Snowshoeing fun

Winter time is a great time to enjoy snow-related outdoor adventures. Snowshoeing is a relatively cheap and safe option for anyone. If you live in BC you have a lot of local options ranging from guided snowshoe trips on a local ski hill to multi-day trips in the back-country. Mount Seymour and Cypress Mountain both have snowshoe rentals, guided trips, and a number of trails to choose from.

December 31, 2011 a few of my friends and I decided to snowshoe/ski up to Red Heather Hut on Diamond Head mountain in Squamish, BC.

This trip is moderate in intensity, safe with no avalanche risk, and approximately 10 km round trip. It will take you around 4 hours to get there and back and you will need tire chains (and preferably a 4-wheel drive vehicle) to make it up the logging road to the parking lot though. The Red Heather Hut is equipped with two picnic benches, chopped fire wood, a wood stove heater for winter use, and an outhouse. So make sure you bring appropriate clothing, lots of water, and a snack to have an enjoyable trip.  It is a popular destination for families and back country skiers alike.

This is a view from the top of the next ridge above the Red Heather Hut.

If you are looking for a little more excitement, you can continue on this trail to Elfin Shelter (11km from parking lot) at the top of Diamond Head. It is a much larger hut capable of housing over 30 people with wooden bunk beds, gas stoves, and outhouses. There is a much higher avalanche risk and weather exposure so it is important to check the conditions before leaving home. This is typically an over-night trip, so make sure you plan accordingly.

Overtraining - The Importance of Rest

Daily exercise is important for health and happiness, but it is also important to let your body rest and recover. Activity and Rest are kind of like the yin and yang of healthy exercise. When resistance training, you alternate working a muscle (or muscle group) to fatigue and then resting it between sets. Similarly, a smart exerciser will alternate working that muscle group one day and then resting it the next. In more general terms we all are active during the day and sleep at night. Activity stimulates adaptation and growth and Rest is the time when your body can actually do the adaptation and growth.

Overtraining is when you don’t let your body recover from exercise which can lead to some serious physical, mental and emotional problems. Physically, overtraining leads to acute overuse injuries which can prevent you from doing whatever you are training for (and think for a moment which is better: resting more and maybe not feeling as prepared for the event OR not being able to participate at all?). You could also be setting yourself up for a chronic, long term injury.

If you are overtraining, maybe you haven’t been able to find a balance in your life which may lead to mental and emotional issues (or be the result of some). To be all consumed in training isn’t healthy in much the same way as not exercising at all is. Find a happy balance. Sometimes the pressure to exercise is internal and usually a sign that you are trying to replace other issues in your life with exercise because it;s controllable. Sometimes the pressure is external where others (parents, coaches, friends, coworkers) are pushing you beyond your abilities.

Symptoms of Overtraining syndrome:

-          Feeling tired, drained, unmotivated

-          Sudden drop in performance

-          Insomnia

-          General aches and pains

-          Moodiness, irritability

-          Depression

-          Decreased immunity

-          Decreased appetite

-          Increased incidence of injury

Ways to combat over training:

-          Acknowledge that you are overtraining and figure out why (is it an internal or external pressure?)

-          Take an emergency rest day (I know it’s like telling a smoker to quit cold turkey, but it’s a must).

-          While resting figure out your course of action (modify your training routine, or talk to a trusted friend or counsellor)

-         Take that free time to make and eat healthy food, stretch sore muscles, ice inflamed joints, get a massage, breath, write in you journal, go for a walk with a friend, make an appointment to see a physiotherapist, doctor, or whatever other health professional you decide you need, take care of yourself physically and mentally.

-          When ready to start exercising again, decrease intensity and duration, and preferably change type of exercise (cross-train).

Cross-training tips: The repetition of your training is what is causing injury to your body, so in your want to continue to exercise you must change the type and location of the stresses on your body. If you are a runner - go for a swim. If you weight train - take a martial arts class. The best types of cross-training during your overtraining rehab period are swimming, aquafit classes, yoga, pilates, and other low impact activities that will give your poor body a break.

