“On the other side of Fear is Freedom.

Guess what?  I have been traveling again.  Trade show season is almost over and I am glad to be home from  the UK, Germany, Vancouver, and a number of other cities which I have been to.  Traveling is a love – hate thing because it takes me from my family  and home but it introduces me to exciting new people, places and things.

Coming home from Chicago last month I had the pleasure of sitting beside an old acquaintance named Alan Hobson.  We met at first in the 1990’s when he and his buddy Jamie were planning to climb Mount Everest.  They were getting in shape, and since they were from Alberta,  Fitter was a natural fit for support and training gear. I don’t remember the details, but I do know they made their dream come true by summiting Everest after 3 attempts. We chatted on the plan for a while and I told him about health issues in my family and so on.  He then told me that Everest was nothing compared to his real big challenge in life. I thought  wow, what could be bigger than Everest?

Well as a professional speaker Alan made it vividly clear when he said staying  alive was much more difficult than climbing a mountain.  Here is a short on his Bio!  www.climbback.com/

“Inspirational and motivational speaker, international bestselling author and cancer survivor Alan Hobson, reached the top of Mt. Everest on his third expedition only to face an even bigger mountain when he was diagnosed with acute leukemia, a cancer of the blood, and given less than a year to live — unless he survived intensive chemotherapy cancer treatment, a perilous adult blood cell transplant and climbed back to share his triumphant cancer survivor story with the world. As it turned out, that is exactly what he did.”

Well Alan sure rocked my boat with the colorful story of what his life has been like for the past 25 years.  It was wonderful, sad, daring and hard to believe,  but it has been his life and he has made it count.  If you ever get the chance to hear Alan speak jump at it as he will touch you in many ways.  At the end of the flight we swapped business cards and I asked him if I could refer to our flight time together in my blog.  I got his OK and wish to close this post with 4 motivational quotes from Alan Hobson Everest Summiteer and Cancer Survivor…

“It is okay to fail. It’s not okay to fold.”

“Success is 97% preparation and 3 % execution.”

“If we’re persistent enough, we can do the dreams.”

“On the other side of fear is freedom”

Thank you Alan for sharing with us all!

Laughing with people is an Upper.

I had an interesting e mail the other day after returning from APTA CSM in Vegas. I wish to share this simple thought with you as it is import to remember, especially if you have kids in your life. Here it is backwards (I am ADHD so backwards is reasonably easy for me).

Louis Says: Ken good to see you. I never laugh at anybody, but I love to laugh with everybody.

Ken Said: My trip to the lab has been delayed (again!) until Friday. As soon as Dr. Powell has it up and working I will do a ‘Ken’ version of a Pro Fitter exercise just so you can see the concept. Please don’t laugh at my balance on the ProFitter. If you like the teaching tool we will plan a follow-up. (P.S. The staff now has the new fitter on a table for shoulder exercises since the old one is ‘dirty’ from the floor. Now they want three.)

Kenneth _________, PT, MA, CSCS

My point is simple, If we laugh at people we pull them down. If we laugh with people we all pull each other up. I prefer the upper over the downer, its way better.

Louis

Reviving our 9 to 5 2009 Style

Happy 2009 folks,

I wrote this 600 word article for the World Entrepreneurs Organization (www.eonetwork.org). Many of or 7000 members worldwide have short attention spans (either triple A types or ADHD, which ever way you wish to describe us. FYI I am strongly both). I thought I would post it as a blog entry in hope that some of you will find it interesting. Enjoy!

Reviving My 9 to 5

It was the spring of 1995; 10 years of building my business and 5 years of competitive Ski Racing were behind me. I was flying home from the World Championships of Speed Skiing in Finland to see my wife Margaret, who was expecting our first child. We had been married for 9 months and I was ready to raise a family and continue building my company. I was sick of flying and tired of the training.

I pondered, how would I fit my new family, business and fitness into my busy life?
My solution, I decided was to cut back on the gym for a year and start “active sitting”- no more executive chair just an exercise ball chair. It seemed like a good idea!

