Streak to 272

Monday - Upper Body Powerlifting - Day 266 

With the final bench workout of my Linear Max OT phase, I finally had a bit of struggle. Todays workout involved 190lbs for 3 sets of 4-6 reps as my main lift. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I was able to hit 6 for the first 2, but only 4 on the third. I guess that leaves more room for growth and improvement. The key is that even though I wanted to hit 6 on the last one, I knew I could only do it if I really messed up my form. So...I didn't! It's a good thing to let go of the ego, and realize that it's all about consistency and continuing to work on improvement, playing the long game. If you don't hit your marks today, that's okay, because you get to try again tomorrow!

Tuesday - Hot Yoga (Saana Music Flow) - Day 267

Today was one of my favourite workouts in a long time, because I went back to hot yoga! I'm a big fan of doing yoga and stretching/mobility workouts, and do them quite often (as you've probably seen and will continue to!), but there is something special about hot yoga. It's hard to explain, but I think the increased difficulty caused by the extreme heat (hot yoga rooms run up to about 38C or 99F, much more than room temperature!), really helps you get in the moment. I enjoy the workout aspect of yoga in addition to the mindfulness portion, and find it's a bit easier to do the latter with hot yoga. As a side benefit, you sweat LIKE CRAZY. Great for people looking to increase detoxification, support weight loss and more. Interesting note for me today; I had heard that people who are more fit tend to sweat sooner and a larger amount than their unfit peers. As you've noticed, today is Day 267 in a row. Let me tell you, I cannot remember a time I sweat as much as I did in todays class. There may be something to that sweat thing! And funny enough, when I weighed myself when I got home, I must've been about 2-3lbs lighter than this morning. Of course much of that will come back with dinner and water intake, but it was a cool thing to see.

Wednesday - Lower Body Powerlifting - Day 278 

We're now onto week 4 of the Candito program which means Heavy Weight Acclimation. The overall reps has gone down, but the weights have gone up. Still not too hard because I'm taking it easy on my squat and deadlift maxs, but it was good workout.

Thursday - Bike Ride - Day 269

Today was supposed to be an upper body day, but my neck was hurting a fair bit after pulling it last night. Thus, one of the important principles of fitness - Flexibility! Going for a bike ride is pretty easy on the neck and still allowed for a nice little workout. Plus my friend Adam asked me out of the blue to go for a ride before I'd decided what to do, so it just made sense. I had a nice time riding around the neighbourhood and looking at some of the cool, big houses and appreciating them, plus some serious pushing on the big hills around the area.

Friday - Upper Body Powerlifting - Day 270

My neck was feeling a bit better today and I was up for my regularly scheduled workout. After struggling (just a little bit) on the last one, I was able to hit all my lifts today. I switched things up again with a barbell curl instead of using the dumbbells. I don't know what it is about barbell vs dumbbell curls, but wow do you feel the burn!

On another note, I was researching phone exercise apps and finally decided to try the Nike Training Club app. As I'd already done a long workout I just did a short cardio based one. It was fun though, and I really liked that they have the option to search for workouts (out of 190+) based on equipment, time, intensity and focus. I don't know if it's as good as my favourite free workout resource, Fitness Blender (which I'll have to review in a later post), but it was a useful app and it's nice how portable it is.

Saturday - Rock Climbing - Day 271

Today was Global Climbing Day and True North Climbing was having a free day. I like this place because they have a lot of great top-rope routes, including this really cool stalagmite wall. My brother Shayne came with me and we had a fun time. Unfortunately, Shayne hasn't climbed in a while so they didn't let him belay me, but I enjoyed belaying/watching him and then doing some of my own problems. They have a handful of autobelay routes which were fun. Plus we tried out some bouldering, and I had a great time working out a few challening problems.

Sunday - Lower Body Powerlifting + Hike - Day 272

Pretty easy lifting day today, very low on the reps and "high" on the weight. It felt good to do some regular deadlifts, a lot of the weeks this program has you doing deadlift variations like pause, stiff leg or elevated. I woke up a little late with things to do, so it was helpful that the workout was pretty short.

