How to Buy a Yoga Mat

 I don't teach yoga myself, as a personal trainer I am really not qualified enough to be teaching it. But I have taken numerous yoga classes and can tell you that having your own yoga mat is an important thing if you want to be a serious yoga practitioner.

Why?

Mostly for hygiene. Some of the yoga mats at yoga studios are pretty gruddy looking, and while they do clean them and disinfect them sometimes, they sometimes get old and who knows who's been sweating all over them.

Thus when you are looking to buy your first mat, since you have evidently taken your practice up a notch and want to upgrade to a yoga mat of higher quality, there are many places to shop in Toronto and lots of people out there with tips on what makes a good mat.

eg. If you really want advice you can ask for an expert opinion at a local yoga studio. They will happily give it to you and probably try to push you towards their favourite company. Its a bit like pitting Coca-Cola fans Vs Pepsi fans. They're pretty biased on the topic.

So lets first dispel a myth about yoga mat purchasing...

#1. Don't Buy Just Any Old Mat - Buy the mat which best suits your type of yoga practice, whether it be hatha, vinyasa or Bikram. Why? Well you could just buy a generic mat, but it won't really do you that well. Its a bit like buying "all weather tires" for your car. They are basically mediocre all the time and never excel at anything. So aim to get a mat that is specially designed for your purposes.

#2. Shop Around Online First - Do your research. There are many different kinds of yoga mats available online.

Extra Thick Yoga Mats
High Density Yoga Mats
Extra Long Yoga Mats (for really tall people)
Extra Wide Yoga Mats (for people who hate touching the floor by accident...)
Memory Foam
Toxin Free
Bio-Degradable
Non Slip
Durable
Ultra Absorbent
Pilates
Durafoam
Odor Free
Non-Sticky

#3. Do you want it to come with a strap, a sling or a bag? - Or you can buy such things separately. If you are going to be carrying it a lot (some people carry them on their bicycles) then you want something you can easily carry.

#4. Buy in Person, Don't Buy Online - Two reasons... you want to be able to see and feel the mat for yourself, so you know its the kind you want. So find local places to buy a yoga mat.

Examples in Toronto

Moksha on Danforth or Yonge and St Clair

The Yoga Sanctuary on Danforth

#5. Think Colours - eg. If you're a man you will probably want a blue, red, green or black yoga mat. Most men would not purchase a pink yoga mat.

Exercise Quotes for February

"Just because somebody else has already done it doesn't mean you shouldn't do it too. When it comes to exercising just doing it is all that matters."
- Charles Moffat

"For every single thing that stirs up your passion, there is a positive way forward. Choose to find that way, to follow it, and to transform the energy of your passion into great and lasting value."

- Ralph Marston

"The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground."
- Author Unknown

"If I had to select one quality, one personal characteristic that I regard as being most highly correlated with success, whatever the field, I would pick the trait of persistence. Determination. The will to endure to the end, to get knocked down seventy times and get up off the floor saying. “Here comes number seventy-one!"
- Richard M. Devos

"The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places."
- Author Unknown

"When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

"When the world says, 'Give up,' Hope whispers, 'Try it one more time.'”
- Author Unknown

"Decide carefully, exactly what you want in life, then work like mad to make sure you get it!"
- Hector Crawford

"I feel younger now than when I was in my 30s and 40s and had all those problems."

- Ida Keeling, 95-year-old woman from the Bronx who set world record after running 60m in 29.86 seconds; she is the oldest woman to do so

"Life is a ticket to the greatest show on earth."
- Martin H. Fischer

"The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth."
- Chinese Proverb

"When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best...
And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life."
- Monty Python's Life of Brian

Have you given up on your New Years Resolutions yet?

February is probably the worst month of the year for people quitting diets and giving up on their exercise goals.

It has been thirty-one days since the New Year of 2013. And it is pretty easy to guess that a lot of people out there have probably already given up on their New Years Resolutions to exercise more and eat healthier.

