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by  Andrea Dietrich , CSEP-CPT Fitness & Training Coordinator Recreation Services, University of Manitoba With New Year’s Resolutions just around the corner, it is not uncommon to hear the phrase, “this year I’ll get in shape!” brought into the mix. Regardless of whether this is one of your goals for 2018, any resolution you might make will benefit from setting SMART goals. Setting SMART goals can help motivate you when making lifestyle changes by defining your intention with measurable outcomes and deadlines. Read through the following explanation of the SMART acronym and create a goal that you would like to achieve in the new year. SMART goal setting brings structure and trackability into your goals and objectives.    Specific : Goals benefit from having parameters so that you know what you are aiming to achieve. For example the goal: I want to run faster could benefit with some more details. The goal: I want to run at setting 7.0 on the treadmill...

by  Daniel Jangula , CSEP-CEP Assistant Fitness Testing & Assessment Coordinator Recreation Services, University of Manitoba Regarding exercise selection, it’s far too easy to stick with exercises that may give you a good pump over working on a movement correcting an imbalance or helping fix poor posture. The temptation of spending your precious gym time working on developing your biceps, pecs or abs is pretty strong, and seeing your bulging muscles may seem to deliver a bigger hit of gratification over gaining a greater degree of thoracic spine extension or better control of the lumbo-pelvic region. I see this phenomenon particularly (although definitely not exclusively) with younger gym goers. With a lot of university students, it’s easy to get away with only working on chest and arms every time they’re in the gym, and maybe occasionally trying to squat or deadlift more weight than their form can tolerate once every other week. Poor exercise selection that feeds into po...

by Adam Toffan , M.Sc, NSCA-CSCS, CSEP-CEP Assistant Fitness Testing & Assessment Coordinator Recreation Services, University of Manitoba Research has shown that regular physical activity is important to our health and wellbeing, however because fitness is a life-long journey and not a specific point in time, finding motivation to put on your runners every day can be hard. Motivating yourself to complete tasks you may not be in the mood for can be a challenge, especially if there are no deadlines or immediate consequences to your inaction. Here are some proven tips to help you get active when you just don’t feel like it: Plan It. Pull up your calendar and make an appointment with yourself. Scheduling it in as part of your day may help you find the time to work out instead of leaving it until after work or school when you may be more likely to just want to go home. Partner in Crime. Don’t discount the power of friendship. Knowing another person is count...

by Adam Toffan, M.Sc, NSCA-CSCS, CSEP-CEP Assistant Fitness Testing & Assessment Coordinator Recreation Services,  University of Manitoba In Manitoba we are forced to exercise indoors much of the year, most of it if you don’t like winter activities like cross-country skiing or hockey. Many people prefer working out indoors year round because the treadmill or elliptical, etc. make it easy to track workout volume and intensity. There are a few ways around this that will allow you the freedom to workout anywhere. As mentioned in a previous blog, heart rate monitors are a great way to manage workout intensity. Without measuring running speed, you can still make sure you are getting the same workout you would be on a treadmill by comparing heart rates across workouts. There are also several mobile apps that can help track your workouts and measure intensity. Apps such as SportsTracker, Strava or Map My Run (or Ride or Fitness) are ways to track distance and speed. SportsT...

by Adam Toffan, M.Sc, NSCA-CSCS, CSEP-CEP Assistant Fitness Testing & Assessment Coordinator Recreation Services,  University of Manitoba Many of us have careers or are pursuing a career of some sort. We hope to be an expert in a given field so we can help people and provide a service that people can’t do themselves. Some people have a variety of learned skills. I am not a mechanic, however, I can change a flat tire.   Our bodies, like a car, are very complex machines. There is much more going on than anyone without directed study can understand fully. Both of these things are so complex that you can’t even do it justice with a photo because there are layers upon layers of interconnected parts. Why do we think we can maintain our bodies without the help of a professional when we would never dare to maintain our own vehicles? One issue is people see car maintenance as an investment for long term function but they see spending on their health as an expense. How...

by Adam Toffan, M.Sc, NSCA-CSCS, CSEP-CEP Assistant Fitness Testing and Assessment Coordinator Recreation Services University of Manitoba What is Static/Dynamic stretching? For years static stretching was all anyone did. Recently, many have said you should only do dynamic stretches. Should you do one over the other? Should you do both? Static stretching is holding a position for a prolonged period of time. The goal is to relax the muscle while stretching it. Research found that holding static stretches for ~30s was sufficient to elongate the muscle and improve flexibility. This helps you improve mobility for daily activities such as putting on your socks. It can also help prevent injury by increasing the range a joint can move through before muscle damage occurs. This type of stretching is most beneficial after a workout to help cooldown and prevent muscle tightening that occurs after activity. If flexibility is an issue you may need to add more stretching into your day, str...