The Benefits of Olympic Weightlifting

Olympic style lifting has many health benefits including:

Multi-joint movement. These are not isolated exercises. Many muscles work at the same time as a group.

Lots of core work (back, side and stomach muscles) involved.

Trains for speed, power and agility.

Strengthens ankles and wrists.

More functional than isolated exercises like bicep curls.

Some examples of Olympic Lifts are:

1. Hang Jump Shrug

2. Clean and Snatch Pulls and High Pull

3. Power Clean and Power Snatch

4. Front and Back Squats

5. Split Squasts and Side Squats

6. Deadlifts

7. Good Morning, Push Press and Push Jerk

But first...
 
Two Basic Weightlifting Positions You Should Learn First

Squat Jumps

This plyometric exercise (a power exercise, your feet will leave the floor) is a staple movement for many Olympic lifts. It's comparatively easy! Start by assuming a basic squat stance with your feet hip width apart, all of the weight on the heels, and your buttocks pushed back like you're about to sit in a chair. Keep your abs tight and back straight.

Next, place your hands behind your head, go down into the squat, until your thighs are basically parallel to the floor.

Finally, focus your energy on pushing up through the heels and ankles and spring upwards. Your feet leave the floor and your body straightens completely in the air.

Tips for Beginners - Begin by using body weight only, and by coming about an inch or so off the ground, just to test for limitations, and to perfect your form. When it becomes too easy, aim for more height. The intermediate step would be to add dumbbells, or a barbell behind your head, placed over your trapezoids.

The Hang Position

This " power position" is the basis for many Olympic lifts. It will set you up for explosive power with jumping lifts, and work on having excellent form for your deadlifts.

Start by getting back into the basic squat position with knees slightly bent, weight on the heels, and buttocks back. With your back straight, and shoulders back, slide your hands down your thighs to your knees. This movement is initiated by bending at the hips, not the knees.

Now that you are leaning forward, arms down, hips back you are ready to start lifting!

Food Motivation Quotes

"You wouldn't choose to eat poison would you? So why would you choose not to eat healthy?"
- Charles Moffat

"I do the same exercises I did 50 years ago and they still work. I eat the same food I ate 50 years ago and it still works."
- Arnold Schwarzenegger

"One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating."

- Luciano Pavarotti

"Shipping is a terrible thing to do to vegetables. They probably get jet-lagged, just like people."

- Elizabeth Berry
"When baking, follow directions. When cooking, go by your own taste."

- Laiko Bahrs

"It's bizarre that the produce manager is more important to my children's health than the pediatrician."

- Meryl Streep

"The bagel, an unsweetened doughnut with rigor mortis."

- Beatrice & Ira Freeman

"We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons."

- Alfred E. Newman

"Tell me what you eat, I'll tell you who you are."

- Anthelme Brillat-Savarin 

Hang Jump Shrug

Hang Jump Shrug is a simple weightlifting exercise that is recommended after mastering the jump squat.

Instructions

1. Start by holding a lightweight loaded barbell or a light pair of dumbbells with a pronated (palms facing back toward your thighs) grip. Your grip is shoulder width apart and your feet a little wider than hips.

2. Lower the weight down to your knees and get into what is called the "hang" or "power position".

3. Remember to slightly bend your knees, and stick your hips back while lowering. Keep the back straight with the eyes and chest lifted. This position will feel like leaning forward to look out a short window.

4. Next, push into the ground with your feet and jump up and straight with power. During this movement, with arms straight, simultaneously shrug the shoulders up toward the ears.

5. Land flat footed with knees bent and hips back. This absorbs the landing in the hips, oppose to landing on your toes and taking the impact in the knees.

6. Reset position for next rep.

Do 3 sets of 20 or 6 sets of 10, whichever you are more comfortable with.

All Year Fitness in Toronto

Bikini season is almost over and as scary as that sounds, WINTER IS COMING...

Which means many of you are going to start looking for ways to exercise indoors - preferably for cheap. However you are in luck because Toronto is ripe with fitness classes, big box gyms, skating rinks and parks with trails. Now that the freakishly hot weather of Summer is starting to dwindle it is time to start exploring your other fitness options for staying lean and fit.

