Sara-Clare Lajeunesse is a special human being and a very skilled passionate trainer. When I met her early this year, I knew she would add so much to what we offer at Urbanfitt. But I never knew to what extent and I'm so grateful to have her introduce so many training tools and techniques that I haven't been using. Of course, I'm not the only person who sees her unique talent.
Shaun Mozen, founder of Agatsu Inc. recently asked Sara-Clare to write a couple articles for his online magazine. Sara-Clare instructs Urban Warrior Group Training sessions and offer personal training at Urbanfitt. You can reach her at saraclare@urbanfitt.com.
Agatsu Inc. is the company that brought Kettlebell training to Canada. They are one of the worlds leading Kettlebell manufacturer and educators. They're products and training systems have been featured on shows like Breakfast Television, The Gill Deacon Show, and Miami Ink. From seminars to Instructor Course workshops, Shawn Mozen's Agatsu program will bring the best out of you. Shawn is the leading Canadian authority on Kettlebell training and has trained some of Canada's best known trainers and athletes
Here's is the first installment of Sara-Clare's articles. Enjoy!!!!
When Laura and the Professor first approached me about training them I was happy to have them as clients but terrified! You see Laura (61, retired administrator in Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, now a publications consultant) suffered from a spasmodic back and the Prof (KC, 78), named so because of his world renowned fame as a Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto, is legally blind AND if that wasn’t enough of a challenge for a trainer the Prof also has only one working artificial heart valve. Yup! He is a walking medical miracle!
His condition is so rare; his cardiologist doesn’t even have a name for it. In fact he is the only surviving person world-wide to be living a full and normal life with what he calls a coronary artery deficiency.
Prof’s physical limitations include:
For his heart
-he is medicated to lower his heart rate. Therefore fast movements and aerobic exercises quickly use up the little oxygen he has in his larger muscle groups.
-he only has one functioning artery in his heart and cannot be placed on his stomach for more than a few minutes.
Flexibility
-cannot stay seated upright without support.
-cannot bend laterally or flex forward any more than just above the knees.
Sight
-he is blind
The couple had been doing personal training for the past 12 years, but when the Prof (KC) was diagnosed 5 years ago with his heart condition Laura was bedside herself. “I asked the cardiologist” (who only took special cases) “what do you think? What should we do?” The doctor insisted that his lifetime of being active had helped him build a strong collateral artery system and was the reason he is still alive.
Knowing the severity of the Prof’s condition, they both decided it was time to add in another type of training to ensure his health would remain stable. They heard about the sort of functional training I do and started training with me one morning a week.
I began at ground zero. I had to use everything and anything I could to keep them both in good health and in excellent working condition. I started with bands, stability balls, basic yoga and walking. The bands quickly proved to be too little for the strength they both had and the ball was limited due to the Prof’s physical state. And although walking and gardening is one of his favourite hobbies, it’s not quite enough to maintain his necessary cardio conditioning.
And just to add to the mix Laura also has a spasmodic back issue that in the past has kept her laid out for days on end in pain.
Now imagine as a trainer what challenges this presents…. “How do you train senior clients with all these issues and physical limitations to have a better quality of life?...Kettlebells!
Thankfully Agatsu decided to make the 4 and 6kg bells! I have to laugh at this as Shawn did say at his cert ‘I don’t know why I even made these weights? They are almost useless. I mean a purse weights more than these.” Well, Shawn I’m so so glad you did.
Q & A’s
What was your first impression using the KBs?
Prof- “With dumbbells I have to do too much with my wrist. But with the kb I can relax my wrist in the drooping motion. It feels so much more comfortable. And with the lack of sight it is much easier to have a feel for what I’m supposed to do due to the shape of the bell.
Laura-“I like the kbs. And for KC it’s so much easier for him to grip the handle versus dumbbells and understand what he’s doing in his body as the kb works with what you are giving over to it. You can tell him to use either the handle or the bottom part and he can feel it out.”
What changes have you seen since beginning training?
Prof-“Before I started training my upper body was just in bad shape. I had no upper body strength. I always walked a lot but since we started training with you, what I refer to as the exotic muscles or peripheral muscles started to gain more strength. In convential weight training there is no attention paid to any of these stabilizing muscles. So I was always having trouble reaching around for the classic “purse in the car” (an ongoing saga between the couple know as the passenger purse grabber). I was reaching for this purse that didn’t really weight much but would always end of with a sore shoulder or arm and now I no longer have that. Now I can lift enormous purses. (He said grinning ear to ear).
