Monday, January 14, 2013

Exercise Canadian Style



June last year I returned to Canada from my first trip to Asia. From that point forward, I was in the gym 4-6 times per week. Personally the gym is an oasis for me. The airdynes, the battle ropes, and the plates of steel relax me and make me happy. Results reinforce the activity and the actions reinforce the results, this continues forward. 

In Canada we have been blessed with a large dynamic landscape with varying climate. Climate has provided an excellent source of exercise than people in many countries never experience and those that live in high rises cannot appreciate. Of course I am talking about snow. That beautiful white powder; coated over the landscapes makes everything elegant. With snow comes a little work. In the past 3 days I have easily spent 2 hours shoveling snow. This is an excellent form of exercise. While light and fluffy, the accumulation and repetitiveness of the duty leaves you in a big ball of sweat even in negative twenty-degree weather. 


With all that said I come to my absolute favourite form of exercise known to man. Snowboarding! For me the cool breeze of mountain fresh air, coupled with the rush flying down the mountain at 80 + km/hr leaves me with a feeling of enrichment. A shot of champagne powder as you kick up a rooster tail while laying fresh tracks down a flawless slope. It may not sound like much using gravity to float down a mountain but the amount of work is enormous.  At minus twenty I wear little more than a shell and a long sleeve t shirt and find myself sweating more often then not. Of course it comes down to intensity. The steeper the pitch, the deeper the powder, the crazier the run the harder I work, likewise the happier I am.


Notice the trend here? Cold weather and sweating perhaps. Not all Canadians, as a matter of fact there is likely very few that share my appreciation of hard work in cold weather. At the point of exhaustion however, the cold isn’t even recognizable. 

Of course if cold wasn't enough. Here are a few shots from  January Luel Magazine.




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