The Talk Test

The ability to measure your intensity level while exercising is crucial to athletes, older adults, and people at risk for cardiovascular disease. Having an accurate measure of your heart rate (HR) is the preferred choice, but unless you have your own personal HR monitor and a clear understanding of what your target range should be, this is a tough method to use. As you get older, the equations used to measure target ranges becomes less and less accurate, and typically athletes will have a higher maximum HR than the average exerciser. Also, the heart rate monitors on cardio machines are also notoriously inaccurate, and having to stop mid-workout to check your pulse for 15 seconds can be frustrating.

Story: My mom is in her 60’s and just got back into a regular exercise routine (way to go, Mom!). One day, she came back from her class and told me that her trainer asked her to stay within a certain HR range while exercising, and it felt so easy she didn’t even break a sweat. This is a very common situation because the equation (220 – age = max HR) leaves less room to get your HR up the older you get. So the HR my mom was expected to stay at during her “intense” exercise is the same HR that I would typically warm up at. If you are new to exercise or at risk for heart attack or stroke, staying within this calculated range is important, but if you are otherwise healthy, I feel that it is important to listen to your body (and if it says it wants to work harder, let it).

Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) is another method of measuring intensity. This basically a method where you make a guess at how hard you are working and match it to a number scale (example: 1 = rest, 10 = maximum exertion). The problem with this method is that it depends solely on how well you know your own body and its capabilities. Tip: If you want to become proficient at RPE I recommend borrowing a heart rate monitor for a few months to compare your actual heart rate with how you perceive your intensity level.

The Talk Test is a wonderful alternative for the average person who wants to get the most out of their workout without the restrictions or frustrations of measuring heart rate, and finds number scales confusing (like I do).

Warm-up: You are able to carry on a normal conversation.
Moderate: You can still talk but have to take a breath between sentences.
Intense: You can only say a few words before having to take another breath.
Maximum: You can no longer talk between breaths.

Note: The Talk Test works best if you have someone to talk to, so get out there with a friend and enjoy being active together!

Why crunches won't flatten your tummy

As a continuation of my previous post I feel it is important to talk about why doing crunches and core exercises will NOT help give you that flat stomach you’ve always dreamed of. Crunches are a type of exercise which are designed to strengthen your muscles. Muscles control your skeleton and allow you to move. Fat (or adipose tissue) lays over top of the muscles and isn’t affected by how strong the muscles are.

One pound of fat is equal to 3500 kcal (Calories), which means that in order to “burn” fat you are playing the game of Energy In vs Energy Out. This goes back to my previous post about eating nutritiously (check out Canada’s Food Guide) and exercising to use up excess energy (Calories).

I’m sure you’ve seen a commercial about an exercise machine that burns twice as many calories in half the time of the next leading machine. *sigh* Again, this is a false claim. It doesn’t matter what machine you are using, or what type of activity you are doing for that matter, what’s important is how hard you are working. If you are sweating, feeling your heart rate increase, feeling warm, maybe having a little trouble talking or holding a conversation, then you are working in a moderate to intense zone that is perfect for using sugar and fat stores in your body (stay tuned for my next post about the Talk Test to determine the optimal zone for cardiovascular training).

So what types of activities can you do? Walking, running, swimming, fitness classes, cycling, muscular endurance resistance training… any activity that you can maintain for at least 20 minutes that allows you to keep your heart rate up. The longer and more intense you work the more calories you are using to fuel you (just be careful or over-training).

Side Note: It is actually dangerous to do a lot of abdominal exercises because you are strengthening the front of your torso and forgetting about your back. If you choose do a lot of core training, make sure the exercises balance the front, sides, and back of your torso in order to protect your spine from injury.

How do I lose belly fat?

This is easily the number one question I hear. And for good reason too. The "health" industry is saturated with quick-fix gizmos and diets that prey on the needy. They are a multi-billion dollar industry because for some reason people keep falling for the same tricks packaged in brighter colours. This problem isn't helped by the overpowering marketing for junk foods and sugar drinks that have combined with a recent decrease in daily physical activity and attributed to a nation-wide obesity epidemic.

Let’s get back to the question at hand. Yes, there are quicker, easier ways to lose belly fat these days, but they usually involve invasive surgery or drugs where you should be monitored by a doctor if you are taking them. These methods should only be reserved for those who are morbidly obese and literally need the “quick-fix”.

