Do you struggle to get started on a fitness plan? And maybe it's not for a lack of motivation but something else stands in your way.Maybe it could be an injury that needs to heal before you can push and challenge yourself? Or maybe it's overcoming inertia? In other words it's been so long since you've done something it feels overwhelming to consider starting. And for many people it could simply be a lack of time. We're all busy. And there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day. Obviously all the fit people out there are putting in multiple-hour workouts daily so what's the point, right? I mean if you can't find a few hours a week what kind of results can you really expect to achieve? Well, quite a lot actually. A recent study (1) looked at doing 10 minutes of exercise. One group rode a stationary bike for 10 minutes and the control group just sat for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes both groups performed a mental task that involved eye tracking. This allowed the researchers to measure how accurately the subjects performed the test as well as how quickly they reacted to a visual stimulus. What they found is that riding the bike for 10 minutes at a moderate to vigourous pace resulted in a more accurate completion in the task and up to 50 ms faster reaction time. This might not seem like a big change in reaction time but it works out to a 14% improvement. But that's not the only interesting thing about this study. Previously studies of this type had found similar results after studies of 24 weeks in duration while cycling for 20 minutes. This study was a single bout, not almost half a year, and involved a 10 minute ride...

In my last post I signed off by saying I got in trouble at the ski hill. And suggested that it may have been my new celebrity friends that saved me from having my ski pass revoked. The people I'm talking about are the Crown Prince of Thailand and Canadian Olympian Jon Montgomery, who is also the host of the Amazing Race Canada. I'm calling them my friends because we stayed at the same hotel for a few days in St Moritz. Montgomery is there trying to qualify for the Olympics in Sochi next month while the prince was on vacation. So we're not really friends. But I did cross paths with both of got a few pictures which was kind of cool.[caption id="attachment_3799" align="alignleft" width="225"] Piz Corvatsch 3451 m near St Moritz Besides the great skiing in Switzerland I was also fortunate to have someone looking out for me when giving me seat assignments as I always had an empty seat next to me which allowed for lots of reading and room to stretch out. One thing I noticed on the flight from London was the number of people that ordered vegan or vegetarian meals. This was obvious because these meals are all delivered first before the meat options are passed out. I'm not sure if this is because vegans/vegetarians (v/v) are weaker and can't last as long without some quinoa or kale, or if it's because the airline can't risk letting the v/v crowd see how good the meat options are because they wouldn't have enough to go around. So this got me to thinking...what are all the downsides with eating as a v/v? Let me spell it out for you. Problem # 1 - Nutrient DeficiencyLet me be clear before all the arrows are launched my way on...