We are so lucky to live in a place like Lake Country. The beauty of the landscape is in itself amazing, but it’s the landscape that offers us a world of activities outside our front door. Although many of our residents leave this winter wonderland for sunshine, every season has perfect weather to keep active all year long!
Personally, I live for outdoor exercise. I like downhill skiing, mountain biking and dirt biking, golfing, waterskiing and swimming throughout the seasons during the year.
On the other hand, there are fun activities indoors like volleyball, ice skating, fitness classes and weight training. Weight training? Wait a minute, weight training isn’t fun, is it? As a fitness expert/strength advocate, I can admit weight training can be difficult, intense and not very fun. But, it’s my job to help you to see it otherwise. It’s my job to lead, teach, motivate and inspire you to reach goals you’ve never imagined. I’ve done my job if you’ve exceeded your expectations. I’ve done my job if I have helped you improve the quality of your life. And I’ve done my job if you love your workouts!
Regardless of how active you are, “off-season training” is important for athletes or athletic people to regain a better balance to their body. Sports and activities do not necessarily strengthen muscles but maintain or improve endurance. Building a stronger and balanced body can make you a better athlete with less chance of injuries.
If you are not participating in activities and walking is your only exercise, I would advise having a gym routine to keep you from losing your muscles too quickly and avoiding weight gain. Along with muscle loss is potential osteoporosis and possibly arthritis, and many other health risks. Walking is only a small part of human functioning and it’s great for working the heart. But muscles, when training properly, have no limitations. A new study has proven that a 90 year old can lift the same load as a 30 year old!
Building stronger muscles, builds bone mineral density, protects your skeletal system, develops proper posture and alignment, increases your metabolism, helps for weight loss and many, many other health benefits! Make plans to learn what you can do to improve your life!
8 Week Bootcamp Follow Up:
During those 8 weeks, we wrote about the progress of Dawn, Gayelee, Bre and Yvonne. We focused on incorporating a balanced diet following the Canada Food Guide eating proper amounts of carbohydrates, proteins and fats for better energy and achieving long lasting health that encourages normal weight loss without extreme dieting. They enjoyed their training program with each other and looked forward to seeing and feeling their results. Journaling has proven to assist in making better efforts to be more aware of what they were eating and learning how to create a diet that works for them. And as the holiday approached they each had challenges making workouts but did successfully maintain a positive attitude and not gain any weight. Looking back at each of their goals that they initially reported, I am happy to say they are all on their way to achieving not only those goals, but other benefits that go along with being fit!
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