First fare. My first ride, fittingly was Sig Hutchinson, Mr. Mass Transit in the Triangle. Sig, who in addition to being a huge bike advocate is secretary of the Triangle Transit Authority, was crossing Fayetteville Street on his way to a meeting. “I have to be to a meeting in five minutes he said.” I got him there in plenty of time (his meeting was on the opposite side of Fayetteville Street) and managed to catch up on the latest developments in Triangle mass transit. (Story short: The climate is better for mass transit in the Triangle than it’s ever been.)

Love birds. I thought the best part of this job would be getting to ride a bike all day. I was wrong. The best part is the people you meet, people such as Vic and Ginger. I picked Vic and Ginger up on Fayetteville Street, near the courthouse. They were in town from Tampa and had heard about a vintage clothing store that Ginger thought was just off Dawson Street. Turned out to be Father & Son,  run by Friend of GGNC Brian Ownby. On the way over I learned that Vic impersonated the likes of Elvis and Michael Jackson, that Ginger was originally from Gastonia, and that they were crazy in love. After a two-hour shopping spree, I swung back by and took them to the train station. They were a delight; I should have tipped them.

My first fare, Mr. Mass Transit Sig Hutchinson (holding the bag) with Mr. Downtown, Greg Hatem and Mrs. Downtown, Samantha Hatem (a fellow refuge from The New & Observer).

Today’s dilemma. In my day job here at GGNC, I encourage folks to be as active as possible. That includes taking a walk over lunch — especially on the first 70-plus day of the year. So there I was, pedaling through downtown trying to talk people out of walking and riding in my rickshaw.

My shortcoming as a rickshaw driver. No one was more smitten by today’s weather than me: I just wanting to ride, ride, ride. People would wave to me, I’d wave back. Then it occurred to me: Maybe they’re waving because they want a ride. Need to work on that.

Friendliest city in the U.S. I’ve lived here 18 years and I’m still in awe of what a universally friendly place this is. I was reminded of that yet again today by the folks who, understandably, preferred to walk, yet were unfailingly nice and polite in declining a ride.  Made me realize I wouldn’t last an hour doing this in most any other city.

Catching up. Great day for catching up with the old crew from The News & Observer, which is a block off Fayetteville Street and was my employer for 17 years. Thad Ogburn, Joe Neff, Josh Shaffer, John Rottet — good to hear they’re all doing well. (And always entertaining to hear what’s going on behind the gray walls of Raleigh’s gray lady.)

On pedaling a 175-pound bike for six straight hours. It is a lot of fun. It’ll also wear you out (especially when you’re loaded with 300-or-so pounds of people). I forecast an early bedtime this evening.

Like now.

Top photo: These gals were lots of fun.

Usually, this gem is wedged between “Take the stairs, not the elevator” and “Walk 30 minutes at lunch” on the exercise to-do list. And usually, there’s little supporting evidence about why this is a good thing. You should just do it. Here, to bolster the case for parking in the nether regions of your mall parking lot, is some supporting evidence.

How much of a difference will it really make? I’ve wondered that myself. So I went to the local Target with my trusty pedometer to conduct some field research. First, I sought out the closest open spot to the front door, parked, and set my odometer and walked to the door: 26 steps. Then I got in the car, drove to the far end of the lot where there were spaces aplenty, parked, walked to the front door: 164 steps. Since this would be a roundtrip, that’s 328 steps. That right there is more than 3 percent of your government-recommended total of 10,000 steps per day.

What’s the bottom line (meaning for my bottom)? For some of you, I realize, exercise boils down to one thing: How much weight can I lose? Let’s do some quick math. According to a poll of 3,000 women conducted by GE Money, those 3,000 women made, on average, 301 shopping trips per year. Let’s say that on every one of those trips you parked at the far end of the lot, 164 steps from the front door. That’s 328 steps, 301 times in the course of a year. Assuming you don’t stop at the Target snack bar and snarf a stuffed pretzel and a Coke, that’s 98,728 steps in a year. Using the oft-sited 2,000-steps-per-mile figure, that would be 49.364 miles (let’s just go with 50). And let’s say you’re walking at a fairly brisk 4 mile-per-hour pace (and, for calorie calculator sake, let’s say you weigh 160 pounds): You’d burn 363.6 calories in an hour. In the time it would take you to cover 50 miles (about 12 1/2 hours), you would burn 4,545 calories. Since you need to burn 3,500 calories to lose a pound, you would lose about 1.3 pounds a year simply by parking a the far end of the lot. Granted, 1.3 pounds isn’t a lot, but it’s 1.3 pounds more than you’d burn loitering near the front door for a space.

