The number one goal of people that go to the gym is weight loss. And of this group I would guess that flat toned abs is the ultimate physical outcome of this goal.Now I realize I'm preaching to the choir when I say that a great mid-section is made in the kitchen and not in the gym. But even though many are aware of this they still want to know the newest, hardest and most specific core and abs exercises.Before I go any further it may help to watch a short video to see what I'm talking about.http://youtu.be/AFb9An66IxkAnd so you see all types of core exercises being done in the gym. One of the more popular ones is the roll-out. This can be performed with a variety of equipment including a stability ball or abs wheel but there are also versions using a barbell, a suspension trainer or even a slideboard.And while this is a commonly performed exercise it often performed incorrectly.I say that because the goal of the movement is to remain motionless through the mid-section in the presence of movement through the extremities.Let's assume you were performing a roll-out from the knees. You will pivot on your knees and the shoulder will flex as you roll the implement out and away from you. As you return to the starting position your shoulders will extend all while maintaining a neutral mid-section, specifically at the low back.Typically we see three things done incorrectly when performing the roll-out.Mistake #1 - Extended NeckAre you familiar with the term of a 'packed-neck'? If not don't worry about it. It resembles the chin closer to the chest rather than the head tilted up exposing the neck. When done correctly it may cause you to have a double chin.You have to admit that's kind of funny,...

Over the years there have been a number of things we've heard repeatedly in the fitness industry. And sometimes there is no basis to these statements other than the fact they have been repeated enough times and they are accepted as truth.For example, 'eat small frequent meals throughout the day to stimulate your metabolism' is one that comes to mind. You've heard this before I'm sure. But where is the scientific research that backs this claim? If anything maybe what happens is we end up eating frequent meals throughout the day. Just not small meals. And thus the supposed benefit is lost.Let's look at another example.How about 'no pain, no gain'? Everyone has heard this and we all know there is no truth to it. Further we could actually turn this upside down and say 'no pain, all gain'.So where I am going with all this? Well this past weekend we were down to Seattle for a clinic with Eric Cressey. Eric is a Boston-based strength coach with that works with a number of major league baseball players. And he is considered an expert when it comes to all things related to the shoulder and training.And he was sharing some things that may would challenge what many trainers and strength coaches believe and have been taught. With that in mind here are 3 of the Basics - Done Wrong.Basic #1 Done Wrong - Do Yoga Push UpsI'll wait a minute while you rub your eyes and re-read that last statement. Yes, I am advocating yoga push ups. Now before you all load up and throw your lululemons at me let me clarify.I am saying yoga push ups may be a good idea. And here's why.With most bench pressing the shoulder blades can get stuck in place on the bench and aren't...

If you're like most people you'll find that time is a commodity in short supply. We all probably wish we had more time in the day to spend with our family and friends, to exercise and to sleep. Not many people in the last few days of their life are thinking 'I wish I gone in to work more'. So if we're all busy what can we do about? Well the first thing is to prioritize the things of value in your life. The second thing is allocate time to each of these priorities based on how important it is to you. If you rank family high on your list of priorities than you want to be doing things that allow you spend time and/or speak to them as much as possible. But rather than get into a discussion about what matters in your life and how well you are doing to invest in these areas I want to show you ways that can find 13 bonus hours to train. Now you need to realize this is based on 5 minutes per day and 3 workouts per week over a year. This amount to 780 minutes or 13 hours per year. How much closer would you be to your goal with an additional 13 hours per year? How much better would your health be? How much more weight could you lose? You get the idea. So without further ado here are ways to find 13 Bonus Hours to Train. 1. Use Antagonist Movements The typical bodybuilding or beach body workout involves 3 sets of 10 reps of a particular exercise. After completing 10 reps you rest for the prescribed amount of time and then complete your remaining sets. Let's use the example of doing bench press followed by 1 arm dumbbell...

It seems like high intensity interval training (HIIT) is all the rage these days. Anyone can do it at anytime as frequently as they like and achieve amazing results. Sound too good to be true? That's probably because it is. If you're not familiar with HIIT you may be more familiar with the Tabata protocol or some other version of high intensity short duration exercise. Let me re-phrase that. You may be familiar with the name Tabata but it's unlikely you're familiar with the actual protocol of the study performed by the researcher of the same name. So why is the general population going crazy over HIIT or Tabatas? Well because the landmark study, and others by researchers such as Dr. Martin Gibala, indicate that you can achieve weight loss, improved aerobic function and potential performance with a fraction of the time invested in training as is normally thought to be necessary. Now before I give you some things to consider before jumping into HIIT or Tabatas at your next training session let's quickly review what the Tabata protocol involved. While two groups participated in the study the one we are interested in is the short duration, high intensity group. They did:* sprints on a braked cycle ergometer* 7 or 8 sprints of 20 seconds in duration* 10 seconds rest between sprint attempts* at an intensity of 170% VO2 max* for a 6 week period Now there are a number of things to be aware of here when comparing this protocol to what many exercisers believe there are following when they workout. So with that in mind here are 4 Reasons You're Not Doing Tabatas. Reason #1 - You're not on a bike While it's true there are many benefits of cross-training it's a bit of a stretch to do something...

Have you ever run 800s? If you've competed in track and field there's a good chance you may have some experience with this distance. And therefore you know how awful this event can be. Why is it so awful? Well it's too long of a distance to sprint and not long of a distance to really pace yourself. It's basically 2 to 3 minutes of pure physical discomfort. And if you're into that sort of thing than you've found the perfect workout to inflict as much pain and discomfort as you can handle. But there are a few other reasons I like the 800s as a training distance as it provides valuable feedback as to what you should workout on to improve performance. Below are 4 Benefits of Running 800s. Benefit #1 - Measure of Overall SpeedThe nice thing about 800s is that you do two laps of a track oval to achieve this distance. And based on your time you get a bit of an idea of your overall speed. If you want to know how you compare to the world record you can do two laps and see how close to 1 minute 40 seconds which is the current world record. Are you within 30 seconds of the world record? 60 seconds? More? Test yourself and see how your overall speed ranks. Benefit #2 - Measure of Your PaceAs I mentioned at the beginning you can't sprint an 800 m nor can you pace yourself. And after running this distance a few times you'll quickly learn a bit about your pace. For example, let's say your total time was three minutes which is not too shabby. And your splits were 1 min 40 for the first lap and 1 min 20 for the second. Since most people tire in...

So this week we had a client that was seeing a chiropractor and was informed that there was a particular exercise that no one should be doing. And based on the title of this post you already know what the exercise is. But we train a number of our clients with deadlifts. And we don't have DC after our names. So what does this mean? Well since Breaking Bad is done I know you've got nothing else to do but stick around and find out the truth. Which is that deadlifts are not bad. Nor are deep squats. Or bench presses. Or biceps curls in the squat rack. (I threw that last one in as a trick to see if you're still paying attention. I do my biceps curls on the Olympic platform) In fact there is no such thing as a "good exercise" or a "bad exercise". There is only exercise done with proper form or improper form. Simple as that. Because here's the thing...we all deadlift anyways. A deadlift is basically a hinging movement at the hips. So whereas a squat would involve most of the bending to happen at the knees a deadlift involves most of the bending at the hips. Imagine all of the times you may hinge (deadlift) in a day: * picking up your suitcase off the belt at the airport* taking a bow as conductor of the symphony orchestra* closing your gar door when your arms are full of groceries But I would go further than to simply disagree with the premise that deadlifts are bad for you and should be avoided but they are good for you and should be in most people's programs. Why are deadlifts important? Because they promote the ability to remain in extension. Flexion on the other hand:* usually...

