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Abby Bolton

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This month our member of the month is one of our own team members! Abby has been working with G&M at the front desk for 1 year now. Many of you know her already but what you may not know about her is how much she has accomplished in her fitness journey already. Here is her story:

Abby was always active in her childhood. She competed in gymnastics from ages 8 to 18 as well as in track and field through high school. But once her gymnastics career came to an end she knew she had to find something else to challenge her, keep her active and in shape.

In grade 10 Abby had a fitness class where she was introduced to weight training and was hooked. So naturally when gymnastics ended she transitioned into weight lifting and started working out consistently in the summer of 2016.

Her goal was to get stronger, beat her 1 rep max’s and just lift as much as possible. And then last summer she decided that she was going to pursue a new challenge and compete in Fitness. Her new goal had her switch from heavy lifting to more hypertrophy training. Fitness competitions combined her gymnastics background with her new found love for weight lifting and seemed like a natural fit.

In December 2017 she competed in her first competition coming in 1st place! Since then she has competed 3 more times claiming 2 more 1st place finishes and one 2nd place finish just a few weeks ago at the Toronto Pro Super Show.

Her next competition is coming up on August 4th at the Natural Canadian Pro Qualifier show in Toronto.

“My main goal is to get my pro card and compete at the Olympia whether that happens this August or it takes me a few years.”

Abby has had to overcome a few injuries, one shoulder injury that kept her from being able to lift weights for 3 months which set her back a bit. Also, she has had to learn how to manage her time efficiently between going to classes, studying, working and getting her workouts in.

“I am most proud of my 1st competition. I proved to myself that I have the discipline and commitment to push myself and my body.”

Abby also is grateful to see how many people have reached out to her and let her know that she has inspired them to get into fitness and working out.

Currently Abby is at Brock University going into her 3rd year of Kinesiology and hopes to pursue a career in the fitness industry helping others better themselves.

Abby’s Words of Wisdom:

  • Goal setting is huge. Make sure you set goals. They are what help you stay on track.
  • Be willing to put in the work. It will be worth it.
  • Don’t give up when it gets hard. That is when you see the best results, when you push yourself through the hard times.
  • Find a way to make fitness fun for you, and
  • Don’t be afraid to ask questions

“Thanks to the community at G&M Fitness for making this job fun and for all of your support!”

Congratulations Abby! So many huge accomplishments already! We are lucky to have you as part of our team. Good luck with your next competition and we look forward to seeing you on stage at the Olympia’s one day!

kate ostryhon-lumsden

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Kate has been self employed for 32 years and has always had a hectic schedule with a busy real estate business going from appointment to appointment. This caused her to put what she knew was important, her own health, on the back burner and feeling increasingly less fit.

Although Kate has a busy work life she has always been concerned about her health staying active walking, doing yoga, golfing and curling. She has also joined G&M twice in the past, once participating in step aerobic classes and the other time attending with a friend, but when her friend moved out of the area she stopped going. Again, work took priority and her health and fitness fell behind.

More recently, Kate’s daughter who works with her and Kate’s niece started with personal training at G&M Fitness.

“I finally realized that if they could work going to the gym into their life, so could and so should I!”

“My goal was to lose weight but also increase my strength.”

Kate says it was time to stop talking and thinking about getting to her ideal weight and start doing something consistently to get there. Kate has had this goal for probably 20 years she says but always felt like she was too busy to fit regular workouts into her schedule. She also felt like she didn’t really know what to do at the gym, how to use the equipment properly or what kind of routine to follow.

“Turning 60 gave me the wisdom to finally put my health and fitness as my #1 priority!”

Kate was getting frustrated with nuisance injuries and tired of being overweight. It was time for a change.

Since beginning the personal training program Kate now knows she can fit workouts into her schedule and treats it with the same importance as any other appointment.

“I love the feeling of accomplishment and time out from a hectic schedule. Many times I am rushing in for my training session but then know the next hour is just focused on one thing. I always leave feeling more calm and ready to continue my day. I now feel comfortable in the gym and know what to do.”

