Fitness season is upon us (JUNE RECAP)

As the summer finally hits Canada, June reminds us that it is beach bod season with all the “fitness” events popping up all around the city. Things like the Lululemon 10k race, the Toronto Spartan race, and the Toronto Pro Supershow starting off the month have us wondering, “are we ready for the summer?”, “are we beach bod ready”. “can I even do a pull up?”. We took on the challenge, and decided to tackle a few of the events happening in and around Toronto.

Toronto Pro SuperShow

The Toronto Pro Supershow happens every year usually at the beginning of June, bringing over 13000 attendees, over 1200 athletes, and over 100 vendors and sponsors. Once you head up the escalator, you are instantly immersed in brands handing you samples of pre-workout, BCAAs, protein – from the best selling, to their newest and best items. Trust us when we say, you can get very “high” on all the supplements, especially if you have eaten anything beforehand. We were literally off the walls wanting to workout, and lift weights. Clearly whatever is in them (we were safe, we promise) greatly made us feel the need to work out. Plus, being surrounded by bodies of all shapes, swole, jacked, ripped, strong, flexible, and etc, really made it feel like beach bod season was upon us. But aside from all the “perfect” bodies around, where those looking to better themselves and want to begin their fitness journey. It was great to see such an event bring newcomers and experts in the fitness world together. Thank you to the Toronto Pro Supershow for allowing us to be part of the Media this year.

Pursuit OCR

After seeing what the Toronto Pro Supershow had to offer, we felt that working out wasn’t enough. WE WANTED MORE! And so why not sign up for a Spartan race… A DAMN SPARTAN RACE, where you climb through things, run up ski hills, and jump over fire… JUMP OVER FIRE! So we needed to train where the rest of the pro’s in Toronto train, one of the best is Pursuit OCR. An obstacle course designed for all levels of fitness, it can really show you how one would fair against movements an average person isn’t used to.

One feature that you wont see at a Spartan race is Canada’s deepest ballpit, yup… BALLPIT. That alone should make you want to come and check it out. BUT, they also have a Canada’s longest indoor tricycle racetrack. Oh, we mention that they are Drift Tryks? WELL THEY ARE. Honestly, we trained for Spartan race and left feeling like we were 6 years old at McDonald’s playing in the play place. To your youth folk, McDonalds used to be cool…

Pursuit OCR now has a block parties every Friday, where there’s a live DJ spinning the best of today’s music, and some old school vibes. Mention you’re there for the block party for 20% off the ticket price.

Lululemon 10K

The Lululemon 10K race is a fairly new race that happens in Toronto, but it brings out over 10,000 runners. If you ever try to register for the race, do so as soon as tickets go live, because this year, spots sold out in UNDER A WEEK! But that is understandable when registration includes a Lululemon race tank top and a fancy looking medal when you complete the race. Not to mention all the freebies at the CNE when you cross the finish line.

Running 10km may seem like a big challenge, maybe impossible to some, but when you are running next to thousands of individuals trying to hit a PR, trying the run their furthest, or just running for the first time with friends, the Lululemon 10k is one of the best to try. The route is fairly flat, and every so KM there is a sponsored gym working out, from spinning, to yoga, to even a choir singing you to the next KM. There’s nothing we loved more than the community aspect the race had, mixing all kinds of fitness to one shared goal, better yourself.

Spartan Race

Now, this was a challenge. 13kms, up and down a ski hill, 25 obstacles. PLEASE NEVER AGAIN. Just kidding, we’re actually proud of completing such a challenging course, that we might do another one in September to see if we’ve gotten stronger from now. The Spartan Race really challenges you mentally, and obviously physically. Mentally, with is KM long hill climbs, or near to impossible obstacles, or the 30 burpees you had to do if you failed the impossible obstacle. At first glance, you see the fittest, strongest person you have ever seen. But when you look again, the event is surrounded by people of all shapes and sizes, looking to beat the Spartan Race. What’s even better is that everyone is willing to help one another out, because the goal is to not take on the challenge alone, but to conquer it as a team. The next Spartan race, we will definitely be asking more people to come with us, because two people was simply not enough.

The Lululemon 10k can be done within an hour, but this 13km Spartan race took over 4 hours, FOUR HOURS! No joke, you lose track of time when all you see if hills and obstacles, but we honestly say, we’d do it again. The feeling you get when you receive the finisher medal, the finisher shirt, and finisher shower are one you will never forever. Or maybe that’s the feeling of pain, and long recovery? Anyways, be sure to keep an eye for our Spartan race 2.0 review. Hopefully, it’ll won’t hurt as much the second time around.

[Review and videography by James Gomez]