Happy New Year!

I want to wish everyone a healthy and prosperous New Year! 2009 was amazing in many ways, but, I am sooo excited about 2010 that I can't stand it.

We have set the bar very high at All Canadian Fitness and will be moving in many directions over the next 12 months.

Be healthy, happy and have fun.


We will!

Wii

Okay, okay, I'm starting to "get it" a little bit. For the last couple of years I have been hearing about how Wii is going to start getting the population fit. I'm pretty old-school when it comes to exercising and eating right so I have been more than a little skeptical.

This Christmas I am at my sister-in law's house and they just received Wii fit for Christmas. After setting it up, I just had to try it. Hmmm..... my fitness age is 50, according to Wii Fit. I'm only 43 and very active and I consider myself "very fit". Mountain biking, running, hockey weights etc..... I tried boxing and..... holy crap........ was I winded. Okay, I'm starting to get it a bit.

After a while, I found myself having fun playing the different games with the family. Pretty cool. I am pretty hyper and sitting while playing loses me very quickly. Standing and moving around is a different story! I like it.

So..... long story short............. I'm starting to get it. Moving with the system is better than sitting on the couch. BUT I still can't see non-exercisers (or exercise haters) suddenly become workout people to the point of actually getting fit once the novelty wears off. I CAN see people who already move use it as another tool in their fitness box.

Maybe I'm wrong. We'll see.

Get it done!

Christmas season is upon us! Lots of calories, lots of commitments and very little time to do anything for yourself or your health. What there IS time for, is a plan! PLAN to successfully naviagate the challenges of the season and stay fit, healthy and lean.

Before you head to a function where there will be LOTS of empty (but delicious calories), have a protein shake and/ or some almonds to take the edge off of your hunger. There is nothing worse than showing up at a party famished.

Another thing you could do is get a workout in BEFORE you go. If you've got anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes you can burn up to 500 calories, putting you in a deficite situation before you start loading up. Don't worry about whether it is the "perfect" workout, just do the best you can in the place where you are and GET MOVING!!!!


Here is what I did after Boot Camp this morning in the Soccerworld Dome.

10 minutes of Strides and Walking around the field.

15 minutes of pushups, single leg squats and tubing flyes.

5 minutes of wind sprints.

15 minutes of Upper Back tubing exercises and crunches.

5 minutes of wind sprints.

Great session!

Remember............ Do YOUR Best!

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?)

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!

Questions are the Answer

If you have ever been faced with adversity, you will know how frustrating it can be and how it feels like NOTHING is going your way......and everything stinks! Your whole focus is on the source of your adversity and it becomes your reality.

If you are human, then you have been in the above situation.

The cool thing is that you CAN control your focus! You can use a simple tool to make you FEEL better, more positive and ultimately in control. This tool is the QUESTION. When you ask a question, you cannot avoid the answer. When that happens, you have a new focus, you act differently and pretty soon you have a new reality.

The two POWER QUESTIONS that I teach people to use are:

1- What is GREAT about this situation? (It takes some practice to produce answers in this situation, but, they will come).

2- What can I do to make this situation better? (focusing on the solution, NOT, the problem).

Like anything, it gets easier and you will be better after some practice.

Ta- Dah!

Wow, wow, wow.........happy days are here again!

I am actually pain-free again in my back! My chiropractor, Dr. Scott Stevenson, is a bloody genius. I know he is "just doing his job", but, man I couldn't even stand or walk more than 20 steps two weeks ago. I was on holidays this past week, driving, sleeping on couches, in hotel beds etc... and my back is fine.

Today I actually worked out to start getting ready for hockey season and....... I was fine.

The moral is that if you get injured and you then get treatment, and treatment advice.....DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!!! You really have to develop some OCD while you are hurt if you really want to get better. Scott asked me to stretch and strengthen AND ice FIVE TIMES per day. I followed his advice to the letter and Ta- Dah! I'm better.

