Strong Able Free

12/05/2025

It is Fit Tip Friday and continuing on the theme of flexibility Decembers' Fit Tip is Stretch your Muscle Chains. Muscles are connected to each other through tendons and fascia. Muscles affect each other, tightness in one will affect the function of another. In Thomas Myers' book Anatomy Trains I was introduced to the idea of “muscle chains.” We have several muscle chains in our body, the Back Chain, the Front Chain and the Side or Lateral Chain are just a few. Take for example the Back Chain, this is a chain of connected muscles that run along the back of your body. From the bottom it starts with the muscles in the bottom of your feet, up your calves, the back of your legs, along your spine and the back of your neck and over your head. If you feel tightness in your hamstrings (the back of your thigh), stretch your hamstrings yes but the flexibility gains in your hamstrings will be limited by the degree of flexibility of the other muscles in that “chain.”

I encourage you to take a broader view when stretching. Instead of saying “my hamstrings feel tight, I am going to stretch my hamstrings” try saying “my hamstrings are tight I am going to stretch the back of my body or the front of my body or the side of my body depending on where you feel tight.

Book a session with me so I can show you how to get the most out of your stretching routine.

Stacey Segstro is a personal trainer, strength & exercise coach providing virtual and in-person service near Franktown, Smiths Falls, Ottawa Ontario.

11/08/2025

It is Fit Tip Friday! Novembers' Fit Tip is to identify areas of tightness or restriction. Most of us have a sense of where we feel tight but you can start by taking a few minutes to move in 3 dimensions at each joint; neck, shoulder, along your spine, hip, knee and ankle. Bending at your hips and knees like when we try to do a deep squat or try to touch our toes will be difficult if the muscles in your legs, hips, lower back are tight. If you are limited in how you can move your arms, the muscles in your shoulder, chest, upper back or neck could be tight. If you struggle to rotate your torso, the muscles along your spine, hips and shoulders may be tight.

Write down the areas where you feel restriction. Decide which restriction has the most negative impact on your daily life, for example, reaching your arm behind you. Start by doing one stretch for that movement. In this example, reaching your arm behind you. One stretch you could do is stand sideways to a wall, with one arm extended behind you and that hand on the wall. A stretch should be gentle and your breathing slow to help release the muscle. Hold that stretch for 3-5 long slow breaths.

Next month I will share how to make your stretching more effective.

10/04/2025

Happy October everyone! My Fit Tip for October is Roasted Butternut Soup. We have several favourite butternut recipes but this soup is new to us and we love it. It is Fall in a bowl!
1 tbsp oil
1 onion, chopped
1 large butternut (2.5-3 lbs), peeled, seeded and chopped.
3 parsnips, peeled and sliced lengthwise
4 cups vegetable broth
1 tsp Thyme
1 tsp salt
1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Place the chopped butternut on a baking sheet and drizzle with oil and toss to coat. Rub the parsnips with oil and wrap tight in tin foil and place on baking sheet with butternut.
3. Roast 40-60 minutes, until butternut is easily pierced with a fork. Meanwhile, in a large pot add the 1 tbsp of oil and saute the onion until soft & translucent.
4. Add roasted butternut and parsnip and broth to soup pot. Add Thyme and salt and bring to a boil then reduce to Low for 10 minutes.
5. Add more broth to desired consistency.

09/05/2025

It is Fit Tip Friday! My Fit Tip for September is Stuffed Eggplants. Eggplants came into our life quite late but they are now a seasonal staple.

Preheat oven to 350
With spoon or knife carefully remove flesh from 2 small or 1 large eggplant, chop into bite size chunks. Leave the 1/2 shells intact to stuff later.
Drizzle eggplant shells with oil and salt.
Bake for at least 20 mins, up to 50 minutes for large eggplants. Meanwhile, heat some oil in a pan over MED heat.
Add 1 small sweet onion, finely chopped. Saute until translucent.
Add 1 ripe plum tomato, finely chopped.
Add 1/4 cup fresh basil or 1 tbsp dried and salt & pepper to taste.
Reduce to LOW and cook for 3 minutes.
Add the chopped eggplant and 2 or more diced sundried tomatoes. Raise heat to to MED heat and cook stirring for another 3-4 minutes. ***if mixture is dry add a little oil***
Add 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast or cheese. Remove mixture from heat and stir to combine.
Spoon mixture evenly into eggplant shells.
Bake another 20-30 minutes.
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08/01/2025

It is Fit Tip Friday! My Fit Tip for August is our favourite summer recipe, Mojete.
2 Red bell peppers, sliced
2 yellow bell peppers, sliced
1 red onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup or more of olives
6 -10 ripe Roma tomatoes
1 tsp brown sugar
3 tbsp sherry or balsamic vinegar

Combine all ingredients in a large roasting pan.
Season with salt and pepper. Stir well. Cover with foil.
Bake 45 minutes at 400.
Remove and add; 2 tsp Rosemary and 2 tbsp olive oil.
Stir. Bake another 30 minutes with foil removed.
Serve with fresh bread.

