CCLB 05-28-07 A 11 CCLB 5/24/2007 3:17 PM Page 1 WORK&PLAY THEBODYSHOP What price are you willing to pay for perfection? Options abound for those willing to invest time and money into achieving their ideal image. By JOEL HAMMOND [email protected] ooking good comes with a cost. It may mean a hit to the wallet after one of the myriad cosmetic procedures available, or it could L mean a cutback in free time and quadruple pounders with cheese following a commitment to fitness. Take Sam Kincaid, 48, a staff member at the Lakewood branch of the Greater Cleveland YMCA, who has completed three weeks of an intense four-week fitness program dubbed by the Y as “See Sam Shrink.” “I got tired of looking at myself in the mirror,” Mr. Kincaid said, “and I got tired of sucking in my gut when I walked around.” After Lakewood Y fitness director Anne Mitchell found Mr. Kincaid’s body mass index to be at Grade 1 obesity, he committed to a program that includes working out with a personal trainer three times a week and participating in two fitness classes a week. INSIDE: Area exercise The workouts are 30 minutes, with enthusiasts share stories never more than a minute of rest of their favorite ways to stay fit. Page 12 between activities like “drop sets,” where Mr. Kincaid ONLINE: See before does, for example, and after photos of Sam Kincaid and Laura five repetitions at 50 Acklin by visiting pounds, seven at 45, www.CrainsCleveland.com /Appearance. nine at 40 and 11 and 35. While Mr. Kincaid paid in soreness and sweat, Laura Acklin opened up her piggy bank for a cervicoplasty, which costs about $3,000 and is essen- tially a liposuction of the neck area. Miss Acklin, a graphic designer by trade, under- went the procedure by Dr. Michael Wojtanowski of the Ohio Clinic for Aesthetic & Plastic Surgery in March of last year, and said she came away satisfied and more confident. “I went back to work the next day, with a bandage over the area where I had the work done,” Miss Acklin said. “I was in the middle of a big project, rested the rest of the day (of the surgery) and went back quickly.” And while Miss Acklin and Mr. Kincaid each paid a different price in their efforts to look and feel better, they are joined in a mission shared by many: THE QUEST FOR ... PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: MARC GOLUB APERFECTBODY CCLB 05-28-07 A 12 CCLB 5/24/2007 10:30 AM Page 1 12 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM MAY 28-JUNE 3, 2007 WORK&PLAY KEEPINGFITWITH ... times on the treadmill in the early marathon. His next goal is to run a morning, sometimes with an infor- 50K ultra-trail marathon, which is mal group ranging from two to 40 longer than the traditional 26-mile BRET TREIER people in the Cuyahoga Valley marathon and can include terrain ttorney Bret Treier always ran National Park. The group ranges with hills, mountains, deserts and two to three times a week to from high school students to senior forests. A stay in shape. But when he citizens, and their backgrounds Mr. Treier also worked with the began practicing law, he discovered include psychologists, attorneys, Road Runner Akron Marathon, the sport provided him with both an engineers, high school teachers and collaborating with a fellow running outlet for stress and a way to recharge. even a federal judge. enthusiast to design the race’s At his first firm, his company He said when he has to slow course. needed someone to run in the 5K down or stop running due to an His wife, 20-year-old daughter event for a corporate challenge. He injury, he can get a little “cranky.” and 60-year-old father all have run found out he liked running and “I feel like something’s missing,” with him in a variety of settings. He decided to run his first marathon he said. “You feel better physically ran with his daughter in Austria, when he turned 30. and mentally. I like the training with his father on a Switzerland “I told myself I’d run one aspect of it. Focusing on a training trail and with all of them in the marathon,” he said, adding that at run helps you relax so you can then Akron Marathon as Team Treier. age 47 he now has run close to 30. focus at work.” “That’s an unexpected later-in- “It’s my drug of choice. It’s a cure- Over the years, Mr. Treier said life benefit, enjoying quiet all. It does wonders.” he’s set and met a series of running moments in odd spaces you MARC GOLUB Mr. Treier, who now works for goals — finish a marathon, qualify