I always find it interesting the different pre-game/race rituals of the various athletes we work with. Some are very quiet and keep to themselves before competition. There is not a lot of talk or action. They may be bundled up in layers to stay warm with buds in their ears to block out distractions. And then there are those that can't wait to be let loose. They are bouncing around, loud and may even be a little bit obnoxious. American sprinter Maurice Green comes to mind when I think of this type of athlete. American sprinter Maurice Greene. We all can probably identify with one type or the other. For me, I always preferred to be quiet, calm and at rest before a race. I would go over the race in my head and visualize what a good race would look like, how it would feel and what I wanted to do to ensure success. So what is the goal? The graph below, the Yerkes-Dodson of Arousal and Performance, explains this well. On this graph the x-axis (horizontal) shows the level of emotional arousal from low on the left side and high on the right side. The y-axis (vertical) depicts performance with low at the bottom and high at the top. For maximum performance we should seek a medium level of emotional arousal. In the past, we've heard that we need to 'put on our game face' in order to perform. And for some that appear a little sleepy or lazy this may be the case. But for those are already 'amped' up we may not need more stimulation. You may have seen instances where athletes use smelling salts prior to competition. This would be when an athlete 'feels' they are the left side of the graph, and thus below optimal...

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...

Do you like to drink? And unless you're like a few of my college buddies I'm talking about during the day, while at work or at school. I guess it's not so much a question of 'do you drink?' but rather 'what' do you drink? But you have to admit asking the question the other way got a number of you checking the calendar to see how many more days until the weekend. But seriously though when it comes to our nutrition it seems as though more emphasis is put on what to eat rather than what to drink. And this will trip up many people. How does it trip them up? By drinking things that don't support whatever their goal is. And in this case the goal could be weight loss, weight gain and or performance. So let's take a quick look at each of these to see what you should be drinking. Goal #1 - Weight Loss If you're like most people that go to the gym then your goal is weight loss. And as soon as we can agree that six packs are made in the kitchen and not the gym we'll be way further ahead than if we think we can go for extra walk after dinner to make up for the cherry strudel you had for a mid-afternoon snack. But even if we realize that our nutrition plays the most important role in our quest for the leanest physique we need to be aware that our choice of beverage can severely impact our goal. So what should be drinking? The best choice are water and green tea. There are no calories and the polyphenols and caffeine in the tea may help with your weight loss goal. Just be careful to monitor your caffeine intake and the potential for...

So we all know the importance of the pre-workout meal. Well, maybe I'm jumping the gun. I should say that I hope we all know the importance of the pre-workout meal.And I should qualify the position I'm coming from on this topic. This is based upon training for performance and athletic excellence. The reason I make the distinction is that there is a growing movement and popularity for intermittent fasting when it comes to weight loss and body composition changes. I'm not referring to this type of goal.When it comes to pre-workout nutrition for a performance goal wer're looking to hydrate and top up the body's supply of glycogen. Glycogen is the body's stored form of carbohydrate which can be found in the muscle and liver. If we have some carbs before training this can help 'spare' muscle glycogen or minimize the depletion of this energy source.And while carbs are our best source to accomplish this we want to make sure to keep the pre-workout levels of fats and protein a little lower. This may seem contrary to what you'll see many 'meat heads' doing as they suck on a protein shake while warming up on the treadmill. Don't follow this lead. Too much protein slows gastric emptying and impairs performance.But while we hear all the time how important it is to eat before training, how important is it really? How much does it impact your performance? Can one meal really make a difference?Consider the following session I had with a client this week. This client wears a heart rate monitor while training and of course we are monitoring loads, recovery times and outputs on energy system work. And for this particular workout the client had not had a pre-workout meal.Here's what happened.When we got to some of the conditioning sets...

Hi there: Hope you've had a great week. Mine flew by partly due to being busy. But I did manage to fit in a date night with my wife. And we went out for dinner and then to see the movie Conviction. She's not a huge Hilary Swank fan but we both did agree the show was pretty good. And it wasn't until after the show was over that it occured to me that the title was a play on words. You see the movie is about a couple of foster kids from small town Massasschusets. The brother is wrongly convicted of murder and the sister takes it upon herself to right this wrong and get her brother freed from jail. The only problem is that the sister is not a lawyer. Nor does she have degree to apply to law school. Nor a GED for that matter. But that doesn't stop her from doing whatever is necessary to achieve the end goal of freeing her brother from jail. Initially I looked at the title and thought it had to do with the brother and his conviction. But in retrospect it had to do with the sister and her conviction to overturn his sentence.So what does this have to with health, fitness, performance or anything?Well there are two messages you can take from this movie. The first is the most successful people aren't always the most gifted. Or the smartest. Or having the most of anything that is a pre-requisite for success in that field. Take Wayne Gretzky for example.He didn't have the hardest shot. He wasn't the fastest skater. He was in no way a physical presence on the ice. (some reports have him scoring the lowest on the Oilers' fitness testing). But he was the greatest player to ever play...

Hi there: Hope you're having a great week and are accomplishing all of your health, fitness and performance goals. One of my favourite ways to relax and unwind is to go the movies. Last night my wife and I check out 'Due Date'.  Think of it as an updated version of 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles'. Anyways, it was good for a laugh. Never underestimate the value of relaxing and having a good time as it relates to your body's ability to regenerate and recover.But enough about relaxing and movies because it's Wednesday and that means it's time for a nutritional tip. Over the past couple of weeks I have been experimenting with how many calories my body is burning. Knowing this informating allows me to be not only more specific with my training but also more specific with my meals.I now know how many calories I should have at each meal. And how often I should eat in order to put on 10 lbs of muscle. So with that being said check out the following video where I show you a sample healthy snack and a great online nutritional resource for looking up your favourite foods.Here's the link for the video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UomdVRRzzzsLet me know what your favourite snack is. And have you used this online resource before?Your coach,Chris                                                                                                                                                                                                    okanaganpeakperformance.com 'always moving forward'

Hi there: Before I get to today's email I want to let you know we've made a few changes on our website. In addition to a bit of a re-design the major change is that we've switched it over to a wordpress blog. What does this mean for you? Well, now you get to have your say. You can go to the site every time I post an article and leave some feedback. You can ask a question. Or you can present an alternate argument to a question. Maybe you're an expert in a particular field and have info that really would benefit the people reading these emails. Case in point when I wrote about celiac disease you replied to me with some excellent resources and info that I had to pass on to others.And so I really encourage you to go over to the site and post a comment, a question or whatever's on your mind. From time to time I'll reward those who post with meal plans, training programs and other freebies.So go take a look, let me know what you think and make okanaganpeakperformance.com your home for health, fitness and performance.Now on to the article.A while back I put a challenge out to you. I challenged you to lose 7 lbs by Thanksgiving. And we gave you the tools of how to make this a reality.And you responded. Big time.But one of you didn't stop at 7 lbs. Or at 10 lbs, 15 lbs or even 20 lbs. Annette Welke has managed to drop 22 lbs and is on track for more!Read on to see what Annette did to achieve this incredible result.Hi Chris! Since I have started working with you (almost 4 years!) I have seen my weight go up and down, with nobody to blame but...