Hey! How’s it going? It’s Megan here and I’ve got a great success story to share with you. This story is about Lorie Talarico and she has realized some amazing results over the last bit with her training. You know Lorie, right? Out side of working full time as a beauty consultant at The Bay, Lorie likes to read in her spare time, do embroidery and in the summer spends lots of time gardening. Now before I get to telling everything Lorie has achieved in a short amount of time I should back up and give you the background. You see Lorie was someone who first came to us to see Chris and Okanagan Peak Performance Inc for advice. “Actually, you could say that pain brought me to see you guys. Between getting hit by a truck while out walking and then ending up with sciatica, which is 24/7 pain, I felt I needed help. My goal was just to get and feel better.” Maybe you can relate to Lorie in sharing these same challenges such as getting into an accident or having injuries, low back pain, or feeling intimidated, having an illness or something else standing in the way of optimal health? But even though Lorie had these challenges before her, she still had the goal of getting stronger and being able to move better and freely without pain. “Wow in the beginning I could barely move and getting down to start warm up exercises was very painful and humbling, as I could not get up with out assistance. It was tough to go to every class but I knew I had to get back into good condition. I had to deal with vertigo, back and hip pain and weakness in all of my muscles. The other challenge was how...

Do you take supplements? In particular do you take a protein supplement? If so, you may be interested to know that there is another version of your protein you can take that requires you to eat or drink less than you may be used to and still get all the benefits. And this other version is essential amino acids or even more specifically branched chain amino acids. Let's just take a moment here and define what we're talking about. Without getting into too much detail an amino acid is a chain of carbon atoms with an amino group, -NH2, at one end, and a carboxyl group, -COOH, at the other end. Some of the amino acids our bodies can't make so they are called essential amino acids. And within this group of essential amino acids there is a sub-group of amino acids called branched chain amino acids or BCAAs with functional group bonded to one of the carbons. Clear as mud? Don't sweat it too much. The take home message is that when we supplement with protein there are a few options that will all achieve the same end goal. 1. You could take 20 grams of whey protein2. You could take 6 grams of BCAAs3. You could take 2 grams of leucine Leucine is an example of a BCAA. So all three options above have similar effects which one would you choose? Think in terms of minimal essential dose. Obviously we would go with the third option, right? Why take ten times the amount of something i.e. 20 grams of whey protein to get the same effect as a much smaller dose i.e. 2 grams of leucine? Alright so if we're in agreement that less is more when it comes to supplementation the next step is to determine what to...

Recently I've enrolled in a certification course through Precision Nutrition. And someone was asking me why I had registered for this course? They said I had a pretty good handle on nutrition, stayed current with the primary literature and had some great resources to turn to when we required something specific for our clients.And I said it had to do with wanting the best for our clients. And believing that this course would help us do our jobs a little bit better.So as I cracked open the text book and got started with the course I was immediately impressed. The authors had identified five limiting factors to success. And by success I'm referring to body transformation, rehab or athletic performance.Anyways below are the five limiting factors. Take a read through each and then ask yourself 'which one is holding you back from success? Or if you've already had some success, which one is your weakest link and if addressed would propel you to another level?' Limiting Factor #1 - Genetics I've just finished Arnold's autobiography and in it he talks about the movies he has movies and of course 'Twins' stands out. This was not only his first comedy but unique in how much money he made due to the unique contract he structured based on the potential success of the movie.Anyways, the premise of the movie is the Arnold and Danny DeVito are twins separated at birth. Arnold's character received the preferred complement of the genetic material in terms of brains and brawn whereas his sidekick DeVito gets the short end of the stick genetically speaking.Now I know there are a number of other movies we could discuss related to our genetic profile (Gataca comes to mind) but the point is there is huge value to choosing the right parents. Limiting...

Do you drink milk? That's a pretty easy question because it doesn't specify what kind of milk? Most people assume you mean cow's milk but nowadays that question can be open to interpretation as the regular variety or one of rice, almond or soy. So what's the difference between the different types of milk? And more importantly is there one type that you should be drinking? Below is a table that summarizes the key nutritional differences between the various types of milk. Let's take a look at each. [caption id="attachment_3527" align="alignleft" width="300"] Nutritional data of different kinds of milk         Almond MilkThis is made by crushing almonds with water and as it is not produced with animal products it has little to no saturated fat or cholesterol. Compared to cow's milk it has as little as 40% of the calories and does not contain the sugar lactose. However when drinking almond milk you lose much of the protein, calcium and vitamin B12 found in cow's milk. Soy MilkThis milk is made with soybeans and water and is also produced without animal products therefore is has little saturated fat and no cholesterol. In terms of calories it is comparable to some forms of cow's milk and is almost double the energy of almond milk. In terms of the protein content soy has slightly less than cow's milk and is comparable in terms of the vitamin and mineral content. Rice MilkAny guesses how rice milk is produced? As with the other two varieties it is made by combining rice (usually brown) with water. Since this form of milk is made from a starch it has a higher carbohydrate content and the highest calorie content of non-dairy types of milk. Again as with the other 2 non-dairy varieties this is a non-animal form of milk so the...

Have you ever been on a Segway? Or better yet do you know what a Segway is? You typically see them in larger centres, specifically being ridden by mall security. The rider stands on a platform with a handle in front and two wheels at the base. To initiate movement the rider leans their body forward which is detected by a gyroscope within the unit and results in forward motion. Motions other than leaning the until forward by shifting body-weight won't help in moving the Segway. In the same way the Segway can be stopped by returning the unit to a vertical position, and I am assuming, come to sudden stop if the unit is tilted backwards. We can think about running in  the same way. To generate the forward momentum to propel us we need to have our centre of mass in front of the point of ground contact. Some describe running as 'controlled falling'. The body is falling forward and we catch ourselves with each stride just enough to not fall flat on our face but not so much that we can to a complete stop. This forward lean of our bodies needs to be from the ground however. Many hear this concept of having a forward lean and simply bend over at the waist rather than leaning from the ground. By bending forward at the waist a number of bad things happen. 1. Less Stability We don't maintain the tallest spine possible. And a tall spine is a more stable spine. So when we are shorter and we shorten the lengthen of the spine we won't be as stable. A lack of stability means that every time a foot contacts the ground some energy will be lost as it leaked out through point in the kinetic chain where...

Do you like upgrades? Stupid question, right? I mean who doesn't like going from the a regular room to a suite. Or from a full size to a BMW. Or from coach to first class. Yeah, upgrades rock. Well the other day I was talking about nutrition with the some of the hockey players we work with and I was asking how much cold water fish they eat? I ask this because it's usually a good indicator of how much omega-3 they get in their diet. If they answer rarely or maybe once a week then I'll ask if they take an omega-3 supplement to ensure they are getting enough of this fatty acid found in grass-fed beef, fish, seeds (flax, hemp, chia) and nuts (walnuts) among other foods. One of the reasons omega-3 is so important is that it is an essential fatty acid which our body can't produce. And so we can only get it from the foods we eat. And while omega-3s are important for a number of reasons related to inflammation, anti-oxidation and indirectly to weight loss they are in short supply for most North Americans based on our nutritional habits. On the other hand there are omega-6s which are also essential but which get more than enough in our diets. What kinds of foods contain omega-6? These are contained in oils such as corn, safflower and sunflower and exert the opposable effect to omega-3s. So think inflammatory as opposed to anti-inflammatory. So while taking regular omega-3 supplementation is a great idea there is a better option. And while this better option, or upgrade, isn't anything new it only took a discussion with one of the hockey players to realize this would have benefit for many of our other clients as well. The issue this hockey player...

