What comes to mind when you hear the word stress? For most people they have negative connotations with the word.When someone is stressed this may mean they are anxious. Or maybe in an uncomfortable situation. This could mean having too much on their plate. Sometimes this can be associated with tight traps, headaches and overall body tension.Stress might be related to someone pushed to their limit. And feeling as though there is no end in sight to the work or tough times.But the truth is that stress is not all bad. When stress is beneficial for the individual we would refer to this as eustress as opposed to a distress that has a negative effect.And this is similar to our autonomic nervous system (ANS) which can be divided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Just as when we talk about stress in general most people associate this with distress so too when we think about the branches of the autonomic nervous system we are probably more familiar with the sympathetic nervous system.Think about it this way. What sounds more familiar, 'fight or flight' or 'rest and digest'?For most people they are more familiar with the term fight or flight. Although the words 'rest and digest' are uncommon we don't use this expression as commonly. And this is telling as to where the needle tends to sit for most people.So what do we mean by the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems?The graphic below does a great job of illustrating how the physiology of the body changes depending on whether we are in a parasympathetic or sympathetic state.[caption id="attachment_5648" align="aligncenter" width="300"] An illustration of how the physiology of the body changes depending on whether it is in a sympathetic or parasympathetic state.On the left are the physiological functions associated with being in a...

This morning my training consisted of a good ride on the bike. The plan was to connect with a friend and get in a training session before work.As it turned out I did this one solo. It was a challenging ride up to the local ski hill. It would be a tough grind at the best of times but this one a little harder knowing that I would be going it alone.But I was up early. I had my fuel and bike ready to go. So I clipped in and headed out.It would have been easy to hit snooze and roll over. It would have been easy to cut the workout short. It would have been easy to ease up on effort.But taking the easy route doesn't help us get better.In a way I guess I feed off the opportunity to take on the extra challenge. I feed off the adversity of being in an uncomfortable situation.Because here's the cool thing...When you go when you don't have to...When you complete what you set out to do...When you give your best...You will never have regrets.That being said this doesn't mean all your training should be done independently. In fact there are a number of benefits of group training.And a couple of studies looked at why group training might be better for you.Medical school can be one of the most stressful times for students that choose this path. The researchers of the first study wanted to look at stress and quality of life on students who participated in two different fitness classes and those who didn't exercise at all (1).For 12 weeks, 69 medical students were assigned to one of three groups. The first group was a large fitness class, the second involved training alone or with one or two training partners. And the...

Recently we've been discussing metabolism, how the body burns calories and things that put the breaks on our metabolism. In this post I'm going to discuss a situation that is not too uncommon among female fitness enthusiasts and may be leaving them frustrated with their weight loss efforts.[caption id="attachment_4117" align="alignleft" width="300"] Cardio: One of the things that makes fat loss harder.Normally I don't like to generalize but this is a unique situation and applies to many. And hopefully for those that recognize themselves when reading the sections below they are able to make some changes in their weight loss efforts and realize better results.The type of person I'm referring to here is one where the following conditions apply:* they have a weight loss goal* they prefer cardiovascular exercise as the preferred means of exercise* they employ a severe caloric restriction in an attempt to lose weight* they have plateaued in their weight loss efforts* they are stressed or are becoming so due to the lack of results they are realizingDoes this sound familiar? I think every gym I have every been a member at over my entire life has at least one if not a few female members that fit this profile to a 't'.You know what I mean? They are the members that are at the gym everyday. And not just everyday but first thing in the morning when it opens. And then maybe again after work when for a second workout.But these workouts aren't intense lifting sessions. And they aren't metabolic circuits. Instead these are purely marathon cardio sessions. These individuals have their machines of choice and always perform the same workout, on the same machine, at the same intensity at the same time of day.Guess what happens as the body gets used to an activity? It gets more...

Recently we've incorporated a couple of new technologies at Okanagan Peak Performance Inc. This supports our goal for you which is to get you better results in less time. And by incorporating these technologies we know that we will be able to help you recover from your injury, lose more weight and compete at a higher level.So what are these new technologies?They are Bioforce HRV units and Polar Heart Rate monitors. And I know what you're thinking. There's nothing new about heart rate monitors. And you'd be right. But how many of the people who know the benefits of training with a heart monitor actually use one? Very few. It's kind of like back when people owned VCRs but nobody ever programmed it and instead it flashed 12:00.So we've made a bulk order with Polar to be able to supply all of our clients with heart rate monitors.And the heart rate monitors came about as a result of a need to be able to use the Bioforce HRV units. So what exactly is a Bioforce HRV?Well HRV stands for heart rate variability and is a measure of magnitude of change between heart beats. This was developed by the Russians in the 60s when they would send cosmonauts into space and needed a way be able to monitor their health. Some of the only data coming back from space was heart rate data which the scientists were able to break apart and determine that there is valuable information contained within the heart beat.When there is a lot of variability between heart beats we could say an individual is fit or well rested and recovered. On the other hand if the variability between heart beats was minimal this could be indicative of someone in poor shape or someone who needs a rest day.This is not the same as simply measuring the pulse of...

Hi there: Hope you're doing well. This has been a great week. You want to know why? I think it's because I've had great perspective lately. I've been really thankful for the good things in my life while not worrying so much about the distractions that can sometimes get us down. It might be the Thanksgiving weekend that has me in this kind of mood but it definitely ties in to your weight loss or performance goals.'Ok, hold on a sec', you're probably saying. 'Did he just say Thanksgiving and weight loss goals in the same sentence.' Absolutely I did. And here's what I mean by it.Our bodies go through both positive and negative stress. The positive stress is called eustress. Sound familiar? Unfortunately for most people this may be the first time they've ever heard of this word. And that says a lot if the positive aspect of stress is so foreign to us we don't even recognize the word for it.So it would make sense then that the balance tends to be skewed towards the negative end of the stress spectrum.But first we should identify a couple of hormones involved with the stress response. These are cortisol and adrenaline.Adrenaline is the hormone associated with 'fight or flight'  and results in increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure and boosts energy supplies. We are hard-wired for this response to always be at the ready and thus available to protect and keep us safe.Cortisol is another stress hormone and increases sugar (glucose) in the bloodstream, enhances your brain's use of glucose and increases the availability of substances that repair tissues.  It also alters immune system responses and suppresses the digestive system, the reproductive system and growth processes.Let's take a quick look at how stress affects digestion, recovery and training.1. When stress triggers the 'fight or fligt'...