A major part of Mountain Trek’s Program is Exercise. We don’t get enough of it today in our urban lifestyle.

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Abandon the Heels for a Heath Retreat

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Cynthia Dial Alpine Lake

Cynthia Dial shares her health retreat vacation experience at Mountain Trek

Full disclosure:  I was a daily walker, not a hiker.

 

Give me a pair of Jimmy Choo’s with 4 ½ inch heels and the directive to cross Manhattan’s Midtown and consider it done.  But put me in a pair of hiking boots and I’m out of my element… would I be able to keep up, or would I be the “one” out of her league?

The bottom line is I needed a tune-up and was ready to graduate from morning walker to all-day hiker.  However, a statement on the spa’s site sealed the deal: “If you can climb four flights of stairs without stopping and walk on undulating ground for a minimum of two hours, you can do this program.” Sold.

Here, my friends, are the details…

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

Battling the Winter Blues with Exercise

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Fight off the winter blues with exercise

Maybe the ground squirrels and the bears and other hibernating animals have the right idea!

When the cold, dark days of winter come upon us they crawl into their dens, their body temperature, heart rate and metabolic rate lower and they wait for spring. Like these animals, some people feel like burrowing, too, and react with the “winter blues” as it is commonly known or professionally as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

The winter blues, or SAD, is a disorder that causes people who normally have good mental outlooks to experience some depression symptoms or lethargy among other symptoms come winter time.

Since burrowing in isn’t realistic, and as Mountain Trek advocates…we want to RAISE our metabolism, not lower it to keep our weight and Vitality in check.  One way to help battle this seasonal mood change, whether SAD is confirmed or not, is to EXERCISE.

When you exercise, a number of positive things happen, including the release of chemicals called endorphins.  These chemicals are manufactured in the pituitary gland of your brain, in the spinal cord, and many other parts of your body, and they do a variety of things, from helping reduce pain to inducing a feeling of calm and well-being.

It also triggers a euphoric feeling, which in runners has been known as the “runner’s high”.  This euphoria is thought to help balance the tendency of seasonal low mood states and even depression.

When people are in low mood states, they sometimes use food to try to boost their mood, which can lead to overeating and weight gain, further exacerbating the situation.  This is another reason why exercise is a better strategy to not just boost mood, but to be tangibly pro-active.

Another spin-off effect that exercise has is that it increases the ability of your muscles to store carbohydrate energy in the form of glycogen.  You have no doubt noticed that athletes seem to have boundless energy, and that is in part, due to the reserves of stored energy in their bodies.

Those who exercise more will tend to not be as lethargic, especially in the winter months.

So GO FOR IT, commit to some form of exercise 5 days of the week.  Some suggestions: 

  • Go outside for a brisk walk, rollerblade, snowshoe, or ski (seek the sunlight’).
  • Practice Yoga; this will help move stagnant energy, stimulate the endocrine system and help combat the winter blues.
  • Go for HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workouts that will energize you by releasing the endorphins.

The way to keep yourself coming back for more is to realize that exercise makes you feel good!

Happy trails.

Cathy Grierson, Fitness Director, Mountain Trek 

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Tabata Training: The 4 Minute Miracle

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woman sprinting training on a track

If you’re thinking you’re legs are about to fall off, and sucking wind like crazy, signs are you’re doing a Tabata workout correctly. You may be wondering why anyone would intentionally do that to themselves, but there is a reason that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a go-to workout. 

This Japanese exercise import is super effective and super hard! Tabata is the name of the Japanese researcher who discovered a way to increase both anaerobic and aerobic pathways at the same time. It’s an excellent training program. It fits across all training disciplines, for athletes and beginners looking to increase their VO2max and lose fat quickly. To read the whole study, check out this article published by the National Center for Biotechnology.

How to do a HIIT Workout

It’s simple! After warming up, choose a maximum intensity exercise and perform it in the following manner:

  1. For 20 seconds, do as many reps as possible of your maximum intensity exercise. Or run/bike as hard as you can–with 110% output.
  2. Rest for 10 seconds.
  3. Repeat seven more times for a total of 4 minutes.
  4. Cool down and stretch.

