Thursday, 29 April 2021

Motivation to change

 


Do you want it?

Are you someone who looks at the insta of FB for inspiration, the “before and after” photos – whether they be for bathrooms or belly’s?   “Vicarious Experience” comes from experiencing the feeling through another person – be that by watching, reading a book, or even being their friend.  It is an important part of human life – a positive role model.

This is also an important first step if you want to make a change in your own life.  In yesterdays talk (still available on the FB page in bio) on resilience, we talked about the 6 C’s.  These items will help you to see it, want it, do it – and then maybe you will be the role person and not the spectator.

1.       C – Competence Being able to do a thing is an easy win to success (obvs). But sometimes this means that you need to learn a “skill” from a coach. If you are trying to get fitter, improve your health, find a coach that resonates with you. And then like any other skill, you just practice it – whether that be doing a squat correctly or learning to eat healthily.

2.       C – Confidence – build your own confidence by with positive self-talk that supports you in your mission. Seriously, it ain’t going to be great if you constantly look in the mirror and tell yourself you look rubbish. Just start with the words…”you’ve got this” “keep going” “ you can do it”

3.       C – Connection – building a community will give you security and support when things go awry.  Who are your go-to people to help you out – or can you be a friend to someone. Make a team. Give yourself a silly name. Get a badge.

4.       C – Character – being able to make a wise choice is character building – and sometimes those choices might be tough, but by learning to manage difficult days or challenging situation, your character develops and helps you to build resilience.

5.       C – Coping – what do you do when things get tough? Quit? Or say what can I do to get back on track. My advice is to be practical when you see your “red flags” and make a plan to support your body with exercise and healthy brain food until you feel better. Waiting for motivation is a waste of your time and frankly demoralising.

6.       C – Control – If you feel you have control over what you are doing, whether that is making changes to be more healthy, to lose body fat, to get fit – it gives you that bit of “doggedness” to grit out the tough days and keep on track. Get a diary. Get a calendar. Write it down. Tell your tribe.

So, if you “want it” – the go get it. You’ve got this x

 

Wednesday, 28 April 2021

Menopause and Me...

 

Menopause & Me

Croeso – Welcome

This talk is all about my journey through menopause and passing on all the things that I have learnt  - either through personal experience, academic research or simply asking Google….

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is (now) Rachel Hubbard, and I have been involved in the fitness industry since way back when, where Jane Fonda was the Queen and leg warmers with the latest gymshark kit.

Over the years, my teaching has evolved and changed as I changed…this small part belongs to my later career from about 2005 to this day.

I hope that what I discuss with you over the next 45 minutes will be of some interest. Like many of you, I really feel that menopause is almost like the dirty secret that was once mental health – but we know things can change and with a huge increase in the number of females over 50 now in the workplace, there is a growing need to be able to talk about these issues freely. 

In 2015 a government statistical paper indicated that whilst only 16.9% of women over 50 were still in the workplace – this has now grown to 78.3%.  Changing to how women are becoming more independent, alongside the more worrying lack of pension and having to work extra in order to be able to survive.

It is therefore becoming more of a topic of discussion – cos lets face it, for many, menopause is tough. It is tough for the woman, for their partner (who also might be a woman of a similar age), families and work colleauges.   There are currently around 3.5 million women in the workplace over the age of 50, and 1 in 4 experience such bad symptoms that menopause is soon to be classes as a disability  where

You're disabled under the Equality Act 2010 if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a 'substantial' and 'long-term' negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities.

 

Given that menopause can last 4 – 10years, then this meets the criteria.

Back to me though – so why, at the age of 45 did I do a dissertation based on motivation to exercise for peri and post menopausal women?

And to begin that story, I need to go further back to when I was a Personal Training and energetic class tutor – in particular, please note that I used to teach and “easy” aerobics class on a Monday lunchtime called 35+…ahem, in the days when over 30 was quite frankly…old. And how I got to do my degree…

I had been drawn to further study, although not pursuing a degree, but my frustration at the time of people who wanted to exercise, but simply did not make the changes – and even worse, made me feel, or I made myself feel, that it was my “fault” that I didn’t inspire them enough.

I therefore started by simply taking the psychology modules of the degree – from first year through to third year, and trying to understand what motivates people

At the end of doing all of the module I enjoyed, a friend, who worked in the academic office mentioned that I had enough points to already be half way through my degree and she quite frankly “bullied” me in the nicest possible way…to go for it and complete the thing.

