Lower back pain is unfortunately a problem that plagues about 80% of the population at some point. Some cases more severe than others. Our lifestyle is such that we are sitting way more than we're meant to. Human beings are naturally walking animals. We're built to walk for long distances and move without that much food compared to other animals. However our lifestyle of driving everywhere, sitting at desk jobs for work, coming home, and relaxing on the sofa for the rest of the evening does not lend itself to keeping a fit, healthy, pain-free body.   Basically most back pain is…

I love HIIT training (High Intensity Interval Training)! It can be done with just your bodyweight and the will to get it done. For this workout we have 9 exercises, each one done for 30 seconds of work followed by 15 seconds of rest, and a total of 3 rounds. It works great. The exercise are   Burpees Pushups Squats Speed Skaters Renegade Rows Mountain Climbers  Ape Crawl Bear Crawl Crab Crawl For more Information about Online or In-Home Personal Training, click here  

OK! We're now well into month 3 of the worldwide quarantine. Some things are starting to open up, but let's be honest. We're still in quarantine mode and for many people that means proper nutrition and exercise has taken a backseat! So what should we do about it? First it's important to point out the benefits of sunlight and Vitamin D on your immune system. It's warmer now so get outside and take advantage of it! Not only are there those benefits, but the transmission of Covid outdoors in the warm weather is drastically reduced. If you're unsure about what type of exercise to…

We all know about the importance of core training. The health of your lower back, posture, and overall health make it essential. So how do we go about training it? There are three methods to train the core.    1. Core Stability 2. Core Contraction 3. Core Rotation   Although they are all important, by far the most important of the three is the Core Stability. Planks and variations of it is the best way to train this. This will also lay the foundation for the other two. The problem when people try to do Core Contraction exercises without sufficient stability is that the hip flexors…

Here's an at-home bodyweight workout. I did use a set of chest expanders. However that could be modified for other bodyweight only exercises. Chest expanders are a very underused piece of equipment and I always bring them with me when I travel due to their light weight and portability. Anyway watch the video to see the workout!   And for more information about Online or In-Home Personal Training, click here

There are many misconceptions about Qigong. I've heard everything from people stiffening $10 bills to some idiot who told me I was dealing with satanic energies! The fact is it's nothing more than coordinating proper movement and body rooting with breathing. Make no mistake, it takes a long time to really develop this ability. But there's absolutely nothing mystical or supernatural about it. Watch the video to see what it's all about   For information about In-Home or Online Virtual Personal training click here

Here's a home shoulder workout you can do and all it takes is a pair of dumbbells. They don't need to be heavy since we're using trisets moving from one exercise to the next back to back. There is a saying that goes "You don't need a heavy weight. You just need to make a light weight feel heavy" and that's exactly what we're doing here.    We start with Dumbbell Circles which was an exercise that legendary trainer Vince Gironda used to teach. From there we move onto Dumbbell Pull-Ins. I can't remember when or where I learned this exercise, but…

Qigong is one of those things you may or may not have heard of. However Qi or Chi is something many people have heard of. It's been featured in countless movies and tv shows. It was even spoken about in the movie Kung Fu Panda! So what is Qi and what is Qigong? Qi is your life energy or life essence as some people like to call it and Qigong is the method which cultivates it. However unlike how it's portrayed in movies or by scammers, it is NOT some type of magical power or energy you have in your body.…

This is a killer workout I learned of recently from my Boxing coach. It's called the Walkin' 25s. Here's how it works. It's a circuit with several exercises done back to back and done in a ladder format. With ladders the reps for each exercise increase by 1 with each subsequent circuit. Start with 1 and increase all the way up to 25. After every 5 sets some of the exercises change, but there are some that remain the same all the way through. You can of course change the exercises, but for the example in this post, the exercise that stay the…

We're living in a very chaotic time right now. In December , nobody knew what the Coronavirus was and now it's all over the news in what seems reminiscent of the Spanish Flu of the early 20th Century. We will get through this with positivity, social distancing, and being careful and responsible. In the meantime however, managing stress is super important. And one of the best ways I know of is through Qigong Meditation. I've practiced it for many years now and it's really helped me at particularly stressful points in my life.   There are many ways of practicing this. It…

