Teaming up for the health of it

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This article was published 30/11/2020 (1764 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you need some motivation to get in shape, want to support the local restaurant scene and hear from one of Winnipeg’s most popular athletes of all time, you’re in luck.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers receiving legend Milt Stegall, along with local workplace health and wellness expert Jordan Cieciwa, will be holding an online lunch-and-learn seminar that will be streamed on Instagram (@fitcityjordan) and at fitcityproject.com on Dec. 7 and Dec. 9 at noon. The 30-minute event will feature motivational speaking from Stegall on the importance of healthy living plus Cieciwa offering tips to viewers on how they can get fit.

To join, Stegall and Cieciwa are asking workplaces to spend a minimum of $25 on an order from a local restaurant. Individuals can also get in on the action by ordering some grub to help out an eatery.

“For me, places like Shawarma Khan, East India Company, Roughage Eatery… there are these restaurants and I’m like ‘I want these here next year and what do I need to do to make sure that happens?’ My wife and I spend more than our budgeted amounts on food that we typically would do. So then it was like, ‘Well, we can’t really spend any more, so what talents do I have to lend to the fight?’ So, there’s where this lunch and learn came from,” said Cieciwa.

The two fitness gurus met at one of Stegall’s football camps a decade ago when Cieciwa was brought in to conduct a warm-up with the participants. They’ve stayed in touch ever since, and when Cieciwa pitched the lunch-and-learn idea to Stegall, the man known for being “thin in the waist and cute in the face” was fully on board.

“Not trying to be harsh, but there are no excuses for not moving around. We’re going to show them ways where you can do it right in the comfort of your own home. Like I always say, I can show you exercises in a phone booth, but you have to be willing to do it,” said Stegall from his home in Atlanta, Ga.

“You have to be willing to take the most important and maybe the hardest step and that’s starting. Once you get started, you’ll be encouraged and you’ll have an opportunity to change your life. Moving changes you mentally as well as physically and that’s what we have to get people doing — we have to get people moving.”

Originally the seminar was going to focus on workplaces, but Cieciwa said they decided to open it up to anyone.

“Not trying to be harsh, but there are no excuses for not moving around. We’re going to show them ways where you can do it right in the comfort of your own home. Like I always say, I can show you exercises in a phone booth, but you have to be willing to do it.”
– Milt Stegall

“I put out a tweet that we’re doing this and I got a whole slew of DMs with people saying they were recently laid off. Man, my heart broke because I didn’t even think of that,” Cieciwa said.

“People were saying ‘I got recently laid off. I need to get my health back in gear.’ And of course, they’re always a huge fan of Milt. There were all these people that reached out that way, so I thought ‘How can we set this up and engage everyone?’ So, that’s what we’re doing now.”

If the seminar is a big hit, Cieciwa said there will likely be a similar project with Stegall to follow, one that could potentially help out the local fitness industry.

It’s an industry Cieciwa, 39, is very familiar with, as he’s trained Canadian Olympic hopefuls, NHL players, UFC fighters in California, and even spent some time in Hong Kong, but he finds it incredibly fulfilling helping everyday people get back on their feet, literally.

Since he and his wife Tess had their first child, a girl named Betty, at the beginning of the year, Cieciwa understands now more than ever how day-to-day life, never mind a pandemic, can get people off track fitness-wise. He doesn’t expect people to make dramatic life changes right away, but he hopes Stegall and himself can encourage individuals to slowly develop healthy habits that will lead to them finding a passion for fitness and to improve their overall health.

“You say Milt’s name and all of a sudden people listen. The next thing you know, we’ve got the ability to help people build their health as well as anyone that’s looking for the higher level, they can talk to Milt and figure out how he keeps those abs as hard as they are at 50 years old,” said Cieciwa.

While Stegall still looks and feels great, he’s not so sure he has any 100-yard game-winning touchdowns left in him.

“I’m 50 years old right now and of course, I’m not in the shape I was in when I was 20, but I’m still in pretty good shape,” Stegall said.

“I’m still able to do everything I was able to do at 20. Maybe not as fast or as hard, but I’m still able to do those things because I continue working out. That’s the key. Start working out and never stop until you’re six feet under.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31