Dr. Trish Perl, Hospital Epidemiologist, Johns Hopkins Hospital
I run with my husband at 9:30 or 10 p.m. three to four times a week for about a half-hour. Sometimes on weekends, we’ll go bike riding or take long walks with our three girls, ages 14, 11 and 8. We ski in the winter. I have a dog who needs walks, too.
I’m a busy person in general; I can’t sit down and watch TV. We now have uncertainty in our lives that we are not used to, so finding ways to be mentally fit and to stay in shape are more important than ever.
Father Harold Ridley, President, Loyola College
I walk three miles a day between 5 and 7 in the evening, either on a treadmill or at our recreation center so students can see me trying to keep fit. I want to set a good example. Walking before dinner also cuts down your appetite; you have a little motivation not to overeat. I try to play racquetball with the kids at least three times a week. It’s an old man’s game; you can beat young people.
Edward Norris, Commissioner, Baltimore Police Department
It’s not easy to find time to work out, believe me. It was nearly impossible even before all this [terrorism] happened. Now that the demands on my time are so much greater, it’s even harder. We have a 2-year-old, so whenever he lets me go down to the basement I’ll work out and jog for a half-hour on the treadmill. I like to lift weights in the gym in our headquarters building. We have a collection of donated equipment from various places; nothing matches. It’s not pretty but it works. I’ll take my uniform off and work out for about 45 minutes about three days a week or whenever I can get a break during the day.
I like martial arts. We have a new trainer to teach the police how to defend themselves. I’m going to try to get a course for the command staff. I’d like everybody to stay in shape.
Sascha Wolhandler, Owner, Sascha’s restaurant and catering
I’m lucky to live in Fells Point. Every morning from 6:30 to 8, I’ll walk and run at least three miles from my house all around the entire harbor to the Rusty Scupper and back again. It’s fabulous to look at the water; it’s truly a Zen moment. It’s my shrink hour as well. I talk to myself, to other people, to my dead mother. I do miss the gym and taking exercise classes. I haven’t managed to fit that into my schedule yet, mostly because I can’t seem to get the outfit together.
Brian Billick, Head Coach, Baltimore Ravens
My schedule changes a great deal from in and out of season. In season, I have a good routine three days a week for about an hour. I jog one day, lift weights the next and play racquetball another. The competitor in me loves to play racquetball. I play with coaches and administrators right in the building. I like the solitude of running; it clears my mind. With the weights, I’m not into power lifting. I’m past the days of trying to lift bulk.
Out of season when I have more time, my wife, Kim, and I play a lot of tennis and jog together.
Dolores Deluxe, Free-lancer in the film industry
Have we met in person? I should not be involved in this article. I don’t do a thing; I have no regimen. I’m not fit. I’ve seen too many pictures of me with my arms looking like tree trunks. I make no effort.
Denise Koch, News anchor, WJZ-TV
My husband belongs to a gym. But once my kids were born, forget it! I run or walk with heavy hands on my treadmill at home. I always do a half-hour every day except weekends when I’m up and down the stairs with laundry and running after the kids. With a treadmill you have no excuse; you can always find a half-hour. And, you can do it stark naked, that’s a really great motivator. You’ll run twice as fast and twice as hard when it’s all flopping around.
A year ago, my co-worker Sally Thorner introduced me to yoga. I do it once a week for an hour and a half. I want to work up to two times a week. For years I couldn’t sleep on my back, now I can. It made a big difference to my posture and alignment. I love it.
Dr. Judy Reitz, Executive V.P. and COO, Johns Hopkins Hospital
I get up at 4 a.m. and work out for 45 minutes every weekday. (I go to bed around 9 p.m.) I have a treadmill, a stationary bike, free weights and a weight machine in my basement. I am less conscientious on weekends. In decent weather, I play golf Saturday and Sunday year-round. At work I always take the steps. I also am careful about weight monitoring. I never let myself get out of a 3-pound range. If that happens, I cut back on calories. I eat everything but manage portion control. If I’m out to dinner, I eat only a third to half of the meal and leave the rest on my plate. I never take it home. I eat red meat about once a week. I eat so many vegetables, maybe five portions of broccoli or half a cauliflower. I never bring candy, sweets or cookies into the house. I will never cheat but I may have a treat. Maybe every third week when I go out to dinner I’ll have dessert. Once a week at home after dinner I will have frozen yogurt. It’s all about discipline.
Bo Dixon, Headmaster, McDonogh School
I get up about 5:30 a.m. and work out six days a week for about an hour and 15 minutes. If I have early meetings, I’ll exercise in the evening. I have done that for most of my life, so it’s a habit by now. The school has a wonderful fitness room that was modeled after the one used by the Green Bay Packers. I used to do a great deal of running, but at my age, knees are a bit of a problem; so now I use a Stairmaster and stationary bike. I also take a spinning class twice a week. It’s a nice opportunity to talk to the kids and faculty out of the office. Exercise is one of those non-negotiables.