For the record, I had a sprained facet joint in the lumbar region which caused a disc to bulge. It also caused the muscles in my hip to become extremely tight, causing more pain at the top of my butt and causing my leg to become numb. The treatment for this was to stretch the hip flexor and to perform pelvic tilts several times per day. I also used a sort of "wedge" to help stretch the muscles around the coccyx.

In the end, it worked. Thank you Dr. Stevenson.

As Seen on TV

Well.... Sheila and I had a chance to do live television for an hour today. We were guests of the On The Line show on CTS, the Crossroads Television Service. It was really fun. What an amazing studio that they have in Burlington! Very impressive.

For an hour, we discussed fitness myths and misconceptions. We then got to take calls and it is really amazing that we still get the same types of questions, like, "Will Green Tea help me to lose weight?" Incredible.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record............. The answer is Synergy! Build and maintain muscle, eat supportively and perform aerobic exercise in moderate amounts. That's it. End of story.

(btw: Green Tea is very heathy and you should drink it, but, it won't help you lose weight).

Reaching Beyond Your "Threshold"

Much has been said and written (including by me) about getting past fitness training "plateaus". The concept of the plateau assumes that at one time, you were actually moving in a positive direction and that you are now......."stuck". It is frustrating beyond belief if you are putting in a real effort.

But what about all those people that never hit a plateau because they never actually get moving! You won't run out of gas if you never drive your car!...............you'll also never see anything or enjoy your car either if you never drive it.

Health and fitness, along with diet and exercise, comes naturally to some and is very, very alien to others. If it all seems scary and unnerving to you to even make an attempt, then I would suggest that you have set your sights too high and you have passed your "threshold" for risk. Once you pass your threshold, you literally shut down and close yourself off even to the possibility that you can do something. Then the excuses and rationalizing start! Sound familiar?

I was a professional athlete and have remained in good health and have a high fitness level since retiring from football. I am active with mountain biking, hockey, running, weight training etc... In other words, I can do a lot! BUT if you approached me with the idea of completing a marathon (which many of my friends have done), I would be overwhelmed and would shut down. Based on my lifestyle, previous injuries and my expectations, it is simply beyond my threshold. I wouldn't do it. If you approached me with the idea of completing a mini run-bike- run duathlon..... I would create a plan and start moving. It is well within my physical and mental capacity to accept training and competing in a mini- duathlon. I would rock it and even try to win my age and weight category! It would be challenging enough, but, not outside of my threshold.

What could YOU accomplish if your mind and body were aligned to accept a challenge and you started to move in the direction of a dream-goal? A race? A tournament? A hiking trip in the Rockies? A bathing suit on the beach? A new relationship?.....

Think about it. There is overwhelm and frustration and then there is challenge and success.

Getting there....

Well my back stopped getting worse! Big deal, eh? Today, though it actually felt "slightly" better. There was a bit more sharp pain, but, more mobility and less numbness in my shin. I am super-obsessive about icing and treatment, so I tend to heal faster than most people. I will do what I have to do (more lying around with ice bags watching football) and get on with it.

A couple of nights ago, I simply could not get comfortable and couldn't sleep at all. It got me thinking about people living with chronic pain and insomnia. It actually got me thinking about Michael Jackson and his addictions. One night of pain and no sleep sucked. I could absolutely see how someone becomes a drug addict if they are constantly hurting and lacking in rest.

Maybe the world shouldn't be so quick to judge.

Ouch....my back is KILLING ME!

Boy, oh boy..... it is amazing how you take your health for granted when everything is going fine. I injured my back about two weeks ago and it hurt....then got better! ........and then got MUCH worse. For the last two days, it has been difficult to stand. Last night, I realized that my left leg was actually numb! Not good.

