Category: Fitness


The Personal Trainer

Filed under: Fitness, General, Health — Leave a comment
December 6, 2010

Recently, I took a class from CanFitPro called the older adult specialist.  It was a fitness/trainer class focusing on the older adult taking into consideration their unique challenges, such as their medical issues. I was interested in knowing, the level of training given to  a personal trainer/ fitness instructor in this age group, since healthcare professionals are sometimes asked to refer their clients to community settings.  The instructor  in this particular course was really good. It was evident that he knew the material well, continued his personal ongoing learning/ training, was enthusiastic about health and wellness,  lived and breathed what he taught, and was caring & confident.

A personal training session, I was informed begins at about $80/per session and can go up from here.  One would normally see a trainer 2-3x weekly to achieve their goals. Do the math; not cheap for most, but as the instructor said “its a small price to pay for your health”.  True.  But how does one know what to look for in a personal trainer or fitness instructor before making this big financial commitment to reap the health benefits?  You may consider doing a little  research, and here are a few of my suggestions;

  1. Discuss with friends, family and or your healthcare provider  regarding any recommendations they would make.
  2. Once you have the recommendations, interview the trainer and the facility as you would with any job since you will in effect be their employer and if you are  paying their salary  you will want the best candidate for your dollar. Don’t be afraid to ask for a resume. Inquire about such things as; their qualifications,how long have they been working in the field, do they continually upgrade their skills, do they understand your needs and wants, can they provide references etc. It’s  simply not enough to like someone or to have a good feel about someone, they need to be competent.
  3. You may want to consider taking a course that a personal trainer would take to understand what it is that you can expect. This will also ensure that you will be an active participant in your training.

So perhaps before you do the leg work do a little leg work (research) of your own.

Cheers

Comment

The Holiday Don’t

Filed under: Fitness, General, Health — 3 Comments
December 3, 2010

Well the holiday season is upon us and  you know the drill;shop till you drop, office parties, family gatherings, big meals and so on.  During this time of  year I think most of us fall off the ‘health and wellness’ wagon and wait till the new year to  re-start or re-make our resolutions; exercise more, eat well, lose weight, win the lottery and so on. You’ll  undoubtly be inundated with many “how to”make the perfect resolution.  But  before you get to that, here are a few things I want you to consider this holiday season:

1.  Don’t eat  large meals as this has been shown
to trigger  heart attacks.

2.  Don’t get overly angry  for instance, at the woman who stole your parking spot, or  at the  long line at the store which  makes you want to gnaw  your arm off,   because anger has been shown to trigger  heart attacks.

3. Don’t do extreme physical activities like shoveling the driveway  if you haven’t done a stitch of exercise all year as this too will trigger,   you guessed it ——  heart attacks.

There are many factors to heart disease and many people are unaware of their heart condition.  So this holiday season  enjoy  yourself  (sort of )wholeheartedly — just don’t go overboard–

Lastly, before you embark on your New Years resolutions this upcoming year check out the Par Q and follow up with your MD.

Cheers and Happy Heartday :)

Comment

Boot Camp

Filed under: Fitness, The Toolbox — 1 Comment
June 3, 2010

What I’ve come to realize , is that writing blog posts is similar to exercising. If you break your exercise routine, it gets harder and harder to get back into the swing of things. The same goes for blogging. I’ve been so busy with personal and professional projects that my blogging has taken a bit of a backseat. Thanks to one of my readers who urged me on yesterday to start again!

I’d like to share with you my most recent find while surfing the web, the Canadian Living Spring Boot camp. It’s a free 6 week wieght loss program that will end June 13 so if you haven’t seen it check it out online.

This boot camp is divided into different sections, you can choose to follow it all, some, or none.

  • You can sign up for a variety of newsletters, which are emailed to you very frequently.
  • There is also a menu calendar, with suggestions for breakfast ,lunch, dinner and snacks, with recepies to follow and the calorie count.
  • There are also workout videos, prepared by a fitness expert
  • There is even a health and wellness blog which gives you the chance to win prizes.

So what do I think?