I added to my workout today by going on a nice hike/trail walk near Evergreen Brickworks. By all means, you can still go outside and enjoy the outdoors when the weather changes, but it is great when the weather is nice like today. Sunny, but not too warm, with a light breeze. Makes for a great day!

That's it for this week, time to go prep for next week where I can be

Active Every Single Day!

Another Week Down, Streak to 265!

It's been a long day today and unfortunately, it's a little late, so today's post is going to be kept to recapping what happened this week, probably without much in the way of tips. A fun story here and there though. I'm hoping to start adding in weekly workout tip posts this week, probably on Wednesday or Thursdays.

Without further adieu, here's the recap from this week!

Monday - Basketball shot workout + long walk - Day 259

The original plan for this day was to do a recovery yoga workout. I got home quite late this evening after working at my private practice, and decided I needed to spend some time outside. It had been an exceptionally long day, as I was evaluating a physical medicine exam from 830 in the morning, and then working in my private practice in the afternoon until 7pm. When I got home, it was fortunately still light outside, so I decided to head to the park and play some basketball. I ended up making up a fun game where I played "around the world and back," but anytime I missed my "chance," then I had to do 10-20 reps of some random exercise (think squats, pushups, pull-ups, whatever). It ended up being a pretty fun workout, not too intense, but kept my heartrate up and helped work on my shot too!

It eventually got pretty dark and my shots were getting a lot more difficult, so I decided to head out for a walk, which ended up becoming a long walk. I enjoy listening to podcasts and talking on the phone during walks, it really helps pass the time. I probably walked around the neighbourhood for a good hour, and the crazy thing was the skunks! At some point during my walk, I came about 6 feet from a skunk which was hiding behind a car I walked by. 2 blocks later, ANOTHER skunk was walking by. As I rounded the next block, there was another one! Then finally, on my last walk through a narrow path, ANOTHER skunk (likely the first one based on the colouring of the tail) walked right past me, it couldn't have been more than 5 feet away! Fortunately, I did not get sprayed or anything, so the walk was overall a nice time.

Tuesday - Upper Body Lift - Day 260

This was a shorter workout as the main lift (bench press) was just one max rep set. I was able to hit 165lbs for 14 reps, which I think is an improvement. It's nice to have rep goals in addition to weight goals for weight lifting, because you can see progress without pushing yourself too hard and injuring yourself. I definitely have a lot of injury history, trying to have a little less ego to prevent that these days. 

Wednesday - Lower Body Lift - Day 261

Today was the start of week 3, and with the Candito program it's the Linear Max OT part of the program. Basically it's much heavier weights with lower volume (sets and reps). This can be effective training for muscle gain and fat loss, but ensuring good form is key. My overall weights for my lower body lifts are set pretty low right now to help prevent injury, but this is still feeling pretty good.

Thursday - Core De Force MMA Shred - Day 262

Another workout video program I enjoy is Core De Force. These are MMA cardio/hiit workouts. I like that they are all body weight, and they actually have 2 trainers running the show. They switch between trainers back and forth for each exercise, keeping things fresh. The trainers themselves are pretty cheesy with their lines, but it's interesting enough and definitely a good workout. I enjoy this one because it has a lot of elbows and kicks, making for some fun, explosive exercise. 

Friday - Upper Body Lift - Day 263

The weight is starting to really ramp up with these upper body workouts. Benching 185lbs for 3 sets of 6 (the workout was to do 4-6 reps, but I could hit 6 on all which felt good). I also increased the weight and decreased the reps on my accessory workouts. It felt great to be able to do 6 pull-ups with 35lbs hanging from a weight belt. Nothing like increasing the intensity on body weight exercises!

Saturday - Rock Climbing - Day 264

Today was the first day of my return to rock climbing that I was alone. I've enjoyed going with my friend Renata (Dr. Renata Zambo, ND - She's a wonderful ND and a great person!), but she was busy so I went myself. I've been climbing at Up the Bloc, which is a cool little rock climbing gym in Mississauaga that only has bouldering. Simple and to the point. As I was on my own, I had my bluetooth headphones on the whole day and was just enjoying working on different problems and listening to my music. I was able to finish quite a few routes, including some cool new ones that I hadn't completed before. Unfortunately, I went a little too hard and ended up ripping through a callus on my right hand. I didn't notice during my climb, maybe because of the adrenaline, but it hurt just to wash my hands afterward! I'm still feeling it now (Sunday night), so there will be lots of moisturizer to work on that, and hopefully I'll get stronger and more resilient as I climb more often. 

