Bow wow workout

By Rosie Mestel, Los Angeles Times
Monday, June 2, 2008

LOS ANGELES - It’s not easy doing a standing-up rowing maneuver with a stretchy band while holding on to two leashed dogs, each doing its best to yank your arms from their sockets. But this is what you get on a Bow Wow Workout - and no one in our group seems to be complaining.

On a brisk Sunday morning, nine dogs and 11 humans have made their way to Runyon Canyon Park in Hollywood and are warming up before embarking on a mix of moderately vigorous hiking and strength training (and in my case, repeatedly calling one’s dog to order) that will last one hour and take us on a loop through the park.

Personal trainer Bruce Gilbert, who runs this weekly workout, is here with his border collie Louie. Keith, a dog trainer, is here with bassadore Katsu and black Lab Shoyu.

Marion, from England, didn’t bring a dog - “I always end up with a spare,” she says. This morning she gets landed with arthritic Shelly, a shepherd-collie mix, one of mine.

The air is fresh as we make our way up a dirt trail, green exercise tubing in our hands. The chatter is of law, the high cost of plane flights to Europe and dog acupuncture. Safe inside the canyon, everyone pauses to let dogs off leashes and then assembles, per Gilbert’s instructions, at a set of picnic tables.

“Push-ups!” he yells, and we place our hands on the benches and huff through 15 of them - beginners leaning on tables, intermediates on benches and the fittest of the fit putting his feet on the bench and doing his push-ups from the ground. Then it’s farther up the hill, past oak, eucalyptus, prickly pear and a fan palm or two.

Before the class is done, we’ll have put in one hour of cardio hiking and a range of drills at stations dotted around the park - shoulder presses, arm curls, reverse dips, forward lunges, side kicks - aimed at strengthening different parts of the body. To read the rest of this article click on www.knoxnews.com