Blast from the past - funny workout videos

Oh my God. I started doing classes in the late 80s. I was around for much of what you're going to see below. I had the body suit that went up my but and that matching stretch belt, plus the leg warmers. Can you say 'hot'? My how times have changed. If you want a good chuckle and need to lighten up a bit, watch these videos! LOL fo sho.

First we've got Jazzercize. This woman is freakin' hilarious! Classic quote from vid 'Don't you know how to get loose by now"



Then we've got the classic Jane Fonda video. Got to love the spandex.



The the semi-pornographic 20 minute workout. I'm sure these women provided loads of entertainment for suburban repressed males.



This one is Billy Banks Taebo. Check out the outfit that exposes his nipples. Yum.



Adorable Richard Simmons. Could he be credited for this whole group fitness thing? Love the remix of "Walk it out". Check it out.




Last but not least we've got the early pole dancing video. WTF? Are they working out here?

Just take the cake for God's sake

Most people can relate to work being a hot bed of food eating issues. You've got the co-worker who can be saboteur of your best laid healthy eating plans tempting you with whatever they baked at home. You've got the join the group in crap food or don't fit in thing. And the classic, the birthday party piece of often store bought birthday cake that really isn't that good to begin with.

Ever been at yet another office birthday party or celebration and get shit for not taking a piece of cake. Well one of my clients relatively new to a company just told me the story of the big cake refusal drama. She refused cake and a beer at work today and people made a HUGE stink about it. It's just cake for goodness sakes. Or is it just cake. Maybe refusing the cake is a way of rejecting being a part of the group. Maybe the cake is like the corporate kool aid. Failing to take the kool aid marks you. Does she really want to be a part of the 'community' we're trying to build here.



The Urban Warrior group tonight brainstormed about strategies on how to deal with the totally unnecessary peer pressure and empty calories associated with the piece of cake and came up with some awesome strategies I thought many of you would love to hear:

1) Take the cake. Don't refuse it. Take a couple bites and throw out the rest when people aren't looking.

2) Take the cake and hold it for a while. Then when you go back to your desk, take it with you and say you're going to eat it there. Then ditch it discretely.

3) Don't take the cake and explain that you've invested a lot of time and money into yourself but if they provided a fruit tray next time they could totally count you in.

4) Don't take the cake and explain how hard you've been working out and that given how much suffering you're putting into your workouts, you don't want to have it be for nothing. Even invite them along with you so that they can be the one refusing this time.

The cake refusal is the big deal in all of this though. The act of accepting it alone will let you off the hook most of the time. The eating of the cake isn't such a big deal. If you don't draw attention to yourself in the first place, you won't get marked as the non kool aid drinker. If you're discreet and politely accept the offering, you'll still be seen as participating in whatever celebration is happening. Simple and smart ideas. Love those Urban Warriors.

Me and My Supercycle

Tonight I picked up two Supercycle bikes: one from a friend for my daughter as a hand me down and my lovely bike after it's annual tune up that's coming in now at about 35 years old, almost as old as me.

Last weekend we hunted for a used bike and had a harder time than I thought we would. Seems bike stores don't really carry used kids' bikes because, by the time they get them road ready, they really can't make a profit. We came close to finding the perfect bike at Cycle Mania on Bloor, a 40 year old Czech bike just a bit too big. I try to avoid buying things that are shiny and nice who's possession will lead to more stuff in a land fill. The shiny $100 bikes at Walmart are seductive but after explaining this whole concept to my daughter she was totally game for finding a used bike. Love it. Luckily my friend was there to pass down the perfect bike in the end and so will begin a summer of trying to learn to ride without training wheels. She has free reign to design at will, stickers, paint whatever she likes.

Some advice I've gotten is to start on a slight downward slope (I assume grassy) and let go allowing for the feet to dangle. This would be an exercise in building the ability to balance. Anybody, with great tips on how to teach kids to ride bikes, please send them along. I'm thinking on top of a helmet, elbow pads and knee pads might be a must.

