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The Canada StairClimbing Association needs support from dedicated people like yourself! Please purchase a membership and show your support for our Association. Our Goal is to have members right across Canada. Membership is inexpensive and offers a lot of benefits. Purchase a Membership Now! |
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Business Opportunities with The Canada StairClimbing Association
Use t
We are seeking highly motivated individuals to start meet-up chapters in their own cities. We offer a great system that you can use to help people get in great shape and make great income part-time or full time. Really great for for fitness professionals or someone who likes to work with people.
Must be motivated, self-directed and goal oriented.
For more information please visit our website his section to describe your event in full.
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Greetings!
By this time in the winter season most of us have become a bit weathered so to speak. The holiday season is long gone, New Years is over and the Canadian Winters are wearing thin. Even if you have made peace with our winter, you must admit that February is a month were many people become very inactive.
The long nights and short days of February can be unmotivating to say the least, however we still need to move and be physically active!
We need to move - even amid the February blahs. In order to feel better and be healthier, we need to move our bodies. A study at Duke University found that intense bouts of exercise effectively reduce feelings of depression, tension, anger, and confusion. As well, according to countless other studies, even short spurts of moderate exercise can improve our outlook on life and make us less anxious.
Stairclimbing is a great tool for you to use in order to achieve peak physical fitness in a short amount of time! Our stairclimbing meet-up groups are inside and out of the cold elements of February. We also have great events that are happening in March to help bolster your training efforts in February.
So come on out to our meet-up groups. They are happening in Toronto and Regina and and promise to be an amazing time!
In addition on information to our meet-up groups, in this issue you will find race results for the 2011 Empire State Building Run-up in New York, athlete profiles, race tips and training articles. So please take some time out of your busy day to devour all of this fantastic information
Again we thank you for being a part of this great sport, whether its participating in it, or by helping us spread the word, your support means everything to us!
Remember that you can find great information about us on Facebook, Twitter, and You tube!
Please "like" our pages and website. Your support means everything to us!
In addition please remember to visit our blogs for great information on fitness, nutrition and stairclimbing!
Keep On Stepping Strong!
Trevor Folgering
Founder
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Bodyweighted Exercises Boost Performance
What is the best way to get in shape? Are there better exercises to incorporate into a structured workout program? What exercises deliver really good bank for
your buck?
In this blog post we will explore types of exercises that will really help in assisting you to achieve your fitness goals in 2011.
Body weighted Exercises 101
The fitness industry has exploded with all kinds of fitness machines that it can make going to the gym a frustrating experience. All of these shiny, neat looking machines are really nice to look at, and they do serve a purpose however, one of the best ways to train is still the use of your own body weight, a few dumbbells and a bench.
The K.I.S.S Principal
Keep it simple Simon! This principal is best applied to training. If you are a beginner the best thing to do when training is to make sure you hit all the major muscles groups in the body.
The most efficient way to do this is through compound movements, meaning a movement that involves two or more joints. For example a squat is a compound movement because the hips, and knees are involved. This makes the squat the king of all body weighted exercises, due to the high amount of muscle mass it recruits in the legs and core.
Pull ups or Chin ups are also a great exercise which involve the shoulder joint and elbow joint. This is a great exercise to develop a nice back and arms. If you cannot do a full chin-up, use an assisted chin up machine, that will basically reduce the amount of body weight lifted.
Next is the push-up. This exercise is one of the most underutilized exercises. A push-up can have amazing effect on the strength of the upper body, yet many individuals do not do push-ups correctly or do not do them at all because they think that the push-up is less effective then a bench press. If done correctly the push-up can really build the strength in your core, chest, shoulders and triceps. In addition once you get good at doing push-ups correctly, then there are many, many variations that can add a great deal of intensity to this exercise.
