If you want to grow old but maintain a youthful energy, an agile, strong body and a happy and healthy mind, you need to seek out struggle; purposeful challenge. It is my opinion that rather than searching for a fountain of youth, we need to climb the mountain of youth. The passive path to health and longevity seems doomed to produce half measures at best. Drugs like Ozempic, “slimming” teas (laxatives), statins, most supplements, certain surgeries and even some uses of insulin only act as temporary or illusory band-aids , The easy path, as it seems, is laden with issues and does nothing to actually bolster the body from decay. Contrary to what you may think though, our minds and bodies respond very favourably to stress (the right kind and within reason of course) and so If you make intermittent discomfort a priority, it’s possible you can stave off chronic illness and mental strife.
A frenzy of talk around food safety is currently buzzing around media outlets and across social media platforms. More awareness about the safety and nutrition of food should bolster our individual and communal health., right? Unfortunately many sources of information on food safety (wellness gurus, politicians and doctors with little to no nutrition, chemistry or policy background) seem to have agendas closer to deregulation and institutional distrust than they do on education and policy changes that make a difference. The guise often includes conspiracy to keep people sick for profit. Given the reality of free market, shareholder interest based capitalism, this is not hard to imagine. But imagining something does not make it real and deregulating our network of safeguards is a giant leap backwards in food safety. Increasing fear around food is particularly harmful to those who might struggle with health issues or those who are on a tight budget. Many of our Institutions have put in place processing practices to try and protect as many people as possible from food borne illnesses while increasing food availability. No one is saying that they are perfect or immune from corruption but these practices are still our best option in a globalized food market. An important example of such regulatory processes are the laws around pasteurization of milk and dairy products.
We have been providing science based programs for Montrealers for over 16 years. We have helped athletes improve performance, women optimize health during pregnancy, people overcome injury and thrive with physical disabilities and have helped hundreds of others go through their health and fitness goals.
We tend to lean into all or nothing statements, they appeal to our sense of simplicity ; “Good things always happen to me”, “I am never lucky”, “drugs are bad”. But the word drugs for example includes, marijuana, methamphetamine, metformin, Tylenol and psilocybin, Each compound being completely different and having wildly different affects on our bodies. In this small list alone we have the potential to relieve pain, alter consciousness, save a life or take one . Is there any real meaning in the statement “drugs are bad”?
I have been teaching self defence, in one form or another for about 30 years. Over that time I have whittled it down from an art to a system. The longer you teach martial arts the more you realize how narrow the scope of movements is that actually work.
You may have noticed the pendulum swinging with the new craze of huge protein consumption rates and big push to gain muscle mass. I came across one woman’s channel trying to convince every woman to bulk up – to go hard against the fear of it. Indeed I have had many women approach me over the past 2 decades for training and say that they don’t want to bulk up. And then you have loads of trainers, including myself that have for years tried to explain how hard it is to truly get bulky. But being aware that it’s difficult doesn’t mean you should or shouldn’t do it. It is not, though it would appear many would disagree with me, all good to get huge. There are consequences, amenorrhea being just one of them. But to get attention now, you have to sell the other end of the spectrum, now, instead of simply reassuring that bulkiness is not necessary and also very unlikely without massive changes and effort, we try and sell the bulk, be the bulk, Bulk Smash. Extremes sell but guess what, as always, the answer to most questions lies in the middle, close to our instincts and often less fun to talk about at a party.
Our philosophy page is often overlooked but it is important in knowing what you get when working with us. The following is more about who we are in general as trainers, researchers and individuals and less about what we are doing when designing training or nutrition programs. But it is that as well.
You can be overweight and still be healthy. You can eat a diet where 80% of your nutrition comes from nutrient dense whole foods and the rest may be processed or ultra processed foods and you will probably still be in pretty good health. Especially if you are adding regular intense exercise and moderating stress and have good sleep hygiene. You can also live this way and have small tweaks in one of these factors and begin to develop health issues. But what often happens is that the slightly overweight person tips over into obesity range and inevitably, the health risks begin to accumulate with no real warning signs. At some point, the accumulation of fat stores throws things out of balance and creates a state of inflammation. This is not an overnight process and so it often goes overlooked for way too long. I am all for being comfortable with how you look but I am more interested in all of us as a society moving towards preventative medicine and using signals like obesity to look for red flags elsewhere is important.
Ozempic and other GLP-1 receptor agonists are both controversial and incredibly popular. The popularity and controversy stems mostly from its efficacy as a weight loss drug but this is only one small part of the story. I think weight loss, as a topic is an emotional trigger for people and because of this, the logical fallacies of Internet-land begin to pop up. The utopian future where people don’t take these drugs to lose weight is far off, if at all possible and so I think it is worthwhile to offer some insight as to when and how to use these drugs,. It is also important to know that these drugs are multi-functional. They may offer people a lot of benefit when taken properly and while some people will always see it as a cop out, it is by no means a free lunch. If you take it as it is often prescribed you may be in for some real problems.
For new clients that start any time in June or July 2024 each person in your pair or trio will have a discounted rate for 6 months of training!
As a precision training studio we shy away from large group classes. There are benefits to working out in groups, some people need the camaraderie in order to maintain commitment, it can be very motivating to workout with others.
We do detailed physical evaluations for every client and 100% of the time the client needs foundational programming and tailored exercises for imbalances and/or goals specific to the individual. This is relatively impossible to achieve in a group setting.
Partnered training seems to allow for the best of both worlds. We get the motivation and healthy competition from training with a partner as well as enough attention from the trainer to prepare and assist with individualized programs. Most of the time we ask clients to come with their own partner. A friend or family member to increases the chances of maintaining accountability- plus it is difficult for us to find other trainees who have the same availability as you may have. Different fitness level between the pair is usually fine. If one of you has a significant injury or a very specific goal that requires a lot of attention then we suggest training individually.
DISCOUNT RATE –
- 35$ per person (3 people) – minimum one session per week
- 40$ per person (2 people) – minimum one session per week
Discount is running through July. New clients only and the rate will remain stable for 6 months.
If you have read anything I have written on plant based eating then you know I don’t think a strict vegan diet is sustainable, not if you want to truly be at your healthiest. But there is a way to thrive and limit your impact on animal life.
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