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A SPECIAL INTEREST SECTION BY MEDIAPLANET
MEN’S HEALTH Q& A WITH CANADIAN PROFESSIONAL B A S K E T B A L L C O A C H & F O R M E R N B A P L AY E R
Steve Nash
Why should Canadians prioritize physical activity in their daily life? Besides movement, our healthspan is also determined by our quality of sleep, diet, mental health, and social interactions. Science tells us that moving our body daily in a meaningful way can drastically improve these factors. I start every day with quality movement through the Block training app which helps me have a better mood, which improves my relationships. I am more likely to eat better, exercise smarter, and make other healthy choices, which results in better sleep.
As a retired athlete how do you stay in shape and healthy? I LOVE to play sports, but I had to retire from basketball because of a bad back. In my retirement, I've made it a point to stay active and play tennis or soccer 3-4 times a week. The only way to keep playing has been to keep up a healthy habit of daily mobility and stability work using Block. Doing 10 minutes of low-impact work after my morning coffee has kept my back mobile, prevented other injuries, and guarantees I'm able to stay competitive. I also mix up my workouts with resistance training and different types of cardio. Physical activity helps us enjoy life more. For me, I get joy from Read the staying young, playing as long as I can, and keeping up with younger athletes. full interview with Steve Nash at For others, joy might come from taking walks with friends or helping loved ones healthinsight.ca. around the house. These are precious moments, moments that make life worth living, that can only be bolstered with physical activity.
Q& A WITH CANADIAN SPR INTER & S I X-T I M E O LY M P I C M E D A L I S T
Andre De Grasse Why do you believe it is important to prioritize mental health? Mental health is at the root of everything. Like you always hear, “healthy mind in a healthy body”. Emotional and social well being influences how you think, feel, and act. When I’m on top of my mental game, I can handle stress, better relate to others and more easily make difficult choices then when I’m struggling.
What inspired you to create the Andre De Grasse Family Foundation? In the summer of 2013, just a year after starting in track, I was named to the national team representing Canada at the 2013 Pan American Junior Track & Field Championships in Columbia. But I was responsible for most of the costs of the trip and my mom simply didn’t have the required finances to cover it. Tony Sharpe, the coach who’d taken me under his wing, turned to a generous family connected with his track club and they sponsored the cost of my trip. I came back with a silver and bronze medal. Their support made all the difference in the world and I really don’t know where I’d be today if it hadn’t been for Read the that family. After coming home from the Rio Olympics with three medals, full interview with a little wealth of my own and a growing platform, I knew that I was going Andre De Grasse at healthinsight.ca. to figure out a way to pay it forward and that’s exactly what my mom and I have done with the Andre De Grasse Family Foundation.
Q& A WITH CANAD IAN S N OWBOAR D E R & T H R E E -T I M E O LY M P I C M E D A L I S T
Max Parrot Tell us about what it was like to battle cancer while being a professional athlete? It was definitely a big shock because I’ve been a professional athlete since I was 18, and in my entire career I’ve never missed one single event, not for injuries or for anything. I’ve always been present, even if I was feeling sick or had a problem in my leg or my arm. I was still doing all the competitions because I’m a really hard worker in life — but then I had to miss the whole season. This was a big shock for me because as a professional athlete, snowboarding was more than just my career — it was my life. In individual sports a lot of people say we’re self-centred in a way, that all we can think about is our sport and how to be better. For the past few years, all I could think about was snowboarding and then I had to miss the whole season and not travel at all. It was hard for me to digest that, and what’s weird is that it was almost a bigger shock for me not to be able to snowboard for a Read the full interview with full winter than the actual cancer diagnosis, because snowboarding Max Parrot at was all I knew, and I was being taken away from it. healthinsight.ca.
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