Fit To Travel

Back to the Fitness Future

Strength and conditioning regimens come full circle

My brother Matthew, 12 years my junior, likes to applaud my low-tech fitness regimen — lots of cycling, hockey, and some basic isometric exercises like push-ups — by reminding me that “old school” is just another way to say “old’s cool.” Very punny, right? But I’ve always taken a straightforward approach to staying in shape, one that was instilled by my grandmother. Grandmère Pare was a Jack LaLanne devotee, and I vividly remember her going through her calisthenics along with the original TV fitness guru.

During the ensuing 40 years, I’ve seen almost every fitness craze come down the pike. Admittedly, I’ve tried a few, from aerobics to Tae Bo. But I’ve always come back to the basics, not because these other regimens were ineffective, but because, for me, simple works best. And I’m not alone.

Whether your fitness goals focus on strength, cardiovascular conditioning, or both, many experts today endorse “common-sense” fitness principles. Michael Boyle, co-founder of Boston-based Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning, says the most effective programs aren’t much different from the Army’s boot camp regimen of 50 years ago. Even LaLanne, still spry at 94, advocates a simple mantra of discipline and diet as the bedrock of good fitness. “Exercise is king, nutrition is queen,” he says. “Put them together, and you’ve got a kingdom.”

Keep It Simple

“I work out two hours a day, seven days a week,” says LaLanne, who weighs a svelte 150 pounds. “I lift weights for an hour and a half and spend another half hour swimming. I hate it. It’s a pain in the backside. But you’ve got to do it.”

Boyle, whose clients have included actress Jennifer Garner, employs a balanced approach to strength training. He recommends lunges and squats for the lower body (no machines), push-ups and pull-ups for the upper body, and static “planks” for the midsection. (Imagine assuming a push-up position, but on your elbows, and holding that position steady for 30 seconds at a time.)

But if training should be this simple, how did we manage to make it so complicated? According to Boyle, there are two primary culprits: the bodybuilding fad and technology. “Bodybuilding, through the magazines, had a great influence. Everyone was suddenly doing these body-part workouts to get big arms or a big chest,” he says. “The opposite of that is functional training, the idea that training should concentrate on movement, not muscle. If you do a push-up, or if you do a squat, it works a lot of muscles. You don’t have to worry about what body part it works.”

Go Low-Tech

Technology, meanwhile, spawned an entire industry devoted to exercise. “There’s a ton of money to be made in selling exercise equipment,” Boyle says. “It’s a billon-dollar industry. I’m constantly telling people: Don’t get a machine. Use the simplest equipment possible.”

The problem, he says, is that technology often guarantees maximum results with minimum effort, exploiting a basic flaw of human nature. “Technology has made everything simpler for us, so people believe there’s going to be a technological solution to fitness,” he says. “But there is no magic bullet. There’s no miracle drug, there’s no miracle cure, and there’s no miracle exercise. To use an old cliché, the only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.”

Champion cyclocross racer Maureen Bruno Roy, a certified massage therapist, says she eschews high-tech training aids. “I stopped using power meters and heart rate monitors and all that stuff,” she says. “If you’re more in tune, and more intuitive, with your body, you can have more results and get a better gauge of your fitness. I’ve definitely gone old-school with my training.”

Among Bruno Roy’s clients are top-flight marathoners with the Boston Athletic Association who take a similar approach. “They use no tools at all, except stopwatches,” she says. “I see a lot of triathletes going the other way, with all their shiny tools and all their new training regimens, and they can’t get out of their own way sometimes because their data is telling them that they’ve gone too hard or too easy. I really think people have lost touch, and it’s time for them to bring it back.”

Run for It

Peter Rea agrees. Rea, elite athlete coordinator for the ZAP Fitness Performance Center in Blowing Rock, N.C., says, “The best marathoners are the ones who just go out the door every day. The days they feel good, they run longer and harder, and the days they feel like junk, they run shorter and easier.”

Over the past 30 years, Rea says, top American runners faltered as science took a leading role in training. “As a running nation, we began to slow down the more we knew,” he explains. “In the mid-1980s and early ’90s, the scientists learned more about lactate thresholds and VO₂max. We began to know a lot more scientifically about the body, but ironically, we began to run less.”

