Ideally, you’ll want to wind down your workout with less intensive exercises for about five minutes. For example, if you’ve been running, you’ll need to slow your pace down to a jog then walk. If you’ve been doing cardio kickboxing, march on the spot or step from side to side. Five minutes allows the temperature of the body and muscles as well as the heart rate to slowly decrease, which is better since a rapid decrease can shock the body. Circulating blood also slows down, allowing the muscles to eliminate waste products (i.e. lactic acid) that may have accumulated during the more intensive part of your workout and preventing blood from pooling in the legs (possibly leading to nausea and dizziness).

Once your heartbeat has slowed down and and you’ve cooled off, it’s time to stretch.

Research has found that the best time to improve flexibility and enhance your recovery is during this time. Skipping stretching regularly can reduce flexibility in under a month, so it’s absolutely imperative that it’s part of your cool down.

Our certified Personal Trainers know the importance of cooling down and stretching. They’ll help you perform exercises to adequately cool you down and improve flexibility.  You’ll also notice that you’ll be less stiff and sore the next day!

Once in a while, gorging on fatty, greasy and/or sugar laden foods we deprive ourselves of while we diet is okay. (Of course we don’t recommend you do this on a regular basis since it is a slippery slope.) Sure, you will gain extra weight since you’ve consumed so much food, but the majority of this excess weight is actually composed mainly of water. And here’s why:

Our bodies store extra carbs mainly as molecules of  glycogen as an energy reserve. Glycogen  is converted to glucose when the body breaks it down to use as energy, but before it does that it’s stored. Every ounce of glycogen requires about 3 ounces of water in storage – which means that the majority of the weight you gain following a gorge is actually water. “Water weight” doesn’t last and will disappear in a couple of days. On top of that, you’d have to eat at least 3,500 extra calories to gain one pound of fat (not water weight), and that’s a whole lot of food.

So, even though you may have ventured far off the dieting path last night, no worries. Just get back onto the right path with your healthy diet and exercise program, forgive yourself and move on.

Remember: To Err Is Human, To Forgive Divine.

So what does “lighter” and “vigorous” activity mean?

Here’s a chart that shows some examples of possible activities that fit the description:

Light Activities (an hour)
Walking at a leisurely pace
Low intensity gardening
Gentle stretching
Bowling

More Intensive Activities (around 45 minutes)
Brisk walking or hiking
Riding a bike
Raking leaves
Dancing

Vigorous activities (about half an hour). You should be breathing hard, sweating and your heart rate should be accelerated.
Spinning
Kickboxing and marital arts
Jogging and running
Fast swimming

Obviously, though, it really depends on how much effort you put in to each exercise. Dancing can be vigorous if you go at it hard, and spinning can be less vigorous if you’re slowly pedaling. The Public Health Agency of Canada also recommends that you work on flexibility, strength and endurance on most days of the week to achieve the most health benefits.

However, these guidelines are the bare minimum. If you want to really increase your strength, endurance or lose weight and keep it off, you’ll have to bump up your exercise regimen.

You’ll far exceed the guidelines if you sign up for private or group sessions with one of our Personal Trainers in Toronto – even the free trial class can help you!

Fascial Stretch Therapy™ is a revolutionary way of stretching, taking into consideration the basic mechanics and structure of the human body. It’s a scientific approach to stretching – something we all know we should do, but often don’t know how to accurately do it. The method addresses issues that everyone can relate to: the thickening and shortening of fascia resulting from stressed tissue due to poor posture, a sedentary lifestyle and trauma, whether it be from surgery, an accident or just training too hard. Other stretching methods may help, but only Fascial Stretch Therapy™ can do so at the deepest level: the joint capsule. The method makes every layer of fascia become more pliable and hydrated, achieving a true flexibility that is beneficial to our daily mobility, athletic prowess and general physical state. In fact, you’ll achieve noticeable results after just one session with our certified Fascial Stretch Therapist.

FST™ has successfully targeted the flexibility and condition of professional athletes, including football players, Olympians, as well as track and field athletes. Take advantage of a system that has helped the pros, even if you’re not! You’ll improve your game, reduce nagging aches and pains, and boost circulation.

Book a Fascial Stretch Therapy™ session, each an hour in length:

1 session – $85 .00 plus taxes
3 sessions – $245.00 plus taxes
5 sessions – $380.00 plus taxes
10 sessions – $720.00 plus taxes
20 sessions – $1,400.00 plus taxes

We admit it was grueling, especially with the weather. But it was well worth the effort for the cause.

We’ve only got some photos. Nobody had time to take photos on the hike.

Checkpoint 1.

Representing.

At the starting point at Snow Valley Resort.

Checkpoint 3-4, right before a night hike.

At the finish line at Orillia. Clocked in a 37 hrs and 19 mins.

Now that you’ve got evidence, please help us by donating to our teams!

Team Bamboo Kung Fu

Team Bamboo Kung Fu 2

The main cause of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (aka sun stroke) is insufficient fluid intake while working out or performing strenuous physical activity. Fluid intake is essential to assist in healthy bodily functions as well as produce sweat, which helps cool down the body. However, if you don’t drink enough, the body will use liquids to satisfy bodily function requirements first – which is the problem. Since you won’t sweat, your body won’t be able to cool down, allowing the core temperature to rise to a level that could kill your cells, damage your brain and cause serious health problems.

