Sign Up for Indoor Archery lessons for November 2014 to March 2015

ATTENTION TORONTO ARCHERY FANS!

NOTICE: Not enough people to signed up asking for indoor archery lessons during the 2014/15 Winter, so I decided to pass on that. If you still want to be on the waiting list for an indoor archery range please contact me.





For a limited time you can sign up for indoor archery lessons for November 2014 until March 2015.

How many lessons and how long is each lesson?

10 lessons per person, 90 minutes per lesson.

Cost?

$800 + HST

What else is included?

You also get a 4 month pass to Cardio Trek's indoor archery range, which you can use during range hours using your own equipment.

Or if you prefer you can sign up for 10 lessons + a 1 year indoor archery range membership for $1300 + HST.

What will Cardio Trek's indoor archery range have?

Bathrooms + running water.
Heating in the Winter and air conditioning in the Summer.
Regular daily maintenance of the archery target butts.
No wind to mess with your accuracy.
No rain or snow.
Lane Booking / More privacy for practicing your archery skills.

What is Cardio Trek's indoor archery range hours?

Monday to Thursday - 9:30 AM to 8 PM
Friday - 9:30 AM to 4 PM
Saturday - Closed
Sunday - 9:30 AM to 6 PM

What if we just want to sign up for an annual membership?

An annual membership is $800 + HST.

What about a monthly membership?

$100 per month or $360 for a 4 month "winter membership". Plus HST.

What if I wanted to train with a friend too? What are the rates?

Winter / 2015 prices:

1 month indoor range membership - $100. 
4 month indoor range membership - $360 ($400 value).
6 month indoor range membership - $500 ($600 value). 
12 month indoor range membership - $800 ($1200 value).

1 Student
$60 for 90 minutes;
3 Lessons - $240 (includes 1 month indoor range membership); ($280 value)
5 Lessons - $400 (includes 2 month indoor range membership); ($500 value)
10 Lessons - $800 (includes 5 month indoor range membership). ($1100 value)

2 Students
$80 for 90 minutes;
3 Lessons - $320 (includes 1 month indoor range membership); ($440 value)
5 Lessons - $600 (includes 2 month indoor range membership); ($800 value)
10 Lessons - $1200 (includes 5 month indoor range membership). ($1800 value)

3 Students 
$100 for 90 minutes;
3 Lessons - $400 (includes 1 month indoor range membership); ($600 value)
5 Lessons - $800 (includes 2 month indoor range membership); ($1100 value)
10 Lessons - $1600 (includes 5 month indoor range membership). ($2500 value)

How do I sign up?

First you need to sign up to be on our waiting list. Send your email, phone number and name to cardiotrek@gmail.com and we will put you on the waiting list. Please specify whether you are looking for lessons, an annual membership, a 4 month winter membership, or want to sign up for a one-month membership.

Note - SPACE IS LIMITED. People seeking lessons and annual memberships will be given priority over people wanting a winter membership or a monthly membership.

What if I don't want to sign up for winter archery lessons and want to prebook for Spring / Summer 2015?

Yes, you can do that too. Send your email, phone number and name to cardiotrek@gmail.com and we will put you on the Spring 2015 / Summer 2015 waiting list.

  
JUST A REMINDER: Not enough people to signed up asking for indoor archery lessons during the 2014/15 Winter, so I decided to pass on that. If you still want to be on the waiting list for an indoor archery range please contact me.

5% Seniors Discount for all personal training and sports training

Are you a senior over the age of 65 and live in Toronto?

If so you are eligible for a 5% Seniors Discount at Cardio Trek on all...

• Personal Training / Weight Loss Session Packages
• Nutritional Advice Sessions
• Archery Lesson Packages
• Boxing Lesson Packages
• Ice Skating Lesson Packages
• Swimming Lesson Packages

This Seniors Discount is in addition to the discount rate for ordering 3 or more sessions.

Note - In August 2015 I lowered my age requirement for the Seniors Discount from the age of 70 to the age of 65. For a limited time I also offered a Triple Seniors Discount of 15% off archery lessons during September and October 2015.

Have a nice day!

$100 off Personal Training

Cardio Trek limited time offer!

For a limited time sign up for 50 hours of personal training sessions for $1400 (regularly priced at $1500).

Or save $250 by signing up for 100 hours of personal training sessions for $2500 (regularly priced at $2750).

Offer expires on March 31st 2014 and is valid only to residents of Downtown Toronto / Uptown Toronto. (If you are not sure if you live within the area, email cardiotrek@gmail.com and ask.)

In other news Arnold Schwarzenegger recently went "undercover" at Gold's Gym in California to raise awareness about fitness / health and an after school fitness program.

Rob Ford's Weight Loss Plan

It is an election year in Toronto and Rob Ford thinks he can win the October 27th 2014 election and stay mayor of Toronto - if he can just lose some weight.

"The only way people are going to respect me, to bring back my image, is if I lose weight," says Rob Ford. "The rest falls into place."

And in case you haven't been watching lately, Toronto's crack smoking mayor (soon to be former crack smoking mayor?) has lost roughly 40 lbs since mid November 2013 when he was weighing in at 336 lbs and is now weighing in at roughly 295 lbs.

That is 41 lbs in 2 months. Roughly 9 weeks. A little over 4 lbs per week.

If he keeps going at that rate he is going to be 255 lbs by mid March - and have excess loose skin rolling off of him.

If he kept it up he could even be 205 lbs by mid May. In which case the loose skin around his face is going to become like Diefenbaker's jowls.

My thoughts? Slow down. Lose weight more slowly. Wait for your skin to catch up. If you lose weight too quickly your belly skin will end up looking like an apron.

So what exactly is Rob Ford doing in the gym you might ask?