Have you ever done something that you thought 'This is not what I signed up for' or 'I'm not sure if I want to be doing this'? This is how I felt last weekend. I was done to Spokane to play in a charity golf tournament for a foundation that supports families of kids with cancer. And this is not the part I had regrets about. Instead it had to do with Saturday morning. Actually let's back that up. It all started on Friday night. I drove down to Washington and arrived at my friend Tim's place to find out he was over another friend's house for 'men's night'. Now I wasn't sure what this meant but since getting up at 5 am, working all day and then driving almost 6 hours I wasn't overly upset about missing out and potentially getting to sleep a little earlier. But Tim, being the good friend and gracious host that he is, came home to bring me back to the party. As we drove up to the home where this was all happening I thought to myself 'are we on the set of MTV cribs?' Let's just say this was a beautiful home with lots of food, beer, wine and drinks of every kind. I was introduced to a CAT-5 which is a drink with ties to New Orleans and hurricanes. At about 1230 am I thought it was time to go when we were all summoned outside for steaks. Now I understand most things Americans say but this made sense. I mean we had already eaten and had more than our fill of drink when I realized they had steaks ready on the Green Egg. ***quick side note...if you've never tried food on a Green Egg you don't know what you're missing*** By...

When you get out of the shower are you happy with what you see? Based on the title of this blog I'm obviously talking to the guys here. Although there may be a few wives that quickly answered for them before their husbands had a chance. But seriously though are you happy with the way your body looks? No sucking in your gut. No standing sideways to the mirror. No adjusting the dimmer switch to create the perfect lighting conditions where you look your best. There are a number of things working against here and you can quickly see the difference a few decades can have on the male physique. From when we were teenagers and could eat anything any everything and burn off all this extra energy. To our twenties where we first heard the term 'freshman ten' or in some cases 'twenty'. And later to our thirties where some of the cool styles and fashion trends don't necessarily suit the body of the out-of-shape thirty something. And now that I'm in my forties I see more and more people of this vintage looking more like their parents than their kids. We look less like our high school grad pictures and more like the old pictures of relatives we would smile at when looking through photo albums. Why does this happen? And more importantly, is there anything we can do about it? Well to answer the first question would take more than a blog post unto itself. But the short answer is that we aren't the young kids smiling back at us in those pictures from summer vacation 15 or 20 years ago. We aren't producing anywhere near the same amount of androgens as we did up until our early twenties. The levels of testosterone, DHEA, androstenedione (Mark Maguire) in...

So yesterday I had the chance the play a round of golf with a buddy, Jim, and he invited a couple of friends which was great. I actually knew one of the guys from many years ago at a gym in downtown Kelowna called Flex Fitness. Anybody remember that place? Anyways Jim and I planned to have lunch on the course and then hit a few balls before teeing off. Well we got involved in conversations about travel and other things that we didn't realize that we hadn't gotten our food and we had about 10 minutes until we were due up at the first hole. Needless to say we didn't hit any balls at the range and went straight from the restaurant to the first tee where we both proceeded to find the sand. While it was a beautiful day I would have been okay with the middle of the fairway rather than the beach. To summarize the round I was about 11 strokes better on the back nine than the front. And I attribute a large part of this difference from a lack of a warm up before playing. And it got to thinking back to a study I had read in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research which had 30 military cadets performing a number of agility and power tests after either: * a dynamic warm-up* a static stretching warm-up* or no warm-up at all The tests were a T-shuttle run to measure agility as well as a medicine ball throw and a jump test. What they found is that the dynamic warm-up group outperformed the other two groups on all three tests. There was no significant difference between the static stretching group and no warm-up group on the agility or med ball throw but the static...

Apps sure have become a big part of our lives. And with what we do at Okanagan Peak Performance Inc it's inevitable that we see more people using apps to track their health, log their nutrition and structure their workouts. With more and more people owning smart phones it's reasonable to expect the number of fitness apps and users to climb. Currently it is estimated that 20% of smart phone owners have a least one fitness app. So I took some time to check out some of the more popular fitness apps out there. Here's what I found. 1. My Fitness Pal - free http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ Because it's a free app you will see ads bordering the pages of the app. And I'd say that's a small price to pay for a resource that helps you track your nutrition. And with 40 million users apparently others don't mind a little monetization from some ads either. This app also includes a section for exercise but I would pass on it using it for exercise help for a couple of reasons. One is it estimates caloric expenditure based on the exercise type. Looking under 'S' I couldn't find squat. Not good. I eventually did find an entry for squat but when it asked me for minutes of squatting rather than load and reps I knew we can do better. 2. Fitness Buddy - $0.99 http://fitnessbuddyapp.com/ While the previous app was geared around your nutrition this one is all about your workouts. The workouts seem to be a bodybuilding style of training where you select body parts to put a particular emphasis for a workout. So you might choose Butt and Thigh Toning or a Big Chest Program. From the looks of the app it includes pictures rather than videos of how to perform the...

Recently I was sharing with a client how one of the most important factors related to how quickly and how much weight someone loses is not their training program. It isn't the sets and the reps. Or the frequency or duration. Or even the type of activity. And I'm not specifically referring to their nutrition. It isn't the ratio of macro-nutrients. Or the total energy consumed. Or the timing of the meals. Or whether they fasted or not. Sure all these matter and play a role in a weight loss strategy. But these efforts can all be wasted if there isn't one key component of a healthy lifestyle already in place. And this key component is sleep. I'm not going to go into detail in this blog about the impact of sleep and fat loss. If you would like to know more, and are interested in which hormones are involved in sleep and fat loss then make sure to comment below and I'll see you the report. But for now let's focus on getting the best sleep possible. And to do this I've broken this up into four categories which are routine, technology, journal and nutrition. Below is a little more detail on each. Condition #1 for Better Sleep - RoutineIn order to get the best sleep you need to establish a sleep routine. For here the analogy to use is putting a baby to sleep. If you do the same things in the same order each day at the same time before bed a baby will not only know to expect sleep is coming but will actually look forward to sleep. Change the order of the things you do and the baby may not sleep. Do these things at a different time and the baby may not sleep. Change the...

Do you remember a few years ago when minimalist shoes became all the rage? In particular I'm talking about the 5 Finger shoes where each toe has a separate compartment like gloves for your hands. People would wear these for training in the gym, while doing daily errands and even to some work places. And an interesting thing seemed to occur when people starting wearing this type of footwear. First they noticed improved function at the joints through the lower extremities such as the foot, ankle, knee and hip. If they had back pain they maybe noticed that this was lessened or less frequently a problem. As well due to the physical separation of the toes and the lack of a built in arch support the structure of the foot began to change. Due to the physical separation of the toes the feet developed a wider platform. This became really noticeable when at a houseboat party for my wife's work and I had my shoes off and my toes were splayed widely compared to everyone else's toes which looked like sardines packed in a shoe container. The other difference you will notice with wearing minimalist shoes is the shortening of the foot. Why does the foot shorten? Well since there is no external arch support we must develop our own arches and therefore this lifts the foot through the middle. The higher arch shortens the distances from the toes to the heels and so you may notice your regular shoes fit a little looser. But not all minimalist shoes are your best option. With the 5 Finger variety there are a number of benefits including the independent articulation of the toes, the development of the arch, the flexibility of the sole to allow more ground contact and the lower heel position....

