OPTIMAL HEALTH RECOMMENDATIONS
Vision: canfitpro’s Recommendations on Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Mindset for Optimal Health have been designed to assist healthy Canadians 18-64 years of age in preventing noncommunicable diseases through physical activity and good nutrition as well as cultivate a healthy, active, and fulfilling lifestyle.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Aerobic Activity
Accumulate 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity per week, or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity.
Muscle Strengthening
Participate in muscle-strengthening activities involving major muscle groups on 3 or more days per week.
Flexibility
Enjoy flexibility activities 4 or more days per week.
Mindset
Adopt strategies to attain a positive mindset daily.
Nutrition
Implement health-promoting nutrition and hydration focusing on primarily fresh, whole foods, minimizing the consumption of highly processed, energy-dense foods and drinks to support a healthy body composition daily.
CARDIORESPIRATORY
WHY DO IT
Enhancing the health of the cardiorespiratory system (circulatory and respiratory systems primarily) can reduce your risk of several noncommunicable diseases.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Adopt continuous physical activities involving major muscle groups (i.e. the legs) with the goal of increasing and maintaining heart rate at an appropriate intensity.
TYPES OF ACTIVITIES
Walking/running
Swimming
Cycling
Group fitness classes
Beginners¹
Start with low intensity activities and increase duration and intensity gradually, with a goal of sessions of 10 minutes or more in duration.
Intermediate
Increase the duration and intensity of your exercise sessions.
Advanced
You may not need to alter your regimen. If you choose to increase volume or intensity, be careful no to overtrain2, ensuring you achieve balance across all five recommendations.
GOAL
Accumulate up to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week (~43 minutes per day) or 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity per week (~22 minutes per day), or an equivalent combination of moderate and vigorous-intensity activity. Some individuals (i.e. athletes) may wish to increase time and or intensity further.
MYOHYBRID™ APPROACH
canfitpro’s Myohybrid™ philosophy is an integrative approach for optimizing results in the most time efficient manner. As you progress along your path to optimal health, we encourage you to integrate activities. For example, approaches such as bootcamp, circuit training, and certain group fitness classes, amongst others, will allow you to simultaneously train multiple aspects of optimal health at the same time.
MUSCLE STRENGTHENING
WHY DO IT
Enhancing muscle strengthening will improve your functional fitness (the ability to conduct daily activities with greater ease) as well as reduce the risk of several non-communicable diseases3.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Adopt physical activities to increase your muscular strength and endurance.
TYPES OF ACTIVITIES
Calisthenic
Weightlifting
Beginners¹
Start with slow, low intensity movements (3-8 exercises) for one set of 12-15 repetitions. Build up to workouts of additional sets of each exercise to master the exercise technique.
Intermediate
Gradually increase the volume and or intensity of your exercise sessions, along with progressively more complex movements appropriate for
your goals and abilities.
Advanced
You may not need to alter your regimen. If you choose to increase volume or intensity, be careful not to overtrain2, ensuring you achieve balance across all 5 recommendations.
GOAL
Participate in muscle-strengthening activities involving all major muscle groups on three or more days per week. Momentary muscle fatigue should result before 20 reps. Some individuals (i.e. athletes) may wish to increase time and or intensity further.
FLEXIBILITY
WHY DO IT
Enhancing flexibility may decrease the risk of injury and may lessen the severity of injuries.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Adopt physical activities that results in an increase in range of motion at all joints of the body.
TYPES OF ACTIVITIES
Stretching
Yoga
Beginners¹
Start with easy to accomplish stretches, held statically for at least 20-30 seconds. Increase the duration of the stretch as well as the choice of stretches.
Intermediate
Increase the duration and or intensity of your flexibility sessions. your goals and abilities.
Advanced
You may not need to alter your regimen. If you choose to increase volume or intensity, be careful no to overtrain2, ensuring you achieve balance across all five recommendations.
GOAL
Adopt strategies to strengthen your mindset on a consistent basis. Reduce or eliminate negative self-talk, replacing it with acceptance and positive self-talk.
NUTRITION
WHY DO IT
Enhancing nutrition will improve your overall health, as well as body composition (balance of body fat and lean tissue).
RECOMMENDATIONS
Adopt strategies to improve nutritional choices.
TYPES OF ACTIVITIES
Strategic reduction or elimination and inclusion of specific foods based on the canfitpro pyramid of integrated nutrition.
Beginners¹
Start by reducing your poor food choices while introducing new, healthier choices. In particular, increase cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, bok choy, etc.) whenever possible.
Intermediate
Continue to reduce or eliminate more poor choices, while increasing healthier choices.
Advanced
You may not need to alter your regimen. Continue to make very few poor choices while increasing the frequency of healthy choices.
GOAL
Implement health-promoting nutrition and hydration focusing on primarily fresh, nutrient-dense whole foods.
Minimize highly processed, energy-dense foods and drinks to support your health and healthy body composition.
MINDSET
WHY DO IT
Enhancing positive mindset and emotional state can assist you in believing that success is possible. Daily and unforeseen stressors can be handled more easily.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Adopt strategies that help cultivate positive mindset daily.
TYPES OF ACTIVITIES
Meditation
Positive self-talk
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Beginners¹
Seek support from family and friends, plan to behave in a healthier way. Ask yourself questions like “when I start being more active, how will I feel?”, “what will I look like?”
Intermediate
Make small changes to the questions you ask yourself to strengthen your commitment and to stop you from relapsing. Identify activities related to unhealthy behaviours and substitute them with positive ones.
Advanced
Continue to ask yourself questions and be aware that you may be tempted to slip back into unhealthy behaviour, especially during stressful situations. Set new goals and challenges
GOAL
Adopt strategies to strengthen your mindset on a consistent basis. Reduce or eliminate negative self-talk, replacing it with acceptance and positive self-talk.
MYOHYBRID™ APPROACH
canfitpro’s Myohybrid™ philosophy is an integrative approach for optimizing results in the most time efficient manner. As you progress along your path to optimal health, we encourage you to integrate activities. For example, approaches such as bootcamp, circuit training, and certain group fitness classes, amongst others, will allow you to simultaneously train multiple aspects of optimal health at the same time.
1It is normal to feel some soreness 1-2 days after exercising for beginners or those trying new activities. The soreness should not prevent daily function. 2Overtraining is doing too much, such that your daily function is impaired. 3Non-communicable diseases may include cardiovascular diseases, cancers, respiratory diseases, and diabetes, amongst others. 4Hyper-mobility is the rare reduction in stability within a joint due to excessive flexibility.