Now, 14 years later, my good idea has expanded into a totally “active office.” I use a stand-sit desk, ball chair, balance boards and varied surfaces to stand on while I work. The rest of the team sets their desks up as they like with properly sized ball chairs, German made Swopper chairs or active sitting discs on regular chairs. We sit for shorter periods of time and stand whenever possible. Balance boards are in every meeting space to help promote better balance and proprioception (your bodies spatial awareness). (/http://www.fitter1.com/Catalog/Category/10/ActiveSitting.aspx)

Active sitting on Swopper

It seems we’re always in front of monitors so it is imperative that the environment is an asset, not a liability to good health. Desks are fit to the person, not the person to the desk. Monitors are eye level to promote proper heads up posture. Keyboards are low enough with pull out trays so that even shorter staff do not scrunch their shoulders to type, risking neck stress or carpal tunnel injuries. Laptops all have extension keyboards and hands free headsets are available. The goal is simple – keep the core moving and the spine in a good relationship with gravity. When it is time to slouch, make it a relaxing experience. We have an antique dental chair in our office that makes it easy to kick back to relax.

After 24 years in the rehab and wellness industries, I have tried 100’s of products that claim to make the work place healthier. I have learned that the key to good health is movement – humans are designed to move and did so for 1,000’s of years just to survive. Extensive sitting at work or while driving is a new thing in mankind’s evolution and it is not good for any of us. Regardless of cost, no chair or back support will keep us functional if we sit for hours with limited movement. Rehab specialists get bodies healthy after injury by retraining posture and the movement of muscles, tendons and joints. This works perfectly well for healthy people too!

200KPH is fast

When I was racing for Canada I was not concerned about aging or health as I felt I was bullet proof. But by 23 years old, I had undergone one knee and two serious foot operations followed by months on crutches, painful walking and 2 years off skis. I learned the hard way that balance and mobility are easy to take for granted and hard to get back once they are compromised. Maintenance or “prehab” proved to be a much better approach and it helped me set good habits for a lifetime of active living. I still make time for workouts and sports, but when travel, business and life gets in the way, and I have an easy, fun and stimulating health program at my desk 24/7. Now that’s effective multi tasking!

I believe in SAM, which stands for Stability, Agility and Mobility. Maintain or improve STABILITY in the everyday environment to have better AGILITY at play this weekend, which leads to better MOBILITY for life. SAM has helped me master the art of aging gracefully.

I founded my company in 1985 to help me get over my ski injuries and get back to an active life style. I was thrilled to experience that my active sitting had the long-term effect of improving my skiing, confidence and reaction skills even after I left competitive racing. Our Team at Fitter has had similar experiences with back pain diminishing and simply feeling better. We are more productive because we have made movement a fundamental part of our workspace.

I like to remind people; “Balance is the Essence of Movement and Movement is the Essence of Life”. An active office is a great place to invest one’s energy and the ROI is happy, healthy and productive people who make the best of their 9 to 5, everyday.

Happy Holidays to All!

This is a very simple wish from me, my family and the Fitter Team.

Be Happy, be safe and stay healthy this holiday season.

It is the time of giving so please remember to give your time and support to someone who really needs it. The gifts of time and love  are more rare than any gift you can ever buy. At Fitter we offer all our staff 1/2 paid day a month to go and help at a homeless center, seniors home or any where else that an extra helping hand is appreciated.  We are very thankful for the things we have in life and show it best by giving to others who have been less fortunate.

Lets all do our part to make this world we live in just a little better each day.

Happy Holidays

Sincerely Louis

Have a Happy, Safe and Healthy Thanksgiving Weekend!

Friends,

It has been a month since we shared our large family Thanksgiving dinner here in Canada. I wish I had family in the USA who insisted I come to share this special weekend with them too! I might eat too much Turkey, but the laughs, kinship and joy that is shared at Thanksgiving makes those big meals seem even more important.

Be Happy!

Regardless of your age or the size of the group you spend this weekend with, simply do your best to enjoy it. You might be making memories with young families and kids, or you might be recalling the good old days when life seemed simplier and you were younger. Either way take time to smile, laugh and maybe go for a walk, but make it a special time for you and your loved ones.

All the best from us folks up here in Canada, and all the best to you and to your kin no matter where they are in this world.