We are currently dealing with the Coronavirus Pandemic which is leaving a huge number of people stuck indoors at home with nowhere to go. Unfortunately this is just something that we all have to deal with. However that doesn't mean that your fitness has to suffer. In fact, some of my best workouts ever have been right in the comfort of my own home. And of course as an in-home personal trainer, I train people exclusively in their homes. But for those of you who are accustomed to the gym and need to have some at-home workouts, here they are.   One…

We all know we need to eat our veggies. Whether you're following a conventional eating plan, doing Keto, or other type of diet, vegetables must be an important part of it. If you come across someone who tells you to not eat a good amount of vegetables, walk away. Many years ago, there was a well known bodybuilding trainer who would have his guys prepare for contests by eating pretty much unlimited amounts of eggs and meat but nothing else! He had them take craploads of supplements which is certainly not a substitute for real vegetables and fruits in food form.…

Almost everyone has hard of reflexology. But what you may not know is just how simple it is to incorporate into your daily life with simple techniques that can be done anywhere. First, what exactly is reflexology? It's all about the various pressure points of the body. Applying pressure to the hands, feet, and ears in the correct way can relax your body, relieve pain, and relieve stress.   For this post, we'll focus on the hands since your hands are always right there out in the open and can easily be done anywhere. Even if you're on a subway or a…

Let's face it. Anxiety and stress is a part of life. Not a particularly pleasant part of it, but if you don't learn to cope with it somehow you're going to have a very hard time to say the least. Now I'm sure we've all heard that we need to live a stress free life. However when you hear some bad news, that may prove to be a little difficult. What we need therefore is a way to cope with it and even better than that, eventually not even needing to turn it on and off.   We all know about the valuie of…

Although Doug Hepburn may not be as common a household name like Arnold Schwarzenegger, he certainly deserves to be. Born in Vancouver, BC, Canada in 1926 with a club foot, he may not have seemed at first like a future strength legend. But he did just that. At a height of 5 foot 8 and a half, he weighed in at 300 lbs of power! And he had the numbers to back it up!    For one thing, he was the first man in the world to bench press 400, 450, and 500 lbs! Here are some of his other lifts and…

I'm sure we've all been there. We've seen cookbooks with some great recipes, but when we look at the huge ingredient list we decide not to do it. This isn't only for fitness enthusiasts, but for all working professionals, parents, etc. who don't want to spend hours preparing meals for their families, yet don't want to take the easy (and unhealthier) way out and get take out!   So here are some of my favourite recipes with only four ingredients. Perfect for meatheads like me!   BREAKFASTS BIRCHER MUESLI (serves 1) 1/2 cup natural muesli 1/4 cup orange juice 2 tablespoons plain yogurt 1 apple, grated Soak the muesli in…

Your body needs dietary fats in order to function in optimal health. While it can be unhealthy to eat too much or not enough of some fats, if your body doesn't have healthy fats in it, it will not be able to work properly. Fat keeps your hair and skin healthy, helps your body absorb critical vitamins, and it insulates you to help keep you warm. Because there are some fats that your body cannot make, they are essential to add to your diet.   Fat is also used for brain development and reducing inflammation in the body. It also helps blood…

Of all the various muscle groups on the human body, the core and abdominals are quite possibly the ones which cause the most confusion and has the greatest number of misconceptions as well. Needless to say, it's also one of the most improperly trained muscle groups as well. Let's cut the BS and go over the facts about the core and abdominals (or Abs if you prefer).   First, what are the abdominals and core not? It is NOT some magic muscle that you can train every day for hours without risk of overtraining. Seriously I've heard many people over the years…

One thing I've seen a lot in the fitness industry is trainers giving everyone the same workout regardless of their goals and needs. For the most part, this is a bodybuilding style split routine. You know the ones I'm talking about. The programs where you train different muscles on different days. You may have an upper body day and a lower body day, or you may do your chest and back one day, legs and abs, one day, arms and shoulders one day, etc. And depending on your goals, that may be the right program for you. Or it might not…

There are tons of different opinions on this. All I can do is give you my opinion as well as the reasons behind it. Hopefully it will make sense to you. It certainly does to me, but you'll have to decide.   So to start with, I remember I used to work at a gym where there was this other trainer about the same age as me. He always changed his client workouts every workout. I don't know if I every saw his clients doing the same thing twice. He would justify it by saying that it's for muscle confusion and to…