Besides, there are other reasons to park far from the front door in a crazy shopping center parking lot … .

Another bottom line Numbers on how many accidents occur in parking lots are hard to come by because parking lots typically are private property and public law enforcement agencies have no jurisdiction. Typically, the parties involved exchange insurance information and let the insurers figure out who’s to blame. But you can bet the number of parking lot fender benders is high, especially if you drive an econobox and find yourself backing out between two SUVs or minivans with tinted windows. You’re driving blind, basically. A number that is clear, though, is the cost of fixing fender benders. In a 2008 study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, some of the 20 small cars tested sustained more than $4,000 in damage from impacts ranging from 3 mph to 6 mph. Even the best performer, the Ford Focus, sustained $600 in damage. Park away from the bumper-car action and you’ll reduce your chances of a costly fender bender. And don’t forget those door dings from inconsiderate neighbors, dings that often aren’t worth the time — or expense — to fix.

Caution! Of course while your car may be safer at the far end of the lot, you’ll still have to negotiate the craziness of the lot. According to the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration, 221 deaths and 14,000 injuries occur annually in “nontraffic backover crashes.”
A few tips for not becoming a backover statistics, from personal experience and from the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center:

• On your approach to the more crowded portion of the lot near the front door, pay attention to people getting into cars. Those cars will soon be pulling out.
• Watch for back-up lights. When they go on, you should go on red alert, either by stopping or maneuvering to a spot where you’re pretty sure the car isn’t going.
• Ditto the above for the sound of an engine coming to life (beware the silent-running Prius) http://blogs.automobilemag.com/6244387/car-news/boy-hit-by-quiet-prius-hybrid-spawns-debate/index.html
• Even at crosswalks, where you have the right of way, do not assume you have the right of way. On foot, you’re no match for a minivan on a mission.
• When dealing with cars, do everything you can to make eye contact with the driver. It’s not that they’re less likely to mow you down because you’ve made a personal connection; Rather, it’s the best way to assure that they’ve seen you and know you’re there.
• Make yourself as visible as possible. Don’t walk in the center of the lane, but do walk a foot or two out from parked vehicles to enhance you’re visibility.
• Do not — do NOT — use your cell phone while walking in the lot.
• Do not — do NOT — plug into your iPod while walking in the lot.
• If you’re with children, hold their hand. Children and older people are more susceptible to getting hit in parking lots, according to the NHTSA. Even if they’re older and claim embarrassment, hold their hand.

Besides, isn’t embarrassing your kids a key part of parenting?

Thus, our new occasional feature, Do This, Not That. As in, Do take the Stairs, not the elevator. Or, do park at the far end of the lot, not next to the door. Or, don’t sit in the La-Z-Boy to watch your favorite sitcom, sit on an exercise ball. Little things all, but little things that if done regularly can do wonders for you in seven different ways, according to the Mayo Clinic. Keeping active, states the Mayo Clinic, can — drum roll, please: 1. Improve your mood, 2. Combat Chronic Disease, 3. Help with weight management, 4. Boost energy levels, 5. Make you sleep better, 6. “Put the spark back in your sex life,” 7. Inject fun into your life. (For details, go here.) We’ll start the Do This, Not That series with a classic.

Do this: Take the stairs Not that: The elevator

Make a difference? Say you work on the third floor of an office building and swear off the elevator in favor of the stairwell. Between arriving for work in the morning, running to meetings, going to lunch and leaving at day’s end, let’s say you spend 10 minutes a day in the stairwell. According to our handy fitness calculator if you weigh 170 pounds you’ll burn 103 calories over the course of a day. Do that five days a week, 50 weeks a year (two weeks off for good behavior) and that’s 25,750 calories a year. Since you need to burn about 3,500 calories to lose a pound of fat, that means that everything else aside, you could drop more than 7 pounds in a year just by taking the stairs.

Study this: Participants in a study by the University of Missouri and University of Copenhagen were asked to limit the number of steps they took daily to 1,400. (It’s recommended that you take at least 10,000 steps a day, though the average American takes fewer than 7,500.) After two weeks, the participants’ glucose and fat levels increased significantly and it took longer to clear the gunk from their bloodstreams.

Save time: It may not just seem like the elevators in your building are slow, they are. At least they’re slower than you, according to a study at the University of South Carolina, where elevator riders and stair climbers timed their respective ascents and descents over a period of time. Turned out taking the elevator took about twice as long as the stairs, mainly because of the wait involved. So, show up for that crucial presentation on time with a little glow or late and looking suspiciously fresh. Your choice.

