The Culture of Gym Music in Toronto

I have only ever gone to gyms in Toronto so I don't know if they differ around the world, but I assume that what passes for "gym music" at Toronto gyms is probably pretty homogenous across most of Canada and the USA.

Which is to say it is "upbeat dance music", which in Toronto means you would normally hear this kind of music at a dance club downtown and not anywhere else - except for apparently, Toronto gyms.

Listening to the same dance music over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over can get pretty annoying however.

Gyms however simply don't care about the quality of their music, their primary goal is to make your credit card bill bigger by overbilling you multiple times per month, charging for extra services, and charging you one extra month on the day you cancel your gym membership*.

* That actually happened to me with Extreme Fitness. I cancelled my credit card because I had heard they overcharge people for months and months after your membership was cancelled because they CAN and then claim that the person never cancelled their membership / claim it was a billing error / refuse to refund the monies owed to the customer. So after cancelling my card I called them up and cancelled my membership, and the woman on the phone tried to charge my credit card for an extra month while I was on the phone - and was very rude to me after she discovered I had cancelled my credit card and thwarted her attempt to deliberately overcharge me. Also I should note that according to CBC's Marketplace, Extreme Fitness is not the only company that routinely does these things. The whole gym industry does it, which is why the last time I got a gym membership it was for Ryerson University - which is non-profit and has no goal to overcharge people. I still paid with cash however, so word to the wise - if you get a gym membership in Toronto, always pay with cash.

Anyway, back to my primary topic - gym music.

Because gym music is so appalling many people end up bringing their smart phone or mp3 player and listening to their own music instead. Which begs the question, if the music is so bad and people are listening to their own, why not just get rid of the music and replace it with relative peace and quiet? Would it be because then we would have to listen to people grunting on the machines, chatting to each other, gulping down water, idiots dispensing health advice, the one vegan guy who is always trying to convince people to become vegans, etc...?

In which case maybe what gym goers really need is tranquil background noises, that aren't music at all. The sound of a thunderstorm for example. Or tranquil chirping of birds. Whatever. Just so its not the same upbeat dance music over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. Because clearly that junk isn't helping anyone and everyone clearly prefers to listen to their own music anyway.

Everyone has different musical tastes. The percentage of people who actually enjoy listening to dance music all the time is probably a pretty small percentage of Toronto's diverse population.

Musical taste is often directly correlated between social status (meaning wealth) and socio-economic and ethnic background. At least according to a study published in 2015 in the Canadian Review of Sociology, and written by a professor from UBC. The study involved nearly 1,600 telephone interviews with adults in Vancouver and Toronto, who were asked about their likes and dislikes of 21 musical genres.

The study determined that poorer, less-educated people tended to like country, disco, easy listening, golden oldies, heavy metal and rap. Meanwhile, their wealthier and often better-educated counterparts preferred genres such as classical, blues, jazz, opera, choral, pop, reggae, rock, world and musical theatre.

So a more specific genre like "dance pop", the kind of which is played in gyms really only appeals to one group of people - wealthy or well off young white people between the ages of 20 and 29. Which for a gym, really shows what their target audience is - young people with money.

And gym music targets women - specifically young white women with money, who are often single (but that doesn't mean you should talk to them!!!) and insecure about their bodies.

Men in contrast are less worried about their bodies. A man having a "little extra weight" is considered to be a cultural norm by society. Women with a beer gut however, that is considered to be outright scary.

There is also a solid argument that the culture of gym music is even racist, because it is so specifically geared towards white women who are insecure about their bodies, have money, and feel that they have to look attractive physically in order to attract a man (which should never happen at the gym by the way, because the man in question will likely be a horrible person who is only attracted to physical looks).

If you know of a gym in Toronto that DOES NOT play horrible dance pop music please post a comment about it in the comments below. With any luck it will be a boxing gym or something similar, as the sound of grunting and people hitting punching bags is normal there - music at such a location would be considered idiotic.

Also if you are one of those people who actually likes gym music I invite you to listen to the Flo Rida song "Right Round" 100 times or until you finally agree with me. (I heard that song roughly every 30 minutes whenever I was at Extreme Fitness. It is an abomination of an old 80s song.)

ADVICE

• Bring your own music to the gym.
• Better yet, skip the gym treadmill and go jogging outside.
• Love your music, love yourself.
• Try new genres of music sometimes. It won't hurt to broaden your horizons.
• Try new exercises regularly. It doesn't hurt to try new things in general.
• Try new sports that are outdoors. Extra fresh air never hurt you.

Personal Note - While writing this post I did a search of my mp3 collection for the word "love" and then made a playlist of songs with love in the title. The first song on the list is 10cc's "I'm not in love". YouTube video below if you are curious.

The Pet Project, Part Two - New Diet for the Kitty

Last week I started a new Pet Project - literally dubbed "The Pet Project".