Well Toronto's mayor, who has described himself in the past as "three hundred pounds of fun", is using the gym at Toronto City Hall almost every day and is also:

Jogging outdoors.

Leg Pressing 810 lbs.

Ford is really good at the leg press and also says he aims to one day leg press 1,000 pounds.

“If I do my bi(ceps)s on Monday, say, then I’ll do my legs Tuesday, chest Thursday, back, and so on, all week,” says Rob Ford.

He is doing a combination of cardio for 45 minutes and weight lifting exercises for another 45 minutes.

To put that in perspective a 295 lb person jogging for 45 minutes (without a break) burns 996 calories. We can assume that he is having breaks, so it will be less than that - possible 600 to 700 calories. The same person doing weightlifting for 45 minutes burns 305 calories.

So we are looking at Rob Ford burning about 900 to 1000 calories per 90 minute workout session. No wonder he is losing 20 lbs per month.

Note - This kind of workout is really difficult. Most people would quit within the first couple of weeks. Having a personal trainer to keep you motivated makes a huge difference in keeping motivated and striving for more.

Politics aside, if Rob Ford can go into the 2014 election "lean, mean and clean" he will have a lot more energy for the campaign and be able to put his best foot forward when it comes to trying and convince people he has changed his ways and is deserving of being re-elected.

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM CARDIOTREK!

Hello Toronto! Happy New Year!

All the best in 2014 from Cardio Trek!

300,000 Pageviews and 150,000 Unique Visitors

Earlier today, sometime around noon, CardioTrek.ca surpassed 300,000 pageviews from approx. 150,000 unique visitors. (Each unique visitor to CardioTrek.ca stays for an average of 2 pages.)

I realize it is not a popularity contest but it is nice to know the website is growing in popularity.

Most of our visitors come from Canada and the USA - and quite a few are from Toronto, possibly looking for a personal trainer or a sports instructor who teaches archery, boxing, ice skating, swimming and similar activities.

The great city of Toronto has a lot to offer for people looking to either stay fit or become more fit.

Toronto has many bicycle trails, lots of parks, our beaches are rated 5-star world class (betcha didn't know that, eh?), public ice skating arenas, tennis courts, swimming pools, university gyms, YMCAs, publicly funded recreation centres, an archery range, and numerous other things for Torontonians to utilize if they desire to go outside and exercise.

As a personal trainer I believe in spreading the knowledge of such locations - and giving away free frugal exercise advice - because if people want to exercise, then it is best they have those resources at their disposal. It helps my personal training clients, but it also helps anyone who is just looking for exercise advice - including people not in Toronto and therefore outside of my market demographic.

It is true I only make money when clients actually hire me to help them to lose weight, gain muscle or train for a specific sport - but that doesn't mean I don't also feel a certain amount of pride knowing that I helped thousands of other people who are just looking for good solid exercise advice.

So if I have helped 150,000 people to exercise and improve their health, then absolutely, I feel I should toot my horn once in awhile about how awesome free information is and that helping other people is always a good feeling even when you aren't getting paid for it.

The beauty of exercise is that anyone can do it. You don't need a personal trainer to exercise. Or a gym. Or your own exercise equipment at home. You just need the will to do it. But having the advice - especially free advice - available can make all the difference to some people who want to make the most out of their workout.

Sincerely,
Charles Moffat
Toronto Personal Trainer / CardioTrek.ca

Archery Segment for TSN

This morning I helped a film crew from TSN make a segment on archery for an upcoming TV episode about archery / accuracy.

Huzzah!

In other news I have added to me "To Do List" a series of YouTube How To videos on archery. Something for me to work on when Spring 2014 comes.

And in more other news I am not teaching archery any more in 2013. I am done for the season. See you in March 2014.

Scheduling a Personal Trainer

Honestly.

I am so busy sometimes I don't know how I manage to fit in personal training clients half the time. It makes me tempted to raise my rates again.

Case in point. Most of my evenings and weekends are booked pretty solid. If someone wants a training sessions they need to book in advance, sometimes weeks in advance if they want a specific time slot.

The times I am most available are weekday mornings and afternoons - and even those are filling up on specific days.

So if a client asks me for a session on an evening or weekend, I look at my schedule, I look at their location, and I go "Hmm. Yes I can make it." or "Hmm. Nope, can't fit it in." And there is a lot more nopes lately.

But I am not planning to raise my rates any time soon. Maybe in the Spring I will raise my personal training rate to $40 per hour. But for now I will leave it as is.

Most Popular Topics

Earlier today (around 12:30 EST, August 1st 2013) Cardio Trek surpassed 200,000 visitors.

Now you might think, wow, that is a lot of visitors. But I think we should point out that some topics are really low interest - and others are really high interest.

We shall start off with the high interest topics.

The Top Ten Most Popular Posts on Cardio Trek

#1. Nose Exercises Vs Rhinoplasty
#2. Weight Loss + Loose Skin
#3. 20 Ways to Tighten Skin after Weight Loss
#4. Motivational Quotes for January
#5. How to get a Thigh Gap
#6. Anatomical Terms for Athletes
#7. 25 Ways to Motivate Yourself to Exercise
#8. 10 Tips for maintaining a Beach Perfect Body
#9. 10 Ways to Trick Yourself into Burning Extra Calories
#10. Whey Protein Supplements

Now I admit some of those topics are pretty interesting and exciting - and sometimes just plain useful to know.

But let us look at the LEAST popular topics on Cardio Trek and see if they are any less useful. As you can see below they are mostly topics about motivation, lifestyle changes, food and eating healthy - things that many people have problems with - and are extremely useful information, even though the topics are less glamourous than 10 Tips for maintaining a Beach Perfect Body.