Benefits: Good, condensed cardio exercise that burns calories and can help combat high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.

Added benefit: Want the Reebok butt without dropping $125 on a pair of shoes? Take the stairs and you’ll be the one saying, “Dude … Excuse me?”

Fountain of youth? Take the stairs and you could wind up like Cal State Northridge professor Ronnie Guie, who 19 years ago took some coworkers up on their offer to spend the lunch hour climbing stairs in their 10-story building. He’s been doing stairs as his main form of exercise ever since, which has helped the 59-year-old retain his boyish 30-inch waist and 155-pound frame.

And who knows … Climbing stairs could even be your stairway to fame, as it has been for 25-year-old Thomas Dold of Stuttgart, Germany, who last week won the 33rd Annual Empire State Building Run-Up for the fifth time.  His time last Tuesday to scamper up the 1,576 steps to the Empire State Building’s 86th floor observation deck: 10 minutes and 16 seconds.

Next Do This, Not That: “Two and a Half Men” and an Exo Ball.

Photo: Today, a flight of stairs, tomorrow the Empire State Building.

The noise had come from somewhere not at all far behind us. It emanated from a living creature, that much I could tell. And it was by far the loudest, most attention-getting noise I had ever heard emanated by a living creature. The ground shook, it was so loud.

Er, what's the gauge of that fence wire?

“Those,” said Kim Barker, our tour guide, “were the lions.” There was a stunning matter-of-factness in her tone, which continued as she added, “They are still very much in possession of all their wild instincts.” The nine of us on the tour, already sticking close thanks to the sub-freezing weather, huddled closer still.

The Conservator’s Center is about the last thing you’d expect to find in rural Caswell County. NC 119 north from Mebane rides the crest of the Piedmont Plateau, open meadows interspersed with stands of the region’s trademark oak/hickory forests. There’s a slight savanna feel, though nothing to suggest the 20 or so lions, 9 tigers and other assorted critters, mostly cats, who hail mostly from Africa. Nothing to tip you off when you head west down Huffines Road, nothing when you veer down the gravel drive where Huffines Ts into Hughes Mill Road. The handful of old farm buildings suggests an old farm. It’s only when the lions roar, which sometimes sets off the New Guinea Singing Dogs, that you sense that you aren’t in Andy’s North Carolina anymore.

The Conservators’ Center was started in 1999 by Doug Evans and Mindy Stinner as a refuge for wild (mostly) critters that were in bad situations. Many were wild animals that people bought as kittens, pups or cubs under the assumption their wild tendancies would vanish and they’d remain cute and cuddly forever— then they start looking at the children a little too longingly. Others came from legitimate zoos that closed. Roy , for instance, a native eastern bobcat,  came to the center  when a zoo in Maggie Valley closed. Three of the lion prides (11 lions in all) were rescued from a breeding facility in Ohio shuttered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The facility’s emphasis is on giving these displaced animals a home. The notion of opening the facility to the public didn’t occur until 2007, and even then it’s not a prime emphasis. Visits must be arranged in advance and they’re largely restricted to weekends. Perhaps the main sign that the facility isn’t about tourism? The “gift shop” is in a 12-foot-by-15-foot plywood shed.

Before we head into the compound, Kim goes over the rules. Don’t yell or make loud noises; it upsets the animals. Try not to make sudden moves; that doesn’t go over well, either. Don’t run (prey runs) and if a critter appears to be stalking you, don’t playfully stalk back. Stay behind the barrier ropes. (This causes more than one look of concern: “Barrier ropes”? These critters are in cages of some sort, aren’t they?) And perhaps the biggie: If an animal comes to the fence and turns around, move to one side or the other as quickly as possible — you’re about to be sprayed. Properly alert, we enter the compound to face —

Well, aren’t you a sweet kitty! “Taz,” Kim tells us, is a caracal, a cat that can jump six feet in the air, all the better for catching tasty birds. He’s most notable for his long, pointy ears that end in hairy antennas. Caracals, which range from 30 to 50 pounds, have a wide range of tastes, from birds to lizards to goats and sheep. Cute and very carnivorous.

Ditto the servals, of which the Center has 11, the lynx , even the shy Geoffroy’s cats, which may remain kitten size, around 10 pounds, “but don’t let the cute face fool you,” Kim tells us. “She can be pretty intimidating.”