Sincerely,

Louis Stack and the Fitter Team

Big Sports Weekend in Calgary

This seems to be the big one as the Calgary Stampeders are in Montreal to play in the Grey Cup this Sunday. This seems to be the big one as the Calgary Stampeders are in Montreal to play in the Grey Cup this Sunday. This is Canada’s Super Bowl but the cup is older -96 years to exact, we have less downs and bigger fields that are often covered with snow. This year the game is indoors as Montreal has a beautiful stadium left over from the Olympics in 1976. It should be fun to watch and we will have 3 generation together as my wife’s parents are having our family over to cheer on the Stamps together.

Tonight it is the NHL. Flames against the 2008 champions Detroit Red Wings. We are again lucky enough to get to the games as my same in-laws own season tickets and pass them our way when available. Go Flames go!

Finally my son and I will be in the Mountains tomorrow from 10 am till 3 pm to do our first on snow Biathlon training of the year. There is not much snow and the weather is warm, but it will be a beautiful day in the Rockies.

Three different sports events and one thing is in common with each. The Flames, the Stamps, and even Foothills Nordic ski club, is that they all use simple balance training gear to keep athletes healthy and challenged. Yep, these are the same active discs and wobble boards you will find in the local gym or rehab center. It is not a big surprise to me only because Balance products, a lot like tooth brushes are important to everyone from superstars to raising stars. Balance maintenance is important and in all these great sport this weekend, athletes of all levels will hopefully prevent injuries and have a little more success thank to well maintained balance skills.

Rocky Mountains – from Alpine to Biathlon

I spent a wonderful day in Canmore, AB. on Sunday Oct 26, 2008. The snow as not falling yet and it was unseasonably warm (15 C or about 45 F). I was there to drop my 13-year-old son Tynan at his day training camp for Biathlon at the Bill Warren Nordic Training Center (www.coda.ca/facilities/bill_warren.cfm). If you don’t already know Biathlon is a great and time-tested sport including cross-country skiing and precision shooting.

My son really became interested a few years back when he was introduced to Biathlon at a summer camp at COP – Canada Olympic Park (www.coda.ca/facilities/cop.cfm). I have started to learn more about it I find myself running into Biathlon experts on a weekly bases. The sport is much bigger that it might appear here in North America. In Germany Biathlon stars are some of the most famous athletes around. Tens of thousands of spectators show up at events that can include 20 km of skiing interlaced with a number of target shooting sessions. Going from extreme cardio to a steady hand for sharp shooting as fast as possible requires a certain type of athletic skill and training.

(http://www.coda.ca/facilities/cop.cfm) What I find most interesting about this sport transition for my family from Alpine ski racing to Biathlon is that as soon as Tynan told me he was ready to change the flavor of his winter sport, the contacts began to magically appear in my daily life. This year Fitter is working to support Alberta Alpine, (http://www.albertaalpine.ca/?q=video) and low and behold my key contact there is Adam Hull who is an ex-biathlete.

Then I learn of the new introduction program called “Girls with Guns” which is working to round up more young ladies to pursue the sport. (www.biathloncanada.ca/main.php) It so happens the entire Canadian women’s team was roller skiing around Calgary selling their new calendar to raise funds for their road to the 2010 Olympics (http://www.boldbeautifulbiathlon.com/).

I also learned the husband of a old friend from my World Cup Speed Skiing days is in charge of Nordic Events for the 2010 Olympics. Mr. john Aalberg is an ex-Olympian and ran Nordic operation in 2002 at SLC and now is heading Nordic operations for 2010.
(http://www.vancouver2010.com/en/competition-schedules-and-venues/venues/-/41244/32528/1hzn6v3/whistler-olympicparalympic-par.html ) Then just yesterday at the Olympic Oval I start chatting with a young athlete walking up the stairs and learn that he is Jaime Robb, a National Team Biathlete working to earn his place for Canada in Vancouver 2010.( www.biathloncanada.ca/main.php?p=2443&lan=1 )

So I thought I was sadly leaving behind the world of Alpine Ski Racing to pursue this new sport where I knew no one and very knew very little about it. And in less than 3 months a world of wonderful people who know so much about the sport have randomly walked into our lives. It creates a warm feeling and great karma when this kind of good fortune presents itself in life.

