all the jumping involved to get me ready for skiing and snowboarding at Mont Tremblant. This was the first workout he had done twice now and was starting to remember a couple things.

Friday (2/12/09) – Dad was telling me that he “was not all that sore” from the workouts we have done so far. I took this as a cue to push him a little. It was time for P90X Chest, Shoulders, Triceps. He was not all excited after the first exercise where we did the “Slow Motion 3-in-1 Push Ups.” This was the last thing he was expecting to start a workout on. I tried the resistance bands for the first time in this workout and they made a difference. I used the purple band and dad used the pink. I could hear his shoulders popping again but even he admitted he enjoyed this workout because of his shoulders being so bad.

Dad cannot do a normal “guy push up” yet so instead of calling them “girl push ups” my brother came up with the name of “senior push ups.” Dad did senior push ups for the entire workout. He did struggle a lot and his form was sub par. It was tricky trying to workout myself while watching him. His senior push up looks like he is swooping down to the ground and not dropping to it like he should be. I did do way better on one exercise in particular.

For the “side arm balance” part I was able to increase the amount I could do from 15 to 20 total in the one minute you get to do it. For those who do not know what this is its a move where you do a push up then move onto one arm and reach up to the ceiling with the other while putting your opposite foot on your other one. Then you drop back down into a push up and do the other side until you can’t do anymore. Here is a photo of me doing one.

Side Arm Balance

Back From Cancun Mexico

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I got back from a week down in Cancun, Mexico this past Saturday. I spent a week there with my girlfriend and parents at the time share my parents own. Things have either changed a lot since I went down there or I am just getting older now and going out every night to the clubs or bars just does not do it for more anymore. Prices have gone up on just about everything. I am starting to think that Cancun is no longer a deal anymore because so many Americans go there now that they adjust all of their prices to what we pay for things back in the states. I hope all of the college kids who plan on going down there for spring break bring a couple hundred more dollars in spending money when they go.

The one thing I thought could not change, the beach, did. It use to be very sandy with good waves that could be reached on a boogie board with flippers. Now the whole beach had rocks showing up everywhere. It was difficult getting into the ocean and now there was no sand bar to walk out on. It went from rocks to 6 feet deep in a matter of steps. No more 6 foot waves rolling in either. There was no point trying to boogie board or body surf those because you would be landing in the rocks. Disappointing to say the least.

With my main options of exercising taken out from underneath me I looked for other ones. The gym that our resort has went from free to $8 a day. No thanks. Its not that I could not afford it, its just that it was always included for all families who were apart of the resort. I think the owners of the Royal Resorts are getting a little greedy as their maintenance fees have increased too.

Since I did not bring down my P90X DVDs to workout I really did not do all that much of exercising. A couple laps in the pool here and there and a round of golf at the Iberostar golf course was all that I did. I guess it was not that bad because some times a week off is good. I definitely need to get back into the swing of things because I just feel out of it. Rarely do I go 3 days without some sort of exercise and to go a week is out of the ordinary.