The first half of the tour focuses on small critters, the aforementioned cats, binturongs, kinkajous, and lemurs. Then it’s time to visit where the ground rules really apply.

Up to this point it hasn’t been much of a concern that the only thing separating us from the residents is a chain-link fence that appears to much like the one separating your backyard from the Wilson’s next door. A little higher, with a cover over top. But standard chain link none-the-less. The chain link becomes more noticeable when we pass by the wolves (of whom, Kim tells us, the males are OK with the female visitors on the tour, not so much the males), the New Guinea Singing Dogs, the tigers and, especially, the lions, who had unleased such unearthly loud roars upon our arrival.

(In fact, I’m told by Julia Matson, the center’s director of Fundraising and Outreach, the fencing is 9 gauge steel, “much stronger than typical chain link and material recommended by the USDA for housing these species.” According to fence meister Master Halco, 9 gauge is the second stoutest gauge of the six standard chain link fence gauges.)

The lions are kept in three pens, divided by prides Kim tells us, at the far end of the compound. We walk a dirt path alongside Sam & Company’s pen, stop short of the pen with Mufasa and his pride. Again, a chainlink fence the only thing separating us from perhaps the most feared predator to man. Mufasa’s pride is at ease, lounging about, absorbing the patches of sunlight that take the chill off the 30something temperature. Sam’s group, though, is moving about. Sam lazily walks toward us, turns. Our penchant for listening to directions about how to act around lions causes us to obediently — and very quickly — part like the Red Sea.

As Sam begins to return to his pride, Micah assumes a pounce position and lets out a roar that’s twice as attention-getting when you’re just 10 feet away. We freeze, Kim pauses her narration. One of the other females seems intent on unearthing Micah from her throne, a wooden platform three feet off the ground. More roaring, more pacing, more posturing. A short chase ensues. Sam roars. There’s a tension you don’t have to be part of the predatory animal kingdom to appreciate.

“Should we call someone?” Kim asks fellow guide Mandy Matson. They aren’t sure what’s going on.

More short chases, more posturing, more warning roars. Now Spike’s pride is getting agitated. Mufasa, apparently, is agitated, too. He lets out a series of bellows from his adjoining cage. His intervention appears to dissipate, if not resolve, whatever was going on in Sam’s pen. Slowly, the alert level lessens from red to orange to yellow.

The animals paid us no heed during their spat, but being just feet away from them we were very much a part of whatever was going on. It was visceral, striking a chord that makes you appreciate the essence of being an animal. About the importance of staying on top, of staying sharp, about surviving. Mufasa’s intervention was a show of power, of the true value of strength. Not about one’s ability to start a fight. Rather, to keep one from happening. It doesn’t matter where you are in the animal kingdom, strength, as we’d just been shown by the critters at the top of the food chain, breeds a degree of respect.

Even if you’re a cage away.

Interested in learning more?

To learn more about The Conservators’ Center, go here. To arrange a visit, go here.

Well, pardon me, where’s my sense of propriety? Happy New Year, everyone! Now, what was I saying? Oh, yes … .

— exercise trends for 2010, according to the American Council on Exercise. Today, five more.

1. Functional training workouts Functional training workouts will increase in variety, including popular Suspension Training® tools such as TRX.  The portability and time-efficiency of these workouts will appeal to people looking to stay fit at home, the office, the gym or while traveling.

Evidence: Go to Target or one of the Marts (K, Wal) and check out their sporting goods section. Compact items beginning with resistance bands are jamming the shelves. Do a little Googling and you’ll find out why: These gizmos let you do a nearly endless variety of exercises that increase flexibility, strength, balance — everything you need to simply function more efficiently and effectively. And you can do them in your own home.

2. Growing health and fitness awareness “The importance of health and fitness is gaining greater awareness among commercial and governmental organizations.  There will be a strong movement towards collaboration between these groups and health and fitness organizations throughout the New Year.  These diverse groups will work together in the fight against physical inactivity and obesity.”

Evidence: If you doubt this trend you aren’t an employee of the State of North Carolina, which in October proposed making overweight workers pay more for health insurance. The state took a fair amount of heat for this move, which shows just how serious it is about having healthier workers. Look for more innovative ways to emerge as employers battle to keep health care costs down.

3. An increase in properly credentialed trainers “Health and fitness clubs are recognizing the need for, and the importance of, hiring trainers who hold high-quality, reputable professional credentials.”

Evidence: No evidence, but something I vow to look into in the next month or so. Personal trainers come with a wide array of credentials. But how can you tell what those credentials mean? Which credentials are from the Harvard of the PT field and represent a thorough knowledge of physiology and strength training, and which are the “earn-your-four-year-degree-in-a-weekend” type? I’ll report back.

