Sports in Canadian culture

[elly63]

The Fighter Pilot Fitness Program
5BX was a fitness sensation in the 1960s, and still makes sense today.
Alex Hutchinson Runner's World, March 26, 2015

You may remember the "Scientific 7-Minute Workout," a circuit exercise routine that became a major sensation following a 2013 article by Gretchen Reynolds in the New York Times. The workout involved 12 simple bodyweight exercises, done at a high intensity to give you an effective workout that required no special equipment or preparation and took almost no time at all. What a breakthrough! Well, sort of.

Circuits routines, of course, have been around for ages. A few months ago, Michael Joyner of the Mayo Clinic mentioned that this 7-minute routine was pretty similar to an old exercise program developed by the Royal Canadian Air Force to keep its pilots fit when they were stationed at remote bases with no exercise equipment. It consisted of just five basic exercises – hence its name, 5BX – and took 11 minutes. The biggest difference was that the fifth exercise, which involved running on the spot alternating with a sequence of jumps every 75 steps, lasted for six minutes, arguably providing a stronger aerobic stimulus.

Once I'd heard about 5BX, I started noticing its name popping up in a variety of places (it turns out, for example, that my uncle has been doing it for almost 50 years now), so I decided to write a Globe and Mail column about it. It was a lot of fun digging into the archives. 5BX was actually a massive bestseller in the 1960s and 1970s, selling 23 million copies and being distributed around the world.

You can download the original plan here. It shows you how to do the five exercises, and tells you how many you should aim for to achieve varying degrees of fitness. There are six different charts, with the exercises getting slightly harder on each chart; the sixth chart warns: "Physical capacities in this chart are usually only found in champion athletes." Here's what the exercises from that chart look like:

The fifth exercise, which involves doing 10 "jack jumps" every 75 steps, made me laugh. Surely no one actually did that. But then I came across a great old article from the Globe and Mail from 1963, which includes this photo of Bill Orban, the exercise scientist who developed 5BX:

5BX has stood the test of time very well: it would make a great state-of-the-art exercise routine with just a few minor alterations (e.g. sit-ups with straight back and straight legs put a lot of strain on your back, which is why most people now do crunches). The text of the Globe article, on the other hand, hasn't aged quite as well:

Exercise is a habit, he (Orban) says, like tying a shoe lace, but he has found that women generally do not like exercise. "They're really not interested in physical fitness," he said. "Well, they're interested, but only as long as it will give them better figures."

Oh well. Ignore what he says and give the exercise routine a try. With the very detailed performance benchmarks, it's interesting to see where you slot in.

[JHikka]

Felix Auger-Aliassime is currently in the Boy's Singles Final at the US Open. The 16 year old defeated the 18 year old Greek #1 ranked player to reach the final. He's had an incredible year and could top it off with a Grand Slam win today. I can't emphasize how well Auger's been doing given his age, and he's been ranking high in the Men's overall ranking as well this year.

On top of that, after winning last year's Boy's Doubles Final, Auger managed to make it to the final again this year with a different partner before losing.

It won't be long until we'll be seeing him more prominently on the Men's tour. There's no guarantee junior success means senior success, but the experience can go a long way. With Raonic, Pospisil, Shapovalov, and Auger-Aliassime, Canada looks pretty prime to have a deep Davis Cup team for years to come.

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Felix Auger-Aliassime is currently in the Boy's Singles Final at the US Open. The 16 year old defeated the 18 year old Greek #1 ranked player to reach the final. He's had an incredible year and could top it off with a Grand Slam win today. I can't emphasize how well Auger's been doing given his age, and he's been ranking high in the Men's overall ranking as well this year.

On top of that, after winning last year's Boy's Doubles Final, Auger managed to make it to the final again this year with a different partner before losing.

It won't be long until we'll be seeing him more prominently on the Men's tour. There's no guarantee junior success means senior success, but the experience can go a long way. With Raonic, Pospisil, Shapovalov, and Auger-Aliassime, Canada looks pretty prime to have a deep Davis Cup team for years to come.

he won the 1st set 6-3

6-3
6-0

he won his 1st Grand Slam.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

he won the 1st set 6-3

6-3
6-0

he won his 1st Grand Slam.

Woohoo! Bravo Félix!

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Woohoo! Bravo Félix!

son speech à la fin, 75% en français, avec son accent Québécois, ça c'est excellent. Il a complètement dominé le 2e set, l'autre était pas dans la même ligue.

[SignalHillHiker]

IIRC, this is only our second gold ever.



Grats, girl!

We've come a long way - from questionable citizenship and last-place finishes lol:

http://m.thetelegram.com/Opinion/Col...the-Olympics/1

[Acajack]

Good girl. Bravo?

Why aren't paralympians at the Olympics (in their own categories) again?

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Good girl. Bravo?

Why aren't paralympians at the Olympics (in their own categories) again?

Logistics mostly.

More realistically, why aren't the Paralymics done prior to the Olympics? They get to test the facilities as well as not getting swept under the rug once the actual Olympics are finished.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Logistics mostly.

More realistically, why aren't the Paralymics done prior to the Olympics? They get to test the facilities as well as not getting swept under the rug once the actual Olympics are finished.

I won't scream too loudly but it seems like borderline discrimination to me to have them apart like that.

[Trevor3]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

IIRC, this is only our second gold ever.



Grats, girl!

We've come a long way - from questionable citizenship and last-place finishes lol:

http://m.thetelegram.com/Opinion/Col...the-Olympics/1

Woo! Hometown girl taking the gold!

[isaidso]

24,000 Expected Today for the Panda Game

The Panda Game is arguably the 3rd most anticipated football game in Canada after the Grey Cup and Vanier Cup. The game dates to 1955 and has seen a huge resurgence the last few years with the Carleton football program re-instated after a 15 year absence.