At the end of the course, and in order to get your “BSc” you have to complete a substantial piece of work ( over 30,000 words and mine was nearly 60!)on one particular subject. It was a given that mine would be psychology based (and I nearly did a masters…) and so I thought about something that would also be very useful to my job.

Back to the over 35’s aerobics section…

Many of the women in the group were of a similar age and were friends together, and so they all started to have symptoms around the same time, and would give me the “look” and say, “you too will have this”.  They would complain about the physical symptoms, the sweats, the lack of energy, but very little about the mental health side of things.  But they started to stop coming. I will come back to this.

On the other hand, I also had a group (4) of women of the same age who had booked me to be their PT because they knew their body was changing and they wanted to stop the “middle aged spread” – say red dress.

And so the dissertation came to be – and as you know, for any part of the dissertation, you have to start with a literature review. Which I did, but it still didn’t resonate with me. I kept thinking, menopause sounds a bit like normal life – irritable, putting on weight, not being able to sleep – and only the hot flushes being something different.

The correct name for the menopause is the “

)The transitional period of the menopause, where we start to see hormonal fluctuation, can last for many years, and may be referred to as the “climacteric” period (Green, 1976). This transitional phase can begin from as early as 30 years old, with 51.4 years being considered the mean age for menopause in western women and in general, most women will have completed the menopausal transition by the age of 60 (Ouzounian and Christin-Maitre, 2005). 

Climacteric is the period of life starting from the decline in ovarian activity until after the end of ovarian function. According to the definition, the period includes peri-menopause, menopause and post-menopause.

Quote from my dissertation

The menopause is triggered by a gradual reduction of hormonal level due to the failure of the ovaries to produce sufficient oestrogen. This can be attributed either to natural causes such as the process of follicular atresia (or the breakdown of ovarian follicles which results in less egg cells) or to external factors such as hysterectomy or chemotherapy (Greene, 1976). The symptoms associated with the fall in oestrogen can be both physical and/or psychological and can vary in both range and severity from person to person (Ballagh et al., 2008). Increased general irritability, anxiety and mood swings and possible depression are some of the early psychological markers of the menopause (Ballagh et al., 2008). There are both general somatic symptoms of increased headaches, dizziness or joint pain along with the more distinctive vasomotor symptoms associated with this period such as night sweats and hot flushes (Ballagh et al., 2008).  Hot flushes are a common complaint of menopause and are distinguished by the sudden sensation of heat, ranging from warm to intense that is often accompanied a burning feeling and flushing to the face and chest, slight heart palpitations, and prickling skin (Ballagh et al., 2008). The “flash” is usually then followed by profuse perspiration as the body attempts to cool down.  Unfortunately, as these episodes can occur at any time of the day or night, sleep deprivation, fatigue and mood changes are common side effects of night sweats (Ballagh et al., 2008).   In addition to this, lack of oestrogen and progesterone affect libido and comfort and can further enhance feelings of loss of “femininity”, self-worth and sexuality (Ballagh et al., 2008). The intensity and frequency of these climacteric symptoms not only affect women as the go through the transitional phase, but can often remain at a high level throughout the menopause phase which may last many years (Bartentsen et al., 2001). 

 

Great…

Since having the menopause following a Total hysterctomy, I hit the menopause quite hard and felt that it slowed down my recovery from the physical operation. So got better physically, but mentally seemed to get worse.

Again, and I quote…

Women who were physically active in both the peri- and post-menopausal stage report less severe of vaso-somatic and general somatic symptoms, as well as improved psychological well-being and higher levels of self-worth (Elavsky and McAuley, 2005). Indeed, the link between body image and self-esteem is widely regarded as a strong influencing factor on motivation for exercise.  For example, McAuley et al. (1997) examined the connection concerning domain-specific and global levels of self-esteem over a 20-week training programme. In addition to measurements of physical changes, these authors examined the relationship between exercise participation and increased self-worth and found that increasing physical activity improved self-esteem on both the domain-specific and the global levels.  Self-worth and self-esteem were also seen to improved at 55% maximum training heart rate (MTHR) when only slight increases in fitness and body fat were achieved (Elavsky and McAuley, 2007)  - nevertheless associated with enhanced quality of life (Stewart et al., 2003). 