After Boot Camp this morning, I got in to see my chiropractor Dr. Scott Stevenson for an emergency session. He is amazing and brought me "some" relief. He suspects a bulging disc at the L-5 level and sent me for X-Rays. My fingers are crossed, hoping that it is nothing as serious as that. Looks like I will do alot of nothing besides icing this weekend.

At some point, I think that I will have to start thinking about "age appropriate" exercise and not try to compete with all my 20 and 30 something trainers!

Seriously, though, this injury has made me re-evaluate how I have been working out. After a lifetime of contact sports and high risk stuff like mountain biking, I will consider adding more stretching, stabilizing and recovery work to my routines.

Fingers crossed.

I LOVE My Bike!

I went mountain biking yesterday for the first time this summer. The FIRST TIME!!!!! I have never waited this long into the summer months, but, life has been busy recently, I have been getting up earlier and earlier and my bike had a flat tire and, and, and...............

EXCUSES! Nothing but excuses.

My sunday morning "urban mountain biking" is like meditation and my week always goes more smoothly when I get it in. I highly recommend finding an activity that you can do on your own that requires solitude, focus and some exertion. There is just something about moving your body in rythm and breaking a sweat at the same time.

Next week.........I RIDE!

Eat This.............Get Lean!

Whole Wheat Tilapia


Bake a piece of Tilapia for 10 minutes with your fave seasonings.

Wrap in a whole wheat tortilla with baby spinach, fet cheese, grape tomatoes, mandarin oranges and walnuts.


Yum.

Last day in Texas

Wow, what a whirlwind...

It is monday morning in Dallas/ Fort Worth and my last day before flying home this afternoon to Hamilton. Since arriving on friday night, it has been pretty much non-stop studying, training, socializing and touring.

On saturday, I spent the day with 85 of the top Boot Camp instructors and Personal Trainers from around the States and Canada. While it was inspiring and enlightening, it was also TIRING! After attending lectures and workshops on things like heart rate monitoring, marketing, website development and program design, we spent 3 hours working out at Velocity, a high-performance training centre in Fort Worth. Let me tell you, when it is 105 degrees outside and you take 85 trainers through a workout, even with air conditioning, it gets to steaming pretty quick. Thank god for water.

On saturday, we visited the famous stockyards in Fort Worth where the modern cattle industry was started last century. It is like stepping back in time as most of the buildings from the cowboy era have been preserved and there are plenty of horses and long horned cattle wandering around as well as people dressed up in period clothes. Again it was about 105 degrees, so I just had to pick me up an ice cold "walking beer" (you can walk around drinking beer in Texas!). We visited the world-famous "Billy Bob's" which is a show bar big enough that they have a live bull riding ring inside of it! After a lunch of BBQ, we headed back to the hotel for a nap and then went for a stroll through our "neighbourhood".

I just finished a brief workout in the hotel's facility (pretty nice actually) and I am heading out for a swim. I am also debating whether to eat super healthy at breakfast today or to go for my favourite southern "cheat meal" of biscuits and sausage gravy. Pure fat, but, pure yum! (decisions, decisions).

Can't wait to get back to Hamilton

Big D is HOT!

Hey Y'all! I just arrived in Dallas for a weekend training camp for Adventure Boot Camp. There are 85 of the top trainers, instructors and fitness business people from around the continent here for the weekend. It should prove to be very exciting and interesting. It is also going to be HOT. The high for today is 105 degrees. Wow.

This morning we have a breakast sponsored by Polar Heart Rate monitors and we will be doing workouts based on specific intensities measuring heart rates. While we have done this many times in the past with our personal training clients, it is something that we should be doing more of and I am excited to bring some new ideas back to our trainers.

Getting 85 trainers together for a weekend at a hotel is like witnessing an explosion of ideas where every one is trying to soak up as much info as possible to be able to take back to wherever they came from. I promise to bring back as many freaky, awesome ideas as possible.

It is the beginning of a long, exciting day....................stay tuned.

I'm so Tired!