4. Specialty exercise classes “Specialty classes such as ethnic dance, hooping, pole dancing and Zumba will remain popular due in part to the continued success of shows like ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and ‘So You Think You Can Dance.’  Fusion-type classes will be popular among fitness enthusiasts that want to switch up their typical workout programs.  Additionally, more gyms will offer unique group exercise programs and mind-body activities.”

Evidence: Again, we suggest you check out your parks & rec catalog. You may not find pole dancing (that’s a little advanced for most municipalities) but you will find an assortment of dance-oriented classes such as Zumba (described by Zumba Fitness as “a fusion of Latin and International music that creates a dynamic, exciting and effective fitness system.”

5. An increase in fitness training tools “Technology is continuing to infiltrate the fitness world.  The use of tracking and online training and scheduling tools will increase in the coming year with more people looking to better gauge their progress by accessing and monitoring details of their fitness programs. Some popular examples of tracking gadgets include GoWear fit and Fitbit, while online tools such as TrainingPeaks software offer fitness programs and meal plans that people can access 24-7. Mobile applications are even bringing fitness on-the-go through iPhone applications and other downloadable programming.”

Evidence: Remember back in the late ‘70s when Jim Fixx’s running log came out (on the heels of his 1977 bestseller, “The Complete Book of Running”) and everyone had to have one? It was basically a calendar for runners, but, with the aid of a pencil, you could record your every workout. It was revolutionary. If you (or your parents) thought that was something, you need to check out its contemporaries, such as MapMyFitness and TrainingPeaks. There’s room to record your workouts — and so much more. Easy to see why these are becoming so big.

Photo: The Distance Meter Pro app tells you have far you’ve gone, how fast, how many calories you’ve burned, your altitude, your longitude, your latitude … .

Here are the top 10 fitness trends for 2010, according to a survey by the American Council on Exercise. Time and money appear to play a key role in how we’ll be exercising in the year ahead.

“Consumers will really look to maximize their workout results while maintaining a close eye on their budgets this year,” ACE Chief Science Officer Cedric X. Bryant, said in a press release.  “Along with financial constraints, we understand that people are busier than ever and will look for workouts that offer the results they seek while fitting within their already jam-packed schedules.”

In addition, says ACE, look for more “alternative fitness programming and classes,” as well as more classes aimed at Baby Boomers trying to stay active. We’ll share five on the list today, five tomorrow.

1. Cost-conscious workouts at fitness clubs and at home “The impact of the economy continues to affect the choices of fitness enthusiasts and health clubs alike. Gyms will alter programming and training to better serve the needs of the cost-conscious member, while in-home workouts utilizing small, portable fitness equipment will be popular among individuals watching their budget.”

Evidence: Witness the abundance of cable TV ads for the likes of the Ab Rocket, the Ab Circle Pro and the Ab Coaster. Look for more gyms to drop their enrollment fees (Gold’s) or to offer gift cards applicable to gym services when you join (Lifestyle Family Fitness offers a $150 gift card to new members).

2. Personal training in small groups “Individuals will scale back on personal training sessions to take advantage of small-group training and group class participation as another way to save on expenses. Health clubs may alter some programs to better suit the needs of larger groups. Likewise, individuals may find that the group setting offers additional motivation and support of their fitness efforts.”

Evidence: During a recent training session with the TRX suspension training system at Seaboard Fitness, personal trainer Larisa Lotz said she’s seeing more demand — and supply — for group personal training. She suggested two ways to approach this: Call a local gym and see if they offer the service, or, find two or three people who are in similar shape (though you don’t necessarily need similar goals) and hire a trainer to work with you. With three people there’s sufficient time for personal attention in a 45- or 50-minute session, she says, and the cost savings in significant.

3. Time-Efficient Workouts “Shorter yet higher-intensity workouts will be more appealing to those with busy schedules because they can reap significant fitness rewards with relatively minimal time investment.  Boot-camp style workouts will continue to be one of the most popular of these trends in 2010, offering the ability to burn sufficiently large number of calories while simultaneously improving muscular fitness.  Circuit training will also be a time-efficient workout of choice due to its combined strength and endurance activities.”

