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“I Will Start When…….”

Getting into new routines is arguably one of the hardest things to do as an adult. It never seems like the “right” time to start or to get back on track. Let’s be honest, it’s also freaking hard in the beginning. Understand that there is NO perfect time to start. Life will always be there, getting in the way of the ‘perfect window’. This window may exist here and there, but realistically, long term, it won’t always be there. So you have to just start, regardless of if life is messy at the moment. Whether you’re just getting back into fitness, the first few weeks back are rough. You’re tired, you’re sore, and it feels like it just won’t ever get better.

It’s easy to fall into feeling like fitness just isn’t something that is for you, or that the “fit” people on Instagram have some gene that you just weren’t gifted with. The truth is, it’s hard for everyone. No matter what level you’re at or were at, if you’ve fallen off the wagon and have decided to jump back on it, the tough reality is that it will be hard to comeback. The good news is, that this phase doesn’t last forever. Once the initial shock has worn off, you’ll settle into routine, and things won’t seem so impossible.

Following are a couple tips to getting into (or back into) a fitness routine.

(1) The first hurdle is talking yourself into just STARTING. It always seems like there is a better time coming up where it would be more ideal to start. Typically, we’re in a busy period, or things at work are exceptionally stressful or the weather isn’t just cooperating with your vibe. There are infinite reasons to start at some point in the future. But we all know what that next Tuesday quickly turns into next Saturday and that turns into next Wednesday. It will never feel like the right time to start a new fitness program. Just like it never feels like the right time to buy a house, change jobs, have kids, etc.. This is just the way that life works, and the best thing to do is set those excuses aside and start today, not tomorrow. And starting doesn’t have to be 100% effort – it can be as simple as just going for a walk, or 10 minutes of physical activity.

(2) The flip side of this is that life sometimes throws us curveballs that mean we need to adjust our sails. Sometimes things really do become too much, and we need to take a step back for a minute to deal with other life problems and stresses. This is called SELF CARE and it is just as important to your heath as your fitness routine. If you have to take some time off, that’s OK, don’t feel guilty, and don’t panic. Just do what you can, when you can and don’t delay getting back into routine when life settles down. Progress isn’t linear, and you won’t lose all your “gains.” Muscle memory is a thing, and fitness comes back faster than when you’ve already reached that level before.

(3) Most importantly, whether you’re starting your fitness journey for the first time, or just jumping back onto the wagon, make sure you choose what works best for you and do something you enjoy. There is no one-size fits all fitness plan. Try new things, new sports, new classes, and find what works with your schedule and doesn’t spark feelings of rage rather than fitness-induced joy.

Finally, a few things to remember. Fitness and health is truly a journey – there will be peaks and valleys, and it will NEVER be perfect. Seeking perfection is a set up for failure. The most important thing you can do after you start is to KEEP GOING, even if that means a once a week, a quick 20 minute walk or whatever gets you moving.

There is no more perfect time to work on your health and fitness than right NOW!

Kristen Hansen, BA, CSEP-CPT, PFT-NAIT, NASM-CES, FRCms

New Routines

Spinach and Feta Chicken Burger

Spinach and Feta Chicken Burger

Spinach and Feta Chicken Burger

Take a look at our recipe for the Spinach and Feta Chicken Burger. Serves 4 (1 burger per serving)

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. ground chicken
  • 4 cups spinach
  • 1 tsp. olive oil
  • 1 egg
  • ½ cup breadcrumbs
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 cup onion, diced
  • 2 tsp. oregano
  • ½ cup feta cheese

Preparation:

  1. Heat oil in a pan on medium high heat.
  2. Add spinach and cook until wilted. Pour into a bowl and allow to cool.
  3. Once cool, combine with the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
  4. Preheat grill to high heat.
  5. Form the mixture into 4 patties.
  6. Place on grill, reduce heat to medium-high heat.
  7. Cook for 15 minutes on one side, flip and cook for 8-10 minutes, until cooked through.
  8. Serve with your favourite toppings and Enjoy!

 

Nutritional analysis per serving: 265 calories, 10 g fat, 27 g protein, 13 g carbohydrate (11 g available carbohydrate), 2 g fibre, 454 mg sodium

Created by Revive Wellness Inc.

Now try the ‘Move of the Month’ on their blog!

Breakfast Quesadilla

Breakfast Quesadilla

Take a look below at our recipe for a delicious Breakfast Quesadilla.

