Stayfitanywhere’s Blog

So here it was.  Sunday, February 28th- the final day of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Today was to be quite the historic day as the Canada vs USA Gold medal hockey game was to be played out and the closing ceremonies, thereafter.

My day started at 9 am so I could get downtown to the Earls’ Paramount to meet up with my friends for the hockey game.  The bar was packed by 10:30 am and people were already on their second beer by 11.  I was not one of those individuals  I was supposed to be at the rehearsal compound by 1:30 pm, but the game went into overtime and I absolutely could not leave.  Once the magical Crosby overtime goal happened, I celebrated like crazy with everybody in the bar for 10 minutes and then walked down the joyous streets of downtown (high fiving everybody on the way) to get to the compound.

I showed up a little late, but that didn’t matter.  We still had more than enough time to prepare & get ready.  Once 6 pm came around, the hundreds of performers were all escorted across the street to the stadium and we took our positions.  The atmosphere felt electric and I felt very excited & proud to be there.  When our turn was up, we went ahead and performed our first task:  Zorb wrangling.  We pushed the zorbs up the ramp and onto the field of play.  Then we quickly went to our positions under the stage to get ready for our second task.  There were to be 4 Russian athletes to come out of the stage with us.  One of them was Alexander Ovechkin.  A few of us stopped by his scala to get photos & autographs.  It was a very cool moment.  We then quickly headed to our scala and Victor Pochenko (the figure skater) was waiting by ours.  We got his autograph & photo as well.

Then it was finally show time.  The Russian segment of the closing ceremonies began and we entered onto the stage with our flags.  The curtain lifted and we ran out to an electrifying and jam-packed BC place stadium and did our flag routine.  We were on stage for 30 seconds and then we exited and that was it!  We went immediately back to the compound to rendez-vous.  We all celebrated with Igor (our Russian choreographer) by taking a few photos and each downing a nice shot of Russian vodka!

After that, a party for the closing ceremony staff had been arranged at Fortune Sound Club.  So we all went there afterwards (still in our costumes) and drank and danced the night away.  It was a great way wind down from all the incredible excitement of the day and to put a final stamp on the Olympics. It was all so much fun and it will definitely be an experience I will never forget!

Happy Training! 

Andrew Burchell

Advanced Health & Fitness Specialist

aburchell@stayfitanywhere.com

We had our partners and the colour of our flags established.  Now it was time to go over the actual tasks that we were to do.  The first task was quite simple:  with our partners, we push the zorbs up the ramp and on to the field of play and exit.  Once this was completed we had a second role to perform. And this was where the flags would come in.  In our pairs, we were given a 12 metre long flag.  There were 3 different flags:  One was white with the reverse side bronze, another was blue with the reverse side silver, and the other was red with the reverse side gold.  My partner Doug and I had the Silver flag that flipped to blue.

So here was the sequence that we had to practice:  enter from the ’scala’ (stairs).  Line up facing your partner in groups of 6 people.  Enter the field of play.  Partner 1 holds the flag (me), partner 2 runs the flag (Doug).  Wave the flag.  Flip the flag.  Stretch the flag.  Flip the flag again.  And exit.  Over and over we practiced this sequence.  By the 3rd rehearsal, we pretty much had everything down pat.  And as soon as we had our first rehearsal in the stadium, we were golden.  But we had to keep showing up to rehearsals, not because we needed the practice, but because the choreographer needed to rehearse the sequencing and timing with all the other performers.

In the end, we had 7 rehearsals, from February 18th to the 27th.  5 were in the compound and 2 were in the stadium.  Most of the rehearsals were no more than 4 hours, but I really enjoyed them as it gave me a sense of really being a part of the whole Olympics in Vancouver.  Even the simple fact of walking every day through the Olympic grounds, past all the pavilions, and past all the security check-points was an experience in itself!

By the time Sunday, February 28th came, all we had to do was just show up and do it.  But not before attending the small matter of a Canada/USA Gold medal hockey game

Stay tuned for the 5th and final installment of ‘Wrangling Zorbs at the Closing Ceremonies’ next week!

Happy Training 

Andrew Burchell

Clinical Exercise Specialist

aburchell@stayfitanywhere.com

Soon after we entered the compound and watched all these Russian performers running around in the giant spherical zorbs, we were introduced to Igor.  Igor was the head choreographer for the Sochi segment of the closing ceremonies.  He gave us a quick run down of what stations to tune into for our headphones (so we could hear his directions through the mic) and what our roles would be.

Our first task was to divide ourselves up into 2 groups (36 of us in total) and then partner up.  My number was G27, so I was partnered with G28.  His name was Doug.  In our 2 groups, our job was to push the zorbs along a narrow corridor and then exit in a very orderly fashion.  This essentially, was simulating the job we would have to do at the closing ceremonies:  Pushing the zorbs up the ramp leading to the ‘field of play’ in BC Place Stadium.  We rehearsed getting ourselves lined up in our exact positions, walking together simultaneously, and exiting in single file a couple times through and had it nailed in 10 minutes.