And now let's turn to my beaten up, rusty, rattling 1970s Supercycle. I picked it up over 8 years ago when I was visiting a friend's cottage. It was just sitting outside a second hand store in quaint little town. It was love at first sight and it's been my cruising bike ever since. I invest a little bit each year in getting it tuned up, in fact $53 today. My new favourite bike store is Riders at 80 Geary at Dovercourt. They are so into putting love into old bikes like mine. They would never encourage you to toss a bike to upgrade and never game me the look of "why are you still riding this piece of junk?".

My bike and I have history. Now the question is can I get Maggie my pooch to run beside me on the leash without yanking me over at the site of old gum or barf (yes she eats barf sometimes). She needs her sweat sessions too.

I also promised you my friend's Foxy Lara Bar recipe. Amanda Thebe at foxyburd.blogspot.com has posted her recipe today. So yummy. I LOVE them.

I love the man who wants to kill crunches

I can get a sense of personal trainers' knowledge about effective and safe core training with one simple test: do they include crunches in clients' program or in a class environment?

Whenever I try out new classes, watch fitness experts on TV, read fitness articles, if the crunch is there I know they haven't been following the #1 expert in spine biomechanics, Dr. Stuart McGill. If any fitness experts are reading this and don't know this name, it's time to familiarize yourselves with his work to get yourselves up to date.

I've heard him speak at conferences and even got to shake his hand once. Now Dr. McGill is going mainstream. In January 2010 Macleans published an article about him. Maybe personal training certifying organizations are going to start including his research so that the crunch will die die die.


Here's a short excerpt from the article:

After three decades of figuring how out the spine works, Stuart McGill has come to loathe sit-ups. It doesn’t matter whether they are the full sit-ups beloved by military trainers or the crunch versions so ubiquitous in gyms. “What happens when you perform a sit-up?” he asks. “The spine is flexed into the position at which it damages sooner.”

The professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo knows a thing or two about snapping spines. In his lab, McGill proudly shows off a machine that’s probably created more disc herniations than any other in the world. “We get real [pig] spines from the butcher and we compress them, shear them and bend them to simulate activities such as golf swings and sit-ups, and watch as unique patterns of injury emerge.” A disc has a ring around it, and the middle, the nucleus, is filled with a mucus-like liquid. Do a sit-up and the spine’s compression will squeeze the nucleus. On his computer, McGill shows how the nucleus can work its way out of the disc, hit a nerve root and cause that oh-so-familiar back pain. “From observing the way your total gym routine is performed, we can predict the type of disc damage you’re eventually going to have.”

I try to explain to my clients why crunches aren't functional. 95% of the population is in a slight forward head posture and in a permanent forward flexion position in the upper body. That means that the muscle fibres in the upper abs are dominant. A crunch emphasizes these muscle fibres that are already too strong in relation to the rest of the muscles in the torso. Furthermore, the crunch strengthens us even further into the posture we should be trying to correct. So not only are crunches bad for our backs but they also can make our posture worse by rounding us forward even more. Make sense? Aren't we constantly trying to stand up straighter instead of slouch? Why would we do a repetitive movement, sometimes even with extra weight, that is basically a lying down slouch?


When thinking about fixing alignment, posture and structural imbalances, we are trying to hit the muscles that are dormant and underdeveloped. Hey I'm not saying I'm innocent. I used to do crunches til the cows came home. But I try to maintain my curiosity and drive to constantly improve my knowledge and I ditched crunches years ago.

My go to exercises for developing core strength are the same as the ones Dr. McGill recommends because he's the man, the man who wants to kill crunches. But once I know people's cores have sound functional strength, we can really start playing around with core exercises that will blow your mind.

So next time you're interviewing a personal trainer, ask them one question to get a sense for their knowledge of proper core training, "are we going to do crunches?" If they say yes, especially if you have back problems, run away.

Jane Clapp

My critique of TV Host Steven Sabados' workouts

I always love checking out the Globe and Mail's workout critiques. This week it was Steven Sabados' turn. I critique the critiques and thought instead of just leaving disturbingly long comments on the Globe and Mail site, I might as well put them on my blog. A little obsessed, yes. But I love finding out how other people would approach a challenge. I'm looking to open my mind to new ideas, confirm my current strategies or at the very least, peak inside the fitness approaches of the generally higher profile folks the Globe and Mail includes in their critique column.