The next king of the body weighted exercise is the deadlift. There are two versions of the deadlift, one being with the knees locked and the other being a squatting type of motion. Both are effective, but the stiff-legged deadlift works more on the hamstrings, core, lower back and some upper body, whereas the regular deadlift focuses on the quads, glutes, hamstrings, lower back, core and some upper body stabilizing muscles.
These four basic exercises should be the focus of anyone who is beginning an exercise program. These four exercises serve as the foundation of a training program. Once you have set a good foundation with these exercises then you can always incorporate some machines into your workout.
As always, If you have any questions regarding training, stairclimbing or getting into great shape you can contact our athlete support rep
Richard Burgunder,
and he will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
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Our Meet-Up Groups In Your Area!
Warm-up from the February weather with our stairclimbing meet-up groups. These groups are
specifically designed to get your body moving and help your burn off that stubborn body fat!
If you are new to climbing stairs, don't worry we start you off really slow and teach you the specific stairclimbing techniques and drills that will help you achieve fitness success!
Our times for the meet-up group are as follows:
Monday Night 6:30-7:30
Wednesday Night - 6:30-7:30
Saturday Mornings - 11 am to 12.
In Regina the Stair Climb Meet-up Groups are in hosted in the Delta Hotel. (1919 Saskatchewan Drive) To join our Meet-up group, click on the link below!
Our Toronto based Meet-up group meets-up at the Casa Loma Stairs in heat of Downtown Toronto. This group is lead by holistic nutritionalist Cheryl Millet. This group is identical to our Regina meet-up group except for one thing, it is held outside. So for individuals who like to have a great workout outside, this is the group for you! To join this meet-up group click the image below:
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Racing Results - 2011 Empire State Building Run-up
 On February 1st 2011 over 200 elite world class athletes were invited to race up the Empire State Building and find out who is the top stairclimber in the world!
Athletes from all over the world including Germany, Spain, Mexico, USA, Italy, and Canada flew in to be part of this spectacular event!
The most unique feature of this race besides the actual building, is the fact that this is the only mass start race in the entire world. Elite males and females line up together to race towards a small door and see race up 1,575 steps to the top of the New York!
Trevor Folgering the Founder of The Canada StairClimbing Association was only three Canadians invited to take part in this great event. Trevor finished in 29th position at a finishing time of 13 minutes and 15 seconds.
To read Trevor's story on his racing experience, click the blog button below!
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2011 Cornwall Center Mini Stair Climb Run-up
Come down to the Cornwall Center March 13th 2011 to experience a small "Mini" Stair climb competition! Win great prizes, meet great people and get a taste of what stairclimbing is all about!
About the Event
Groups of five individuals will climb or race up and down the stairs of the Cornwall Center Stairs for three minutes at a time. The top three to finish will receive prizes from the retail outlets in the Cornwall Center, like GNC, Foot Locker, Booster Juice. We will have several groups of five individuals race up and down the stairs throughout the event.
The overall male and female winner will receive a free entry to our 2011 Regina Stair Climb for Shelter race, a gift certificate for dinner for two and a complimentary stay at the Regina Delta Hotel!
When: - Sunday March 13th 2011
Time - 9am-11am
Cost: - FREE!!!
Where: - Cornwall Center Stairs - 2102 11 Ave, Regina, SK
Sign Up on Our Website!
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Racer's Corner, Tips and Tricks for Stair Racing
 | | Getting ready for the start of the 2011 Empire State Building Run-up |
Setting a Good Strategy
Remember that a stair race can be won or lost on the strategy that is implemented within the race. Since a stair race can be very short (7-20minutes in length depending on the building and race structure) it is important to set up a good racing strategy prior the the starting gun going off.
To really finalize your racing strategy you must look at the following:
1) How long is the race
2) How many participants are in the race
3) What is the importance of the race
4) Where am I physically. (Knowing your own body and what condition you are in.)
5) What type of building is it? I.E - Spiral staircase, long flights versus short flights
6) What kind of start is it? Mass start versus Individual start.
