Classika Fitness 2306 Bedford Avenue / Lynchburg VA 24503 / 455-4788

Client Interview #2: Nancy

Nancy C. talks about her time at Classika and what she's gotten out of it so far (and what she's lost). You can find it here!

Reminder: Lecture today

Hi all -- just a reminder that we are happy to have Dr. Cylke give a talk this evening on overeating and the brain's chemistry and structure affects it. She'll then go into some things we can do to counteract that effect. It starts at 7 p.m. For more information, see our June 1 post. We hope to see you there!

Back on Track! (Virginia)

“If you don’t take care of your body, where will you live?” – Anonymous

Things are going surprisingly well in my fitness journey. This is not to say that I am not still thinking about food or that I do not want to eat a cupcake every chance I get. What I mean, is that I am in control again. It feels great. I am working out with Tara at Classika 3 days a week, and I am walking on the Lynchburg trail system the two days of the week that I do not see Tara. In addition, on weekends, I am taking hikes on local mountain trails with friends and family. I am once again making fitness a priority and a part of who I am and what I do. I am realizing that the way I feel when I am healthy and active is worth much more than the feelings of emotional / anxiety relief that I get from eating. I have decided to use fitness as a way to be more social and to get to know people that I enjoy better. I have been asking people who I know, but don’t know well enough, to walk with me on the trail. This serves two purposes, it gets me out and moving, and it allows me to connect with people.
In my previous blogs, I have mentioned that in order to break the cycle of overeating it is imperative that one makes health and fitness an important facet of one’s being. I am attempting to do this by associating walking with socializing and enjoying the company of others. Ideally, this will continue and I will associate getting out and about with the same amount of social pleasure I derive from eating out and drinking with friends. I am mostly trying to focus on doing something active for at least an hour a day, and I have been extremely successful. I am trying to help my brain/mind focus on exercise more than it focuses on food. It has been a struggle, but I am feeling so much more tied to exercise and being healthy that I really believe I am back on the track to being successful!!

The Vicious Cycle (Virginia)

I may have forgotten to mention in my past blog that I am an experimental social psychologist. I love reading, I love figuring out answers to problems. I have spent a considerable amount of my life in school. I tend to want to solve “problems” on an intellectual level. So, there is a large part of my brain that seeks experimental data to help me figure out my eating issues and my lack of motivation for exercise. Unlike the research I conduct in the laboratory or the classroom, once I read articles about eating and exercise, my own personal eating and exercise habits require some sort of physical action on my part. Reading and researching nutrition, overeating, and exercise are not a body of literature that I can leave at the office. The things that I read must be processed on a cerebral level, and then somehow incorporated into my daily actions. This is often difficult.

One well respected researcher in the area of overeating (which is one of my major problems) addresses what he refers to as the cycle of food addiction. I have alluded to the cycle of food addiction in my past blog, and have even included the cycle pictorially, but have not officially addressed exactly what it is or how it affects me. The cycle of food addiction is a 14 “phase” cycle that repeats itself over and over. It is very difficult to break the cycle and keep it broken. Once one can incorporate healthy eating and exercise as part of “who you are” the cycle will break and ideally remain broken. The researcher argues that in order to break the cycle, one must not constantly be “on a diet” or “trying to lose weight”, but rather one must incorporate healthy eating and healthy movement into one’s self concept. So, that the individual will see themselves and have others view them as someone who places a high priority on healthy living.

The cycle is laid out below and I will fill in how I go through the cycle and the thoughts that accompany my cycle. Please note that I am sure I am going to sound like a complete nut job, but I am not going to censor my thoughts, as crazy as they sound. My hope is that someone who reads this will relate to this cycle and might also want to try to break it.

Anxiety
I am often anxious. It might be part of who I am, it might be due partly to the expectations of my job and other life stressors. Part of my experiencing anxiety is directly related to my eating behaviors. I feel anxious about eating too much, I feel anxious about not eating enough, I feel anxious about not exercising enough etc. Much of the time I am awake I am anxious. For example, today is Sally’s (my admin assistant) retirement reception from 3:30-5:30. There will be great FREE food there. I just worked out with Tara this morning, but I am already feeling anxious about how much food I will eat, what kind of food will it be, how will I resist it?