#1. Bored of exercising indoors?
#2. How much rest do you need?
#3. Working out despite the Winter Blues
#4. 5 Tips to Help you Live Longer
#5. How to Make Lifestyle Changes
#6. 5 Tips to Push Yourself Harder
#7. 5 Slimming Fruits that Help Burn Calories
#8. Weightlifting Split Squats and Side Squats
#9. Eating Healthy in an Hurry
#10. The Hallmarks of a Successful Weight Loss Plan

They are certainly worth reading if you are having difficulty losing weight and finding motivation to exercise.

The Free Gym Business Model + Investment Opportunity

This is somewhat off topic.

I have an idea for a Free Gym Business Model that I think has merit. Let me explain how it came about.

Yesterday while I was shopping in Canadian Tire I overheard this woman talking to customers from a display table where she was showing off a new product that got investment from the good folks on Dragons Den.

Meanwhile I have been playing with idea for years of a place similar to a gym called "The Workshop" where people could go to use power tools, welding equipment, etc - things that are too big to fit in their apartment or condo because they live in Downtown Toronto. For all intents and purposes it would be a workshop for people who like woodworking, sculpture, carpentry, welding, etc. It would follow the same basic business model as a gym - technicians instead of personal trainers, welding and carpentry classes instead of yoga and pilates, and people would pay a monthly fee to use the facilities just like you would at a gym.

Listening to the woman at Canadian Tire (who kept mentioning Dragons Den every so often, to the point it was annoying) I continued my shopping... meanwhile my brain was starting to work overtime as I thought of ways people could expand on the investment model. I must admit my thoughts were influenced by the recent Rob Ford Crackstarter campaign.

Amongst my ideas I came up with the concept of what I call "The Gym" - but unlike The Workshop idea, the focus of "The Gym" would be to make a workout place that is FREE to use.

Let me explain this concept.

#1. Don't hire any personal trainers. If personal trainers want to work there, fine. They are free to use the facilities just like they are free to use public parks.

#2. Use crowdfunding / crowdsourcing websites like Indiegogo and Kickstarter to raise the needed money to buy the building location, renovate it and buy all the exercise equipment.

#3. Part of the location is a protein bar - with 1 staff person who mixes protein shakes and sells them during peak hours of the day. The profits from the protein shake bar go towards buying new equipment, repairs, etc.

#4. Lots of natural lighting from skylights and windows. Cuts down on energy costs for lights.

#5. Equipment is designed to be durable and is basically bolted / welded to the ground so they cannot be stolen.

#6. Donation supported.

#7. Minimal janitorial staff.

#8. Energy drink machines. Powerade, Gatorade, etc.

#9. Showers and lockers are all coin operated.

#10. Buy stationary bicycle equipment and other resistance based exercise equipment that uses generators which feeds into a battery supply for the lights and air conditioning (which is set on low so it uses less energy).

Essentially you follow the premise of "less is more" to create a gym that is essentially free to use, but is donation supported and offers extra services like lockers, showers, protein shake bar, etc for a fee. Similar to how some libraries now have cafes in them so people can read a book while drinking a cappuccino.

When you think about that many gyms out there are charging people $70 to $100 per month (roughly $2.33 to $3.33 per day) and have hundreds of customers who are basically getting ripped off because gyms are overcharging for their services (and stealing from customer bank accounts / credit cards even when you cancel your membership) then the concept of a free gym starts to become a lot more appealing.

Even the YMCA in Toronto has a minimum fee of $47 per month depending on the location and the type of membership.

I should note that some recreation centres do have gyms already - but their hours are weird and not very convenient. And they do charge a fee for using their facilities. See http://www.toronto.ca/parks/fitness/membership.htm for more details.

Now you might think "Hey, you said this was a business model?!"

Yes, I did call it that. The reason why is because I think a so-called free gym still has the potential to turn a profit. Especially if you are the personal trainer who gets the ball rolling, starts a Kickstarter campaign, buys the building, gets all the equipment, etc... and then the gym is just there. And you are the personal trainer who is there all the time, offering your services.

If worse comes to worse you start charging a $2 daily fee for people to use the building - It would still be better than the gyms who are overcharging people and making millions in profits because then people are only paying for the days they actually use the facilities.

Speaking for myself I am busy expanding my personal training business right now, so I am not going to be opening a free gym any time soon. But I wanted to write this idea down for the future in the case I ever want to open my "dojo". (I don't want to open a normal gym for the general public. I want a private dojo for personal training sessions where I can also teach archery, boxing, etc. The reason is because some clients feel more comfortable working out in a setting where other people cannot watch them exercising.)

INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY

Earlier today I created a new page on CardioTrek.ca asking for investors in my personal training business. You can read about the details of how I am intending to do it, as I am using an unusual crowdfunding approach to getting investors. If you are familiar with Indiegogo or Kickstarter you might think this idea has merit.

You can read about my crowdfunding or "crowd shares" approach to investments by clicking investment opportunity. Feel free to post comments on the idea.

So far I already have three friends who have agreed to become my first investors. My goal is to reach $50,000 so I can expand my business.

Lawyer suing NY personal trainer

A lawyer in Manhattan New York is suing a celebrity personal trainer in NYC.

What is interesting is WHY he is suing the personal trainer.

Manhattan attorney Neil Squillante signed up for some personal training sessions 3 years ago, the workouts were too intense for him and he is still in pain 3 years later.

Why? Because the workouts were so intense it ripped ligaments in his joints. The scrawny lawyer was apparently so skinny and underweight that his ligaments weren't used to the intensity of the muscle strain he underwent during the workouts that it ripped the ligaments.

Now I should note that for weightlifting, ripping muscle tissue is normal (“no pain, no gain”) and even desired because it builds new muscles tissue in-between the ripped tissue. However, ripping ligaments is not something you want to happen, because the damage is much more severe, painful, and crippling.