The post from last week was titled "The Pet Project, Part One - Our Cat is Fat", and details how our cat - Victoria - is overweight and rather ungraceful as cats go.

Last week I also weighed her and she clocked in at 14.1 lbs - which is 2 lbs heavier than the normal 8 to 12 lbs a house cat should be. I think however that I must have made an error during the weighing process because today I weighed her (using the same method as last week) and she clocked in at 12.2 lbs. Perhaps the scale was off last week and wasn't calibrated correctly. I even double checked multiple times, and the correct weight is 12.2 lbs.

Thus I think we shall just ignore week 1's anomaly and start with the fresh number which appears to be more accurate.

I am having too much fun with these cat gifs.

During the past week Victoria has had daily exercise, often for 60 to 80 minutes each day, of chasing feathers on a string, gnawing feathers on a string, jumping in the air to attempt to catch feathers on a string, etc. She also has several new kitty toys to keep her occupied.

As of today we are also switching her cat food. So that it stays similar to her previous catfood we opted for chicken.

Previously her catfood was: "Authority: Adult, Real Chicken". 370 calories per cup.

Her new catfood is "Whiskas: Adult, Real Chicken". 357 calories per cup.

Now admittedly that is only 13 calories less. Approx. a 3.5% drop in calories.

However over the course of several months we should see results. 3500 calories = 1 lb of fat, so even a small drop in calories over course of 3 months would be a significant drop. Especially for a cat. Even a 1/2 lb of weight loss for her is 4% of her bodyweight.

Supplementing her dry cat food we will also be giving her a 85g small can of "Fancy Feast" once a week and "Whiskas Temptations" seafood kitty treats once every 2 to 3 days. The kitty treats are less than 2 calories per treat. [I haven't found the calories for the 85g Fancy Feast cans. If anyone knows how many calories are in 1 can please post in the comments.]

Thus the basic principles are there: Intake less calories as food; burn more calories through exercise.

Earlier today I tried to get Victoria to put on a harness so I could take her for a walk on a leash in the hallway - baby steps towards someday taking the cat for walks outside. However trying to get her into a harness resulted in her only wanting to scratch me, so no luck there. I will have to try again later when she is less playful / aggressive.

The principle of reducing your caloric intake by 3 to 5% is one way of dieting in order to gradually lose weight. One very effective way for humans to make this switch is to cut out the soda pop and switch to water or tea.

Is Wearable Tech really going to help people lose weight?

Wearable technology like the iWatch, smart watches and other similar devices designed to track how much you are exercising is one of the big new fitness trends of 2015.

However, most of them are basically junk.

And those that are good at what they do, won't actually help you lose weight unless you're willing to put in the effort.

Which is really coming back to the same issue people always have with exercise - sometimes people just don't want to put in the effort.

Take for example the issue of counting calories in a journal.

Counting calories is basically a guaranteed way of losing weight through diet. You reduce your caloric intake and as long as you stick to the limit of how many calories you can consume in a day, and the limit is both sufficient for your dietary needs, but low enough that you will end up burning fat for energy, the end result is you will lose weight. Guaranteed. Even people with glandular disorders can lose weight using the counting calories method.

However counting calories every meal and every snack is time consuming and BORING.

So why not have a device that does it for you?

Well sadly having such a device is just as time consuming as using a pen and a journal. You aren't saving any time using an electronic device to count calories for you. If anything the operating system and the series of buttons to press is actually MORE time consuming as opposed to simply grabbing a pen and writing down "450" in the appropriate space in the journal.

On the exercise side of things smart watches can (sometimes) monitor heart rhythm and can attempt to calculate how many calories you are burning.

However a smart watch doesn't keep track of all of the following factors:

• How much you weigh.
• How much extra weight are you carrying.
• Your speed / intensity while exercising.
• Whether you have a heart condition which causes abnormally fast or slow heart rhythm.
• Level of difficulty of the exercise which could effect caloric burn.
• The Afterburn Effect.
• Blood sugar levels - if you ate recently before exercising, you might be burning energy which was freshly consumed. Not stored energy in the form of fat.

It really comes down to the same problem devices and apps like these always have: They can never account for all the different factors, which ultimately means that such devices don't actually work as they claim they do. Furthermore when an app reminds you to go jogging/etc, you can always just turn it off - the exercise equivalent of a Snooze Button.

Years ago I experimented with an High Intensity Interval Training app. I later deleted it because I determined it was a pain to work with. You had to program in the number of intervals, how many breaks you wanted, and it was glitchy and annoying. There was no premade programs to choose from, no random HIIT workout. I was better off using an old fashioned stop watch...

Ultimately what I ended up using instead of the HIIT app was music. I would do one exercise until the song was over and the switch to either resting or a different exercise during the next song. The randomness of the music determined both whether it was an intense exercise, a relaxing exercise, or a break to catch my breath and drink some water.