Yes, it’s short, but you have to go ALL OUT to get the big benefits.

Getting Started with Tabata/HIIT

Choose the Right Exercise or Movement

Tabata can be done with any exercise, but the best exercise options are those that use a large number of muscles. Examples include bicycle sprints, squats, jumping rope, mountain climbers, push-ups, row machine, or running on a mini-tramp or treadmill. Start with the one you’re comfortable with.

Watch the Clock

Get a timer. Many apps are available for your iPhone, iPod or a gymboss works great.

Be Your Own Cheerleader

Get the right mental attitude; a positive mantra that will get you through it!

Increase your weight or intensity if you are able to complete each round without reaching MMF (momentary muscular failure). 

A ten-second break is a ten-second break! Ten seconds is not watching a video, talking to the cute girl on the bike, talking to a friend, then doing the next set. If you cheat, you’re only cheating yourself out of reaping the rewards of this intense workout.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

Exercise Doesn’t Do Depression

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ThenExercise to avoid depression

It is no secret – regular exercise is not only a vital contributor to fitness and health but is the key to boosting mental health. The evidence clearly shows that exercise is a magic bullet in combating illness in all areas of our being; physical, mental, and emotional.

At Mountain Trek we know how exercise contributes to fitness and weight loss – we’ve built our program around it. We’ve also been witness to the stress release and mood elevation experienced with every guest that comes through the Mountain Trek program.

Prescriptions vs. An Active Life

There is a growing backlash against looking for a cure to depression in a prescription bottle alone. With new research showing that antidepressants can actually cause depression, many are turning to natural and holistic solutions. Dr. Peter Breggin, a Harvard-trained psychiatrist points this out in his article on antidepressants:

It has been apparent for many years that chronic exposure to SSRI antidepressants frequently makes people feel apathetic or less engaged in their lives, and ultimately more depressed.

With antidepressants being the second most prescribed group of drugs in America, there is a pressing need to reclaim our natural birthright of health and vitality another way.

Studies show that exercising, in conjunction with anti-depressants produces better results than medication alone. As a preventive measure, or as a management strategy in conjunction with prescription medication, exercise deserves a closer look as a better solution to combating depression.

So what happens during exercise to shift your mood and outlook on life? Besides obvious benefits to the rest of your body, let’s take a look at what happens in the brain.

The Science Behind Exercise and Happiness

Exercise causes a variety of chemical reactions that help with everything from improving your memory to your mood, and to get better sleep – naturally. Exercise also:

  • Rebuilds and generates new neurons resulting in increased brainpower
  • Enhances mood and resistance due to endorphins
  • Slows aging and improves cognitive ability in seniors

Essentially, depression negates the brain’s ability to adapt by limiting the ability of neurotransmitters (such as dopamine and serotonin) to communicate throughout the brain. Then, your brain gets locked into a loop of self-loathing and also loses the flexibility to work its way out of the hole. Exercise counters all that by boosting the production of BDNF (brain-developed neurotrophic factor); which is a protein that helps neurotransmitters perform their function. This, in turn, helps people emerge from their depressed state of mind.

How to Start Curbing Depression Through Exercise

The best part is it doesn’t take much to produce BDNF protein and start curbing those depressed feelings. One simple solution is to go for a walk in nature. When surrounded by fresh air while moving your body has a two-fold effect of clearing the mind and strengthening it. In Japan they call it Shinrin-yoku or “Forest Bathing” and studies have proven 50 minutes in nature helps to lower cortisol and increase dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin levels. (For more about the effects of being outdoors on your psyche, check out a book called Your Brain on Nature by doctors Eva Selhub and Alan Logan.)

There are other exercises you can do anywhere and you don’t even have to think about going to a gym. In fact, here are five full-body exercises you can do right now.

So try on a few easy exercises, like walking up and down one flight of stairs, and treat your brain to some self-esteem and mood enhancement!

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia and featuring daily sunrise yoga and night-time restorative yoga, will help you unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress, anxiety, and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

The Silent Thief

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You have heard it called “the silent thief”.  You remember a friend whose mother or grandmother was never the same after breaking her hip because of it.  You may even have been told that you are at risk yourself.

