The Meaning of Fitness

Hey all, I just looked at the calendar and realized that it has been one whole month since my last blog! Not good enough....

So I was thinking of how much has happened in the last month.

Hockey season has started for both me and my son. My daughter is in full swing with karate and with dancing and the Studio at All Canadian Fitness is rocking off the ground some days! The amazing team of professionals is really hitting on all cylinders. Never before have we had such great client success.

My wife Liesa and I also spent some time studying (!) in Florida with an exceptional group of personal trainers from around North America.

In the next week or so, we will begin painting and renovating the NEW Studio within our building that will be home to our IMPACT classes as well as other group programs. REAL Astro Turf! Cool.

My band, Swimming to Vegas just played it's first gig with new singer Kim Beek! It was HUGE. This came late on a friday night after being up at 4:30am with Adventure Boot Camp!
.....which brings me to Adventure Boot Camp! What a cool program. Meeting up with as many as 40 women at 5:30am to just push it to the limit. Amazing. One of our campers has even lost 40lbs. since starting with us.

I have also continued writing for PFP (Professional Fitness Professional) Magazine and contributing to the Hamilton Spectator.


Phew.................... anyway, it really got me thinking that NONE of the above would be possible without my fitness. I NEVER let that go, no matter what is happening in my life.


THAT is the "true meaning of fitness".

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?)