Breakfast Quesadilla

Serves 1

Ingredients:

  • 1 tsp. vegetable oil
  • 1 cup spinach
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 oz. cheddar cheese, grated
  • ½ tsp. garlic powder
  • ½ tsp. onion powder
  • ½ tsp. black pepper
  • 1 8” whole wheat tortilla

Preparation:

  1. Heat oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Add spinach and cook until wilted.
  2. Whisk the eggs in a bowl, then pour over the spinach.
  3. Sprinkle garlic powder, onion powder and pepper over the eggs and stir well.
  4. Allow the eggs to set and cook through.
  5. While the eggs are cooking, lay the tortilla out flat and sprinkle cheese over the whole thing.
  6. Add the egg mixture to half of the tortilla and fold in half.
  7. Return the tortilla to a clean pan and allow to get crispy and the cheese to melt.
  8. Flip and repeat on the other side.
  9. Serve and Enjoy!

 

Nutritional analysis per serving: 435 calories, 27 g fat, 23 g protein, 28 g carbohydrate (24 g available carbohydrate), 4 g fibre, 621 mg sodium

Created by Revive Wellness Inc.

Now try the ‘Move of the Month’ on their blog!

 

Exercising vs. Training

As summer winds down, and we approach ‘fall back to fitness’, many will be seeking the fitness routine they had before summer shenanigans. So as you get back into your routine, ask yourself – are you training or are you just exercising?

Exercise and training might often be used as synonymous terms, but there are a few important distinctions between the two. Exercise can best be thought of as physical activity that serves an immediate purpose and effect. It is done for its own sake, whether that is during the workout or immediately after. This “effect” or “purpose” can include burning calories, getting a pump on, getting sweaty, or as a way to blow off steam & de-stress. Training, on the other hand, is utilizing physical activity to achieve a definite performance objective, which is often long-term. The difference between exercise and training is a question of intention.

Training is a process designed to achieve a specific result. It is a pre-determined progression of activity designed to satisfy a long-term performance goal. Training is less about the workouts individually than it is about the process of utilizing the workouts to reach the ultimate training goal, or the cumulative effect of the individual workouts. The results are reached by progressing week after week, tracking progress and adjusting as needed. Training is about long-term improvement for a specific purpose, which often means displacing the immediate feeling of having achieved a goal until that goal is realized down the line.

The primary goal of exercise is, generally, to keep you healthy. Exercising can produce immediate results, and results over the long term even; however, training is deciding on a goal and using physical activity to achieve that goal. Long-term results from consistent exercise are a welcome by-product but are not the outcome of intentional physical activity. Any program that features exposure at random to various types of physical stress cannot produce a specific physical adaptation. Past a certain point the adaptation that occurs naturally with exercise will stop, a point that occurs relatively quickly.

Should we all be training? Not necessarily. It’s more about your specific goals. If the goal is to maintain health, exercising might be sufficient, and the most important thing would then be to choose exercise options that motivate you to continue and be consistent. Jumping from program to program or choosing random workouts can be a great way to exercise without getting bored. For those who have specific goals, a long-term training program with trackable results is more appropriate.

Kristen Hansen, BA, CSEP-CPT, PFT-NAIT, NASM-CES, FRCms
SVPT Fitness & Athletics

Steady State or interval cardio

Steady State or Interval Cardio?

There are two types of cardio people: those who choose aerobic exercise (i.e. running, jogging) and those who choose anaerobic exercise (i.e. HIIT, intervals). Although both are technically cardio, doing just one type is not enough and a well-rounded program will include both types.

Generally, exercise done in short bursts up to two minutes in duration will utilize the anaerobic system primarily. This includes any short burst of activity that can only be maintained for about two minutes, usually referred to as intervals. Exercise for an extended period of time at a slow or moderate pace, will utilize the aerobic system primarily, and is often referred to as “steady-state cardio”.

Those who prefer aerobic exercise (aka runners and cyclists) tend to neglect interval training, while those who prefer interval training (aka metconners) tend to neglect doing steady-state cardio. If cardio is cardio, why should it matter if I prefer hard and fast or long and slow?

Whether you should focus on anaerobic or aerobic exercises is entirely dependent on what your goals are. Ideally, you’re doing a mix of both in a balanced program. Aerobic exercise will help build endurance and increase cardiovascular health overall, while interval training will enhance muscle strength, power, size and speed.   Aerobic exercise helps build a bigger window in which you can perform intervals, or a aerobic base.  Without an aerobic base, you won’t be able to do a lot of intervals.