Charlie Fenwick Sr., Chairman of the Board, Valley Motors
At 77, you can’t do the things you did at 47 or 57. I live on a farm in Baltimore County and walk about two miles three to four days a week. Twice a week I go to the local Towson YMCA and use the Stairmaster and treadmill and do resistance exercises till I’m suitably exhausted.
Charlie Fenwick Jr., President and General Manager, Valley Motors
I get up every morning about 6 o’clock and ride one horse, maybe two, for about an hour. It’s terrific cardiovascular exercise and a great way to get the day started. I live on a nice piece of property, and I wouldn’t have nearly the appreciation of the open space and the beauty without the ride. I also play squash several days a week depending on the time of year. My partner Sandy Martin and I play doubles in tournaments. We’re ranked No. 2 in the country for those 50 years of age or older. I enjoy competing.
Charlie Fenwick III, commercial real estate broker, Colliers Pinkard, and competitive amateur jockey
In the fall, I play lots of squash, and fox hunt, then in January, I start really playing squash. Beginning Jan. 1, I go on a strict diet— health sandwiches for lunch, lots of soup, salads and no alcohol. This is all to prepare for the spring racing season, primarily the big steeplechases in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. During the season, I ride— galloping and jumping— for an hour before work, four or five mornings a week.
Sanford Ungar, President, Goucher College
My preferred form of exercise is swimming in Goucher’s pool at least two or three times a week, mornings, midday or evenings anywhere from a third of a mile to a mile. Swimming is the best conceivable exercise. I love being enveloped by the water. It’s very comforting and wonderfully private. You don’t have to talk to the person swimming next to you. It’s isolating in the most positive sense and not stressful on any muscles. It’s holistic.
Fred Guzman, COO, Brimrose Corp.
I work out heavily at the gym, usually for about three hours, three nights a week. That includes swimming, steam room, sauna, jogging. I keep my own set of weights in my office, and I’ll do curls when I’m on the telephone. I also manage to do some isometric exercises at the desk. At lunchtime, I’ll walk around the complex a couple of times. In January after the Christmas rush I’ll add fencing twice a week from 7 to about 10 p.m. I have a nice lunch and eat very light when I get home. I’ll have tea, water, maybe a soft-boiled egg. I’m 52 years of age and still have a 34-inch waist.
Jonathan Murray, First Vice President of Investments, Legg Mason; financial commentator and columnist
I try to do something every day. If I’m on the road, from appointment to appointment I’ll use a rubber squeeze ball in the car and give my arms a little workout. I also do isometrics in the car— flex my abs to keep my stomach from getting too soft. I love to run. I run three to four times a week, first thing in the morning or after work. If you’re a busy person, the beauty of running is the short amount of time it takes to get out of your work costume into your running costume— lace up your shoes and you’re gone.
Sandy Hillman, CEO of Trahan Burden and Charles
Every January I say to myself, ‘this year I am going to go on an exercise program,’ but I never do it. I suppose I don’t make it a priority. I take tai chi one night a week; it’s nice because you can do it for 10 minutes or so. It helps you stay fit, not thin. I find time to do that during the day, early morning or evening. It requires very little: just your body, no equipment. Once you learn the routine, it’s like choreography.
Linwood and Ellen Dame, Owners, Linwoods and Due restaurants
We hit tennis balls on Sunday as a family for an hour and a half. My wife, Ellen, our 10-year-old son, John, and I each take a half-hour lesson. Then we rotate hitting balls with whomever isn’t taking a lesson.
Ellen and I lift weights twice a week. We spend an hour with Al Johnson, a trainer at the Greenspring Gym, and work on the chest and arms one day, shoulders and legs on another. In between, we run, mostly outdoors. I love running in the rain. I put in 10 to 15 miles a week. Ellen puts in five to seven miles. I do it to stay in shape and to handle stress. When I work till 2 o’clock in the morning, I find the other people lagging behind and I’m going strong. I’m 47 and not the type that is going to retire at 60. I’ll be working at 65, 70 maybe 75.
We also follow a five-day working diet— small meals five times a day, eating in combinations of proteins and carbohydrates. No carbs after 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Our fat percentage is way down and muscle percentage way up. In my business, it’s easy to be good. I can have food prepared any way I want it. If I’m going to a meeting, I take a protein bar and a half-gallon of water. The key is not to get hungry.
Sandra Magsamen, Artist
I go to yoga class once a week at the Greater Baltimore Yoga Center in Lutherville. It’s a great place. My husband or I take Hannah, our 12-year-old daughter, on Monday nights. On weekends, we go to Loch Raven and walk as a family. Work is exercise, too. I’m a potter.