07/04/2025

It is Fit Tip Friday! July's Fit Tip is to eat some scrumptious summer salads. Visiting the farmers markets is a delight, I saw so many different lettuces & greens.

This is our go to dressing.
3 tbsp each of Balsamic vinegar and (dijon) mustard
1 tbsp honey
1/4-1/3 cup of olive oil
a bit of salt and pepper
I have used this recipe for years and I like to switch it up by using different vinegars and mustards.

And don't forget to buy some strawberries!

06/06/2025

It is Fit Tip Friday! Fit Tip Fridays over the Summer will focus on seasonal recipes. When I see asparagus at the farmer's market, I know Spring is here. This is one of my favourite asparagus recipes.

Grilled Veg & Quinoa Salad
1- 3 cups cooked Quinoa (I use 1 cup dry Quinoa)
1 red and 1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
12 asparagus, chopped
Grill or lightly saute the vegetables.
Combine cooked Quinoa and vegetables.
Make dressing:
3 tbsp oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp each salt & pepper
1/4 tsp chili flakes
Stir well and add to the Quinoa and vegetables.
Serve with toasted Pumpkin seeds (don't omit these, they add a nice crunch), Feta (for a plant based option we use Daiya dairy free Feta) and fresh cilantro.
Enjoy!

05/02/2025

It is Fit Tip Friday! May's Fit Tip is to Look Up. We spend most of our time looking down, especially at a computer or looking ahead but we do not spend much, if any time, looking up. Looking up extends our neck and gets us out of the “laptop hunch” position. Throughout your day, take a moment to look up, for a few seconds. We spend most of our time looking down, especially at a computer or looking ahead but we do not spend much, if any time, looking up. Looking up extends our neck and gets us out of the “laptop hunch” position. While sitting at your computer take a moment to look up at the ceiling. Before you get into your car, look up at the sky, what colour is it today? What do the clouds look like? You can also do this lying down, before you get into bed lie sideways so you can lie with your head hanging off the edge of your bed.

04/04/2025

It is Fit Tip Friday! April's Fit Tip is to think outside the breakfast box. Breakfast means different things to different people all over the world. Historically, the human diet was determined by geography, we ate what was available to us. Breakfast is interesting because there has been a lot of marketing around breakfast, from being the “most important meal of the day” to what we think of as “breakfast foods.” For me“ breakfast” simply means the first meal of my day and it could be anything from beans on toast, to soup, a stew, leftovers, anything goes! I encourage you to think about your breakfast ritual, why have you chosen those foods for breakfast? Where did your ideas of what constitutes breakfast come from? Have your breakfasts changed from childhood to adulthood? If so, what prompted the change? My breakfasts have changed quite a bit throughout my life, as a child I ate mostly cereal, on week-ends my Dad made pancakes then eggs were a staple breakfast food for years and now with a plant based diet most days my breakfast is black bean dip on toast (see photo, recipe from Spilling the Beans by Rosendaal & Duncan.)


This is a great video on the history of breakfast.
https://www.pbs.org/video/is-breakfast-the-most-important-meal-xas6ug/

03/08/2025

It is Fit Tip Friday! This months' Fit Tip is, "What is your bother factor?"(and get to know Dr. Jen Gunter pictured here). I heard Dr. Jen Gunter say this and I think this is very helpful advice. For example with menopause symptoms ask yourself “How much are these bothering me? How disruptive are they to my daily life?” If your answer is not much then perhaps you do not need to take any action. “What is your bother factor” is a useful lens through which I assess whether I need to take action regarding a particular health issue.

03/02/2025

Joe and I switched to a vegan diet several years ago. It was a slow transition. We used to eat eggs every day for breakfast and it was hard to imagine a substitute. Then we found this recipe,
Black Bean Dip (from Spilling the Beans, Rosendaal & Duncan)
2 cups rinsed and drained black beans (use canned beans)
Oil for cooking
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 cup salsa-sometimes I just add another tomato if I dont have salsa.
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
we use 1/2 cup nutritional yeast instead of 1 cup cheese
1 tbsp lime juice
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
In a large skillet/pot, heat the oil on med-hi. Saute the onion and garlic for a few minutes, until soft. Add all the ingredients in order listed.
Served on Joe's homemade sourdough bread, this is tough to beat! It is also a favourite post strength workout meal because beans combined with whole grains is a complete protein.

02/19/2025

What is SIT, Sprint Interval Training? Stacy Sims explains.