Regular gym goers across Toronto are already beginning to complain less about equipment wait times and overcrowding in their local gym. January is a great time of year for Personal Trainers... but by February they may have discovered they counted their chickens before they had hatched.

Forgetting about resolutions is just normal - but honestly, it doesn't have to be "New Years" to make fitness resolutions. You could also make:


Spring Resolutions
Summer Resolutions
Autumn Resolutions
Winter Resolutions
Birthday Resolutions

And if you are Catholic or Christian you could also "give things up for Lent", a religious practice whereby you give up certain vices (such as fatty foods, junk food, cigarettes, etc) in order to demonstrate your level of faith/commitment.

Thus if you are finding that your original motivation is about to kick the bucket, just make a NEW Resolution for whatever works for you. "Valentines", "St Patricks" or even goal oriented resolutions like "Fit Into a Bikini".

TIPS / SAMPLE RESOLUTIONS

#1. You could make a new resolution every week.

#2. Try rotating weekly goals between nutrition and fitness.

#3. Focus on only eating food with one ingredient. eg. eggs, nuts, fruits, veggies, lean meat, brown rice, quinoa, cheese etc.

#4. Use your gym membership/personal training sessions/ yoga classes at least three times.

#5. Try not to eat anything processed, frozen or dine out.

#6. Try an activity you have always been meaning to try but never did. eg. Boxing, archery, ice skating, swimming, martial arts.

Don't give up just because you fell off the proverbial wagon or horse. Just get right back on it and keep trying!

Exercising on a Budget

If you can purchase healthy food on a budget using math and food smarts, then it stands to reason that you can also exercise on a budget if you exercise that big muscle of grey matter in between your ears.

It can be a challenge, but if you love a good puzzle then put your brains to work and you can find lots of frugal ways to exercise.

#1. Walk

Easiest and simplest way to exercise. Don't even need shoes, although if walking in the winter you should probably wear boots.

An one hour walk every day, walking 5 km, for a person weighing 200 lbs burns 371 calories. Do that every day for 100 days and you will burn approx. 10.6 lbs of fat. Over the course of a year that is 38.6 lbs.

And the more weight you lose the faster you will go. By the end of the year you will be walking closer to 6 or 7 km in an hour.

#2. Special Offers

Many personal trainers, gyms, yoga studios and bootcamps offer free trials or low cost trial options, anywhere from a free session, to one week or a free month at the gym. Local deal finders such as Toronto Groupon, Meetup Groups for Toronto, Living Social and Daily Deal Finder regularly offer fitness related savings.

#3. Hire a Personal Trainer who fits your Budget

If you can afford $35 per month for a personal trainer, then you can afford a private personal trainer. Its that easy. (Me for example, if you live in Toronto.)

If you try to hire a personal trainer in a gym it will be $80 to $90 per hour, but you can get one session per month with a private trainer for a lot less. (Gyms charge a lot of money for people to hire their personal trainers, and the trainer themselves often are only paid $20 per hour or less.)

You don't have to be a celebrity these days to hire a personal trainer. Anyone can afford them.

And when you consider a gym membership is $70 to $100 per month, plus parking and equipment, having a trainer and then training in your home or condo or beach or park is way cheaper. And the trainer provides all the equipment during sessions.

#4. Body Weight Exercises

If you explore my Frugal Exercises posts you will find no shortage of cheap and easy exercises you can do that use your body weight instead.

Thus even without a gym it is still possible to get into great shape by using your own body resistance. Exercises like push ups, squats and running up and down your stairs will get you fit really quickly.

#5. Outdoor Activities

Walking isn't the only activity you can do outside. Running, cycling, rollerblading, swimming, ice skating and even tennis will get you great results. Toronto has plenty of free tennis courts and ice rinks you can take advantage of. Tennis racquets can get expensive, but you can buy a new barely used one on Craigslist if you shop smart. I got my tennis racquet when someone in my building left it behind when they moved. Cost? Nothing!

