Top ten excuses clients use to skip a training session

Personal trainers have heard it all. Every excuse you can think of to get out of a workout on any given day.  I’ve compiled my top ten ridiculous excuses clients use to skip a workout here. I've heard all of these. You should avoid using any of these excuses if you want to remain credible in the eyes of your trainer, as these are not valid reasons to skip a workout. 

1. I’m on my period, so I’m too bloated to fit into my shorts today.   
2. I can’t exercise today because I’m going out to dinner afterwards and I don’t want to overeat on my first date.
3. I’m getting my hair done in the morning so I can’t workout that afternoon because it’ll ruin my new hairdo. 
4. All my lulu lemon leggings are in the laundry hamper and they’re the only pants my butt looks good in, so I can’t make it to the gym today, sorry.  
5. I can’t lift weights today because I just got a manicure. 
6. It’s raining really hard outside, are you sure you still want to go to the gym? 
7. My friends aren’t going to be at the gym today, so I’m not going either. 
8. I forgot to set the DVR and I don’t want to miss my favourite show.  
9. I’m worried about being too stiff and sore tomorrow. 
10. I can’t go back to the gym where people will see me until I lose the 5 pounds I put on over the holidays.

No more excuses - get yourself to the gym!

Pursuit OCR

If you’re a fan of American Ninja Warrior or a Tough Mudder enthusiast, then you’ll want to visit Pursuit OCR (Obstacle Course Race) http://pursuitocr.com/, located on Dufferin St in Toronto.  Its basically the Tough Mudder course, fit into a 10,000 sq. ft. warehouse in downtown Toronto, minus the water and the mud.  

Here’s the basic course outline: you go over several Berlin Walls, then traverse a rope netted wall climb, crawl through a restricted dark tunnel, balance along a bouldering wall section, move across a tire course, cross a rope swing and an unstable wooden foot bridge, down several pole drops, pull yourself up and along an inclined ladder then onto the single high bar pass with tire pull, more rope wall climbs, swing your way across the rings section (over a huge ball pit), climb up and over a steeply inclined wall using a rope, and finally ending with both 11ft and 14ft vertical curved wall runs (aka the warped wall).      

Video 1 - Patrick & Kelly on the inclined ladder 

The course challenges your agility, balance, upper body strength and stamina.  But it doesn’t really challenge your lower body much.  If fact, my legs were the only part of me that wasn’t sore the next day (unless you count the bruises on my knees I mostly likely suffered during the crawling portions and perhaps hitting my knees on the wall run). 

Video 2 - Kelly running up the warped wall

While it was a great physical and upper body workout, the mental aspect of the Tough Mudder race was distinctly missing from this course. Largely because it could be completed in such a short time (e.g. under 30min), lacked the cold water, mud puddles and any significant mileage/distance covered. 

So if you’re looking for a mentally easy, but physically demanding workout, Pursuit OCR fits the weekend warrior type who doesn’t like getting too messy during their training sessions. 

Besides the obstacle course, there are several other fitness areas where you can workout or further challenge yourself with activities like slack lining, box jumping, rope climbing, kettle bell weight training stations, and much more.  My friends and I took advantage of these other activities, letting our upper bodies recover while taking breaks between runs on the Obstacle Course. During the 3 hours we were there, we took 4 runs on the course. On the fourth run there was much more goofing around, including doing summersaults into the ball pit, because really why not, its a big old ball pit?! 

Video 3 - Patrick’s flip into the ball pit

  

I had fun spending the afternoon at Pursuit OCR. It makes for a fun and exciting alternative workout, when you feel up for a change in routine, or want to do something new with your friends.  The $20 day use pass was good value, and I recommend giving it a try.  You should keep in mind bathrooms and change rooms are in short supply in their warehouse space, so you should show up in your gym clothes, ready to go. 

Big thanks to my friends Patrick and Brendan for running the course with me, and also to Brendan for taking the action shots on his phone (which only needed some minor editing).  

Soundtrack to Success

Occasionally I like to post my top ten training tunes to give my clients an idea of what I’m listening to when I’m working out, as well as, to give them some fresh ideas when they’re making up their own playlist (refer back to my blogs posted 01/10/2015 and 01/15/2014). 

On this same topic, I came across this article online last week - http://www.swimmersdaily.com/2015/11/01/tests-on-swimmer-reveal-listening-to-eminem-and-swedish-house-mafia-boosts-performance-bob-marley-not-so-much/ 

A research team from Hartpury University Centre in the UK spent three months monitoring the physiological effects of different music genres on British swimmer Ben Hooper ahead of his 3,200 km swim across the Atlantic in December. Eminem tracks including Lose Yourself and Without Me were shown to significantly increase both power and endurance during periods of prolonged and intense exercise.

