5 Years of STRENFLEX - Strenflex Fitness Sport

I N T E R V I E W
Interview with Paul Underberg
„I want to be a role model and come across as authentic –
that‘s why I got my Strenflex Fitness Sport badge.“
First of all warm congratulations are
due to Paul Underberg on achieving
his GOLD fitness sport badge. He is
once again one of the industry‘s first
VIPs who, despite a full schedule,
has taken advantage of a personal
test appointment agreed with us in
advance.
His calendar entry for today is certain
to have read „15.00: Strenflex Fitness
Test – today I‘m going to get the fitness
sport badge,“ followed here by
an exclamation mark – there‘s no way
he‘d put a question mark here!
And that‘s exactly what happened
– everything was completed in just
over 20 minutes: I collected him from
his office, he made one quick telephone
call and we walked together
across the yard into Injoy Dorsten (his
sporting home for almost 20 years).
Next we completed the test questionnaire
(Paul‘s DOB: 7.5.56) and then
the serious work began…
Test exercise 1: Cardio step test in the
gymnastics room: 3 minutes of concentrated
stepping up and down at a
medium speed (96 beats per minute,
with the rhythm set by a metronome,
a 30cm high step, alternating the legs
every minute to warm up („… thanks
to my regular cardio training my resting
pulse rate is under 50“, says Paul).
A pause after this bout of obviously
strenuous effort – sit down and get
your breath back. My final pulse rate
check (1 minute) returns a excellent
result of „76 beats“.
The 1st test exercise is complete with
a „Gold“ result. A look at the evaluation
table shows that, for Paul‘s age
group (M4) 97 beats would also have
been sufficient for Gold.
Following on from this very successful
initial test we then moved on to the
gym, both of us positively motivated,
set the chin-up bar to the correct
height for continuing the test – plenty
of time to do this in the prescribed
16 STRENFLEX fitness sport 12
pause interval of just 1 minute between
the individual test exercises.
Test exercises 2 and 3 in the weight
room: here Paul completed the requirements
for GOLD (10 chin-ups, 20 dips)
with almost no effort; when he‘d done 15
chin-ups I really had to slow him down
before he got to his feet again.
Test exercise 4 (push-ups): Here too,
Paul cleanly completed these exercises
with ease – the prescribed 30 repetitions
for his challenging goal of the GOLD
fitness sport badge. With straight hips,
nose reaching the floor and a few extra
thrown in for fun (perhaps for the benefit
of the spectators?), Paul again easily
exceeded the requirements. All in all a
really impressive performance: 3 strength
sets (upper torso, shoulders, arms) with
over 70 individual repetitions completed
successfully in only 5 minutes!
Test exercise 5 (lying crunches): This
was the only test exercise that caused
Paul some difficulty beforehand – due
to an ongoing genetic back problem over
a number of years (Spondylolisthesis in
the lumbar region), but which he now
manages successfully thanks to competent
medical help and most of all regular
loosening and strengthening exercises.
But, with a bit of effort, he managed
despite his back problems, to fulfil the
test requirements (a total of 80 repetitions).
Test exercise 6 (sit & reach exercise): Paul
also successfully completed the last hurdle
of the test – oh so very carefully and
without any jerking motions (because of
his back problem).
Overall result:
6 test exercises – 6 x GOLD requirements
met. The logical result is the GOLD fitness
sport badge. Many congratulations!
After the test Paul had also set aside time
for a 15 minute rest which I promptly
exploited for a short but very enlightening
interview with him. We talked over a
delicious coffee in the club bistro:
Paul Underberg receives his Fitness Test
certificate from Dr. Rolf Krempel
Rolf Krempel: Paul, many congratulations
on achieving your Gold fitness sport
badge. With such excellent test results my
first question has to be about your sporting
past. Tell me a little about it.
Paul Underberg: I‘ve been doing fitness
and strength training since 1975, I‘ve
played squash for 10 years and have participated
in mountain biking and motorsports.
RK: How have you kept yourself fit over
the past years for career, private and
maybe even for new sporting challenges?
PU: Sport 4-5 x per week, 2-3 x strength
training; 2-3 x cardio training on a
machine, sandbag training or mountain
biking. „No time“ is no excuse for me.
When I‘m travelling I take advantage of
gym co-operation agreements and train
there or in my hotel.
RK: Why have you only just decided to
gain a fitness sport badge?
PU: Because I‘ve only recently considered
the idea more seriously and because
I want to come across as a believable role
model.
RK: I‘m under the impression that
because of current trends such as wellness,
function training, therapies, lifestyle,
etc. the sporting ideal at many gyms has
been lost and possibly many owners and
instructors no longer feel that they are
able to actively promote traditional sporting
disciplines such as chin-ups, dips,
push-ups etc. Wouldn‘t a renaissance of
these classic strength training exercises,
such as strength training itself (see the
magazines Focus, Spiegel) be a positive
contribution in terms of the core competencies
of our industry? Would it not
somehow represent the regaining of our
industry‘s self confidence?