To us sport and being active is a part of life, things would be dull without it. This past weekend my lil cousin played for his elite hockey team. They are like a bunch of mini NHL’s flying around out there, it’s incredible to watch! Even my gramps, that has played coached and watched hockey his entire life is amazed at how well they play at 9 years old.

It was definitely exciting hockey and when someone we’re related to plays we all get pretty amped up! (Who am I kidding; we don’t have to be related to them at all lol) Once we’re amped up, we all start griping over whose sport is better or tougher. Or if being great at one sport is better than being good at a lot.

It’s never good enough to talk about it, we always have to say “prove it”, followed by an inevitable “let’s race” or “best 2 out of 3”. This time somehow the deciding game came down to tennis..I’m not sure how, being that none of us play tennis normally..(maybe that’s why).

The first day the boys battled it out for a couple hours at the public outdoor courts. Then on day 2 (yes, there is a day 2, it’s ok you can call us ridiculous if you want) we all packed up and went to the courts for a final show down.

We brought a football and a soccer ball and spent the whole afternoon at the park all together. It sounds sappy, but it was awesome. At the end of the day I’m not even sure who was crowned the champ..Each person would probably tell you it was them. Haha

The moral of my little story is that it’s good to get out and run around, play, and be active no matter how old you are. It doesn’t really matter what you’re motivation is. For us it was the competitive spirit, which can be a really amazing force.

Look at the World Cup, people from all over the world are coming together.  A few of them come to actually compete as world class athletes. Most come to cheer and be entertained by the competition both in person and all around the globe.

Check out some of the world cup soccer, maybe it will be your latest inspiration!

Find what motivates you to be active, and remember your way more likely to be active when you’re having fun!

Let me know what gets and keeps you active in the comments below!

Kenji

In honor of the blizzard Saskatchewan just had, I thought I’d whip up a little something about the shoveling we’re all going to have to do.

I live in a condo with my mom so our “yard” area is small at best… Well that small area took me about 20 minutes to shovel!  The snow build up was approaching the halfway mark on our front door. We were quite literally snowed in!

 I had just finished my workout for the day when I decided to tackle the snow pile. By the time I was done clearing a path out to the world, the shoveling had been a more intense work out than the weights I had done.

Safety First

I don’t think I’m nutty about working out but it makes me feel good, and I know it’s good for me. I’ve always done something active at any given time (ballet, gymnastics, b-ball, rowing). I hope to for as long as I’m kickin’ around. To make that happen I know I have to do things properly because it’s so easy to hurt yourself if you’re not conscious of what you’re doing.

Every year shoveling always used to sneak up and wreck my back for a couple weeks when we’d get a good snow. After a few years in a row of that I learned my lesson.  So here are my Snow Relocation Tips! (thanks to truestarhealth.com for their thorough information that I referenced to create my list of tips.)

Snow Relocation Tips

Stretch It Out

It might sound lame but Warm Up before you head outside. Take a few minutes to stretch out your whole body, especially your back, legs and shoulders.  And when you’re done stretch out one more time to help avoid that gross stiff feeling. Plus, stretching when your muscles are warm is the best time to increase flexibility.

It Really Works

You always hear people say Lift With Your Legs! Do it, lifting with your legs will save your back! You’ll prevent injury if you bend your knees when you’re lifting a full shovel, and avoid twisting with a full load. My arms are way weaker than my legs, so I try to leverage the weight on the leg I have forward by resting my lowest arm on it.

Don’t Be a Hero

I often have to remind myself shoveling is not a strong man completion. Don’t Overload  yourself. Don’t try to lift beyond your ability. That said just cuz you can doesn’t mean you should either. Take your time, so you don’t accidently put yourself out of commission.

Resistance

Then there is the temptation to see how far you can toss a shovel full without moving..Push the Pile. Rather than trying to make your body awkwardly throw a scoop full of snow. Use some of your strongest muscles, your legs to push the snow close to the pile then once again lift with the legs.

Play It Cool

Shoveling is a high intensity activity because it gets your heart pumping and requires muscle strength. Remember to breathe, take breaks if you need to and cool down by walking around inside for a few minutes when you’re done.

Check Out What I’ve Got…

For those who like a challenge and something to brag about. You can try building a quinzhee! You can find the directions in Back Yard and Beyond. Enjoy the snow, it’s fun!

Kenji!

I was stuck on blog inspiration for this week – I had a couple of thoughts but nothing I was feeling desperate to share with the world.

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb Moment!

