Last week I wrote about the importance of creating STABILITY in your body, an often under appreciated aspect of our health and fitness. Why is stability so important? Strength without stability is like shooting a canon of a canoe. It is a recipe for disaster. If you want to read it, I have saved it on our website and you can read it here. This week I want to talk to you about an often overlooked aspect of our wellness. Something we take for granted until it is gone, MOBILITY. If you are tight you aren’t able to do all the things you used to do, and that doesn’t feel good. Some of the m ..read more

Last week I talked about combination of exercises that will help us delay the onset of chronic disease and death, while simultaneously maintaining our health span for as long as possible. Interested? How can you not be?? If your plan is to stick around as long as possible then you may as well feel as good as possible. You can(re) read last weeks email here to get the overview. One of the more surprising exercises I highlighted was stability training. When most of us think about cardio and resistance training for health, I want to encourage you to not forget about the type of fitness that make ..read more

Do you ever take time to reassess? A lot of us save that for New Years or perhaps a ‘big’ birthday, or even every September for some… I see great value in reassessing where we are and what we have been doing, and when I reassess I often think about outcome and what is the end result I want to achieve. When I was younger, the outcome tended to be much more imminent. The older I get, the longer I tend to look out. When at first the priority was what did I want to do at the end of the week, or semester, or year; now I tend to look further out. Like, what do I want to be like when I am 80? What do ..read more

After over 20 years coaching clients on how to move properly I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to start any fitness regime with enhancing our stability. Strength is importance, but stability training should come first. Why? Stability allows you to create the most force in the safest manner possible. By slowing down to focus on stability, you’ll learn how to control your body. It is essential to create stability in our shoulders and our hips but I always prioritize the core first. And one of the best ways to do that is a Bird Dog and also a plank pose. The plank pose is where yo ..read more

High Intensity Interval Training, otherwise known as a HIIT workout, relies on two different intensities. Very hard and very easy (recovery). The very hard is usually a result of intense, short bursts of movement, typically from compound exercises (moves that involve the movement of more than one joint at a time), followed by periods of full recovery or rest. What are the benefits of HIIT? In a nutshell, HIIT can: Increase VO2 max, cardiovascular fitness and stamina Increase muscle mass and fast-twitch fibres Increase speed, power, coordination and agility Regulate glucose levels  Improv ..read more

Last week I shared with you a formula that can be used to get a better understanding of why we tend to gain weight as we age….and our ‘metabolism’ was just one of many factors. I think, to date, that was the most popular post I’ve written. I got a lot of positive feedback on it so thank you for everyone that wrote, texted, commented in person etc. I loooove writing these newsletters, and getting feedback from you that you enjoy and get something out of reading them means the world to me. And so, I introduce the theme for this months newsletters… March is Nutrition Awareness Month and at RHF, w ..read more

I’m a bit torn about what the data is saying lately about women and their metabolism as they age. Most of us have come to believe that as we get older, our metabolism slows down and the fact that our jeans don’t fit anymore is just a fact of life. It’s the way it is. But guess what? Apparently that ‘s not true. All those incredible women that I have trained over the past 20 years who stayed fit and trim well into their older years? Apparently they weren’t anomalies. They weren’t genetically blessed. They were just consistent. The science is supporting these women and showing that as we hit our ..read more

Are you looking for a healthier chili recipe? One loaded with flavour and fibre and nutrients? We got you covered with this incredible recipe. Made with plenty of flavorful spices, lean ground turkey, protein packed black beans, and of course butternut squash.  Ingredients 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 pound ground turkey 1 small yellow onion, diced 4 cloves garlic, minced 2 dried bay leaves 2 tablespoons chili powder 1 tablespoon cumin ½ tablespoon dried oregano ½ tablespoon paprika (I use smoked paprika) 2 teaspoons salt ¼ teaspoon blac ..read more

My kids will be the first to tell you they don’t like white fish but when I served this the other night they couldn’t get enough of it. This baked fish is seasoned with garlic and oregano and is topped with a colourful mix of cherry red tomatoes, olives and red onions. And best of all, it is ready in 25 minutes from start to finish! 1 ½ lb white fish fillet such as cod or halibut, (1 to 1 ½ in thickness) salt and ground black pepper Extra virgin olive oil Juice of ½ lemon more for later 8 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved 3 ounces pitted olives,  ..read more

In order to maintain our health it is essential that we pay attention to the health of our gut. Which means we need to feed them a lot of fibre and supplement them with some friendly visitors on a regular basis. That is why I love adding kefir to my smoothies or my overnight oats. This probiotic rich drink is fully of protein and calcium, but also loaded with gut friendly bacteria. Ingredients 1/4 to 1/2 cup quick oats 1 scoop strawberry flavoured protein powder 3 cut up strawberries 1/2 cup kefir 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds Directions Blend the first four ingredients together and let sit in the frid ..read more