Naff has been a part of the Rec Center staff since 2010 and has been a personal trainer since 2011.

For most, becoming physically fit is something of a challenge and it requires a little motivation.  That’s where Jonathan Naff comes in.  The former power lifter from Beatrice is using himself as an example to help others become healthy the right way.

The 25-year-old personal trainer was introduced to power lifting in high school as a way to stay in shape between football seasons and keep the player’s competitive drive going.

“I was always exceptionally strong, so I took to it immediately,” he said.

Naff competed all four years in high school and won the Nebraska state power lifting championship in 2004, his sophomore year in high school.  He made the finals his junior year, but lost to someone he out lifted by 80 pounds earlier in the year.  After seeing how rewarding working out was for himself, Naff wanted to help others become healthy and help them do it the right way, so he got into personal training.

Naff dropped out of nursing school at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln because he wanted to follow a different path.  He may have lost his heart for nursing, but he didn’t lose his heart to help others, so he had to find a new way to do that.  He had been informally training friends for a few years, but he finally had a reason to get certified.  After a semester long class and a comprehensive test, Naff gained his certification in the fall of 2011.

“I love fitness and people, so it was an easy transition for me,” he said.

The transition may have been easy, but motivating others to better their lives isn’t always the easiest thing to do.

“If someone doesn’t have an internal motivation, there aren’t going to be results,” he said, “But when you see someone get excited about seeing their improvements, it makes you excited.

Naff will continue to train at the Rec Center until he leaves for occupational therapy school this fall, where he will continue to personal train in his spare time. He wants to own his own clinic in the future, but for now he will stick with personal training and making a return to power lifting or bodybuilding.  He is leaning towards bodybuilding because he sees it as the ultimate display of physical form.

With temptations everywhere, watching what you eat is the start to getting the body you are looking for.

There are as many myths surrounding diets as there is the Loch Ness Monster.  A quick Internet search on how to lose weight will give you conflicting opinions and some of them sound too good to be true.  That’s probably because they are.

“Everyone is looking for that magic little pill that will give them Herculean bodies,” said Eric Payton, a nutrition consultant at Nebraska Elite Fitness, “Sorry to say, but that doesn’t exist.”

Majority of Payton’s clientele are adults in their early to late 20s and he has people come to him for help with weight loss to weight gain.  Payton said that he hears a new myth from his clients everyday and is no longer surprised when he hears what someone has been doing with his or her diet.

“A lot of people read the Internet and think they are experts on nutrition, but it can be as complicated or as simple as you want to make it,” he said.

Payton studied nutrition at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and received his degree in 2005.  He said trends have changed and science has improved since he graduated, but one thing has stayed constant.  If you are looking to change your body; watch what you eat.

Patrick Barney came to Payton three years ago looking to lose weight.   He cut out carbohydrates from his diet and ran two miles a day, but he wanted to see a consultant to make sure he was doing it the right way.  He lost 25 pounds in a year and a half.

“I was always told if I want to build muscle I need to eat more, and do the opposite if I want to lose weight,” said Patrick Barney, a junior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, “I wanted to see someone to make sure I saw results.”

According to Payton, you need to make sure your body is getting the proper nutrients throughout the day.

“Lifting junkies think they can shovel Big Macs down after a work out and watch their muscles grow,” Payton said,” Keep doing that and you can say good bye to your most important muscle.”

Payton said the same goes for anyone trying to lose weight.  People tend to focus on keeping the fat and calorie intake low, and forget about everything else their body needs to stay healthy.  The body needs protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, potassium and much more to survive Payton said.

Patyon’s Four Tips for a Better Diet

“I just make sure I get a lot of protein in my diet and that’s all I worry about,” Barney said, “Really, I eat what I want because I burn it off anyway.”

“The best advice I can give without laying out a diet plan is look at labels and keep a log,” Payton said.

Starting out will the recommended 2,000 calorie diet is the easiest way to keep track of what your body needs throughout the day because that is what labels in the United States are based off of.  Payton recommends doing this for a month or so and adjusting your diet accordingly to get the results you are looking for.

“Anyone can shape their body the way they want through their diet and exercise,” Payton said, “It takes watching what your putting in and making sure it’s what you need.”