Amy Elias, President, Profiles Inc.
I run; I swim; I bike. I get up about 7 a.m. and run every day, averaging six miles a day, Monday through Friday. Weekends I’ll run between eight and 12 miles each day. About five times a week I swim at lunchtime, if I don’t have a meeting, or before dinner at Meadowbrook, the North Baltimore aquatic center. All the young Olympic athletics train there so it’s very inspiring. On weekends, when the weather is nice, I’ll bike outdoors. But when it isn’t, I put a piece of equipment on the back of my bike that keeps it stationary and use it indoors. Of course, when I’m on vacation skiing, I also do a lot of hiking.
Spike and Charlie Gjerde, Owners, Spike and Charlie’s Restaurant Group
Spike: My favorite exercise is playing ice hockey at least once a week for an hour and a half at the Mount Pleasant Ice Rink. I’ve been playing for about 12 years. Hockey is great because it’s good for your body and your emotional state. You can blow off a little accumulated frustration; it’s a good workout.
Charlie: I’m an avid squash player. I play at Meadow Mill, a gym that features the best squash facility on the East Coast. Four of us get together two to three times a week and play doubles. I also play soccer twice a week year-round. It’s fun to get out of the restaurant with a group of guys, run around and burn that extra energy off. It’s a lot better than playing poker.
Daniel Mark Epstein, Poet and author of “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed: The Loves and Love Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay”
Every other day from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. I go to the gym. I use the Stairmaster and the stationary bike for about 40 minutes, then do a routine using the Nautilus for about 20 minutes with stretching afterward.
Dr. David Scharff, Internist, Mercy Medical Center
I spend half days in my office and the other half doing paperwork and making the rounds at the hospital. Since my paperwork is flexible, I often sneak out, ride my bike and do the paperwork later in the evenings. I ride four to five days a week. Weekends I’ll go 60 to 80 miles; weekdays 20 to 50 miles. I do push-ups and sit-ups at home. I often walk the stairs at the hospital, and I commute by bicycle from my home in Federal Hill to my office three days a week.
Paul Winicki, President, Radcliffe Jewelers and Creative Specialties
I try to go to the gym at least three days a week. Running is not my favorite exercise, but I try to run three miles to warm up. I’ll do a variety of weight training for another 45 minutes, maybe an hour. I play squash with my daughters, Jessica, 18, and Noelle, 12, at Meadow Mill and the Baltimore Country Club. They both beat me. In the summer at the beach, I run with my daughters on Ocean Highway and we enter some 5-K’s together.
Carolyn Burridge, Lobbyist, CTB Government Relations
January through April is my busiest time of year. I literally run— I do not walk— up and down the Statehouse stairs. From April to December, I play golf and do lots of walking.
Congressman Bob Ehrlich
I schedule at least an hour a day of workout time. It’s mandatory. If I don’t exercise every day, I get in a grumpy mood. With [my wife Kendall’s and my] schedules and the need to spend some time with our 2-year-old toddler, we don’t usually go to bed before 1 a.m. so we sleep as late as possible. We exercise at least an hour a day even if it means exercising at 11 p.m. or midnight, that’s not unusual at our house. We have a weight set at our home, we belong to Gold’s gym and I have access to a gym on Capitol Hill. My wife and I are avid golfers and play tennis, too.
Donna Crivello, Co-owner, Donna’s restaurants and coffee bars
I live in Canton. Every other day I run two to three miles down Boston Street to Fells Point. More than to stay fit, exercise helps me focus. I like to exercise in the morning but not at the crack of dawn since I stay up late at night. I’ve been running 20 years and my knees are starting to get to me. I also do weight training at a gym at Tindeco Wharf. I use the stationary bike or weights while I’m reading a food book or magazine. I try to do something every day because I never know what the next day will bring.
Gail Kaplan, Co-owner, Polo Grill and VP of Sales, Classic Catering People
I have to exercise a minimum of five times a week to maintain my weight. I like to eat and drink and I don’t have a lot of discipline. I used to take classes, but I stopped about three years ago. Instead, I hired a trainer who taught me how to exercise by myself and I use the exercise room in our apartment building. I try to work out first thing in the morning for about 30 to 45 minutes. I read when I’m on the treadmill. After I’ve done weights for 10 minutes I’m ready to kill. I walk outdoors with a few friends in the neighborhood a few days a week for about an hour. When I get really frustrated I do aerobics for a half-hour in the pool at the Colonnade.
Lenny doesn’t have to exercise like I do, but he watches what he eats. He never puts a morsel of food in his mouth between meals. He eats fruit for breakfast, a turkey sandwich for lunch. Sometimes he plays golf. Every fall he plays basketball in a Senior Olympics League twice a week. When that’s over, he stops. When we go to the beach for two weeks once a year, he runs three to five miles each day for two weeks. Then he stops.
