Actofit Fitness Tracker Unboxing First Impressions

Most fitness trackers these days pretty much track all the same dynamics, stuff like step counting, sleep tracking, heart rate tracking and basic overall activity. One area most of these fitness trackers don't seem to track very well are actual weight lifting workouts, they simply don't understand what your doing since it is not step based and unfortunately even the built in optical heart rate sensors don't work well for tracking your heart rate when you lift weights.

Here is where the Actofit Fitness Tracker may just have something up its sleeve to fill in this weight lifting gap where most activity trackers fall short. The Actofit Fitness Tracker is the world's first fitness tracker that automates comprehensive workout tracking & provides actionable insight. Using machine learning algorithms Actofit goes deeper into advanced motion tracking to identify 75+ exercises, count reps, evaluate form, measure heart rate, calories burned and more to auto-log comprehensive sessions & granular workout statistics; allowing you to evaluate data to make informed decisions.

I will be testing the Actofit Fitness Tracker over the next couple weeks and see if it can really back these claims and actually perform as promised.

You can checkout more info on the Actofit Fitness Tracker over on their website and pre-order one.

Garage Gym Workout: Squats Lunges and Deadlifts with Darren

I have been training lately with Darren, my Crossfit partner from a few years back. Darren has a nice free weight setup in his garage with a rack, bench, bars, lots of plates and some dumbbells. It's a great setup to do the classic compound movements and it's really awesome to have a partner to push me!

Darren and I are pretty close in strength and fairly close in age, I am 48 and Darren is 54. I have been wanting to show some more training session videos and so now it looks like I will be able to again :)

In this first Garage Gym Training Video we hit legs and do a variety of squats, lunges and even some straight leg deadlifts to finish off.

Road to Canadian Nationals 2017 - It Begins!

It has officially begun! Today was the first day of my contest preparation for the 2017 Canadian Nationals where I will be competing in Men's Masters Physique and defending my first place title :) I have more to prove this year, my hope is to not only take first place in the tall division but also win the overall 1st place and get my IFBB Pro Card. I was super close last year but it was not meant to be...

I feel I am in my best starting shape ever sitting around 195 pounds at around 8% body fat. Overall I am healthy with no serious injuries. I feel stronger than ever and I have around 14 weeks to lose about 3% body fat and put on about 5 or so pounds of muscle. Since my weight cut will be almost non existent as I hope to walk on stage at 195 pounds, what I need to focus on is hitting my nutrition and working harder than ever in the gym. My goal this year is to be in my best shape ever and leave no question to the judges when I walk on stage and stand with all the other top athletes.

The Road to 50 is Getting Shorter!

Today was my birthday and I turned 48! I don't really think of myself as a 50 year old person although some days it does feel like it ;) But overall I feel good and can do most everything I put my mind to with very few limitations. And when I look in the mirror I don't really see a 50 year old man at least in my minds eye but perhaps as we age we look past the extra wrinkles, grey hairs and sagging areas...

Either way I'm OK with the thought of turning 50 in only two more years, I plan to keep this healthy and fit lifestyle going well past 50 so turning 50 shouldn't really be any different than any other birthday!

Below is a photos of me this year April 5th at 48 versus last year April 5th at 47. In both photos it is my "Off-season" and I am about 195 pounds and pretty close in body fat but I feel that this year I'm a bit thicker in my legs and perhaps upper chest. Looking at my workout numbers I am a slightly stronger this year over last years numbers so that should indicate that I 'm sporting a little more muscle here and there. The lighting in both photos is different as I tired to use mainly natural lighting. This year it was kind of cloudy outside compared to last years where I believe there was more natural lighting. I also have more of a tan this year ;)

April 5th 2017 48 Years Old

April 5th 2016 47 Years Old

Workout Supplements 101

This Article/Video is intended as a very general guideline to help people understand the very basics about supplements that are considered beneficial for people that are active in exercise especially those interested in building muscle. The information I share in this Article/Video is based on my personal experience using many of these supplements and also information I have read about and learned over the years. This does not mean all my statements are 100% accurate, I have been know to be wrong sometimes, just don't tell anyone...

What happens when we workout?

• We created energy that puts strain on our bodies and can cause muscle and cell damage and cause oxidization in our bodies.
• Strenuous exercise can create lactic acid buildup in our muscles which is what we often feel as pain after a workout.
• Strenuous exercise uses up vital nutrients in our bodies that need to be replaced.

Why we need supplements and who they can help. 

• To replace the lost nutrients we use up during exercise.
• To rebuild the damaged cells and tissue.
• To repair oxidization.
• Supplements can help virtually everyone even if you are not exercising as we rarely get all of our nutrition from the foods we eat.

Protein:

• Proteins are the main building block of the human body and contain lots of amino acids important to building muscle.
• Protein helps to increase natural anabolic hormone release that can stimulate muscle growth.
• Protein is also very satiating which helps with food cravings.

BCAA’s:

• BCAA’s are fast acting amino acids from Protein.
• BCAA’s improve protein synthesis and fat burning.
• BCAA’s can help with hormone imbalances when doing intense training.
• BCAA’s decrease fatigue and improve endurance.
• BCAA’s help prevent muscle loss and soreness related to training.
• BCAA’s can improve insulin response and reduce diabetes risks.

Creatine:

• Creatine is mainly for strength training, not so much for endurance purposes.
• Creatine pulls water into your muscle cells so there will be a little bit of water weight gain but only really in your muscle fibers so not a bad area to have extra fullness.
• This water in our muscles increases protein synthesis which makes the muscle grow when we put demands on our muscles by weight training.

General Vitamins

Good multi-vitamin:

• Fish Oil (Helps with: blood pressure, insulin levels, inflammation, protein synthesis, fat burning)
• Vitamin C (Helps with: connective tissue support, healthy bones, cardiovascular health, antioxidant)
• Vitamin D (Helps with: Can increase strength, healthy bones, diabetes risks)
• Vitamin B’s (Helps with: immune system support, increase metabolic rate, support cell growth)
• Calcium -Magnesium (Helps with: CNS (Central Nervous System), blood pressure, immunity, bone health, energy production and protein synthesis)  

Joint Vitamins: 

• Glucosamine (Helps with: promoting cartilage, tendons and ligament growth and aid in their repair)
• MSM (Helps with: anti-inflammatory, accelerates healing, improves flexibility, Increases energy)