Making the choice between diet soda and regular soda is natural for most people.  But not many people think about the calories taken in in the drinks they have every day.

Karen Kuzma, a registered dietician and wellness coach for Hy-Vee in Lincoln Neb., says often times people don’t realize how many calories are in what they are drinking.

Courtesy Photo

Karen Kuzma, a dietician at Hy-Vee.

“People look at the nutritional values that drinks such as orange juice and milk can bring them, not so much the calories in them,” Kuzma said.

Kuzma advises clients who come to her for help on what they can do to improve their diets. One of the first thing she asks is what the client drinks on a daily basis.

“I tell them the two main things to watch out for is sugar and fat,” Kuzma said. “I also tell them other bad things in drinks are artificial flavors and coloring,”

Once Kuzma has an idea of how many calories her client is drinking, she offers them alternatives that have fewer calories yet still offer a sweet and satisfying taste.

If a client loves the fizz of a soda, Kuzma suggests LaCroix or Zevia sparkling waters. Both of these options are naturally sweetened and have fewer calories than a can of soda.

The battle between diet soda and regular soda has been a controversial issue. Critics of diet soda say it makes no difference than if you are drinking a regular soda, while diet soda fans swear it is a healthier choice.

Kuzma says there is some truth to diet soda being better than regular soda; its all about the person drinking it.

“If someone is looking to lose weight and they cut out regular soda and switch to diet soda, they can lose a lot of weight from that simple change,” Kuzma said.

Kuzma said if someone is trying to really eat healthy and make better choices when it comes to what he/she puts in his/her body, it doesn’t make any difference if you drink diet over regular; neither are the best things to put in your body.

Melisa McDonald is an avid drinker of diet sodas; she likes to keep track of her daily calorie intake in order to keep it at a healthy level.

“You have to drink and you have to eat to survive, food always has calories but drinks don’t have to,” McDonald said.

McDonald finds ways to to cut calories out of what she drinks, even alcohol.

“When I go out, I order vodka with water and put liquid crystal light in it,” McDonald said.

McDonald also gets her coffee made with skim milk and sugar free flavorings in order to cut down on the calories.

Kayla Jorgensen is also a lover of diet soda and low calorie drinks.

“I’m a huge diet coke person,” Jorgensend said. “I don’t usually drink regular soda.”

Jorgensen said the reason for not drinking regular soda is to count the calories she takes in where it is easy to. She feels by drinking diet soda or sugar free things, it can help a little bit. She also tries to substitute soda for V8 energy.

When it comes down to it, calories that you drink can be just as bad as the calories you eat, therefore it’s best to drink as healthy as you can, according to Kuzma.

“Switch to something better, try to substitute the bad for good.”

Body mass index is defined by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute as “a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to adult men and women.”

The problem with using BMI to determine one’s physical health is that it doesn’t take muscle mass into account.

Peter Hansen is a junior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. As a high school wrestler, weight has always been on Hansen’s mind, but he never had to worry about it. ”I never had to work really hard to make my weight class like some wrestlers do,” Hansen said.

Using the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute's body mass index calculator, Hansen is considered to have a "normal weight."

Andrew Nelson is a sophomore at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. A native of Omaha, Nelson is spending his summer at home, working at Hy-Vee and doing Insanity in his parents’ garage.

“I work out a lot but I eat a lot, too, so it balances out,” Nelson said.

Using the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute's body mass index calculator, Nelson is considered overweight and close to being considered obese, even though he is a former running back.

UNL senior Ryan Smith is considered obese by his BMI, but after a body composition test he only has 14 percent body fat, which is under the national average.

Whether they are looking to learn self-defense or creating an outlet for expression, women have begun breaking into the martial arts.

Amberlyn Edson, a martial arts teacher, demonstrates how to avoid a frontal attack with her husband Luke at a women's self-defense seminar.

Amberlyn Edson, 34, teaches aikido at the downtown YMCA in Lincoln, Neb.  When she began training in 2002, Edson said she started because of artistic and self-defense purposes.

“At the time I felt like I was a big clutz and so it was a way for me to learn how to be more graceful,” she said.

