Newsletter Volume 1

Summer 2005

Welcome to the first addition of the Kitsilano Workout Newsletter! We want to extend our warmest gratitude to our members. We appreciate your input, your support and your continued patronage. We are always looking to improve the club, and I wanted to give you a list of changes that the club has instituted from member feedback. When filling out suggestions for the fitness centre, please leave your name and contact information. We will do our best to contact you and let you know that your suggestions have been heard.

1. Better holiday class schedule!
2. More cardio in the Women’s Only.
3. Reconfiguration of gym equipment and better set up of free weight area.
4. Quicker maintenance of equipment
5. Cleaners are scheduled to come earlier on Sundays to have aerobics floor clean prior to first class, and blow up swiss balls on a weekly basis.

We are working on improving our website as well. I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a warm and happy holiday season, and I hope we can all work together in the New Year to make Kitsilano Workout the best club in Vancouver!

Best Wishes!
Leslie , Zanna, and Catherine
On behalf of the Management Team
At Kitsilano Workout

News from the Aerobics  Department:

Department head: Nicole Spencer:

We are very happy to be able to offer a much improved holiday schedule of classes. The new schedule is already posted in the club, and available for pick up. We heard our members loud and clear last winter, and worked hard to come up with a schedule that would not leave our members without classes for more than 4 days in a row. Last year, the total number of days without classes was 14. This year it is 7 days. I hope this enables members to both enjoy their holidays, and catch a class or two over the break. Our instructors have been fantastic, and deserve their break as well. We wish all of the instructors a fantastic Christmas and New Years!

Keep an eye out for new times for Latin Funk, and a couple of other changes in the new year. The January schedule will be ready to view on our website by December 23rd.

Chiropractor update:

Personal Training Department

Ryan is an accomplished endurance athlete and Ironman Triathlon finisher. Ryan holds a degree in Human Biology and has been racing triathlon for the last 12 years. He has worked with numerous swimmers, cyclists, marathoners, and general fitness enthusiasts to educate and train them using a safe health promoting philosophy. Originally from Calgary, Ryan was a strength and conditioning consultant to the Fred Meyer Cycling team .As well he has been a consultant for the Ironheads Long distance Triathlon team in Portland, Oregon for the past three years.

Athletes of all abilities appreciate Ryan’s training methods mixed with humour and science in a non-threatening, teaching atmosphere. For more information, ask the front desk for Ryan’s contact information or to book an appointment.

Berrie’s Corner:  A Helpful Training Hint from our Personal Trainer Berrie Brown:

Warm up is necessary, but stretching is not a sensible way to warm up!
Do you want to warm up before you work out? To begin, let’s see how you do on this quiz:

True or False:
- stretching helps you avoid injury
- stretching helps you perform better
- stretching leads to improved muscle performance
- strength training decreases flexibility
- Yoga is a completely gentle and safe exercise
- stretching provides a great warm up for exercise
These statements ring true to common sense, but they are ALL FALSE!

Even though the advice coming from the general fitness industry touts stretching before working out and one can see amateur professional athletes doing it, there is no rationale for stretching before a workout.

The truth is that new evidence demonstrates that this practice not only does nothing to prevent injury, it may cause injury. London-based physiotherapist Mark Todman aggress that there is no conclusive evidence that stretching protects muscles and goes on to say, “ in fact, you can make your joints more vulnerable by overstretching.

Warming up before exercise is important for anyone engaged in an exercise routine, but especially important for the over 40 players. It not only gets your muscles and joints ready for the demands of the game or workouts, but prepares your mind. During the warm up period the core temperature of the body increases and that leads to an increase in muscle temperature. Once the muscle’s temperature increases, they become looser and more elastic.

We must warm up more as we get older. The best way to warm up the muscle is to start with some dynamic movement which allows the body to go through a complete range of motion. This type of movement can be adapted to varying fitness levels for instance, by lifting weights at a lower weight with a 6 rep maximum. Performing dynamic movements and a couple of sets allows the joints to lubricate and the muscles to warm up and prepare for maximum effort. Don’t forget! If you’ve hit the 40 yr. old mark, this is especially important for you! Good luck and safe training!

Welcome to all of our new staff!

Please introduce yourself to our new morning receptionists, Carrie and Julia. They are bright, energetic and will do their best to accommodate members with a friendly smile!
We are very happy to have them join our team.

A warm welcome  to our new Accounts Manager, Len. He has been doing a fantastic job keeping everyone’s accounts up to date and accurate. He is very easy going and aims to please! We are thrilled to have him.

Kim, Irina and Ryan join our already fantastic Membership Coordinator team and will be getting the front counter up to speed for January. You will see them around the club, taking classes and familiarizing themselves with equipment. By January, they will all be able to answer your questions about dues renewal specials, guest passes, personal training and Chiropractic assessments. They are here to service the members and deal with your concerns.

Equipment Update

As most members have noticed, we take pride in the ambience of the club, from the gorgeous mountain views, to the foliage in our deck garden, to our floor to ceiling mirrors that surround the club.  We are constantly struggling to deal with breakage on the mirrors. We have a set schedule for mirror repair, in January, May and September. It is our intention to eventually Plexiglas over the lower part of the mirrors to help stop breakage without impeding the members view. Members can help by being diligent about keeping equipment, weights and balance boards away from the mirrors. We appreciate your help!

The equipment room will also be getting more attention. New bins have arrived for the weights, and there will be a set weekly schedule to sort hand weights. We hope this system will make for a more organized equipment room, and also ask for the members help to put weights back in the correct bins. The bins will be clearly labeled to help with this.

Coming in the New Year: a new microphone for instructors, a proper music system in the Women’s Only, and a double stack lat pull down for the weight room. We’ll keep you posted on our progress.

Have a great holiday from the team at Kitsilano Workout!