What has been the greatest gain since using this type of training?
Prof “we are really turned on by the core (stabilizers) idea. Again that’s been new since we started this type of training with you. We had not really conceived of core and the importance of it before. These exotic muscles need attention and average weight training doesn’t do that.”
Laura “Since we have begun our training with you I no longer have any back issues. It’s all the exercise, stretching and complete range of motion movement that helps the most. In fact, in these past two weeks while we were away, we were hiking up chateau steps and thinking, wow we couldn’t have done this without Sara-Clare. From time to time when we’re away I can feel my back act up a bit, but then I just do some of the things you’ve shown us and it goes away.”
All training was going great until about two years ago when the Prof collapsed on a flight during one of their business trips to the States. The plane was brought in for an emergency landing and the Prof ended up in intensive care for 5 days. “In a very fancy hospital, lots of different folks, and they sent in a physiotherapist and an occupational therapist. I was all still wired up to things, with pipes and tubes and what have you, so it was hard to do things. But I apparently surprised them enormously. I was asked to hold out my arms. So I’m sitting there holding out my arms, sitting on the edge of the bed, and holding them and holding them and holding them. And suddenly she turns, she was writing something, and she sees that my arms as still there. She’s all excited. ‘You were supposed to lower them!’ she says. “Well you did tell me to.” As he laughs. “Apparently, my stamina was amazing them. There was lots of talk about me. Here I was at death’s door and doing things that were quite startling to her. She said you must exercise or do something? When I told what I did, her faced dropped. ‘You do all of that?’ Within 6.5 days he was cleared, got back on his flight and continued onto San Francisco for work.
Now if the above was not proof enough that proper exercise and diet will increase one’s chances at a long and happy life, last year the Prof started to suffer from an abdominal aortic aneurysm. This limited his already short range of motion to no more forward flexion! We continued our training even though it was challenging at times to say the least, and in November 2009 he had his “Triple A” surgery. At the time of his procedure his artery was only open 6.1 cm in diameter.
After 5 hours of surgery, large 6 inch incisions on either side of the groin and intensive care. All the doctors warned that it would be a very lengthy recovery and that hopes of him stabilizing would be slim for a while to come. But to everyone’s shock “he was literally walking to the bathroom on his own the next morning” Laura recounts. “It’s the nature of the exercises that we had done prior to this” that allowed him to heal so quickly.
As their trainer I have seen tremendous leaps in their stamina and flexibility, and they both agree kbs played a big part. “I think as one ages, one’s abilities tend to diminish. We can see this among our friends. But we are lucky as we’ve been able to maintain what stamina we have in training with you”… “My natural stamina of course has been degenerating for quite a while. I’m noticing when I’m tired but our training sessions tire me only for a short time, I have a nap and then I just feel incredibly better. Actually all my aches and pains are gone. I feel kind of tired but good.”
Laura then adds: “I try to talk our friends into getting involved with this sort of training and they just look at us with glassy eyes. But then I say look at KC (Prof) of all people and all he’s been through and he still exercises. It makes a huge difference in one’s life.”
“And in any case all these ‘squats’ make it much easier to plant trees in the dark! I have really bad range of motion, but getting down there and being able to reach and doing something quickly is now incredibly more possible than it used to be.” The Prof said of his favourite hobby gardening. It is now so much more possible that last month the two of them went to hull their own compost “it’s free if you can carry it yourself.” Which proved to be a great benefit as he is the resident green thumb for all the trees in their condo complex.
I have been training Laura and the Prof for about four years twice a week when they are not traveling at least one week out of every month. “We travel about 40 000 miles a year” not for pleasure but for business mostly. Today they are still hiking up chateau trails, Laura is picking up their luggage before airline porters can. The Prof likes to brag about how is wife will go to put her knapsack into the overhead compartment and sure enough there is always a young burley gentleman offering her his help. But when they go to lift the bag they are always dumbfounded by how much it weights and that such a little lady is carrying it! “It’s only about 26 kilos” Laura says with a smile.
-Sample Workout
Light Walking
Joint Mobility
3 Rounds
5 windmills each side
10 Thrusters
10 around the body circles left
10 walking lunges with external kb twist
10 around the body circles right
Followed by some active release therapy and myofascial stretching.
Trainer Bio
Sara-Clare Lajeunesse
CPT since 2003
Agatsu Kettlebell level
Crossfit Movement and Joint Mobility (Kelly Starett)
Can Fit Pro CPT and Pre/Post Natal
Background in dance, gymnastics, yoga and all around fun things that get you moving!
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