Perfect Fit Personal Training- Health and Fitness Blog

This term is becoming very de rigueur of late; who do you know that is on a gluten free diet? Wheat is out, almond flour is in. Eating gluten free is not only about following the trend; over 300,000 Canadians suffer from celiac disease; an autoimmune disease which affects their gastrointestinal system and that is triggered from ingesting gluten. I want to recommend an amazing book on eating gluten free written by a dietician who has done an amazing amount of research and hard work: Gluten Free Eating. In researching for an article I'm writing on eating gluten free, I came across Shelley Case and her amazing book. It really is a must read if you have any questions about gluten, where it can be found, how to avoid it in foods you wouldn't think of, and the list goes on. If you have a gluten sensitivity or celiac disease, this book is going to be very helpful for you. Do you have a favorite gluten free recipe you'd like to share? Please leave it here in the com...

Working as a personal trainer, and also working with rehab clients, I see a LOT of shoulder injuries. Most are related to car accidents and affect the rotator cuff . The muscles of the rotator cuff include: Supraspinatous, Infraspinatous, Teres Minor and the Subscapularis.  Other muscles play a large role in the functioning of the rotator cuff including the Serratous Anterior, Rhomboids and Trapezius. There are a variety of injuries associated with your rotator cuff; they may include: Bursitis Tears Overuse injuries Tendonitis Scapular Winging                      Video of Scapular winging If you feel pain when you use your shoulders, or when you are doing a motion over and over including overhead lifting/pressing/pulling, weakness on lifting or decreased range of motion, you may have a rotator cuff injury. Getting help sooner rather than later is essential; wait to long and you may end up with more probl...

I love Oxygen magazine for their recipes! Most are high in protein, which is great, but they always have something "sweet" to add to your meal. Here's a recipe for one brownie:  http://www.oxygenmag.com/nutrition/sinfully-clean-chocolate-brownie/ Looks good! I haven't made it yet but will definitely try it out soon. Most brownie recipes are high in sugar and fat, but not this one!

A client of mine was chatting to me about nutrition, and asked "Which is healthier, chicken fat or fat from cheese?" Well, chicken fat is animal fat, but technically, so is cheese as it comes from cows milk (we're talking about dairy cheese. 100 grams of chicken meat contains approximately 9 grams of fat , and it's high in l inoleic acid. 100 grams of American cheese (varying types) has 32 grams of fat . There are many types of cheese, some having higher amounts of fat than others. According to :  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3033/The-good-cheese-guide.html ;  Cheddar Per 100g: calories 412, fat 34.4g (saturates 21.7g), calcium 720mg CHEDDAR is one of the highest-fat cheeses, which is bad news considering it's also one of our favourites. However, it is a great supplier of calcium and provides respectable quantities of zinc. Orange Cheddar is simply white Cheddar with added orange colouring. Obviously cheese is not the best c...

Brownies...yum. Fattening, sugary and full of white flour! Not these ones... If you are watching your weight and are trying to stay away from wheat, here's the recipe for you! These paleo brownies are moist, delicious, and best of all, high in protein and have NO sugar! Sweetened with a bit of honey and I used cacoa nibs instead of chocolate chips, these will satisfy your "sweet tooth" but not have your body craving sugar as it might following a traditional brownie. Check out this recipe for paleo brownies and tell me what you think! Eating well doesn't have to be boring and stale; you can still enjoy lots of great things in different combinations then you might be used to.

Perseverance and motivation hard at work here! My amazing client of two years just loves lifting heavy, and wanted to keep going on the pulley row. Last week we did 80lbs, then 90 and she wanted to try 100. She just kept going for it. Today she said, let's try 110, how about 120? Eventually she said, let's try 130! She did a set of 12 reps after already doing her other three sets at the above weights. She continues to amaze me with her strength and hard work. She was so pleased with her success! Way to go!

My Favorite exercise...the Burpee! Great to include in a HIIT workout. Skip the 60 minute treadmill session and 50 minutes on the rowing machine after. Long cardio sessions can give you results sure, but shorter INTENSE intervals can get you the SAME results in LESS time spent. Wow, get fit faster in less time? Sounds good. Now if you're like many people I know and see all the time at the gym, you might like reading casually on the bike or stairclimber as you're exercising. Heck, I'm guilty of that too; some days I really want to "relax" while I work out. Great for a cool down, but if you want to torch calories, burn fat and create MORE mitochondria ( the powerhouse of your cells), you want to work out FAST and SHORT and HARD. High Intensity Interval Training will get you the same results in a shorter period of time, according to research studies like the one done at McMaster University. According to the research study: A practical model of HIT i...