So team Okanagan Peak Performance Inc has just returned from Long Beach, CA where we attended the Perform Better conference. This is an incredible event with many of the top experts in our industry presenting over 3 days in sunny California. Here are our take-aways from who we got the chance to see. Dr. Stu McGill - Mechanisms and Training Techniques Used for Elite Performance and Painful Backs: Cause, Corrective Exercises and Progressions to Performance Dr. McGill is one of the leading spinal bio-mechanists in the world and it's really cool that he's from Canada. Often times if you have the chance to see a presenter that is a leader in the field of research they are great at giving lectures where they present their findings. But put them in a fitness setting however and ask them to lead a hands-on where they incorporate their theory into actual demonstrations and they become lost. This is not the case with Dr. McGill. His lectures are excellent and his hands-on presentations match this quality as well. A few of the key take-aways from his presentations include: * lots of split stance lunges or squats may not be appropriate for everyone* when the core fires there is a double action which he described as 'setting the stone' and 'bringing the hammer'* the best athletes in the world are great not because they can activate a muscle faster than the rest but because they can turn it down faster than everyone else* with this idea of activating muscles McGill used the analogy of a dimmer rather than a regular light switch to indicate muscles being more or less activated rather than on or off Dr. Greg Rose - Developing Power for Rotary Athletes If you watch the Golf Channel you may be familiar with Dr....

At Okanagan Peak Performance we put the highest priority on education. But we don't want to just say we put a high value on education and not back it up. So we back it up and host one of the top educational events right here in Kelowna, BC. Below is a quick recap of the 2nd Annual Okanagan Strength & Conditioning Conference (OSCC). When the first year of the OSCC concluded one of the presenterscommented that Boston puts on a top level event but that this event is on par with and set to become the standard in strength & conditioning conferences. And so the expectations were already pretty high when we sought out to plan out the second installment of this event. With our first go round we had 41 registered attendees, plus guests, presenters and our team here at Okanagan Peak Performance Inc. This year we set out 96 chairs and there was only standing room once things got started. So we know we had succeeded in terms of growing the event and now all that was left was the chance to sit back and learn from the experts we had flown in to share their knowledge and expertise with everyone. Here's who we brought in. Patrick Ward - The Power Capacity Continuum Patrick is a massage therapist and strength coach currently employed by Nike working with their top athletes. He is one of those really smart guys that teaches themselves things that the rest of us would struggle with even with a teacher or tutor. With his topic Patrick was speaking about how power can be important for the aerobic athlete such as a triathlete as well as a shot putter. In the middle are team sport athletes that will have to generate high levels of power a...

Do you have a fitness goal that you've been working towards for a while?If it's a weight loss goal you've probably tried different approaches. You may have tried a new training program. Maybe you switched up your nutritional plan. Perhaps you tried a new supplement to boost your workouts or enhance the fat burning process.And if you're like most people you probably have only so many tweaks you can make to your lifestyle in an attempt to achieve your goal before you just throw in the towel and give up. I mean that's a common theme on the after-noon talk shows isn't it? The attitude that it's not your fault, that you're an amazing person just the way you are and all the other warm & fuzzy psycho babble that is used to justify falling short of your goal.Now don't get wrong here. I understand there are a number of factors that contribute to an individual's propensity to gain weight and subsequent ability to lose it as well. And unless we have a blood and hormone profile to work with it may be quite difficult for some to drop weight without knowing the information that can be collected from such tests.But maybe we're going about this the wrong way?Maybe instead of trying harder we need to relax our efforts a bit.What? How does this make sense? How can relaxing the nutritional and exercise efforts you are making be holding you back from having the lean and healthy physique you would like to have?Look at it this way.A new exercise and fitness routine can be thought of as juggling.Ask someone to reduce the calorie containing beverages they consume and they may be able to handle this. (more on this in a bit)Now ask them to take omega-3 every day, plan and pack...

I remember a number of years ago when I first got started in the training industry. And I attended a fitness conference down in Vancouver. This would be the first time I would get to see and meet Peter Twist, who at the time was the strength & conditioning coach for the Vancouver Canucks. Now Peter was a big advocate of using balance tools in training and incorporated a number of different exercises using stability balls, balance boards and BOSU trainers. And if the novelty of a new training toy wasn't enough to get the average exercise, or athlete for that matter, excited about training I don't know what would. But to make even more enticing we found lots of ways to perform our core training on a balance or stability ball. One of the exercises that came out of this period of training was the stability ball pass from hand to foot. To perform you start in a supine (on your back) position with a stability ball between the feet. The arms are straight and overhead on the ground. The legs are lifted off the ground and the ball is passed to the hands over the trunk. The ball is then reached overhead as the legs are lowered to the ground in a controlled manner. When performed properly this is a great drill. It incorporates hip & shoulder flexion while having to stabilize through the lumbar region. And who doesn't need more hip & shoulder mobility plus core stability, right? This seems like a great drill. Unless of course we compensate when we perform the drill. How do we compensate? Well imagine that your core stability determines how low you can lower your legs towards the ground when they start in a vertical position. A stable core will allow the...

Team OPP just returned from the Tough Mudder in Whistler. And we killed it!By this I mean that we all:* completed the race* didn't suffer any type of injury* all bounced back as quickly as the next day* shaved up to 50 minutes off last year's time (way to go girls!)But what about you?Have you ever trained for a specific race or event?Maybe it was a triathlon or a powerlifting competition. You might like to run and entered a 10 k or half marathon.Whatever the event was there are a number of benefits of putting your name down for an event. Below are the Top 7 Reasons for Entering a Competitive Sporting Event.#1 - Increased Training IntensityFor most people knowing that they will have to face some type of challenge will help them to dig a little deeper during training and push harder.For me it was the hill beside the ski jump at Olympic Park in Whistler. Last year this climb destroyed me and I kept reminding myself that this wasn't going to be a repeat. Every step on the sand-dunes or run around the block with a sandbag was inspired by the thought of last year's event.But even if you don't have a previous experience to draw upon it's pretty easy to picture your opponent doing a little extra to gain an advantage. And you don't want them to get ahead or in competition when it matters so you up your game as well.#2 - End Point in SightWhich is harder to train indefinitely until a coach says 'stop' or to perform a set amount of an exercise, even if it's a lot, and know you're done when you get there?Obviously knowing when you're done is easier. And when you're going through a tough phase of training it's much easier...

It's Father's Day weekend. And I now have a small appreciation for all the things that dad's do for us. But although many may think their dad's are superheroes the truth is they're not and it may take some effort and training to be able to do all the things that dad's do so well. What kinds of things dad's do for us? Well have about the following?* mowing the lawn* carrying kids around on their shoulders* reaching up to change light bulbs in the high places* cracking the whip to get kids going* repairing things* tending the BBQ* kills bugs Now I don't mean to be sexist because we all know many women can do these jobs as well as women. And in many households I'm sure it's the women who take care of most of the items on this list. And I didn't include managing the remote for the TV because that goes without saying that this obviously a dad's job. Ok now I'm being sexist. But since we know our dad's are regular people they would therefore need to a training program to allow them to do all of these tasks as efficiently as possible. Check out the video below for the Father Day's Workout to ensure everything dad does for trained for properly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XN4jKisdWA What did you think? Pretty good workout isn't it? We have some upperbody pulling and some whole body extension. There's some lowerbody and rotation. It includes a metabolic element and a drill that draws on the core. Lastly there is an exercise for the shoulders and finishes with a hip mobility drill. A little bit of everything to cover all dad's bases. Do me a favour and share this with your dad. And if you are a dad give it a try yourself....

Man of Steel opens this Friday. And I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I've been waiting for this for quite a while. Don't get me wrong I think the Batman movies were great but Superman was always number for me. The guy came from another planet. He could fly, had x-ray vision and of course has super-strength. And to help us identify with him we knew he had a problem with kryptonite. We could look at our weaknesses to cupcakes, cookies, soda and other sugary snacks as our kryptonite and pretend we're super heroes too. But looking at Superman's strength in particular he was always depicted with hands on hips and his cape flowing in the background. But we were drawn to his chest because of his strength and the fact that this is where his logo was displayed. Come to think of it you may have already guessed I was a fan of Superman when coaching certain movements. When trying to get someone to get their chest up I might say 'Superman chest'. Right away everyone thinks of pushing the chest up and at the same time getting their shoulders to descend and relax. So with this movie about to open in a few days I thought I would put together a quick Man of Steel chest workout for you. I think you'll like this workout because: 1. It takes less than 10 minutes to do with less than five minutes of actually training. 2. It requires no equipment. 3. It requires no space. 4. It can be easily regressed or progressed based on abilities. 5. It gets you jacked for Man of Steel. (I know, this should have been the one and only reason to do this) Read on for the protocol for this workout and to...