Kate has had great success. Over the last 4 weeks she is down another 4.5lbs and overall has dropped over 9% body fat since beginning!

“I do have a lot of people noticing that I have toned and lost weight. That is encouraging to me to stay the course!”

Kate is most proud of being able to stay the course and being consistent.
She also shot her best round of golf ever recently, a 94, and attributes that to her training program as well.

“I truly enjoy working out and have committed to continue with the 1 on 1 training program.”

Going forward Kate plans to add a third workout on her own each week outside of her 2 weekly personal training sessions and knows that it will help accelerate her goal.

“I have found a slow but steady weight loss so I know that I need to stay focused.”

Kate believes that had she not started her personal training program she would still be at the same point she was for the last 20 years… clothes not fitting well, feeling frustrated with her weight and having more nuisance injuries.

“Just get started. You are not too busy, you are not too old, just make the commitment to yourself and do it… not for weeks but as part of your life routine!”

Congratulations Kate on all of your success so far and creating time for yourself in your busy schedule! Your story is a huge inspiration. Keep up the great work!

STRENGTH TRAINING AND WEIGHT LOSS

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Do you want to dramatically increase your chances of weight loss success? Of course you do! Who wouldn’t? And while you are at it become stronger to do activities of daily living with more ease then ever? Yep! The answer to this is strength training.

We talk to a lot of people who are either struggling to lose weight or have hit a plateau in their weight loss but are afraid to incorporate strength training into their routine out of fear that it will make them gain weight. This is especially true with women.

Let me give you the run down on why we believe strength training is a MUST if weight loss is your goal. (We actually believe that strength training is a must no matter what your goal is but let’s focus on the goal of weight loss.)

Strength Training Increases Your Metabolism

Your metabolism is the amount of energy you burn throughout the day doing every day things. Getting ready for work, walking up and down stairs, getting up from the couch etc. Basically, it’s the amount of energy you use up outside of planned exercise. Muscle is metabolic tissue, meaning that it requires energy to work. When your muscle contracts, energy is spent. The more muscle you have and the more efficiently it works, the more energy you use up throughout the day. This in turn allows for better weight loss results. And the best way that I am aware of to increase muscle and its efficiency is through regular strength training.

Without Strength Training You May Actually Be Losing Muscle and Decreasing Your Metabolism

This is a big point. If you take the route of just dieting or dieting and doing cardio to get to your weight loss goals you could actually end up in a scenario where you could be doing more harm then good for your body long term. For every pound of weight loss, up to 25% of that could come from muscle loss. If you kept this up it would have the opposite effect on your metabolism then we want. Decreasing your muscle mass would also end up decreasing your metabolism, which then slows down your weight loss results. And what is the best way to combat this 25% muscle loss? Regular strength training of course! Strength training keeps the muscle stimulated and significantly decreases the chances of it getting broken down in the weight loss process. We want our weight loss from fat loss not muscle tissue!

Use Compound Exercises

Strength training itself burns quite a bit of energy, especially when you do it right and focus on using compound movements in your workouts. Compound exercises involve multiple joints. Think squats or push-ups versus a bicep curl or calf raise. These types of exercise recruit several different muscles which in turn burns more energy compared to any single joint exercise. Again, over time, this increase in energy expenditure adds up to better weight loss results.

How Often Should I Strength Train?

The minimum would be two times per week, ideally 3 times per week would be most beneficial. There are many different ways to structure your strength training program but however you do it just make sure that you are setting yourself up for success. If you only realistically have time for 2 sessions a week then plan for that. Don’t use a program that is set up for 5 days a week and then get frustrated with yourself because you were not able to complete all of the workouts. Consistency is the key and you want to set yourself up to stay consistent for the long haul.

Final Thoughts

One last big point is that for strength training to be effective, regardless of your end goal, it must be done with effort. You want to use enough resistance to cause what is called temporary muscle failure, meaning you couldn’t do another repetition while keeping proper form. And please make sure that you are performing the exercises correctly. Proper form is crucial to getting the most out of the exercise and to ensure that you do not get hurt.