  1. I am finding the newsletters to be very informative;
  2. With regards to the menus they are easy to follow/and reproduce, you should however check with your healthcare provider to see if this is the right program for you, how many calories are appropriate for you? how can you alter the plan to suit vegetarians or vegans?
  3. With regards to the exercise program, you may want to check first with your healthcare provider to ensure that this type of program is safe for you and perhaps follow up with a fitness specialist as well to assist you with learning the correct technique as you may not be familiar with some of the exercises in the videos.

With regards to the blogging, well I have not actually got that far yet, so I will leave it up to you to tell me what you think.
All in all the idea of a boot camp to kick start your health and fitness is an interesting concept.  Sometimes we need something to get us going, to get us moving, to spark the momentum especially when we break our health and fitness routines.

Eat healthy, keep moving and be well.

Tags:
Comment

A Full Time Job….Your Health

Filed under: Fitness, Health — 3 Comments
April 7, 2010

Your health is a full time job.  The hard part is how to integrate this full time job with the other job (aka work). Here are a few suggestions to get you started.

  • 6 am wake up, shower , breakfast – instead of waiting in the drive thru why not try a morning smoothie in a mini-blender to go, don’t forget to pack your runners,  lunch and  healthy snacks
  • 7am leave for work- try some audio music therapy or an audio book to learn more about health and wellness while you are in the car or on the train
  • 8-9am get to work -set reminders to pop up  on the computer screen or your cell to remind you to drink water hourly, and to get up and change position/stretch
  • 10am  break time- get up and walk 10 minutes and eat a nutritious snack
  • 12pm lunch break- don’t eat at your desk;  make the effort to get up and eat somewhere designated . Consider a  10 minute walk
  • 12:30-1 Back to work – reminders still set to go off hourly.
  • 3pm  break -consider a 10 minute walk and having another nutritious snack
  • 5pm home time- pop in an audio tape to relax or to learn something new – keep the brain fresh.

I realize there are not enough hours in the day, thank goodness for weekends,  but I hope that what you got from  this post was that with some deliberate actions, we can begin to integrate the “work” of wellness into the “work” of our daily lives.  It isn’t easy, especially at the onset.  Some succed and some don’t.  My wish for you is to be successful in your health and wellness so that you can enjoy all the years to come.

Tags: , ,
Comment

The “Goody Drawer”

Filed under: Fitness, Health, Kids, The Toolbox — 3 Comments
March 31, 2010

Years ago my husband bought me this hot pink fuzzy DVD set with every season of Sex in the City. He thought I would enjoy the series  seeing as I had never seen an episode, given that we don’t subscribe to cable.  I have to admit I really enjoyed the show.  It’s funny and very well written.  Most recently I re-watched the episode where the girls are describing their “goody drawer” which got me thinking about my goody drawer.  Well for starters, I don’t own a night stand, rather what I have is a goody shelf.  I know the suspense is killing you to find out what is on my goody shelf.  Well if you’ve read my past posts, you should have guessed by now that my goody shelf is filled with health related items.

Most recently I added Pumped Magazines from the Heart and Stroke for my children.  If you have children you may want to check out this magazine. They are downloadable  from their website or you can order them directly from the Heart and Stroke. The magazines are full of good health info geared toward children. My children really enjoyed the comics, games and activities.

The other downloadable magazine that I recently added to this health goody shelf was the Gotta Move magazine from the Government of Canada Physical Activity site.  Like the magazine from the Heart and Stroke, the Gotta Move is full of information and it is fun for kids.

I think there is real value in having a “shelf”  or “space” filled with goodies of a health nature for the kids.  Over time, it becomes an indispensable resource that you can draw on to provide some focus on these types of important issues.  Let’s face it, with the bombardment of entertainment that our children are exposed to, building a resource of entertaining, but useful, health related “goodies” is critical to teach our kids about life-long health.

If you have your own “goody” shelf ideas, I’d love to hear about them!

