Word Out 2014TEEN SUMMER READING

Exercises come in all shapes and sizes: Final words of encouragement from Florida

Hello everyone, thanks for hanging with me all summer! It's been great and I really appreciate the amount of people following my little space of the internet.

Hopefully this space has been an encouragement to you to get out there and get active. There is a world of possibilities out there and I just want to stress that you don't need to be a super athlete or a hardcore enthusiast to get into a sport or activity.

Most of you have been commenting that what I do looks super fun but it's way too hard or intimidating for you but I would encourage you by saying that it's not the case! 

Look at Tough Mudder for example. Tough Mudder was arguably the pinnacle of my summer workout schedule and I have already laid out to you in great detail how difficult it was to finish that course. 

Along the way to the finish line I met so many different people from different walks of life. Sure there were your fitness competitors, your athletes and your runners but along the way I also saw heavier people, the elderly and the generally unfit climb their way up and down that mountain.

Exercises come in all shapes and sizes: The Tough Mudder Review

Well we did it. Ladies and gentlemen of the internet I am proud to tell you that we actually did it. It was tough and tiring and the weather was completely miserable but we survived. 

For those of you following my posts, I promised a recap of the day so this will likely be a lengthy entry.

First and foremost it is definitely fair to say that Tough Mudder was TOUGH. 

We got to Mount St. Louis at 9am and the computer crashed so all of us waited in line for over an hour in the chilly morning rain before we were able to get through the gates into the mudder village. 

From there we stowed our gear, said goodbye to our friends who came to support us and headed over to the starting gates.

Exercises come in all shapes and sizes: It's finally here...

Ladies and gentlemen of the internet, the dreaded week has finally arrived. 

TOUGH MUDDER TORONTO 2014 is this weekend!

For those of you who are new to my little corner of digital space, I have attached a YouTube link so you know what I'm going on about. 

Anyways that being said, this is the week where all of my training and preparation will hopefully pay off. Otherwise I am going to sink miserably into the icy cold waters of the Arctic Enema. 

I have started to tone down my workouts leading up to Saturday and I am also going camping from Wednesday to Friday so this week is going to be all about resting and stretching. 

So from now until race day I will be practicing yoga and trying to get as loose and ready as possible for the grueling assault. 

Exercises come in all shapes and sizes: The Long Weekend edition

Hey internet friends, happy long weekend to all of you. I am hoping you are all out there enjoying the sun or spending time with friends and family.

I am up at the cottage this weekend so I will be blogging about my favorite ways to get active over a vacation weekend. 

Keeping your workout together during a holiday is no easy task as you are often away from home or your gym is closed or [insert family function] etc...

Because of this, many people often decide to take a break from their workout schedules to enjoy their vacation. 

For those of you who insist on getting in a workout even when crunched for time, I have a few things that I like to do when I am away on vacation. 

Exercises come in all shapes and sizes: Martial Arts

Hello people, this week I am going to be talking about martial arts and fitness. I recently whipped through the first two books of Wesley Chu's Tao series: The Lives of Tao and The Deaths of Tao.

This is an awesome little series that I wish I came across earlier as it would have definitely earned a spot on my Old Souls list. It is a perfect blend of action and comedy. 

The premise of the novel is that there is a civil war happening on earth between two factions of stranded, gaseous aliens who can only survive on earth by inhabiting humans. Usually their regular vessels are hand-picked and raised to be ultimate fighting machines. A desperate emergency however leaves Tao no choice but to inhabit the next human in the immediate vicinity. 

Unfortunately for Tao, that human happened to be Roen Tan. An overweight, unathletic computer programmer who is desperately lacking in confidence and self-esteem. Needless to say, Tao eventually whips Roen into fighting shape, but the process to get there was quite entertaining. 

This is a great read if you're looking for something fun with a little secret agent type stuff mixed into it. 

Exercises come in all shapes and sizes: The Water Edition

Hello everyone, this week's entry is coming to you via Niagara Falls, where I am currently sitting at the top of a gigantic water slide. I am off today and so I am spending some time with friends and family at the waterpark. So since I'm currently sitting next to a 1,000 gallon bucket of water, I thought this would be the perfect week to talk about one of my favorite summer (canadian winter) fitness activities. 

I love to surf. Years ago some friends and I were down in Florida for a few weeks and we decided to pick up surfing to kill some time. Turns out we were hooked and we have not stopped since. 

Exercises come in all shapes and sizes: The secret to ultimate fitness

Hello to all my e-fitness followers out there. Today I am going to be talking about one of the most vital yet most often ignored training secrets out there. That great big secret is: Rest.

I have been pushing myself really hard for a few months and earlier last week I had absolutely nothing left in the tank. I was sore, I was tired, I had headaches and I just felt sluggish in general.

So I took the hint from my body and decided to take a week off. Now to add a little bit of context for anyone who is not quite sure why people do not like rest days, when you are training for a goal or competition, rest days are one of the most dreaded days on the calendar. They are incredibly important but often overlooked components of a successful workout program. Especially when we start to make progress with our goals, we are loathe to stop, thinking we will lose our stride. 

Exercises come in all shapes and sizes: Running, Soccer and World Cup Predictions

Hello to all the people out there who read my posts, this week I'm going to be talking about alternatives to running. Running is arguably one of the most popular fitness activities on the planet. It is also completely free to do, which makes it a great activity for anyone to take up. I respect runners because running is hard and it requires true dedication and mental toughness. That being said, and you are probably going to hear me say this more than once over the summer, I do not enjoy running at all!

Now to clarify, I do run when I'm training for events and I have done several 5k races in the past. Given that Tough Mudder is approximately 20km long, I would be foolish not to run. The difference for me is that I tend to view running as a necessary evil. As a heavier person, it just takes that much more effort to move myself. When I run, the only thought that loops in my head is

"When can I stop?" 

Exercises come in all shapes and sizes: The Obstacle Course

Hello digital friends, I thought that this week would be a good time to put my blog into perspective so you can understand what I'm blogging about and why. At the end of the summer I will be participating in an obstacle filled endurance race called Tough Mudder. This race is absolutely brutal on the body. I'm talking about 18-20km of mud, fire, hills and barbed wire which translates into a course that takes anywhere between 4-6 hours to finish.

Now naturally, physical fitness is a big component of the race but given it's length and the obstacles you face, a significant amount of focus and mental endurance is also required. That is why this summer I have chosen to blog about exercises of all shapes and sizes. 

You guys can follow me every week as I prepare to accomplish this crazy goal. 

My questions for those of you out there this week are:

Have any of you ever done something similar before?

Does anyone else think this is pretty cool or do you think, as my mother puts it, "Let me get this straight, you're paying money to torture yourself?"

Your Recommendations

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