Evidence: Over the past 10 years, the medical and fitness community has continued to re-evalutate how much exercise you need on daily. First, they said you only needed 30 minutes a day. Then they said you didn’t even need to do all 30 minutes at once, that three 10-minute workouts would do. Now, there’s a cottage industry in 10-minute workouts. “Tony Horton’s 10-Minute Trainer,” The “10-Minute Workouts,” Kathy Kaehler’s “Total Body Workout: 6 Ten Minute Workouts”. Sean Foy’s “The 10-Minute Total Body Breakthrough” is based on the principal that you need 4 minutes of aerobics, 3 minutes of resistance exercise, 2 minutes of core work, 1 minute of stretching and deep breathing a day. That’s one jam-packed 10 minutes.

4. Exergaming “Exergames will continue to climb in popularity and be taken to the next level: fitness clubs.  By integrating fitness-based video games into their programming, clubs will offer unique exercise sessions for game-lovers and those looking for variety within their workouts.  Studies conducted by ACE on exergaming-type systems, including Nintendo’s Wii Sports and Wii Fit and the PC-based Dancetown, offer insight into the true fitness benefits associated with these alternative fitness options.”

Evidence: The jury is still deliberating on the effectiveness of exergames such as the Wii Fit, but their popularity continues to grow: Witness EA Sports introduction of its Active program, which runs on the Wii Fit platform.   Watch for GetGoingNC’s occasional reports on whether we find the Wii Fit a helpful training aid.

5. Boomer-specific programs “Special fitness programming for aging adults will remain a strong trend next year.  Growing numbers of boomers recognize the multitude of benefits that come along with regular exercise participation, from lowering blood pressure and cholesterol to maintaining one’s functional independence and overall wellbeing.”

Evidence: Check your local parks and rec catalog for winter and you’ll see that the number of class options for “Seniors” — and yes, fellow Baby Boomers, we’ve nearly all passed into this 50-plus classification — is growing. The Raleigh Parks & Rec Leisure Ledger for winter 2010, for instance, includes: Chair Yoga, Kripalu Yoga for Seniors, Horseshoes, group walking clubs, Senior Weight Training, Seniorcise and a host of exercise programs at seniors centers.

Tomorrow: functional training workouts, health and fitness awareness, importance of proper professional credentials, specialty classes, fitness training tools.

Photo: You can’t get much trendier for 2010 than an action-packed 45-minute TRX workout with your personal training group at a gym that’s waived its enrollment fee. Photo from fitnessanywhere.com

Another in a series of peeks into your exercise options.

It was a thing of beauty in an evening otherwise dominated by sweat and missteps. Two women stood facing one another, red vinyl body bags on their left and right. On cue, they began punching the bags with side kicks – left foot/right, left foot/right, left foot/right. After less than a half dozen kicks, they were in synch. Bam! Bam! Bam!

Their kicks weren’t intended to take out an enemy combatant. They were simply to get the heart rate up, the leg muscles and abs working. Jean-Claude Van Damme may have employed kickboxing to avenge his cinematic brother, but to these two women, to their classmates in a Raleigh Parks & Rec. cardio-kickboxing class, and to tens of thousands of fitness enthusiasts, kickboxing is a way to stay fit.

Cardio kickboxing, to use the fitness industry parlance, is a pacified form of the martial art. It borrows certain kicks and punches, stressing the aerobic benefits. Classes vary and many incorporate moves outside Jean -laude’s repertoire – crunches, rope skipping, jumping jacks and a number of other more traditional exercises. Cardio kickboxing is offered through gyms and municipal parks and rec departments, underscoring the growing emphasis on the “cardio” vs. the “kick” and “boxing.” The courses are popular, too, because they burn calories. According to Glamour.com’s fitness calculator, a 170-pound person burns a whopping 674 calories during a 50-minute class.

George Whitten, a Raleigh personal trainer, has taught cardio kickboxing for several years. He says its benefits are numerous. “Cardio kickboxing provides a way for people to relieve stress. There is a certain joy of pounding a bag and working out your frustrations. The classes also burn a lot of calories, which provides a huge benefit for those focusing on weight management.”

He especially likes cardio kickboxing because it’s a good form of cross training, addressing balance, coordination, agility, strength and endurance. “By training this way, my clients develop the basic qualities – muscle development – for daily living. I call it becoming young again.”

Whitten keeps his 45-minute classes varied – no two are the same – for a more efficient workout that’s better for the body. He draws this analogy:

“If you keep folding a piece of paper along the same line, what happens? That piece of paper will eventually tear along the fold,” he says. “Now, use the same thought for a runner who follows the same routine, same pattern and places the same level of stress on his/her body and joints. Eventually those areas become that piece of torn paper.”

