Spring Training

with Tracy Mainland

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• Exercise is kids play...

  06/27/2010 9:31 PM

  My older son and I decided to go for a walk Saturday morning.

  I had planned on going by myself but as I was walking out the door he asked where I was going and wanted to join me.

  "Of course" I told him. I put him in the stroller which he loves (although at three he is getting a little big for a stroller) and off we went.

  As we were walking down River Road I decided that playing with him in the St. Andrews school play yard was more important than seeing how far I would go today. The school yard is about a 1.5 kms from my house, there and back would have been about 3 kms of pure walking.
  
  As we were playing in the yard, I started to look at these play structures a little differently. What if I decided to use the edge of the wooden walk way like a step at the gym?

  Up one side and down the other, then switching legs stepping up with the left and then the other etc.

  After five minutes of doing this my butt and thighs were burning, and I was out of breath.

  My son thought it was great - mommy was playing right beside him. Then there were the tires. I started stepping through them slowly at first trying to get a little faster each time - I was trying to be careful as there were people in the play yard as well.I certainly didn't need a 911 call because I had fallen in the tires and couldn't get up. I thought that having my weight in the paper was embarrassing... this would be worse.

  I also tried the monkey bars and was shocked to discover that I could get across - last year I had tried and couldn't at all.

  All this strength training in the arms is staring to show.

  We played for a good hour and half and tried all different things. I found a couple of balancing items and worked my core - Bryson followed along beside me the whole way.
  
  My son and I had a blast! Who knew that going to the play yard would be so beneficial for both of us. I certainly didn't until I started to look at things a little differently.

  Sometimes in life, we just have to look at things from a different angle to gain a new perspective.

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• Getting pumped at any age!

  05/26/2010 11:35 PM

  I was off to my Zumba class on Kenaston when I realized I hadn’t booked childcare and I was likely going to be late for the class – so I turned around and went to the McPhillips location ( I don’t have to book childcare at that facility). As I was walking in, I asked what class was happening on a Tuesday (I had always been going to the Zumba class at Kenaston on Tuesdays). Body Pump... and that describes what it is!

  Body pump is a barbell training to fun energetic music in a group environment. I walked in at the back of the class and wasn’t sure what to do. I was a little intimidated be the equipment, the weights and all the people in the class that seemed to know what they were doing – except me. Ronika – one of the child care workers at McPhiliips was taking this class and graciously helped me figure out what to do.

  As I started figuring out the moves and watching others around me, I realized that Body pump was a lot of fun and quite a workout. The instructor who I later spoke with was Jayne Steeves. Jayne was energetic, involved everyone in the class, spoke to us "newbies" whenever there was a tricky move and made the class completely enjoyable!

  After the Bodypump class, Steeves and I spoke about a few different things. Steeves has been with Goodlife Fitness for 2 years and has been teaching Body Pump for about 11 years. She is the oldest instructor at Goodlife Fitness – a very young 56 years old ( she will be 57 in November). Steeves is a person we should all be inspired by!

  I ended up speaking with one of the participants of the pump class – Pamela Zaslow. Zaslow has a keen interest for health and nutrition and was very knowledgeable. We started talking about exercise in general and she educated me on some very interesting things! One of the most important factors about exercise is that is lowers your Cortisol levels. Cortisol is known as the stress hormone – the more you exercise, the lower the level. Stress can also lead to weight gain – when this hormone is decreased, you decrease the risk of gaining weight.

  When you exercise you are also increasing your endorphins – or "happy hormones" as Jolyne Roch – my personal trainer at the Kenaston Goodlife refers to them as . When you exercise you increase your bloodflow to your extremeties, it increases you oxygen levels, gives you better posture and increases your joint protection.

  Zaslow reminded me that I shouldn’t be concerned about the number on the scale – "It’s about losing fat – don’t say weight" Muscle weighs more than fat it’s more dense."

  Not only am I having some great workouts, but I am really becoming more educated on health in general! I am looking forward to the next month of the challenge and how I am going to keep up with this new fitness regimen long term!
   

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• Training at an elite level

  05/13/2010 9:28 AM

  

  These are my new trainers — think there's hope for me?

  Kidding, I was working out at the gym this morning — very proud that I had my first session with my personal trainer, Jolyne Roch when we noticed a crowd forming in the free-weight area of the gym.

  I asked what was going on and Jolyne mentioned there was a guy that owned a supplement company working out on the floor. She neglected to mention he was a former Arnold Classic winner and placed in the top 5 at the Mr. Olympian contest multiple times.

  Roch and I continued to work out upstairs. I will be telling you all about that in what Doug refers to as the "dead tree edition" on Monday.

  After my work out, I noticed that there was now an entourage. So me being the reporter I am (did I mention I am in the advertising department?), I approached the group to find out more...

  The picture (sorry the quality is not great): The dark-haired guy on the end is former Multiple Runner up in the Mr. Olympian contest and is the winner of the very first Arnold Classic (1989)  — Rich Gaspari. Gaspari now owns a nutritional supplement line (Gaspari Nutrition). He lives in New Jersey and has known Julie (Jewels) and Craig Bonnett  (the two on the left side of the picture) for many years.

  Why was Rich Gaspari here? Popeye's Supplements in Winnipeg held a contest where a winner (Colin) was able to work out with Gaspari for a morning at the Goodlife Fitness on Kenaston.

  Jewels and Craig Bonnett own a company called Contestprep.ca and are travelling with Gaspari to a Health food trade show in Vancouver later this afternoon. Jewels and Craig call the Goodlife Fitness on Kenaston "their gym" away from their own home gym. They are personal trainers  — Jewels is also a fitness model (yes she has a six pack any woman — or man  — would die for!). She attributes her incredible physique to diet and the obvious exercise. Reminds me that I have to work on next weeks' meal plan.

  Paul Bodnarchuk from Popeye's Supplements commented that "Rich is quite impressed with the Winnipeg market place. Winnipeg has the highest sales for the Gaspari line in a mid-small market."

  There are a lot of Winnipeggers interested in their fitness.

  Although my fitness goals are not to be compared with these elite bodybuilders, it was incredible to see what nutrition and exercise can do if you work hard and train hard. They looked great!

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