Racing up stairs is exciting and sometimes nerve-racking. If you have done a great job in preparing for the race, setting a good strategy will be quite easy. The key is to answer the six questions above.
Many racers like to go out as hard as they can and push until they have nothing left. (which is the way I train and race) Others like to start slow and then pick up the pace as the race evolves. Others will break the stairwell down into flights and then increase or decrease intensity depending on their conditioning. A good example of this would be run five flights, walk two flights, run five climb two. etc.. There is no right or wrong answer to how you implement a race strategy. In many cases the race strategy can get thrown right out the window due to physical limitations or other climbers on the stairs.
Just make sure to have a general race strategy before starting any race. Even if you take five minutes to mentally prepare a strategy in your head, that is better then racing up the stairs blind. (figuratively speaking)
Happy Racing!
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Athlete Profile: Napoleon Woo 
This elite stairclimber from Montreal, Quebec has done really well with only a few elite competitions under his belt! Napoleon recently competed in the 2011 Empire State Building Run-up where he placed a very impressive 39th position out of 213 elite athletes! Napoleon is poised to become one of Canada's top stairclimbers as his next goal is to conquer and place well at the CN Tower event this April. The Canada StairClimbing Association congratulated Napoleon for his strong race efforts at the Empire State Building Run-up and wishes him future success in all his future races and we wish to welcome him to Team Canada! |
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Ask Athlete Support
Q:I have noticed a large improvement in my fitness. I and my spouse began to do stair climbing the week after Christmas. I have improved a lot since that time, not a lot of time, but enough to show improvements. I had at first lost 6lbs then gained 7 lbs! then after couple weeks more, I began to realize I did not lean on the banisters and I was faster, then, I dropped 1/2inch! yey! : )
Now, I have added more loops to my training and feel empowered, though I had initially gained some lbs, I am sure that it was muscle, as I noted immediately after that, that my body was burning off the sugar much quicker than usual.
I plan on working to do cross training-- that is, doing some mileage on bicycle riding on days I don't do the stairs.
Any Thoughts?
Pat
A) Pat, this is really amazing, especially since you have only really been stairclimbing for just over six weeks! WOW!
Cycling would be a great tool to crosstrain for stairclimbing. Why? Because cycling can be used to an easy recovery day in order to avoid overtraining. You can also use it to increase your over leg strength by doing hill repeats on a bike, or pedaling over very hilly terrain. Cycling is a lower impact activity therefore it makes sense to add this into your routine.
A caveat is to make sure that you put in rest days so that your body doesnt overtrain. Try this weekly routine:
Monday - stairs
Tursday - bike
Wednesday REST
Thursday - stairs
Friday - bike
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - long ride
Make sure to rest at least once a week or if your really training hard, put in two rest days per week.
You will find that your body over time will tell you how much rest to take per week. The key is to really listen to your body and make sure that you are really optimizing your training with your recovery systems.
Good luck and I look forward to hearing more of your success stories!
Richard Burgunder
Athlete Support
1-877-51-CLIMB
Richard Burgunder is a professional extreme athlete, sports marketing consultant, sports writer, USATF certified running coach.Rich is now focusing on racing as a professional athlete, developing his own sports management business, and being an athlete ambassador
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| A Big Thank You to Our Sponsors!
Where would we be today with out the support of our sponsors? We would like to give a huge thank you to Royal Lepage Realty as well as their Charitable Organization, The Shelter Foundation. This charitable foundation helps women and children who have suffered through a physically abusive relationship.
A huge thank you to "Give The World Your Heart"
Their Vision:
To make the World better where giving gratitude heartbeats is a common practice for all.
Their Mission:
To assist charitable organizations in ministering to and encouraging their communities, including, but not limited to, providing ways for all people to express gratitude and thankfulness.
Please donate your heartbeats! Athletes, kids, and adults are all eligible to donate their heartbeats. Make the world a better place through acts of kindness to others! God Bless!
To donate your heartbeats to The Shelter Foundation, Women and Kids please go here
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