Ep 65 - A FMC Challenge & Lou Pagotto!

A special bonus episode this week from Pete & Gretchen!

Episode 65 opens with a SPOILER ALERT of the Masked Singer in Gretchen’s #viewsfromthecouch. Then Pete makes a special announcement about a FatMan Chronicles 120-Day Weight Loss Challenge. Details coming soon but it starts on March 12^th, so be ready!

Then the couple interviews Gretchen’s co-worker – Lou Pagotto. Lou sent us a bio and it is outstanding, so we share it here in its entirety:

“I am a product of a small town in Ontario born to immigrant Italian parents.  Didn’t distinguish myself athletically while growing up as I was undersized.  Played all sports in high school but did not play hockey and that made me an outlier.  Life in a small Ontario town revolves around the success of its hockey team.

Played intermural athletics in college and during that period I started running short distances as I needed activity to keep some level of fitness between beer drinking.

Post college I dabbled at the 5K to 10K distance but did not go beyond until age 39 when I tried a half marathon.  In the intervening 17 years I had gotten married, fathered and helped parent 3 kids and was chasing a career. I did a couple more half marathons before 2001 at which point it was time to fully commit to a marathon as the window was closing.

The marathon era lasted 6 years until late 2007 but recovery from chronic injuries were taking a mental toll.  Due to high mileage I had several ‘over use’ issues and had become susceptible to calcium buildup in my heels and shoulders.  Consciously I wound down the running in 2008 and took up road cycling as a substitute cardio activity.

The cycling continues to this day, and at least once a year, friends get together for a destination ride.  We train indoors in the winter, then get on the road in mid April to build up endurance for the getaway week in the summer/fall.  We’ve ridden in Texas, California, New York state, Iowa, France, Spain, and of course Canada.  This fall we plan to conquer the Dolomites in Italy.

Over the past few years, I have experienced the loss of muscle mass that accompanies aging.  With running or cycling, I had convinced myself that to get better, one had to do more mileage.  It was all about improving the endurance dimension of performance. During the 18 years of running/cycling, with little cross training, my balance, flexibility, power and speed were all receding.  There was nothing special about my diet either.  With the concentration on cardio, I ate anything I wanted and was stuck at 184 lbs, albeit the mix had been tending to less muscle and more fat.

All my reading indicated that as you age, and once the cumulative loss of muscle mass hits a critical point, its difficult to get it back. With less muscle, your body becomes unstable and in turn you are more inclined to experience falls or unknowingly overload your joints even with normal day to day activity (why can’t I lift that luggage into the overhead compartment).  These minor inconveniences accelerate the decline in your overall mobility.  It was time for me to do a reset.

In June 2018 I embarked on a Keto diet program in concert with intermittent fasting (18/6). My hope with Keto/IF was to improve digestion, sleep, sharpen focus and alter body composition.  As a by product maybe lose weight.  In September I cut down cardio workouts from 5 days a week to 2 and added 4 days of body weight routines.  Before the daily routine I start with 40 minutes of prep involving glute activation, hip/ankle mobility exercises, stretching and dynamic movement, all aimed at improving balance, flexibility and stability.  In March, I will tweak the exercise routine again to focus more on leg strength/stability and less on chest/arms/back

What’s important to me now is not PB’s from a run or ride but rather longevity.  How does my exercise routine and diet put me in a better position to have a great quality of life when I’m over 80.  Its been said that people born today may be the first generation who can expect to live to 100.  My desire is having the ability to get on the ground to play with my great grandchildren in my mid 80s without worrying about the consequences of falling or getting back up.”

Now, get out there and #bebettertoday!

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