Quote

from the Greek word men- (month) and pausis (cessation), is defined as the end of the woman's fertile life, following loss of ovarian follicular function, usually occurring in the late 40s to early 50s. The transition is not sudden or abrupt and occurs over several years (5–8 years), and is commonly referred to as, change of life or the climacteric. During the transition, a number of signs and symptoms may occur, including, vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes, palpitations), psychological symptoms (mood changes, depression, irritability, anxiety, sleep disturbances), cognitive symptoms memory problems, concentration) and, atrophic effects (atrophic vaginitis, bladder irritability) [1][2][3][4]. Women also report symptoms including night sweats, headaches, fatigue, decreased libido, severe itchiness, and back and muscle pains [5]. Such symptoms can significantly disrupt a woman's daily activities and overall quality of life [1][2][3][4]. Further, during menopause and aging, with changing hormone levels, women are at an increased change of chronic conditions such as, cancer, type-2 diabetes, autoimmunityosteoporosis and cardiovascular diseases.

 

Be Accountable

 

Be Accountable

Gavin & Stacy has given us many a famous quote that we can all recite…..Doris is one of mine favourite characters and I often have these words in my head

“I haven’t done it, I’m not doing it, End off.”

“Why?”

“because I CBA”




In my head, I want to do a TikTok to these words, but throwing the gym equipment down on the floor – and I might even get around to that one! But TBH, how many of us know we “should” exercise, but CBA (ask a teenager if you don’t know what this means..)

Psychology for me is always a strong driver for exercise, and I know I have told you of my Personal Training frustrations where people will pay the money, spend the hour with me, but then do nothing in between. It drove me to do my degree to find out the workings of the mind. Now, 15 years later, I feel that I am getting there in terms of finding the “motivation” to exercise. Firstly, trying to find a “feeling” to push you forward when you CBA is a long road to nowhere. Same as standing in front of a mirror and telling yourself how “bad” you look. These are all sticks. You can of course beat yourself with this kind of stick for a while, but there is only so much “punishment” we can stand or be bored by.

Recently, I have moved towards “being accountable” as a way to implement health and fitness changes. I love the fact that you have to own up to what you have done. To understand that really, you are the only person who is able to help change things, and only because you want it, and not because you feel you “have to” or someone else wants you to.

Accountability starts usually by declaration. This can be to yourself by setting out a weekly flexible plan and working out ways in which you can put in some exercise or have a day of eating healthy etc.  Like all declarations, public announcement of it does usually keep us on our toes as people ask how we are doing. But in lockdown, where you may not leave your house or speak to many people, this is easier to hide. However, there is still merit is telling someone other than yourself -or even making a pact with a friend to go along the journey together.

Here are my top 5 tips to start being accountable:-

1.       Make a new plan Stan

a.       Write down everything you have to do each week – no matter how small the commitment.

b.       Write down the fav TV shows that you want to watch or any other “date” (LOL) you may have that week.

c.       Work out which days have the least commitments

d.       Work out which days are your favourites

e.       Write down all your dreams and fantasies for your “perfect” world

f.        Write a list of all your favourite songs

2.       No need to be coy Roy:

a.       Eg “this week I am going to walk 10,000 steps 3 times a week”

b.       Write one for exercise, one for food (This week I am going to increase the amount of green food I eat) and then one for your mental health (This week I am going to pay attention to what is around me on my walk)

3.       Tidy up

a.       Sort out a workout space for you that has everything together in a neat pile

b.       Make sure that you have to see or walk past this each day

c.       When ever the moment takes you, try a quick 5-10 minutes of exercise, you could just get your mat out and do 25 sit ups, or just to 25 squats  - no need to change

d.       Have you workout gear all together  - socks, shoes, leggings, top, hairband if you need one, deodorant and a bottle of water. – Any of these items missing and you will often lose the will…

4.       Own it

a.       Positive action requires positive thoughts

b.       Keep going, good effort, that’s the way to do it   - are far better statements to inspire you rather than the demotivating – this is hard, I can’t do it, I am so unfit

c.       Talk to yourself as if you are selling something – sell the good points, the positive. Think like an estate agent selling a house or a car sales man

d.       Photos help -  not immediately, but when you then put them up a week later. Keep a record.

