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Fitness Fanatics – Hot Holiday Equipment – Our Top Picks!

So you like to work out? Why not put one of these sweaty Hot Holiday items under somebody’s tree this year! # 1 Lebert HIIT System No matter what your age or fitness No matter what your age or fitness level, increasing overall strength is one of the keys to living longer and healthier. The Lebert HIIT System is the ultimate pump machine. (If Arnold had one, he would have been bigger.) This system is direct torque on your muscles. The pump burns SO much and that’s why it made it to our HOT LIST! Whoever gets their hands on one will love it. # 2 CoreFX Adjustable Dumbbells This is not your grandmother’s weight set. Darth Vader beware. These futuristic Adjustable Dumbbells will make you addicted to doing more sets than you need to. This dumbbell set is incredible with the mobile stand that you can move around (costs

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Max Brennan December 5, 2022
Fitness

Core strength: Embrace the wobble

At one time, a strong core was associated with six-pack abs but an updated view is that there is much more to them. Having defined abdominals is an aesthetic consideration, while a strong core relates to functionality.  Anatomically, the core is the body’s midsection, a three-dimensional space that includes the muscles of the front, sides, and back. One can further distinguish between the inner and outer core. The outer core consists of the more superficial muscles that surround the midsection of the torso, while the inner core comprises the deep internal muscles creating an inner cylinder framed by the pelvic floor, diaphragm, obliques and spinal muscles.  Pick up any fitness or running magazine and you will likely come across an article about the core and how to strengthen it. A strong core is essential for all types of athletes.  It is key to generate force as in a golf swing
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Christine Felstead September 9, 2022
Fitness

Walking your way to better health

There is no question, it’s been a tough couple of years. COVID-19 brought a lot of uncertainty, impacted our physical health and mental well-being and eroded our social connections. In the meantime, Canadians became more sedentary.  It’s time we hit the reboot button.  According to Greg Wells, Ph.D., a performance physiologist and a senior associate at SickKids Hospital in Toronto, “If you look at humans from an evolutionary perspective, we are designed to walk. And when we walk long distances, we get healthier. Our muscles and bones get stronger. Our spines function better, blood flows to our brain and bodies, and the benefits are profound. We also know that the risk of 13 different types of cancer decreases when you walk for as little as 15 minutes a day.”  If you’ve ever doubted the power of taking a walk, consider how you feel when you get outdoors in nature. Walking

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Marylene Vestergom September 1, 2022
Fitness

Revealed: The increase in Canada’s social value from getting more active

The benefits of engaging in sport and physical activity on an individual level may seem obvious, but if you add them up on a national level, you find enormous savings to the Canadian taxpayer and economy through. Moreover, it demonstrates Canada could reap even more rewards from encouraging more people to get active.  These are the conclusions of the Fitness Industry Council of Canada (FIC). Two conclusions: The total value of health savings generated by sport and physical activity in 2019 was CAN$23.4 billion. Over 2.2 million cases of health conditions were prevented in 2019, as a result of sport and physical activity, including over 600,000 each for Coronary Heart Disease, Type 2 Diabetes, and Depression. Here’s the other side. The report – using the most recent data from before the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic – shows the costs of not being physically active. This highlights the benefits to

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David Holt August 17, 2022
Fitness

How many peanuts does it take to run a marathon?

To answer that question, let’s start with some history and science. Mars Inc. is the company that makes Snickers, the best-selling candy bar in the world. It all started when Frank Mars started breeding racehorses in Tennessee. When his wife’s beloved horse died, Frank added peanuts to the Milky Way and the Snickers bar was born! Let’s look at the peanut and how this non-nut became the super food of sports nutrition. First, how did this bean become a nut and why is it a nutritional rival to meat? Second, how did it find its way to the baseball field? Third, how did horse racing inspire millions to run marathons and fuel their workouts with a candy bar?  The peanut plant has a vine-like spread and an extensive root system. The vines create a canopy over the soil, providing shade and trapping moisture, while the roots draw water from as

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Jennie Graham July 25, 2022
Fitness

Achieving and maintaining a healthy bodyweight as you age

Our metabolism naturally slows with age, right? At least that’s the common notion, which lets us off the hook for the middle-age spread that many people take on, some well before middle age, and beyond. Well, not so fast. It turns out that lifestyle plays a bigger role than scientists had suspected. The story is told in “Surprising Findings about Metabolism and Age” by Chika Anekwe, MD, and Fatima Cody Stanford, MD, Harvard Health Publishing. Metabolism is a fancy word, but its meaning is straightforward: the process by which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy. The calories in food and beverages are combined with oxygen to release the energy the body needs to function. Even when you’re at rest, your body needs energy for breathing, circulating blood, adjusting hormone levels, and growing and repairing cells. The number of calories your body uses to carry out these

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David Holt June 7, 2022
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