Online Fitness Magazine Interview

ONLINE: How long have you been in the Health and Fitness Industry? (How long have you actually been involved personally as well?)

CH: Since 1975. While attending Western Washington University where I studied human physiology and biochemistry beginning in 1975 (age 17) I worked part-time in a local health & fitness club as a nutrition advisor and personal trainer.

The club also dispensed dietary supplements and that's when I first began using vitamins, antioxidants, protein shakes, bee pollen and desiccated liver pills on a systematic regular basis.

I learned to skate and play hockey growing up in rural Alberta. Hockey was my favorite sport. I played all the school sports such as basketball, volleyball, football, gymnastics, badminton, wrestling and track & field. I also played on varsity teams outside of the school system, including baseball, hockey, lacrosse and soccer. I started weight training at the age of 12 and never looked back. I combined the Charles Atlas "dynamic tension" course I ordered through a Superman comic book with principles I learned by reading Weider muscle magazines. Arnold was my boyhood idol.

I managed Spartacus Athletic Club in the late 70s', which 20 years later I owned & operated in partnership with Tracy. During the 80s' I worked in the retail health food industry, first as a salesman, then in management. I always studied nutrition & fitness early in the morning and every chance I could get. I eventually designed and operated my own store, then moved into wholesale manufacturing and distribution.

After completing my doctorate in nutrition in 1992, learning how the entire industry works first hand and discovering my niche in sports nutrition, I then formed my own consultation business and private clinical practice. Today I lecture. educate the public through my website, design & formulate health products for athletes, write nutrition courses and magazine articles and have several new books in the works.

TKH: Since 1978 I have been teaching Ballroom and Latin dancing. I also competed professionally for Canada in dance for about five years. From 1989 to 1993 I owned and operated a private gym in Vancouver. Today my fitness regime includes weight training, running, hiking, yoga, fitness classes and dancing.

ONLINE: What do you most enjoy about being a Health & Fitness Leader & Presenter in the Health & Fitness Industry?

CH: Positive feedback from my clients and testimonies from real people who have experienced transformation of mind and body through improved health & fitness awareness. Leadership and limelight is a form of pressure - in this case a positive pressure for modeling and living the lifestyle I recommend. I wouldn't promote anything I don't do or believe in myself.

TKH: I most enjoy motivating people to get fit and healthy through diet and exercise. I also like to encourage people to have a positive mental attitude and help them understand they have the power to make changes in their lifestyle.

ONLINE: What motivates you personally to exercise?

CH: The feeling and challenge of actually training. Certainly the rewards of controlled correct exercise are worth more than the effort - like greater physical strength, flexibility, endurance, control of my body composition, longer life, enhanced quality of life, less degenerative disease and so on. But I actually love to train, to run, to swim, and to pump iron, to play sport; it's an adrenaline rush and makes me feel more alive. It's my passion.

For me it's also a combination of science, emotion and faith in future outcome. Exercise and physical activity is essential to all living organisms, like breathing, eating, sleeping and elimination of body waste. Unfortunately, it takes a much longer period of time to die as a result of inactivity than if we don't breathe air or eat food, so many people think they can outsmart Mother Nature. Well, they can't. I want to achieve as much as possible before I pass on to the next level or dimension of my existence or whatever, and without excellent physical & mental health I'll never accomplish any of my long term goals, like for instance traveling to EVERY country in the world. So far I've been to 60 out of 220.

TKH: I am personally motivated to exercise because it makes me feel good and gives me a tremendous sense of well-being. It helps to maintain my weight and a youthful appearance, I am stronger physically and mentally, and I find exercise to be a real positive attitude adjuster.

ONLINE: Since you are involved in the Health and Fitness industry what hot new trends do you foresee coming in the year 2000 and beyond exercise/nutrition/supplement wise?

CH: Conventional orthodox medicine will merge with what is now referred to as Alternative or Complimentary medicine. Together they will utilize a more functional and preventive approach to health care and this will occur as a result of economic necessity and consumer pressure. Hospitals and airlines will serve the best food in the world, rather than the worst. Politics will eventually give way to scientific truth. Exercise, organic natural food and vitamin therapy will be considered wise investments into everyone's future well-being and health. Money spent on prevention will be a tax deduction. People who invest more into a healthy lifestyle will pay less for health care than those who choose to lead an abusive lifestyle.

TV commercials and billboards, which advertise junk food, will be banned for the same reasons tobacco advertising was banned. Science will prove the connection between the proliferation of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, autism, ADHD and obesity in the western world and the consumption of sucrose, fructose, white flour, homogenized milk, refined white salt, chlorinated water, margarine, processed oils and mass marketed breakfast cereals loaded with sugar, refined grains and chemicals. I can't wait for the day when a chocolate bar wrapper or pizza box must display a health warning like a pack of cigarettes, such as WARNING: CONSUMPTION OF THIS FOOD ARTIFACT IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH AND WILL KILL YOU!