Tags: , , ,
Comment

What Was Old is New Again

Filed under: Fitness, Food, Health — 1 Comment
March 30, 2010

Recently my mother returned from Florida and brought back an old  used book , titled “Nine Magic Secrets of Long Life” by Howard E. Hill. I thought I’d give it a read to see what people were doing almost 30 years ago with respect to health.  In his book, Mr. Hill  discusses how he  proactively searched out how to achieve good health and longevity and discovered nine secrets that worked for him.  I decided to summarize / abbreviate the contents here to see if his themes might still be around today.

THE SECRETS  for a healthy and long life according to Mr. Hill

  1. Eating lots of fruits and veggies (minimally cooked) for nutrients
  2. The use of chlorophyll, found in green plants for healing
  3. The use of leictin, from soybeans for its nutrients
  4. The use of comfrey  as a healing agent
  5. The use of Vitamin E, for it’s healing properites
  6. The use of Ginseng  for its nutrients
  7. Deep breathing exercises to cleanse the body
  8. Gentle stretching and strengthening exercises
  9. The use of light, color, sound and mechanical vibration for health and longevity

As I look at the list above, I see today the raw food movement, the shot of wheatgrass at health juice stores, the numerous soybean products at the grocery store, the naturopath and herbalist, the yoga and exercise class, light and music therapy.

So it seems that ideas from the early 80′s,  that were once novel and then passed into oblivion, have indeed returned.  What was old is new again.

The important lesson here, is not the specifics in what either Howard E. Hill said 30 years ago, or what is being said today.  The lesson is the importance of exploring what works for you!  That is why ideas from 30 years ago do indeed continue to be in use even today, because they work for certain people.  You have to be an active participant in your wellness and find the “old” and the “new” that work for you.

Tags: , , ,
Comment

My Rules for Staying Fit While on Vacation

Filed under: Fitness — 1 Comment
March 29, 2010
It’s nice to be back to blogging this week.  I was away last week in Vegas with my husband for a few days of R&R.  I was really glad that I was able to maintain some momentum in the area of wellness even while I was away.  Often, when we’ve got a set routine at home & work for staying fit and encouraging wellness, that all goes out the window when we are on vacation.  After all, vacations are suppose to be a break from the routine right?  Of course right!  Our wellness though is important enough that it shouldn’t take a back seat even while we are on vacation.
That is why I’m pleased with the “embedded” approach I’m taking to wellness.  Here at home, I’ve been threading it into my day so wellness is prevalent throughout the day rather than relegating it to a set time of day or to a set routine of activity.  So here are my rules for when on vacation:
  1. Be sure to take your pedometer. If you don’t measure your activity, you won’t keep it front and centre.
  2. Walk wherever you can. I did my share of relaxing by the pool while a way, but there were plenty of other places we went to (shows, restaurants, shopping).  I insisted on walking to ensure that I was hitting my 10,000 steps at a minimum.  On day I logged over 37,000 steps just by electing to walk rather than taking cabs.
  3. Bring a good pair of shoes. You’ll never be able to do step #2 if you don’t have the shoes for it.  Save the Manolo Blahnik for the evening when out for dinner, but don the runners during the day.
  4. Take the stairs rather than the elevator.  The various places that we went to see while in Vegas were wonderful.  Where applicable, I opted for the stairs rather than the elevator.  When checking into the hotel, I asked for a room that was on the highest floor they had available, then took the stairs when coming and going.
  5. Eat sensibly.  Of course when on vacation it is a time to indulge in food we might not normally eat  While away last week, there were all kinds of great restaurants.  I indulged somewhat in terms of what I order, but made sure I had plenty of salads, lots of water and avoided over ordering in terms of quantity.
So there you have it.  The rules of vacationing well so that you enjoy yourself while also keeping your wellness efforts on track!  Now for the next vacation, I’ll just have to keep my blogging momentum going as well as my wellness!
Tags: , , ,
Comment

The NEW YOU Resolution

Filed under: Fitness, Food, General, Health — Leave a comment
March 18, 2010

I really enjoyed the recent blog from countdowntoforty. It brought me back to something I had said to my husband many “New Years” ago.  As far as I am concerned  everyday is a “New Year’s day”, and by that I mean,  why wait to celebrate on that specific day and make resolutions only then?  Typically the New years resolution ends up being like a stretch goal, a goal that requires substantial effort to make happen.   These types of resolutions often fail though.  In reality you really need a strategy to achieve these goals.  To do otherwise makes it completely unrealistic and unachievable.