Researchers found that music had to be both upbeat and hold a good tempo for athletes to maintain good performance, but found that music that also invoked an emotional response from the athlete provided that extra incentive to push that much more. Significantly more, by 10% actually. So if you want to run 10% faster during your next race try playing these tunes:

The Soundtrack of Success Top 10 Strong Songs for Optimum Athletic Performance:

1. Lose Yourself – Eminem
2. Not Afraid – Eminem
3. Don’t You Worry Child – Swedish House Mafia
4. Hall of Fame – The Script
5. Remember the Name – Fort Minor
6. Stay – Sash
7. We Come 1 – Faithless
8. The Day Is My Enemy – The Prodigy
9. Without Me – Eminem
10. Back in the U.K. – Scooter  

The Soundtrack to Success Top 10 Sonds to Avoid for Optimum Athletic Performance:

1. Three Little Birds – Bob Marley
2. World Looking In – Morcheeba
3. Tear Drop – Massive Attack
4. Don’t Worry Be Happy – Bobby McFerrin
5. Kelly Watch The Stars – Air
6. One Love/People Get Ready – Bob Marley
7. Passenger - Fleetwood Mac
8. No Woman, No Cry - Bob Marley
9. You Can Get it if You Really Want it - Jimmy Cliff
10. I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing - Aerosmith

Listening to these songs actually required more effort when exercising!   So I’d save Bob Marley and Morcheeba for the party afterwards. 

People have always used music to inspire and move them.  Now we have science backing up just how effective the right soundtrack can be.  Obviously, individual people will have different emotional reactions to different songs. I’d like to challenge you to each make your own playlist based on music that is both upbeat, keeps a fast tempo, but invokes an emotional reaction from within you.  I’d love to hear what music motivates you!! 

Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon

The 26th annual STWM was held on Sunday, October 18th, and I took the opportunity to run my second half-marathon of the year (the first being the Goodlife Fitness Toronto Marathon back in May), all as part of my training plan to finally run a full marathon next year. 

A distinct chill was in the air that morning (-1C at 8:45am start time), and most runners chose to don gloves and toques before leaving home, as flurries threatened, but never fully actualized.  Well, that’s Canadian running for you, shorts are really only an option for 6 months of the year up here.    

The course runs through downtown Toronto and along the waterfront of Lake Ontario.  

Runners started at University and Dundas, continued north up University to Bloor, west across Bloor to Bathurst, then south along Bathurst down to Lakeshore Blvd, turning west and running Lakeshore until hitting High Park, where we turned around coming back east along Lakeshore Blvd, then at the 20km mark the half-marathoners turned north up Bay St to the finishing line at Nathan Philips Square completing the 21.1km run (the full marathoners would run east out to the Beaches and back for the full 42.2km). 

My goal time was to break 1h:45m, based on the time I set in my spring half-marathon - 1:45:52 (with average pace of 5:01/km). 

Starting the run I actually had my slowest split time (KM 1 - 5:35), (e.g. the pace kept per km), which is unusual because I tend to have a strong start, as I still have lots of energy at this point in the race.  However, we started on an uphill slope and the runners were all still tightly packed in together, making it hard to run smoothly with not much room to maneuver.  As the runners spaced out more on Bloor, I paced a little better (KM 3 - 4:51), and even speed up nicely running downhill on Bathurst (KM 6 - 4:36, KM 7 - 4:31).  I leveled off when I reached the flat terrain on Lakeshore keeping a pace of roughly 5:08 between KM 9 - 18.  I think I threw away my gloves in a large pile of various winter clothing items somewhere between KM10-12 on Lakeshore Blvd.  With 3 km left the course elevation gained again, and I tried to dig in and stay strong for the finish.  I actually picked up my pace again knowing I was so close the the finish line and nearing my goal time.  At KM 19 I was pacing 4:52 and sped up to 4:17 for the last km. With my sides aching and my vision blurred I crossed the finish line at 1:45:19 (with an average pace of 4:59/km). 

Although I didn’t break 1h:45m, I managed to shave 33 seconds off my previous half-marathon time so that’s encouraging.  And looking back over my split times, I’m sure that if I had just a little more leg room during the crowded first km I would have easily made up that 20sec in my first km of the run.  So I do feel a little better after reviewing my race stats. 

Overall, I placed in the top 15% of all half-marathoners (1532/10257) during this race.  I placed in the top 6.5% of all female half-marathoners (366/5570), and top 9% for my age group (74/821).  That’s a strong showing for my first year of half-marathoning.  So I’m happy with that!  I'm feeling confident with my training, and plan to run through the winter building my distance up so that I'm ready to run a full marathon next year. 

Buttermilk - TUC Fall outdoor league champs!!

What a difference a year makes.  If you recall my blog post from this time last year (Oct 2014) - http://contourspersonaltraining.blogspot.ca/2014/10/fall-for-ultimate-frisbee.html - you’ll remember how we had a heartbreaking loss in the Toronto Ultimate Club (http://www.tuc.org) fall league finals, coming in second place to a team called Wonky.  Sure, it was hard to lose the big game, but we never let that get us down. We're spunky goats with lots of drive and kick left in us (as you can see from this video of our team mascot here - http://youtu.be/P1HxqFZsuxs).
  
