exercise

A team of seniors wellness professionals and Vintage Fitness have been working on creating an on-line wellness toolkit filled with information about exercise, getting connected using technology, how to take and store your medicine and safety in the community.

 It is April 12th and snow and freezing rain in Toronto is just plain depressing.  Here is a simple breathing exercise that will have you feeling more positive in no time. Sit quietly and think of the number one as you breathe in and the number two as you breathe out.  Try the exercise for 5 minutes and you will feel calmer and maybe a touch more positive.  The great thing about this exercise is that it really can be done anywhere. Good Luck Erin Vintage Fitness In home personal training across the GTA 

 Good Afternoon, This month in the Canadian Fitness Professional magazine there is a great article about exercise and dementia.  They discuss the changes in our brains as well age as "neurons getting worn down from cellular stress resulting in a decrease in neural synapsis activity".  Exercise is great for the brain because it increases blood volume to the brain and encourages the growth and repair of brain cells. Just another reasons to enjoy the Easter spring weather here in Toronto and strap on your walking shoes this weekend.   Erin Vintage Fitness At home personal training in Toronto, Oakville, Mississauga, East York, North York, Downtown, Etobicoke  

 Good Afternoon, As the weather in Toronto slowly starts to warm up, many older adults start to think about getting back to their exercise routines.  One of the most common questions that people ask me is "why work with a Vintage Fitness personal trainer who only works with 50+ clients?". COMPLETE HEALTH HISTORY: We take the time in the first session to do a full health history developed with older adults in mind.  This ensures that we understand your health concerns and build a program for you that is suitable.  Did you know if you are on certain heart medications it will affect your heart rate which means that the perceived exertion scale is better to use than a heart rate check? EXPERIENCE: We work regularly with clients with low bone density, Parkinsons, Cancer, Diabetes, Depression, balance issues, heart disease, arthritis, low motivation and weight issues and know how to properly plan an exercise program for these conditions.  WE WORK AS A TEAM: We are a team of six personal trainers all with different motivational styles and expertise.  We work across Toronto in clients homes and often work as a team to help clients achieve their goals.  If you have any questions about the Vintage Fitness team of personal trainers or you live in Toronto and would like a trainer to come and work with you drop me a note erin@vintagefitness.ca  

  With the wet, snowy weather in Toronto it can feel daunting even to go out for a walk.  If you are looking for a simple exercise program designed for seniors that requires no equipment that can be done anywhere go to www.vintagefitness.ca/free-exercise-nutrition-handbooks.aspx The Vintage Fitness team has created the top 8 exercises for you including pictures, descriptions and handy tips.  If you have questions about the exercises or would like a Vintage Fitness trainer to come and help send me a note erin@vintagefitness.ca      

 Some days it is a struggle to find time to fit exercise into our busy lives.  We know that the benefits of regular exercise are seemingly endless: - lower the risk of early death - lower the risk of heart disease - lower the risk of colon and breast cancer - prevent weight gain - prevent falls  - reduce depression If you are motivated to exercise but are having a hard time fitting it into your days try interval training. Interval training means alternating between high and low intensity bouts of exercise.  A good example is turning your regular 30 minute walk into a 20 minute interval walk with 5 minutes warm up pace and 4 sets of 2 minutes fast and 1 minute slow followed by a 3 minute cool-down walk.  There is a great article in the magazine Nutrition Action December 2012 called "HIT It" which describes all of the scientific research behind the benefits of interval training even for higher risk populations. If you would like to know more about interval training or want help incorporating into your exercise routine don't hesitate to email me at erin@vintagefitness.ca.

  As an active person, maybe you realize and feel in your life the benefits of exercise and would like your aging parents to experience the same kind of benefits.  Vintage Fitness trainers work as a team with many older adults and their children to inspire active, healthy lives.   Here are a few tips:  1. Keep it light: None of us like to be preached at or made to feel badly about our lack of motivation around exercise.  Work with your mom and dad to create activity goals together.   2. Start them with a gift: It often takes a few months for new exercise habits to develop.  Many clients purchase the first few personal training sessions for their parents to get them started.   3. Make it intergenerational: If you and your family live close enough to your parents exercise together and include the grandkids.   If you have questions or live in the Greater Toronto Area and would like to set up a free phone consultation don't hesitate to contact me at erin@vintagefitness.ca.    