It won't be the only big college football game this weekend. The University of Regina host the University of Saskatchewan today to inaugurate the new Mosaic Stadium in Regina. The upper bowl will be closed so they're expecting about 16,000 fans and a full lower bowl. The following day Laval hosts McGill, so the Saskatchewan dual amazingly might only rank as the 3rd biggest college football crowd this weekend.

[isaidso]

Carleton Bring Pedro Home in Panda Game

Carleton University beat cross town rival University of Ottawa to win the Panda Game in front of 23,329 fans at TD Place.


Courtesy of Ravens

[GreaterMontréal]

Lance Stroll who's from Montréal has won the F3 series. He will be the next Canadian to drive a F1 car. probably in a Williams.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

Lance Stroll who's from Montréal has won the F3 series. He will be the next Canadian to drive a F1 car. probably in a Williams.

Wow, you beat me to it, I was just about to post it. This is truly an amazing story and news to me as I don't follow motorsports too closely.

Video Hauraney: Chances are good Stroll could be full time F1 driver next year

17-year-old Montreal native Lance Stroll had an incredible season in FIA F3, dominating all year and claiming the 2016 FIA Formula 3 European Championship. TSN racing analyst Tim Hauraney weighs in on if he could be a full time F1 driver next year.

[JHikka]

It seems likely he'll be picked up by Williams. Doesn't hurt that his father and/or family is super rich. Pretty much required in today's F1. Aside from that you can't deny Stroll's driving ability at this point and he does seem destined for an eventual ride in F1. I'd be pretty surprised if he managed to land an F1 seat for next season and I think testing for Williams next year would be more likely. Silly season is still ongoing with lots of seats still open so we'll see what the next few weeks bring.

[felip_ars]

He's been on the Williams's Test Driving team since last year.

With Massa retiring at the end of the year, there's a spot available in Williams (2 if you count that they haven't confirmed Bottas for 2017), so I wouldn't be surprised if Stroll gets his shot next year.

With the success of Max Verstappen this year, looks like they are going to give more spot for the young guns to prove themselves.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by felip_ars

He's been on the Williams's Test Driving team since last year.

I mis-spoke. I meant a position as a free practice driver/backup during race weekends, not as a developmental driver.

It would be pretty shocking if Bottas wasn't going to be returning to Williams. All the other open seats would be a step down for him at this point.

I have no doubt Stroll will be on the grid in the next few years I would just be surprised if it was next year. Never know.

[felip_ars]

According to his father, Lance Stroll will be in the F1 next year.
No info as to whether or not it will be as a official or test driver, but judging by how happy is father sounds, it must be the real deal.

http://www.journaldemontreal.com/201...1-lan-prochain

[Nicko999]

Awesome news regarding Lance Stroll. Even if he's only a test driver, within 2-3 years max, he will be a regular (and hopefully Williams keeps improving the car until then).

[elly63]

Introducing U Sports
U Sports Staff

A new name, a new logo and new branding will take Canada’s governing body for university sport into the future, it was announced today.

U Sports is the new name and brand for the organization, replacing Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), which had been in place since 2001. U, as in United. Unbeatable. Unsurpassed. Undaunted. Unrelenting. One title, instantly recognizable and identical in both French and English.

As well, a new, simple and elegant logo is being unveiled to wrap the 12,000 student-athletes, 500 coaches, 56 universities, 21 national championships and 12 sports into one brand. The logo was inspired by the bold, angular letterforms found on university athletics logos, varsity jackets and jerseys. The maple leaf within the new logo was evolved from a unique leaf found on an old CIAU (Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union) letterhead from the 1980s.

“This is a landmark day for us. Effective today, we are U Sports,” said Graham Brown, the CEO of U Sports. “This is an important step towards a total transformation of our organization which started almost a year ago.

“Although the mission and the passion remain the same, the new brand will shine the spotlight on our dedicated student-athletes at our 56 universities across the country. Today’s announcement also aims to create a massive change in the way university sports are consumed in a fast-changing digital era.”

The U Sports brand was created by the firm of Hulse & Durrell, which has put together numerous brand launches over the years, including the Canadian Olympic Committee, Swimming Canada, Curling Canada and most recently Equestrian Canada.

“It needed to be different than anything that had been tried before in the organization’s 100-year history. But, at the core, it was essential that everyone understands this brand,” said Hulse & Durrell partner Ben Hulse.

“We hope this becomes a rallying point for the organization,” added Greg Durrell.

Beginning today, the organization’s website will be found at www.usports.ca. The new U Sports website will officially launch in early 2017. U Sports’ social media channels also will take on the new brand: twitter.com/usportsca, Facebook.com/usportscanada, youtube.com/usportsca and instagram.com/usportsca. In the coming months, U Sports will also be featured in all branding initiatives, highlighted by its staging of national championships from coast to coast.

“This is an exciting day for Canadian university sport as we unveil our new branding and logo,” said Michael Mahon, the chair of U Sports board of directors, and the president at the University of Lethbridge. “The work put in by Hulse & Durrell on the U Sports launch should be commended as they created a modern impact that is in perfect sync with the current transformation of our national body to provide the best possible experience for our student-athletes and university teams across Canada.”

U Sports will become the brand of record for university sport in this country, covering all aspects of the sport with comprehensive guidelines that align the brand with U Sports’ extensive network of partners, sponsors, broadcasters and stakeholders. The new name and look also will apply to a myriad of other branded assets that include but are not limited to U Sports’ national championships, merchandise and marketing materials.

CIAU Central was the first name of Canada’s university sport’s governing body in 1906. The Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union name was established in 1961. In June 2001, the membership of the CIAU voted to change the name and logo of the organization to Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS).