Latest News

No, it’s not impossible. You can fall in love with exercise instead of having that dreaded feeling every time you lace up your sneakers. The trick to falling in love with fitness is finding something you love to do, and trying new things because you may discover a dormant passion for line dancing, snowshoeing, or even something as exotic as fencing. It’s time to uncover your inner athlete and fall in love yet again!

Square Dancing – This energetic style of dance may look strange to you – but it’s great exercise – and great fun! This folk dancing tradition has existed in Canada for centuries and has maintained its popularity as a social activity often deemed “friendship set to music.” Now this form of dance is even more popular as people are doh-si-dohing their way to being fit! Don’t knock IT before you try it! You may forget you’re getting fit because you’re having so much fun!

Snowshoeing – Snowshoes are thousands of years old, and Native Canadians used to use snowshoes as a form of transport. Only since the last few centuries has snowshoeing become a recreational sport. Now, Canadians in the United States are strapping on their snowshoes and heading for the trails to spend time outdoors, at one with nature, while boosting cardiovascular fitness and toning their backsides. Today’s modern snowshoes are typically lightweight, aluminium frames with fabric decks and strap bindings instead of the classic bent-wood frames crisscrossed with rawhide strips. Lately, many celebrities have talked about the physical benefits of snowshoeing, especially when it comes to toning your glutes and quads.

Buddy Up! – It’s no secret that having a fitness buddy helps get you going. Let’s face it, when your doorbell rings at 6 a.m., you’re not going to hide under the covers and ignore your buddy. Or, when your work buddy grabs you for your daily lunchtime power walk, you’re less likely to sit at your desk and graze. A workout buddy provides a little extra incentive to get you going, and a little less response time to say no to exercise!

Feel Good in Fun Clothes! – Remember the old adage about how when you look good, you feel better? This goes for the gym too. If you buy yourself some fun fitness clothes that you feel good in, you are more likely to have more confidence in yourself and as a result, push yourself harder at the gym. Stores like Winners and The Bay offer great deals on workout clothes that have the ability to endure any fitness test. Remember, if you look the part, you’re more likely to feel the part!

Position Yourself Properly – Sometimes watching others can give you just the boost you need get started at the gym. Look around you and position yourself next to an Eagle Ridge Fitness Personal Trainer and watch yourself take off! You’ll soon be running to keep up with them…

Healthy eating and physical fitness go together, but there are no magic foods that cause you to be one hundred percent healthy by just eating the one food. No, you’ll need a variety of foods from each of these food groups each day. It’s also important to watch the portion size so as not to overeat. Make your mealtimes pleasant and relaxed occasions and your healthy foods will work effectively with your healthy emotions to give you a healthy body. The following items have been suggested by an Eagle Ridge Fitness Personal Trainer.

Berries

You may like all types of berries or just 1 or 2 favorites, but you can never go wrong by adding a few fresh berries as a quick energy snack or frozen berries made into a luscious smoothie instead of calorie laden desserts. Berries are high in vitamin C across the board, but some are high in other nutrients as well. Choose ripe blueberries for vitamin C and heaps of anti-oxidants for the healthiness of your circulatory system. Goji berries are less well-known but are wonderfully rich in most of the nutrients your body needs to be nutritionally and physically fit.

Citrus

The foods of the citrus family are widely recognized as a valuable source of vitamin C. Choose fully ripe citrus fruits to discover the best nutritional value and choose citrus as near to the tree as possible. Tree ripened fruits picked at the peak of perfection and consumed with hours of picking provide you with the top nutritional rating. Try grapefruit for breakfast. Add a dash of fresh squeezed lime to your salad as a dressing and enjoy slices of orange with coconut in a light honey dressing for dessert.

Vegetables

All of the vegetables is amazing. For people who are vegetarian or vegan, choosing vegetables to participate a nutritionally sound diet is a way of life. Your vegetable group provides most of the minerals required in a good diet. For example, you may realize that potassium is necessary for healthy nutrition. Many people claim the benefits of potassium found within a banana. But did you know, you may also get adequate potassium in your diet by eating a stalk of broccoli? Try a salad of fresh young spinach topped with pine nuts and stirred with lightly cooked penne ‘. Feta cheese and a light vinaigrette dressing to create the perfect light luncheon meal. 

Whole Grains

Like many other of the greatest foods, choosing only one type of whole grain for your meals doesn’t provide all the variety you must be nutritionally sound. Often, mixing two or more whole grains together will give you complete proteins. For example, brown rice and wheat kernels with a spicy seasoning are a popular dish in many countries.

Salmon

Salmon is lean fish and nutritionally one of the greatest fish choices. It is rich in Omega-3 oils that are noted as helping improve the functioning of the brain. Salmon baked whole with just lemon or lime as a seasoning makes a fantastic main dish or a hearty luncheon featured menu item. Salmon is also commonly found in chilled seafood dishes.

We live in a culture that honours Type A, driven behaviours. That includes exercise and for many people, it’s taken away the joy out of simply walking.