While each type of exercise will build and produce different results and develop different skills, the two types of training can function together to make you faster, stronger, and healthier overall. Training exclusively by one type of exercise will limit the progress you can make, and actually increases your chance of injury. Incorporating anaerobic training into an exercise plan that is mostly aerobic will lead to increased speed, power output, economy, increase VO2 max and decrease the chance of injury.

The way to improve cardio performance is to train at and above your threshold. This means to improve aerobic capacity (read: become a better runner) you need to incorporate training intervals that mean you’re working near your current aerobic threshold. On the flip side, those who only train using intervals will not increase their steady state endurance. What this means is that the metconner who also does steady-state cardio training will be able to work harder for longer (read: get more done in each interval).

Both interval and aerobic exercise should be incorporated into a balanced exercise plan. This balance will allow the two systems to complement one another and will maximize results and increase overall health, while minimizing the chance of injury.

Kristen Hansen, BA, CSEP-CPT, PFT-NAIT, NASM-CES, FRCms

To Stretch or To Not Stretch?

There are so many questions and confusion when it comes to stretching. Do we do it? If so, how often and when? Will we die if we don’t?

When it comes to stretching, the opinions are divisive. Some say there’s nothing beneficial about stretching before or after exercise, some say it’s actually a risk to stretch before activities, and others swear that you’ll explode if you don’t stretch before jumping into a workout. So, who is right?

There are a few different ways to stretch. That’s right, not all stretching is the same!

Static stretching is what most people think of first. This involves a stretch that is held for a longer period of time, while holding the same (static) position. Another type of stretching is dynamic stretching. This involves using movement and momentum to propel the muscle into an extended range of motion. There is also Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) stretching. This type of stretching can be used to increase mobility by opening a new range of motion that was not available prior to the stretching. It uses a sequence of contracting and relaxing muscles to basically trick your brain into allowing a greater range of motion.

It seems that there is research to support any argument about stretching, largely because the research is inconclusive at best. There is a consensus that there may be benefits to stretching before exercise, provided that the stretching is not deep, static stretching. There is little evidence to support the idea that not stretching before exercise is detrimental, and you certainly won’t explode. That said, stretching is completely different from warming up before exercise. Stretching is not a warm up, and should not be used as a warm up. Stretching can help prepare the muscles for the stretch they might encounter in the activity you’re about to do, but that won’t prepare your muscles to do the WORK that the exercise demands.

For the average Joe stretching before exercise is neither definitively beneficial nor harmful. More elite athletes, on the other hand, do need to weigh the evidence that there is a temporary reduction in the ability to produce force following a stretching session. This means those in power sports, or sports that do not require a special flexibility or range of motion are better off to skip the pre-game stretch for maximum performance, unless its followed by some type of movement or other explosive type of warm up before heading into practice or game performance.

Stretching post-exercise has largely the same results in terms of studies as pre-exercise stretching. Although there is a marginal increase in reports of less muscle soreness when post-exercise stretching is completed.

It is important to note that the trials that have been completed have centred around static stretching and have not explored other kinds of stretching. It is also important to note that there are no studies that have looked at the chronic effect of stretching, as all have focused on the acute effects of stretching.

So, what does that all mean? More or less, stretch if it makes you feel good, and don’t feel guilty if you don’t. At the very least, getting your stretch on won’t hurt!

Kristen Hansen, BA, CSEP-CPT, PFT-NAIT, NASM-CES, FRCms
SVPT Fitness & Athletics

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

Hustle and bustle! That’s usually what comes to mind with the holiday season and family obligations, work parties, and other social gatherings. This usually means less free time and lots of (tasty) foods and drinks. Maybe this is what sparks the desire in most people to start up a new exercise program in the New Year as a result of guilty feelings towards a month of poor eating and neglecting your healthy routines. Many gyms thrive on the unrealistic goals of the “resolutionists”, but the best ones remain steady throughout the year because they teach balance and not using shame to make you feel like you need to “exercise away” the holiday weight gain.

