Latest blog entries

Navigating Minefields; Tricky but Doable

blog@coastalfitness.ca (Ryan) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:07:57 +0000

“When walking a minefield follow the bigger footprints that made it to the other side.” – Duncan Harrison

Why is this applicable to fitness, health and nutrition? The premise is simple; someone has made it to where you want to go. So why not follow the path? We set goals a month ago to ‘be more active’, ‘lose 10 lbs’, get stronger... etc. Well, a number of weeks have passed and personal willpower is waning and now you have a choice. Justify your jumping off the bandwagon or find the successful path to the other side.

I reflect on my early twenties as a period of time where all of a sudden my parents became magically wise again. As it turns out, I am not the only one to have experienced this phenomenon. While I scrambled to glean as much info as I could from my newly discovered fount of knowledge, I quickly realized that there were many other areas of life that I was headed towards that others in my circle had traveled before and were successful. Now, I understand general self help books and solution based information is abound in print, on the internet and via seminars. While all are good and I frequently read and attend, what I have found most beneficial is to ask questions of someone who is already in my circle and knows me. One of my favourite questions over coffee usually is “tell me something in 10 minutes that took you 10 years to learn.” This usually gives me enough time to harvest one golden nugget from that person’s experience that I can apply and avoid a pitfall myself. What I have found particularly interesting, is the fact that because the person you are speaking to knows you, they either subconsciously or consciously, (doesn’t matter to me) gear the knowledge bomb to something that is applicable to you. So great! Using this method I have in mere hours gained personal insight into things that would have taken me years to solve on my own or even read about from general sources.

At Coastal Fitness being experts in fitness and nutrition in Langley, is what we do; we find out who you are, what makes you tick, and what ‘minefield’ so to speak, you are walking in. In short, we get in your circle. Whether it be nutritional pitfalls or exercise ruts, we have mapped them out successfully and provide the specific individiual footprints (answers) to follow. Note that I said, we can provide the footprints, you still have to walk, we provide solutions, not effort. Time to start walking.

Christmas, Fitness and Charity

blog@coastalfitness.ca (Ryan) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 04:18:04 +0000

With the holidays about to spill over I thought it was time to relate a few items that are important this time of year.

I am not going to give one of the ra ra speeches about how to ovoid overeating and drinking or how to not offend you mother in-law.....again. What I am going to do is talk about being active over the holidays and more importantly being charitable.

Core Values

blog@coastalfitness.ca (Ryan) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 06:11:58 +0000

We believe that a company’s core values should define who they are and uphold a standard that must always be met. We have worked hard to develop these to not only write them on paper but allow them to define Coastal Fitness as a whole. These values have allowed this business to thrive in a less than ideal financial market and are something that we feel should be a public symbol of who we are and what we stand for. We realize that some of the values may seem to overlap, but have been left separate as we feel it necessary to recognise them on their own.

FMS Review and Reasoning

blog@coastalfitness.ca (Ryan) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 19:00:25 +0000

The Coastal Fitness staff recently attended a conference/seminar in Seattle, Washington. Here is a little background as to why we chose to go and few of the benefits of what we learned in becoming FMS(Functional Movement Screen) Certified.

Setting Goals; Let's Get Smart

ryan_jobs@hotmail.com (Admin) — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 17:56:22 +0000

Well with the ‘off season’ among us in most major sports, now as strength coaches the real work can get done and there is no better time to talk about goal setting. Whether you are an elite athlete or someone wants to lose few pounds you need to set goals, period. It is how one goes about setting their goal(s) which is crucial for achieving them. I suggest people use the SMART acronym when setting their goal(s).

Tomorrow Never comes

blog@coastalfitness.ca (Ryan) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 17:33:30 +0000

Tomorrow. What does this word mean to you? For some it means opportunity, many procrastinate until tomorrow,for others it has worry, yet there are those who think tomorrow is a fairy tale. I fall into the latter category.

A plan is the bridge to your goals

blog@coastalfitness.ca (Ryan) — Mon, 30 May 2011 02:09:28 +0000

A Coastal Fitness team member recently submitted a new blog post on goal setting. (To be posted soon). This is a very important step for all of us who are looking to make changes with our body or even just to stay healthy over the long term. I got to thinking as I was reading it over, that there was something missing, not in the article itself but in the whole idea. Something that was integral to the success of reaching said goal. I thought to myself, what a great learning opportunity this was, a way that I can improve as a trainer. I realize that while both long and short term goal setting is vital for client’s success; the action steps to get there are actually ‘the plan’.

Fat Loss; Its time to face facts!

blog@coastalfitness.ca (Ryan) — Fri, 06 May 2011 23:20:49 +0000

With summer’s inevitability we thought it appropriate to write a quick blog update on fat loss. I mean, really, who wants the stuff....? This post will shed light on some generally accepted fat loss methods that simply just don’t work; but more importantly what does. Firstly, I would like to thank Alywn Cosgrove for providing the muse for this post. Seeing him speak at a Perform Better conference recently was nothing less than eye opening and inspiring. My hope is that the research presented will put an end to your fruitless fat loss methods. You can achieve significantly more in less time than you thought.

