Tae Kwon Do

TaeKwonDo is a great way to teach kids about discipline, respect, strength and patience. My boy did some classes at the Kicks for Kids Oakville location and not only did he love it, but I loved what he learned from it.

Instructors at Kicks for Kids are amazing, and several of the lead instructors are women. I love this because it teaches my boy to listen and respect women, which is a great benefit of martial arts training. He enjoyed learning Korean words, learning the chops and the kicks and especially yelling "Aayaa!" as he executed his movements. Fun stuff!

Another great thing for young "Little Dragons" is that they learn patience, waiting for their turn, quietly. Not so easy for a 3 year old! Watching them let loose on the drills in their little uniforms is one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

Imagine Fitness is running several classes at Kicks for Kids this fall, check out our schedule at http://www.imaginefitness.ca/

Here's my boy earning his green belt:

Cheers,

Sarah

Oakville Half-Marathon 2008

Hi Everyone,

This summer has been a blur! In June we were out to visit family in Nova Scotia, there is a cute little gym there called "Fit Folks", very maritime-cute! We had a move in July which was absolutely crazy, I've almost recovered. We're now into August and we have our annual fitness conference coming up next weekend. This is a fitness pro's time to get motivated, stay updated and get some new ideas for program design. More about that in next month's blog :) Right now I'd like to talk about what's coming up this fall.

We're kicking off September with a booth at the Oakville Half-Marathon on September 1st. I'll be participating with friends in the 10K run, please e-mail me if you'd like to join us, sarah@oakvillefitness.com This is our way of kicking it into gear after a busy summer, and hopefully setting new goals into the fall. Personally, I'm going to run the Toronto Half on October 19th. That's 10 weeks away, so just long enough to train safely.

If you're not a runner, maybe bootcamp is the way to go this fall. We have an outdoor bootcamp called PT on the Trails which we run at Neyagawa and Upper Middle in Oakville from September 13th to October 25th, 2008. We use bodyweight exercises, calisthenics, etc. to work you hard through this hour-long workout. If you need some help and a bit of a push with your fitness routine, we can help! See details at http://www.imaginefitness.ca/

Enjoy the rest of your summer and we'll see you in the fall!

Cheers,

Sarah

CN Tower Climb and the Fight Against Climate Change

Earlier this month I joined over 6 thousand people in the CN Tower climb to fight global warming. Many people climbed as early as 6am, but I chose to start at a much more reasonable 10:30am!

This fun event was sold out, which is a fantastic statement about local support for this cause. We raised over a million dollars overall! I hope you can join Imagine Fitness in our climb next year.

When I decided to participate in this event, I picked up David Suzuki's autobiography. I remember watching "The Nature of Things" when I was a kid and finding the show (and the host) so interesting. David is now in his 70's and he looks amazing! I found it disturbing to hear so many stories about the alarming evidence of global warming, with many indications being ignored since the '70's. It's a great read from someone I remember from childhood, and I recommend it as being relevant to the issue we hear so much about: climate change. You see his well-known face on commercials, the side of buses, radio commercials, so let's take those ideas and fight global warming.

If you'd like to support this cause, go to http://www.wwf.ca/ to sponsor me or donate in general, or see www.davidsuzuki.org to see what else you and your family can do. Let's help our environment, which we need to protect both for ourselves and our kids.

Cheers,

Sarah

Fitness & Spa Retreat at White Oaks Spa

I recently spent some time at a local Niagara resort. I expected a night away, a nice dinner, a comfortable bed. What I found, though, was an absolutely world-class resort with a fantastic ambiance and details I hadn’t before experienced.

We arrived at White Oaks Resort mid-day Saturday and were greeted by exceptionally friendly staff. We had lots of time to peruse the facility and to work out in their state-of-the-art fitness area. The cardio room enjoys lots of natural light, and features both a fireplace and a waterfall that add a feeling of comfort. The equipment is brand new and well-maintained. White Oaks has recently done a $10 Million upgrade to the fitness area, and you can certainly notice! The weight equipment is better than anything I’ve seen, and believe me I’ve been to a lot of fitness facilities! They have all of the toys you’d expect; BOSUs, med balls, cable machines and more. Even more striking is the massive mural in the weight room with gymnasts of years past crawling the walls-very impressive. The décor is modern and luxurious, there are separate rooms for yoga, spinning and the like. The most impressive element is the team training room-it even has a monster truck tire in there for truly functional training. It was a personal trainer’s dream…

I truly enjoy fine dining, I’ve certainly been to a few places not only in Toronto but in New York, Chicago, etc. The restaurant at White Oaks ranks with the best of them! Liv was both comfortable and chic. Our experience was outstanding, the food was utterly amazing and the service couldn’t have been better. When we returned in the morning for breakfast we were delighted in a full menu and delicious selections.

Excellent job White Oaks! We will definitely be returning to experience your spa facilities and treatments and to do another workout or two. If you’re lucky, you might even be able to join us-Keep your eyes peeled on the Events page for our upcoming girls’ weekend away in the Spring of 2008!