Our second task for the closing ceremonies was flag bearing.  This required us (in our partners) to run out a section of a Russian flag onto the field of play.  Each flag was 12 metres long and had either a bronze, silver, or gold colour on its reverse side.  So our job was for one partner to be a flag ‘holder’ and the other partner to be the flag ‘runner’.  I ended up being a flag holder and my partner Doug was a flag runner.  Once these roles were established, it was then time to rehearse over and over our positions and our ‘moves’…

Stay tuned for Part 4 of ‘Wrangling Zorbs at the Closing Ceremonies’ next week!

Happy Training 

Andrew Burchell

Clinical Exercise Specialist

aburchell@stayfitanywhere.com

Now it’s January 2010.  Only one month until the Olympics would be arriving here in Vancouver. Thinking that my chance of taking part in the closing ceremonies was all over for me, I had forgotten about the whole thing for weeks.   Then, in early January, I get an email back from the casting crew saying that they were still in need of performers.  Great!  I quickly replied back and told them that I was all in.  

A day later, I had my rehearsal schedule sent to me.  In all, I would have 8 four-hour rehearsals from February 18th, until the final performance on February 28th.  Seems like a lot of time to commit to, but I had a friend also performing in the closing ceremonies (a mountie), and he had been rehearsing since November!  So comparatively, my rehearsal schedule was a joke!

So it’s February 18th now, and it’s time for my first rehearsal.  This was held a the Ceremonies compound near the Plaza of Nations and right across the road from BC Place Stadium.  This rehearsal compound was a massive tent with a huge open floor.  As massive as it was, it was still smaller than the ‘field of play’ at BC Place.

So I arrived at the compound along with about 30 other guys.  Just outside the entrance,  we were given a green bib with a number on it, a pocket-radio with earphones, and a quick introduction from one of the stage managers.  Then we entered.  I walked in to the compound only to see a group of Russian performers maneuvering around in these massive plastic spheres.  This, then, would be my first introduction to the Zorb…  

Stay tuned for Part 3 of ‘Wrangling Zorbs at the Closing Ceremonies’, coming soon!

Happy Training 

Andrew Burchell

Clinical Exercise Specialist

aburchell@stayfitanywhere.com 

As per usual I started off the week by teaching our 6am WinterFit class at our studio and then I met up with a client for a workout at her home gym.  During the two workouts I instructed and my commute around the city I got to thinking about a few things and I would like to share them with you.

·         My group class this morning did a warmup of standing on one foot and throwing a ball back and forth.  As they woke up and got warm I began to introduce some new challenges, catching with one hand, catching and passing left handed, and finally adding more balls.  The group of 4 was able to progress to left handed throwing on one foot with 2 balls with few drops so I decided to introduce a 3^rd ball and see how they did… and the balls began to bounce all over the place.  At first there was laughter but as the balls started to drop more frequently frustration set into place and it was at that time that I had to regress the drill.  So we finished with standing on two feet one handed passing and catching with 3 balls, and SUCCESS!!  There are times when it is great to introduce a new challenge to the body and mind, however as an instructor you have to be prepared to modify the exercise/drill in order to give your participants a developmentally appropriate challenge.  We have all been asked to do something that was either physically or mentally beyond our abilities and those tasks can cause even those with the strongest will to be discouraged but if we break down a task to simple pieces we can eventually achieve what seemed to be impossible.  Oh yeah the laughter came back when the 3 balls started whipping around the circle!

·         A second thought arose when throwing balls around this morning, and it came from the statement “why am I not better at this?”  I replied to this with “when was the last time you threw a ball around like this, I bet it was the last time we did this exercise,” I saw 4 heads nod “yes.”  Quite simply put the only way to get better at something is by doing it!  Want to throw and catch a ball better?  Spend more time throwing and catching a ball.  Want to be a better lacrosse player?  Practice playing lacrosse more.  Want to be a better runner?  Run more.  Want to be better at Deadlifting?  Perform more Deadlifts.  Those are the simple answers, however to be better at something you need to do more than just doing it, you need to do it PERFECT!  Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfection.  If you were to practice Deadlifting with improper technique you are going to get really good at doing Deadlifts with improper technique, same thing with running, throwing, catching and playing sports.  That is the amazing thing about your nervous system it is incredible at remembering patterns (good and bad ones).  This is precisely why it is so important when exercising that you focus on proper technique and nothing else, once technique is in place you can begin to play with other variables!

·         Breathing during exercise is a very important skill, and I call it a skill because it needs to be practiced along with technique in order to exercise perfect.  As I have seen many times with my clients is that they forget to breathe when performing exercises, especially when they are focusing on engaging their “core.”  I like to teach my clients who do this that it is very much possible to contract a muscle and breathe at the same time; I do this by having them put their hand out and resist the pressure I put on it while they tell me a story.  At the end of the story I ask if their arm is tired and if they felt like they had to work hard during story time and the answer is always “yes.”  We then work on learning how to consciously engage the “core” while breathing (usually counting aloud from 5 to 1).  This is a great way to prepare the body for other “core” bracing techniques that are necessary for lifting.

