That's Fit

This month was pretty important for my little family; my son's adoption was finalized. I first started thinking about adoption nearly five years ago. Then, in the summer of 2005, I hosted a boy from Russia for the summer. I tried to adopt him, but before I was able to a Russian family took him in. Though I was heartbroken, I knew he was OK and I was happy that he was placed in a loving home in his homeland.

When the Russian adoption fell through, I decided to adopt from the US foster care system. It was hard switching gears, but I was excited and ready to try again. 10 months later I was matched with an energetic, funny, and athletic 10-year-old... my son. He moved in with me last June. The past 10 months have been the most challenging and rewarding months of my life. My son tests me daily, but he also stuns me with his resilience and wonderful qualities.

While things are sometimes harder than I expected, there is very little that we've gone through that I hadn't learned about through research or from my agency. One thing that that took me by surprise, however, was the depression I felt after first meeting my son and after he first came home. I had always thought post-adoption depression (PADS) was a bit of a myth. After all, there are no pregnancy hormones involved and, after finally adopting after a lot of effort (because very few adoptions process without tons of effort on everybody's part), how could you possibly feel depressed?

Curious to know how celebrities squeeze fitness into their daily lives? Want to know the secrets of the stars? Bi-weekly our That's Fit fitness expert Fitz sits down with the celebs we want to know more about, and digs out their great and not-so-great methods to staying healthy.

My guest this week has something many of us have dreamed of having; Olympic Gold and a successful professional career traveling the world as an athlete. Russian born skater, Ilia Kulik, is living the dream and spent some time with me to chat about it. Ilia endured many grueling years of competition which lead him to win an arsenal of shiny medal, including some heavy gold in Nagano, Japan in February 1998.

It was fun hearing of the ease in which Ilia prepares and performs magically on ice around the world today. He's now enjoying his work on the Smuckers, Stars on Ice tour. This father of two shares some unique insight on the lifestyle and fitness habits of a former world champion. Has he maintained the ability to perform jaw-dropping jumps? Has he gained weight from a decrease in training? Read on to find out!

Fitz: What goes through your head while actually skating for the Gold Medal during the Olympics?

Ilia: You know, I worked very hard on only focusing on techniques and my skating routines. Nerves can kill you, so the most important rule about competition is to conquer nerves. I didn't have time to be nervous, I had to focus on every detail of what I was doing.

Fitz: That is really hard to do! Were you actually able to do that?

Ilia: Yes! In fact I was perfect in concentration. That's why I had success.

Fitz: What was going through your mind when you were standing on the podium being awarded Olympic Gold?

Ilia. Ahh! I was exhausted! I was trying to relax, but it was very hard to do and I was very tired. It wasn't until a couple of days later that I really got a grasp of what I had actually accomplished. In fact, my wife won two Olympic Gold medals. She too, was overwhelmed with her first victory. She says she enjoyed the second win much more though. She was able to relax and absorb it all.

Curious to know how celebrities squeeze fitness into their daily lives? Want to know the secrets of the stars? Bi-weekly our That's Fit fitness expert Fitz sits down with the celebs we want to know more about, and digs out their great and not-so-great methods to staying healthy.

My guest this week is one of the most menacing creatures the Octagon has ever known. Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski is a contradiction as one of the Ultimate Fighting Champion's Title Holders, and the kind of guy anyone would die to call their friend. As generous as he is powerful......Andrei is someone I'm proud to introduce you to.

In fact, a couple of weeks ago I watched Andrei win a UFC match on television. Normally, he lives up to his nick name "The Pitbull," but on this night.....the story was only slightly different. He overwhelmed his opponent in a completely lopsided first round, and then chose not to go for the knock out in the second and third (UFC rounds last five minutes). This was very smart of Andrei, as it preserved his win and kept him far from risk. But.....the crowd wanted blood and gave a little "Boo." This is what I love about Andrei. He totally could have left his opponent unconscious if he would have chosen to, but since he didn't go for it....he took responsibility to the UFC fans. The man actually took the microphone post-win and apologized to the crowd! Have you ever heard of that? The guy is both and monster and a gentleman at the same time. A perfect combination.

Andrei is a former police officer and is now playing hero to his sport. Interviewing Andrei was a lot of fun for me. He speaks English extremely well, but I left his "accent" here in the interview. I think it adds to his charm. Enjoy!

Fitz: How did you get involved with Mixed Martial Arts and UFC?

Andrei: When I was a student in the Police Academy. It is a four year school like University here. Every student needs to learn a combat sport and I learned Sambo. I excelled at this and after the Academy I tested myself with cage fighting. I then moved to Chicago and had my first fight with the UFC.

Fitz: What are your workouts like when you don't have a fight pending?

Andrei: I work on my technique in Boxing, Jiu-Jitsu and freestyle wrestling. I also do my cardio to keep in shape.

Fitz: What are your workouts like when you do have a fight in the near future?

Andrei: My work out changes as it gets closer to the fight, and also changes depending on the opponent. I work out six days a week and 6-8 hours a day.

If you lived in the Russian region of Ulyanovsk, you'd have the day off today in the hopes that you'd accomplish one thing: conception. September 12th has been declared (euphemistically) "Family Contact Day" in an effort to boost the region's nosediving population. Couples who manage to produce a child -- exactly nine months from today -- on June 12th are eligible for prizes, including up to $9,000 for second and third children.

I can put my finger on at least a few things wrong with this idea, the least being the fact that having sex does not equal having a baby. They'd be better off having "Family Contact Month," but then I suppose no one would get any work done. Besides that fact, many of the reasons that the Russian population is declining have nothing to do with sex and everything to do with a poor economy and less than average health care system. But if nothing else, there's love in the air in Ulyanovsk today. Stay tuned in June to see how this social experiment pays off.