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August Long Weekend Hours

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stay-calm-long-weekend-aheadPort Elgin

  • Saturday Aug. 3- regular hours ( 9:15 am Cardio/Muscle Mix is on)
  • Sunday Aug. 4- regular hours

Monday Aug. 5: Gym open 8:00 am- 8:00 pm

  • 9:15 am Cardio Sculpt- is on
  • All other classes cancelled

Southampton

  • Saturday Aug. 3- regular hours ( 9:15 am BUFF is cancelled, participants may attend the 9:15 am class in Port Elgin for free!)
  • Sunday Aug 4. – regular hours (10:30 am Yoga is on)

Monday Aug 5: Gym open from 8:00- 8:00 pm

  • All classes are cancelled (Participants may attend the 9:15 am class in Port Elgin for free!)

 

July & August Class Perk

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summer class perk, fitness class, port elgin, southamptonOur summer perk for you…

Through the months of July & August, if you have a class option in your membership – you can go to both studios for FREE! You may attend any class in our Port Elgin studio or our South Studio. Be sure to pick up our new summer class schedule at the gym.

Have Fun at the Park Staying Fit

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sporty woman restingYou can do a great circuit routine to benefit your fitness level outdoors at the park. Begin by walking, biking or running to the park as a warm-up. Do some triceps dips on a park bench. (10 to 20 is a good number). Try “step-ups” on the bench next. Step one foot up on the bench, bring the other one up to meet it then step down. Try 10 – 20 reps with one leg leading then switch to the other leg. Do some “mountain climbers” next. These are done from a “high plank” position with hands on the bench, elbows straight and the body in a diagonal line from head to toe. Alternate bringing one bent knee in towards the body, keeping the hips down and the abs engaged. Again 10 to 20 reps on each leg is good. Repeat the circuit then go for a short run.

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Want to Give Running a Try?

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running outsideThinking of going outside for some activity to improve your health and fitness? Want to give running a try? To create a successful, enjoyable, positive running experience follow these few tips. THE most important rule to follow is DON’T DO TOO MUCH TOO SOON. You have read that right here numerous times but it is the number one reason people create a negative exercise experience for themselves. It’s also the main reason they give up after the first try. Why? Because it hurts. Going too far, too fast or doing too much of any activity, especially for someone not used to it, will cause post exercise muscle soreness so severe it will take days to recover. Even the most experienced exerciser has felt this. But they no doubt have experienced it before, know that it will go away and perhaps even like to brag about how sore they are from the activity.

If you are new to activity of any kind, begin with running for only 30 seconds then walking for 3 minutes. Repeat this for 30 minutes and then end with a 5 minute cool-down walk and a 10-15 minute stretch. Do it 2 or 3 times a week. Gradually, over several weeks, increase the running time and reduce the walking time. You can also gradually increase the total time but don’t skimp on the time spent stretching. All this will help prevent soreness and injury. Try a 3 minute run alternating with a 1 minute walk if you are used to exercise but not running. Gradually increase the run time. The walk can be dropped or not. Lots of people run an entire distance event as a 10 minute run and a 1 minute walk.

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It’s February!

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   It’s February! How are those New Year’s Resolutions doing? Are you eating healthier foods? Are you exercising regularly? Are you getting proper rest? Did you give up smoking? Of all the things you can do for yourself to become healthier, studies show that the single one best thing you can do is to be a non-smoker. Giving up cigarettes will improve your health in many ways and could lengthen your life for as many as 10 years. If you have tried and failed please don’t give up, try again. If you are unsure as to how to do it, or need support, go on-line. Health Canada and the Canadian Lung Association have web-sites with plenty of information to help you.
    If you are a non-smoker looking to improve your health through eating habits and exercise consider these few tips. Consume some protein at every meal or snack, especially when consuming carbs. This helps maintain energy. The body takes longer to metabolize protein. Your blood sugar levels and therefore your energy will be more even. Consuming carbohydrates causes a rise in blood sugar levels. The body releases insulin to stabilize the sugar levels. The more carbs in the diet, especially the sugary ones, the higher the insulin spike. This also means a bigger drop as the body works to maintain an even level. This is the reason for increased energy after a chocolate bar but then an energy drop not longer after. Avoid the afternoon chocolate bar as a “pick me up'” for this reason. Choose healthier carbs and some protein instead. Add protein to carbs at meal time to keep blood sugar levels even. Some protein sources are nuts, peanut butter, yogurt, cheese, eggs and meats.

The Importance of “Play”

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 When do most adults, forget to enjoy play? When do they lose the childlike desire to move and to move often? Watch any little kid for a period of time and most will run almost everywhere they go. Lots of kids just have to move. They truly enjoy movement. Look at their faces. They don’t wear the grimace of a runner. Kids at play have genuine smiles on their faces. (That’s why we runners need to smile more when we are out there, to let others know we are enjoying it!) “Kids” in their 20’s have told me it was about grade 6 and 7 when it became “less cool” to play games at recess and started becoming “more cool” to just stand around in groups. This is also the time that their young bodies are changing. Moving from youth to adolescent. Unfortunately the adolescent years can bring insecurity. Insecurity about “fitting in”. Insecurity about the changing body. Kids who found it easy and comfortable to participate in sports and games sometimes find it awkward to participate in those changing bodies in the pre-teen years. They do less or quit for fear of looking silly in front of others or fear of being teased by peers.

TABATA

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     Tabata, the “new” buzz word in the Fitness “Biz” isn’t really new. This method of training, gets it’s name from Izumi Tabata, a Japanese scientist who helped develop the method when he was working as a training coach with the Japanese National speed skating team. Tabata readily admits that the head coach at the time, Irisawa Koichi designed the method. Tabata was asked to analyze the effectiveness of the training on the physiology of the athletes and he became credited with the training method. His 1996 study showed an improvement in both the aerobic and anaerobic systems in the speed skaters. Tabata himself felt that this method of training was only for highly trained athletes as it is very painful and tiring. He also could see that there would be others who would want to train muscle and their aerobic systems at the same time.

Zumba Fitness!

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ZUMBA! The story of how one fitness instructor nightmare became an entrepreneurial dream come true. Alberto “Beto” Perez dashed off one day in the mid 1990’s, to teach an aerobics class in his native Cali Columbia. He arrived realizing he had forgotten his music. You don’t mess with a group of women waiting to burn off some steam in a fitness class so Beto quickly improvised with music he carried in his backpack. This was merengue, salsa and other music he had grown up with. The women loved this new fun, Latin-dance style, fitness class and Zumba (pronounced Zoom ba) was born! Beto brought the program to Miami USA in 2001. It was here that 2 more Albertos, Perlman and Aghion joined with Perez to form an alliance and a business called Zumba Fitness. The business exploded and to date there are millions of people of all ages, shapes and sizes doing Zumba classes in 140,00 locations in more than 150 countries.

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Yoga

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Cyclists, you need yoga. Runners, so do you. In fact everyone can benefit from yoga on a regular basis, but I’ll concentrate on runners and cyclists for now.  Are you a runner or cyclist who avoids yoga because you are “just too tight”? Of course you are tight. You’ve worked hard to get that tightness. But chances are you also have experienced some pain, mild or severe, at some time or another that is due to this tightness. That sore back? Probably due to tight hip flexors. IT band pain? Probably weak glut medius. The muscle imbalances, and accompanying pain, that come from adding up the mileage on a road bike or in the running shoes can be lessened through yoga.

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