TEEN FINDS "LOSING" CAN BE FUN
By Judy Benson (The New London Day)

Marvin Jones's mother recently began noticing that her son's pants did not fit him. Like many teenagers, the 13 year old eighth grader favors baggy clothes, but even current fashion trends do not promote this much droop.

Marvin's mother, Ana Centeno, beams when she talks about the situation, even though it means she will soon be forced to buy him new clothes.

"His jeans are falling off", she said, her inflection one of excitement and elation. "I'm the happiest woman".

In Marvin's newly fitting attire his mother sees an outward sign of major progress. Her son, who not long ago weighed 286 pounds and had been gaining one to two pounds in a week, was in danger of becoming another among the growing numbers of adolescents nationwide to develop obesity-induced diabetes.

Instead of ignoring doctors' warnings, Marvin began dieting and working out a little over a month ago. Thus far he has shed six pounds from his 5 foot six inch frame and more significantly lost five inches around his waist. That means that fat has converted into lean muscle mass, an important step toward becoming fit and trim.

"Muscle burns fat, so that means he will be able to burn more fat as he continues", said Rebecca Murray, a nurse practitioner who has been working with Marvin and his mother on a weight-loss program.

"When I first started meeting with him, he couldn't make a muscle with his arm".

A student at Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School in New London, Marvin has been building his strength, flexibility, and endurance by working with Greg Drab, a personal trainer with Advantage Personal Training in Mystic and Niantic who is donating his time. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays after school for one hour, Marvin and his mother, a teachers school aide at her son's school, follow a weight lifting, aerobic activity and stretching routine under Drab's gentle yet persuasive prod at the Mystic gym. Marvin and his mother take turns on the various drills, encouraging and teasing each other along the way.

"Oh, Mom," said Marvin as his mother took her turn at 15 modified pushups, "that first one didn't count, you dropped your butt"

Later, when her son began howling playfully after an accidental tumble onto a mat, his mother shook her head and laughed.

"Enough with the drama Marvin", she said.

Drab said he structures the routine for Marvin around one developed for his age by the YMCA. The three weekly sessions won't give Marvin all the exercise he needs to lose weight and hone himself into an athlete by the time he reaches high school, which is Marvin's goal. But, Drab said, Marvin can develop the skills, discipline, and motivation to do the rest himself.

"Our goal is to burn as much energy as possible in the hour he's here, and to encourage him to be as active as possible in the rest of his life", said Drab, as Marvin positioned himself on the chest-press machine. "He is getting in better shape, so we keep making it harder for him".

His mother and Marvin use a treadmill at home and lift dumbbells while watching TV. He's tried at other local gyms to get into an exercise routine, but became bored or discouraged and did not stick with it. This time things seem different.

"He's happy to come here", said Centeno.

Marvin added: 'When I first started here it was fun. He (Drab) mixes it up every day. When you come in, you never know what you are going to do".

Murray, who arranged for Drab to work with Marvin and his mother, said that finding a way to maintain motivation to keep exercising is essential to the success of any fitness program. For Marvin, she said, the relationship with Drab proved to be the key ingredient.

"He really enjoys the personal attention from the trainer", said Murray. "He gets direct feedback. You can tell somebody to lose weight and join a gym, but what he needed was for somebody to work with him".

One recent afternoon, Drab started the routine by having Marvin and his mother do some ball walking in which they roll their bodies across a large ball while supporting themselves with their arms. This develops the abdominal and back muscles and improves balance and body awareness, Drab said. Next came pushups, followed by a series of workouts on machines rigged to challenge the thighs, calves, and upper body muscles in various ways. At each session Drab has Marvin and his mother repeat 10 to 15 lifts at a given weight. After two sessions, more weight is added.

After about a half-hour of strength-building exercises, Drab joins the pair in an aerobic game such as Whiffle Ball or something similar to handball.

"We will do an underhand toss this time", Drab instructed, as Marvin and his mother took position in a small room that would serve as the handball court. "We will build up faster and faster doing three-person drills.

Marvin threw himself into the action, pretending to be Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez for one turn and delighting in faking out his mother and Drab the next.

After about 15 minutes, Drab moved the pair into some wind-down stretching exercises. As the session ended one day last week, Marvin said he is enjoying his newfound strength. His mother has noticed he has more energy.

"Before this", Marvin said, "I used to think of myself as weak. Then I started coming here, and I got more muscles."

A mischievous smile crossed his face.

"Soon I will be the Hulk," he joked, aping the motions of the TV character.