#6. Abandoned Exercise Equipment

Honestly some people just throw this stuff out. You can also find stuff on Craigslist (and barter to get a better price sometimes by offering $5 less than what they are asking). You can ask around amongst friends or family if they have any equipment they aren't using. Easy.

#7. A Home Gym

Getting your own home gym doesn't have to cost a lot. A couple dumbbells, free weights, a mat and stability ball will do the job nicely. A skipping rope or football can be used for a variety of frugal exercises. If the equipment is always there, just put on some music and get to work!

#8. Make your Own Equipment!

Honestly, you can make your own dumbbells. It just requires you to be ingenious about your building methods.

Customized Personal Training Programs

I think North America's obesity epidemic has started to scare people into exercising more and being more health conscious. The problem is that there is so much false information being pushed by people, often just looking to sell their book, gadget or DVD - or just trying to make a name for themselves.

Thus I have a beef with the hotshot personal trainers who are trying to push their own vision of how they think people should be exercising - pushing their own biased agenda, geared towards sales.

Meanwhile us grunt personal trainers are doing the opposite - We create personalized training programs which are customized for the individual. Each program is unique and each personal trainer will have a different approach to how they help out their client, depending on their client's needs and desires.

Yes, its true, the fitness industry has exploded in North America over the past ten years as the Obesity Monster reared its ugly head... And exercise is now considered a pillar in the average person's weekly wellness regimen. (Because apparently people before the rise of cable TV and internet didn't need to be reminded to go outside and exercise.)

But just because its so high demand now doesn't mean hotshot celebrity personal trainers should be pillaging anyone foolish enough to give them money - and to do so by spreading false information that their exercise program / routine is special and is "one size fits all".

No exercise routine is one size fits all. Want to know how I know? Test it out on teenagers and see how many of them get bored in the first 5 minutes.

Creating a customized and personalized approach to exercising for the individual client is all about what personal training is supposed to be.

And its cultural too. What works in Toronto may not work as well in a different social setting where people have different priorities and customs.

The same goes with gyms.

Gyms will look very different depending on the cultural setting. A gym in Toronto will look very different from a gym in Beijing or Sri Lanka or Athens.

Many people still picture a gym or health club with a bunch of beefcakes on the free weights, acting all macho and betting on who can benchpress more. Plus the weight loss hopefuls on the treadmill, and ladies with 2 lb dumbbells in step class at the aerobic studio. Complete stereotypes, largely fueled by the advertising industry during the 1980s.

But each gym is different. Some gyms are more like yoga studios. Some are boxing studios. Some gyms have pools and saunas. Picking a gym that is closest to you is not really making a choice. Its just convenient. A gym that has all the facilities and equipment you want however makes a big difference in how often you will go and exercise.

And by the same token, personal trainers do the same thing. If your trainer makes the activity fun for you and challenges you then you will keep coming back for more. If they don't then you will eventually quit and/or find a different trainer.

And that is really a wise thing to do. Shop around and find the personal trainer that works for you.

Times have Changed

With the implementation of age appropriate exercises, personal training, more options and better programming, fitness has finally shed its image as an activity for people who are body obsessed narcissists, and is recognized for its other benefits such as stress management, vitality and longevity.

The industry has also been helped along by a not-so-gentle push from family doctors urging their patient's into the gym, by prescribing fitness to cure everything from reoccurring colds, high blood pressure and depression.

It has reached a point that if I walk down Yonge Street in Toronto its almost impossible for me to not see someone carrying a yoga mat strapped to their back.

And thanks to higher gasoline prices the number of cyclists on the road keeps going up.

Personal trainers can customize fitness programs based on age, goals, strengths and limitations - and how much fun you want to have while exercising. Trainers will work one-on-one with couples, children, the elderly, groups of friends and even entire families.

Even though you and your family / friends may have different goals, the personal trainer can compensate by giving you exercises that work on your combined goals and different exercises you can do simultaneously or when you are not with the trainer in person.

Having a customized approach makes a big difference for whether you succeed. Don't fall for any snake oil salesman selling an "one size fits all" exercise routine because you are not "one size". You are you and you are ever changing and unique.