It is osteoporosis, a condition in which bones become thin and filled with holes (hence the “porous”), making them weaker and more prone to fracture.  Osteoporosis is called the “silent thief” because bone is lost with no signs.  You may not know that you have osteoporosis until a strain, bump, or fall causes a bone to break.  Approximately one in four women and one in eight men are at risk of developing osteoporosis once they are over 50 years of age.  More than 2 million Canadians are currently living with osteoporosis.

What to do? In the world of osteoporosis risk, there are things that you can change and things that you can’t.  Know the risk factors: http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/bone/Osteoporosis/osteoporosis_ff.asp, address the things that you can change, don’t sweat the things you can’t and pursue a lifestyle that supports bone health.

One element of a lifestyle that supports bone health is physical activity just like we emphasis during our boot camp retreat here at Mountain Trek.  Use it or loose it is our adage.  Bone is living tissue that remodels itself continually.  As we go about our day, our bones are being gradually broken down and rebuilt by our bodies.  How strong a bone is built depends in part, on how strong it needs to be.

Bones that have to carry a load stay stronger, longer.  If you do not subject your bones to the stress of weight-bearing activities, you will gradually lose bone mass.  Just ask an astronaut.  In the weightlessness of space, astronauts can lose as much bone density in one month as postmenopausal women lose in one year.

Rate of loss may be slower here on earth, but the same rule applies: if you don’t use your bones, they won’t stay strong.

So don’t let the thief in get our there and play.  Seek activities that put stress on the bones; this encourages the body to lay down new bone during the remodeling process.  Some of these activities include:

HIKING

RESISTANCE/WEIGHT TRAINING

YOGA

CIRCUIT TRAINING

DANCING

TENNIS

WALKING

CYCLING

Happy hiking….Cathy

The Health Benefits of Snowshoeing

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Group of People Snowshoeing Through Winter Landscape

When winter rolls around we often get into the headspace that we cannot go outside. It’s cold, it’s wet, we’ll get sick – but nothing could be further from the truth. Here at Mountain Trek we’ve employed snowshoeing as our main fitness component for the winter because quite simply, it’s good for you, it fun, and best of all it’s outside.

Snowshoeing can change your entire relationship with winter, exercise outside helps in alleviating common depression and replacing it with a healthy and wholesome alternative to visiting the gym. Here, we’ll lay out just some of the health benefits of snowshoeing.

Burn Calories

Snowshoeing provides the aerobic workout that you get from running, hiking, or biking; except with snowshoeing, you can actually burn more calories per hour than running. This is because you lift your legs much higher, and must work through more resistance when you’re snowshoeing versus when you’re running. Depending on the difficulty of the terrain, the speed with which you are walking, and the depth of snow, you can burn between 400 and 900 calories per hour!

Build Muscles

Much like running, your quads, hamstrings, and calf muscles will all reap the benefits of your snowshoeing workout. Throw in a set of poles and your back, arms, and shoulders receive a great workout as well. Not to mention uneven ground also works your stabilizer muscles and core, making this a complete full-body workout. The repetitive movement will build strength in these areas, so be sure to stretch and drink plenty of water afterward!

Low Impact

Beyond that, snowshoeing provides a low impact workout that’s easy on the knees. This is because snow acts like a cushion, absorbing shocks and bumps. One of the greatest advantages of snowshoeing is that anyone can do it at any age. Grandparents and grandkids, families, walking clubs can become snowshoe walking clubs in the winter. It’s amazingly versatile and accessible.

Snowshoeing is an enjoyable activity on rural trails and in urban settings. The general rule of thumb is: if there’s snow, you can snowshoe. There’s nothing quite like exploring your local neighborhood or park after a big snowstorm. Go during the day or strap on a headlamp and go exploring after dark in the deep silent white. Take a look at some other ways to stay active during the winter months.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

The Good News Is…

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Hiking The AlamoAs hikers it’s pretty obvious how important our knees are to us. Everything from proper hiking posture to using trekking poles to strength training, helps to keep knees healthy and ensures our ability to hike for many years to awe inspiring peaks and places.

It was affirming to read the article from the American Council of Sports Medicine, which provides strong evidence that physical activity is beneficial to knee joint health.