But Edson said that while more women are involved in martial arts than in previous generations, the practice is still male-dominated and can be intimidating for some women.

“I was really lucky. I trained with people who were comfortable training with other women,” Edson said.

Karla Hudson, the associate executive director of the downtown YMCA, said about a third of martial arts class enrollees are women. She said there are generally seven or eight people in a class with two or three females.

Jeff Alexander, owner and head coach of Lincoln MMA, also said women make up a smaller portion of the enrollees in mixed martial arts. He said for every six or seven men taking classes at Lincoln MMA, there is probably only one woman.

Alexander said what might be keeping more women from being a part of MMA and “building up the nerve to come in” is the stigma the sport has for being violent and competitive.

But he said that’s not what MMA is about.

“A lot of people in the community think we’re bloodthirsty brutes but we’re highly trained athletes,” he said.

He said some women might fear they will just be beaten up.

Alexander said promoting the sport for women is something his club should be doing more of, which would help lessen MMA’s stigma.

“There doesn’t need to be a barrier for women,” he said.

Edson said that part of martial arts lack of inclusiveness can be explained in its history. She said men have traditionally studied martial arts and when the practice was brought to the United States from Japan after World War II, the people who had access to it were men in the military.

For Paula Ray, 62, self-defense has been a lifelong priority after  she was attacked as a young teenager. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ray recently attended a women’s self-defense seminar with her daughter and her 12-year-old granddaughter to solidify the notion for her granddaughter that it’s okay to fight back an attacker.

“It doesn’t diminish who you are as a female. It makes you stronger as a person,” she said.

Edson thinks as time goes on, more and more women will want to learn martial arts and self-defense.

“I think for women growing up, each generation is a little more advanced in terms of breaking out of gender roles and being more of themselves,” she said.

NewsNetNebraska

America has been changing over the last 50 years. A different lifestyle has evolved and with the changing landscape, fitness centers exploded into the culture. But, gone are the days where the term gym conjured up images of men like Arnold Schwarzenegger and in are the days of the average Joe. Now fitness centers are changing their image again to accommodate and attract members while waging quiet wars against one another.

The U.S. has more than 300 million in population and according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,  more than one third are overweight. And it’s not leveling off nor is it slowing down. As the country grows, our waist sizes grow too.

There have also been a number of new fitness facilities popping up throughout the country. Fitness facilities trace back to the 1860s with the start of the YMCA, which focuses on community, family health and wellness.

Fitness centers, gyms as we know them today, received their big boost in the mid 1960’s in California. Gold’s gym founded by Joe Gold, started in Venice Beach, Los Angeles and grew into a chain of gyms that focused on getting “BIG.” The only perks at the time were weights and a contracted membership. Places like muscle beach and the pump became common place.

Eventually other entrepreneurs caught on and began creating their own chains and the gym craze really took off in the 1980s with the appearance of L.A. Fitness and 24 Hour Fitness.

Alexander Hall / NewsNetNebraska

With competition from larger facilities hurting smaller and local gym sales, local Snap Fitness management in Lincoln Neb. is developing strategies to boost membership and keep prices affordable.

Fast forward 30 years and the look of gyms are radically changing.  “We’re trying to one up each other just depending on what’s going on,” said Nikki Stebbins, a manager for Snap Fitness. Stebbins has been working at Snap Fitness for more than three years.

Snap Fitness is the world’s fastest growing fitness franchise with more than 2,200 locations.  Snap is structured on the idea of having a personal and local gym that’s down the street from the customer and open anytime, 24 hours a day. Their style of “Fast, Convenient, Affordable” is so effective that an average of 20 new clubs pop up every month.

Snap offers contract or no contract, weights, cardio and tanning for a monthly price of around $40.  “Everyone claims to be cheap, everyone claims they have a good deal,” said Stebbins. And, she says she sees the new competition, Aspen Fitness, taking Snaps members.

Aspen Fitness is a much smaller chain that operates in large complexes.  With a handful of locations spread out over five states, one would believe they would be no match for Snap.

“You control it, there’s no contract,” said Albert Scroggins, who said Aspen has been destroying the competition.  Scroggins is the general manager of Aspen Athletics in Lincoln, Neb.  He credits the fast success of Aspen to a smart management team and great member benefits.

