Fitness

February 4, 2011 In Fitness, News, Spotlight By Vancouver Health Coach

Mixing Work and Fitness: Get in Shape with your Co-Workers

Have you noticed that the thought of working out by yourself isn’t so appealing? Or, have you found that unless you commit to someone else, the chances of you keeping your word on a fitness regime are pretty slim? To tie this factor in with the ubiquitous excuse of “I’m too busy to exercise”, a solution that works for many is to build in exercise with the people we interact with most frequently. For many, this would be co-workers. One example of how this might work is the Office Exercise Group. When an office exercise group is formed, participants (who are...

October 11, 2010 In Fitness, News, Spotlight By Vancouver Health Coach

Traumatic Knee injuries in Females: ACL Injury Prevention

One question I often get as a physiotherapist is whether or not injuries are seasonal? My answer usually goes like this: “In the spring and summer, I see an increase in niggling running injuries such as tendinopathies as people return to outdoor running. The winter brings fractures and dislocations as skiing and hockey injuries tend to produce more forceful tissue damage. Lastly, the fall season brings about more traumatic knee injuries created by ballistic, running and cutting sports such as soccer, field hockey, basketball and ultimate.” Although this generalization is fairly accurate, there are many other factors that come into play...

March 29, 2010 In Fitness, News, Spotlight, Yoga By Vancouver Health Coach

The Cooler Side of Yoga: Yin Yoga

“Yin” yoga classes are popping up all over the place, but the style is often misunderstood by those who have yet to experience a session. The misunderstanding is, well, understandable since while passing by a class one witnesses serene looking people-pods doing seemingly nothing but tugging the tail of the cat for five or 10 minutes at a time. But anyone who has hung out in Sleeping Swan for any duration will be quick to tell you that yin yoga is definitely not going to rock you gently into Shavasana. Quite the contrary – yin yoga is deceptively aggressive in its...

February 1, 2010 In Fitness, News By Vancouver Health Coach

Swiss Ball Jackknife: Exercise of the Week

The Swiss Ball Jackknife, also referred to as the Knee Tuck is a great exercise for targeting your lower abdominals. Since the ball is unstable, your abdominals have to work hard to maintain your body position. Goal: Hold your lumbar spine in neutral alignment while flexing your hips and drawing your legs in. Muscles involved: Lower Abdominals, Hip Flexors and Shoulder Girdle. Action: Get into a pushup position with the tops of your feet on a Swiss ball. Place your hands just slightly wider than your shoulders. Keeping your back flat contract your abs and bend your knees and hips and roll the ball...

October 24, 2009 In Fitness, News, Spotlight By Vancouver Health Coach

Introducing the Kettlebell

For all of you who are new to the word Kettlebell, it is not a completely new kid on the block in the fitness industry. Kettlebells have been used for nearly 100 years in countries such as Russia. More recently in North America, Kettlebell training is exploding in gyms due to its simplicity and it's effectiveness. What is a Kettlebell? The kettlebell is a strength training tool similar to the dumbbell only shaped differently and usually made out of cast iron. Resembling small bowling balls with thick, large handles the sizes of these weights begins at 4kg (8.8 lbs) and goes up...

July 15, 2009 In Fitness, News By Vancouver Health Coach

Hard-Core training with BOSU Balance Trainer

If you haven't already seen this blue and oddly shaped ball in your gym or fitness studio, you will soon because this fitness item is one of the best to hit the gyms in a long time. BOSU stands for "Both Sides Up" or "Both Sides Utilized" depending upon whether you are talking about the BOSU Balance Trainer (the product) or BOSU (the philosophical approach to exercise). Millions of people from all over the world now train with the BOSU Balance Trainer including many of the world's top athletes. But you certainly don't need to be a top athlete to...