'Train slow - Best slow' Have you heard this saying before? I want to give credit to legendary strength & conditioning coach Al Vermeil as he's been known to have a number of original saying related to training. Another one I know for sure Al said was related to plyos where he said 'the bigger the athlete the smaller the hurdle' (or box). But back to the original statement this has to do with the specificity of training. If you are an athlete that requires speed it is important to use movement, drills and exercises that develop the capacity of the athlete to move and perform at a high velocity. And typically what happens is people watch YouTube videos of people performing insanely high box jumps or their favourite athlete is featured in a commercial doing something explosive. All of a sudden everyone wants to start there. Day 1 and they want to do max height box jumps, plyos, Olympic lifts and anything else that is worthy of a facebook post. Let's face it there aren't too many 'likes' for someone being able to hold a proper plank for 60 seconds. So do we really have to 'go big or go home'? Is there value to slowing things down a bit? Can you still achieve your potential without going all out all the time? The answer to all of these is No-Yes-Yes. In particular there are a couple of times when slower is better. In particular when you are performing stability or balance drills there is more benefit to slowing things down. Consider the following couple of scenarios. Slowing Down Plyometrics An athlete could be performing Heidens, bounding from one leg to the other. This is a great drill to develop power in the frontal plane. When this drill is performed with...

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...

Matt Baumeister Final Blog PostHi everyone,Matt here again. Here I go, writing to you for one last time. As many of you know, I will soon be starting another phase of my life as I travel to Vancouver to begin a Master’s degree program in Physiotherapy. As I write this final column, I can’t help but stop and reflect on some of the great times and learning experiences I have had over the past year. Working alongside such a great mentor as Chris has been a fabulous learning opportunity, and has undoubtedly made me a better and more balanced professional. Perhaps my fondest memory will be of our 80’s workout themed Halloween dress-up day! Simply legendary would be an apt way to describe it.And who could forget those two lovely ladies – Megan and Jordy? Although I have yet to receive any frozen remuneration from a certain Dairy Queen Heiress (who shall invariably remain nameless) I am indebted to each of these girls for the support and encouragement they have provided me every step of the way.In addition to reflecting upon my colleagues and mentors, I also find myself reflecting on my own work as well. If you take anything from this blog - or from me for that matter, I hope to be thought of as a kind, smart and encouraging trainer who had an affinity for dubiously short-shorts and an ever present love for styling his hair. And, perhaps something should be mentioned about an unquenchable thirst for Arizona Ice Tea here as well.Of course, who could forget all of you? Yes you, the clients of this great facility, the life-blood of any fitness community. In the past year I have come to know many of you much better and in turn each of you have no doubt made...

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...

For the last little while we, the coaches at Okanagan Peak Performance Inc, have been working with some students from a school here in Kelowna.But this isn't like your typical school. Sure it has teenagers, who wear uniforms and leave the changeroom looking like a bomb went off when they get changed.No this school is unique in that the students are from everywhere other than Kelowna. They are from Ontario and the prairies. From Alberta and the lower mainland. And all parts in between.But where home is at isn't what unites these students, in fact it actually distinguishes them. No the common denominator here is that these students have all faced some challenges in their short years on this planet. For many of them their challenge may have been substance abuse.The other unique feature of this program is that sometimes these don't know they are coming to this school and program. As with all children and minors there is a parent or guardian who looks out for their best interests and sometimes that involves making the decision to send them to this school.So sometimes when these students arrive at this school, and they didn't know they were coming here, they may be some resistance on their part regarding buying into the process. They may actually act like teenagers and rebel. Crazy, right? Teenagers that don't want to do what what their parents, teachers or guardians want them to do.But not only are they sometimes here reluctantly they may also have done damage to their health by the lifestyle they have been following. Healthy living, proper nutrition and exercise aren't front of mind for these kids. And now they've been sent to a school they didn't know they were going to, away from their friends, against their will. And since for some...

FITNESS FAMILY I just dropped my twelve-year old son off at the gym. He goes every second day for tennis lessons – and then every other day for matches. But that’s beside the point. The interesting thing for me is that he is twelve and I am taking him to HIS gym – a place separate from my own. Add to this that my wife heads off to her women's only gym each day too. Plus, we have a treadmill at home, weight bench, weights, mats, strength cords, etc. I cannot believe how much fitness and fitness-related activities have become such a massive part of our lives. When my kids whine (and believe me they do, a lot) it’s often along the lines of “Are you and mom going to the gym AGAIN?” Fitness Family for the New Millenium My parents never went to a gym – or really ever exercised formally in any way. We did tons of stuff together. We played sports, rode bikes, games, ran, jumped, playgrounds, what have you but the idea of a gym or a trainer was simply non-existent to us. For years my dad worked at jobs that were both physical and tough on the body. He didn’t need cardio and weight training. He got them at work. And mom had way less labour saving devices helping her out at home the way we do now. But it was also different then. The suggestion that you needed to run like some hamster in a wheel was mocked and laughed at. Who did that sort of thing, except maybe some Hollywood celebs and the odd body-building fitness weirdo? Nobody – that’s who. And that reality wasn’t so long gone in the rear-view either. I listened to ex-CFLer Jay Christiansen explain that not only did he fail to weight...

Today I'm doing a mud run with some clients and our staff. So I thought now would be a good time to step aside and let Matt take a turn with a post for you on using Epsom salts for recovery. After today's event I might just have to have a bath like this myself. Take it away Matt... Have you ever done a workout and then barely been to move the next day? Now, I don’t know about you guys, but I have certainly been sore lately! Our weekly stair runs have been wreaking havoc on my calf muscles. Recently, many clients have been asking me how I recover after hard workouts, and what my thoughts were on Epsom salt baths. Well to be honest, I choose to complete my daily ablutions standing up. More specifically, I am a pure shower guy, and haven’t sat in a bathtub since I was in pre-school. So, for all you bath tub enthusiasts out there this one is for you. What are Epsom salts So what’s the deal with Epsom salts? Magnesium sulfate or Epsom salts are a readily available home remedy thought to ease muscle soreness and tension. But how does this really work? Is it pure mysticism or do these crystalline compounds really target muscle soreness and aid in healing?During exercise, our muscles often accumulate large amounts of lactic acid. Lactic acid is a byproduct of anaerobic metabolism and causes that nasty burning sensation in our muscles during a workout. Most believe that this deposition of lactic acid within the muscles causes that post-workout soreness. This soreness is thought to be due to a microscopic deformation of the protein chains within the muscle fibers. How Epsom salts help with soreness [caption id="attachment_3284" align="alignleft" width="194"] Sore calf muscles Now for a little...

