Name: Kurt Gorrell

What are your favorite recreational activities, and why? 

I was a competitive gymnast up through high school, and I still love to do gymnastics because it not only builds strength, balance, and coordination, but you’re also developing new skills and confidence in yourself and what your body can do. For me, building those skills also takes some patience and lessons in putting aside my desire for achieving mastery sooner. When I can actually nail something I’ve been working on, it really feels worth the time I have spent in refinement. I also love surfing and bodyboarding. Here in the Bay Area, there is a certain challenge to that, no matter what the conditions are. It’s so much fun gliding down a wave at high speed, pelicans flying 3 feet above my head, dolphins coming around to say Hi, as well as the occasional sea lion. It’s my happy place. 

What are your two favorite exercises (or forms of exercise) that you do right now?  

This is a really hard question, because I am one of those people who really likes to do lots of forms of movement on a daily and weekly basis – it’s hard to just pick two! I’ll go with two that feel tried and true, for different reasons. For the first, I’d pick a functional movement that feels useful in everyday life, but really challenges me, like a back lunge with an upward chop with either a resistance band, a medicine ball, a Vipr, or a kettlebell. It challenges my balance, my strength, and I need to stay focused to perform it correctly. For the second, I am cheating a little here by not naming one exercise in particular, but in general, I do all of my workouts breathing through my nose. If you want to read more, there are numerous resources available online and in the literature that describe the downfalls of ‘mouth breathing,’ especially when exercising. With that said, I’ve noticed a huge improvement to my stamina since I’ve been paying attention to how I breathe when I do movement that challenges my cardiovascular fitness!

Back Lunge with Upward Chop

Back Lunge with Upward Chop Using a Kettlebell

Why do you like each one? 

I like to do exercises that challenge the body in all planes of movement. It’s more typical for many of us to exercise in the sagittal plane, meaning front to back movements like squats, lunges, pushups, etc., but the body moves in 3 different planes – sagittal (front to back), frontal (side to side), and transverse (rotation) – and a lot of movement in everyday life is a combination of all three. We need to train in all three independently, and in their combination. As a secondary benefit, doing movement that has more complexity not only mirrors what we do in daily life, but it also adds a lot more fun and challenge to my workouts!

How have you noticed these activities improve your performance?

Working in all dimensions makes for easier paddling and balance for surfing. I’ve also noticed that it is a lot easier now to lift heavier things in different positions and pick heavier things up off of the floor. As I have aged, I also feel like I can achieve different gains in my strength, power and mobility by continuously keeping myself challenged.

What keeps you motivated to keep doing this exercise?

Just knowing the many benefits that exercise can bring you – strength, balance, mobility, immunity, confidence, overall well-being – it’s hard not to motivate. I also personally like to set small challenges for myself. So for example, if I am setting up a circuit of 3 rounds of 4 exercises, I like to see if I can push myself to finish it within a certain time allotment.

How do you keep yourself accountable to do this exercise? 

My whole life, I have been an athlete. It sounds cliché, but I just feel like my engine runs better when I am consistent, and I can’t really imagine who I would be without exercise finding a place of high value within my personal life.

Tell us about an exercise that you don’t love to do, but still do because you know it’s beneficial for you? 

My wife and I do a metabolic workout in Golden Gate Park every Saturday and it’s anywhere between 5-10 minutes of 4-5 high intensity, non-stop exercises for 3 rounds. I will usually get my heartrate up to 168-174 beats per minute. It is entirely a love/hate feeling: it’s amazing when you’re finished, but I’m dreading it the entire 2 block walk to the park.