Why do we gravitate to famous quotes or sayings?  I think there are several reasons but most obvious to me is that every once in a while we need to search out and find a daily nugget of wisdom to help us  tweak the way we see things.  It’s one of those “ah-ha!” moments when we just read or hear something that triggers a chain reaction of thoughts, which in turn fuels us on a new path of action.  To hopefully inspire you to take action and implement health and fitness into your everyday lives, I’ve compiled 21 amazing quotes all about health, fitness and wellness.  Enjoy!  And please feel free to post any other of your favorite quotes in the comments section.

Health is the thing that makes you feel that now is the best time of the year. ~ Franklin P. Adams

I am always busy, which is perhaps the chief reason why I am always well. ~ Elizabeth Cady Stanton

I feel that the greatest reward for doing is the opportunity to do more. ~ Dr. Jonas Salk

I still need more healthy rest in order to work at my best. My health is the main capital I have and I want to administer it intelligently. ~ Ernest Hemingway

If I’d known I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself. ~ Eubie Blake (On his 100th Birthday)

If you don’t do what’s best for your body, you’re the one who comes up on the short end. ~ Julius Erving

Inspire me with love for my art and for thy creatures. In the sufferer let me see only the human being. ~ Moses Maimonides, The Physician’s Oath

It is in human nature to relax, when not compelled by personal advantage or disadvantage. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Learn to relax. Your body is precious, as it houses your mind and spirit. Inner peace begins with a relaxed body. ~ Norman Vincent Peale

Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God and value it next to conscience; for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of, a blessing money can’t buy. ~ Izaak Walton

Money is the most envied, but the least enjoyed. Health is the most enjoyed, but the least envied. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

No rest is worth anything except the rest that is earned. ~ Jean Paul

Old people have fewer diseases than the young, but their diseases never leave them. ~ Hippocrates

Older people shouldn’t eat health food, they need all the preservatives they can get. ~ Robert Orben

Our health always seems much more valuable after we lose it. ~ Unknown Author

Rest is a good thing, but boredom is its brother. ~ Voltaire

Rest is the sweet sauce of labor. ~ Plutarch

Sometimes the most urgent and vital thing you can possibly do is take a complete rest. ~ Ashleigh Brilliant

Tactics, fitness, stroke ability, adaptability, experience, and sportsmanship are all necessary for winning. ~ Fred Perry

Take care of your body with steadfast fidelity. The soul must see through these eyes alone, and if they are dim, the whole world is clouded. ~ Goethe

Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live. ~ Jim Rohn

Doug Shanks photo, Story as published by Hannah Sutherland in the Peace Arch News
Published: August 26, 2010 12:00 PM

What began as a two-person effort in last year’s Adventure Challenge has grown into a solid team of seven, after more Peninsula women caught wind of the September fundraiser and jumped on-board.

Fitness Town Freakettes – comprising five South Surrey mothers and two other friends – will kayak four kilometers, bike 20 km and run 5 km Sept. 11 in North Vancouver’s Deep Cove.

The group has been training over the last year for the event, which benefits Canuck Place and its palliative and respite care services for sick children and their families.

Melanie Berezan decided to take part after learning about the race through past participant Esther Peverley, whose children go to the same school as her own.

“I heard about Adventure Challenge from her last year, when she did it,” said Berezan, an avid runner who has six half-marathons under her belt. “That’s my passion – to try new things and have fun.

“I’m excited about the challenge.”

But it was the prospect of raising money for children that was the biggest draw for the mother-of-four. “I just love the idea of being part of a team and helping kids. It just reinforces the fact we’re all in this together.”

The cause is especially meaningful for Berezan, whose daughter was taken to BC Children’s Hospital with a fever a few days after being born. She recalls being unable to hold and comfort her newborn, who was hooked up to an array of equipment.

“In the four or five days that she was in there it was so traumatic.”

