By Laurel Borrowman, Life & Style Editor
The dedicated staff at The Other Press, especially the contributors to Life & Style, strive to give you myriad options to be active and healthy in each issue we publish. We suggest things to do, places to go, and foods to eat that we hope will inspire and motivate you to be get your feet moving.
Everyone encounters roadblocks on their path to getting fit. Maybe you have weak knees, maybe you have asthma, or maybe you have an intense fear of getting lost in the woods and eaten by a bear. Those are reasonable and conquerable. One thing that should not prevent you from getting active is having fancy, high-tech gear. In fact, this is arguably the last thing you should worry about.
You don’t need the latest Enlightenment T-Back Lululemon Dry-Fit Yoga Wraptop to participate in a Bikram’s class. You don’t need a $200 Gore-tex shell to do the Grouse Grind. You don’t need to drop a paycheque on steel-toed waterproof leather hiking boots to circumnavigate Pitt Lake. These things are unnecessary.
It’s important to be comfortable when exercising or being active, and that doesn’t mean you need to spend a ton of money. You can buy everything from shorts, to tank tops, to dry-fit long-sleeved shirts at your local thrift store. For more technical gear—maybe you do want some fancy hiking boots, or an amazing yoga mat—try visiting a sports consignment store like Sports Junkies (102 W. Broadway, sportsjunkies.com). They sell quality used gear (from snowshoes to tennis racquets—I bought mine for $20 there last season) and a ton of new stuff at ridiculously discounted prices. The staff is also quite dreamy.
The point is, unless you are training intensely, don’t let trendy gear be a make-or-break on your path to being active. Get up and go with the gear you’ve got.
