Today is your day Boomer! I know, I know....spring officially begins tomorrow and the last thing you want to hear about is more snow! But, Boomers, this is a fun activity in the snow and a big lesson to be learned from Finland. One of the northern Scandinavian countries, Finland-apparently-is embracing winter cycling. Take, for example, the Finnish city of Oulu; it has more than 900 kilometres of separated bike paths. In the winter, the city plows this huge bike network by 6 a.m. every day and will plow multiple times a day if needed. Oulu is not your compact old European town. It is similar to Saskatoon, a sprawling layout and a mid-size population of roughly 210,000. Imagine its carbon footprint and further imagine the fitness level of the city's residents. In fact, 10% of all trips in the winter are made on bikes....so, that means many people are commuting to work on their bikes! One city engineer says this idea is perfect for Canada: "the suburban sprawl in your cities is so huge that you've got so much space that could be used more wisely." Two cities are already considering some winter cycle strategies and they are big cities: Toronto and Edmonton. Boomers, here's to the bright future of leg power in any season. Cheers!
Today is your day Boomer! Baby Boomers, another health benefit is back! It is backward walking and the trend-often associated with the 1980s-is making a return as grey-haired wonders, like you and I, look for new-or-newish ideas to help keep us fit! According to cbc.ca, "walking backwards has shown that there's less impact on the joints by using these different muscles — and it can increase flexibility and even help alleviate back pain." One 62-year-old Boomer says "Every time I walk, I just do a little twirl and walk backwards for a bit, and I'll do it just a few times during my walk." It may look a little unusual and may get a few laughs from passersby....by consider the actual benefits. Clinical exercise specialist André Noël Potvin says "When you start to walk backwards, you actually start to rebalance the forces around the ankle, knee, hip and lower back." This really helps Boomers recovering from knee surgery and older Boomers who are havi...

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