People who get into professional weightlifting and power-lifting are warned about the dangers of ripping ligaments. You have to know your limits and not take risks. Like muscle tissue, ligaments need time to grow and become stronger.

What the personal trainer in New York did was take a workout that they normally do with celebrity's like Beyoncé (Beyoncé is one of their former clients) and then give the same workout to a skinny lawyer who has been sitting at a desk almost every day for the last 10 years.

So I agree with the lawyer. The personal trainer who was training him should have known better to force such an intense workout on someone who's body wasn't ready for it.

What he needed was a more gradual workout program designed to toughen him up first, emphasizing endurance first and strength secondary. Smaller weights, less intensity, longer time period. That is what the personal trainer SHOULD have done.

Instead here is what happened...

#1. Prior to signing up for sessions Neil Squillante “lived a sedentary life with minimal physical activity, lacked physical strength and fitness . . . and had no experience with vigorous physical exercise or strength training.” As such the trainer should have known that in order to prevent injuries that this person would have to be introduced to intense workouts and weightlifting gradually.

#2. In April 2010 Neil Squillante signed up for personal training sessions with a Chelsea personal trainer, who is the Focus co-founder Gabriel Valencia, whose clients include the singer Beyoncé.

#3. He should have been started off gradually with mild workouts, small weights, low intensity and a focus on endurance first. Instead the workouts ended up being a series of intense sessions of squats and thrusts with a heavy medicine ball in what Squillante describes as "a torture session".

“Within a few days after his first physical training session, Squillante told Valencia by telephone that his arms were so sore from the workout that he could not lift them,” the lawsuit says. “Valencia chuckled and said that Squillante’s soreness was normal and nothing to worry about.”

Soreness in the arms, okay. But soreness in the joints so that he can't even lift his arms? That is a warning sign of damage to the ligaments. The personal trainer Gabriel Valencia SHOULD have halted the sessions immediately and counseled that he seek the attention of a doctor who specializes in sports injuries.

Instead Squillante went to two more sessions and ripped his ligaments even more. He ended up having severe damage to his knee, hip and pelvis due to multiple torn ligaments.

#4. Three years after several Neil Squillante still suffers “pain and weakness when he stands,” has trouble sitting “for reasonable periods,” and is in constant pain even when he is not standing or sitting. He rarely travels, has few work meetings, is unable to recruit staff (he runs a legal information service company), and has a diminished social life. He is basically a cripple.

#5. Neil Squillante filed a lawsuit on May 15th 2013 against the personal trainer Gabriel Valencia, his boss and the company.

I believe Neil Squillante absolutely deserves to win his lawsuit because that was gross incompetence on the part of the personal trainer who evidently wasn't used to training people who were that thin / unused to exercise and furthermore ignored the warning signs of a serious sports injury.

Thinking about raising my rates, demand skyrocketing

I am thinking of raising the amount I charge for my personal training services.

The reason is more of matter of time availability. Right now I am SUPER busy working my proverbial butt off for multiple clients, and while I am enjoying what I do work wise, I am discovering I have very little free time to relax, exercise on my own (without clients), and even find quality time for friends, family, etc.

eg. I want to go camping and canoeing sometime this summer but I am not sure how I am supposed to schedule a vacation when I have difficulty saying "No" to clients. (I am very customer oriented, always wanting to make sure my clients are happy.)

It really is an issue of "too many clients" so I am wondering if maybe I should raise my prices for personal training.

I don't want to raise my prices for archery, swimming, boxing lessons because I enjoy those ones too much. But I am very tempted to raise my personal training rates and see what happens.

Right now I am charging $35 per hour (but there are discounts if people buy packages of hours like 25, 50 or 100).

The other option is for me to simply stop accepting new clients. Unless its for a specific time slot I need to fill.

There are admittedly lots of other personal trainers in Toronto, and I suppose I could also turn clients away and send them to other personal trainers... But I've never seen those people work, I have no affiliation with them, and while I probably would earn a commission for every client I send someone else I just don't feel comfortable doing all that when I cannot guarantee the quality of the trainers I might be sending people to.

Another thing I suppose I could do is hire a secretary. That would lower the amount of work I need to do on the website, managing incoming requests, etc. And it would free up extra time for me to both manage my personal life and have more "me time" for exercising.

For now I think I will continue on "as is" and look into the secretary angle. I might raise my rates in August or September, but maybe by then demand may have quieted down.

Personal training is a bit of a seasonal occupation, I must admit. January is a good time to get new people who make New Years Resolutions, but it is the Springtime when people really start wanting to lose weight because they want to get ready for Summer.

For now I shall wait and see.

The Canadian Daily

I have been invited to start writing exercise / dietary advice on the news website The Canadian Daily.

So far I have only done the following article:

How I Lost 50 Lbs of Fat + 12 Weight Loss Tips

I think I may contribute a new article to their site once per week or maybe twice monthly if I am really busy in a particular month.

Update

5 Common Factors in Weight Loss

Get Better Sleep = Sleep Healthier

Want to live longer and have a happier more stress-free life?

Start by sleeping healthier.

If you are one of those problem sleepers who keeps tossing and turning like a tornado that just can't get comfortable and looking panicky at your clock every half hour, well then you are not alone. There are quite a few people out there who have unhealthy sleep patterns - and it messes with their health, their weight, their ability to focus/concentrate and a whole batch of other problems. Getting a proper night's sleep is crucial if you are trying to lose weight, gain muscle or accomplish a variety of fitness goals.

But instead of focusing on the ills, lets focus on the cure.

1. Don't exercise in the evening - Do stretches instead.

Exercising too much will rev you up and keep you awake! Keep your fitness regimen to the morning. It may mean waking up ultra early but once you develop the routine, you will fall asleep earlier at night.

If you want to do anything before bed the best alternative is to do stretching or light yoga for 5 minutes.