  Strengthening the muscles of the back is critical for good posture and the prevention of low back pain and injury. Most people that strength train over-train their chests and front of their shoulders and neglect their back which makes their hunched posture even worse. One of the Vintage Fitness personal trainers, Lorne Opler, suggested this great back exercise that can easily be done at home and needs no equipment.  Make sure to secure the door before starting the exercise. To make the exercise harder start the exercise with the knees bent (in a squat position) Good Luck! Erin Billowits Vintage Fitness In home personal training across the GTA

There are dozens of exercises that require no equipment that are easy to do at home.  The challenge is often finding exercises that strengthen your upper back that don't require hand weights, a bar or and exercise band.  One or our Vintage Fitness trainers, Lorne Opler, gave me this great back exercise that needs no equipment is great for posture correction as well as leg strengthening. Tips: Keep a tall posture throughout this exercise To make it easier don't bend the knees as much Good Luck Vintage Fitness energizes the lives of people over 50 in the Greater Toronto Area including Oakville, Mississauga, North York and Etobicoke

Active Living Coalition of Canada (ALCOA) has asked me to promote their newsletters full of information about staying active and healthy as we age.  Have a look at this newsletter about exercising for your heart. http://www.alcoa.ca/active-living-sheets/2011-10-issue-1-English.pdf Good Luck! Erin Billowits Vintage Fitness 416-951-7978 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            416-951-7978      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

As the fall starts to turn cool and rainy, many of Torontos’ boomers that go to warmer pastures over the winter start to plan their departure dates and winter plans. Exercise plans for while you are away are a key part of the planning.

Ok so this is a topic that is not found in many health and fitness blogs but talking to clients it is a real issue that needs to be discussed. The pelvic floor (PFM) is a hammock of muscles that connect the pubis bone at the front to the tailbone (coccyx) and “sitz” bones (ischial tuberosities) at he back. The pelvic floor supports the bladder as well as the reproductive organs and connects the hip bones and the sacrum. The urethra, vagina and rectum pass through these muscles and are affec

Many of the Toronto based clients that Vintage Fitness works with suffer from Arthritis of various kinds—it is often the condition that keeps them inactive and worried about causing more joint pain. Exercise will reduce arthritic pain by strengthening the stabilizing muscles around the affected joint and keep the joints from stiffening up.

Toronto Rehab states that 30,000 Canadians fracture their hips every year with osteoporosis as the prime culprit. One in four women over fifty and one in eight men over fifty has osteoporosis which is often not diagnosed until after a fall. Osteoporosis Canada describes the condition as a disease characterized by low bone mass and deterioration of bone tissue which leads to bone fragility and increased risk of fracture.

I have been spending the last couple of weeks thinking about the mind set behind successful weight loss. Vintage Fitness is working with a few clients that need to lose extensive amounts of weight for their health and their stories, struggles and successes have inspired and intrigued me. I believe that the first couple of weeks of changing eating and exercise habits to try to lose weight are really difficult and need daily coaching and support. The tools that our clients have found helpful to

t is the middle of July and most of us are either on holiday or planning it. It is too easy reason that we deserve a break from both our every day stresses as exercise. The amount of conditioning the you will lose with a break from exercise depends on how fit you currently are. About.com has a great article called “move it or lose” it that describes how rest affects beginning exercisers and seasoned athletes differently.

On Friday I was interviewed by Global News Toronto and asked the question “why should seniors work with a personal trainer?” The question forced me to articulate the benefits that personal training can bring, especially for people over 50. A personal trainer who is specialized to work with older adults should do a few key things:

Harvard Medical School just sent through these great tips for keeping your hands pain-free. Unnoticed and unsung, healthy hands perform countless small tasks, from pouring your morning coffee to brushing your teeth at night. But aching hands transform even a simple task into a painful ordeal. Beneath the skin, your hands are an intricate architecture of tendons, joints, ligaments, nerves, and bones. Each of these structures is vulnerable to damage from illness or injury.

Summer has finally hit Toronto and the last thing most of want to do is go into an air conditioned gym. When planning to exercise outdoors in the summer you need to think about the external heat index which includes outside temperature and the humidity as well as your internal body temperature. Before setting out for your walk or run, the most important factor to consider is the humidity levels as high humidity can limit your body’s ability to cool itself down with sweat evaporation. Intern

The latest research suggests that improvements in cognitive function could be as or more important than the physical benefits you get from exercise. Harvard Medical School showed that moderate intensity aerobic exercise improves reaction time, planning skills, scheduling, working memory and focus.

