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Getting Fit In A Pandemic With Dom Novak’s Virtual Empower30 Program

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By Anne W. Semmes

Dominic “Dom” Novak has a new “Empower30” program published to be used in virtual training. Contributed photo

Today, I start a new chapter in my life. It begins with a prayer and then I put my body into an impossible position, rear end to the wall, legs up and flat against the wall, back pressed to the floor, arms straight out – hold for 30 seconds. Welcome to “Empower30,” fitness trainer Dominic “Dom” Novak’s new virtual exercise program stretching across 256 pages that I intend to do for 30 days with Dom coaching me via facetime/zoom/text/iPhone/email!

I’ve self-measured, up, down, and across, weighed in, and been told the amount of protein, fats, and fiber I should have for my weight. “Your nutrition is the key to seeing visible changes in your body,” Dom writes in his “Eating for Wellness” chapter. “Eat 5-6 small meals per day and eat small quantities to ensure digestion. Don’t eat to be full but eat to be satisfied.’”

“You’re going on a spirit, mind, body journey,” Dom tells me.

I am following in the footsteps of dozens of Dom’s clients desperate in this pandemic to keep in shape, not able to go to his Peak 360 gym, that has only recently reopened. But with his new book, Empower30, they’ve been working virtually, with a few that were locked down as far as London and California. “I’ve had people who lose 10 pounds in 10 days,” he says. “They’re finding the balance in life that they’re lacking.”

A confession here. I am a 2012 graduate of Dom’s four-week Boot Camp that I chronicled in a now defunct newspaper. So, if I can survive that, I can try this. For that trial I was assigned 18 exercises to strengthen my core – same wish for today to address same computeritis. But with the variety of exercises Empower30 shows in its everyday chapters I will not count. I will just do to the best of my ability, with the occasional anguished cry out to Dom.

But, in all seriousness, I have faith in Dom, and Dom has a lot of faith (Bishop Drew Williams wrote his Foreword). He tells me the story of the birth of his Empower30 book. “It was the beginning of April,” when he woke early, with no client scheduled, and texted his pastor inquiring about a vision the pastor had of Dom having a program that would be a “very successful program for people.” Proceeding to his breakfast his wife tells him out of the blue, “Why don’t you finish that book [Empower30]?” Surely, there was a Godly message here thought Dom, and seeing as the book was already 95 percent done, he finished it in an afternoon and had his first copy the beginning of May.

Newly signed on to the Empower30 fitness training program, Anne W. Semmes tries on a new stretching position. Contributed photo.

“The timing was just right,” he tells. “People were stuck in their homes. They couldn’t really exercise. Gyms were closed. People had morning time to try to improve upon themselves. There’s a lot of fear going on in the world, a lot of worry and anxiety, and we have to think about what it is that you do to combat that. And faith is a huge component to try and combat fear, and I talk about that in the book. It’s really important to have a faith-based model for you to put yourself to so when times of trouble come you can understand and withstand the pressures all around.”

And so Dom asks us trainees to start the day, “Breathing for Ten Minutes – “begin diaphragm breathing on a 4 (inhale) – 8 (hold) -7 (exhale) count.” Then, “Read the Psalms…This book will help you gain the strength, courage, and calmness during life’s storms.” Then, “Move the Body 30 Minutes Per Day.” In lieu of a treadmill, head for the sidewalk. Finishing up with that impossible stretching exercise I began with.

Week One he calls “The Isolation Phase.” After a chosen Psalm and a Bible verse he begins, “We concentrate on isolating the muscles [especially legs] to get them stronger,” with an “introduction to conditioning and core.” Sounds right up my alley. There are five pictured exercises. The first is squats. I struggle and message him. He suggests sitting and rising instead.

Then there’s Step ups. Can do. Then Inner/Outer thigh exercises, Leg curls, and Wall sit hold, with the grand finale, “30 minutes of sustained work” – elliptic or walking, to be done at end of my real workday thank you.

There is an expenditure for those without home gyms – those stretch bands, a mat, a Swiss ball and a medicine ball are needed. “You’re preparing by what you have,” says Dom, “if we get shut down in November.” And, Dom suggests, “Why don’t you keep a 30-day journal.?” Okay. A no-pain-no gain diary.

“You are a student entering a classroom with an open heart and open mind,” he says to me. He’s handed me, “a prayer-based program that has sound nutritional guidance, with a program of fitness that’s comprehensive that’s never really been done before. I’m putting all the different methods and modalities together, and saying we’ve come through this pandemic, let’s come out of it stronger with the mindset that we’re going to get better than we ever were before.”

Take our friend Bishop Andrew “Drew” Williams for example, he tells, of what can come from good training – and prayer. “We had a day where we prayed before we worked out together and we did two hundred pullups in an hour. We just felt like the Holy Spirit was on us. We felt so strong and so guided. He’ll tell you about it – it was just incredibly moving.”

Dominic Novak Official can be followed on Instagram. “I cover fitness, faith, nutrition.”

For information on his “Empower30” book, visit www.amazon.com/dp/1728338867/ref

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