Looking for gift ideas for Christmas?  How about a great piece of fitness equipment for improving balance?  How about the PowerPlane Total Fitness Platform? It is suitable for any age and any fitness level!  Physical balance is a basic skill needed for every sport and everyday life.

Do you know that pain caused by sprained ankles and a variety of other injuries common to even highly trained athletes, often have nothing to so with strength, flexibility and endurance?  More often than not, sprains and strains have to do with a lack of balance training, proprioception to be exact.

The term proprioception refers to a sense of joint position.  Training the neuromuscular system to react appropriately will prevent injury and help the joints to move through the full range of motion smoothly and confidently.

PowerPlane advantages over other balance equipment:

1. 33″ long – it long enough to do a proper squat, lunge, push up without knees and elbows joints passing 90 degree angle.  As well it is long enough to use as vertical unstable incline bench to challenge balance and core in prone and supine positions while still using attached elastics.
2. PowerPlane has 10 halls for elastic attachments.  That enables for the resistance to come from different angles allowing athlete to change body positioning, train for sports specific, train symmetric and asymmetric balance etc.
3. PowerPlane has 4 levels: Stable platform, limited balance, full range balance and extreme balance platform.
4. PowerPlane can be used as a sit up bench where athlete can perform resistance crunches, sit ups, different various core exercises.
5. With PowerPlane athlete can be challenged by giving quick perturbations directly, with the medicine ball underneath, or indirectly via robes attached to the platform.

Get fantastic results with the PowerPlane for the any of the activities below and more!

Skate Boarding, Snowboarding, Surfing: Great for teenagers wanting to learn the foundations of these sports.

Hockey, Soccer, Tennis, Basketball: Perfect for any sport training that requires quick direction change, agility and changing your centre of gravity to match your moves.

Balance, Stability, Core Conditioning: Improving these skills are crucial for our everyday lives, especially as we enter into 3^rd age.

Guess who trains with PowerPlane?  Check out this video! Aaron Downey PowerPlane endorsement- Detroit Red Wings

Clean pure water is essential to the health of every cell in your body.  In the presence of fresh water, the body is able to effectively breath, digest, eliminate and perspire.  Even our glandular activities rely on the presence of water.  Estimate based on simple observation and detailed account is that less than 2% of the world’s population drinks sufficient amounts of the wet stuff, resulting in a steady state of dehydration.  Slowly, ever so slowly, our thirst mechanism begins to fail.  Over time as we age, and specifically because we do not drink enough clean, pure water, eat too much “dry” food (flour & overcooked flesh), smoke, drink alcohol and coffee, take medications, ect… the intracellular water content of the body cells gradually decreases.

The cell volume water ratio drops on average from 1.1 to 0.8 from age 15 to age 85.  This is a very serious reduction and a drastic negative contrast.  Think of the neurons in your brain or cardiac fibers of your heart slowly drying out over time, like a grape shrinking into a raisin.  This is also why people “shrink” over time and lose height.  The spine and disc core slowly dry out, reducing the dimensions of the discs themselves.  A tremendous amount of joint, disc and lower back pain are caused by simple dehydration, because water acts as a lubricating agent and bears the force of our weight in all ‘weight-bearing joints’.

Our bodies are forced to adapt to a water depleted state, which the body recognizes as a form of stress.  Unfortunately, most people become accustomed to dehydration, and misinterpret their health problems as a need for medication, instead of a biological need of water.  In many, many cases the simple act of drinking several glasses of clean, pure water is the only treatment required.  Millions of people destroy themselves with medication instead of doing what;s actually required biologically.

If you base consumption of water purely on thirst or a dry mouth alone, you’ll never achieve a state of optimum hydration.  The sensation of thirst is a survival mechanism, and by the time your body fluids are low enough to stimulate cells in the hypothalamus to give you the sensation of thirst, gulping water down to the point of satiation only covers just over half of what is actually required. 

It is recommended 30ml or 1 fluid ounce per kilogram of lean body mass (not total body-weight) per day, and an additional one or two liters to compensate for elevated body temperature and lost fluids caused by sweating due to physical labor, sport and workouts.  Water affects every aspect of our lives, and like it or not, your functional potential will be determined by the quality and quantity of pure water you consume.

