THE Shot

Well, today I went with my wife Liesa and two kids to get the H1N1 Flu Vaccine. Surprisingly, we only waited about 45 minutes to get the shot. My wife has MS and so it is considered urgent for her to get the shot. After weighing all of the pros and cons, we decided that we wanted to get the shot for our kids and for me as well.

There has been so much hype and so much mis-information about the vaccine, but, the bottom line is that I don't want to get sick and don't want my kids going through it either. It seems that this flu is different from what we have seen in the past. The youngest and healthiest are the ones getting hit the hardest.

All in all, I feel like we made the right decision.

Do what you think is right, but, don't get sucked into the whole hype thing and make up your mind based on sound advice and evidence. Listen to your doctor, do your homework and decide what is right for you.

It's THAT time of year!

So I started coaching my son's hockey team again last weekend. I cannot believe the improvement that these kids make from week to week and then when you see them after a year of training and playing. My kid has gone from a first year wobbler to the biggest, fastest kid on the ice. He rocks. I swear this kid (6 years old) has more testosterone than me already!

I also went out to buy some new hockey equipment for myself as I will be back on ice in about a week or so. Can't wait! There's just something about hockey. It's in the blood of most Canadians and growing up on the outdoor rinks in Montreal was just a magical experience for me.

In preparation, I have been doing IMPACT workouts (Intense Mixed Performance Accelerated Cross Training )at the NEW studio. These workouts are really, really cool and challenge in ways that are quite different from just "working out" or "training hard". The main thing that will have massive carryover to athletics and to the real world is the amount of SAQ (speed, agility and quickness) that are part of every workout.

For example, try this as part of your warmup; do about 5- 10 minutes of side shuffling between cones, high knee running, crossover running and "suicides" with cone touches and you will see what I mean.

Tomorrow we are back on the ice for the second practice of the weekend.

Oh yeah...........the Habs won in overtime tonight! Yeah.

IMPACT

You may have read or heard me speaking about IMPACT. It is a new program that I will be running starting Winter 09/ 10. IMPACT stands for Intense Mixed Performance Accelerated Cross Training. It is a unique mix of speed, agility, quickness drills. Strength training, endurance training and stretching. Very cool stuff. Everything from skipping to bodyweight exercises to SUICIDES!

I did the first lower body workout today to practice and, let me tell you, my legs were wobbly for most of the day. It was really fun as well.

Small group setting, awesome tunes, cool people, great vibe. It's IMPACT.

You've been warned.

You CAN work out anywhere

Here is a great workout that I did this weekend.

My car window had been broken and needed to be repaired. So what I did was, I drove to the local Saturn dealer and dropped my car off. Rather than get a ride home, I jogged and powerwalked. I also brought a piece of resistance tubing that I tied around my waist.

The walk/ jog home is about 40 minutes. What I did about half-way home was I stopped at a park and did:

20 pushups

20 single leg squats

20 resistance tubing rows for each arm

20 arm curls

20 bench dips

I repeated the whole thing 4 times and then carried on.

I was pumped, felt great and killed two birds with one stone (btw: I hate that expression).

You can ALWAYS get some exercise in. No excuses.........

It's on....

After witnessing our amazing Train the Trainer event the other night I am officially "in training" for Part 2 which will be in about a month! Bryan, Sheila and even alumni- Matteo Tino were awesome last thursday and never, ever gave in. Nice.

I am recovering from a back injury that lasted about 7 weeks so I am weak and not very fit. I am now also pain-free, so it is time to get rocking.

In about 1 month, Roger, Adam and myself will be subjected to Train the Trainer 2009 Part 2.

Look for it on youtube.

btw: you can see some videos from Part 1 here: www.youtube.com/user/AllCanadianFitness#play/uploads

Ch...ch....ch....anges!

Well, today is Black Wednesday at The Studio. One of our most popular trainers (ever) has decided to hit the road and move to BC. It's only the most beautiful place in the world, I get it.....but STILL!

If you haven't heard yet, Sheila has just completed her last day at All Canadian Fitness (ever?). It goes without saying that we'll miss her. Boy are we going to miss her! In 3 years, she has gone from a brand new rookie trainer to one of the top fitness pros in the City (bar none) to a recruiter and trainer of trainers as well as a coporate fitness trainer and she has also been my faithful side-kick on many occasions on televison and radio (as well as on stage believe it or not)and she is my personal editor for the fitness columns that I write (by the way, it's pretty cool having your very own "editor").

Sheila has touched countless lives in her three years with us. She has become part of our extended family and she will be missed. Without a doubt, she will be successful at whatever it is she chooses to do out west. Good luck to a colleague, a true professional and a very dear friend.




(I just realized that the last part sounds like a eulogy! So, here is a photo from the archives from when Sheila and I performed together one night at a local bar........ did I mention that you are leaving the BEST JOB EVER, Ms. Fung?)

Top 10 Fitness Heroes!

I have been involved in Sports and Fitness for a long, long time. My first year of organized sports was 1973, which is 36 years ago. Wow. I was recently thinking of all of the people that have influenced me along to way to pro football and now to fitness professional and business owner. So here goes my Top 10 Fitness Heroes who influenced me to get where I am today.

1. Arnold Schwarzenegger- A no-brainer. My background is Austrian and my dad gave me "Education of a Bodybuilder" when I was 14. To say it was life-altering would be an understatement.
2. Bobby Orr- When I first started playing hockey, he was in his prime. Even though he wasn't a Hab, he was the greatest ever. I read the book "Orr on Ice" when I was 7 and Bobby was shown LIFTING WEIGHTS in it.... in 1973!
3. My mom- My mom's favourite saying when we were growing up "You CAN....and you WILL!". Turning 80 soon, and she STILL hikes weekly on the bruce trail.
4. Douglas Brooks- Early in my personal training career, I met Doug at a lecture that he was giving and was so impressed with his ability to present material in a professional way that it showed me that I COULD be a pro at something I love. This was before email and Doug actually corresponded with me from California by WRITING! Wow.
5. Phil Kaplan- The "Master". When I became exposed to Phil's writing and teaching, it was like a cloud had parted and everything that I had done in 10 years as a fitness pro seemed like nursery school. The biggest influence on me since reading about Arnold 25 years earlier. Check him out at http://www.philkaplan.com/
6. JC Santana- I didn't even know what functional training was until I studied JC. Now that is the ONLY way that we train. Getting to know JC has been an honour and truly inspiring.
7. Walter Payton- Perhaps the hardest training athlete ever. This guy was class personified and he proved that you could be a really nice guy and absolutely demolish your opponents on the field of play.
8. Lance Armstrong- The HARDEST working and most inspiring athlete of all time! Not much to say about Lance except that I was just discovering my new favourite sport (cycling) as he was racking up Tour de France victories.
9. Monica Seles- Could YOU come back to pro sports after getting stabbed in the back (literally)? Monica is so mentally strong it's crazy.
10. Russ Riederer- Last,but certainly not least. My strength coach from Purdue University. Russ not only trained us, he trained WITH us. He wouldn't ask you to do anything that he would do himself. He looked sort of like Sgt. Rock and he went on to coach the Chicago Bears for 15 years!