© 2012 Transfigure Physique Transformation Services. All Rights Reserved

555 West 8th Ave, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1C6  

Phone: (778) 892-2533

Website: www.vancouverpersonaltraing.net

Email: info@vancouverpersonaltraing.net

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Transfigure has personal trainers, seniors fitness instruction, bodybuilding programs and weight loss programs servicing Vancouver neighbourhoods including Yaletown, Downtown, False Creek, Kitsilano, Fairviiew, Coal Harbour , Mount Pleasant, Granville Island, Kerrisdale, Arbutus Ridge, Oakridge and the West End.

Important: Please note that the results displayed on this web site are only typical of fitness training clients who are highly motivated, who followed the nutritional guidelines of their Vancouver personal trainer, showed up to their personal training sessions consistently, and worked hard to achieve their fitness goals.

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Who are Our Personal Trainers and What Can They Do for Your Health and Fitness?

P.S. To begin your journey to a better you please visit: Personal Training Vancouver and start your free trial today!

From Craig Simms

Body Transformation Coach, Personal Trainer,

Entrepreneur, Athlete, Health and Fitness Lifestyle Promoter

Vancouver, BC

Dear friend,

I believe that before you put your health in the hands of someone

else, even if they are professional, you owe it to yourself to learn a

little bit about them first. So I’ll share with you the story of my

journey from an obsessive fitness lifestyle to a teacher and mentor

to countless of aspiring trainees.

Physical activity, recreation and sport played an

enormous and very positive role in my personal growth and development. In my youth and throughout my teens, team sport provided me with a sense of direction and purpose. It taught me discipline and instilled a respect for physical conditioning. I learned how to skate by age five, and back in 1980, it was double-blades on frozen country ponds in Halifax, Nova Scotia. After I had learned how to handle a stick and a puck, there was no turning back. Like many young Canadian boys, I became infected with “hockey-on-the brain” syndrome, and dreamed of playing in the NHL.

Sport became a significant outlet and a means of personal expression for me. For the short, pudgy and socially awkward kid that I was, it helped me gain that all important sense of recognition from my peers. By scoring the most goals, making the most saves or hitting the most home runs, I realized a certain satisfaction and sense of control, not only in the performance itself, but also from the praise I received from the audience, my friends and my family.

By 1984 hockey and soccer were the sports that I clearly excelled in but I was about to discover a new passion. . . wrestling. In 1985 something called Wrestlemania was introduced to world, to me and my friends, it was the ultimate call to action. We spent less and less time on the ice and on the field and moved into my backyard. We established the CWF (our backyard Canadian Wrestling Federation no less) and our new world was solidified. To this day I believe my memory lapses stem from being pile driven into my picnic table one to many times. In 1987 I was 13 and Wrestlemania 3 hit the air waves. That monumental event coincided with seeing Rocky 4 for the first time (5000 more would follow) and my parents hopes of me becoming an intellectual would be forever derailed. I was now on a single track to infiltrate the WWF with the heart of Rocky Ballboa and the 24 inch guns of the Hulkster in tow.

At age 14, I discovered weight-training (to build my guns) and never looked back. My best friend and I worked out religiously on my Weider weight set for hours a day. Here was a way to build up my strength for wrestling, but secretly, and perhaps of greater importance to me at that time, I knew I wanted more muscle just for the look. Just like the old Charles Atlas ads implied, I didn’t want anyone to kick sand in my face, I associated winning the favour of the pretty girl with muscularity and physical strength.

In 1991, at age 16, my body was at the perfect stage for muscular development and I was already starting to get noticed for the changes I was making with my body. As a result, I became fixated with bodybuilding, especially with Arnold Schwarzenegger. I had dozens of his pictures pasted across my bedroom wall, read Weider magazines religiously, and gobbled up everything Arnold said and did. You could say he was more or less my boyhood idol. I loved his character and physique, as he embodied everything I wanted to become. I especially admired his determination, his single-minded focus and his unrelenting drive to achieve his goals, and just look at how far he has gone in the world.

Over the next decade, I would experiment with dozens of diets, attend seminars, take home study courses, all in an attempt to master the fundamentals of exercise and nutritional science. In reality I was traversing a slippery slope of obsessive compulsiveness that would threaten the very things I held dear in life; my friends and family. I mistakenly believed that I needed to know and experience it took to build a great body and it ultimately threw my life out of balance and I developed chronic fatigue symptoms. In 2000, I moved to Vancouver in search of paradise and the “perfect” place for optimizing my health and wellness. It wasn’t long before I finally gave in to my true calling and became certified as a personal trainer.

The next 10 years would prove to be the most educational for me as a personal trainer in Vancouver. I’ve worked with hundreds of clients and other trainers, soaking up knowledge at an alarming pace. I also learned about the darkside of the health and fitness industry. I actually became so jaded by it that I almost lost all hope in society and humanity.This would stimulate to need to learn to even higher levels and I would have to say, became the most socially and mentally destructive period of my life. But at least I was getting paid to do what I loved. I soon realized that all industries have a dark side and I needed to focus on the positive aspects and educate people to protect them from the smoke and mirrors that perpetuate so much confusion regarding health and fitness.

Today, at 36, I’m a lot wiser and more laid back. I don’t bodybuild ( at least not seriously) anymore, opting to be a teacher and mentor to other who are desirous of implementing self discipline and a lifestyle management system into their lives. To change their bodies and realize the full health and wellness potential they can deliver upon themselves. I also play hockey once again. Talk about going full circle in life. I try to tap into that 8 year old kids mind as often as I can. The innocence and lust for life is so often lost in our lives. My goal as I get older is to reclaim that time in my life that was dominated by adventure, wonder and always being surrounded by people who love me. I don’t obsess over fitness anymore and I preach balance and common sense practices. I enjoy a life where I get to do what I love and have a chance to make a real difference in peoples lives; something for which my mother is very proud. Is anything in life as important as a mother’s approval?

As an authority in my field, I have examined the research, experience and investigations of many renowned strength and conditioning authorities, and I am trying very hard to present information here in the spirit of objectivity, without prejudice.  All the men and women who have dedicated their lives to understanding the effects of fitness and nutrition on health and performance, regardless of fame and position, are still only mortal. They are not infallible, nor are they completely immune from political influence or financial incentives. Each one of them, like myself, is biased in some way, and inclined to make mistakes or neglect some piece of the whole. With that said, please enjoy reading my blog and articles. Anything I post on my site is wide open for discussion and debate. Consider yourself part of a community trying to make it a little easier for people to obtain truthful and practical information on achieving their best body!

Your friend in health and fitness,

Articles