If you do exercise in the evening time it so it is 2 hours before sleeping so you don't get revved up too close to your bedtime. You need that cool down period before sleeping. This is why stretching is better because it won't rev your muscles / blood pressure up, and it will help you feel more relaxed.

2. Write a to-do list before bed.

If you are the type that cannot sleep because too much is on your mind, get it out in the form of a list. Then you know what has to be done, and you can worry about the details the next day.

3. Don't eat too late or drink caffeine after 4 PM.

Food gives you energy. Keep your dinner or evening snack light, and cut off caffeine in the afternoon around 4 PM. For best results cut out soda pop and tea (except perhaps chamomile since that helps you sleep).

4. Wake Up Earlier.

If you get up earlier in the morning, thanks to an alarm clock, you will have less problems falling asleep at night. It will be rough at first, but you will see much better results once you get used to the routine.

5. Get a regular schedule.

The more routine your sleeping patterns are, the better chance you have to fall asleep. It is inconsistencies that result in bad patterns. Train your body to sleep and wake by sticking to a schedule. It will be hard at first, especially if you are trying to go to bed and wake up earlier. Once the habit is established for 21 days, it will really help cement your sleeping patterns and it will stabilize!

6. Avoid Light / Loud Noises

Get some extra thick curtains for the bedroom which you can pull shut easier. Someone should really invent a device that opens the curtains in the morning on a timer. That would be so awesome. Avoid playing loud music while you are trying to sleep. If you need some kind of noise / music get a fan or turn the volume down really low and set it so it will stop playing in an hour or so.

7. Naps

Afternoon naps, around noon / 1 PM are good for you. Primates (apes, chimpanzees, etc) all take siestas in the afternoon and the human species are supposed to take naps too. That is why in the afternoon you often feel tired around 1 PM, but most people just ignore it and keep working. However if you work from home / have a flexible schedule then taking daily naps is an option for you.

And even if you don't have a flexible schedule try to sneak in a nap or two on the weekends. You will feel better and more well rested.

Live Long and Prosper!

Alexa Ranking - CardioTrek in the Top 5000 for Toronto

Here is a bizarre yet interesting bit of news...

According to Alexa.com (a website which tracks the popularity of every website on the planet) Cardio Trek is in the Top 5000 websites for Toronto by popularity.

And the vast majority of those sites have nothing to do with exercise, which likely places Cardio Trek in the Top 100 Exercise websites for Toronto. Basically what it means is that for all websites everywhere, Cardio Trek is in the Top 5000 when it comes to Torontonians - and that is competing against YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, p*rn websites, etc.

I call that "successful local marketing".

Here is the actual text from Alexa:

Cardiotrek.ca is ranked #1,064,646 in the world according to the three-month Alexa traffic rankings. The site is relatively popular among users in the city of Toronto (where it is ranked #4,915). Visitors to the site spend roughly two minutes on each pageview and a total of four minutes on the site during each visit. About 68% of Cardiotrek.ca's visitors are in Canada, where it has attained a traffic rank of 20,861. Visitors to the site view an average of 2.3 unique pages per day.

So as exercise websites go Cardio Trek is becoming pretty popular - and I've only been working on it for 13 months. Initially I wasn't working on it much at all, but in September 2012 I started posting more often and it really took off in a hurry. For reference many competitor websites will have been up for years and would be jealous of the sheer number of visitors I get.

eg. I know of a rival company in Toronto that only gets 3 to 5 visitors per day (which is pathetic and shows a complete lack of advertising on their part), whereas Cardio Trek is currently clocking over 700 per day.

I chalk that down to two things:

#1. I give free exercise advice on the site. And everybody likes free advice. Including Americans, who are my 2nd biggest source of visitors and make up roughly 30% of my visitors.

#2. Before I was a personal trainer I was a SEO expert (and still am a SEO expert), which means I know how to promote things online. I still do SEO work for the real estate industry and a select number of clients. So not to brag, but I like to be good at my job.

So now I just need to set myself a higher goal and get in the Top 2500 for Toronto. Goal setting is a big part of both SEO and exercising and its good to know you can achieve it when you set out to do it. So to accomplish that I am going to make an effort to write more blog posts on the topic of exercise activities you can do in Toronto.

Making this blog I will admit does take a fair chunk of work. Finding ideas for regular blog posts, researching the topics, finding graphics or making fresh graphics... its all a lot of time sitting at the computer. But thankfully I have lots of exercise equipment in my home office so I regularly get up and exercise whilst churning out these awesome exercise oriented blog posts.

But not everyone has lots of exercise equipment (and footballs) laying around in their office so here is an amusing graphic showing a series of exercises you can do at your desk.

Update, January 8th 2013

Alexa.com has updated Cardio Trek's ranking to:

Cardiotrek.ca is ranked #974,612 in the world according to the three-month Alexa traffic rankings. The site is relatively popular among users in the city of Toronto (where it is ranked #3,449). Visitors to the site spend roughly two minutes on each pageview and a total of five minutes on the site during each visit. About 68% of Cardiotrek.ca's visitors are in Canada, where it has attained a traffic rank of 18,311. Visitors to the site view an average of 3.1 unique pages per day.

Update, January 17th 2013

Cardiotrek.ca is ranked #898,330 in the world according to the three-month Alexa traffic rankings. We estimate that 64% of visitors to the site come from Canada, where it has attained a traffic rank of 17,484, and it is relatively popular among users in the city of Toronto (where it is ranked #3,396). Visitors to Cardiotrek.ca spend roughly two minutes on each pageview and a total of five minutes on the site during each visit. About 10% of visits to the site are referred by search engines.

So already part way to that goal of 2500!

