How I did it: Change same old exercises for a healthier you

Can you defy age? Can you resist the hands of time?

Doug Pratt, 48, a local investment manager, wasn't sure.

A runner for more than two decades, he thought maybe his age had caught up to him as shin splints, back pain and an aching body began to plague his weekly runs.

He had hit a plateau. He needed a jump-start for a better lifestyle.

"I guess my goal was really to sort of tone up and deal with getting older," Pratt said. "I started having nagging injuries and I felt I had sort of - without even realizing it - slid just a bit. I had gained a little bit of weight. I wasn't quite as flexible. You know, these things happen inch by inch."

He sought the help of Ron Holland, owner and founder of Strength S.W.A.T. Personal Training, 4160 W. Ina Road. Holland took a different approach than other personal trainers had, Pratt said.

For starters he educated Pratt about what may be causing his pain and how to avoid the pain - including teaching him proper stretching and nutrition, appropriate footwear, and proper form while lifting weights. He then revamped Pratt's workouts.

Formerly Pratt did heavy weight, low repetitions and split-muscle-group training. This was what a personal trainer who specialized in body building had recommended. Holland shifted him to lighter weight, more repetitions and a total body workout that allow the body to burn fat and build muscle at the same time.

A one-hour interval workout included a variety of exercises such as time on the treadmill, core board, lunges, leg extensions, abdominals, boxing, jump rope, chest press, lower abdominals, step-ups, dumbbell rows and more.

He also changed his diet to include more lean protein, fruits and vegetables and whole grains while eliminating white flour and white sugar. He also cut down to smaller portions.

"What's interesting is, I thought I was in decent shape," Pratt said. "I've run marathons, I've lifted weights over the years, but the first three times I did his workout I had to kind of pause a couple of times because I thought I was going to be sick. I just wasn't used to that level of intensity," he said. "Yet none of the weight that Ron had me lifting was particularly heavy. I kept thinking, 'This isn't heavy.' "

Even more surprising, he said, was that he was never too sore to get out of bed the next day, and within a couple of weeks his body was responding.

Within 12 weeks he had dropped a pants size, and since the summer of 2004, when he started his program, he's become leaner, lighter and more efficient in his runs.

At 5 foot 10, he went from 170 to 155 pounds, and from a 35-inch waist to a 32.

Pratt said he now takes a more holistic view toward fitness and understands how things work together.

"Ron is very good about focusing on the process," Pratt said, adding he now has more endurance and has more speed with the same level of output. He still works out with Holland weekly, and plans to keep going.

What's his motivation?

"Old Man Time is about three feet behind me" Pratt said. And of course there is always the possibility of "looking like Brad Pitt," he joked.