I will surely miss seeing my kids race down the Rocky Mountains on razor sharp skis at breakneck speeds, but I also look very forward to the newfound environment I will find myself in racing and watching my kids race around the Rocky Mountains with gun (or without) in tow and a mission in mind to master another skill on this wonderful road of life on which we all journey down. I am looking forward to a great winter regardless of what kind of skis I have strapped to my feet I hope you are too!

Mr. Fitter on YouTube, Facebook and looks back at the past.

As I work on my current YouTube listing  (http://www.youtube.com/user/fitterfirst),  I started to think back 1 year, 5 years, 10 years and even 20 years. I am amazed at how much the way we do things has changed in such a short period of time.

This blog is a little off the cuff as much of my knowledge and experience is being documented on our Fitter YouTube page, Facebook and as links on our website. So as I consider what to share with you I decided to share some of the milestones I can recall of how technology has changed what we do each and every day in and around the Fitter headquarters in Calgary, AB.

1985- I had a phone, a calculator and a journal book.

1986-I bought a used Brother Typewriter from my first employee, Carron S.

1987 – I purchase an IBM computer from My brother Luke, but I never learned how to use it. I also purchased the rights to 1-800-Fitter1 from AGT phone company for a huge sum of money by my standards then. Monthly phone bills were in the $1,000 range of they had a monopoly and took full advantage of it.

1988 – The Olympics came to Calgary and I was swamped for a year as a volunteer on the Luge Track and as a sponsor as Fitter donated our 3-D Pro Fitter Cross Trainers to every facility that athletes would be at. It was a good idea!

1989 – The same brother Luke told me if I really wanted to have control of my business, I should get rid of the IBM and get a MacIntosh. I did. This was a very good idea too!

1989 – I also took a train to Berlin after a trade-show in Germany and took part in the tearing down of the Berlin wall. This was special.  I had very heavy suitcases on the flight home.

1990’s – We purchased our first fax machine around this time for about $2500.00 Ouch! Fed Ex had lost $85 million on the failed Zap Mail system, way more ouch for them.

1995ish- More McIntosh computers, no viruses just more power every year.

1996- This is about the time I got my first cell phone. I still have the original and it is massive.

1998- I was approached by a fellow in Florida who wanted to put all the written data and a few pictures of the ProFitter on a web site. We talked back and forth and after a month or so I decided to try it. I still have those original copies and there was no way to buy anything, but people who saw it thought it was pretty cool. For Fiter the world wide web was born.

1999- Macs again played their roll as we published our first catalog. The work was all done in house on Mac’s.

2000- It was and interesting New Years Eve because the Y2K bug threating to change the world as we knew it. I was pleased Fitter did not expect too much of an issue as we were Mac based.

2002- The web was taking off and Fitter Logo was expanded to include 800-fitter1.com. This was to link our web and phone contact info into every eye that ever saw our logo. I believe this was also the year I started using e mail.

2003- We launched a new website again and were filling online orders regularly.

2004- e-mail had taken over much of my life and we published frequent catalogs with our in house publishing programs such as Quark.

2007- We sourced and installed a complete operations system to help run Fitter Even better and leaner.

This review back on significant times and developments over the past 23 years has been very good for me. I had to dig into my memory and where I was not sure, I googled it.

I do have a an iPod and know that on Sept 11, 2001 there was no such thing. I do not have a BlackBerry or iPhone yet. I just opened my first Facebook (www.facebook.com) pages and of course I write a blog. What I am not sure of is what will the tools I will be using in 5 years from now look like and how will they work?

The only thing I seem quite certain about is that I will prefer to use the tools of the day standing, or active sitting on a ball or Active Disc, just as I have since 1995. It is nice to know some good things don’t change.

Healthy, Locally Grown Food is a Good Thing.

Our family strives to eat the freshest food we can get and avoid packaged, processed product as much as possible. We do not always get it right but we are getting better and for that the entire family also feels better. Our home city of Calgary is growing like crazy. Stress is high, traffic is fast, staff is hard to find and housing is expensive. I believe to effectively deal with these urban stresses one must eat well, sleep well and have a place to simply get away. Our local farmers market is just that place for me and that is why I wrote the following letter to the editor is response to an article suggesting it will be closed down to make way for a new chain retailer.