Watching the two women flawlessly execute side kick after side kick raised another question. They were young and flexible. What about those of us who are not young and flexible?

“We modify the moves to accommodate what different people can do,” says Whitten. If you’ve got bad knees, for instance, that side kick thing may not work.

And if you’re just starting out? Whitten says there are ways to scale back most moves until you’re comfortable stepping it up. Because above all, workouts need to be one thing: fun.

“My philosophy,” says Whitten, “is if the classes are fun, people will keep coming back.”

All that swam through my head as personal trainer Larisa Lotz walked me into one of the side fitness rooms at Seaboard Fitness in downtown Raleigh. Amid the other devices that might also have felt at home in a dungeon — kettle balls, medicine balls, stretching bands, assorted weights — were a pair of black and yellow strips of nylon webbing hanging from the ceiling’s supports. At the ends were stirrups; just above them were cinching devices like those used to tighten a kayak to a rooftop car rack. They appeared devious in their simplicity. Any pretense of innocence they might have held evaporated when Larisa told me, “They were developed by a Navy Seal.”

Seals, actually. Seems that when the Navy Seals are on a mission, they don’t always have access to a neighborhood gym. So Randy Hetrick and his fellow Seals improvised, coming up with a strap system made from parachute webbing they could deploy just about anywhere — in a warehouse, a ship, a submarine, a tree. The ingenious thing about this strap system is that it uses body weight and position to determine the intensity of the workout, a concept called “suspension training.” Wanna ramp it up? Simply put more weight on the straps — more weight translating to more resistance. When Hetrick left the Navy he devised a civilian application: the TRX® Suspension Trainer®. That bit of Star Wars technology, unleashed to the civilian public three years ago, was what was hanging from the ceiling.

Larisa likes the TRX because it dovetails with her niche as a personal trainer: functional fitness. “People, to me, are not moving well,” she tells me as we stand in front of the TRX straps. “Everything is tight. Functional fitness is all about movement.” Basically, she adds, about making sure every muscle is getting worked and that those muscles are working in synch.

It’s called functional fitness for a reason. According to WebMD.com, the focus is on “ … building a body capable of doing real-life activities in real-life positions, not just lifting a certain amount of weight in an idealized posture created by a gym machine.” It’s a philosophy that works well for everyone, Larisa says, from patients in physical therapy, to sedentary types just launching a fitness program to elite athletes trying to squeeze as much as they can out of their bodies.

Got a tree? With TRX, you've got a gym.

“OK,”  Larisa instructs me as the time comes to stop asking questions and sample the product, “get on your hands and knees and I’ll get your feet into these straps.” I do as told as she slips my feet into the stirrups, which hang two feet off the floor. I assume the plank position, my arms straight, my body parallel to the floor. Immediately, without doing anything, I feel my every core muscle, from my iliopsoas to my latissimus dorsi, spring into action. She has me do five pushups, she has me bring my knees to my chest five times, she has me spread my legs as wide as I can, again, five times. Then she has me combine the three: pushup, knees to chest, spread legs. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
I can’t imagine there isn’t a muscle that hasn’t just been worked. Then we stand, Larisa cinches up the stirrups to about four-feet off the floor and I discover otherwise. We launch into a series of moves using the stirrups as handholds. Squats, golf swings, lunges … .

“There are 500 things you can do with these,” Larisa says. “Oh, more than that.” That’s because you can combine moves to keep one workout from being like another. And if you’re looking for a universal trend in fitness these days, that would be it: keep your muscles guessing. Don’t fall into a routine and let your muscles get complacent. Have them doing something new and different each workout.

After 40 minutes of this sampler workout, my muscles have indeed done things new and different. When I get home, though, I’m certain they’ll do something familiar.

Rest.

Quick notes about the TRX:

• It’s more expensive than you might think. The cheapest package I could find on the fitnessanywhere.com Web site was $189.95 (including the TRX Trainer, DVD, travel pouch and workout book).
• You can do it anywhere, though it would appear to work best hung from the rafters of a basement, a garage or an elevated deck, or from a tree. An accessory allows you to hang the TRX from a door jam, though that limits the exercises you can do.
• Technique is key. Pay close attention to the training DVD, or work with a personal trainer familiar with the device. Also, some gyms now incorporate the TRX into classes.
• Larisa suggests using the TRX twice a week. For athletes, weekend to elite, she says it’s a great supplemental workout to your regular routine (biking, running, etc.)

Contact Larisa Lotz at clotz@bellsouth.net.