As it turns out, exercise affects each part of the knee differently, which helps explain why there have been conflicting reports for so long.

Happy knees like to move so keep getting those 10,000 steps in a day and do your strength training. Spring and hiking season are just around the corner!

Cross Training 101

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Cross Training 101You may consider yourself to be in better than average shape (after all you are a Mountain Trek Veteran). Now at home as part of your integration plan you’ve been hiking 3 times a week in close by local parks. Some friends come into town for the holidays and you decide to go biking. No problem, you’re in great shape, right? Wrong. After a day on the bike you feel like you’ve been run over by Santa’s sleigh and all his reindeer. What’s going on?

You may be in great shape, for the sort of exercise you do routinely, in this case hiking. But if that’s all you do, day after day, you may be setting yourself up for injury or mental burnout and that is not a good way to stay fit. What can help prevent injury and burnout? Cross training.

Cross training is a great way to condition different muscle groups, develop a new set of skills, and reduce boredom that creeps in after months of the same exercise routines. Cross training also allows you the ability to vary the stress placed on specific muscles or even your cardiovascular system. After months of the same movements your body becomes extremely efficient performing those movements and it limits the amount of overall fitness you possess and reduces the actual conditioning you get while training; rather than continuing to improve, you simply maintain a certain level of fitness. Cross training is also necessary to reduce the risk of injury from repetitive strain or overuse.

One of my favorite ways to cross train is cycling.  I choose this for several reasons:

1.  It’s fun!

2.  Can be done outdoors or indoors (so if the weather is inclement; I have NO EXCUSE!)

3.  Benefits cardio system and I get a fat flush if I go hard enough (40 minutes, 6.5 – 8.5 perceived rate of exertion, can’t talk easily!!)

4.  Reduces exercise boredom.

5.  Reduces the risk of injury.

What exercises would you like to make up your cross training routine?

Cardiovascular Exercise:

  • Hiking
  • Running
  • Swimming
  • Cycling
  • Dancing
  • Zumba
  • Aerobox
  • Rowing
  • Stair Climbing
  • Rope jumping
  • Skating (inline or ice)
  • snowshoeing
  • Skiing/snowboarding (downhill, cross country)
  • tennis / basketball / other court sports

Strength Training:

  • Calisthenics (push ups and crunches and pull ups)
  • Free Weights
  • Machines
  • Tubing and Bands
  • Flexibility(stretching, yoga)
  • Speed, agility, and balance drills
  • Circuit training, sprinting, plyometrics and other forms of skill conditioning

With cross training, you can do one form of exercise each day, or more than one in a day. If you do both on the same day, you can change the order in which you do them.

Exercise can strengthen the cardiovascular system, bones, muscles, joints, reduce body fat and improve flexibility, balance and coordination. But if you want to see all of these benefits, you’ll need to start cross training. What better time to start than now? I hear your friends have taken up skiing!!!!

Cathy, Mountain Trek Fitness Director

“Strict Style Is Still King”

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I have been watching some of our guests in the gym of late and often detect and correct a very common practice involving the use of free weights, specifically dumbbells where they swing their arms freely with fast, loose movements.  So how important is proper form when using free weights?

Back in the early 1980’s (yes, I know I am dating myself) an article entitled “Strict Style is Still King” appeared in one of the more popular fitness magazines.  Truer words have still never been spoken.  While you should be using strict style in all your exercises, it’s absolutely crucial with free weights.  Machines are a bit more forgiving and will allow a small degree of looseness; free weights however, demand that you pay total attention to technique.

When performing an exercise, you change direction at two points: the top and the bottom.  If you train with fast, loose style, you’ll be using your joints as springs when you change direction.  Sudden, explosive movements are likely to lead to injury.

Perform all of your exercises with solid technique not only for safety but for effectiveness, keeping bouncing or jerking movements to a minimum.  Always lift and lower weight at the same rate and keep it slow and controlled.  ENGAGE YOUR CORE (use your breath as your trigger, lift the pelvic floor, contract your abdominals, shoulders back and down) to promote strong posture and protect you lower back.

Happy lifting, over and out….Cathy