In August, we enjoy the last month of our short, magnificent summer in the Laurentians. Have you savoured summer to the fullest?

What’s in your bucket?

To maximize the rest of your summer, I suggest you create a “bucket list” of activities you wish to enjoy fully under the August sun. Paddle boarding, kayaking, biking, hiking, walking, swimming… Our region offers an almost endless array of activities to enjoy.

No matter your age or fitness level, practising a variety of sports and activities is beneficial. Different activities will allow you to develop new physical abilities as well as to engage different muscles at different intensities.

Enhance your potential

As a kinesiologist, I find that my clients often ask how they can stay active without pain for a whole lifetime:

• One: warm up properly to help avoid injury.
• Two: keep moving. You don’t stop moving because you age, you age because you stop moving.

The warm-up is a transition between a resting and active state. The goal is to prepare your body for the stress that will be imposed during physical activity and thereby reduce the risk of injury. You want to elevate your body temperature to reduce stiffness in the muscles and tendons, promote the transmission of nerve impulses and create favourable conditions to enhance performance.

A proper warm-up varies depending on the activity that it precedes and its expected intensity. If you are going to paddle a canoe slowly for a half hour, it will require a different warm-up than if you plan to speed hike to the top of Mont Tremblant. For the latter, your warm-up should include a cardio period and a mobility portion, then end with a reactivation specific to the practised sport.

Warm up your body, train it, take care of it.

Enjoy our last warm days of summer – and prepare for a glorious fall.

More from this author by clicking on his photo below.