Update, January 28th 2015

So it has been two years since I have updated this post, but here is the good news:

1. As of yesterday Cardiotrek.ca has surpassed 750,000 visitors.
2. The website currently enjoys an average of roughly 1,450 new visitors per day. (43,697 visitors in the last 30 days.)
3. In the 2014 calendar year Cardiotrek.ca had 385,952 visitors. Avrg. 32,162.67 visitors per month or 1060.31 visitors per day.
4.  I no longer track Cardiotrek.ca's ranking in Toronto because Alexa.com has changed what free users can see. According to Alexa the website is now more popular in the USA, likely because of several posts which have gone viral in terms of popularity.
5. The top 3 most viral posts on Cardiotrek.ca are: 10 Ways to Trick Yourself into Burning Extra Calories, Nose Exercises Vs Rhinoplasty , and 20 Ways to Tighten Skin after Weight Loss
6. The most popular service provided by Cardiotrek.ca is archery lessons. Archery lessons in Toronto is currently so popular that it dwarfs all of my other services combined.

Nose Exercises Vs Rhinoplasty

Q

"Hello! I recently suffered an injury to my nose during boxing and when it was healing I noticed that my nose had become crooked. I was thinking about getting nose surgery [rhinoplasty] to fix the problem, but someone told me about nose exercises you can do that can fix various problems. Does nose exercises really work?" - J.F.

A

Hello J! Good news, yes, nose exercises may be the answer to your problem if the damage isn't too severe. And judging by the number of boxing related nose injuries you won't be the only one who will be interested in this solution.

Damage to the nose muscles on one side or the other can cause the tip of the nose to go crooked. It reportedly can also be caused by sleeping on one side of the face too much, overuse of the muscles on one side of the nose, or even something simple like losing weight and the muscles in one side of your nose losing some of its muscle density... and of course getting punched repeatedly in the nose.

Regardless of the cause of the damage, if the damage is minor then it can be fixed using a variety of nose exercises.

1. Squinting the Nose

Basically all you do is smile and try to squish your nose upwards using the muscles within your nose. No hands required. This upward "squinting" of the nose will add more girth to muscles in the sides of the nose and, assuming you do it evenly, both sides of the nose will auto-correct themselves with time until they're both equally muscular.

Hold for 5 to 10 seconds. Repeat 20 to 30 times daily until your nose muscles straighten out.

2. The Nose Shortener

This exercise isn't so much to repair damage as it is to prevent long term degradation of cartilage within the nose. As you get older your nose continues to grow, and the cartilage in the lower section may weaken and then separate from the upper part of the nose. This often gives the appearance that a hump has developed on the bridge of the nose. A plastic surgeon can perform surgery to improve the shape of your crooked nose or you can do this handy "Nose Shortening" exercise which will help to strengthen the muscles in that region of the nose.

Using your index finger, push the tip of your nose up. Contract the muscle by flexing your nose down against the resistance created by your finger. Hold for 5 to 10 seconds. Repeat 30 times, each time concentrating on the muscle forcing your finger down. Keep your breathing steady while performing the exercise. To get the maximum results, perform the Nose Shortener exercise twice a day.

3. The Nose Shaper

The upper part of the nose is made of solid bone and the center part is made from cartilage, so there really is not anything that can be done via exercising. However the bottom part of the nose had several different muscles which can be exercised, and by doing so it is possible to change the general shape of your nose. The "Nose Shaper" exercise involves placing your index fingers down either side of your nose, and flaring your nostrils by using the muscles above and below your nostrils. Your fingers create resistance by keeping your fingers in place against the movement of the nostrils, sort of like weightlifting for your nose.

Repeat this exercise 30 times, twice per day. The end result will create a less droopy nose, but the nostrils will appear wider... so if you don't want wider nostrils maybe you should consider the exercise below instead.

4. Nose Narrowing

Want a more narrow nose? Lower your chin and mouth and narrow your nose in the process. This uses a different set of muscles inside your nose which will help tighten up and narrow the appearance of your nose.

Hold for 5 to 10 seconds. Repeat 30 times, twice per day, and observe the long term results as your nose becomes more narrow.

5. Nose Wiggling

This one is easier to do in front of a mirror. Wiggle your nose from side to side, without moving your lips/etc. Why? Well, if you can master it then it makes for an interesting party trick. Not sure if its useful in terms of improving your looks however, but presumably it helps build the muscles within your nose.

Update: Fixing a Crooked Nose

If you are looking for specific information on how to fix a crooked nose I recommend reading the following post: Fixing a Crooked Nose using Nose Exercises.

Maintenance

Keep doing the exercises regularly for maintenance (once per week or so). Like any muscle group, the nose muscles need regular exercise in order to keep their figure.

NOTE: For fun, make before and after photos to see the results over time.

SPECIAL NOTE: So if you thought that rhinoplasty was the only way to reshape and straighten your nose, huzzah, that myth has been busted!

PERSONAL NOTE: I did all of these exercises myself while writing this and now my nose feels sore from exercising it. Advice? Don't overdo it. Stick to the recommended 30 times, twice per day. I saw results within the first week of doing them.

FINAL NOTE: Yes, if you have severe damage to your nose then rhinoplasty is your only remaining option. But that kind of damage is more rare. You shouldn't feel self conscious about the nose you were born with just for society's unrealistic standards of beauty... And as Michael Jackson has previously proven, once you get surgery you can end up becoming obsessed with the shape of your nose and always looking to change it more and more.

PERSONALIZED HELP

I am getting a lot of requests from people wanting personalized advice about their nose and what nose exercises they should do, how often they should do them, special circumstances,  etc. My advice is to follow the instructions listed above and on other posts I have made about nose exercises.

If you are contacting me asking me for personalized help - basically asking for my services in aiding you with your nose exercises, then I will need to charge you my personal training rate ($50 per hour) for my services.