An example:

Female, body weight 105 lbs (45kg).  Body  fat percentage is 14%, so we know lean mass is 86%of total weight, or 41kg.  She needs to drink about 1230ml (1.2 litres) of filtered water per day (41kg x 30ml = 1230ml) and during physical activity an additional 500ml - 1000 ml. 

Male, body weight 185lbs (84kg).  Boy fat is 8%, thus lean mass is 77kg.  He needs to drink nearly 2,5 litres of filtered water per day (77kg x 30ml = 2310ml), plus an additional 1-2 litres during physical activity. 

Most tap water is unsuitable for drinking, so always try to carry filtered, bottled water with you.  In practical terms, this means in your purse, in your briefcase, in your car and in your workout bag.  This is the only way yu can ever get close to approaching a state of ideal hydration and one of the most basic and fundamental rules of the fitness game.

Source: The Cory Holly Institute, Module Three - The Primary Building Blocks

American Council of Exercise (ACE) Says Boot Camp-Style work-out remain the top trend in 2009

Have you made your New Year resolutions yet?  Did you promise to yourself to be more sexy and trendy?  More fit and healthy?  Save more money and time?  Mix it up and have more fun?  You are on the right track not only with healthy and fit city Vancouver, but the whole world! 

Check out what are the predictions for 2009 by The American Council on Exercise (ACE), America’s leading authority on fitness and one of the largest fitness certification, education and training organizations in the world: “The overarching theme for fitness in 2009 is getting more bang for the buck,” says ACE’s Chief Science Officer Cedric X. Bryant, Ph.D. “Consumers will engage in workouts that provide multiple benefits due to time and economic limitations. We will also see continued trends from 2008 including boot-camp style workouts, technology-based workouts, out-of-the-box programming and an increased interest in fitness for those who are over 50 years old.”

The following represents ACE’s listing of the top fitness trends for 2009 after surveying personal trainers, group fitness professionals, and lifestyle and weight management consultants:
 
1. Boot Camp-Style Workouts: Boot camp workouts remain extremely popular because they provide a total-body workout that’s varied, fun and challenging. Up to 600 calories can be burned during a boot camp session. In addition to a great cardiovascular workout, muscles are strengthened through high- and low-intensity exercises such as pushups, squats and lunges. You don’t typically experience significant muscle fitness benefits in other aerobic exercises.

2. Budget-Friendly Workouts: With today’s economy showing no signs of strengthening, more people will cut costs to stay in shape.  Look for more people to use the resources around them as their gym and equipment.

3. Specialty Classes: While yoga and Pilates will remain strong, dance-based classes are all the rage this year! Zumba, a fitness program inspired by Latin dance, combines South American rhythms with cardiovascular exercise. Bollywood, ballroom, Afro-Cuban and other exotic dance styles are growing in popularity.

4. Getting Back to Basics: Despite the fact that many exercises and equipment are becoming more advanced and trendy, trainers will continue to focus on basic movements and techniques with their clients again.

5. Circuit Training: Studies have shown that interval training combining strength training and cardiovascular activity at different intensities provides a more time-efficient workout than participating in traditional aerobic and weight training sessions.

6. Kettlebells: Iron weights, traditionally used in Russia, aim to develop whole body fitness and core strength.

7. Boomer Fitness: Individuals age 50+ have the means, motivation and desire to enhance their quality of life through physical activity.

8.Technology-Based Fitness: From iPods to Cardio Cinema to exergaming (i.e., Wii Fit, Expresso Bikes) the latest in technology will continue to infuse itself in all aspects of fitness.

9. Event or Sport-Specific Exercises: Despite the emergence of new and trendy workouts, sports or recreational activities will remain a popular way to stay in shape. Participating in a friendly game of basketball or volleyball, training for a marathon, or taking a day-long bike ride are just a few ways that people are staying in shape and having fun doing so!

10. Mixing It Up: Traditional programming is changing from what we called linear progression to undulating as research shows similar if not better results. For example, mixing low-intensity cardio with intervals on different days, and mixing high-volume, low- intensity weight training with low-volume, high-intensity training on alternate days.

SOURCES: News release, American Council on Exercise.