If anything was gained from that loss, our team made sure to learn from it, and work towards the future.  We learned from that experience, grew together as teammates, continued to play together over the winter that followed and through the summer. We worked on team drills, communication skills and our fitness levels as a whole, so that we would be a better, stronger and more dominant force this time around on the ultimate frisbee circuit.  We planned on coming out with both guns blazing. 

Although there were challenges due to the autumnal weather pattern (it had rained eariler, and winds were gusting to 50km/hr at certain points in the evening, making longer, accurate throws of the 175g disc more difficult) our team pulled it together after half-time, when the end zone change favored flow in our direction (thanks to our captain for the strategic choice on the toss, by the way).  By games end, we had a decisive victory (14-8) over our opponents, Totes McGoats (a coincidence another goat themed team like yours truly raised to the challenge this season?!).  

Congratulations Buttermilk on the well earned 2015 championship season.  Hopefully, we can keep it going through the winter and summer leagues to come in 2016.  I'm already looking forward to facing our respective division rivals '99 Problems' and 'The Hive'.  

Sure, silver was sweet (last year), but this year I must admit, I like the gold better :)

T-Rex Fitness

We all know that T-Rex hates push-ups:

But it seems that even T-Rex can not resist the challenge of the American Ninja Warrior course:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6Pe1zQ1ySE 

Perhaps the most important point to take away from these funnies is that every creature (including you, me and everybody else at the gym or playground) all have different strengths and weaknesses.  While some of us are better at some sports and skills then others, you should never let your perceptions affect your willingness to try something new, and maybe at the very least just have some fun in the attempt!  

The Validation of Hangry

In 2015, after many years of common use, the word Hangry has finally been officially added to the major English dictionaries, including the Oxford Dictionary.  

It is therein defined as (adjective): Bad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger.   E.g. I get very hangry if I miss lunch.  

For those of us who have experienced ‘hanger’ (myself included), we admit it feels nice to have this unsettling and problematic emotion finally recognized and validated.  But besides the English teachers and editors of the world finally recognizing this state of being both hungry and angry, perhaps if we looked at the physiological reaction that is actually happening within the body when this condition occurs, perhaps hanger will be even more widely acceptancd and fully understood, as a valid, yet temporary, physiological condition.

Basically what hangry boils down to is the drop in blood sugar levels when a person is hungry.  Glucose (blood sugar) is the main fuel for the body and brain. When a person has low blood sugar it is difficult to regulate their moods, which leads to emotional reactions. When a person’s blood sugar drops to low levels, they experience hunger, and if that person feels something or someone is affecting their ability to obtain more food they may direct an intense emotion response in their direction.  Researchers said if blood sugar levels fall too low the brain can actually react as if it's confronted with a life-threatening situation and go into survival mode.  But it’s not really a conscious decision - it’s their blood chemistry really.    

Nutritionists from the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics explain it further:

“When blood sugar is low the hypothalamus is triggered and levels of several hormones such as growth hormone, leptin and ghrelin are affected. This imbalance then causes a shift in neurotransmitters and suppresses serotonin receptors. Serotonin is a hormone that helps regulate mood and appetite. Cut off your body’s ability to process it and prepare for some mood swings. Anger and extreme frustration are common responses. 

This is not to say that everyone who skips lunch (or is forced to skip lunch) will turn into a raging hulk before dinner. Blood sugar has to drop pretty low (e.g. normal range of 70-100mg/dl to below 55mg/dl) before hanger causing moderate hypoglycemia sets in. That may take several hours of not eating.”  

However, some people are more susceptible to this condition than others.  Hanger can be more intense in people with pre-existing medical conditions, such as hypoglycemia, diabetes, mood disorders (including depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder), as well as endurance athletes who are used to eating on a regular basis to keep up with their bodies increased metabolic demands.   

Those with hypoglycemia and diabetes are already susceptible to spikes in blood sugar due to their issues with insulin.  People with mood disorders are vulnerable to anything that may alter the delicate balance of hormones in their brain, especially serotonin.  Endurance athletes are more susceptible to bouts of hanger as their training regimes have influenced their metabolic rates to be higher than the average person.  They need to eat at more frequent intervals due to their increased muscle mass and high activity levels.  They may feel the impact of hunger more acutely than others because of this.  

The best thing people can do to avoid this hangry situation/physiological condition is to eat a combination of protein and complex carbohydrates every 4 hours to keep their blood sugar regulated (e.g. hummus & carrots, or cheese & crackers are ideal examples for snacks). Surely, this will keep them - and everyone around them - in a much better mood and harmonious environment.   

To summarize, I found a nice flow chart that may be helpful to deal with, and even better, to prevent any hangry situations from happening in the future:

For further reading info on this topic: 

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: http://www.eatrightacend.org/ACEND

Dietitians of Canada: http://www.dietitians.ca/ 

Other news magazines of interest: http://www.kvue.com/story/news/health/2015/07/30/researchers-explain-link-between-hunger-anger/30901447/ , and  http://www.prevention.com/health/healthy-living/skipping-meals-means-low-blood-sugar-and-hanger