Alexander Hall / NewsNetNebraska

Nikki Stebbins, handles all the membership applications for Snap Fitness.

Aspen facilities are two stories high and house hundreds of machines. And it’s not just the amount of equipment that is taking members from other gyms like Snap and the YMCA,  it’s the perks.

Members of Aspen Athletic Clubs have access to equipment, tanning, dry saunas, classes like kick boxing and aerobics, lockers, private workout rooms and even daycare. But that’s not why Aspen is such a hit with the locals.

A member can have access to all the facilities for less than $40 a month. The only drawback is that instead of 24 hours, Aspen closes every night by 11 o’clock.

But now that Aspen has been around for  a year, some gyms are finding members changing their minds. “It’s leveling off and we’re starting to see members trickling back,” said Megan Hampton, owner of Lincoln’s south Snap Fitness.

Alexander Hall / NewsNetNebraska

The local Lincoln Aspen Athletic Clubs have been experiencing high volumes of membership thanks to larger facilities and low prices. The South Lincoln facility had a full parking lot on an early Thursday afternoon.

Hampton has been the owner of two Snap Fitness facilities for nearly six months and a personal trainer for more than four years. In the past three years the ownership of the facilities has changed three times.

She said with such large facilities like those Aspen operates, crowding becomes common and space becomes a big issue. Hampton is also promoting new ads to bring in customers and changing fees, hoping to boost sales.

But the biggest change in the past 30 years has been the rise of female membership. The clientele of gyms are nearly equal between men and women. Clubs like Aspen are catering to this evolving demographic. “Aspen has a female area where girls go work out separated from guys,” said Stebbins, who also says it helps if they’re self-confident or intimidated.

One thing is certain, if gyms continue to supply extensive perks on a competition based platform, we may see people working out more and spending less.

Kendo is the Japanese martial art of Fencing that is popular around the world but rarely seen in the U.S. Though kendo isn’t common in the U.S. there are still dojo’s, a martial arts gym, scattered around the country that offer kendo under the various kendo federations and districts. There are two dojo’s in Lincoln Neb. that offer kendo classes and Clubs one is Lincoln Budokan and the other is Jinbukan Dojo at University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Brad Holmes and his students line up to start practicing drills to hone their techniques.

Kendo, which means “way of the sword,” comes from the Japanese art of Kenjutsu which forms the basis for kendo. It uses wooden bamboo swords called Shinai instead of normal steel blades. The Shinai is made of four bamboo slats bound together with leather straps. Participants wear a uniform with armor plates over the uniform and a helmet to protect them.

In a kendo match two armored opponents  face off against each other and try to score points by landing strikes on parts of the body. Strikes to the top of the head, either side of the chest and either wrist or forearm can score a point. Opponents not only have to make a clean accurate hit but also have to maintain good form to score a point. Each bout is a three point match and the first two score to points wins the match.

Students use a wooden sword called shinai that represents a Katana and is made up of four bamboo slats bound together by leather strips.

Brad Holmes opened Lincoln Budokan in 2010 after teaching Karate and Kendo at the YMCA and the UNL Jinbukan Dojo, where he is still a senior instructor. Holmes said Kendo is more than just a physical sport but has a spiritual side to it as well, it can help people develop an indomitable spirit and give students a deeper philosophical outlook on life.

“Martial arts help me to stay calm and not get flustered about things,” said Holmes,” I work at the Hospital in critical care and I’m one of the calmest people there.”

The spiritual side of kendo comes from disciplining one’s mind and body and because of this Kendo can be loud. When someone goes to strike with their Shinai he or she will shout to express their “fighting spirit.”

Holmes started learning Karate in 1969 at the age twelve and took up Kendo almost ten years later.  Now he has a black belt in both and also has a black belt in Iaido, which is the martial art  of drawing the sword, striking and then sheathing the blade.

Holmes opened Lincoln Budokan to teach younger students karate and kendo. In Holmes kendo classes he will usually have 4-12 students at any given lesson. Though Holmes is at his own dojo he still considers himself an extension of Jinbukan Dojo focusing more on younger martial arts students.