If you have read this and you get it, great, now go out and get busy. If you are confused or still unsure of how to incorporate strength training into your routine or how to perform exercises properly, don’t hesitate to ask for help. That’s what we are here for! Schedule a free consultation with us to see how we can help you reach your health and fitness goals!

Making Exercise Work

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Let’s get clear on something. Getting and staying in good shape and in good health is work. The concept is simple, exercise a few days a week, eat better, move more, but make no mistake it is not easy.

Results are not immediate and that can really test us on our journey to better health and fitness. You can’t do a workout, wake up the next day and look in the mirror and see change. Like anything worth while, you have to stay at it, work at it over a long period of time and then once you achieve your goal, you still have to continue to work at it to maintain your achievement or you risk losing it and wasting all of that time and effort to get there.

To make this exercise thing work for you it has to become part of your lifestyle. The trick is to fit it in to your life but not have it take over your life where it becomes a burden. Here are a couple tips to help you achieve this.

Plan Ahead. If you treat exercise as something that is a nice to do when you have time you will never have time to do it. You have to plan ahead and schedule time for your workouts like any other appointment you have that you wouldn’t miss. Figure out what a realistic schedule is for you to stick to and schedule it. We recommend 3 days a week but if you can only fit in 2, that is ok too. Consistency is the key so whatever amount works for you. Remember that this is a lifestyle, not a quick fix. Working out 2 days a week for the rest of your life is much better for you and will give you much better long-term results then working out everyday for 2 weeks and then quitting because it is too much.

Keep it Short. Don’t Over Commit. This is in regards to your workout time. In and out in an hour or less should be the goal. You can do everything you need to do in that amount of time. You could even get a good workout in in 30 minutes if that is all you have. The point is to not make your workouts take up too much of your day, otherwise it becomes a burden on your schedule and you will skip it.

Whatever your goal is, whether it is weight loss, strength gain, better quality of life, the results don’t happen in a moment, they come over time. The longer you stay at it, the better the results. The members that we have seen have the most success seen it come over years, with some ups and downs along the way, but they were consistently staying at it and still are today. Nobody loses 80lbs in a month, or fixes joint pain from a couple of workouts. It does take time, but if you plan ahead and keep it short, it doesn’t have to take up too much precious time and you will be far better able to enjoy more time actively doing the things you want to, for as long as you want to, because you invested a few hours a week into yourself!  

Are We Making Things Too Complicated?

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Over the weekend I attended the Can Fit Pro 2019 Conference in Toronto. Here are a few of the takeaways:

  • Over 70% of our population is considered overweight or obese
  • 19% of the population has a gym membership
  • The average person consumes about 66lbs of added sugar per year
  • Sugar sweetened beverages are the main culprit when it comes to added sugar consumption, making up 47% of sugar intake. Next is sweets and snacks at 31% of sugar intake.
  • People who consume 2 or more sugar sweetened beverages per day have a 31% higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease and each additional sugar sweetened beverage increased risk another 10%

None of these statistics is really that surprising. We all know that as a population our health is declining and just by looking at this data we can attribute it to not being active enough and consuming too much sugar.

Look at how much of an impact just switching out sugar sweetened beverages for water can have on your health. For the average person that would cut sugar consumption in half!

Another observation I had while walking around the expo was that it seemed to me like everything new coming out in fitness is mostly made towards the already fit. For someone who was new to fitness, most of these gadgets are completely intimidating. It was intimidating for me and I have been around fitness my whole life! Maybe 80% of the population doesn’t exercise regularly because we have scared them off making health and fitness seem complicated with all of these machines, gadgets and electronics.

Let’s keep it simple.

  1. Get your heart rate up with some movement daily. Go for a walk, bike ride or some chores around the house. Make it a goal to move more then you sit.
  2. Eat well. Eat real food that is not processed as much as possible and keep portion sizes in check.
  3. Lift heavy weights 2 or 3 days a week.

Do those 3 things consistently and you have all the tools you need to be healthy.

No need to make it complicated!