wouldn’t have thought about when Bret Treier is planning on participating in a 50K ultra-trail marathon run, which Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease for the Boston Marathon (which he you’re 25 years old,” he said. is longer than the traditional 26-mile marathon. LLP, runs nearly every day — some- has run six times) and run a trail — Kimberly Bonvissuto Provencher, who now works as a in the 1988 Olympics — when ous, because I don’t know what kid KEEPINGFITWITH ... commercial real estate appraiser. short-track speed skating was an is the next one 10 years from now And he found out he could learn exhibition sport. that may be on that podium,” he PAUL PROVENCHER the sport at a newly built skating In his senior year he made it to said. n 1976, Paul Provencher was rink in his hometown of North the first Olympic trials, but his He also continues to compete 10 years old and glued to the Olmsted. He joined the North Olm- 32nd-place finish was not good nationally, placing seventh in his Itelevision watching the Olympic sted Speedskating Club and skated enough to make the team. He age class of 40- to 49-year-olds. Games play out in Montreal. He in his first national competition in continued competing nationally Mr. Provencher said he trains 10 found himself drawn to short-track 1980. and remained involved in the local months out of the year and visits speed skating. He later enrolled at Northern speed-skating club scene. After the different clubs to gain additional “As a kid at that age, seeing the Michigan University, which was North Olmsted club folded in the practice and insight. Olympics and seeing speed skating, recognized as an Olympic educa- 1980s, he became a member of the Mr. Provencher said anyone I thought it was neat,” said Mr. tion center, with aspirations to be Brooklyn club, which lost its ice who’s never stood rinkside to watch about six years ago. the sport should consider doing so. As president of the club then and “It’s definitely something I’m now, he moved his 15-member very passionate about,” he said. group to Ice Land USA in Strongsville “There are guys at nationals in their and changed the club name to the 70s, pushing 80, and I’ll probably be North Coast Speedskating Club. one of those guys. This is hard to do Today, he enjoys coaching a multi- when you’re a 40-some-year-old. JESSE KRAMER MEETINGS & CONVENTIONS generational group. You train hard.” As a college senior, Paul Provencher SAWMILL CREEK RESORT & CONFERENCE CENTER “When I coach kids I take it seri- — Kimberly Bonvissuto made it to the first Olympic trials. • NEW! 16,000 s.f. Ballroom • Golf 35,000 s.f. Total Function Space • Lakefront Marina Ms. Kouvaras describes it as a more KEEPINGFITWITH ... feminine category that focuses on leanness and symmetry. WENDY KOUVARAS Through discipline, she sculpted endy Kouvaras has been her body and entered the competi- in the field of exercise tive world. In two years she’s done six W physiology for a while. She shows, bringing home two third- has a master’s degree, is a personal place finishes, along with a first-place trainer and is now the athletic in her height class in the recent director at The Club at Key Center. Natural Ohio Bodybuilding But she never took time for herself. Championships in Lakewood. She began putting on weight, her “It’s been a great experience for energy levels dropped and she me to learn about my body and didn’t feel great. One day she “hit foods, and pushing myself and the wall” and decided it was time to being disciplined and sticking to take that time for herself. my goals,” she said. She started paying attention to her Consistency is the biggest chal- sawmillcreek.com eating habits, eating every three hours lenge. She prepares her meals in Sandusky/Huron, OH 44839 1-800-729-6455 in moderation. She lost a pound advance, eating eight to nine struc- here and there, and before she knew tured meals a day. Although she knew the fundamen- tals of exercise, she said she didn’t MARC GOLUB comprehend the impact it would Wendy Kouvaras is the athletic direc- have on her body until she went tor at The Club at Key Center through the critical aspect of eating Visit us at our new location healthy. it she had lost close to 30 pounds in “Three years ago I was a com- four months. She also challenged pletely different person,” she said. Ohio Clinic for Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery herself to train for a 5K run.