“I’ll have students work on the basics of Kendo for two years before I have them put on the armor,” said Holmes,” It’s not until they’ve been doing Kendo for five years that they’ll come in and put on the armor every class.”

Holmes said Kendo may not be as popular here in America because we don’t have as strong of a connection to cultural traditions as other parts of the world do.

“Kendo is very traditional and I try to stick to those traditions as best I can,” said Holmes, “I’ve been doing this for 35 years but I always try to think like a student.”

Brad Holmes and his students line up to start practicing drills to hone their techniques.

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I hate gyms with every fiber of my being. I’m sure if I could get past my ingrained childhood loathing of the gym I might be able to go to a gym and find some way to exercise, but I can’t.

My doctor told me recently that I am pre-diabetic and need to exercise more, but even that still won’t drive me to go into a Gym. I need something different. I used to play Lacrosse in high school but don’t have the time to commit to playing in college. So to that end I have to look elsewhere to find ways to exercise.

BMX racing started in the early 70′s when kids were taking their Schwinn Stingray bikes and modifying them to race around in back lots on their own dirt tracks pretending to be on motorcycles. The first organized BMX races started in Southern California where tracks were popping up and were called pedal cross racing, which would later change to BMX or bicycle motor cross. After a few years the American Bicycle Association was formed to organize BMX racing across the nation and later around the world. BMX racing  is now an Olympic sport in the summer Olympics.

I used to ride my bike every day with my friends. When doing research for alternate ways to exercise I stumbled on the website for the local BMX racing track, Star City BMX. I went to the track after class one day and found that I could cruise around the track as long as it wasn’t muddy.   I loaded my old BMX bike into the car and went out to the track.

As it turns out I showed up for a rather packed weekend of racing. I watched a bunch of riders taking practice laps and wasn’t all that convinced that I should unload my bike. All I wanted to do was ride around the track but there were quite a few people already there. After standing there feeling rather stupid I walked up to one of the little buildings that a bunch of people were clustering around to see what was going on.

The two friendly ladies sitting inside asked if I was registering for the race that night. I admitted I was way out of my depth and didn’t know what was going on. A few minutes later I somehow got myself into the race and people were bustling around trying to find me the gear I was lacking. Someone handed me some knee pads, another family lent me a jersey and the people from the track lent me a helmet for the race. All I had planned to do was just ride around the track a few times and go home and now I was in an actual race.

I went out and did a few practice laps and found out just how hard it is for a guy who is out of shape to get around all those banked turns, hills and jumps.  There are 4 different criteria to fairly determine what class each racer is put into looking at age, gender, skill level and wheel size. I for example, was put into the guys’ cruiser class with the 20-40 year olds.

Before a race starts people are given the chance to do some practice laps and register for the night’s race. Once all racers are registered they are assigned a series of races called “motos” that they are going to participate in. Motto sheets are posted showing which moto racers are in and their starting positions at the starting gate. Racers are called to the staging area behind the starting gate and races go in order by moto. Races are fast so each moto goes pretty quick and by the end of the night each racer has done two to three races depending on how well he or she did.

Being at the track felt more like hanging out at a Friday night softball game rather than a highly competitive sporting event. I was put into a race with two other older riders who were in the pro class when not racing cruiser. I was lined up on the hill waiting for my moto to start and psyching myself out before I got up to the start gate. All I wanted to do was finish my races without crashing or running out of steam half way through. Then I got up to the starting gate and I had this sense of calm come over me from the adrenaline starting to pump through me. The guy operating the gate gave us a warning and the gate dropped. I started pedaling as fast as I could down the hill and up the first ramp. It was a thrill going over each bump and around each turn, even if the other two guys had left me in the dust. I didn’t care that I was coming in last each time, I was having a blast and I felt great after each race.

I can say that this won’t be my only race this summer. If I just so happen to get myself into better shape than that’s just an added bonus.

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Leslie likes the UNL Rec Center because of the accessibility as well as it being free because of summer classes.

Like many students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Leslie Kravtiz exercises at the UNL Rec Center. “It’s covered by my student fees and they have a lot of options,” Kravitz said. Kravtiz has been going to the rec on and off for her four years at UNL but recently started going regularly. “I try to go (to the rec) at least three times a week for an hour.”

