Taking Stock of 2012

Hey everyone,

We hope that you enjoyed a wonderful holiday!  We certainly had a lovely Christmas, enjoying a somewhat indulgent amount of delicious food.  As we head towards 2013, we are taking a moment to pause and look back at the last year, learn from our challenges and be thankful for our successes, and renew our motivation and dedication to fitness and healthy living.  Will you take the time to remember, learn, be thankful, and plan ahead for a healthy 2013?

Upper Body Ladder Workout!

Hey everyone,

To help battle the holiday bulge, we have put together another ladder workout for your upper body.  This workout consists of four exercises, completed two at a time.

Holiday Fat-Blasting Lower Body Workout Ladder

Hey everyone,

The holiday season heralds celebrations with friends and family, which translates into many temptations (and deviations from our usual fitness and healthy eating routine).  While it is a great idea to try to limit your food and alcohol intake over the holidays, keeping up with your workouts can also help offset some of that dreaded holiday weight gain...

Recovering post-HKC and Getting Outdoors!

Hey everyone,

Wow, has it ever been a busy few weeks for us!  The first weekend of December we traveled to Toronto to complete our HKC (Hardstyle Kettlebell Certification). This was an amazing, but grueling, day.  We learned a huge amount of information from Master Jon Engum, our course instructor.  Stay tuned as we write about surviving the day and what we learned. We are very excited to be certified kettlebell instructors!

After about a week of recovery from our HKC (yes - it took that long!), we didn't get back on track to working out as quickly as we had hoped, as we welcomed a new puppy into our family!  We rescued our little guy, Makoto, from Big Sky Ranch, an animal sanctuary in Kemptville, Ontario. Check out their website to see the amazing things they do for these animals in need (http://www.bigskyranch.ca/).

While we have still managed to do a few workouts a week, we are hoping to get back into things over the holidays.  Despite a decrease in formal workouts, we have been out walking Makoto 2-3 times per day. 
Even these short walks will add up in distance over time.  Try this with your dog, or if you don't have one, get outdoors anyways and give walking a try! 

-Tannys & Alex

Skipping - A Great Cardio Tool

Hey everyone,

When we were down in Fort Lauderdale in November, we were browsing through a sports store and decided to purchase a skipping rope.  Both of us remembered skipping when we were children, but hadn't done it for years.  We have since tested it out and have discovered that it offers a great cardio challenge!

Traditional Lower Body Workout

Hey everyone,

Having recently tried a 'traditional' upper body workout, we decided to revisit this format for a lower body workout.  In this type of workout, you pick your exercises and move through them one at a time, doing your sets and taking ample rest in between.  These types of workouts are best suited for when you have plenty of time, since they seem to take about an hour, on average (depending on how many exercises and sets you do).

Another Great Lower Body Workout!

Hey everyone,

We have really enjoyed the countdown workout format lately.  It is very efficient and scaleable to how much time you have available (by picking a different starting point (# of reps), and/or by choosing a different number of exercises).

Traditional Upper Body Workout

Hey everyone,

Sometimes we get nostalgic for the kind of workouts we used to do when we went to a 'big-box' gym.  They were lengthy, yet pleasant workouts.  We would pick several exercises and just do them sequentially, one at a time, taking ample rest in between each set.  This format of workout works well if you pick challenging compound exercises and lift heavy weights (for strength building).  It can also be a social, relaxing workout when you take a break between sets to chat.  That's why this workout style is great when you have lots of time, like on an evening where you have nothing else to do, or on a weekend.