Nighttime Eating Without question, one of the single worst habits I have (at least that I am willing to publically detail…) is that of “night eating.” Now, I don’t know if night eating is a “thing” in the clinical sense but it sure as shooting is a “thing” when it comes to my life. And it’s not new. I’ve been lost in the world of post-midnight munching for decades. Nighttime Eating at an Early Age It all started back when I was seven or eight. Mom and dad would send me off to bed where I would lie for exactly the amount of time it took them to vacate the lower level of the house. Once they were out of sight I would discreetly slip to the downstairs television set and supplement my cultural education. Without a word of a lie, I spent a good ten years crouched a maximum of five or six inches from our old Zenith television between the hours of midnight and 4am, hand on the power button ready to switch it off the very second I heard movement toward the stairs. During these hours I consumed all manner of forbidden television fruit, from All in the Family to Cheers to the Tonight Show to Late Night with David Letterman and far beyond. Alas, my consumption was not limited to entertainment. When you’re watching this much telly this late into the night you get hungry – real hungry - and no food was safe when I went hunting. Common (and Not So Common) Nighttime Eating Snacks My ideal snack tended toward the salted varieties – chips, crackers and what have you - but I would never limit myself to that. Oh no, I also freely enjoyed chocolate bars, leftover pizza, milk, cereal, cold lasagna, bread, butter, crackers,...

THE PLATEAUI’m a climber. Not in the traditional sense though. I don’t own the fancy, grippy shoes or do finger-tip pull ups or anything like that. I’m just a guy that keeps trying to get higher (or better) no matter what situation he’s in. Now, if you’re an actual rock climber, I’d say reaching a plateau is probably a good thing. You’ve been crawling and scrambling and sweating your butt off climbing on up and you’ve finally reached an area where you can actually sit down and have a rest without (as much) risk of falling to your death. But if it’s not rocks you’re climbing and the battle is more along the lines of losing weight/inches than I can assure you a plateau is just about the least fun you’re ever gonna have.I guess when it comes to the culture of fitness “plateaus” are fairly common. I have no idea of the scientific or even physiological reasons behind them (Chris tried to explain but my eyes glazed over after a few seconds). [Chris here...let me step in for a moment and see if I can answer the question regarding plateaus and help generate a better result for Jarrod and anyone who has experienced a plateau.] Weight Loss Plateaus Aren't All Bad First of all it is important to recognize that a plateau isn't necessarily a bad thing. Seriously think about it this way. If you've reached a plateau then that means you must have ascended to some level of accomplishment with your training but the results didn't continue. But that's the difference between a plateau where you achieve a result and simply getting started on a training program that ellicits no results whatsover. Big difference. The second reason a plateau may not be a bad idea is because it is...

[caption id="attachment_3199" align="alignleft" width="183"] Proper landing mechanics are an essential part of injury prevention.Are you following the NCAA basketball? Or March Madness as it is more commonly known? I think this is one of the best sports tournaments going because it has such as great format with the 'one-and-done' arrangement. To be honest I don't spend a lot of time watching college basketball during the year. But when March rolls around I try and check out a few games. This year is even more special as I got to go to some games. While I was down to California for a conference I managed to find some tickets on Craigslist for the games in San Jose. What a blast! What made it even more fun was the fact that I was able to keep it a secret from Megan right up until tip off at the arena. But although the experience was once in a lifetime and a fun thing to do on the side at the conference I actually want to talk about a game we didn't see. The one where Kevin Ware, from Louisville, broke his leg. Now if you have a weak stomach don't go check it out on youtube. And sorry Jordy, but blurring your eyes when you watch doesn't prevent nightmares. Anyways after seeing this horrifying accident I thought to myself 'I wonder if he had been doing x-y-z prior to the accident?' And I also thought this might interesting and useful for you as well. So here are 8 Things to Prevent a Bone Fracture. 1. Eccentric Training One of the first things that comes to mind is eccentric training which is the portion of a muscular contraction when the muscle is being lengthened. This is when most injuries happen so it makes sense to...

WINNINGDid Charlie Sheen teach us nothing? “Winning” is back in the news again, but not thanks to everybody’s favorite TV hedonist. No, this time it’s in the form of a (supposedly) frequent refrain uttered by one Eldrick Tont Woods: “Winning takes care of everything.” Does it sound familiar? It should if you’re a fan of golf or the man-god that re-invented it. Apparently Tiger Woods has used that particular phrase about winning regularly since (at least) 2009, though I assume it’s usually with regards to reporter questions about the….umm….shall we say “distractions” of his personal life. And it makes sense I guess, if it’s being used as a deflect of sorts for what Tiger sees as overly intrusive questioning. Winning At All Costs? But Nike just decided to use that quote in a Facebook/Twitter ad to cheer their recent champion on his latest win. They sent out a shot of Tiger sizing up a putt with the words “Winning takes care of everything” emblazoned across the front of it, and a Nike swoosh next to the word victory. Seriously, what in the hell is Nike thinking? Is this really the way they want to draw my attention back to Tiger and their brand? An AP article quotes a Nike spokeswoman named Beth Gast as saying that that the ad references Wood's mentality that he competes to win. "When asked about his goals such as getting back to number one, he has said consistently winning is the way to get there.  The statement references that sentiment and is a salute to his athletic performance." Enough Winnings Makes Cheating Ok Right. “cause winning really does “take care of everything.” I’ll have to tell Chris and Megan and Matt that I now want my workout regime to include twice annual liposuction appointments. And steroids....

When it comes to coaching everyone has a different style. Sure we pick things up from different coaches here and there. We'll steal a tip from this one. We'll adopt a practice from that one. But for the most part we have to figure what our style is and then develop it to the best of our ability. Learning to Lift Analogies For me one of the things I like to use when coaching is analogies. Big surprise right! Why analogies? Well because it allows the coach and client to find a common reference point regarding the concept being addressed. It gets away from the specific language and terms that both people may people may not be familiar. Analogies can also make the experience more fun. Because when someone steps on the training room floor they be very unaware of the technique required to perform a lift. Some may think they know what they're doing and then as a coach when you watch them lift you realize they don't. So you need to step in and coach them. Here's how I like to coach a lift. Analogies Save Time & Money First, of all don't let someone continue performing lots of reps the wrong way. This just ingrains a poor motor program which is then harder to fix later. For example, I wouldn't look over and say to myself 'wow, that guy (or girl) is using terrible form on their deadlifts! I should talk to them later.' That would be like watching someone drive past you in their car going the wrong way and you don't stop them. You let them continue on thinking they are making progress in the right direction but instead they are wasting time and money. Worse the path they are headed down may cause extensive damage...

It’s kind of ironic that I’m writing on anything to do with fitness. Without a doubt, there are quite literally thousands upon thousands of sport/health braniacs far better qualified (and way more suitable to the task) of documenting fitness journeys than a dumb chud like me. I have spent no time studying “the body” (unless you count the annual SI swimsuit issue, cough, cough….and maybe others….) or investigating proper, peer-reviewed, bon fide research into the latest findings on sport nutrition. In fact, all I’ve ever really learned diet-wise is that pooping scarlet for two days is not necessarily proof of an internal hemorrhage (thank you so much, red beets). I’m a terrible fitness example. But it gets worse. Fitness Assessment Scarring As embarrassing as it is to admit, there are darn few weirdo diet/exercise/workout schemes in existence that I have not considered (or even tried) over the course of my life. Truly, no idea or suggestion was too loony or whacked out for me. If it promised a body like a superhero I was there, ready and willing to believe. Now, in my own defense, this clearly self-destructive journey mainly started when I decided to try acting. That led to having my body assayed by a Hollywood casting director. Bad enough that his job by its very nature is fairly surface-oriented – he’s casting for a physical “look,” not a healthy self-image – and it’s not his business to worry about how said look comes about. Also, for the record, I will note that said casting director was gay. I say this not as some affront to anything but rather to highlight the additional damage inflicted on my psyche. Specifically, let’s just say actresses aren’t the only ones who get to feel icky and uncomfortable as they disrobe for an “assessment.”...