Instead of copying and pasting the Globe article in my blog, I suggest you go and read it. Then my critique will at the very least have a context.

The questions I would ask him that weren't addressed in the article are:
1) How are you sleeping? Without proper sleep, he'll never get anywhere.
2) How many drinks do you have per week? I see loads of people in media and entertainment. This is normally something to work on.
3) What's your caffeine intake and when do you have your last caffeinated beverage in the day? He should be looking at the potential impact caffeine is having on his sleep and adrenals.
4) What does your naturopath say about what's going on with your general fatigue? This information would impact the type of fitness activities that are best for him at this point in time.
5) Why are you eating corn pasta? Hasn't he read Fast Food Nation or watched Food Inc.? Hello belly fat.

So here goes...

Great advice from the expert they sourced (Jason Crandell, Yoga instructor) in terms of including restorative activities in Steven's fitness plan. Steven is clearly starting to get burned out. What got him here and what kind of big picture paradigms or priorities does he need to readjust?

Just doing yoga isn't going to fit with Steven's goals. He's has to look great on camera and stay lean. At the age of 45 Steven can't stop strength training. People naturally get softer as they get older due to loss of lean body mass unless they fight the muscle atrophy that is very unforgiving in a very short period of time once middle age hits. Restorative yoga is going to help chill him out but it WILL NOT keep his metabolism healthy.

Steven should complete two to three (depending on how busy he is) properly designed full body strength workouts each week, not random ineffective workouts he's mentioned in the article. He could be totally wasting his precious time at the gym without any strategy. Again, the only way he'll be able to keep the fat off is to keep his metabolism in high gear with lean body mass. Muscle is the fountain of youth. Then he should ensure he does activities after his strength work that bring his nervous system down (some yin yoga postures, myofascial release with physio rolls, fascial stretch therapy). He's operating in his sympathetic nervous system all day so he needs to ensure his body knows how to calm itself again after an intense workout or before bed. Including a restorative yoga class every week would help.
Steven needs to stop working out to work off bad eating. Knowing you can just go "work it off" will promote gluttony. He also needs to get off the idea that the amount of time spent at a gym will directly impact results. That's so yesterday Steven! It's the effort you put in that counts the most (AKA high efficiency training is where it's at). Your rep range per set should be around 10-12 in general if you're only getting two strength workouts per week. The high rep to stay lean is so Tracy Anderson if that's what you are doing.

Steven has worked with a trainer in the past. I'd say now is the time to find a trainer who appreciates that fitness is holistic.
Since Steven's looks (not just his brains and charm) are his money maker, an investment in his health via a personal trainer isn't something he can skimp on. He's got to get on making holistic fitness a priority before it's too late.

Steven needs a flexible plan given his unpredictable work schedule. But Steven is just like most people who say they can't commit to a regular fitness plan. Sorry Steven, but you're just like most people on this front. Everyone is tight for time. Everyone, to varying degrees, has unpredictable schedules. But you're not 30 anymore. Once people turn 45, things can start changing quickly without proper attention.

That was fun. Thanks to the Globe and Mail and Steven for the inspiring content.

Jane Clapp
Urbanfitt

The Women of Badogo Say Thank You

Sometimes we need to put our quest for a nice tush or flat stomach in perspective. This post is from Jamie Piekarz, an urban warrior making an impact in a far corner of the planet through the organization Arudmo

Here's a thank you from Jamie to all the people at Urbanfitt who contributed goods or donated funds.

"I am recently back from three weeks in Mali. The trip was heart-warming, heart-breaking and most of all, inspiring. Here's a link to pictures taken during my visit and a description of how your donations were used, as decided by the villagers. I want to thank you once again for your kindness. You can’t imagine how incredibly grateful and surprised that the women of Badogo were to know that people miles away would even think about them. This was the greatest gift of all.

The next step for the region I visited is to find a short internship in Canada for the project manager of the woman’s association, Niogo Salimata, a dynamic young woman who is currently completing her Social Work degree and Master’s degree in English in the capital city of Mali, Bamako. By honing her skills in these area she will be better prepared for the advocacy of women’s rights in Mali and helping women in the poorest areas of her country. As well, the organization I was working for, Arudmo (www.arudmo.org), is looking into setting up micro-loans for the women in the villages.

