{"id":53498,"date":"2015-04-06T07:17:16","date_gmt":"2015-04-06T12:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fitzness.com\/blog\/?p=53498"},"modified":"2015-04-06T14:10:47","modified_gmt":"2015-04-06T19:10:47","slug":"fit-professional-karl-kaufmann-balances-it-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fitzness.com\/blog\/fit-professional-karl-kaufmann-balances-it-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Fit Professional: Marketing Director Karl Kaufmann"},"content":{"rendered":"

Karl Kaufmann, 59,\u00a0Gainesville, FL,\u00a0Owner Kcom Media \/ Director Sales & Marketing Hilton Ocala<\/strong><\/p>\n

How often do you exercise?<\/strong> Five times per week<\/p>\n

Brief description of your workout routine:<\/strong> Combination of routine and mix-it-up: walk the pooch at least one or two miles a day, preferably in the morning,\u00a0100 sit-ups every morning and every evening, six days a week (OK, so I\u00a0miss one),\u00a025 push-ups using rotating floor grips every morning and evening and\u00a0Gainesville Health and Fitness Center (GHFC) every M-T-W-Th-Sun and sometimes Friday and Saturday. There I do:<\/p>\n

o Elliptical every visit for 30 min (varied program each day)<\/p>\n

o Treadmill for additional 20-30 minutes (while reading a book)<\/p>\n

o Mixed dumbbells in free weight area for upper body<\/p>\n

o The \u201cline\u201d\u00a0 two days a week<\/p>\n

o Core machines three days a week mixed with other machines\u00a0downstairs. Focus is on average weights and mix-up number lifts\u00a0per rep and number of reps each day<\/p>\n

\"Karl\"Brief description of your eating habits:<\/strong> VERY LOW sodium diet. Very high in\u00a0protein and vegetables.<\/p>\n

Every morning:<\/strong> Four to six ounces of plain old-fashioned oatmeal and one egg and\u00a0banana (or pineapple and melon). One cup of coffee in the morning, glass\u00a0of apple or cranberry juice mid-morning.<\/p>\n

Lunch:<\/strong> Nothing fried, no processed meats, no pastas. Salads, grilled or\u00a0steamed veggies, an occasional sandwich with grilled chicken or other\u00a0lean choice. Water with lunch.<\/p>\n

Dinner:<\/strong> I cook at home at least five days a week. Dinner out is usually grilled\u00a0proteins, salads and seafood. Stay away from pizzas (but an occasional\u00a0thin crust Nappy’s veggie pizza with olive oil and no red sauce). OK\u2026my\u00a0one vice is chicken wings\u2026.yea, I love ’em and eat them when I dine out, if\u00a0possible, but never breaded. Been known to have a glass or beer with\u00a0dinner.<\/p>\n

Have you always been fit? If not, describe what you used to be like and how you\u00a0came to be fit now.<\/strong> I was a really FAT kid. I weighed 20 pounds more now than I\u00a0did when I was 10 years old. I have weighed the same since I lost weight at the\u00a0age of 13 through the sports of swimming and martial arts.<\/p>\n

Favorite Workout:<\/strong> Any day at my local gym, GHFC, and my one day a week at the Dojo\u00a0teaching kids and riding my bike.<\/p>\n

Least favorite way to workout?<\/strong> Running. Yuck. If it was not for reading a book\u00a0or watching TV on the treadmill I would not do that either.<\/p>\n

How does fitness affect you as a professional?<\/strong> In many ways\u2026if I miss a day\u00a0I feel tired and perform at a lesser level at work. The better I feel about myself,\u00a0the more confident I am on the job. Every day I watch the younger staff and my\u00a0peers experiencing countless health issues \u2013 all because of their daily lack of fitness. I\u00a0have also seen employees who, once becoming really passionate about their\u00a0fitness routine, completely change their performance at work for the better. I have\u00a0one director who, right now, is about two months into a total fitness makeover and\u00a0she is happier, funnier, her marriage is now solid and she bounces around the\u00a0office every day. She comes in every day and asks about my workout the night\u00a0before; BIG CHANGE.<\/p>\n

Would you be as good at what you do if you didn’t pursue fitness?<\/strong> Not at all. I\u00a0can easily track the ups and downs in my career to the same highs and lows in\u00a0my fitness path.<\/p>\n

How do you squeeze fitness in on a crazy busy day?<\/strong> I have to make it\u00a0something that I put in front of all other commitments. The \u201cspeed bump\u201d I went\u00a0through with a damaged heart made that even more important. Once I realized\u00a0that in the past I put activities with my kids or work first and was blowing off the\u00a0gym, I immediately changed it. I got my kids memberships to our gym, GHFC, I plan dinners in advance, we go in the morning before school if we know we have an\u00a0evening event – it\u2019s a priority.\"Karl1\"<\/p>\n

How do you fight the urge to skip workouts?<\/strong> I know how much better I will feel\u00a0when I am done. If I am tired, I know I will feel energized after the workout. I\u00a0also got that goofy FitBit and now it’s quite a game to play to hit the goals.<\/p>\n

