REPLAY WEBCAM CHAT: Getting Olympian fit

On Thursday, August 9th, Olympic athletes and fitness professionals joined us on webcam to answer questions from the CBC Community and share tips for getting fit.

Replay the entire live chat here:


We were joined by:

- Bryan Marshall: Ontario Olympic Weightlifting champion, player development consultant to NHL teams, and highly sought-after strength. Bryan has trained hundreds of athletes and runs a website devoted to Olympic weightlifting at www.oly-WOD.com

- Anouk (Leblanc-Boucher) English: Two-time Olympic medalist and Goodlife Fitness Personal Trainer in Quispamsis, New Brunswick. English brought home both silver and bronze medals as a short track speed skating athlete at the 2006 Games in Turin.

- Cassandra Hope: Toronto-based fitness and nutrition expert who takes a unique, holistic approach to training. Working with everyone from elite athletes to terrified beginniners, hope boasts a wide and varied fitness background with nearly two decades of industry experience.

- Mark Harris: Specializes in strength and power development in high level athletes. As an elite track athlete, Harris received a full scolarship to the University of Northern Iowa where he graduated with a B.A. in Exercise Science and a minor in Coaching Track & Field and Volleyball. He has since lent his expertise to the Ryerson Rams as their head strength and conditioning coach and now to Goodlife Fitness as a personal trainer at their Sudbury LaSalle Street Coed Club.

- Laura Furtado: Award-winning international dancer, dance instructor, choreographer, speaker and fitness professional, Furtado is the owner of DivaGirl Fitness, one of Canada's leading dance-fitness organizations. With over 25 years of experience in the dance and fitness realms, Furtado now spreads her passion and expertise across North America and Europe.

- Jennifer Malyk: Womens fitness and health expert, CEO of Knock Knock fitness, and experienced home trainer. Malyk specializes in educating and motivating women to begin their journey to fitness success by custom-tailoring workout routines for her clients wherever they feel most comfortable.



Whether you're looking to shake up your current routine with a new challenge or train for 2016, we'd like to hear about your fitness goals. (iStock) Gym enrollment has long been known to spike in Canada at the beginning of January when the holiday season ends and New Year's resolutions begin take hold.

We'd be willing to bet, however, that another spike occurs every four years in correlation with the summer Olympic games.

Two weeks of watching the world's best athletes perform superhuman feats - in uniforms that often leave little to the imagination - is surely enough to get even the most faithful of fitness buffs thinking about how to step it up. And for those who aren't active at all, it can help to get them off the couch and out for a run (or at least perusing workout gear online.)

Kathy MacKinnon, Vice Presidents  of Operations GoodLife Fitness told the CBC that check-ins at their clubs country-wide increased 9.8% over the course of the Olympics so far compared to this same time period last year.

You may not aspire to be on Canada's Olympic volleyball team, but that doesn't mean you can't be inspired by the athletic prowess of our national athletes.

Watch our live-chat replay above and share your thoughts in the comment section below.