Well the clock just ticked into March and that means me and my little training buddy (whom I will simply refer to as “Dave” thanks to my congenital lack of respect for his personal privacy) got a whole new mess of exercises to learn. Now personally I love getting a set of fresh moves. And it’s not that I’m a hyper-keener or something. Sure, I like learning new things and acquiring new experiences and all but the main reason they garner my affection so is that as an inherently lazy sod the first couple weeks doing them usually allows for a ton of rest time as we “perfect” (wink-wink) our overall form. Compare that to the ones we already know that simply grow in weight or complexity from week to week. Seriously, some of the hardcore ones even give me night sweats just thinking about them…. (see wall pushups and nearly anything involving the general area around my waist…) Changing Up the Program Keeps Things Fresh I certainly understand the accepted reasons for changing things up. I mean, if we just concentrated on the exact same movements, day in and out, for months on end we’d either overwork certain areas of the body well-past exhaustion or develop some sort of weird muscle enhancement that looks more like the results of an experimental drug trial. Another risk-factor, at least to my mind, is the opportunity to get sloppy as you rush through stuff ‘cause now you think you know it all. Basically, by getting too comfortable at the gym you become “that guy.” You know him, the silly knob that always uses too much weight in some bizarre quest to either pop a ring of blood vessels in his neck or perhaps detach his quadriceps whilst screaming like the Hulk? Trainers Help...

When you go to the gym, do you need to change your fitness mindset to be more successful? How badly do you want to achieve your goal? What are you willing to do? For some, a strong fitness mindset is more geared towards performance and an athlete's perspective. But what about the rest of us? [caption id="attachment_3106" align="aligncenter" width="275"] The proper fitness mindset leads to great results. Do our goals matter any less? Is our health any less important?   Don’t Let Yourself Off the Hook Sometimes we let ourselves off the hook by approaching our fitness mindset with a casual attitude. We compare ourselves to the general population and know that we are doing more than our co-workers, a particular relative, or a friend. Unfortunately these people aren't the epitome of health and fitness. So when we use this as the measuring stick we feel good about ourselves and satisfied that our efforts our adequate.   Approach Your Fitness Mindset Differently I'd like you to suspend reality and imagine you could achieve great things with your health, fitness and performance training. You could deadlift 500+ lbs. You could run a sub 3:45 kilometer. You could lose 45 lbs. You could rid yourselves of your nagging joint pain. If these could all be true, would you approach your training differently? Would you approach your nutrition differently? Who you approach your rest and recovery differently? Of course you would! Any high level athlete has to have a certain level of confidence that they can win, achieve great things, and are capable of being the best in their sport. Once they have this level of confidence then we see the extra attention to their training, nutrition, rest, recovery and overall focus. There will always be some exceptions to this rule, but for the...

In my last post I went over the things that don't make sense to me as coach when it comes to Crossfit. However to be fair I want to present both sides. So here is the Good of Crossfit.I've got to give Crossfit props. They do some things really well. Although most don't have to do with training.Community - They definitely do a great job of creating a sense of community amongst their members. I'm not sure if it's so much that they identify with the process or if it's a trendy place to train. Members can get all their ink done, pull up the knee high socks and ditch the shirts once they get at the WOD. If you are a CFer you eat, breath and live the culture. You're all in or you're out. I like that about them.Record Keeping - It appears as though every workout is tracked and measured. And this is a great thing. How else are you going to know how you're doing and if what you're doing is working? A quick Google search will quickly provide tons of data regarding times and best scores for the various workouts Crossfitter like to do. Many fitness professionals would be wise to steal a page and keep these types of notes as well.Marketing - They sure do a great job of getting the word out there. If you're involved in fitness chances are you've heard of Crossfit. And they were the ones to land Reebok as a major sponsor of their brand and competition. Maybe you've seen the Crossfit games on TV. Or come across an article about in a fitness magazine. Whatever the method they are doing a really good job of getting their name out there.Competition - They hold competitions to measure yourself against others....

Some topics are definitely polarizing. For example, bring up religion or politics and things can get pretty heated. Some people get uncomfortable and opt out of the discussion for fear of hurting feelings or to avoid a debate.When it comes to health and fitness there are a few topics which people have strong feelings about as well. The last few weeks has shown us that yoga is a religion for a number of people. And there is another type of fitness which evokes strong emotions as well.And that is Crossfit.If you are not familiar with Crossfit here is an interesting overview going back to 2001. One of my favourite parts is the founder of Crossfit claiming that periodization in training is witchcraft.To put it simply periodization is when a training program cycles through various aspects to be improved upon usually to allow for a peak at a particular period. For example, athletes will follow a periodized training program to allow for peak performance on the day of competition. (obviously I'm not above a little self promotion :)Now what is it about Crossfit that makes it controversial? Well, besides the fact the founder dismisses widely accepted and research proven methods there are a number of unusual rituals and practices.Below are what I'll describe as The Good and the Bad of Crossfit. As in life, let's start with the bad news.Poor Choice of MascotsWho doesn't love a mascot? Many of the best brands in the world are known for the cartoony characters that represent them. Think of Disney without Mickey Mouse. Or McDonald's without Ronald. Or the Geiko without the gecko.Well Crossfit (CF) has some mascots as well. What mascots are these you may be wondering?How about cartoon mascots such as Pukey the Clown and Uncle Rhabdo? It used to be that throwing up during up during a...

Chris is not my first. By Chris, of course, I am referring to our fitness lord and savior, Christopher M. Collins. The MSc, CSCS, strength coach, gym founder and all-around guru-dude cracking the whip here at Okanagan Peak Performance Inc. Now you have to know that I’m not bragging about this. To have gone through seven or perhaps even eight different trainers in the last twenty years or so is not exactly a badge of honour. I want nothing more than for Chris to finally be my last. It’s been a solid two decades since I first went to war with my body. And throughout that time I have enjoyed my share of victories and defeats, along with more general frustration and base-line annoyance than I could ever shake a foam roller at. (and if you don’t know what that analogy means then I guess you gotta join OPP…) Sure I can get motivated but I can also give up. I can get happy and excited but slip just as fast to angry and frustrated. The battle is never-ending, for me at least. Now I recognize tagging this intensely personal struggle as a “war” may not be a particularly healthy way to view such things, but in all honesty that is exactly how it’s progressed. I fight my way down the weight ladder (or up the fitness one) only to lose focus or somehow self-sabotage and muck things up anew. I’m petulant, impatient and easily distracted. I’m also slow-moving and easy, until I get annoyed and flip out in an instant. I am as active and as diligent as I can be lazy like a sloth. Add in decades of marinating my over-stimulated consciousness within a brew of media-perfected imagery crossed with Hollywood outcomes and you’re left with a forty-two year...

Do you remember one of the things many teachers would say at the beginning of the year? You know when everyone is new to a class and nobody feels comfortable to ask a question? And even when the teacher would put a question to the students everyone would stay quiet. And so at a certain point the teacher would say questions are great because usually there is someone else thinking the same thing. This is the inspiration for this post. Hopefully the content helps a number of you as well with your training. Let's get at it. The other day Joanne K. was doing front squats and mentioned that often feels restricted in the hips. I say hips plural because she mentioned that the restriction alternates between right and left depending on the day. [caption id="attachment_3037" align="alignleft" width="200"] Psoas, one of the hip flexors So here's what we did.First of all I took a look at Joanne's squat pattern. This involves looking all sides and examining for alignment, depth and symmetry. What stood out was there was a slight collapse of the left knee. Now we had something to address. First we had her foam roll the left adductor followed by an exercise to activate the left external hip rotator. For this we used a banded clam shell exercise. This took all of about 5 minutes, or less, to do. When Joanne retested her squat she said it was substantially better without a pinching at the hip. But what about the fact the issue seemed to alternate from right to left depending on the day? Well first we'll assume the warm-up and training is performed in a balance matter. Then the other thing to examine is activities of daily living which may contribute to this imbalance. In this situation we discovered...

