Fat March Episode 4 - Heat Kills
A brutal challenge starts the day: 15 miles in 5 hours in 91F temperatures. Not only that, it includes a lot of hills. Trainer Steve intones that they need to learn to walk faster to pick up the pace to make it to Washington DC in time. The team suffers but all make it with 2 minutes to spare.
Unsafe at Any Speed
I have now decided that ABC wanted as many of the contestants as possible to drop out to save them on prize money. The only surprise in this episode was that nobody took an ambulance ride. That is a first. Endurance exercise in high heat is unsafe. Placing a time limit on it is especially unwise. When you begin to overheat and experience lightheadedness, nausea, muscle cramps, and other symptoms - there is no "powering through it." You must find shade, an ice pack, and sit and let your body cool down. Continue to hydrate with sports drink, but not overhydrate and head into hyponatremia. Giving a time limit on a hot day encouraged the marchers to head into the danger zone, not taking time to stop and cool down when needed. Shame, shame, shame on ABC-TV for not using this show to educate about the dangers of walking in the heat, but instead having the trainers say it is only a matter of drinking enough and "powering through it."
First Aid for Sun Exposure
Outward Bound
By Day 27, Will is considering quitting. Lorrie gives the real philosophy of Fat March - strip them of all comforts so they go home as new people. As I expected, this IS boot camp! This is an unsafe and unwise exercise program, folks. Don't try this at home. Nevertheless, Lorrie and Steve seem to believe that the environmental factors of extreme heat and unrealistic goals can be overcome with happy thoughts and teamwork. This is absolute idiocy.
As a team building game, they bring in an Outward Bound instructor, blindfold them and lad them out to a climbing tower. They are to climb as far as they can, then let go and trust the rest of the team to keep holding onto the ropes. Will has trouble trusting them and wants to climb down instead, but they made him push off instead. The others seem to have fun climbing to the very top and then happily jumping. Jami Lyn seems to have some sort of psychologic breakthrough. My husband and I just say, "what BS."
Rocky and Cheesesteaks
Day 28 - over 13 miles through Philadelphia. "City of Brotherly Love and Hoagies" says Sam. Sure enough, Jami Lyn and Michael are drooling at the window of a cheesesteak shop. They end up at the Art Museum where Rocky Balboa ran up the steps. I visited there two years ago, and the steps were full of people running to the top for their photo op. Chantal waits up for the group to arrive and do their run-ups together. They then all pose in a hands-held salute. My husband thinks this is cool. But he was the one insisting we do the same pose for photos on our visit. I think it's as cheesy as a cheesesteak.
Of Cabbages and Kings - and Mud Packs
Amish Country - harvesting cabbages. Steve is wearing a straw hat and Lorrie is wearing a bonnet. We get a 10-second run down on how good cabbage is for you. I agree - I love chopped fresh cabbage with my teriyaki, while my husband gives me his portion because he is afraid of the gas-producing effects. The prize for this challenge includes the luxury spa night with mud wrap treatment. And a trip to Las Vegas - which is the absolute opposite of the Amish plain-living lifestyle. The women all don bonnets and the men straw hats. First the men compete, carrying cabbages from a pile to a buggy wagon. Baseball coach Michael wins, with Matt right behind him. Softball player Shea wins for the women. So, there is joy in Mudville! They both get into the mud treatment.
18 Mile Day
Next day, new challenge - 18 miles in 5 hours. The marchers rightfully tell the trainers this is a ridiculous and unsafe goal. Unfortunately, we don't see them sitting down and refusing to do it. It is very obvious that the producers selected this goal to ensure that some marchers didn't make it to the end, to create vote-off drama the next day. Eighteen miles in 5 hours is a realistic goal for a well-trained walker, but not in heat, and not for those with significant injuries such as Matt's knee.
Anthony quickly gets nauseated from heat sickness and barfs. Matt worries about his knee. The tar is melting on the road and they are leaving footprints in it. Will develops stomach pain and nausea. The medic gives him an ice pack. He passes 7 miles and the stomach pain and nausea are too much and he takes a ride in to the finish. Is this a good decision? Medically - yes. He could have taken an hour or more to try to cool down on the road in heat and continue walking a few more miles.