Berezan said she was shocked to walk outside the hospital and see numerous motor-homes in the back parking lot, where some families stay while their children receive medical care.

“I was at the hospital for a few days, and (seeing the motor-homes) really put it in perspective.”

With long-term hospital stays usually associated with stress and trepidation, Berezan said she was surprised to learn from Peverley – a Canuck Place volunteer – that the Vancouver hospice has a joyful environment.

“It’s not a depressing place, it’s just a place that provides so much fun.”

Peverley said everyone at Canuck Place – located in a 100-year-old, 16,000-square-foot Shaughnessy mansion donated to the city by Elisabeth Wlosinski in 1991 – has a “fantastic outlook,” and it’s hard not to be absorbed by the upbeat energy.

“I try to explain to people, 95 per cent of the time you go into the hospice and it’s happy,” she said, noting family volunteers such as herself interact with sick children and their siblings by playing video games, having water fights and going on field trips.

“It’s a very positive, happy, fun place.”

Peverley said Canuck Place is mostly volunteer-run, and 65 per cent of its funding comes from donations – a fact Berezan was shocked to learn.

“I was really blown away – I didn’t know that.”

To contribute to its operations, the Freakettes are raising $1,000 each – the minimum required to participate in Adventure Challenge.

Already, Fitness Town and the group’s trainer, Dai Manuel –a fellow parent at Rosemary Heights Elementary – are sponsoring the team, and have offered to pay for each members’ $50 registration fee.

Berezan said they are now looking for outside donations, which can be made at www.adventurechallenge.ca

“No amount is too small – we’d be grateful for anything,” she said, noting people are also encouraged to come out the day of the event and cheer them on.

“We could use all the help we could get.”

HOW YOU CAN HELP:   Bring donations of back packs and school supplies to any Fitness Town location in B.C. – there are 7 to choose from.

Thank you for your help and support…

Picture of me today... 195lbs, lean & mean thanks to yoga!

After 7 weeks of no weight training or Crossfit, I’ve been going a bit stir crazy.  however, that being said I know that my back is thanking me for it.  I’ve been avidly going to Bikram’s Yoga 3 or 4 times per week for the last 3 weeks and I’m feeling great.  So great as a matter of fact I felt that I could do a track workout after sweating it out for 90 minutes in 40 degree heat… bad idea!

My workout at the track consisted of the following:

800 m Run, 20 double unders then 20 push-ups;
400 m run, 40 double unders then 40 push-ups;
followed up with a 200m sprint.

Total time to complete was 8:39 — ouch!

I was still dehydrated from the yoga and the running was not good after a 7-week hiatus.  But whatever, I had fun anyways.  LOL!

And you know what, the moral of the story, maybe doing yoga then sprints right afterward isn’t such a good idea. (duh!)

Series: UCSF Mini Medical School for the Public [7/2009]

The below are a few of my favorite Crossfit benchmark workouts of the day.  Give one a try and let me know what you think.

Remember, its not just about the final destination, but its more about the journey you take to get there (that’s where the real fun lies)!

Angie
100 Pullups
100 Pushups
100 Situps
100 Squats

Barbara
20 Pullups
30 Pushups
40 Situps
50 Squats
(Either 5 rounds for time, or 5 rounds with 3:00 rest between each round.)

Chelsea
Each min on the minute for 30 minutes
5 Pullups
10 Pushups
15 Squats

Cindy
As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes
5 Pullups
10 Pushups
15 Squats

Mary
As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes
5 Handstand pushups
10 1 legged squats (pistols)
15 Pullups

JT
21-15-9 reps, for time:
Handstand pushups
Ring dips
Pushup

Annie
50-40-30-20-10 reps, for time:
Doubleunders
Situps

Nicole
As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes
Run 400m
Max rep pullups
Note number of pullups each round.

Murph
Run 1 mile
100 pullups
200 pushups
300 squats
Run 1 mile
Partition the pullups, pushups, and squats as needed. Start and finish with a mile run.  If you’ve got a 20# vest or body armor, wear it.

