Health
New Year Leg Challenge
After such great feedback from June’s Ab Challenge, I decided to create a Leg Challenge for you to begin the New Year with. Even if you are skiing every day, this quick routine will help to keep you balanced and prevent injuries.
Make sure your knees are over your toes during all exercises and you never experience any sharp or shooting pain. Exercises should be performed at a slow, controlled pain free pace!
Vitamin K and the Newborn
Vitamin K is an essential nutrient for all of us as it has many roles in the human body, primarily in enabling us to clot blood properly.
Reflecting on the Christ in Christmas
Growing up, family members outnumbered seat belts. Sundays, all eight of us would pile into the car and drive into town to The Cathedral. Religion (Christianity) is an important part of who I am today. Growing up as a Christian, Christmas was a big holiday (holy day).
Après-Ski Stretch
Current research shows that stretching post activity is more beneficial than pre activity (dynamic warm up is recommended before exercise). Here are some easy-to-do stretches to help you unwind from your day of skiing and be ready to go for your next day. All you need is something approximately waist height (table, counter, back of truck, back of couch etc). Hold each stretch for ten slow breaths and gently ease into your stretch. Remember that stretching should never hurt!
1. Quads. Place your toe up on ledge behind you and gently lean back.
Maintaining the Ability to Remember
Our lives truly are the sum of our memories, so as we collectively age, it becomes more and more imperative to retain the memories we already have (as well as the memories that we're holding onto for our ancestors) and continue to effectively make new memories of our day to day lives. The ability to generate memories peaks when we're quite young, and so as we navigate our way through adulthood, we have to work harder and harder to remember things that occur around us, particularly as we are inundated with distractions such as noise, pollution, our other thoughts, and our electronic devices.
Be Ours to Hold it High
The roots of Remembrance Day go back to 1919, almost 100 years ago. Each November, countless Canadians don plastic poppies and remember. We stop for two minutes, and we remember. What do I remember? The only wars during my lifetime affected me only indirectly. They didn’t change the essence of my life. Still, I remember and I reflect.
Five Exercises to Get You Ski Season Ready
With the November nip in the air should come the motivation to get ready for a strong year on the ski hill. For optimal ski shape results, perform these five exercises three times each, three days weekly:
1. Bottom ¼ squat x 1 minute. Get yourself into a low pain-free squat (ideally quads are parallel to the ground) and go slightly up and then back down. Pulse back and forth in your ski or snowboard stance, with your kneecaps lined up over your second toe through the motion.
Fatherhood and Fart Noises
This Thanksgiving, my son Jack turns six months. Crazy. I love fatherhood. I’ve been lucky. I have a supportive partner and our son is pretty easy-going. Our friends and family have showered us with gifts and time and tips and free babysitting. We have a lot going for us, and parenting is still overwhelming. My respect for single parents has increased; I do not know how they do it. Fernie’s baby boom shows no sign of slowing down. Here are some things I’m learning from being a new Dad.
Five Ways to Make Your Thanksgiving Healthier
Most Canadians traditionally get together on Thanksgiving for a huge meal and drinks, often ending with a full stomach and waking up the next day feeling a bit unhealthy. Good news –Thanksgiving does NOT have to sabotage your fitness and weight goals. Here are five ideas to help you give thanks to good health this year:
Ten Tips for a Successful Year of High School
This year, I will be both a teacher (at Fernie Secondary School) and a student (in Cranbrook taking weekend classes). I started teaching about a decade ago, so including my years as a student, I have over 25 years of experience in schools. Here are my ten tips for a successful year of high school.
Remember, it is your education
ParticipACTION
After watching Hal and Joanne on The Amazing Race Canada I was re-inspired by their participACTION “get fit and have fun” mantra from the ‘80s. This also reminded me of the 1972-1992 school gym protocol to determine which badge (excellence, gold, silver, bronze) you would achieve and sew onto your K-Way jacket or Scouts uniform.
Luckily for the youth of today, this protocol has been discontinued and participACTION Canada has refocused on getting more people more active.
Harvesting the Fall
Back to school, crisp mornings, warm days, ripe apples, turning leaves – you can smell the change of the seasons in the air. September has always been my favourite month as the year begins to end. The biking is amazing, using my oven again is quite exciting, and canning in the house tolerable. At the end of this month I will also, once again, get into my garden and prepare a bed for my October planting of fall garlic.
Garden: Planting Fall Garlic
Growing your own garlic is quite easy and garlic from the grocery store does not compare to garlic from your own garden.
Packing a Healthy Lunch
It's September again which, for so many of us, is synonymous with the beginning of a new year. For our little ones, it's the start of a new grade, with a new teacher, some new friends, and a lot of new experiences.
Creating Summer Memories
I was recently looking through some old photographs contemplating what life might have been like for my Grandparents when I came across photos of picnics - simple outings along the countryside in the 1920s and '30s with family or as a romancing young couple. There really isn't anything like sharing and enjoying a delicious frugal meal somewhere beautiful.
For a tasty summer picnic sandwich, I enjoy this vegetarian antipasto loaf. It’s been a hit at a few potlucks and I can now make it from memory. You can certainly increase or decrease the ingredients to your liking.
Tabata Training: Anytime, Anywhere
If you’re looking for a fast and efficient way to work out, you may want to explore ‘Tabata’ training. Founded in Japan by Izumi Tabata, this form of high intensity interval training requires you to perform each exercise for 20 seconds, followed by ten seconds rest, eight times for a total of four minutes. This means that in just four minutes, you can efficiently work a muscle group. You can watch a clock, but I find it easier to be guided by a beeping Tabata Timer App that can be downloaded on an iPhone or iPad.