Well it's friday night and another loooong week of fitness n' fun is behind me. I have been getting up at 4:30 all week again to start Adventure B00t Camp at 5:30. It's AWESOME, I love it. BUT, man I'm tired tonight.

This morning, my number one, Adam Higson came to Bayfront Park to take my ladies through a rockin' Kickboxing workout. It never ceases to amaze me how Adam can pull a workout out of thin air and blow everyone away. The quintessential professional, you can ALWAYS depend on him. When he says he'll do something.....BAM, it's done. Thanks Adam.

Heading into the weekend, I like to kick back and plan out what we'll be doing for the next couple of days. I have two young children that play baseball, do karate, swim, dance and bike. The weekends are all about them. To be able to keep up with them, however, requires stamina and strength, so although it's all about them, I still like to be active and get some fitness in for myself on the weekend. Part for the body and also a BIG part for the mind. Blading, biking, some lifting. For me, it's like meditating. I always feel better afterwards.

Father's Day is on sunday which means I'll do a few minutes extra and a few more reps on in whatever workout I do. (I hear we're having deep fried turkey for dinner on sunday).

Deja Vu

I had a really neat experience today. Roger Dunbrack, our newest All Canadian Fitness Certified Personal Trainer has been hired as the Strength Coach for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Today was the first day of weight training for the rookies in training camp at McMaster University. There are about 100 guys in camp, so Roger asked me to come help check form and help him make sure that the workout goes smoothly.

It has been 16 years since my last professional football training camp! Being back in that environment was so cool. It was also like having deja vu. One of the players trying out for the Cats is Dexter Manley II. Well, I played with Dexter Manley, the first. His DAD! Boy does that make you feel like the years are going by. One of my former teammates from Ottawa is now a coach with the Cats, so the whole thing felt very familiar and comfortable.

The other thing that I found really fascinating was how these young, fine tuned machines had some of the same motor pattern problems as the "regular" civilians that train at All Canadian Fitness! Some of the big guys were powerful and fit as anything, but, had NO core strength. Like I said, it was just........interesting.

I am hoping to be back at camp with Roger again later this week. I really enjoyed it!

My new Favourite Workout

For the past few weeks, I have started to get serious about Rollerblading of all things. I LOVE running, but, due to arthritis (and two meniscus) surgeries, I have been limiting my running to about once or twice per month.

What I am able to do pain-free is skate! I play hockey competitively and never feel any pain and never have any swelling after games. So...... I figured that 'blading would be the same.

My new routine is to strap 'em on saturday and/ or sunday mornings while the kids are watching cartoons and I go out for about 10- 15kms. Quite a workout considering part of the road I am 'blading on is uphill! The thing that really keeps me moving is my IPod which is quickly getting filled up (I will have over 25000 songs very soon).

The point is that, having limitations (in my case my knee) does not mean you have to STOP, just figure out a way "around" your limitation and don't stop.

Stay in shape........................because, you never know!

Amazing Women!

This morning was the wrap-up of the second All Canadian Fitness- Adventure Boot Camp for Women. We did our testing of physical abilities as well as body measurements.

What an amazing group! Everyone got stronger, fitter and more toned. Some women were able to do things that they hadn't done in over 20 years, since they were High School students. Walkers were able to run and then SPRINT! Pushups from the knees are now being done from the toes! We had one camper do an abdominal "plank" for 7 minutes and 45 seconds. !!!!!!!!

Most people do the plank for about 60 seconds. Yikes.

The thing that made me the most excited and proud, however, was for the woman that had previously been in the Cancer Rehab program operated out of our private Studio. Today she ran like crazy, did pushups with confidence and planked like crazy all the while, she laughed and smiled through the whole thing. This at 5:30am.

Beautiful.

Check out http://www.adventurebootcamphamilton.com/ to see what it's all about.

Kill Your Scale.