Sunday - Lower Body Lift + Ab Ripper X - Day 265

The last workout of this week was kind of silly. With the second lower day of the Linear Max OT, it involved just 1 set of squat and deadlift (working set, that doesn't count warmups). Technically, the weights were very heavy, but because I have my weights more manageable for injury prevention, it was a little easy. Still, it was enjoyable for that to be easy, and I know I'll keep working on that as I move through new rounds of this program. I completed the workout by doing the original Ab Ripper X from P90X. I remember doing this up to 3x per week when I did P90X back in the winter of 2012, and let me tell you, I don't remember it being this hard! It was fun and a little nostalgic, definitely a good workout, and definitely a bit of a challenge for me to improve next time.

So that's it for this week, I'm off to schedule my workouts for next week, then get a great rest to prepare for another week of being 

Active Every Single Day.

First Update - Day 258!

As mentioned, the core of this blog is going to be weekly updates of my own exercise journey. I'll mostly share what I did during the week for exercise, but I'm sure some helpful tidbits may show up!
This week I pushed my streak up to 258 days of activity in a row. I feel great and am proud of the commitment I've made, and have no intention of stopping thus far. So without further adieu, here's a roundup of the last week.

Monday - Shrednado - Day 252 

As you'll see in the blog, I've been fortunate to acumulate a fair number of video workout programs and like to do them a lot. I find home workout videos are an awesome way to do a good workout when motivation may be low, as they keep you on track and doing what you need to do.
Shrednado is one of my absolute favourite of these, coming in as one of the workouts from the workouts in the MetaShred 21 program from Mens Health. I love this workout because it is non-stop, a little different than traditional HIIT. The workout involves NINETY sets of 10s on, 10s off. If you think about it, that means it's only 15 minutes of actual work, but WOW is this intense and hard. The sweat was dripping and I felt accomplished after this.

As a bonus, my nephews Erik and Andrew were over and THEY ASKED ME if we could go to the basement to workout. At 6 and 4, they're interested waned after the first few minutes and they proceded to mess around with the resistance bands and treadmill, but it was fun having them run around while I did my workout.

Tuesday - Powerlifting Leg Day - Day 253

As a throwback to summer of 2014, I'm currently doing the 6 week strength program from Candito Training HQ. It's a free program template, but you definitely need a little experience with barbell trianing to ensure you're being safe. The program is fun because it has a variety of phases which keep your workouts interesting, and most importantly, you see RESULTS. Powerlifting is enjoyable because you can see real change not just in how your body looks, but what it can do.
Today's workout involved a cool variation called extra volume squats. My set included 160lbs for a max rep set of 10, which I was able to hit. After that, I had to add 5lbs and then do 5 sets of 3, except only a 60s rest between sets. For a weightlifting exercise, it was intense!

Wednesday - Powerlifting Upper Body Day - Day 254

Continuing with Candito training was the upper body day, which includes bench press as your main lift, and then accessory work on your back, biceps and shoulders. I tried something new today (as this is technically the second week of the program), and decided to superset my accessory workouts instead of doing each separately. This means I would do my first sets for my back (dumbbell rows) and then IMMEDIATELY do my sets for biceps (barbell curls). Needless to say, it was more difficult than usual, but I got a great workout and finished faster than usual.

Thursday - Yoga and Foundation Training - Day 255

Going for MANY days in a row without rest is crazy right? NOT REALLY! You just have to program in recovery workout days that are easy and let your body rest in a different way. So today I did some yoga, kind of following a video and kind of on my own, benefits of having a lot of experience and knowing how to make up workouts. Funny to think of it, I've actually been doing yoga for over 8 years now!

I actually tried to do yoga on the patio outside, and this was really nice, but unfortunately, it was really windy, so my mat kept getting rolled over by the wind,

I also did a short version of the Foundation Training Back Routine, a fantastic video I found that works on connecting the link between the muscles of your posterior chain. This is awesome for improving posture and core strength and hopefully preventing back pain. Give it a try! (but take it a little easy if you have current back pain).

