After many hours of overtime and juggling my regular weather and sports duties for Global News, the premiere of my new health and wellness series, The Culture of Fitness, launched this week.
On Tuesday, there was a full social, online, radio and TV roll-out of the first episode. And a similar roll-out will take place on the next three Tuesdays.
Here is the first episode, which is all about Capoeira.
My day on Tuesday started on Global News Morning for an interview previewing the series and to show some teaser clips from the episode above. After my appearance on GNM, I made the rounds on a number of Global News radio stations to discuss the series and get people to check out the online portion of the series on the Global News website.
There is some additional written and video content online to accompany each episode.
I now have dedicated landing page on GlobalNews.ca which houses all of the fitness content I have produced over the past year. This is also where my future health and fitness content will live.
I will show the remaining episodes in next month's post.
Another fitness-related story I have produced and written recently was on Tommy Calhoun, a 75-year-old quarterback who has played in the same touch football league for 57 years!
Bianca Andreescu made Canadian history by becoming the first individual to win a grand slam title when she won the U.S. Open over Serena Williams on a Saturday evening in New York.
I was actually at a wedding in Windsor, Ontario that evening. I watched the first set from the house where we spent the downtime between the ceremony and the reception.
It was in the second set when we got to the venue and I quickly realized there weren't any TVs. That wouldn't do.
So five of us left the reception to go to a bar across the street to watch the end of the match. It was 5-1 Bianca and I ordered five tequila shots. But then Serena won four games in a row to tie the set at 5 and the crowd in New York was going nuts.
Amazingly, Bianca was able to keep her composure and win the next games to take the title. It was one of the greatest victories this country has ever seen.
And it was a culmination of a story I first started following in 2017 when I first spoke to Bianca for a story on Global News. I talked about that experience the Monday after her victory.
Earlier that week, I put together another tennis feature story on Rob Shaw, who won a gold medal in wheelchair tennis at the Parapan Am Games in Peru at the beginning of the month.
This month I have also filmed all four episodes of my new fitness series for Global called The Culture of Fitness. The final edit of the series will take place today and the aim is for the first episode to premiere on November 1 (we're holding off until after the election).
It was a blast learning capoeira, parkour, muay thai and cricket.
I will be sure to have some more details about the series in next month's update.
I mentioned my adventures as a "Ball Man" at the Rogers Cup in last month's update. Here is the final product. I think it's safe to say that Julia bailed me out big time.
After the piece aired, I received a message from Golf Canada asking if I wanted to try being a caddy for a pro golfer during the CP Women's Open Pro-Am at Magna Golf Club in Aurora.
I said, absolutely, and I was on the bag for 23-year-old Maddie Szeryk from London Ontario. My performance as a caddy was significantly worse than my "Ball Man" escapades.
See for yourself.
My next creative focus is a new fitness series that is a bit of an addendum to the What's Your Fitness Age series. This one is called The Culture of Fitness. I start shooting it next week and the four episodes will air in October.
Here is a synopsis of what the series will be about:
The What’s Your Fitness
Age series was a gym-centric approach to health and fitness. But fitness
looks different around the world. The Culture of Fitness is a four-part
series that will explore fitness regimens from different cultures and how their
methods compare and contrast to a traditional gym routine.
Each episode will focus on a different region of
the world and how that culture stays fit and healthy. I will embed himself
within each program to experience it for himself and to give viewers an idea of
how it compares to the traditional fitness method of the What’s Your Fitness
Age series.
At the end of each
episode, I will talk to a fitness expert to see where each fitness culture
stacks up in terms of providing the most well-rounded approach to health and
wellness and what they need to add to their routines to fill in any missing
links.
The four cultures and
fitness regimens that will be explored are:
Brazil - Capoeira
Capoeira
is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics,
and music. It is known for its quick and complex maneuvers, predominantly using
power, speed, and leverage across a wide variety of kicks, spins, and other
techniques.
India - Cricket
Cricket
is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at
the centre of which is a 20-metre (22-yard) pitch with a wicket at each end.
The batting side scores runs by striking the ball bowled at the wicket with the
bat, while the fielding side tries to prevent this and dismiss each player (so
they are "out").
Southeast Asia - Muay Thai
Muay
Thai is a martial art that is known as the "art of eight limbs". It
is characterized by the combined use of fists, elbows, knees, and shins.
France - Parkour
Practitioners
aim to get from one point to another in a complex environment, without
assistive equipment and in the fastest and most efficient way possible. Parkour
includes running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, plyometrics, rolling,
crawling and other movements as deemed most suitable for the situation.
