Active Goods Blog

We might have done it, we are well on our way to beating this global pandemic that turned our world, our routines upside down. As the guidelines thwart the infectious spread of the virus, we are meekly getting a taste of normalcy by being able to enjoy a movie in a theatre, sitting inside a restaurant, even doing away with those muffling face masks indoors. Of course, all this fun, also means we are migrating back to our professional office workspaces. While that news is met with mixed reactions, what WFH has taught us was how we relished every opportunity to leave the house, even if that was just a short stroll around the block or going to your neighbourhood coffee shop for that blood flow and just a bit of human interaction. Subsequently, when we got bored of our sourdough bread baking, deep cleaning our homes, and other shut-in COVID trends, we turned to hobbies we could do outdoors, like gardening, cycling, running and the like. Recreate the joy of movement while working the office with standing desks, active chairs, and other active office furniture pieces to liven up the 18+ months you have been away.

In 2020, many working professionals migrated from working in an office to working remotely from home due to the COVID 19 pandemic. The shift was near immediate, businesses began to adapt to the virtual office space and tools to continue collaboration and workflow. Homes, no matter the size, had to accommodate the full-time work capacity, such as, increasing internet speeds for video calls, rearranging furniture for (another) office, or even upgrading to a new desk/chair/audio/webcam to improve your office set-up. Thinking that the WFH movement would only be a temporary phase, we possibly gave temporary fixes to our home office woes.

But as we approach our first-year anniversary of working from home, we can no longer tolerate the slightly too low dining room table or the too tall kitchen island as a desk or being hunched over in a folding chair for 8 hours each day. In 2021, we want the best choices for our physical and mental wellbeing, which means that we need to make the necessary investment to upgrading our WFH offices. Check out the 21 active office products that brings more ergonomic enjoyment from working remotely in 2021.

If you are working in an office or home office, chances are you’re sitting, a lot. And we’ve all been talked our ears off on the detrimental effects of prolong periods of sitting and generally being sedentary, but it is not like we are able to just ditch work to go for 30-minute walks every hour, right?  So, what are we to do? You can place a sit-stand desk converter or swap your current office chair for an active one, or take a step further by integrating the BodyCraft Spacewalker Treadmill into your work routine. The BodyCraft SpaceWalker is one of Active Good's best sellers and here are the 5 reasons you’ll want to have one for yourself.

As the new school year begins, we are all a bit apprehensive about the undeniable collective environment our children might be returning to. Many safety guidelines and procedures are still being refined, so it is imperative to keep an eye out for updates from your local school board; however, we can take a proactive approach about preparing and educating our young ones on proper hygiene and physical distancing. Easy sanitation, physical distancing, all while incorporating movement throughout the day: were the criterion we kept in mind when rounding up the 5 Back to School active furnishings for your children or students returning to their studies in the fall.

For most of us, the new normal is working from home. This mass migration from the usual commute to the office to now this working-from-home movement has been met with some mixed reactions. While some can’t wait to return to the office, some realize that working form home has many benefits and are considering working from home on a more regular basis even once the offices reopens. Whichever category you fit into, working from home comes with it’s fair share of challenges. One of the biggest challenges we have faced is keeping an active daily routine. It can be easy to fall into a very sedentary lifestyle while working from home. We have been sharing lots of tips for working from home on our Instagram including how you can stay active while in your home office. 

For loyal customers and followers of Fitneff, you will know that we often profile an amazing centenarian, Olive Myhre, who is turning 108 years old on April 2^nd.   With the COVID-19 pandemic the world is facing, it seems more important than ever to have the perspective of someone who has lived through many “world-changing” events.  There are lessons to be learned from Olive Myhre, who is as positive and optimistic today, as she always has been.  

Let’s talk about the school commute. I’m sure we have all heard the classic complaint from our grandparents, “when I was your age, I had to walk 7 km to school. Uphill both ways!” While that is met with an eye-roll, we can't deny that on any given weekday morning, there is a line up of vehicles idling to drop off their child(ren) so they don’t have to walk far. Recently, Naomi Buck published an opinion piece in the Globe and Mail titled "Why did our children stop walk to school?”  that touched on how our morning school drop-offs have changed in the past couple of decades. 

At Fitneff, we are keeping up with new releases from the top active furniture and accessory brands and see what is exciting to add to our inventory to help better your daily lives. If you follow us on Instagram, you might have noticed our #FreshInFriday posts, where we spotlight a new product every Friday. We figure we should round up the latest product and address why we have included them on our virtual shelves.

Some say that Valentine’s Day is a total hallmark holiday, an excuse for unnecessary consumerism and floral shops to overcharge you for a dozen stems; however, we don’t see it like that. Valentine's Day is a day to communicate your appreciation and love for the people in your life, whether that is through a simple e-card or text message punctuated with lots of heart emojis or go the whole nine with a classic candlelit dinner - there is no reason to not be grateful for the people that support you through the thick and thin.  Our ideal Valentine’s Day or weekend (since this year’s V-Day falls on a Friday) is to share an experience with our favourite people, ideally, an activity that gets our hearts pounding and even a little flushed in the face. We’ve got blood pumping ideas for the couples, with your children, or your single self. 

Since we started selling active classroom furnishings, we have received so much positive feedback from parents and teachers on how beneficial the addition of active chairs and desks has been for students with autism. For most ASD students, the classroom can be a very challenging environment as there are many distractions and stimuli that can overwhelm their senses. Here are a few researched sources that lend tips to managing an active classroom for ASD.