I know this is not the answer many of you are looking for. I have already answered many of the frequently asked questions below in the comments section, and answered many emails from people asking for help with their nose exercises - but I am a busy person and the emails have reached a point where I need to start charging for this service because I cannot answer all of them.

Best of luck with your nose exercises!

Muscle Pain - What is it and what to do about it

Do you get muscle pain after exercising? Its normal, but what is it and what should we do about it?

Muscle soreness is caused by a build-up of lactic acid in the muscles. Sometimes the pain is delayed, but usually the soreness tends to show up between 24-48 hours and is commonly called "DOMS" (delayed onset muscle soreness) after exercise.

Everyone gets it too. It's not unique to beginners or bodybuilders. Anyone who strains/rips their muscles is going to experience soreness either soon after or a delayed response. Sometimes the delay is caused by adrenaline and other pain-killing hormones in your system so you simply don't notice the pain until later. This is common for boxers for example who experience pain while fighting in the ring, but the real pain doesn't happen until after the match is over and they can barely stand due to all the pain.

Every time that you exercise and especially when you try new things such as exercises you've never done before, or trying heavier weights or by adding time to the routine, your muscles are simply not used to the demand. What happens is the tiny muscle fibers tear and break, and then they heal and fill in the muscle void with new muscle tissue so that you can handle that same load of work the next time with less effort and less pain. A little muscle soreness is a good thing. Hence the saying NO PAIN, NO GAIN. Muscle pain means that you have challenged your body and that it is now healing and building new muscle tissue.

Example

Lets say you don't normally do situps and your core muscles aren't the greatest. So one day you do 300 situps and that night and the day after your abs hurt. But two days later if you try to do 300 situps again, it will be easier the 2nd time around and you will experience less pain. This is because you've healed and built up more muscle in that region during the healing process. If you kept doing 300 situps every 2 days for a month by the end of the month you would be experiencing almost no pain and your ab muscles would be significantly stronger.

So regardless of whether you are doing weightlifting or ab workouts or even cardio, you are going to experience muscle pain. Even archery causes muscle pain in your arms and back if you aren't used to the poundage of the bow.

So what can you do about it?

#1. Only exercise those same muscles every 2 days so you can rest and heal in-between and build up your strength/endurance.

#2. Don't overdo it on the weights. Make gradual improvements on how much weight you are lifting. I know its fun to try and lift your maximum amount, but I only recommend doing that once per month and then keeping a record of what your maximum was.

#3. Stretching / Yoga. Stretching and yoga can help prevent / decrease muscle soreness.

#4. Take a cold bath or shower when you experience muscle soreness. Its really cold, but it helps numb the pain.

#5. Eat lots of beans, nuts, etc after a workout. Or a protein shake or protein bar. The extra protein will help build/repair muscle tissue faster. I don't recommend meat because the protein content in meat isn't as high as people like to think it is. eg. Pork chops are only 18% protein.

#6. Do NOT exercise muscles that are already sore. They're trying to heal. Focus your workout on different muscles on days when your muscles are so. eg. Some people like to alternate weightlifting on one day with cardio on the next. Or alternatively upper body on one day and lower body on the next.

#7. As a last resort, pain killers. Pay attention and learn what is actually in them however. A common painkiller you can find in a pharmacy for bodybuilders is actually just Tylenol 650 mg - which is the same thing people take for arthritis pain. So if you do go that way, look at the prices because seniors pay less for arthritis pills than bodybuilders do for muscle relaxers, even though its the same ingredient.

Always remember that pain is temporary. The feeling of achieving your goals lasts forever.

Vitamins - Expensive Urine or Worthwhile Investment?

You may have heard from various sources that vitamins just make "expensive urine". The argument is that the human body doesn't absorb all the vitamins we consume and that much of it is disposed of via urination.

However before you throw all your vitamins away and refuse to ever buy another vitamin, lets stop and pause whether that kind of knee-jerk reaction is necessary.

First. What is the purpose of vitamin pills?

It is to make certain that you are getting enough healthy vitamins in your diet, especially if you aren't always eating healthy. Extra vitamins means healthier well-being, stronger immune system, less toxins in your system, less need to store fat and your body tissue heals faster when you have lots of vitamins in your system. Ultimately it means that if you forget to eat enough veggies in a particular day at least you are still getting some.

Second. How much of it really is disposed via urination?

This answer varies depending on the source and also on the person. Urine consists of water and the waste from the foods that we eat and the fluids we drink. It also can include dead blood cells and other materials the body wants to get rid of, which can change the colour of your urine. eg. Eat too many carrots and your urine will turn orange.

Urine production is controlled by the kidneys. Your kidneys only remove things from your bloodstream when there is too much of it, meaning an excess amount of it that you don't need. So in the above example of eating too many carrots, you end up with too much Vitamin C in your blood and your kidney's remove some of it.

So what really matters is the quantity of vitamins you are ingesting as to whether any of it is being disposed of via urination.


This confusion about disposal relates to reporters misquoting British researcher Professor Brian Ratcliffe of Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen who says that in his studies the human body disposes of as much as 75% of our vitamin intake, which sounds like a lot... But what reporters often forget to mention is that his research involved test subjects taking a 1.5 gram Vitamin C supplement (the equivalent of more than 20 oranges worth of Vitamin C). So the lesson people need to learn from this is that reporters love sound bytes and skipping over the part where test subjects were taking 20 oranges worth Vitamin C.

So based on that measurement, you can eat 5 oranges and your urine won't change colour and no vitamins will be wasted, but if you eat 6 your urine might change colour a bit.

Third. If quantity is such a concern, how much should we take?

It varies depending on your body's size and your level of physical activity. If you are robust and exercise a lot you are going to need more vitamins. If you're thin and almost never exercise your body evidently doesn't need much, but if you're trying to maintain your health it wouldn't hurt to be taking a small amount of vitamins.