Running with Knee Pain? Let's Fix it.

ryan_jobs@hotmail.com (Admin) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:08:17 +0000

We recently finished a talk with a group of runners training for the Run for Water at Peninsula Runners in Abbotsford. This is a summary of what we spoke about.

It is well documented that one of the most common areas of injury in runners is the knee joint. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of balance in the muscles that stabilize the knee. For most runners they have strong/tight quadriceps and weak posterior chain muscles (hamstrings & glutes). These imbalances lead to knee problems. Using some simple exercises can help START you on the path correcting these imbalances.

Kids and Veggies? How?

kristine@coastalfitness.ca (Kristine) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 05:18:09 +0000

One of the most common questions I am asked is “How do you get your kids to eat their veggies?”

My first response would be “Do your children see you eat vegetables?” Most important is that you are setting a good example for your children and eating vegetables as well.

HIT Sessions

blog@coastalfitness.ca (Ryan) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 15:26:42 +0000

Coastal Fitness Presents:

HIT (High Intensity Training)

Sessions

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Time to take your conditioning to a new level!

Outstanding workouts with no eccentric movements (the soreness producing ones)

We have prowler pushes, sled drags, battle ropes, tire flips, sledge hammers, long rope pulls... you get the picture.

Outstanding equipment, put together with outstanding programming

and we will have your body moving faster, stronger, quicker and all while shedding fat faster than you can say ‘Prowler Flu’

Aside from our exclusive equipment and proven methodologies;

our sessions take place in the parking lot at Ellwood Park in Abbotsford (Just past the Judo Club)

Spots still open!

Session times are !

Tues @ 5:30 pm

Take advantage of the introductory promo price of $99 for 6 sessions (20% discount).

Click here to reserve your spot!

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Video Games for Fitness = Exergaming?

ryan_jobs@hotmail.com (Admin) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:20:38 +0000

Nearly every game system has a fitness game like the Wii Fit and EA Sports Active. The NPD Group tracks computer and video game sales in the United States. It reported in 2004 that:

Console and portable software sales: $6.2 billion
Console and portable hardware and accessory sales: $3.7 billion
PC game sales: $1.1 billion

With the already massive wellness/fitness/diet market worth well over $400 billion it’s no wonder the video game sector has tried to tap into that.

Tids & Bits: A review of things we like.

blog@coastalfitness.ca (Ryan) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 04:34:40 +0000

We are always asked about this product and that product,

“Well what do you recommend?” So in an effort to save our ever increasingly valuable breath we have created this list. So here is a little review of a few of the products that we use both personally and with our clients.

What's For Dinner

kristine@coastalfitness.ca (Kristine) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 06:38:03 +0000

Being a mom of two, working, keeping up the home and all the other things that come up each day, I understand how busy life can be.

The way I have brought some ease into our household and ensured that we are eating healthy, well balanced meals is to do some meal planning.

Sleep - The Underrated Resolution.

ryan_jobs@hotmail.com (Admin) — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 00:35:14 +0000

Lack of Sleep

Sleep has a huge impact on performance and health. I know from experience that most people do not get enough sleep over the course of the year because of work, family and school.

Dental insurance; the model of how NOT to take care of your fitness!

blog@coastalfitness.ca (Ryan) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 23:27:00 +0000

My wife has a great health insurance plan that includes regular visits to the dentist. A valuable asset that many covet. They pay pretty much 100% of all our visits as long as they fit into the ‘normal’ category; once a month whitening’s for the $1,000,000 smile are extra. Ok, so I’ll get right to it, I had a spot that had the very strong potential to become a cavity in the near future, so I book in to have a ‘preventative resin’ done so the cavity doesn’t happen. This is where things started to get a little squirrely.

Hangovers vs. A strong focus

blog@coastalfitness.ca (Ryan) — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 04:50:28 +0000

This week has been one of the best weeks professionally in the last year. Coming back from 2 weeks in Maui I had a tough week suffering from severe vacation hangover. Thankfully I am not the type of person to be overwhelmed by a down week.

I’ve heard you say it a thousand times; and how to never say it again.

blog@coastalfitness.ca (Ryan) — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 04:50:26 +0000

As the years of experience start to pile up there are certain things that one hears in certain situations over and
over. One of the ones I have been reminded of lately is ‘I don’t have time’. Whether the goal is more exercise, food preparation, self improvement reading, more sleep, etc, the excuse (yes, I said excuse) is 7 times out of 10, “I don’t have time”. This past year has given me perspective like no other.

Questions? You have 'em.... we can help.

ryan_jobs@hotmail.com (Admin) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 22:25:06 +0000

The fitness industry is very convoluted and often information that is out there is not applicable to your situation. What we are looking for here is your input.

Introducing the new Coastal Connection!

blog@coastalfitness.ca (Ryan) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 06:02:24 +0000

As you can see Coastal Fitness Services has a new face and new members, and with that there are many cool new features and content that will be coming in the next few weeks and months. The Coastal Connection will be your portal to all kinds of fitness related info, and if you are interested