Friday - Leg Day and Insanity Abs - Day 256

Another leg day, but this one started super late thanks to some craziness at work and getting home really late. While doing this workout, I enjoyed the heck of watching American Ninja Warrior city finals, with one of my favourites Jessie Graff making it to the national finals again!

Todays workout had another cool squat variation called back-off squats. Similar to Tuesday I had to hit 10 reps, though this time with 165lbs. Then I took off 10lbs, and had to do TEN sets of 3 with only 60s rest. It was easy at first, but let me tell you, by the 6th set I was seeing stars! Proper hydration kept my going, and that final set felt great!

I also had my buddy Daniel over today and he was doing his own workout, but it was nice to have some support during my crazy sets.

After the leg workout, I did the core workout from the original Insanity. Funny how when you don't train a lot of core directly, your endurance is not so great! I definitely got a good workout and am improving, but my endurance on core specific workouts is lagging a bit, requiring quite a few breaks during the workout. All good though, because it's all about improving, not being perfect!

Saturday - Rock Climbing - Day 257

Had a lot of fun today rock climbing at Up the Bloc with my friend Renata. This is only the second time I've rock climbed in the last year. If you recall from Friday, I really enjoy watching American Ninja Warrior, and rock climbing is definitely THE skill to build to improve the ability to do that kind of Ninja stuff (who knows, maybe I could tryout one day if it EVER comes to Canada..).

Today was better than last week, with some improvement in my technique and completing more routes than before. I even completed and down-climbed a route than I fell and almost died last week! (ok, a little dramatic, but it wasn't the best fall, so I was happy to beat it this time!).

Sunday - Upper Body Day and Ab Attack - Day 258

For the final workout of the week, it was another upper body lifting day. My bench press is feeling like it's getting a little bit stronger as I go, and I'm really enjoying the focus of the program thus far. I will say that my pull-ups felt a little weaker at the end of the workout than usual, but it's okay, because I technically lifted more on my bench than I have in the past.

On that note, I think it's important to consider that in workout programming. You want to always progress and improve yourself, but remember that it's about the whole workout, not each individual exercise. Sometimes the later exercises may lag because you worked really hard on the first ones. That's okay, just ensure to put the most important/most taxing things first.

After the lifting portion, I did another Insanity core workout, this time Ab Attack from Insanity Max 30. Another tough one, I found myself following the modifier for quite a few exercises (of the 10 minute workout). But again, I worked hard and felt good after completing it, and that's all the matters, right?

So that's it for my update for this week, looking forward to another week is being Active Every Single Day. I've got my workouts planned on my calendar, and can't wait to keep going.

Feel free to comment if you have any thoughts or are looking for tips, always happy to help!

Welcome to the Blog!

Hello and welcome to my new blog, Active Every Single Day!

The purpose of this blog is mostly a way for me to document my journey, but I'm also happy to share my experience in the hopes that I can educate and inspire others to take charge of their health.

My name is Noah Litvak and I am a Naturopathic Doctor. What does that mean? I help people feel their absolute best by diving into all aspects of their health and supporting them with natural treatments, like nutrient and herbal supplements, acupuncture, nutrition and lifestyle counselling, among others. One of my absolute favourite treatments is EXERCISE. I love this quote from Robert Butler, MD, a former director of the National Institute of Aging:

"If exercise could be packaged into a pill, it would be the single most widely prescribed and beneficial medicine in the nation"

There are so many wonderful benefits to exercise and I will be happy to share about many of them over the coming months. In addition to the benefits of exercise, I'm going to try to share numerous tips on how to make exercise easier, more effective, and a bigger part of your life. I'll also be updating my activity log each week, hopefully keeping up with my goal of being "Active Every Single Day." As of the writing of this first post, I just finished day 258 in a row. I feel great and have no intention of stopping as I'm having way too much fun!

After all, I believe that life should be filled with joy and great experiences, and exercise is one of the best medicines to help make that a reality!

So again, welcome, I look forward to sharing my experience with you and hope that you find something (or many somethings!) that help you become the best version of yourself.

In health,
Dr. Noah