Regarding new and upcoming dietary supplements, watch for D-Ribose just around the corner. This 5-carbon pentose sugar plays an enormously important role in the formation of DNA, RNA and ATP. Taking this supplement will allow athletes to run faster, play harder and recover from strenuous exercise better than ever before. It has particular value for cardiac function as well.

TKH: I can foresee corporate businesses making it mandatory for their staff to exercise before, during or after work and also supplying a fitness facility. It would be nice to have health food restaurants and juice bars on every corner rather than fast food chains.

ONLINE: What role do you see yourselves playing in these new trends?

CH: I have been writing, researching and working on a home study distance learning course in sports nutrition for almost ten years now, and it's now ready for distribution. Sports nutrition isn't taught in university, medical school, naturopathic curriculum or Chiropractic College. Most health care professionals diagnose and treat disease but aren't familiar with how to help a healthy person get stronger, run faster or jump higher (unless they train themselves, use the products and study on their own time).

Personal trainers often learn basic nutrition from outdated paradigms, especially if local governments endorse them. Dietitians are even worse because they just don't get the fitness connection. I haven't seen evidence of this anyway (of course there are exceptions to all rules). They receive no instruction specific to athletic performance and generally advocate the Canada Food Guide in spite of hard data which denies its application except as survival food. The assembly line simply doesn't work on individuals, each of whom carries a unique biochemical and genetic blueprint.

I can't believe in this day and age we have professional people advocating white bread or pasta, buns, muffins & bagels made from white flour as principle food staples. I especially disagree with their position on sugar and how they disregard its correlation as a contributing cause of diabetes and coronary artery disease. Canada's Food Guide needs total reformation, but that won't happen until the key people in control who oppose change die off (and I mean that literally) and are replaced with less conservative, more liberal, progressive, health-focused spiritually-minded people.

I expect any health professional who instructs and provides health council to the public to be fit and to train on a regular basis, to know and understand the principles and philosophy of biological medicine (Nature's Cure), to be trained in basic science and to be opened minded enough to know that a scholastic degree from a single institution does not necessitate an absolute and complete knowledge in anything. We all have to keep learning and studying continuously because the turnover of information and rate of change will leave you behind if you don't.

TKH: I would like to see the dance industry incorporate better nutrition and supplements into their active training lifestyle. I believe this would help the dancers to improve performance, recover from injuries and have greater stamina. Based on my current involvement and observation, this simply isn't happening at the present time.

ONLINE: How often do you think a person should workout cardio, strength and endurance?

CH: Fitness is determined by measuring one's aerobic capacity, muscle strength, muscle endurance, flexibility and body composition, so any fitness program must include cardio, strength training and stretching to be complete. The amount and intensity of exercise is determined by what the individual wants to achieve. Athletes need to train with specificity and get into things like plyometrics, periodized weight training and interval training.

I developed my Five-Steps to Health fitness & health program for people who just want to look and feel good and who are willing to train one hour five days per week. Each workout is comprised of five segments (warm-up, resistance training [one body part], core, cardio and stretching) and the day is divided into five meals which features two protein shakes [after morning exercise and between lunch and dinner], two nutritious regular meals and an evening snack.

TH: I think a person should do something physical everyday. Some days more intensely than others, a walk, run, exercise class, yoga, stretch, and roller blade - the key is to keep active and stay well.

ONLINE: Cory, I understand you have formulated your own line of Sports Supplements, tell us about this concept of sport nutrition supplementation.

CH: Sports nutrition isn't just for athletes and people who play sports. It's for those of us concerned about health and longevity and our ability to perform well throughout life, people who love physical activity and who know that exercise is essential to wellness.

The supplements I designed for SISU in 1995 before it was sold, featured the highest quality raw materials and did not contain any ingredients or additives associated with causing harm. The full product line was extremely "clean", tasted great and were scaled down to meet the needs of baby boomers, teenagers and women. Safety is the first criteria, followed by tolerance, efficacy and price (STEP). The product line-up included Whey Protein Isolate, Whey Protein Isolate Supreme, Whey Protein with Soy Isoflavones, Creatine Monohydrate, Creatine Xtra, Creatine Supreme, L-Glutamine, D-Ribose, Hydrade and HMB. Each product was verified by scientific research and university athletic studies to be safe and performance enhancing.

I also designed a product line for Trophic called Sports-Action Plus and a private label for Clayton College students in Birmingham, Alabama, called The Cory Holly Signature Line. In all I have formulated about 50 different sports nutrition products to date.