In contrast to other regions in Mali, the women of southern Mali do all the work for their families and community. They collect firewood for cooking, pound the grains for hours on end to prepare food, raise the children, tend the gardens and much more. In the small village of Badogo, where I lived, there was a well that was basically a hole in the ground about 20 feet deep. For four hours a day, the women dropped buckets into the well and hauled them out by hand to water the crops. Your donations allowed the village to purchase a pump for the well (in 2 of the photos above), which will greatly reduce the number of hours and the number of women required to water the crops. As well, money was put towards fixing the broken mills. This will also free up more time for the women and girls who, daily, spend hours beating grains.

The other donations of material goods and medicine will also make the lives of the women there a little bit easier. You cannot imagine how grateful the women of the small village of Badogo are- not only for the gifts but also for the imagination and goodwill you had to think of them and show compassion for their lives. They have all extended their warmest wishes to you and they invite you to visit them whenever you can. You will be welcomed with open arms and loads of warmth and generosity.

If any of you would like to volunteer in the area, please feel free to contact me (Jamie). You will find it an amazing and humbling experience. Jamie.Piekarz@corusent.com"

Too tired for sex? Join the club

About one in every four Americans married or living with someone say they are so sleep-deprived that they are often too tired to have sex, according to a new study by the National Sleep Foundation. Lack of sleep also keeps many people from work and family functions, the report said. Maybe the good old, "I have a headache or I'm wiped" isn't such an excuse after all.

Ironic that I'm writing this blog post when I should be sleeping. According the the National Sleep Foundation this is the average amount of sleep we need depending on age:



Here are some guidelines for getting enough sleep:

To pave the way for better sleep, experts recommend that you and your family members follow these sleep tips. And this is how I measure up:

1) Establish consistent sleep and wake schedules, even on weekends - I fail on this one. I might be living on the edge but I stay up late watching the occasional movie on a Saturday night. whoohoo!
2) Create a regular, relaxing bedtime routine such as soaking in a hot bath or listening to soothing music – begin an hour or more before the time you expect to fall asleep - I shut things down early apart from writing this blog post
3) Create a sleep-conducive environment that is dark, quiet, comfortable and cool - I sleep in a cave with dark curtains
4) Use your bedroom only for sleep and sex (keep "sleep stealers" out of the bedroom – avoid watching TV, using a computer or reading in bed) - oops again I'm writing this in bed with the Simpsons in the background. I suck
5) Finish eating at least 2-3 hours before your regular bedtime - don't agree with this one. I will wake up if I'm hungry. I eat when I'm hungry just not crap before bed unless it's chocolate and I really need a bit
6) Exercise regularly during the day or at least a few hours before bedtime - agreed intense exercise close to bed can mess you up. That's why you've got to spend some time bringing yourself down after a hard workout. We do this at UF
7) Avoid caffeine and alcohol products close to bedtime and give up smoking - oops. Again just finished a wee glass of wine at 9:30. But I don't have caffeine after 12 unless it's super weak Earl Grey tea.
8) Sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillows - check. I have the brick bill to show for the recent mattress purchase.

I could stay up even later writing a super long blog post about the importance of sleep. There's so much information out there. If you're having problems sleeping, don't let it slide. Bug your doc. Find a solution. Sleep deprivation has been linked to a number of serious health problems, including obesity. Life gets hard to manage with too little sleep no?

People who are chronically sleep-deprived also can experience attention lapses, memory loss and other difficulties that can impair performance on the job, says James Walsh, executive director of the sleep medicine and research center at St. Luke's Hospital in St. Louis.

Surveys suggest Americans get about 6½ hours of sleep a night — about an hour less than the average in the 1950s, he says. Today, many adults extend their workdays by using cellphones to check e-mail messages.

But if lack of sleep is interfering with a little vavoom in your life, then maybe it's time to give up Glee, American Idol or Facebooking with acquaintances. Sleep more, sex more, tv less and surf less. It's simple. Plus you'll burn more calories, especially if you're not half asleep when you shag.