Having "been there, done that," I can tell you that you swiftly heat up again and head back into the danger zone pretty quickly. You can take measures such as ice packs in your bra and under your hat, but the bigger you are, the harder it is for your body to shed heat. At the Seattle 3-Day Walk, I was just making it a half mile to a mile before having to stop for 10-15 minutes in the next shade and cool down. I was a well-trained, not significantly overweight marathon walker challenged to an 18 mile day with a 12 hour time limit, not 5 hours. If you don't do it right, you will be passing out and taking that ambulance ride. We aren't shown at what point in the 5 hour time limit Will chose to stop.
Time runs out and nobody makes it. Michael is only 0.5 miles back and crushed that nobody made it to the end. Loralie is 2.5 miles back. The bulk of them are 6 miles back. Will quit at 7 miles. If they don't vote off Will, they will need to go back 11 miles.
Will takes a bunch of grief from the team back at camp. I feel for the team, I know where their anger comes from as they anticipate having to make up Will's 11 miles plus more on days likely to be just as hot. But Will took the only sane choice in not pressing on until he passed out. Heat exhaustion and heat stroke KILL. Encouraging somebody to continue past the point of nausea is medically unsound. The show does a disservice to everyone in not educating walkers about the dangers of heat sickness. Instead, they make it sound like you are a quitter if you don't quit until the ambulance has to drag you to the hospital.
Know When to Stop Walking
Weigh In
Chantal - 7 pounds (29 total). Michael 15 (61 total.) Shea 10 (34 total). Sam 13 (59 total). Jami Lyn 7 (34 total). Will 11 (59 total). Loralei 7 (35 total). Anthony 11 (66 total). Matt 18 (53 total) after only losing 1 pound in the previous stage. Jami Lyn and Loralei are disappointed they haven't dropped below 200 pounds.
Vote Off
Will knows he is on the chopping block. At 411 pounds, he pleads that he wanted to make it below 400 pounds. Matt, Anthony, Shea and Michael vote for Will. Matt is very sincere in apologizing to Will, but says his knees just can't take going back 11 miles. It is very sad as Will leaves the group. My props to Will for knowing when to stop walking and not giving up the seemingly-required ambulance ride this episode.
Comments
Don’t you think it’s about time the coaches got voted off?
You’re wrong about one thing. It’s not boot camp. At boot, the Drill Instructors watch like hawks for over-heating, foot injuries, dehydration and the like.
Recruits are sometimes forcibly removed from training in order to safeguard them. The recruits have a tendancy to try to ‘power through’ and the DI’s don’t let them get to the point where they hurt themself. It’s better to spend a day or two on light duty and graduate with your class than get really hurt and end up in the medical recovery unit for several weeks and delay your graduation, or worse yet, not graduate at all.
Those persons doing the training should be ashamed of themselves. They don’t value thier walkers in the same way that Drill Instructors value their Recruits. It makes me wonder if the ‘trainers’ get paid more when more walkers drop out. The network should be ashamed of itself. In my opinion, this isn’t good TV; this is abuse.
Thanks for the great comment, USMC Mom!
I should clarify that I was thinking about the “strip them of all comforts and build them back up” aspects of bootcamp. Reprogram the “soft sons and daughters of democracy” into an efficient fighting unit. But I know the armed forces do not tolerate injuring yourself. It always tickled me that you get cited for abuse of federal property if you get a sunburn. Good incentive to make them take care of themselves, though!
If people are stupid enough to go through this, why not? These are adults who made an informed choice and who can quit anytime if they decide to do so.
I am so glad that you are bringing attention to the sloppiness of some of the “reality” fitness shows. I was similarly horrified at the crude approach taken to training overweight children in a recent episode of the show, Shaq’s Big Challenge; where meltdowns, ambulance rides, and abusive behavior from the coaches seemed to be promoted by show to create drama. I feel bad for the children enduring these archaic techniques and bad about the example the show sets for others.
On Shaq’s Big Challenge, the team took their losses and re-tuned their approach. (Time and time again) It was a rocky start, and illustrated that it takes a lot of work. I was reasonably impressed with the ability of the experts to “take it on the chin” and try something new.
Fat March appears to have faced a lot of challenges as well. It interesting to learn about how the team tweaked their approach to help the FMers.
At this point, there is a strong impression that a lot of what went on is being “covered up’
The cynic in me would say: There is no incentive for the people “in charge” to do a good job running FM - the more people that fail.. the less prize money they have to give out.
It would be wonderful to hear from more of the marchers, and the coaches. I appreciate Steve’s interview, he was open and appears to have incorporated those lessons into his own approach.
Kudos to all the FMers, so inspiring!