The red dots indicate areas people like to exercise in Lincoln.

Voeller, a senior at UNL, prefers the ease of running around his neighborhood to driving to campus to exercise.

Aaron Voeller is another UNL student who uses the rec center. “I will workout there occasionally, but mainly for exercising I just run around my neighborhood,” Voeller said, “I run because it keeps me healthy…I’m no longer a doctor’s frown. No more high blood pressure, etc. I’m healthy and keeping that is the motivation I need to keep working out.” Running isn’t the only exercise Voeller does. In addition to practicing flips on his trampoline, during the school year he works out two to three hours a week as a member of the Air Force ROTC at UNL.

Trampoline jumping is not normally considered exercising, but Aaron Voeller started sweating within minutes of doing some flips on his trampoline in Lincoln.

Emily Suhr doesn’t rely on BMI or body mass index alone while training her clients, she insists better methods are out there.

Suhr, 21, has been a personal trainer at the YMCA in downtown Lincoln Neb. for three years. She is also a volunteer for “Girls on the Run” and CEDARS, a nonprofit organization for neglected or abused children.

Alicia Mikoloyck

Emily Suhr is a 21-year-old personal trainer who believes BMI is bogus.

BMI has long been used as a way to measure the amount of fat a person has in his or her body.

“I think it’s very inaccurate in that it only allows you to put in your height and weight, it doesn’t take into account other factors.” Suhr said.

According to the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute , the BMI test does have a disclaimer that the test may not account for those who have an athletic build or older people who may have lost muscle.

According to Suhr, calipers are a more accurate way to determine the amount of body fat a person has.

“First you make them (the client) feel really uncomfortable by asking them to lift their shirt,” Suhr said. “Then you clip the caliper in four different places, one of their triceps, thighs, hips and then the bellybutton.”

How the calipers determine the amount of body fat is fairly simple. When the calipers are clipped on the specified places, it measure how much is being clipped. Once all places have been measured, the numbers are added together to determine the amount of body fat.

Once the calipers have determined the amount of body fat the client has, Suhr creates a workout plan catering to what needs to be worked on or is a goal of the client.

“If a client wants to lose weight, I have them on a more cardio based workout that includes running,” Suhr said.  “If they just want to tone up and build muscle, the emphasis is more on lifting weights.”

Suhr said that in all honesty, she never uses BMI in order to determine what weight and body fat percentage is best for her clients. She believes that the results it delivers can be disappointing.

Karla Hudson, health and wellness director for YMCA downtown, agrees with Suhr in that BMI is not the most accurate way to measure body fat, but calipers are more accurate.

“On an individual basis, I don’t think it’s good,” Hudson said. “It doesn’t account for muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat, so it would put that person at a higher body fat, which would be inaccurate.”

For Suhr, her body fat is normal according to the BMI scale. When putting her height of 5 feet 8 inches and weight of 150 pounds, her BMI is 22.85 percent, putting her at a normal weight.

Suhr compared to her BMI, a number that says she is almost overweight.

This changes rapidly if you start to put in different weights or put Suhr three inches shorter than she is. If she is 5 foot 5 inches and at the same weight, she is now considered to be overweight and vice versa if you add more weight to her while keeping her original height.

As shown in the picture to the above, you can tell that if Suhr were just a bit shorter, anyone would be able to tell she isn’t overweight.

In order to maintain an ideal body weight, Suhr offers advice to her clients. She tells them they need to do at least 45 minutes of cardio work five to six times a week and eat healthy foods.

“McDonald’s and Burger King aren’t going to get you to your ideal weight nor will eating there keep your weight where it should be,” Suhr said.

To help her clients be conscious of what they are putting into their bodies, Suhr recommends an app called “My Fitness Pal” available for download on iPhone and Droid devices.

The app lets you put in what you have eaten and then it tells you how many calories it is, allowing you to keep track of how many calories you take in in a day.

Even with all the health apps out there and the many different methods of determining how much body fat your body has, according to Suhr,  in the end it’s all about how you feel.

“If you feel good, you look good too.”