Why not call it the NEW YOU resolution, that way you don’t need to wait till the next year to get started.  In doing so, pick small wins, small changes, that you can introduce each day!  Keep it simple!  Below, I’ve listed a few types of examples to spark some thought on daily resolutions!

  • Day 0:  Pick a SMART goal, where SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-based.
  • Day 1.  I will drink 8 glasses of water today.
  • Day 2. I will eat an apple today
  • Day 3. I will set an apponitment for my yearly physical with my health care practioner.
  • Day 4. I will eat a green vegetable today.
  • Day 5. I will give my children/ significant other / friend  a kind word today.
  • Day 6. I will walk for 10 minutes today.
  • Day 7.I will donate an hour of my time to _________today.

Again, the above “day-ideas” are just that.  Ideas!  I would love to hear what your daily NEW YOU resolutions are going to be.

Try it for 365  days and let me know how The NEW You resolution worked out.

Tags: , , ,
Comment

10,000 Hours to a Healthier You

Filed under: Fitness, Health, Tech, The Toolbox — 12 Comments
March 7, 2010

Last week I added brain exercises to my daily routine to protect my mind against cognitive decline. I borrowed my children’s Nintendo DS and popped in the Brain Age game (which they were kind enough to lend to me), and started with the testing to determine the age of my brain.  Yikes I really needed to get exercising.  I really enjoyed the activity and have seen quick results as the cobwebs are being brushed away.

I began to wonder, what could one do if they don’t have accesss to the Nintendo DS and I came upon Lumosity.  What Lumosity provides are brain game.  Here is what their website provides as info:

  • Shown to improve memory and attention
  • Detailed feedback and improvement tracking
  • Fun and easy: full workout in less than 10 minutes/day

If you don’t have access to something like the DS, Lumosity is a good online tool.  When you exercise both the body and the mind what do you get?  Well according to research it is possible to rewire the brain, and this process is called neuroplasticity.  For more detail, give this Time magazine article a read.  This interesting “rewiring”, both through physical and mental exercise reminded me of a book I recently read.

The book is titled Outliers, written by Malcolm Gladwell.  In that book, Gladwell’s observations are that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at something.  According to Gladwell, there is no short cut to success.  It takes time and effort.  I fully agree.  I think that this extends into the rewiring of our brains to adopt a healthy lifestyle.  You need to exercise both body and mind.  If you contiually practice and repeat over and over a particular good habit, it will stick over time.

That is why diets and New Year’s gym resolutions easily fall by the wayside.  Building off of Gladwell’s 10,000 hour premise, I posit, you need 10,000 hours to become an expert in your own health.  There is no easy way to it.  Yes, we can take baby steps that are easy to do (like a pedometer for example), but it all takes time and effort.

Tomorrow I will…..continue logging my hours!

Tags: , , , , ,
Comment

Technology and Health

Filed under: Fitness, Health — 8 Comments
February 25, 2010

I was thinking about how technology has caused certain things to become more pervasive in our lives.  Watching my husband, I see how the business day has crept into places they weren’t to be found ten years ago.  If his iPhone beeps at 8pm in the evening with some important work related email, he gets that pushed to him. Often he can act on that email or at a minimum reply.  That happens dozens and dozens of times during the day.  Technology has embedded work into the fabric of his day.

A similar example is news.  When growing up, news was something that took took place several times a day.  In the morning, the paper would be delivered and my parents would “consume” the news .  News came to us at set times in the evening.  ”Stay tuned for the eleven o’clock news.”    Today though, through the use of technology, we get a steady stream of news pushed to us all the time.

These two examples got me thinking about our health.   We go to the gym at set times to workout.  Or we visit the doctors at set times etc. Health is important to us but seems to be relegated to set times, rather than being embedded in our everyday.  I wonder if (self) managing our health could be changed in the same way that work or news has been transformed by technology, so that issues can be addressed immediately instead of at set times?

Tomorrow I will….think of other uses for technology in health.

Tags: , ,
Comment
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.