As a trainer, it drives us CRAZY how much people put value on how much they weigh. The numbers on the scale tell only a small part of the story when it comes to someone's fitness level. We always consider body composition to be the most important number when it comes to body change and fitness increases. This number is presented as a "percentage" of total body weight. Simply losing pounds does not always convey success if the pounds lost are lean tissue. Nobody wants to be lighter and fatter at the same time. Having said this, it seems like EVERYONE wants to be lighter!

At the moment at All Canadian Fitness, we have a couple of clients that are achieving great results. One of them is my Spect Fit Cadet, Diane Ledonne. Since we have started her training 5 weeks ago, she has lost just under 3" from her waist! She has also lost about 7% of her bodyfat. Her blood pressure has also come down from 140/90 to 126/86. Very impressive results all around. BUT, since her last assessment two weeks ago, her weight has stayed exactly the same!!! During this time, all of her body composition measurements have gone down, her strength has gone up, blood pressure has gone down...AND her energy is waaaaaay up. If we had been evaluating her progress solely by the scale (like they do on that awful Biggest Loser show), then she would have felt like a failure.

The other client is experiencing frustration at the numbers on the scale that appear to be stuck. Every single day, however, she is getting compliments from people about "how great she looks". She has also lost 4 dress sizes in the last few months. Again, impressive results that simply would not have been recognized if the scale were the only measure of progress.

Bottom line- We are human beings with LOTS and LOTS of things to consider about ourselves other than simply a number on a scale. Do yourself a favour and throw yours away (or give it to someone you really dislike!).

Spec Fit

You may have noticed that I am part of The Hamilton Spectator's "Spec Fit" experiment. 5 area Personal Trainers have been chosen to work with 5 readers. Their stories will be tracked online and in the paper for 10 weeks.

I met Diane Ledonne this week. She and I will get to know each other very well over the next 2 1/2 months as I help her to regain her health. She used to be an athlete and I am determined to get her there once again.

Check out www.thespec.com and click on the Spec Fit link to read about her progress, my blogs about her training and tons of fitness tips.

You can also view Diane's application video here; http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/video2/SpecFit/specfitwomen.html

This is going to be fun!

It's ON!

Wow, how did almost 2 months fly by since my last blog!?

The Big news for me is that Adventure Boot Camp for Women kicked off this week at the Soccerworld Dome on Frid St. in Hamilton! On monday we had 31 female warriors rising to the occasion at 5:30am! Wow. Was it ever fun. I can't believe that I am actually enjoying (and looking forward to) getting up at 4:30 and kicking butt.

I am starting to appreciate the afternoon siesta, I am telling you!

I'll be back shortly with more news.

btw: Spring is HERE!!!!!

Back to the deep freeze!

Well after spending the better part of week in Marco Island in Florida it is back to work and back to the deep freeze of Southern Ontario in February.

As strange as this may sound, I am actually excited to be back. I missed my hockey game last week and missed my son scoring another goal in his game! I guess you can say that I am a winter guy.

Florida was really amazing. I was networking with Phil Kaplan and the Be Better Project. Phil is the greatest personal fitness educator in the world today. His ideas and plans on both a business and training level are always waaaaay outside the box. His track record speaks for itself and I consider it an honour to call him both a mentor and a friend.

Oh yeah, we also had one heck of a Super Bowl Party in Goodland Florida, which looks kind of like a bar that Mickey Rourke would be hanging out in for a movie role!

Lots of fun.

......phew!

Wow that was hard!

I am training for the sake of vanity this month!

At the end of January, I will be on Marco Island in the Gulf of Mexico meeting with a group of personal trainers from around North America for some networking, learning and r+r. Since I am the only Canadian attending.....I've gotta look good!

I managed to stay the course over the holidays so for the month of January, I am going to be progressing through a series of challenging training styles and doing heart-rate monitored cardio workouts.

Just finished 40 minutes of eliptical and cycling at 85% of max heart rate.

Phew.....that was hard.