Fit to Print . Spring 2019 . Volume 28 Number 1
Around this time every year, when the winter reaches the home stretch run, the burden of the unrelenting cold and the short, miserable days starts to pile up right above my eyes. Or maybe that’s just a lingering sinus infection. But either way, I’m really ready for a break, and not the tepid break of a Long Island “spring.” I know, I know – it hasn’t really been an epic winter by any stretch. But an average winter is still winter and winter, by my reckoning, is nothing but a long endurance test — a slog. And even a rare, great spring on Long Island is still just one more miserable stretch before the deliverance of summer…which brings me to the contest.
This is the 11th spring that we will be sponsoring a “Fantastic Four Challenge.” I didn’t realize it was that many years until I double checked by counting on my fingers – the only foolproof method when counting years. But lucky 11 it is. The contest is the perfect opportunity – or excuse, if you prefer – to get your ass in gear for the coming summer season. It’s the exact moment that you need something to motivate you, and what better motivation is there than looking and feeling your best for summer? Because if you don’t do it now, well, it just ain’t gonna get done, is it?
Always Looking to Improve
Every year we work to improve the contest. We work on the scoring, the challenges, the party, the tee shirts. Everything. But especially the scoring. And this year, thanks to the folks at InBody (who make the body composition assessment tool), I think we have the best scoring system we have ever used. The test itself is the simplest and quickest ever – the InBody body comp test that many members and trainers have been using for the past several months. It takes a minute. Literally. But it measures an awful lot in those 60 seconds – not only your body fat but also your lean mass, your inter- and intra-cellular water levels, your skeletal muscle mass, and your favorite color (no, not really…unless it’s blue). Ok – pretty standard stuff, you might say. But then the genius comes in. By plugging just a few of the measurements – lean mass, body fat mass, starting weight and starting lean mass percentage– into a proprietary algorithm, we can generate an improvement score. The magic is that the algorithm adjusts for things like starting fitness level (because it’s harder for a fit person to improve than a less fit one) and for body type (allowing smaller framed individuals an equal footing with larger ones). So it levels the playing field across things like gender and fitness that have proved tricky to account for in past contests.
Take It Off and Keep It Off
The new algorithm also assigns a higher value to maintaining or increasing lean mass (muscle) as opposed to merely dropping body fat, which has always been our goal. Because while it’s wonderful to drop weight, and especially body fat, loss of lean mass is very undesirable, for a number of reasons. The big one you’ll probably care most about is that loss of muscle mass will lower your metabolism. And a lower metabolism means – you guessed it – you will find all the weight you lost, plus some extra, once your eating returns to “normal.” This is the classic conundrum of the typical yo-yo diet. We don’t want that, and neither should you. And the contest will not reward you for it even if you do.
If you’d like to read more about the scoring method, I encourage you to follow this link: https://www.fitnessincentive.com/fantastic-four-challenge/#1485278952250-0fe34841-4946
Like many brilliant things, it’s a little bit complicated when you first look at it, but as you unwind it, it makes perfect sense.
For those of you that took the plunge – congratulations! You’re in for a memorable ride. Good Luck, and we’ll see you at the party!
Shout It Out: It Never Gets Old at Fitness Incentive
A truer slogan has never been penned. Every year we make (significant) investments in our equipment, our physical facilities, and our programs. For example, last year we did a complete locker room reboot. Beyond that, we have an ongoing commitment to keeping the facility clean and the equipment well maintained. Anything that starts to show wear or worse is targeted for removal and replacement. So it has come to the end of the road for some venerable pieces of cardio: the Matrix Ascent Trainers (back deck) and the Octane ellipticals (front deck). They will soon be just a memory. And in their place will be a new generation of machines that come from the same pedigree: two Octane XT One ellipticals (rear deck – the latest and greatest elliptical from the same folks that brought you the much-loved older model we are replacing) and two Matrix Climbmills (bringing our total of this insanely popular machine to four!).
There’s another piece of equipment arriving that is unique and the first of its kind at FI; The Nautilus Glute Drive! Our resident glute guru, Kellie Meigel (see the Glute Lab article in this edition of FTP) and renowned glute icon Brett Contreras (Google him!) both give this machine two enthusiastic thumbs up. It looks amazing:
We expect the new equipment to arrive in late March. Right around the corner!
We are also offering the old equipment for sale at very competitive prices. If you’re interested in either, stop by the desk for details. First come first served.
Lots Happening Here
There are a ton of spring events planned at FI – Self Defense workshop, several Yoga Workshops, some exciting new classes, new trainers and new instructors. (Check the event calendar for details) Not to mention the exciting classes, trainers and instructors that are anything but new but still awe-inspiring. So if you’re looking for a distraction while the better weather tries to bloom, get down to FI. It promises to be a busy and fruitful season here – and we like it that way!
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