Preoccupation with Food Fantasies

Often time my anxiety leads to be thinking about food and what I can eat and where I can find available food. Today there will be FREE food sitting outside my office door for 2 hours. It is only 11:40 in the morning, and I cannot tell you how much of my time since I arrived at the office at 9:00 that I have been thinking about that food. Ok, that is a lie, I can tell you, I am just embarrassed. I have been thinking about the possible menu for at least an hour, if not longer. I have thought about other similar receptions on campus and what types of food they have there and weighed the possibilities that certain goodies will show up at our reception.

Elaborate Rationalizations to Justify Eating Behaviors
I can tell you that I am currently in this phase of the cycle. I have been telling myself all morning, that “Sally is only going to retire once” and “it would be rude if I didn’t have food at her party” and my favorite “Sally would be personally offended if I didn’t eat with her”. I can rationalize anything. I can also tell you that in reality Sally doesn’t give two hoots if I eat or not. I am sure she would like me to be there, but I am quite sure she will not be counting my calorie intake. I promised myself that if I eat at the reception then I will go to the Y tonight and do some extra exercise. I know that won’t actually happen, because I am in the middle of exam week and I have so much grading to do that a evening trip to the Y is not a possibility. However, if I can convince myself that it might happen, I can eat all I want this afternoon and then feel guilty about not going to the Y later.

Despair
Following the rationalizations comes the despair. I feel like I am a failure, that if I can’t even stop thinking about food for a few hours that I am a lost cause. I feel worthless and my self esteem is lowered by the minute.

Dissociating / Defocusing
So, at this point in the day, I am trying not to think about my food intake, my exercise plan or all of the emotions I am feeling and I am going to get back to work.

(Note the second portion of this blog was written 2 days later)

Overeating and Relief
I did end up overeating at Sally’s party. I was a bit embarrassed, so it took me a day or two to get back to writing about the rest of the cycle. I ate a lot. More than my share of everything. I rationalized it while I was doing it, and I felt good. I felt a great sense of relief. Overeating feels good. At first.

Return of Rational Thinking
I then became aware of what I had done. I ate a ton. I had just exercised that morning, I was in line to be a better healthier person….and I blew it.

Recognition of Consequences
I realized that I had “undone” my workout for the morning, that I had let myself down, and it was shameful.

Shame
This is pretty self explanatory.

Redemptive Spirit
Rather than being down I myself I decided that all was not lost, and that I could again get on the healthy bandwagon and it would be OK.

Unrealistic Goal Setting
I sat down with the YMCA schedule and I over planned my exercise. I put all sorts of classes and things into my calendar. I was determined to be the best exerciser out there. I was going to work out for 4 hours a day to make up for my slip up.

Aggressive Productivity
Tuesday came and I worked out hard….Wednesday came and I saw Tara and I was sore, but I worked out hard.

Fatigue Failure
Then I woke up on Thursday (today) and I am in so much pain I could cry. I can hardly move from my computer to my desk in my office without a constant reminder of how absurd my goals were.

Hopelessness
Now this is when I usually feel hopeless, like I am a complete failure when it comes to exercise and eating etc. and that I will NEVER get back on track. This ultimately leads me back to the feelings of anxiety that started the whole thing.

OK, so this cycle can repeat itself in a day, in a week, over months, but I can tell you that I have experienced the cycle multiple times and in different ways over the course of my life. I have successfully stopped the cycle once, and it was glorious. It was a combination of Classika and making some major life changes. This time around, the cycle snuck up on me and it took me 20 pounds to realize that I was back in it. My rationalizations were so great and it seemed to make so much sense. Before I knew it, I had gained back 20-30 pounds and was smack dab in the middle of the cycle all over again. This may sound like the cycle will ALWAYS get me back, I do not for a minute believe that. I believe that I am capable of breaking the cycle and keeping it broken, but that it will take effort and perseverance and the minute I get comfortable and think I no longer have to work or make an effort, I will fall back into the cycle. Nothing in life that is worth having is easy to obtain and nothing comes easy. Exercise might eventually become part of who I am and what I do, but that doesn’t mean that it will not take a concerted effort on my part. I am committed to making it happen, and I am going to break the cycle. So tomorrow I work out with Tara, and hopefully I won’t be so sore from my over aggressive silliness, that I will be able to get an effective workout.

The New Year

This is the time of year when everyone looks forward to what might come -- a time to plan and dream. It's no different for Classika as well. Let me explain a bit about how Classika has grown and what we'd like to see in the new year.