There a lot of different vitamin pill companies out there. There are even rating systems for which multivitamins pack the most punch. So if you're just taking a Life brand multivitamin, then yes, you are not wasting any of it because the dosage is comparatively low. But if you're taking a very expensive "five star" multivitamin with a high dosage, then yes, you are more likely to be taking an excess of vitamins and some of it will be disposed of via urine.

But does it hurt you to be taking extra? No, it won't. It might hurt your wallet a little more if you're worried about that sort of thing.

The rule of thumb when it comes to dosage is that regular people who just want to maintain their health should take a regular joe multivitamin and then not worry about it. But if you're an athlete, a bodybuilder or you've recently suffered an injury and want it to heal faster... then getting the more expensive vitamins makes good logical sense.

Want some interesting facts about vitamins?

Too much caffeine or alcohol can turn your urine clear as your kidneys work hard to dispose of the chemicals.

Dark yellow means you are dehydrated and need to drink more water.

Bright yellow is from Vitamin B2, also known as riboflavon.

If you currently take a multivitamin and your urine is not changing color, it actually means that you are not receiving a sufficient amount. (Therefore don't worry, you aren't wasting any money!)

Less than 25% of Americans take enough Vitamin C on a daily basis.

You would need to regiment your food intake to make certain you are getting enough vitamins on a daily basis. Most people don't have time for that so the short cut is to take a multivitamin pill.

The therapeutic use of vitamin supplements can both treat and prevent serious disease by having vitamins in your system able to help fight off infection and cancer.

When in doubt about whether you should be taking extra vitamins then consult a nutritionist.

Heart Rate Targeting for Aerobic Efficiency

Trying to attain a specific heart rate during aerobic activities is one way to increase your overall fitness and endurance (and the strength of your heart).

Monitoring your heart rate by taking your pulse is the best way to see if you are working at the correct intensity to be getting a full workout. If your heart rate is above or below the acceptable levels, you should either increase or decrease your effort.

40-70% MHR = Active Living Zone - Best for "fat burning" and general health. Work at the level that meets your needs.

60-90% MHR = Aerobic Zone - Best for improving efficiency of cardiovascular system.

60-70% MHR = Optimal Active/Aerobic Zone - This is the best zone to get all the benefits of fat burning, general health and improving your cardiovascular system at the same time.

MHR = Maximum Heart Rate

HOW TO TAKE YOUR PULSE

When measuring your pulse use index and middle fingers. Never use your thumb since it has it's own pulse.

When you feel your pulse, count the beats for 10 seconds and then multiply your 10-second pulse rate by 6 to determine your pulse in Beats Per Minute (BPM). Alternatively you can also count for 15 seconds and then multiple by 4. It really depends on personal preference.

YOUR TARGET HEART RATE

Depending on your age and your physical condition your target heart rate will be very different. For athletes with strong hearts their heart rate will be 10% to 20% lower than a normal person because their heart is stronger and doesn't need as much effort to reach the same level of intensity.

You can also determine your target heart rate using the following mathematical formulas.

220-Age = Maximum Heart Rate (MHR)

MHR × 40% = Low level of Active Living Zone

MHR × 60% = Low level of Aerobic Zone

MHR × 70% = High level of Active Living Zone

MHR × 90% = High level of Aerobic Zone

MHR × 65% = Is the halfway point between 40% and 90% and inbetween 60% and 70%, making it within your Optimal Fat Burn / Aerobic Zone.

Thus 220 - Your Age x 65% - Your Optimal Active/Aerobic Zone

Example: If you are 40 years old your MHR = 180. Times that by 0.65 to get 117, which is your optimal heart rate.

THE TALK TEST

A great and easy way to determine what level of activity you are doing is to do the "Talk Test." Can you manage to carry on a conversation while being active? Then chances are you are working within your Active Living Zone. If conversation is impossible because you are too busy trying to breathe then you are within the aerobic zone.

Now Certified by ELITE Trainers

I am now Certified as a Level One Personal Trainer by ELITE Trainers. The ELITE test is really freaking hard. It took me 4 days just to finish the test.

I am not kidding. It has 100 essay questions and you're expected to write a lot on each question. Its like running a marathon, except they're testing your knowledge of various exercises, body types, cardio, weightlifting, stretching, vitamins, supplements, how to make small talk, how to motivate clients, everything... it is a freaking grueling test.

But at least now I am "certified". That is the really stupid thing about the whole certification nonsense. There is no legal requirement to be a certified personal trainer. Its purely a social protocol. Anyone can become a personal trainer, but being certified really helps when it comes to advertising and getting new clients.

I am also thinking of getting my certification to become a Nutritional Consultant - which again, there is no requirement to do that, it is just handy to have because it looks good when trying to attract new clients. Which means I would have to write another test... another 100 essay questions on nutrition. And then the waiting to see if I failed.

That is the really tricky part with ELITE Trainers. You have to score 86 to 100% to pass the test. If you score 85% then you failed. They set their standards really high. I scored 88% on the Personal Trainer test, so I managed to pass, but I am not sure if I want to repeat that process because it was so incredibly difficult.

ELITE uses a ranking system whereby you can become a Level Two, Level Three, etc in various fields including Nutritional Consultant, Personal Trainer, Sports Instructor, Weightlifting / Bodybuilding Instructor, Yoga Teacher. The ranking system goes all the way up to Level Ten and you can only take the next level if you wait 6 months. So in six months I may go back and take the Level Two Test... but for now I shall just wait and see.

I might also get the Sports Instructor certification, seeing as I currently teach archery, boxing, ice skating and swimming, but its kind of unnecessary. I shall think about it. I am not certain I need another certification just for attracting clients.