If you travel, what kind of workouts do you do on the road?<\/strong> I make sure I stay\u00a0at a hotel with a fitness center. I walk to meetings, even if they’re blocks away. Still do\u00a0the sit-ups and push-ups.<\/p>\n

What other obstacles do you face (health-wise) as part of your work?<\/strong> Have\u00a0you found a way to overcome them?<\/strong>\u00a0Ahhhhh. This is where it gets interesting. It\u2019s not work-related but certainly I\u00a0have developed what some might consider an \u201cobstacle\u201d\u2026however I tend to view\u00a0it as a new \u201copportunity.\u201d I was always a very high level athlete. I played baseball\u00a0and was a cheerleader for the University of Florida (UF), held two black belts in karate, worked out daily\u00a0and rode my bike at least 50 miles a week for over 30 years. But I CONFUSED\u00a0EXERCISE WITH DIET AND HABITS.<\/p>\n

Almost seven years ago I had a near fatal\u00a0heart attack. This event made the fabled \u201cwidow-maker\u201d heart attack look like\u00a0child’s play. 24 days in the hospital, 19 of them unconscious in ICU, my kids\u00a0mom told to \u201ccall a priest\u201d at day seven, and later was told I was not leaving without a\u00a0new heart. Somehow, with a lot of prayer and me refusing to stay in my bed\u00a0once I woke up and moving to a private room (they would find me walking the\u00a0hallways dragging my machines and holding onto the wall) I was told \u201cfor\u00a0whatever reason, you have a very unique circulatory system and your organs are\u00a0actually improving (other than the heart).” The day I got home I was on the heart\u00a0transplant list as a B1 (pretty high). But I liked the heart I had, so I did not listen\u00a0to the doc who told me to \u201ctake it easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first week home I walked a half mile. The next\u00a0week it was a mile. It hurt, I got short of breath, I nearly passed out countless\u00a0times\u2026but it got stronger and stronger. Four weeks later I was on my bike riding five miles, then 10, then 20. I went back to the GHFC, talked to their staff and\u00a0really focused. I changed my eating habits and listened to my body when it told me something was wrong. I am not OFF the transplant list, I see my cardiologist\u00a0every six months instead of every six weeks and it feels great. The heart is still\u00a0busted but it’s happy to get the workouts.<\/p>\n

Does your company offer incentives for exercising or eating right? If so, how do\u00a0you take part?<\/strong> They have allowed me to put in a \u201cfitness trail\u201d with workout\u00a0stations around the back land of the hotel and promote this to employees and\u00a0guests.<\/p>\n

Do you have a family, and if so \u2026 how do you juggle work, fitness and family?<\/strong>\u00a0Yep. I have a 15 and 19 year-old daughters. They are very active and we do\u00a0quite a bit of things together for fitness. We all support healthy eating and habits.\u00a0We try to discuss schedules and juggle them around the set fitness schedule.<\/p>\n

Greatest accomplishment in fitness\/athletics:<\/strong> Hmm\u2026not in this order;\u00a0overcoming the cardio event to get back to where I am today; Shodan rank at\u00a017 (karate); being friends with Fitz Koehler (slightly sucking up here\u2026haha); UF Cheerleading (yes, it\u2019s a darn tough sport) after getting hurt as a UF baseball player and having to stop playing.<\/p>\n

Weirdest\/funniest\/craziest thing that you’ve ever experienced while exercising:<\/strong>\u00a0OK\u2026actually tripping on a treadmill and flying off the back of it (yes I admit it).<\/p>\n

Must-have training equipment:<\/strong> 10 and 25 lb. dumbbells at home; you can target\u00a0almost any muscle of the body with these.<\/p>\n

Favorite training tune:<\/strong>\u00a0For some reason I like reggae and Buffet.<\/p>\n

Favorite healthy food:<\/strong>\u00a0Yogurt fresh fruit smoothies. Any kind of fish. Steamed\u00a0broccoli or carrots with honey and ginger.<\/p>\n

Favorite not-so-healthy food:<\/strong> Chicken wings. Nappy\u2019s Oreo ice cream pie.<\/p>\n

Do you think fitness is a factor in being successful in business? Why or why not?<\/strong>\u00a0Absolutely. It shows a respect for your body and the discipline to get it there\u00a0and keep it there. If you can empower and motivate those around you to follow\u00a0in your fitness footsteps, then you can do the same at your job.<\/p>\n

What fit professional inspires you?<\/strong> Fitz Koehler, Jor Cirulli, Jerri Spurrier.<\/p>\n

Advice for others trying to become more fit:<\/strong> START\u2026that\u2019s the hardest part. Be\u00a0realistic in goals and don\u2019t worry about occasional bad stuff. Ya gotta eat ice\u00a0cream now and then.<\/p>\n

Best piece of business advice you’ve ever received:<\/strong> Karl, you think and move like a Ferrari and you will never affect change going too fast. Treat work and\u00a0fitness like the most graceful of giant cruise ships and slowly turn it in the direction you\u00a0want it to go.<\/p>\n