Ruth Shaw, Owner, Ruth Shaw fashion boutique
I use a cardiovascular program on my treadmill and a bench with weights in my bedroom. They used to be in the basement but putting the equipment in my bedroom made all the difference. I try to use them for a half-hour to an hour when I get home, before dinner, five or six days a week. I run up and down the steps in my house constantly. When in NYC, I walk very fast and take the subway so I’m up and down more steps. I’m not a stroller. When I’m in Milan or Paris, I walk. I’m always carrying things, too. Heavy bags of groceries or a suitcase. I wish I were more devoted to exercise, but I’m not.But you know, I was just in California; they’re all exercise nuts and they still don’t look good in their Spandex.
Matthew Polk, Chairman of the Board, Polk Audio
I play squash once or twice a week, at my age (52) that’s all I can take. At home we have a NordicTrack that my wife (architect Amy Gould) and I have used religiously for over 15 years. We work out between 20 and 40 minutes up to three times a week. We have worn it out and replaced all the parts several times. When the weather is nice, we go bicycling for an hour or swim in the lake on Gibson Island where we live. We just got a single-person rowing shell and as soon as we figure out how not to tip it over, we’ll use it. We ski about 25 days a year in Utah. We usually go for one week of helicopter skiing in untracked terrain in the Canadian Rockies. You’ve got to be quite fit to do it. The last time we were there, we skied almost 250,000 vertical feet.
The hardest thing is to stay fit when traveling, especially across many time zones. I take my running shoes wherever I go. On my first morning, I go for a jog— it helps clear my head.
Jon McGill, Headmaster, Gilman School
One of the things I regret is that I don’t run much anymore. I was a hockey player, but I’m too old for that. I just started Pilates classes at Goucher College and I work with a private trainer. My wife, Linnet Jones, and I do it once a week. It was Linnet who persuaded me to do it. We’re enrolled in a class for experienced beginners. Pilates allows me to carve out time in my schedule that is just for me. It helps me regain some flexibility. At the moment I use the basic equipment.
Starting next week, I’ll be skating with the varsity and junior varsity ice hockey teams. I’ll be skating and doing a little informal coaching. It’ll be fun to go out at 6 a.m. with these dedicated kids.
Dan Collins, Senior Manager Media Relations, Mercy Medical Center
Fifteen years ago, I took an eight-week beginners fencing course and I’ve been doing it ever since. It helps build strength and it’s good for the heart. It’s physically challenging and mentally intensive. There are no dumb fencers. I usually show up at the club (the Baltimore Fencing Center in Timonium) on Tuesdays and Thursdays from about 7 to 9 p.m. It’s great male bonding.
Susan Reimer, Columnist, The Baltimore Sun
I do a little bit of a lot of things. But because my life is so chaotic, I can’t seem to establish a pattern. There’ll be weeks when I’ll exercise five times; other weeks, no time. I try to walk for 35 minutes in the morning. Some days I’ll swim for 35 minutes or lift weights or go to yoga class. I have this plan of a wonderful daily, diversified fitness routine that I will do as soon as my kids go to college.
Sally Michael, Civic leader and volunteer, founder of SuperKids Camp
I’m not one of your workout fiends. I walk, whenever I can. Some weeks it’s every day; some weeks, not at all. I have a treadmill but I’m more inclined to walk 30 to 45 minutes outside. It’s very peaceful to walk around my neighborhood near Sherwood Gardens, usually by myself or with a neighbor across the street.
Carla Hayden, Executive Director, Enoch Pratt Free Library
I schedule exercise first thing every morning at least five times a week. I take a 30- to 35-minute walk from 6 to 6:30 a.m. Saying it’s the first thing I’m going to do is easier than trying to fit it into evenings. I walk briskly and swing my arms. I might add weights at a later time. I see raccoons, rabbits and squirrels and I see people walking their dogs. It’s very calming to start the day with nature.
Carroll Armstrong, President and CEO, Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association
Currently, my occupation is my exercise. I’m running, so to speak, from morning until night. I make it a point to walk to a lot of meetings, but I realize I need to incorporate a more formal exercise program into my daily routine. I’m planning to work with a personal trainer to establish an exercise regimen that can be done on the go, even when I’m traveling.
Kathy Sher, Deputy Director of External Affairs, National Aquarium
The embarrassing part is, I don’t do any exercise. Well, I walk a lot. I never take elevators. I always take the steps. I try to park far away from the door. And I power walk to the Xerox machine down the hall. But I’m a notorious exercise avoider. I have exercise phobia. I get teased about it. I’m conscious of it all the time. But what I lack in diligence I make up for in guilt.
