Best. Chiropractor. Ever!

 

If you’re an active person chances are at some point you’re going to become injured and need a little help getting back in the game.  There’s nothing worse than hearing someone tell you that you have to stop everything in order to heal your injury.   The feelings of panic and hopelessness are overwhelming to someone who’s used to being active or is active for a living.

A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Tony McDougall.  He’s a Sports Chiropractor and has worked with many athletes both amateur and professional.  The thing I love most about Tony is that he’s never told me that I had to stop doing what I was doing.  He worked with me when I was training for my half marathon and had a bad hamstring and ankle and never once told me I had to take a break from running.  Most recently he worked on my bad back so I was able to complete the 160km Prospera Valley Gran Fondo with no back issues at all.

Tony works out of two offices: Armitage & Associates in Kits and Performance Health Group in downtown.  If you’re suffering with any kind of injury I highly recommend talking to Tony.  I’ve sent many clients his way and all of them have been very happy with the results.  If you don’t have an injury you just may get a chance to meet him at one of my Sunday 9am Cycle & Core classes ;)

I'm Quadzilla and I'm Okay With That :)

It took me a lot of years to truly embrace my muscular legs.  Quadzilla just doesn’t sound like a very flattering nick name for a woman when media bombards us with messages that women need to be petite in order to be feminine.  At some point I was finally able to accept my muscular legs and truly appreciate all the great things they can do.

 

I still feel super insecure (and annoyed) when a woman tells me she read an article and doesn’t want to start spinning because she doesn’t want her legs to get big – does she find my muscular legs that unappealing??  Is she afraid she’s going to end up like me??  Spinning/indoor cycling will not make your legs big.  Spinning/indoor cycling will sculpt your legs and make them stronger not to mention all the benefits to your cardiovascular system!  As long as your nutrition is healthy and you’re burning the same or more than you’re taking in you will not get ‘big’.  

And that concludes today’s rant so get out there, enjoy your sport/activity and never doubt yourself ;)

Hill Workout!

Here's a hill interval I taught today:

It's a 10 minute hill so I did it 3 times after a good 8 minute warm-up.  The first hill was a moderate 6/10 hill.  The second one was moderate to hard - about a 7/10 and then the last one 8-9/10 effort.  Recovery in between can be for as long as you need depending on how hard you worked on the hill.  You should feel ready to climb before you start the next hill.  Here's what to do on each:

Climbing: 60-75rpm  Pushes: 75-85rpm (huge effort)

Seated climb 2 min / Standing climb 2 min / Standing push 1 min
Seated climb 1 min / Standing climb 1 min / Standing push 45 sec
Seated climb 30 sec / Standing climb 30 sec / Standing push 30 sec
Seated climb 15 sec / Standing climb 15 sec / Standing push 15 sec

Recover and repeat.

Super simple and super challenging ;)

Are You Sitting Comfortably?

Discomfort isn't something most people seek out but it's when we're uncomfortable that we're making the greatest changes.  I like to tell my class participants that they have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable if they want to see results.  Find your discomfort, sit in it for a little bit knowing that it's going to be over soon and just observe.  Sometimes it's really hard to do that but when you do you really start to learn things about yourself and your body and chances are you will be pleasantly surprised.

So get out there, get uncomfortable and see what happens :)

As always please feel free to share your thoughts below.

Quadzilla

Mount Baker 2014

                           
I admit it.  I was one of those women who so badly wanted the coveted 'thigh gap'.  For anyone who's not familiar with this term it's the gap you have (or don't have) between your thighs when you stand with your feet together.  To have a 'thigh gap' meant you were thin enough to be acceptable.....CRAZY right????  Who thinks this stuff up?  And why is it that we believe it and therefore need to have it??  It's actually really sad because it's things like this that make girls and women hate their bodies and become very unhealthy physically and/or mentally.

Well, I'm proud to say that I now accept the fact that I will never have a 'thigh gap' and being called 'Quadzilla' no longer makes me want to cry ;)

What kind of body image issues have you overcome?  Or maybe you haven't overcome them and would like to discuss that?  Or maybe you know a good place to buy jeans that fit ladies with muscular legs......Please share your comments below :)