Think it’s a challenge getting a good workout when you’re out of town, staying overnight in a hotel?
Imagine if you lived and worked in one every day.
Fortunately for Kathy Baker, her home and workplace is the Crowne Plaza Hotel, which boasts a 3,000-square-foot gym with treadmills, elliptical trainers, Stair Steppers, bicycles, free weights and weight machines.
And as general manager of the hotel and a partner in the company that owns it and three other hotels, she makes use of all the equipment.
The first thing Baker does every day when she gets up at 5 a.m. is hit the gym. She works out 10 hours per week, doing cardio every day and strength training three days per week. Once each week, she also runs 10 miles, all in one stretch.
“I once took a fitness test, and I told the 23-year-old trainer I ran 10 miles once a week,” she says. “He said, ‘All at one time? Wow, that’s a lot.’ I told him not to worry, that I was over 40 before I realized I could run 10 miles.”
Baker grew up on a farm, the youngest of five children. She played softball and basketball and rode a bicycle everywhere. It was in high school that she realized how much better she felt when she was in the middle of a training season for basketball or track.
After graduating from college, she and her husband moved to Denver and took a hiatus from working out. Then some friends of his invited the couple to play touch football in the park.
“We were so sore and so winded,” Baker says. “The very next week, we went out and joined a gym, and we’ve worked out on a regular basis ever since.”
Baker mixes up her routine. Every day, she does cardio, using the elliptical machine, bicycle, Stair Stepper or treadmill. Three days per week, she mixes in strength training, either free weights or machines. Squats and lunges are a must. And then there’s her weekly run.
Every now and then, she works with a trainer to develop a new routine and ensure that her body benefits from the workouts. She and her husband trained for their first marathon three and a half years ago, and they’ve kept running ever since.
“After it was over, I said, ‘I don’t want to get out of this kind of shape,’” she says. “I figure if I run every week, I’ll always be in half-marathon shape.”
As for her diet, Baker doesn’t eat anything that has no nutritional value. That means no fried foods and only fat-free dairy. She hasn’t eaten butter in 15 years.
Being in a business where banquets are king, Baker always plans ahead. If she knows she’s going somewhere where the food probably won’t be healthy, she eats an apple before she goes and something more substantial upon her return. She also researches restaurant menus ahead of time to see how she might adapt a meal into something healthy.
Why bother with it all?
“In large part, it’s because of how much better I feel and how much better I look,” Baker says. “If I continue to work out, aging doesn’t matter. And when we’re in good shape, there are so many more things we can do. My husband and I travel a lot, and we’ve ridden bikes all over the world. If you’re not in good shape, you’re limited.”