The #SVPTway isn’t about shame or guilt surrounding the holidays. True LONG TERM success is about recognizing the ebbs and flows of life and not feeling bad when you have less time to give to your healthy habits. The holidays are a time for maintenance, not for making gains in fitness. But hey, if you are making gains then keep it up. We are just saying that maintenance is AWESOME during this time of year. Just keep moving and get some exercise in where you can. Be attentive to what you’re putting in your body, but life is short (READ: eat the damn cake). While the New Year might inspire you to get back into routine and maybe work a bit harder, remember that getting back into things means that you’re going to need to ease in to avoid a burnout. Remember that setting sustainable goals will help you stick to your new routine. Hiring a certified, qualified trainer can help you learn how to set attainable goals and stay motivated as well as keep you accountable which usually means sticking to the plan for longer.

Tips for December training:
● Try to get in exercise where you can – not only will this help you keep your gains, but also relieve holiday stress, and give you a moment of YOU time
● Don’t be afraid to change it up if travel and time means you can’t do what you normally do – opt for outdoor activities, a new class, etc. – something is better than nothing
● Try to incorporate movement into family activities when you can – get everyone moving

Tips for January training:
● Ease into it – don’t go all out in the beginning
● Create SMART goals that are attainable and sustainable – just because its January 1st, doesn’t mean your life has miraculously changed and all of a sudden you can do more than what you could in 2019
● Stay away from trends and challenges
● Hire a trainer to keep you accountable and teach you how to be independent, after all, you don’t want to be making the SAME goals next year. Next year you should be hitting NEW ones!

BMI: Is it Important?

BMI, or body mass index, is a calculation based on the height and weight of a person that is supposed to be a general measure of overall health and body composition. For many years this was the standard to determine whether a person was within an acceptable weight range for their height to deem them “healthy”, overweight or obese.

Over the past few years, there has been many speaking out against the use of this measure within the health and fitness industry. This is because the calculation does not take into account any factors other than height and weight. It is an inaccurate measure of body fat content and does not take into account factors like muscle mass, bone density, overall body composition, racial and differences between sexes.

Traditionally BMI has been used as a tool to predict the risk of disease and mortality by measuring a correlation between obesity and things like heart disease, stroke, heart failure and diabetes. However, there have been a number of studies that have indicated that some people considered “obese” on the BMI scale, in fact, have a lower cardiovascular risk and an improved metabolic profile compared to some individuals with a “normal BMI” who are more metabolically unhealthy and at a higher risk for disease than their obese counterparts.

It doesn’t take a scientist to understand why BMI might not give an accurate or useful body composition profile. Consider an athlete, someone who competes as either a bodybuilder or something like an MMA fighter. These athletes are not only muscular, but typically quite lean. Not to mention their fitness levels are often well above the average Joe. Someone with this body type who is 5’10” and 190 lbs would have a BMI of 27.3. This BMI would put this individual in the category of overweight, yet no one looking at this athlete would think that could be possible. The calculation wrongly assumes lower muscle mass and high relative fat content.

BMI also does not consider localized body fat, which is potentially more dangerous than overall fat as it relates to body composition. Abdominal fat has been found to have severe health risks including cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and higher mortality rates. Additionally, thinner people might also have an excess of visceral fat, which is linked to higher risk of disease when compared to lean muscle mass.

Unfortunately, despite its obvious flaws in accurately capturing the overall fat content and health of an individual, BMI is sort of all we have. There are more efficient and accurate methods to measure body fat percentage, but these come with a hefty price tag that is simply not practical for most people. Measuring height and weight is convenient and practical during a quick doctor’s visit. Until there is a better method available, BMI will continue to be used by healthcare professionals, but it should come with a disclaimer that the results should be taken with a grain of salt.

Kristen Hansen, BA, CSEP-CPT, PFT-NAIT, NASM-CES, FRCms
SVPT Fitness & Athletics

Recovery and Self-Care

The topics of recovery and self-care are pretty hot in the fitness industry. These topics have some strong merit and are worth discussing, especially given how confusing social media and the internet can be when it comes to deciding your recovery and self-care methods. We would like to simplify it.

For the purposes of this blog, we will consider “recovery” to be about the physical side of health and “self-care” to be about the mental and emotional side. While separate in some senses, there is strong overlap between the two and they are often closely intertwined.

First thing – you can only train as hard as you can recover. Read that again. Then read one more time. If you want to continue crushing your goals and making progress, your recovery must be equally as focused. You can’t keep training at a full gas tank level of intensity when the gas tank is only a quarter full. For every penny you withdraw from the bank for training, you need to make an equal or greater deposit for recovery.