Jason
100 Squats
5 Muscleups
75 Squats
10 Muscleups
50 Squats
15 Muscleups
25 Squats
20 Muscleups

Griff
Run 800m
Run 400m backward
Run 800m
Run 400m backward

Ryan
5 rounds for time:
7 muscleups
21 burpees
Each burpee 12” above max reach

Alex Jones addresses one of the darkest modes of power the globalists have used to control the population– food. The adulteration of the planet’s staple crops, genetically-altered species and intentionally-altered water, food and air all amount to a Eugenics operation to weaken the masses and achieve full spectrum domination…

Alex Jones addresses one of the darkest modes of power the globalists have used to control the population– food. The adulteration of the planet’s staple crops, genetically-altered species and intentionally-altered water, food and air all amount to a Eugenics operation to weaken the masses and achieve full spectrum domination.

People the world over, but especially in the United States are under chemical attack. Deadly and dangerous toxins ranging from Aspartame to Fluoride, GMO, Mercury-tainting, pesticides, cross-species chimeras, plastic compounds in chicken, high fructose corn syrup, cloned meat, rBGH and new aggressive GM species of salmon have all entered into our diets and environments– whether we want it or not.

Many of these substances knowingly cause or are linked with sterility, low birth weight, miscarriages, smaller or deformed offspring, as well as organ failure, cancer, brain tumors and Death itself, what you DON’T know about on your grocery shelves can hurt you. Further, Alex demonstrates that a pattern of buried studies, fraudulent statistics and a will reduce global population all point to the deliberate criminal poisoning of the food and water supply.

Suffer no fools and warn those you love about need to stop their food from being used as a Depopulation-weapon against us all. Please share this important video with everyone, so the truth about these substances can be known.

The below is a re-posting from the Fitness Town blog.

Sending 2000 kids in need to school with backpacks full of supplies

Fitness Town is extremely happy to have the opportunity to once again participate in partnership with Staples and Starbucks to assist the Salvation Army with the Back to School Backpack Drive. Every September, single-parent and low-income families struggle to equip their children for a new school year. The Salvation Army supports these families by distributing donated school supplies. To handle the increased demand, from August 1st to September 15th, all Lower Mainland Fitness Town, Staples and downtown Vancouver Starbucks locations collect donations, back packs and school supplies for children in need, through The Salvation Army.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

Bring donations of backpacks and school supplies to any Fitness Town location in B.C. – there are 7 to choose from.

A webpage on Fitness Town will be updated throughout the program: www.fitnesstown.ca/supplies

SUPPLY SHOPPING LIST:

* Binders
* Duotangs
* Lined paper (for binders)
* Pens
* Pencils
* Erasers
* Pencil sharpeners
* Scissors
* Calculators
* Pencil cases
* Coloured markers
* Coloured pencils
* Ruler
* Glue stick
* Highlighters

STAY CONNECTED! Follow Fitness Town’s Back to School initiative on Twitter & Facebook at:

The PFC crew picked up Blind Boy Paxton at his school in Manhatan, then we all took the subway to the park. We were planning to add him to some of our new Songs Around the World. While we were setting up the mics he began warming up on some of his favorite songs from childhood– one of which was “Mole in the Ground.” We loved it so much we just had to record it, and we are excited to share it with you here!

I’m reaching out to all my friends, family and FT supporters, group members and fans to let the rest of Vancouver (and Georgia Straight readers) know where’s your favorite place to buy fitness equipment and accessories.

The process is simple:

1. Log on to http://www.straight.com/bov
2. Complete your ballots for your faves
3. Please vote for Fitness Town as the “Best Store for buying exercise/fitness equipment” in the Sport & Recreation section

From me to you, I thank you for your continued support and helping us be recognized as your favorite fitness equipment provider.

Many thanks,

Dai Manuel (aka The Moose)

COO, Fitness Town Inc