Classika started in 2007 in a 1000 square-foot unit on the back side of a building on Timberlake Road. I, Mark Haskew, did almost everything at that time. We began with some clients I had from the Y and we slowly grew there. We added our first trainer at the end of our time there, Tara Birely, who is still going strong with us. In 2008 we had a great opportunity to open in a larger, 1600 square-foot facility in downtown Lynchburg. The building was perfect for us at that time, with a nicely decorated interior at the old Academy Cafe site. It had a beautiful vaulted roof, iron rafters, and a cool feel to it. There we were able to grow further, to the point where we couldn't accept anymore clients, particularly in the evening hours.

So, we sought more space and ended up at 2306 Bedford Avenue, the old Vaughan Chevrolet building next to the new organic meat shop, very close to Randolph College. The new facility gives us at least twice the workout area as the downtown location. This building was pretty run down when we moved in and we are still looking at a lot of ongoing work. However, the essential work is nearly completed and further work is aimed at making your time here even more enjoyable and comfortable.

The extra workout area now allows us to host two small groups at the same time, or one small group and a couple other individuals working out with other trainers. This is important to me since the small training group idea has been a key element of the Classika plan since the very beginning. Small groups reduce the cost per person and provide some fun moments but are still personal enough to have lots of individual attention from your trainer. As the economy shows both positive and negative signs right now, more people are looking for the accountability and encouragement that small groups can provide. Bigger gyms have a hard time doing this. Classika, which is still on the small side, can do it very well.

At this point, we've grown to four trainers other than myself. In 2010, we can host more people seeking to improve their health and look, feel, and move better. One of the most exciting things we can offer this year is more training for high school athletes. Before, we simply couldn't fit many in; now we can host a few classes every day for active high schoolers to reduce the chance of injury and play better. We have oodles of more room here and we might even be able to expand into having a small membership as well. We are right next to the old car dealership's garage, which would make an ideal workout space for a general membership facility.

If you are serious about losing weight and getting fitter and firmer, consider Classika. We have experienced, professional personal trainers, and we have top-notch equipment (I won't bore you with the details but we have put a lot of thought into our equipment, right down to how rough the knurling is on the bars). Whether you are looking for the "me-time" of one-on-one training or the camaraderie of a small group or class, we believe Classika will be one of your top choices in the Lynchburg area. Our contact info is 455-4788 or info@classikafitness.com.

One more slot still available

We still have one more opening for the Tuesday at 5:30/Thursday at 4:30 small group. If you are interested in effective training for an affordable price, please give us a call quickly at 455-4788.

Are you looking for a small group?

If you are not working out regularly, you might need a trainer to give you that exercise structure you need. "Sounds great," you say, "but there's no way I can afford it." Well, you can if you use one of our small groups. Our small groups are small -- only 3 or 4 in a group. This way, the trainer can watch over everyone while you get the benefit of splitting the cost with your co-sufferers. In fact, if you and the other small group members purchase ten hours, each of you is looking at a cost of $12.38 per person for that hour. I doubt you will find this deal anywhere else in the city. You're getting support from your small group members (whom you don't need to find yourself), you're getting the knowledge, exhortation, and discipline of your trainer, and you're doing it at a very affordable rate.

So now that you see how it works, let me tell you what we've got open right now:

A NEW small group is forming for Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 6:30. Robyn Burgess will lead the group, and the intensity level will be at a lower fitness level. So if you are out of shape and want to get yourself back in the groove, this would be a good small group to join. We have three spots left for this one.

We also have a small group in need of one or two ladies to join on Tuesdays at 5:30 and Thursdays at 4:30. This is an intermediate level group led by Tara Birely. It will be re-upping (i.e., they will be purchasing a new round of sessions) in early to mid-January, so that will be the time to shoot for to join.

Finally, if there's interest, we'll hold a small group on Saturday mornings as well. This could be a supplemental session for members or individuals who train at other times.

Give us a call at 455-4788 or email us at info@classikafitness.com to see about joining a group.

New place, more room!

Classika is now at 2306 Bedford Avenue. We simply ran out of available time slots at our previous downtown facility. Now we have double the room and can host two small groups simultaneously, with more room to spare. We still have some growing pains to work through but we are up and running and, most importantly, taking new clients. Thanks to everyone for your support!