Recovery is different for everyone. It can also be different from year to year, month to month, and sometimes even week to week. Your recovery will go through natural fluctuations along with your activity levels, fitness levels, and lifestyle. The way you recovered from training last year might be dramatically different this year. Maybe you changed jobs, opened a business, got divorced, changed fitness goals, changed type of physical activity, had a child, got injured….all while getting another year older. Age and lifestyle will dramatically affect how you recover from activity as well as the time it takes to recover. Embrace the change that will happen when it comes to choosing recovery methods. Be okay with being different than before.

Recovery methods can take many forms: a full day off, massage, yoga, stretching, sauna, ice bath, hot tub, cardiovascular work, naps, low intensity movement (active recovery), quality sleep, or mobility sessions. While there is conflicting science out there about what works best for recovery, the BEST recovery method is one that you can access easily (for consistency) and that, you know……actually helps you feel recovered! Recovery should have you feeling GOOD and ready to train again.

This year, or even this month, your recovery might be more focused on managing the stress of life rather than managing the stress of exercise. That is where self-care can come in and have a lot of benefit. Self-care can help you recover physically as well, since taking care of your mental and emotional health will help you train at a higher level and with greater longevity. Sometimes we are mentally exhausted, even on a full physical gas tank. When this happens, taking time to ‘reset’ mentally or check out of life is very needed.

Some of the most popular forms of self-care are: disconnecting from technology, coffee with a friend, Netflix and chill, therapy, walking the dog, walking in nature, yoga, bath and a book, quiet time with a book, day at the spa, time away, and quality sleep.

At the end of the day – simplify and choose a recovery and/or self-care method that works for you and that you can stick to. Because like all things in life and exercise, CONSISTENCY IS KEY.

What matters is that you feel recovered, regenerated, and rejuvenated from your recovery and self-care routine, regardless of what method you use.

Shara Vigeant, BA, NSCA-CPT*D, CFSC

Physical Activity vs. Exercise

When I first started writing this blog, it was meant to describe a shift that has occurred in my career and life.  I have been a personal trainer and strength and conditioning coach for 15 years and have run a business for 12 years.  Last year I took a step back from in-person training to work abroad, consult for other companies, and run my business.  And then…a pandemic hit.  Now many of the SVPT trainers and clients are dealing with the exact same issue – going from being active all day to finding it difficult to get off the couch.

Before the pandemic, I would still see clients 3 days a week for a few hours when I was in town.  (I think it’s important to keep my tools sharp, be around my team, keep learning, and be IN the industry in the trenches.)  Despite that, I quickly noticed that I moved from being active all day on the gym floor to mostly working at a desk.  I have become the person we see all the time at the gym – the desk worker!  Now that the gym is temporarily closed due to COVID-19, my level of movement is even lower than before, and I am sure EVERYONE is dealing with an overall loss of movement and exercise because of fitness facility closures.

As a trainer I have always understood how bad sitting at a desk was for the body, but now I am LIVING it.   Even though I do more sitting now than ever, I still train 4-6 days a week. However, what I have now realized more than is that formal gym-based exercise is not enough on its own – it must be supplemented with simple ACTIVITY.

Currently many of us are stuck in our houses, either working from home at a makeshift desk, or homeschooling kids, or simply unable to work…and making good use of the Netflix subscription.  Life has simply changed, and for many people it hasn’t been for the better. Exercise and physical activity have become even harder to fit in, and motivation is at an all-time low.

The biggest eye opener for me was when I looked at my phone one day and saw how many steps I took over the week. I was mortified.  I exercised 1 hour a day, sat for 8-10 hours, and got in 1500 steps a day?  Our bodies simply are not designed for that.

(Disclaimer:  Yes, steps are not the only indicator of activity, but since I have my phone on me most of the time, it is a great measurement for ME of activity levels.  Sometimes measurement is necessary to shed light, even if it doesn’t necessarily show the whole picture.)

The realization was – the less movement you have in your daily life, the more you need to do to be fit and healthy (physically and mentally).  For example, if your day job is sitting for 8 hours, you need to fit in structured exercise AND general movement. The formal gym exercise is to work on specific qualities like strength or mobility, and the general activity spread throughout the day is to keep the body vital, energized, loose, and healthy. When we are sedentary, we stagnate and stiffen up. When we move, we have life and energy and actually feel human!

