Chapter 12

Not surprisingly, I slept in. Normally, I would have gone for a run, lifted some weight, worked on the heavy bag, or at least skipped rope. It wasn’t a normal Sunday and I didn’t do any of those things. I made an omelet and took it out to the front porch to eat. I’d never done that before. It was quiet. One car drove by. That was it.

I had finished eating and was trying to decide what to do with my day when Dr. Legare pulled up in his truck. It was white. The only way I knew it was white was because Kim and I had washed it once. It might have been the only time it had ever been washed, or white. Dr. Legare walked over to me with a passenger in tow. I stood to shake his hand.

“Hey, Aquaman. This is Dart Michelson. He’s working on his masters in exercise physiology. How’d you like to be a research dummy?” I had missed Dr. Legare’s deep voice and heavy accent and it was nice to hear again.

“I was just thinking that it would be a lot of fun to be a dummy.” I thought it was funny. Dr. Legare didn’t notice.

“Dart, fortune has smiled on you this beautiful summer day.”

“Aquaman?”

Dr. Legare didn’t respond to that. Instead, he led us both to my gym. “Dart is working on his thesis. He needs subjects for study and report. Dart, why don’t you explain?”

“Aquaman? That’s a nickname, right?” he asked as he set his case on the workbench and opened it.”

“Jack Pierce.”

“I’d guess there’s a story. Let me tell you what I’m doing and you can see if you want to participate. I’m studying the effects of diet and supplements on exercise recovery. If you want to participate, I’ll take some measurements and establish a baseline with you today. You’ll need to fill out a fairly extensive questionnaire, then track your exercise and diet for the fall semester. I’ll provide you with capsules that you’ll need to take regularly. They contain either magnesium and zinc, or sugar. You won’t know which and neither will I. The containers are numbered and we’ll both find out if you took the supplements or a placebo when the test period is over.”

“You’re expecting a certain outcome, though, right?”

“I am. I think magnesium and zinc will help with exercise recovery. I’m not sure how much. When the semester is over, I’ll write up my conclusions and all the participants will get a copy. Want to participate? Dr. Legare thought you might.”

“You already journal. I know that. I told him you were fairly regular with exercise, understood the fundamentals of diet and macronutrients, and would be a good candidate. He didn’t say it but this study isn’t for couch potatoes.”

“Why not?”

“It’s a study about recovery from exercise. Couch potatoes don’t.”

I got measured. Dart weighed and measured me, then got calipers out and pinched skin in a couple of places and plugged it all into a chart. Dr. Legare helped him with that. I filled out a questionnaire and then looked over the journal he had for me. It all seemed pretty straightforward. Finally, I picked a bottle of supplements out of his case and read the number off the bottom. Bottle number twenty-nine was either sugar or the good stuff and neither of us would know until January.

“Who else are you using?” I asked.

“Mostly students from the Citadel. You’re my youngest subject. Dr. Legare suggested you, and it’s obvious why.”

“Not to me. Why?”

“My thesis is, ‘The Effects of Magnesium Glycinate, Zinc Supplementation for Exercise Recovery and Performance Maximization’. My study is limited to male athletes under thirty. All of my other subjects are eighteen or older.”

“That’s a mouthful,” I said. I tried to imagine the title page.

Dr. Legare explained. “Teens are still developing and their BMI tends to be rather erratic. There aren’t reliable charts for that and that therefore would skew his study. Most teen athletes have a higher BMI than you do. Since yours is low, Dart can plug you into an adult chart with a fair degree of predictability.”

“That would make a lot more sense, Doc, if I knew what BMI was.”

“Ah, yes. I suppose that would help. BMI is body mass index. In simple terms, the lower your BMI the higher the percentage of muscle to fat. Yours is about nine and that’s very low. Someone with a BMI of twenty-five would be overweight and over thirty would be obese.”

“You’re in pretty good shape, Doc. Do you know what yours is?”

“Eighteen. That is on the very low end of the normal spectrum. Yours might be considered thin however you are not unhealthy by any means.”

“That’s only one thing to measure for health, though, right?”

Dr. Legare looked at Dart. “I think VO2 max is more important. Not everyone does,” Dart said.

“VO2 max is your ability to process oxygen. It’s your cardiovascular health. I agree that it is more important. Body composition, strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular health are the primary ways to measure your physical health,” Dr. Legare said.

“But those don’t tell anyone if you’ve got chemical imbalances or disease.”

I thought about all of that for a minute. “I’m not sure what to do with all of that.”

“You’re in fine shape. You don’t have anything to worry about, however, I would be careful with your diet. I suspect you have a somewhat typical teenage tendency to overindulge in junk food.”

I’m sure I rolled my eyes and he laughed. “I try to eat healthy. I get a lot of protein. I like Double Beef Whoppers with Cheese. What can I say?” I asked holding my palms up. He laughed again.

“Jack Lalanne once said our bodies are like a bank account. As long as we invest more than we withdraw, we have a positive balance. Every time you eat junk food; it’s like a withdrawal. Jack, you have a pretty good bank account. Don’t waste the investment, though.”

“I get it. I saw Nashi Minuo Thursday night. She’s amazing.”

“I’m glad you got in. She is actively drawing down her practice.”

“No! Why? She’s amazing.”

“She is amazing. She shares that office with another woman, Estelle something, I think, who will be taking most of her clients.”

“Why is she stopping? Or why is she slowing down?”

“She does massage therapy because she enjoys doing it. She’s a professor of anatomy, physiology, and kinesiology at MUSC. I spoke with her a couple of weeks ago. I think she’ll be teaching more this coming semester. I suppose it depends on her schedule.”

“Holy crap. Professor. Does that mean she’s got a doctorate?”

“She does, but the title professor doesn’t necessarily mean that. Universities typically delineate your position with the title Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Professor. A professor is a tenured position with experience. A department chair would be a professor and the top of the stack. She’s been teaching for quite some time but they just offered her professorship status and I don’t think she can turn that down.”

“That’s crazy.”

“I guess you’re a good judge of talent,” Dart said.

“Maybe. I hope she continues at least a little.”