Urban Poling started in Europe as a way for Nordic athletes to train in their off season. The walking poles have become a fitness trend internationally in the last ten years because you burn 25-40% more calories when you use walking poles, your posture is better and there is less strain on your joints compared to walking without poles.

In the last month I have been touring lots of different clubs and doing classes to get a sense of top trends and types of classes that are the most popular. One of the things that I noticed is that many general classes are still not properly training the buttock and muscles at the sides of the hips. This mistake is also a common one for personal weight programs that tend to over train the quadriceps (front of the leg) and under train the buttocks and hamstrings which is often the culprit of lo

Spring looks like it has finally arrived and buying a new pair of shoes to get out and enjoy the weather seems like the right thing to do. I have been curious about toning shoes such as Skechers shape-ups, Reebox easytone, Fitflops and the New Balance true balance range. The premise behind toning shoes is to create instability to make your core muscles, leg and butt muscles work harder similar to walking on soft sand. I think that the concept is a good one but the marketing hype has taken the

A common goal of many exercise plans is to reduce waist size and build strength and tone in the abdominal muscles. Last Fridays blog showed the anatomy of the abdominal muscles and described the best exercises to fully train the core. This week I want to let you in on a secret that most people overlook in their quest for a smaller looking waist--a strong, toned upper body.

This weeks' blog is all about the anatomy of the abdominals and why it is important for both looks and function to work all of them.

The cardio equipment in commercial and home gyms is the most popular equipment in the gym and also the most misused. Most clients click on the "quick start" button, may go at a lower intensity for a few minutes to warm up and then get to a slightly uncomfortable pace for 20 minutes. There are great benefits to using the equipment in this way but you are not getting as much as you could out of the machines.

The experts at the Franklin Institue suggest that the best way to keep your brain healthy us by interacting with your environment in new and interesting ways and physical exercise. The brain has an amazing ability to adapt and rewire itself growing neurons even in older people.

On Tuesday I was interviewed for a tv program all about health and wellness and was asked what the most important thing that zoomers should know before starting a new exercise program. My response was a bit different than you may find in a fitness magazine. 1. Believe: The success rate for people that enter into fitness...

Ok so now you understand the importance of exercise and have got yourself motivated and have started a training program—the hard part is over. During a coaching call with all of the Vintage Fitness trainers yesterday, we talked about the most common mistakes people make with their exercise programs. Often a few small changes can make a big difference to your results.

You knew that exercise was good for you by strengthening your heart muscle, building your bone density and strength as well as combating stress but did you know it actually slows down the aging process? A new study done at the Sackler School of Medicine in Israel, shows that to age gracefully you need to slow down the loss of muscle mass. Both muscle mass and muscle function decline as you age, a condition called sarcopenia. The combination of sarcopenia along with osteopenia, the loss of b

Exercise can reduce lower back pain One of the most common complaints that people over 50 have is low back stiffness and pain. The right exercises can loosen and strengthen your lower back.

The best weight loss tips I have heard in years With two biology degrees, a fitness business and hundreds of clients that ask me about weight loss, I thought that I had heard it all. I am sceptic about the "magic pills" that are often sold to help people lose weight quickly. I started to watch a program on BBC last night called "Ten things you need to know about losing weight" that was fantastic. It reviewed all of the latest scientific research about weight loss, explained why it worked an

We have just updated the website to make it more user friendly, added in more information and tips about health and wellness for people over 50 and introduced you to the whole training team at Vintage Fitness.

The middle of December is a busy time full of holiday parties, great times with family and friends and a chance to give ourselves a break. The only piece of advice that I have for you is this- be mindful about how you are feeling and what you are eating. It is so easy to tell ourselves that we don’t have time for exercise and that we will worry about the extra calories over the holidays in the New Year. The problem is that most people gain about a pound over the holidays that they never manage to lose.

By all means treat yourself over the holidays, but make sure it really is a treat and not just mindless eating because it happens to be in front of you.
I look forward to the freshness of the New Year. I plan to blog about two fantastic clients that had challenging resolutions last year and succeeded!

Erin

Founder of Vintage Fitness