For the rest of us, the ONLY healthy option is a lifestyle change. Don’t look so surprised. It’s time to own the fact that you alone control how you treat your body, and bodies are machines that need fuel (nourishment) and movement to stay healthy and happy. I’m going to attempt to keep this simple: Exercise more and eat less, more nutrient dense, foods. Let’s tackle these separately.

Food: There are a lot of different opinions on food and diets. Regardless of if you are a vegetarian, vegan, carnivore, raw, organic only, or whatever else, there are important principles to be aware of when choosing nourishment. Here are some quick tips:

1) Drink more water – water is necessary for survival and can help curb your appetite if you overeat.

2) Say no to sugar – refined sugars are everywhere and offer you no nutritional value except extra calories. Do you really need to drink that can of pop?

3) Stay away from processed foods - processed/packaged foods typically have a lot of added salt and chemicals. If you can’t read the ingredients, then chances are your body won’t be thanking you for eating it.

Consult a registered dietitian for more information on creating a healthy eating plan for you with your specific needs.

Exercise: You need to move every day – no excuses! The Canada Physical Activity Guide recommends a minimum 1 hour per day of exercise for kids and at least 30 minutes per day of moderate to intense exercise for adults just to maintain health. Here are some tips to get you started:

1) Use the stairs instead of the elevator.

2) Go for a walk everyday (even better if you have a friend to go with).

3) Park at the first parking spot you see when going to the grocery store/bank/mall… if you get stressed out in parking lots the way I do then by doing this you are helping yourself two-fold.

4) Join a fitness class with a friend (find an instructor that is stimulating and motivating).

Which should I do first: Cardio or Strength?

When people want to be efficient in the gym a common question they have is what should they do first to get the most benefit out of their workout: cardiovascular exercise or resistance training?

Are you ready for the answer? *drum role* Do which ever one you care about more first. This means that if your goal is to get stronger, focus on your strength training, and if you want to improve your cardio, do that first. I know this sounds too simple, but it is. The reason for it is that you will have more energy for the type of training you do first, be able to push harder at it and therefore improve at it faster. Conversely, improvements will be limited for your second type of training because your body will already be fatigued and you won't be able to push as hard.
For those of you who frequent the gym as more of a stress release or a way to get your daily exercise, rather than looking for enhanced physical performance, your choice is a bit easier. Do which ever you want to do first. My recommendation is to do cardio first as I find that endurance exercise helps to warm my body up more and better prepare me mentally and physically for the resistance training later on.

Stretching Do's and Don'ts

There are a lot of stretching myths out there and a lot of new research done within the last couple decades about stretching safety. One question that I get quite often is "Is it safe to stretch before exercise?" I can only imagine that this question was spawned when a number of studies concluded that stretching before exercise inhibits the natural protective mechanisms in muscles and therefore increases the risk of injury. Luckily, there are also studies that show that proper stretching before exercise in fact decreases the risk of injury by warming up the muscles and joints for the more intense activity to follow. Currently, the most accepted stretching routine by trainers is dynamic stretching prior to exercise and static stretching after exercise.

Dynamic Stretching: Is an active type of stretching where you move your body through a range of motion with continual, controlled movements. It helps to warm up the muscles, lubricate joints, and prepare the body for more activity. Examples are walking or light jogging, arm circles, trunk rotations, leg swings, bum kicks, and shoulder rolls.

Static Stretching: Is a type of stretching where you maintain an active or passive pose without movement for a minimum of 30 seconds. Static stretching safely allows you to move your body to a full range of motion to stretch the muscles. It is great for increasing flexibility and preventing muscle soreness after exercise, as well as, enhancing relaxation at any time. Examples are classic yoga postures and athletic stretches.



Quicknotes:

DO stretch (often)
DON'T stretch muscles to a point where you feel sharp pains in the muscles or joints
DO breath while you stretch
DON'T bounce while you static stretch
DO bring your stretches to a point where you feel a slight tension in the muscle
DON'T do stretches that put your knees, back, or neck in danger
DO stretch with a partner and/or props to improve the quality of the stretch


EDIT August 2012: Check out more information on stretching on my new post Stretching Do's and Don'ts 2.0