If you are looking for a gym in downtown Toronto there is only a few I actually recommend - and they're all owned by either Ryerson or the University of Toronto. Ryerson has the RAC and the MAC (and I had a membership with both of them this summer so I could use their weightlifting rooms and their pool). The University of Toronto likewise has a number of equally good pools and gyms you can use. Which one is better? Honestly, just get the one closest to you.

And if there isn't an university gym or pool near you then I recommend the Toronto YMCA.

I do not recommend ANY of the big box gyms in Toronto because their goal is to get your credit card / bank info and then rape you every month with extra charges, cancellation fees, and refusing to stop taking money from your account even after you cancel your gym membership. (I had an Extreme Fitness membership once and the only way I could get them to stop charging my credit card was to phone the credit card company and cancel the card.) If you do get a gym membership from a big box gym my recommendation is that you pay in cash every month.

Ryerson, the University of Toronto and the Toronto YMCA offer a number of programs that can get you exercising indoors easily enough. Everything from martial arts (tae kwon do, karate, etc) to generic fitness, spin, yoga and pilates classes.

That means that there is basically something for everyone - including Bruce Lee fans.


Outside of gyms and pools, spin classes, etc your next option is to TRY SOMETHING NEW.

In which case there are a variety of places and people to give you some interesting options.

#1. Join a bicycle club - Ride around with other bicycle fanatics on tripped out bicycles.

The Toronto High Park Bicycle Club - torontohpbc.ca

The Toronto Morning Glory Bicycle Club - mgridetoronto.com

The D'Ornellas Cycling Club - dornellascyclingclub.ca

This is not a complete list. When I googled bicycle club toronto I wasn't expecting to find so many... There is pretty much a bicycle club for every age group and neighbourhood in Toronto.

#2. Take up Archery or a similar sport.

Yes you can get archery lessons from me, but there are other sports you might consider as well. For example Javelin throwing.

#3. Take up Boxing or a martial art.

There are a number of boxing gyms in Toronto that you might consider. Remember that boxing is a sport however, not a martial art, and thus is very different. For martial arts you don't even need to take martials arts classes to study martial arts - although it is strongly recommended that you do if you want to get really good at it. Private practice and watching youtube videos will only get you so far.

For boxing gyms check out Sully's, Toronto Newsgirls (a women only boxing gym), and the Cabbagetown Boxing Club. There are many more too.

#4. Take up a winter sport like ice skating.

As the winter gets closer this will become more available as an option. There are several indoor ice rinks however so you can go ice skating even in the summer. (Or take up rollerblading during the summer, which is somewhat similar.)

One of the indoor rinks is at the Ryerson MAC. So with a Ryerson gym membership you get access to weights, cardio equipment, pool, squash courts, and even an ice rink.

#5. Ball Room Dancing / Latin Dancing

Believe it or not you can burn a lot of calories and build good decent muscle tone in your legs through dancing - regardless of whether you are doing a waltz or a salsa. I am not suggesting you should take up ballet, but a healthy awareness of different dance styles and which ones you enjoy will certainly keep you busy. One site you might check out is ballroomdancingtoronto.com, which offers dance classes in Tango, Waltz, Fox Trot, Cha Cha, Rumba, Samba, Salsa, Hustle, Merengue, Swing and more.

Yoga Gloves Vs Fishing Gloves

Have you ever seen these before? They're called yoga gloves and they're very grippy. The idea is that you can wear the gloves and do yoga on a bare wooden floor without needing a yoga mat. You also get yoga socks and you're basically set to do yoga anywhere, anytime.

However what I find funny is that yoga gloves look and feel very similar because they're made of the same materials and also designed to be very grippy - so that you can grab a slippery fish and they can't wiggle away.

The bottom line is if you like to do yoga in weird places (like during a fishing trip...) you can do so using yoga gloves and socks - or if those aren't handy, try some tight fitting fishing gloves instead and discover just how darn similar they are.