Water aerobics                        309 calories
Shooting baskets                    347.7
Disco dancing                         347.7
Hacky sack                              309
Umpiring a softball game    309
Walking 3.5 miles                 293.6

Some of you who converted to leaf blowers years ago may be reluctant to switch back, despite the obvious benefits to your health. (Did I mention the infusion of Vitamin D from being out in the sun?) “I don’t have time to rake,” you say. “I’ve got kids to whisk off to a Tiny Tots Australian Rules Touch Football Tournament across town!” It’s my contention that raking actually takes less time than using a blower. Think about it: When your stack of leaves starts stacking up, how fast does the leaf blower propel them? Not too fast. A rake is more effective with high volumes. (I make this assertion despite a Consumer Reports test to the contrary. With all due respect, CR compared a top-end, gas-powered blower to a rake on a 15-foot-by-15-foot patch of leaves. That the blower cleared such a small area in half the time wasn’t surprising; I suspect the results would have been much different had the competition occurred on, say, a 30×30 battlefield.) And I don’t think we need dwell on the fact that raking is infinitely kinder to the ears than  the leaf blower.

So, this weekend, which will it be: An hour in a sweaty gym pumping iron or an afternoon in the backyard under the sun returning to our agrarian roots?
Take the rake challenge.
Let me know what you think.*

*Not to influence your decision, but an informal online survey http://www.fitsugar.com/2380805 by Fitsugar.com found that  32 percent of respondents believe “Raking is definitely a workout,” while 55 percent believe “all yard work is exercise.”

Why would I want to do that? To avoid heavy traffic and pricey in-close parking charges, for one. But here’s an even better reason: Corn dogs, funnel cakes, deep-fried Twinkees. That, I would wager, is a typical meal at the Fair. Let’s take a look at that repast from a caloric standpoint.
Corn dog: 460 calories. (Source: Nutrient Facts.)
Funnel cake: 277 calories. (Source: Fitday.com)
Deep-fried Twinkee: 425 calories (Source: Fitsugar.com)
Total: 1,162 calories.
Now, let’s run the numbers on how many calories you might burn walking 5 1/2 miles (the round-trip distance). The following were derived from the Fitness Partner Activity Calories Calculator based on 90 minutes of hiking (a fairly brisk pace) for folks of three different weights.
150 pounds: 614 calories.
175 pounds: 716 calories.
200 pounds: 818 calories.
Pretty revealing, eh?
How you can hike to the fair on the Loblolly Trail: First, drive to the main entrance of Schenck Forest. From Wade Avenue, that would entail exiting at Edwards Mill Road and going 0.7 miles east, to Reedy Creek Road. Go left on Reedy Creek for 0.3 miles, take a left on State Farm Road. Go another tenth of a mile and park. Here’s a map.
Is the trail easy to follow? Sure. Just follow these directions, starting from the Schenck Forest gate where you park, walk down the dirt road for:
0.75 miles — (the dirt road ends in a turnaround loop at about mile 0.7; continue downhill on the narrow trail at the beginning of the loop).
1.3 mi. — Take a right turn, cross a small creek on seven stones, proceed through the left side of the pedestrian tunnel/culvert under Wade Avenue. (The tunnel is lit, but can be a little wet. Friday, there was no more than an inch in the deepest spot.)
1.7 mi. — You’ll see a cool bridge that you don’t get to go over on your right. Instead, walk another 30 yards and go left into the tunnel under Edwards Mill Road (this one’s dry).
1.8 mi. — Trail, which becomes paved on the other side of the tunnel, Ts into RBC Center Road. Either take sidewalk right or go right on the footpath just before the roadway. For our purposes, we’re sticking with the natural path.
2.0 mi. — Trailhead parking for Loblolly Trail. Go left on sidewalk along four-lane street, then go right at first right. This will spit you out onto Trinity Road at …
2.2 mi. — Go left on sidewalk along Trinity Road up to Youth Center Drive.
2.6 mi. — Cross Trinity on Youth Center Drive (but not before the State Highway Patrolperson says it’s OK).
2.7 mi. — Arrive at State Fair ticket booth.
See the map below.
Anything else I need to know? Yes. Though the tunnels are lit, the rest of the Loblolly Trail is not. Plus, technically, the trail closes at dusk. For the record, sunset today is officially at 6:37 p.m.; by the time the fair closes on Oct. 25 it will set at 6:26 p.m. Plan accordingly. Also, this is a fairly easy trail but the wet weather has made it a little mushy in spots. I did the trail Friday in a pair of low-cut hikers and my feet stayed dry. Good tread is important.
Enjoy the fair!