Instead of seeing walking as something you must do to get in shape, see it as a gift of being alive and let yourself fully enjoy the experience.
1) Walk with deep awareness of how it feels to move your body.
2) Experience the act of walking as if you’ve never, ever done it before.
3) Be aware. Be present in the moment. Really feel your body as you’re moving.
4) Look closely at how your feet feel with each rolling step on the earth. 
5) Notice the strength and power in your muscles. 
6) Feel yourself moving in space. 
7) Observe the wind on your skin and the temperature of the air. 
8) Have a beauty feast while you’re out. Notice the light coming through the leaves. See the flowers with fresh eyes.
9) Take a fresh consider the world as you move through it. Assume nothing. Experience the wonder of life as if you’ve never seen anything before. Watch the people as if you’d never seen a human before.

Let walking become a cherished and enriching part of your life. Turn it into something wonderful that you look forward to with both body and soul. The above article is for information purposes, written by an Eagle Ridge Fitness Personal Trainer, who consults people who are serious about a fitness plan in their lives.

Energy – the natural resource in shortest supply, especially for the 100 million Americans who are suffering from chronic or incurable illness. Just thinking of everyone who needs you can sap out what little energy you have left. Maybe you feel like you can’t possibly get it all done. But you know you HAVE to. People depend on you everyday.

Your family. Your friends. Your co-workers. Your clients. Even your pets! To meet the demands of life today, you can’t afford to have your energy depleted. So here are a few ways to easily boost those levels right away.

1. 
   Breathe fresh air. I was speaking with a friend yesterday who has Lyme disease. He is so ill he literally cannot exercise. He was depressed. I suggested he go out his door (get as bundled up as necessary) and close the door. Take in deep breaths for 10 minutes. He could not believe how much better he felt. If where you are is smoggy, or if you have no way you will get outside, get an air cleanser and you will have the benefits of the negative ions anyway.
2. 
   Exercise is the energy creator. Move your body, no matter how little. If you fail to even move your ankle or wrist joints around in circles, imagine yourself doing it. You know you need it, so why fight it? Take a walk, even if it’s winter. If you can’t walk outside, walk in a mall. Stretch. Elongate those tight muscles. Dance! Put on your favourite music and move around (again if you fail to move even minimally imagine yourself doing this.) It feels so good. If you’re bedridden or for some other reason can’t exercise today, at least visualize doing it in your mind. We all know nothing goes right unless we are coached properly or somebody is there to watch our actions and prepare a roadmap for us. That’s exactly where a Eagle Ridge Fitness Personal Trainer can assist you as well.
3. 
   Pump up your energy in your attitude. Think of life as a school. When you quit learning, you begin dying. Open your mind; learn something new every day. Make it a game! Write down your new find in a spiral notebook – nothing fancy. It’s fun to look back and see how much more knowledge you’ve captured over time. 
   5. Clutter – The silent Energy Sucker. You’ve heard it before – what’s externally is a reflection of what’s on the inside. Surrounded by clutter? It has a real physical effect on your energy levels. Don’t worry. I’m not going to ask you to clean out your garage or over-stuffed closet all at once. Set a timer and just take 15 minutes a day to declutter your space. It’s all about baby steps.
4. 
   What goes in shows on the outside? Keep your water intake high. Studies show lack of water is the number one trigger of daytime fatigue. In fact, a mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page. Thirsty yet?

7. Let it go. There is a direct relationship between buried anger and your energy levels. Holding onto a grudge or not moving on in your lifetime hurts you more than it hurts anyone else. It only helps you physically and energetically to acknowledge that people have their limitations. If you were hurt, you do not have to trust that person again. Ritualize it instead! Write his or her name on an item of paper. Pour all of your painful thoughts into that paper. Now destroy it. Burn it. Drown it. Rip it up. Don’t you feel better? Forgiving and letting go is a selfish act you do to make yourself feel better. Be a little selfish!

There are lots of other choices to get more active that don’t include jogging, weight training or other “traditional” methods to work out. Here certainly are a few ideas to have you moving

1) Chase your Kids around the Yard
You’d be surprised at just how much of a workout you’ll receive playing catch along with your kids. Time will fly when you are having a good time and your children will love the additional time with you. Just get out there and play.

2) Turn up the Music and Dance round the Living Room
While you’re dusting, setting up dishes, straightening up the kid’s rooms, or after you’ve been sitting around for too long, just play some of your chosen upbeat music and dance around in the house. Not only can you receive your heartrate up, but you will also have more pleasurable doing some of those chores. 

3) Plant some Flowers
When the elements is nice, just get out there and plant some flowers. Or you could take up a little vegetable garden, trim some hedges, slice the grass, or plant a tree. You get the idea. Just get out there, enjoy the sunshine and oxygen, and play in the dirt. Yes, this actually counts as exercise within our book.

4) Choose a Walk with a Friend
Take a walk and invite a friend to come along. I’ve had some of the greatest conversations while on a walk. Dealing with chat with a friend makes enough time fly by and before you realize it you’ve been walking for 30 minutes.

5) Listen for some Music or an Audiobook while You Walk
Again, keeping your mind on another thing will make enough time fly by and you’ll receive some extra fun out of your walk. You might even want to consider getting an MP3 Player. It is possible to add what you would like to hear and choose your walk.