Dear Sirs,

In reference to your Sunday Herald Future of the farmers market article.

I am a business owner in Calgary and a weekly customer of the Calgary Farmers Market. I travel North America wide on Business and have rarely seen a better market than the Calgary Farmers Market. We purchase all our food for our household of 5 from there and are very pleased to eat healthy, locally grown, seasonal food and to support other local small business.

It would be a crime to allow this outstanding example of how regional growers can service an urban population to go away because it might not fit in to Canada Lands idea of a “European-styled High street looking place”. I thought I lived in a great city and region and do not understand why we have to take away our own style to try to look like something else.

I strongly encourage all parties interested to be vocal and start a petition in support of keeping this city jewel intact and hopefully expanding. If we do the right thing here, we might just find folks over in Europe planning a Calgary style farmers market that is a healthy, happy place to purchase regionally grown foods and support small home grown businesses.

In closing, I suggest that it would not be possible to find a better anchor tenant in this development than our own proven Calgary Farmers Market.

Sincerely,

Louis Stack

Mr. Fitter tries the Wii Fit

We now have our household Wii! It fits in nicely with all the DuraBalls and Wobble boards we have around our home. My kids are 11 , 12 and my step son is 23 so this stuff is used often. For us, the Wii came at Christmas with all the games except the Wii Fit (which is what I really wanted to test). So for Father’s Day the family gave me the newest version of the Wii Fit Board. It does not look like much, but then again the $10,000 to $80,000 medical Balance assessment units I have used for years at medical Tradeshow do not really look all that fancy either.

My hope was that the unit would help get lazy kids off the couch because couch potatoes start early in life as tater tots- and thanks to technology our tots are looking more like taters all the time! My kids are very active but also able to sit and play computer games for 4 or 5 hours with out having a clue as to the time they have invested.

My son took the Wii out the box and it was operational in less than 60 second. No wories, no fuss, just load the program and turn it on. So far so good! Next they found what looked like games to play via weight shifting from right to left. Not hard but I suppose for some it would be very difficult.

I noticed the yoga, aerobics and strength options but the kids and I finally agreed to test out the Skiing as that is our favorite sport. We all took turns and laughed as we fumbled our way down the slope as we tried to figure out the required weight shift. It is not like real skiing but it was fun and after 3 or 4 tries I could feel that some good old core stabilization was happening. After 4 hours, on the rainy day, we all decided that this was a fun and healthy product.

Over the past week I have stepped on it 4 more times and it welcomes me and makes me feel like I was missed on the days I failed to use it. Today I did a short strength workout including push ups, planks, tree poses, and half moon stretches. After 40 minutes of playing I found my self with a light sweat and felt pretty good. So, for a reward I tried to master the advance ski racing and according to the little man at the end of each run I am still in shame with poor performance ( 5 years of world cup speed skiing should have been enough training, but I guess not for the world of Wii).

I have noticed the Wii says all my family generally has great balance. Some of us are not in great shape (me) but I guess my core is still strong enough from Active Sitting and Ball Sitting that the machines rate me as very fit! When we are taking turns on the Wii , the rest of us are ball sitting or standing on a balance board simply because it helps keep our reaction speed sharp. So the balance toys are always around and available to use even when the Wii Fit is off or busy. It has also proven to us based on the world of Wii measuring, that we have great balance, core strength and coordination in general ( The Wii Fit measures all this and keeps track of it for you- I like this feature a lot).

Wii feedback is more clear proof that daily balance training at work, home or school is worth doing so that you maintain a strong core and good balance. A Balance board for standing and exercise ball for sitting and stretching are so easy to incorporate into your office. Every work or learning place should have many around for casual use. If you do start to use balance product in you 9 to 5 then when you get home to your Wii game or equivalent, you will be the master and maybe even be able to show up your kids!

As for why I cannot do better than beginner in the WII ski racing, well, I guess I am getting older and my reactions are not as fast as they once were. Maybe that is why I lost fun races to both my ski racing younger kids this ski season too.

Bottom line: Wii is fun, Wii is great for balance/ body awareness training, Wii will get kids more active in front of a screen. Wii is a great compliment to the need of making balance training a daily activity any way you can. So use it or lose it!