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Out of the Armchair, Back to Health and Fitness By Ellyn Wexler Kensington Gazette September 28, 2005 Ironically, Thomas Denes is no “Armchair Athlete.” The 48-year-old Kensington resident who wrote the book that bears that title is, in fact, a Masters swimmer, a triathlete and a yoga practitioner. So why produce a fitness manual specifically for out of share or overweight people who “used-to-be,” “want-to-be” or “need-to-be” fit and healthy? “It is the rare person who has the motivation to stay in shape throughout their lives. People get distracted by jobs, family, and a myriad of entertainment venues,” Denes explains “I want to help people to regain the bodies and vigor they had when they were younger.” “Everyone can get into shape,” he proclaims. “They just need a little motivation.” And that’s where Denes comes in with his light and informal tone and a conversational style that is easy to read and understand. Up front, he defines his terminology, and describes the benefits readers derive and what they have to do to achieve them. Related issues – nutrition, weight and smoking – are touched on. The “no pain, no gain” philosophy is definitely not part of this plan. “None of the exercises in this book will make you suffer. Each will build on a foundation that you will develop slowly. This will allow you to get in shape without suffering,” he promises. The sturdy 60-page book is designed with pages cut into three segments. Topping each page is a flexibility exercises, in the middle, a strength exercise, and at the bottom, an endurance exercise. Thus, much like a child’s book where the face, middle and lower body may be alternated for comic results, these sections can be mixed and matched to produce more than 8,200 combinations. So much for monotony! Denes designates exercise at three levels of difficulty – beginner, intermediate and advanced – so everyone may be accommodated and have ample opportunity to increase the challenge when appropriate. In creating his workouts, Denes says, one predominant principle prevailed: “simplicity. The exercises are all very simple.” And Denes is not a hard taskmaster, but lack of time or equipment are not valid excuses. No workout takes more than 20 minutes, and flexibility and strength exercises may be done in front of the television. While equipment like dumbbells would be useful, Denes advises, “You can substitute a can of vegetable for each of the dumbbells.” Like any fitness program of value, the “Armchair” program is not a quick fix. “I encourage people to get in shape gradually. It can take years to get in top shape although people should see some results within a few months,” he says. Denes began swimming competitively at age 12, “hooked on the competitive aspects rights away,” and continued in high school and college. He gave up the sport for 13 years until 1990 when he made Masters swimming his habit. “U.S. Masters Swimming is a national organization to promote fitness and competitive swimming for people between the ages of 19 and 100-plus,” Denes says. A year later, upon relocating to Montgomery County (Maryland), he founded the Montgomery Ancient Mariners, now “the largest Masters swimming club in the Potomac Valley, with approximately 250 swimmers.” He ran the county recreation department’s Masters program for four years. Since 1996, Denes has participated in triathlons, placing in the top 10 percent of his age group. He also began practicing yoga in 2001 “to try to regain some of the flexibility I’ve lost over the years.” Denes is no stranger to fitness writing. In addition to several articles for “Swim Magazine” and “Inside Triathlon,” he formed a company – Ancient Mariner Aquatics – to publish his books. Previous titles are “The Waterproof Coach: The Waterproof Workout Book for Fitness Swimmers and Triathletes,” and “The Waterproof Triathlete: Waterproof Workouts for Triathletes,” both “on waterproof paper so that the user can take them directly to the pool deck.” They, too feature the split-page format. “The Waterproof Coach,” he says, has sold 3,000 copies since its 1997 debut. “The Armchair Athlete” is likely to resonate with an even broader market: baby boomers who “used-to-be,” “want-to-be” or “need-to-be” fit and healthy.
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