Which begs the question, why bother with a smart watch when all you really need is a mp3 player? Or a record player if you prefer vinyl. Or a smart phone. Or a juke box.

What people really need is motivation. That is the true wrench that fixes the broken gears of exercise. If a person lacks the will to go exercise, no amount of new shoes, electronic gadgets, gym memberships or personal trainers* will matter.

* Ideally a good personal trainer should motivate a person to go exercise regularly - but trying and succeeding are two different things. The personal trainer can try to motivate the person, but if they are feeling unmotivated by other factors in their life the personal trainer is ultimately just another spoke in the gear. It is the other spokes which need to be unjammed in order to get the gears moving and the person exercising.


BONUS

I came across the following list on a website, which dubbed the list "Top 10 fitness trends for 2016". However how can it be 2016 if we are still in 2015? Is this a list of predictions? Or is it based on a survey that happened in 2015? Or is it just a random list create by a fitness writer who is just making up what they THINK will be the trends in 2016? I think it is the last one.

So how much stock should you put in something written by some fitness writer who is making predictions? Not a lot if you analyze the list. See my notes in red.

Top 10 fitness trends during 2015 according to Joe Schmoe

"1. Wearable Technology: includes fitness trackers, smart watches, heart rate monitors and GPS tracking devices. [We've had these before. I gave my sister a device that monitors foot steps 3 years ago for xmas. I am unsure if she ever used it.]


2. Body Weight Training: Body weight training uses minimal equipment making it more affordable.  ["Body Weight Training" has been a trend since the 1800s and likely earlier. It is not a "new trend" at all. It is old school exercises like push ups and chin ups.]

2. High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): HIIT involves short bursts of activity followed by a short period of rest or recovery. These exercise programs are usually performed in less than 30 minutes. [This isn't new. HIIT has been "trending" for over a decade.]


4. Strength Training: Strength training remains a central emphasis for many health clubs. Incorporating strength training is an essential part of a complete exercise program for all physical activity levels and genders. [AKA, weight lifting. Also nothing new. When were dumbbells invented?]


5. Educated and Experienced Fitness Professionals: Given the large number of organizations offering health and fitness certifications, it’s important that consumers choose ... bla bla bla. [Just another word for "Certified Personal Trainers" and "Coaches".]


6. Personal Training: More and more students are majoring in kinesiology, which indicates they are preparing themselves for careers in allied health fields, such as personal training. [Wait. This is exactly the same as #5. Clearly the author had difficulty coming up with a list of 10.]


7. Functional Fitness: This is a trend toward using strength training to improve balance and ease of daily living. Functional fitness and special fitness programs for older adults are closely related. [The elderly have been doing these exercises in senior homes for decades now. Nothing new.]


8. Fitness Programs for Older Adults: As the baby boom generation ages into retirement, some of these people have more discretionary money than their younger counterparts. Therefore, many health and fitness professionals are taking the time to create age-appropriate fitness programs to keep older adults healthy and active. [Isn't this just the same as #7 but more specifically about the elderly and general fitness? Yep, yes it is. That is not a trend. That is stating something that many elderly already try to do.]


9. Exercise and Weight Loss: Health and fitness professionals who provide weight loss programs are increasingly incorporating regular exercise and caloric restriction for better weight control in their clients. [Wait, what? How is "exercise and weight loss" a new trend? Isn't that what people have been doing for decades? The writer clearly has a Masters in BS.]


10. Yoga: Based on ancient tradition, yoga utilizes a series of specific bodily postures practiced for health and relaxation. This includes Power Yoga, Yogalates, Bikram, Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Kripalu, Anurara, Kundalini, Sivananda and others." [Again, yoga is nothing new. It is literally thousands of years old. It is as old as Christian carpenters who build Arks.]

Aim Higher

Sometimes one of the best things you can do is give yourself a lofty goal. The act of "aiming higher", to give yourself a challenge not only boosts your confidence when you reach that goal, but it makes you realize that other lofty goals are also attainable.

The photo below is from a few days ago during which it was a windy day and I decided I wanted to hit the bottle cap on the bottle, which was dangling from a string and blowing in the wind. I have done this feat before, aiming and hitting a small moving target, but never before in such windy conditions. Hitting it was largely due to patience and timing - but lofty goals are like that. You need patience to keep trying despite failures (or in this case, misses) and with time, effort, patience and good timing you can succeed.

You can apply this to almost anything in your life, whether you are working your way through university, trying to lose weight, or trying to achieve excellence in a sport or discipline.

The Pet Project, Part One - Our Cat is Fat

A little over a month ago my girlfriend and I got a cat. Her name is Victoria.

We got her via Pet Smart and the Toronto Humane Society. She is a rescue cat, meaning her previous owner was either unfit to take care of her, she was abandoned on the streets, etc. It is unclear the origins of our cat.