Then I checked my twitter (have I mentioned how much I love twitter.. I love it! [follow me @Kenji22] haha). There was a message from our communications guru Kim (follow her @Herperki) with a link to a great blog written about exactly what I was struggling with, so helpful! Check it out if you’re stuck -13 Ideas To Inspire Your Blog Content

This One’s For You

A second glance at my direct messages revealed a tweet for my “awesome friend Tim” with another idea about how he stays active playing league rec hockey. So this one’s for you Timma!

My boy Tim is right; the best inspiration for being active is fun! He doesn’t play on his team because they are elite or win every game..(sorry man, you guys are awesome tho!) It’s because a bunch of buds get to play the game they love. They get their competitive spirit going, and take pride in their team. Let’s be honest, the chill time after the game doesn’t hurt either. But if it wasn’t for the hockey, that bunch of guys wouldn’t hang out nearly as often. (Smart sounding summary of my point—activity is a social catalyst)

The Science—or Not

My original plan was to get into the scientific stuff about the chemicals your body produces when your active but; all the articles are really long and would require research into the meaning of strange multi-syllable words. Perhaps a subject for another time, I’m going to stick with the fun!

Life Experience

In grade 9 one of my favorite teachers ever got me and my friends into rowing. We were never at any kind of competition level, but it was cool. I have a competitive spirit for sure. So I may have gotten intense and tried to make us into world champs. Much to my dismay it never happened. Lol. We did spend a lot of time at the marina and gained enough skill to move from an 8 boat to a 4 (the more people the less balanced you have to be on your own). For a while, we took it pretty serious and did dry land training too. We all knew we would never be Canada’s Olympic team or anything, but it motivated us to be active, even off the water.  Plus, learning to row on Wascana lake in Regina pre “big dig” gave my friends and I some now hilarious oars covered in seaweed stories for our crew.

No Rules

You don’t need a league to regularly have a mostly friendly competitive game, family drive way b-ball games can get nasty depending on who’s playing.  Hit the school yard for b-ball, or the ball diamond, or the park for football, soccer or cricket, or fly a kite. Whatever! They’re all a good time and good for ya too!

One With the Fun

Sometimes being around a bunch of people isn’t my idea of fun either. So I hit the bike path. Either on my bike or my long board, on which I am a hot mess! Ok… just a mess, but it’s a blast anyway. Plus, I get an ab workout from laughing at myself.

Any good stories out there..share em’ in the comments below!

Keniji

Most people have family traditions around the holidays. My family is ginormous and has traditions that are a marathon of events and food. We (all 40+ of us) get together for a massive gift exchange. Between Secret Santa’s and gifts for our immediate family the tree disappears. The festivities last well into the night and after a goodnight sleep and a bit of time apart we reconvene for Christmas Day supper; where we all eat very well and laugh way too much into the night again.

So after indulging our stomachs for a couple days we get together again for our traditional Boxing Day merriment. Like I mentioned my family is pretty large. My dad has 7 brothers and sister who all have kids and in some cases grandkids. With someone of pretty much every age we have to have something for everyone to do. So we rent out this club house that has a decent sized hill for tobogganing, a field for some intense games of snow football, and even an ice oval out back! Some people even hit the club houses weight room for kicks.

Our outdoor adventures!

So typically when one hears tobogganing they think kids, and that’s partly true but with my family the adults go wild with it. The brother slide, the sister slide, how many can squash on the sled, how many people high can we go. Oh ya, it gets crazy!

Once we get our competitive juices going we take it up a notch from sledding to mostly.. touch snow football! Sports are a wee bit of a family legacy and football is a big one. So we play a few downs, mostly for fun..haha.. some take it more seriously than others lol.

For those not so thrilled about football or maybe feeling a little more refined there is the ice oval. The little ones tend to play football for a few downs and then want to skate.

Competitive togetherness!

All in all the day is about all of us being together! Running around and being active just enhances the fun we have together.

Do you have any active traditions around the holidays? We could always expand the competition so pass on your great ideas in the comments below.

Take it easy everyone..but not too easy!

Kenji

I wanted to take a quick sec to wish everyone a very happy holiday season. I hope you all have a happy, healthy and active holiday. Enjoy the break from school or work and have fun making memories. Keep in mind that being active with your family and friends is not only enjoyable but really healthy for everyone!

This holiday season I’m try to take it all in and enjoy and appreciate everything. The time I get to spend hanging out with family and friends is precious and some of my best memories are our annual Christmas day hockey games and sledding on Boxing Day.

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing  and appreciating what we do have.” -Frederick Keonig

Cheers!

Kenji