Defecation.

We all do it. For some people, it's a necessary inconvenience. For others, it's a pleasant and satisfying part of the digestive process. And for the rest of us, it's a time to catch up on emails, cruise Instagram and take a little personal time to ourselves.

Whether you refer to it as "dropping a deuce", "moving the bowels", "relieving oneself" "crapping" or simply just "taking a shit", it's a common practice that most if not all of us do daily.

But when was the last time you inspected your poop? And I mean after release but before wiping. If you don't recall or don't wish to recall, you could be making a BIG mistake. Going number two might not be the sexiest topic to discuss, but there's a lot you can learn from your fecal matter. And although we are all unique in size, shape and smell of our poop, there are a few things that can indicate whether our poop is healthy or unhealthy.

If you're serious about achieving your target health and fitness goals, then you should be serious when deciding who you should work with to help you achieve these goals most safely and efficiently possible.

Do you want to work with someone who is going to hold your hand and overly compliment your efforts in the gym? Or do you want to work with someone who is going to tell you the hard truth while at the same time correcting your form and technique?

Do you want to work with someone who you can gossip and share your feelings with? Or do you want to work with someone who is going to maximize your time and efforts during every single workout?

Do you want a new friend/cheerleader? Or do you want results?

According to recent data released by the real estate firm Avison Young, Downtown Vancouver's office vacancy rate has now surpassed 10%. To add some perspective to this statistic, the last time the vacancy rate broke the 10 percent threshold here in Downtown Vancouver was in the last quarter of 2004.

Now the most obvious reason for the high vacancy rate in the Downtown core is primarily at fault of the Global Pandemic we've all been living through for the better part of the past 3 years. COVID-19 took millions of lives, permanently shut down hundreds of thousands of businesses, and destroyed many people's livelihoods, their health and our food systems.

At the same time, COVID-19 transformed the way that many companies operate and as a result of the lockdowns that were enforced by Governments across the Globe, transitioned to having the vast majority of their employees work from home. Even though we are all still feeling the impacts of COVID-19, the world has now returned to a somewhat relatively "normal" state in 2023 (despite rising inflation, high-interest rates, and a looming recession). People are now allowed to return to their offices. Yet for many people, those offices no longer exist. Fortunately, many people still have their jobs, but now most of these jobs are being done from the comfort of their own homes (at least 2-3x/week).

Whether I agree or disagree that this new era of Hybrid Working is a good thing or a bad thing for businesses is somewhat irrelevant to this week's blog. However, I do question the impact and the side effects that working from home has and will continue to have on people's mental health and physical health long term.

If you're an employee of a large company/corporation here in Canada, then there is a fairly good chance that you have extended health benefits offered through your workplace's insurance provider. These benefits usually offer 80-100% coverage of services such as dental, medical, chiropractic care, massage therapy, and physiotherapy.

As someone who works in the fitness industry, I'm all for people receiving extended coverage on health care services if and when needed. There is nothing worse than being sick and/or in constant pain while being unable to afford the necessary treatment required in order to feel better.

With that being said, I've always wondered and challenged the fact that Personal/Small Group Training in gyms is NOT covered by these very same benefit programs. I understand as a Business Owner whose income relies primarily on the sales of his and other trainers' coaching services, that my opinion might come off as biased to many. However, there are just too many facts that cannot be ignored when it comes to the numerous benefits that regular exercise can have not just to an individual's physical and mental health, but also to a productivity level in his or her working environment.