Heat exhaustion is a sign that your body is unsuccessfully cooling itself down. You’ll look pale and feel clammy. You’ll also most likely feel faint, nauseous, weak, lightheaded and have a headache. Muscle cramps may develop, and you’ll be sweating profusely. To treat heat exhaustion, all you have to do is cool yourself down. Remove clothing, move to a cooler area, and drink some water or something with electrolytes and a bit of sugar (e.g. Gatorade). Don’t gulp – just drink a bit at a time.

If you’re breathing is shallow and you’re not sweating, have a headache, rapid pulse, hot red skin, and are acting strangely, then you’ve got heat stroke. Heat stroke is far more serious because your insides are basically “cooking” due to the rising core temperature. Needless to say, this requires immediate medical attention. Move to a shady spot, wrap yourself up in cool, wet towels, drink water or a sports drink, and get medical treatment from a professional.

Beat the heat by drinking plenty of water before you even think about working out. It’s a good habit, especially for the summer. Health Canada recommends drinking 2 to 5 cups of water at least 3 hours before you workout, and about a cup every 20 minutes while working out. Wear clothing suitable for hot weather, sticking to loose fitting items that are light in colour.

And because humidity makes it harder for the body to cool itself down, since sweat won’t evaporate as easily, you may want to consider moving your workout indoors or waiting until the humidity isn’t so high.

Students and teachers of Personal Trainer Toronto and Bamboo Kung Fu School will be making the 100km trek across Ontario’s famous Ganaraska Trail in 48 hours, and they need your help to make it happen. We need to raise $6500 between our two teams by August 31, 2010.

Oxfam Trailwalker Canada will take place on the weekend of July 23rd – July 25th, 2010 on the Ganaraska Trail System.

Show your support! Donate to Oxfam by visiting  Team Bamboo Kung Fu or Bamboo Kung Fu 2 .

Want to find out more about the people who form our teams? Read more information about Personal Trainer Toronto’s Oxfam Trailwalker Participants.

Fortunately, no matter how old you are and how ummm…lazy you’ve been, it’s never too late to exercise. Whether you’re 25 or 65, if you commit to regular exercise and resistance training, your body will respond positively as long as your regimen is suitable for you (in other words, it should be challenging but not so much so that injury may result). You’ll increase muscle mass, boost your metabolism and lose fat. Studies have even shown that people in their latter years can redevelop muscle mass from strength training and increasing protein consumption.

But before you hit the gym or start any exercise program, speak to your doctor. You need to make sure your body can handle exercise, especially if you have an existing medical condition. A certified personal trainer can also help you determine a suitable plan.

Such enthusiasm is fantastic, but our Personal Trainers have found that sometimes too much enthusiasm can be a bad thing, especially for people who want to fast track their way to improved fitness.

If you want to prevent injury, remember to do the following:

Before and after every exercise session, warm up. This involves gentle stretching and something to get the blood pumping a bit faster prior to the session and more intense stretching and a cool down afterward.

Drink a glass of water before you work out and drink more at intervals throughout (some experts believe about 2 ounces every 15 minutes is ideal).

If you’re just starting your exercise program, start off easy and increase intensity gradually. To keep things challenging, aim to do a couple of more reps or a heavier weight every week, or increase the length or intensity of your cardio segment.

Don’t workout on an empty or full stomach. Have a banana or something light (preferably rich in protein) in you haven’t eaten, or wait at least 2 hours if you have.

Your body needs time to heal after strength training, and this can take one day or more. Weightlifting can only effectively tone and build muscle if you allow your body to repair the targeted muscles, and this can only be optimally done when you’re not using them and resting. Many people find strength training every other day achieves the best results. On those off days, try doing something else like cardio.

Pay attention to your body. If you feel pain while you’re doing an exercise, stop and adjust your position. If that doesn’t help, tell your Personal Trainer about it or skip the exercise and do something else. This is incredibly important since ignoring pain can cause damage to your body, particularly your joints. Stop exercising if you feel dizzy or have pain in the chest, neck, shoulder or arm. This may be indication of a more serious health problem.

As a woman, I love my carbs. I thrive on bread, pasta, and rice, and often fill up on those while ignoring protein. But for someone who’s also trying to lose weight, eating so many carbs on a daily basis and eating insufficient amounts of protein may actually be hindering my weight loss efforts. Here’s why:

Your body doesn’t heal as quickly, so your muscles can’t repair themselves after a workout as effectively. The amino acids that protein provides are vital in repairing tissue, so you need to eat protein if you’re toning or increasing muscle mass through strength training.

Eating insufficient amounts of protein can cause health problems in the long term. These problems include decreased immunity, kwashiorokor and even death. When it comes to weight loss, insufficient protein consumption will make you lose muscle mass, which is a huge problem if you’re on a diet. Muscle tends to burn more calories, even when resting, and loss of muscle mass means that you may find it harder to lose weight.

The body processes protein at a slower rate than carbs. Protein goes through the stomach and intestine slowly, allowing you to feel satiated for a longer period of time, preventing that spike in blood sugar levels so you don’t rise and crash and, finally, makes your body use up more energy to process the protein.

The results of clinical trials have proven that low-carb and high-protein diets were more successful than high-carb and low-fat diets.

So if you’re trying to lose weight, you may want to find a happy balance between carbs and protein. Consider limiting your carb intake to a healthy amount and boost protein consumption to about .8 grams per every kilo you weigh (this is recommended by the Institute of Medicine). Meat, fish, dairy, beans and nuts are great sources of protein while whole grains are a great source of carbs.