Hope to see you there,

Sarah

Bellydancing and Fitness

Such a beautiful way to celebrate the female body, Bellydance! In speaking with Joharah, owner of BellyUp bellydance studio in Bronte, and exploring her website, I have found that this sensual dance is really an expression of female creativity and sexiness, wonderful! Curves are appreciated, even necessary for this exotic dance, and you move your body in a way that is so new yet so basic.

I recently published an article in a local magazine called "For Her", which is distributed through the Halton Region. It's a quick little blurb about lower body training and a note about personal training. Imagine my pleasure to see Joharah's lovely picture on the opposite page along with her article about bellydance and beautiful bodies. Talk about cross-training! Keep your eyes peeled for this magazine found at doctor's offices, aestheticians & hair salons through the Oakville and Mississauga area to check out both articles.

Please join us on Friday January 21st, 2008 for a Goddess Workshop at BellyUp studio in Bronte. We'll be there from 7-9pm, girlfriends are welcome. It's a girl's night out, everyone is invited! Register with me, Sarah, at sarah@oakvillefitness.com. Only $45 for our workshop, a beverage and a bite to eat, too.

Marrying Friends and Cooking: Paradiso

Who knew that cooking with friends would be such a pleasure? Paradiso Restaurant in Oakville hosted a wonderful cooking class to teach us how to prepare the "Signature Dishes" of Paradiso. While preparing our cornmeal pizza crust, chopping our tomatoes and pureeing our pesto, my group of friends (who are also clients) and I had a laugh and got to know each other.

We arrived early to check out the scene and make friends with our waiter, Richard, who was super! Sharing our stories over a glass of wine was relaxing, it was so nice to unwind and be social. As everyone arrived, we chose our seats and Chef Franco gave us our aprons and we headed into the kitchen. The first lesson of the day was to get in there and feel the food, work with it, enjoy it. Press the pizza crust, don't be shy! "My girls" and I got to know each other a little bit more, we shared lots of laughs and told a couple of stories. We attracted a fair bit of attention (What? There's nothing wrong with that).

I was familiar with our counter-top, stainless steel, the food processor ( I had bought a new one a couple of weeks earlier), the knives, although we did learn a new way to hold it. But I was there to step out of my element, ADD that olive oil, work over the open flame, which isn't the most natural thing for me. I did it, I even volunteered. The real test, though, came after our wonderful meal. The shrimp bisques was amazing, our pizza was very tasty, the Moroccan chicken was excellent...and onto the Creme Brulee. You do know how that's prepared? With a BLOWTORCH! Anyone who knows me has know that I don't do barbeques, I like the taste, but that cylinder of gas freaks me out. But I jumped right in there with Chef Franco to caramelize the double chocolate (of course, my favorite), the caramel and the tiramisu Creme Brulees. I'm not too bad with a blowtorch...My friends were there to give me some courage, the Chef acted like he'd never heard of such a thing, so on I went, not a problem.

Great conversations, stories, laughs with friends who now know each other and who know a different side of me (their trainer). Thank you so much, ladies, that was fun! We will do it again on Thursday January 17th, 2008 and Chef Franco has designed a lovely "Healthy Choices" menu for us that sounds delicious, of course. Spaces are very limited, so please register with Anita@paradisorestaurant.com

Cheers!

Sarah

KBells

Alright, I admit it, I'm a bit of a girl sometimes. I do miss the aggression that I had in my younger years, the fire, the drive. Yes, I've softened both in personality and body. And I want to fight back!

When I saw a booth at the recent CanFitPro Conference in Toronto that was offering Kettlebell Training I ran right over. This sounds like a perfect way to get my "mojo" back! I registered right then and there to become a Certified Kettlebell instructor. So I've been quite pumped about this session for the past few weeks. I know how to do it all: how to train with dumbells, barbells, bodyweight, unilaterally, descending sets, compound sets, vary the tempo, the range of motion, blah, blah, blah. Been there, done that, and I need more to get really excited!

In describing the Kettlebell to clients I've been saying, "It's like a steel ball with kindof a purse handle at the top". That kind of describes how I personally have been feeling within my own weight workouts: lame! Now after I've spent the weekend forcing my body to haul this seemingly unsteady weight into wild positions over my head, I have some respect again for what the body is capable of. Teach the body a new position with a new challenge and make it work to stay there, that is the essence of what I learned this weekend.

Now I know that this Russian discipline is about real effort, not just going through the motions. This is a cannonball with a suitcase handle: TOUGH! I finished the weekend feeling confident, powerful, truly strong. I'm ready to train for the next few months to really see what my body is capable of when I put it to the test and train it to capacity. This is not powerlifting, it's functional lifting to create sexy strength and a tight, toned body.

I'm looking forward to the challenge. Thank you Ajamu, for reminding how my body should feel and move, I can't wait to see the results and share this amazing form of training with my clients. I feel pretty good about the Windmill, but look out Turkish Get Up, here I come!

Look for details coming soon to my website http://www.oakvillefitness.com/

Sarah