·         Finally as I was driving around the city this morning I saw two signs that read: Thank You for Supporting the Games, Please Keep Walking.  Sadly I saw these signs while I was driving in my car.  I had spoken with many people in the past week about how the Olympics games proved how easy it is to walk around the city and that I hoped people would continue to do it.  I walked around the city before the Olympics came, I walked around the city a ton during the games, and I have increased my amount of walking  in the past week (walked to and from the movie theatres, and for a few errands I would normally drive, etc.) and plan to keep walking more.  It is great to see that the city of Vancouver is taking the initiative to promote active green forms of transportation (Dunsmuir viaduct is now a bike lane like Burrard St bridge), and it is now up the citizens of the city to participate.

Throw balls, breathe when you exercise, walk/bike around the city, and make sure you do it perfect!

Josh Neumann, BHK, PTS, TSCC-1

jneumann@stayfitanywhere.com

Monday and Thursday #FitTip at www.twitter.com/stayfitanywhere

The 17 days of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics have come and gone.  For Vancouverites, this was a very special time of incredible athletic events and celebrations.  For myself, I had the unique opportunity to participate in not only all the event viewing and celebrating, but also in the performance of the closing ceremonies at BC Place Stadium.  Back in December, I received an email through a friend from the casting crew of the ceremonies.  The cast was short men and they needed more to apply.  I thought this would be a pretty unique opportunity, so I went ahead and applied.  

A week later I received a phone call to say that they would like me to come down to the ceremonies compound where I, along with many other men, would be partaking in an audition.  The audition was lead by the ceremonies head producer David Atkins (David Atkins Productions).  He lead us through this silly little dance & movement routine.  He wanted to see how we moved and followed instructions.  In essence, it was a movement screen- similar to what we do in our assessments except without all the music & dance moves

After the audition, we were told that they would call us back within 1 or weeks.  I never heard back from them after 2 weeks, and I and thought it would never happen…  But it did happen- find out how next week in Part 2 of Wrangling Zorbs at the Closing Ceremonies.  Same Stayfit time, same Stayfit channel…

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic games have been going strong for 10 incredible days.  If you have had a chance to take part in the festivities or are going to you can use these two terms when describing your experience. 

Olympic-ing: Taking part in anything that has to do with the Olympic games.  Examples are watching an Olympic event (live or on TV), visiting a pavilion or a national house, going to The Bay, etc.  I have spent the last 10 days Olympic-ing and need a day to rest and recover.

Olympicising: Any form of physical activity that has been inspired by the Olympic games.  Examples are walking all over Vancouver, standing in a line with perfect posture, and pretending to perform like an Olympic athlete after seeing your country win a medal.  I have been Olympicising like Christine Nesbitt and my legs are killing me, I don’t know if my body can handle another Canadian Speed Skating medal.

There is one week left of events, festivals, and celebrations and I am looking forward to doing more Olympic-ing and Olympicising (especially if it is encouraged by Canadians winning gold medals!).

Josh Neumann, BHK, PTS, TSCC-1

jneumann@stayfitanywhere.com

Monday and Thursday #FitTip at www.twitter.com/stayfitanywhere

It is officially time to start the 1 year countdown to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics!  Whether you wanted the Olympics to come to Vancouver or not it is time to embrace the Olympic spirit because they are on their way to town.  I am a positive guy and rarely, if ever, do I dwell on negativity so I am not even going to touch on those aspects of the Olympics.  I believe the Olympics provide opportunities.  They give a City and a Country the opportunity to show the rest of the world how hospitable they can be to visitors.  They give workers the opportunity to build lifelong skills while building infrastructure.  They give volunteers an opportunity to meet and work with people from a variety of different backgrounds.  These are all incredible opportunities that are afforded to very few places in the world, but the most important opportunity the Olympics offer is to the athletes.  The athletes from around the world are given a chance to showcase their hard work on the biggest stage the world knows.  I can only hope that each athlete does whatever they can to grasp this opportunity, because when it comes down to it the athletes that really shine during the games are given another opportunity to provide inspiration to all those watching.  When an athlete dedicates his/her life to just one goal, one can’t help but be inspired to find something similar in their life that they can truly give their best effort to. 

When Pierre De Coubertin resurrected the modern Olympics in 1894 he proposed the following motto, “Citius, Altius, Fortius” which is Latin for “Swifter, Higher, Stronger.”  I first heard this motto in a course I took at UBC called The Rise of Modern Sport and I never forgot it.  It is just 3 simple words, each one rings true for athletics, but the same could be said for every aspect of life.  If you are striving for success you need to be “Swifter, Higher, Stronger” than those around you.  Take these 3 words and see how you can apply them to just one aspect of your life!

The countdown is on, be prepared for something amazing!

Josh Neumann, BHK, PTS, SCS

jneumann@stayfitanywhere.com