What we do know is that she is between 2 and 2.5 years old, has spent a good chunk of time locked in cage and unable to run, jump and climb through much of her time at the Toronto Humane Society. My understanding is that they do let the pets out once per day to get some exercise, but a half hour or hour per day is clearly not enough exercise for a cat.

Thus, soon after getting her home we started to realize that our precious cat, Victoria, was fat and out of shape. She was certainly well fed, but she clearly lacked exercise. As cats go she doesn't always land on her feet, and she isn't particularly graceful.

Sometimes when playing and she fails to execute a jump properly she looks all embarrassed and takes a break to rest.

As a personal trainer I am accustomed to helping humans to lose weight, gain muscle, build endurance, etc. However I have never tried to apply those ideas to helping a fat cat lose weight and become more graceful. Thus it got me thinking. If our cat has a regimented diet which we can easily control, all she really needs is more exercise.

Now I should note we do play with the cat every day. Usually several times in the morning, several times in the afternoon, and once or twice in the evening. Mostly because our cat demands a lot of attention. eg. If we don't feed her at 6:30 AM she starts eating the cord for the lamp next to the bed until we finally feed her. One time I was awoken around 6 AM because she was licking my forehead. So not only does she demand attention, she knows how to demand food.

Before embarking on this "Pet Project" of personal training for our cat, I decided to weigh our cat... This actually took me several days to do... Our cat doesn't like to sit still for very long when she knows she has our attention.

In order to weigh her I first weighed a basket, then using a feather cat toy I managed to coax her into the basket, let her have the toy so she will lay down. Check the weight on the scales, subtract the weight of the basket, and voila, our cat weighs 14.1 lbs.

Now I am not a firm believer in BMI charts, because frankly they can be skewed by anyone with a higher than average muscle mass or bone density. Some of us, myself included, have more than our fair share of muscle and bone density. This is due to exercising a lot. Thus BMI is completely useless for anyone who is athletic and muscular.

Believe it or not however there is a whole field out there of people who specialize in animal health - they're called "veterinarians", which in theory should be complete with BMI charts designed for cats. Like the chart below which uses length of the cat vs the rib cage circumference... As if my cat would sit still long enough and not attack the tape measure while I am trying to measure her length and rib cage circumference.

I also found this "BFI Chart", measuring the cat by Body Fat Index. I would estimate based on this visual comparison that our cat is in the 30 to 40 range. So she isn't super over weight, but she is certainly not sleek, graceful and ready to pounce. Whether you do a detailed visual examination or just guess what category your cat looks like, it seems to amount to roughly the same thing: A vague estimate.

 Doing a rudimentary check of whether you can even feel your cats rib cage is one way to determine if your cat is overweight. If you can easily feel their ribs, your cat is likely a good weight and is low risk for health problems. If you have difficulty finding their ribs your cat is likely overweight. If you can't feel your cats ribs at all, they are probably obese. The same technique is also recommended by vets for checking if your dog is over weight.

Sadly I could not find a proper cat BMI chart. So I have very little to compare it to when considering that our cat weighs 14.1 lbs. Nobody it seems has invested any time or effort in researching weight vs length of cats. You would think there be at least one veterinarian out there who has decided to create a BMI chart for cats... but alas, none of them has.

And perhaps rightly so, since BMI is widely considered to be inaccurate due to muscle weight skewing the results.

However I do know this. The so-called "normal" weight for a cat is 8 to 12 lbs, with males weighing typically 2 to 4 lbs more than females. So our female cat is likely 2+ lbs over weight.

During my research I did find a form to fill out if you think your cat or dog is overweight. It is at http://www.petmd.com/healthyweight, however the form refuses to work if you don't input an acceptable breed of cat. Our cat is a mix of Persian, Russian Blue and Calico - and their form wouldn't accept any of those breeds, and their website server crashed and gave a message that their server was being reset. Once it did reset, I tried the breed names over again, and again it refused to accept Persian, Russian Blue or Calico as breeds.

So what I learned from this is that PetMD's website both doesn't accept Persian Russian Blue or Calico to be breeds of cats, but apparently their website crashes easily. Not impressed.

Anyway, now that I know our cat is 14.1 lbs I can use that as a starting point. Once per week, for the duration of this "Pet Project", I am going to write another post about our cat's health, what exercises I have her doing, and any changes in her health, weight, gracefulness and ability to jump through the air and catch feather cat toys.

If you want to read a past project I did you may consider reading "30 Days as a Vegetarian". Which I determined does promote weight loss, but some of that weight loss apparently was a loss of muscle mass. I also determined that I really missed bacon, that being vegetarian is really hard to do and that it is not very practical in a world where many foods has meat in it. In the future I might do another 30 days on a specific diet, like maybe "30 Days on a Paleo Diet" or something like that.