“Then, in the late ’90s, about the turn of the century, the pendulum began to swing back the other way. The people who were competing in the late 1970s and early ’80s became coaches, and they said, ‘I don’t care what the scientists say. I know what works, and what works to run fast is to run a lot,’” Rea says. “Kids are training the same way now as when distance running first became popular in the 1960s and ’70s. They’re all running a lot — science be damned.”

Rea acknowledges that science has helped runners, especially regarding the importance of rest days and overall fitness. But if you need any more proof that training has come full circle, just consider the favorite strength-training tool of many top runners: the medicine ball. According to Rea, ancient Egyptian athletes exercised with a round stone in much the same way. “And when all is said and done,” he says, “after all these thousands of years, what we’ve come back to is, basically, a rubber stone.”

Acapulco Revival

As one runner discovers on a nine-mile route, the original Mexican beach getaway is booming again

A good comeback story is the perfect inspiration for a long run. The reemergence of Acapulco, a destination once bypassed by seasoned travelers in favor of newer resorts, is just such a story. Although the city’s initial rise, in the 1950s, is most often associated with Acapulco Bay’s west side, where the Rat Pack reveled and divers plunged from La Quebrada’s cliffs, the east side of town also played a part. Here, Playa Revolcadero, just beyond Punta Diamante, makes a good starting point for an adventurous nine-mile jog.

Lace up your sneakers on the manicured grounds of the Pierre Marques hotel, a low-slung masterpiece of modern architecture built in 1957 by oilman J. Paul Getty and now a Fairmont hotel. Head east along the flat stretch of cream-colored sand in front of the hotel, a major surfing hangout. Less than a mile along, you’ll spot the pyramid-style Fairmont Acapulco Princess, sister property to the Pierre Marques. Built in 1971, the Princess is where aviator/producer/recluse Howard Hughes is reputed to have spent his final days. Both hotels are newly popular with a chic young crowd that frequents the glamorous bay-view restaurants and parties in the hillside villas in the posh Diamante neighborhood.

The newest developments in the rapidly expanding Diamante, aka the Diamond Zone, lie farther east, where this jogging route leads. You’ll leave the beach at the Mayan Palace hotel and continue along Avenida Vidafel, behind the hotel. As the road curves inland, toward the Acapulco-Alvarez International Airport, you’ll encounter more traffic and more commercial development. Follow Vidafel to the intersection with Boulevard de las Naciones and La Isla, an upscale residential, resort, and retail complex with a high-profile investor and spokesman, Mexican pop legend Luis Miguel. (La Isla’s water-laced shopping village is slated to open in early 2009.)

Continue east past La Isla to Boulevard Barra Vieja and the immense Mundo Imperial, a combination expo center, mega-resort, and 4,000-seat theater designed to host Las Vegas–style shows. Never mind its grandiose name: the complex, slated to open this fall, is all about fun and relaxation. Features include the first pet-friendly hotel in Acapulco and a destination spa specializing in Chinese medicine. It’s also where the marked running route back to the coast, and Playa Bonfil, begins. All these signs of conspicuous success — not to mention the fact that Acapulco now has an official jogging path — should convince even the most skeptical traveler that the city’s star is once again on the ascent.

Getting There: Continental offers daily nonstop service to Acapulco from its hub in Houston and seasonal service from its hub in New York/Newark.

Get Your Feet Wet

Stay afloat with these water-based exercise necessities

1. Unstoppable Force. Lightweight and simply designed, the Liquid Force Omega Wakeboard is a good choice for newbie watersport enthusiasts. The variable edges and molded canted fins make using it easy. $259.99; boardco.com

2. Safety First. A necessity for outdoor ocean or lake activities, the Connelly Watersport Vest is Coast Guard approved and fits most adults. Made with nylon for increased buoyancy, and equipped with four buckles, it’s the ultimate in watersport safety. $33.99; dickssportinggoods.com

3. No Holds Barred. Straight Line Tru-Fit Performance Gloves feature Amara-reinforced palms and mesh finger gussets. The quick-drying gloves are backed with Neoprene for comfort and warmth, and the secure-lock wrist strap system ensures a tight fit. $29.99; wake-space.com

4. Skis Up. For a challenging upper- and lower-body workout, hop into a pair of OBrien Performer Combo Waterskis. Ideal for both beginners and advanced skiers, these 68-inch-long aluminum fins fit almost any foot and have a dual tunnel shape for increased stability. For the daring watersport enthusiast, one ski is also equipped with a rear toe strap for slalom skiing. $229.99; waterskis.com