Recently I attempted to initiate a dialogue on the topic of whether or not yoga is good for athletes. Because a number of athletes use it as part of their training.But is it something that benefits them? Is it a need to have or a nice to have?The last post was meant to examine yoga as to how it meets the needs of athletes. And I wanted to focus primarily on what 99.9% of athletes that come through our door are asking for which is to get stronger, to get faster and to become fitter.Yet in the comments section on the previous post the proponents of yoga didn't address those questions. Instead we heard about many of the other benefits of yoga, some of which I agree with, a listing of the various types of yoga as well as offerings as to new spellings of words. The urban dictionary will be calling. [caption id="attachment_3014" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Just before my first yoga class. What I'd like to do with this post is see if there is agreement as to what develops strength, power and fitness? I will also share what my first experience with yoga was like. Lastly, I am going to pose another question regarding yoga not so much from the athletic development perspective but in a more general sense. So rather than hide in my squat racks with weight vests on like Salman Rushdie I want to continue the dialogue and get some more feedback. Here we go. If we are to discuss increasing strength then there needs to be consideration to resistance. There are a number of ways to apply resistance to a system. It can be variable such as bands and tubing or constant such as body or free-weight. We can move the resistance through or against the...

Recently I was asked to join a Program Advisory Committee for the Okanagan College Human Kinetics program by my friend Dr. Greg DuManoir. You may know Greg from Okanagan College as a professor. Or maybe you attended the Okanagan Strength & Conditioning Conference which Greg and I co-host. It could also be that you've crossed paths with Greg at Okanagan Peak Performance Inc where he trains. This is an exciting invitation as it allows us to provide feedback to the academic world as to what their graduates are doing really well at when they enter the job force. We are also able to give insights into skill sets that would benefit students once they begin their careers. And we are also able to share the trends that we are observing with respect to training in the post-rehabiliation, weight loss and athletic development fields. But that's not the real topic I'm going to cover in this post. Instead it has a nutritional theme which came to me during our first meeting yesterday. As with all meetings, our hosts at Okanagan College were gracious in offering us a variety of hot beverages as well as cold drinks in the form of juice boxes. It was at this point in the meeting that I leaned over to Greg and thanked him for the idea for my next blog article :) To be fair I know Greg wasn't the one who made the drink selection for the meeting and I'm just giving him a hard time. But it reminds me of a conference I attended in Seattle with Kayla last year. The lunch at this 'fitness' conference included cookies, potato chips and cans of pop. 'Now, hold on' you're probably thinking, 'there's no way juice boxes can be lumped in the same category as the...

Everything we do with our clients has to serve a purpose.The foam roll drills and stretches need to facilitate increased mobility. The nutritional plans need to provide the essential nutrients, energy and hydration. And the training plans need to fit the needs, goals and abilities of the individual doing the work.So I'm always curious as to why people go to yoga?A quick google search lead me to healthyyoga.com with the Top 10 Benefits of Yoga. Their list includes:1. Stress Relief 2. Pain Relief 3. Better Breathing 4. Flexibility 5. Increased Strength 6. Weight Management 7. Improved Circulation 8. Cardiovascular Conditioning 9. Focus on the Present 10. Inner Peace***I'll look at 4,5 & 8 below. The rest are fairly subjective and therefore difficult to measure.***There is no doubt that a number of people practice yoga but I'm always curious as to their reasons? I look at everything that our clients do as being beneficial and purposeful.And yoga has me perplexed.Because I hear constantly of the purported benefits of yoga. And especially the benefits it lends to sports performance.In fact there is power yoga which sounds like it would be perfectly suited to athletes that are seeking more power and to move more quickly.But power is the definition of the amount of work done per unit time. And work is equal to a force applied over a distance. So you need to move a substantial force quickly over some distance to train for power. Holding bodyweight poses for extended periods of time hardly meets the criteria for power development.Case in point India has one, count it one, individual gold medal in the history of the Olympics. Ever. And by the way that gold medal came in air rifle. Hardly a sport requiring power. Well, a powerful gun maybe :)In a similar sense to the...

In the last article I discussed some things that are commonly used to assess the effectiveness of a training session. And I explained why mainy of these factors may not qualify as determinants of effective training.So what does constitute an effective training session? Well if you looked at the list from the previous post all of the items had something in common. And that is that they were subjective measures and therefore difficult to measure. What we should be using to evaluate the effectiveness of our workouts are objective and measurable tools. Below is a list of 7 Things You Can Measure to Determine the Effectiveness of Your Workouts. #1. Body Changes This one is fairly easy, low cost and doesn't take much time. And it's easy to see trends over time. For example you can track the following: * weight * bodyfat * tape measures * pictures from the front, back and side And while the bathroom scales you can pick up at any big box store aren't the most accurate way of measuring bodyfat they are consistent and do not depend on the expertise of the user. Photos are great because they will show changes in body shape and tone when the net gain on the scale may be zero. #2. Tracked Workouts We record every workout at Okanagan Peak Performance Inc for our clients and ourselves. We are so aware of the numbers that when a staff members posts that they were able to dumbbell snatch 60 lbs for 4 reps I know this is a personal best. And I know the previous best. And when they set their previous best. Besides loads we know distances and times during energy system workouts. We know heights jumped on plyo boxes. And we know how we felt during and in...

What makes for a good workout? Ask 10 people walking out of a fitness centre and you may get 10 different answers. Unfortunately what many consider to be an effective workout may not be the case. Below are 8 common answers given by regular gym goers as to what makes for an effective workout. At the very end of this article I'll distinguish between these 8 common answers and what may be a better may to assess our workouts. 8 Reasons People Say They Had an Effective Workout Reason #1. Lots of SweatThis answer is given a lot. And whenever we see someone in a movie or tv show that is exerting themselves there needs to a spray bottle close at hands and sweat stains all over their outfit. But does sweat equal work? Or instead is it an indication of the body's ability to cool itself? Think about sitting in a steam room. But you're not exercising. And you're not even moving. And let's say you've got a bottle of water with you. There's a really good chance that after 10 minutes of sitting in the steam room you may have some sweat on your brow. Does this mean you did a workout in the steam room? Obviously it doesn't. It just means the body was doing its job of trying to cool itself down. So sweat may accompany an effective or intense training session but it also might mean your body is doing what it should to regulate temperature. Reason #2. VolumeYou can think of this in a couple of ways. One can mean the audible noise produced during a workout. And the other can mean the reps times the sets performed. Let's look at each. The first one has to do with the noise produced. And over the years I've...

Hey guys! Megan here again, which can only mean one thing… time for another spotlight on one of our clients here at Okanagan Peak Performance Inc. How many of you have used an illness or an injury as a crutch to get yourself out of going to the gym?  I know there are a few of you out there; because even I have been there in the past.  Well, there is one girl I know that didn’t let anything get in the way of her weight loss.  But I’ll let her take over now to you her story. Take it away Danielle. My name is Danielle Sambrielaz and I graduated from Immaculata Regional High School in Kelowna in 2011. I am currently at the University of British Columbia – Okanagan in my second year. -I’m only 19. I love languages and political science, and I am doing a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations with a minor in Spanish literature. I am planning on going on an exchange to Nottingham, England in my third year. I have struggled with weight loss for a long time. I just felt that I could not lose weight! I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2008 and after my surgery I thought my weight would become normal again. That was not the case! I was diagnosed with another medical condition that prevented me from losing weight, but the problem is that losing weight can also cure it! I had tried different types of gyms around Kelowna in the past, but nothing really worked. My mom (Lia) and brother (Gio) started going to this gym called Okanagan Peak Performance Inc., and it sounded very intense. My mom asked me if I wanted to come try the gym out, because my doctor told me I had to lose weight....