For those who have a job that keeps them moving all day – think construction laborers, childcare workers, retail associates – formal, gym-based exercise can take a more central role and be more targeted to specific goals. These folks are already getting plenty of unstructured physical activity throughout the day! For those in a more sedentary job, perhaps informal activity should be the main focus with structured exercise as the supplementary piece.

Confused yet?  Thought getting to the gym and working out was enough?  Don’t get me wrong…of course the exercise you are doing is GREAT!  But we also need activity outside of structured exercise.  And that doesn’t have to be complicated – it can be as simple as walking.

Let’s break down the difference.  Both exercise and general movement improve health, and both have benefits for the body and mind.  But the term “physical activity” should not be confused with “exercise”, which is a subcategory of physical activity.

What is exercise?

Exercise is any intentional bodily activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness. Exercise is targeted and specific to goals, and it has particular physiological effects. It is planned, structured, repetitive, and aims to improve or maintain one or more components of physical fitness.

What is physical activity?

Physical activity simply means movement of the body that uses energy, or BEING ACTIVE. Walking, household chores, gardening, pushing a baby stroller, climbing the stairs, recreational sports, or dancing the night away are all good examples of being active. Beyond exercise, any other physical activity that is done during leisure time, for transport to get to and from places, or as part of a person’s work, has a health benefit.

We as a population generally engage in very little physical activity.  We may exercise, but we aren’t as ACTIVE.  We exercise, then Netflix.  We exercise, then sit at a desk all day.  We exercise, then park as close as we can to where we are going, we drive everywhere, we take advantage of the EASY in life.  The phrase “active couch potatoes” has emerged to describe those of us who do structured exercise 30-60 minutes per day, yet remain sedentary the rest of the day. And let’s face it, we just don’t engage in the amount of movement that we did 50 years ago due to advances in technology (and sometimes just plain laziness!).

So what do you do?  Be more active or exercise more?   It depends.  If you exercise for an hour a day, add more activity.  If you are active all day, add some structured exercise to improve physical fitness.

For myself, I have set a personal goal of either taking a minimum of 10,000 steps per day OR engaging in some type of activity outside of structured exercise – a walk, a bike ride, or recreational sports. This is in addition to my scheduled exercise program 4-6 days per week. Now, this isn’t a strict plan. I know life will happen and some days I will not get in my activity, but at least I am now more aware of it.  When you know better, you do better.

So how can you be more ACTIVE in a day?  Well, it’s simple – move more, sit less.  Engage in life more

Park far away, or walk to the store
Take a walk in nature, or simply around the block
Play a game outside with your kid(s)
Join a recreation league sports team
Find a friend that wants to try new activities with you
Take the stairs every chance you get
Make lunch hour about movement
Plant a garden and keep it alive
Organize your house
Help a neighbor or friend or family member organize theirs
Get a dog
Volunteer
Sign up for a charity walk
Offer to help a senior with things they need done around their house
Dance, or take a dance class
Learn a new skill or sport

*Of course, due to physical and social distancing many of these are not possible now, but in the future you can definitely add these in. 

During this pandemic, there are many ways you can add activity into your day while you isolate, and you can do it with the people you are isolating alongside:

Take a 30-60 minute walk – away from everyone else – every day

(The benefits of simple walking have been proven over and over again)

Games with the kids

Clear some furniture and find a game that gets you moving
Get outside for games in the yard

Stairs – if you have stairs in your home, make the effort to go up and down them more than you usually do

Gardening and/or yard work (weather permitting)
Maybe it’s time to take down those Christmas decorations, clean up the yard, or plant the garden you have always wanted

Organize

Home Improvement
That room or basement that you have always wanted to organize or paint…….or the basement…..now is the time

Spring Clean
Go deep.

Personally, since adding in more activity, I simply feel better – physically and mentally.  I feel like I did when I was on my feet training people for 10 hours a day.  Also, t my daily COVID-19 physical distance walks and gym spring cleaning activity has been a huge help in managing stress.

Finally, during these stressful times………do what you can.  Do what feels good to you at the time.  Exercise and physical activity shouldn’t ADD stress, it should relieve it. Right now everyone is in survival mode and stress is high, and sometimes surviving doesn’t include squats. Sometimes it’s just a nice walk, scrubbing the shower or reading a book.

Stay healthy!

Shara Vigeant, BA, NSCA-CPT*D, CFSC

Owner, SVPT Fitness & Athletics