5.       Hop on the bus, Gus:

a.       Start your journey, one week at a time.

b.       Change your plan every week

c.       Be accountable for the days where you did not meet your plan – what was the reason, what can you do to stop that happening again, can you change things around to make it easier to do?

d.       Be flexible  - anywhere between flawless and failure is acceptable, and doing less is better than doing nothing.

e.       Start each day by reading your plan – and by reading your first statements of what your “perfect” life should be like.

f.        Don’t wait for the “moment” or the “motivation” and even better, do at least 5 mins of something when all you want to do is do nothing. Every little helps x

Just drop off the key, Lee, and get yourself free

 

 

Be accountable, be honest, be true, be steady, be real, own it, live it, love it x

Tuesday, 27 April 2021

Cold Water Therapy

 As I live right by the sea, I witness many people take advantage of “cold water swimming” - almost obsessively…Recent research shows that there a huge benefits not only to you psyche but also to your endocrine system (hormonal control), immune system and general cardiovascular health. However, please notice the word cold 🥶….


Wading into cold water takes courage. Many will wear wetsuits etc but I find more people brave the swimming costume with just the neoprene shoes. There is value in being cautious as your need to train your body to cope with the cold. Cold vasodilation is an inverse reaction to immersion in cold water. Surfers in particular will develop more blood vessels in their hands over time - and you have seen the evidence of my husband who, who regularly works in a cold environment, working without gloves 🤦🏻‍♀️. However, rapid cooling of the body does then produce a massive warming after a short swim in the cold water. Yes you will see the bright red legs but no one tells you about the thrilling exhilaration you experience after coming out. You feel so “alive” 😁 Why not try to acclimatise by taking small dips into the freezing waters ? Even paddling can be a good start and then wading in deeper before the head under dip. It doesn’t have to be long to get the benefits. Think about ice bath or cryotherapy for muscle recovery. It aids recovery from migraines, helps with menopause symptoms, depression and even weight loss. Whilst I am no mermaid 🧜🏻‍♀️and I look like a drowned rat in this photo 😂 I felt so energised afterwards 🤩🙌🏻. Yes your feet will scream about the pain so get the booties. But your happiness levels will jump with joy. Go cautiously, go with company, swim somewhere safe (a couple of minutes is plenty) and take you time to get used to it.

Have a look at the RLSS - Sponge to Plunge
https://www.rlss.org.uk/sponge-to-plunge
#coldwaterswimming #coldwatertherapy #coldwaterimmersion #mentalhealth #swimbythesea #coldwaterwomen #menopausehelp

Sunday, 25 April 2021

The Pursuit of Happiness...

 


The Pursuit of Happiness

Why, when I have decades as a fitness coach and tutor, have I suddenly swapped reps, rates and resistance for an unmeasurable feeling? Why indeed…much of this lies in the emerging science that is now showing how the human body reaches its goals, or even, fails to reach its goals. I have always been fascinated by the human mind – that was my main driver when I completed a second degree at the age of 40. I was confused as to why with all of my skills as a coach, my clients found sticking at a programme challenging. I initially did the psychology modules only for this reason, and did my dissertation around motivation to exercise. I find it intriguing…

Think of a cup of tea. You want a cup of tea. You have a vision of a cup of tea in your head.  But in order to get that cup of tea, you have to follow certain steps… you need a cup, a spoon, some milk maybe, definitely a tea bag, hot water, and don’t forget some boiling water!  You know you like a cup of tea, and so you ensure that you have these items at hand to enable you to sit down, enjoy your tea and a little moment of happiness.

As you read that, many of you may have had an image in your head of that happy sit down with tea feeling, or some of you might well be motivated to go and get a cup of tea straight away. This is the power of the mind. The pursuit of happiness. The reach of your goal by having everything in place to get there. How many of you know the frustration of making the tea and then going to the fridge and finding no milk, or that the milk has turned!

The powerful harnessing of our brain, neurotransmitters and hormones drives a human to do the thing that they want to do. Enables them to make habits from events that bring pleasure. This to me has been the key in the pursuit of happiness.

Reps, Rate, Resistance are still part of this – but these are the elements to reach the end goal and the impetus to change lies within the deep cortex of the brain. How to harness that power is key.

The cup of tea analogy (and cup stain on my logo) is all part of my own coaching ethos, driven by science, with both physical fitness and mental health being part of the  “pursuit of happiness”. Going to the Café to get the tea, to sit and talk, to be in a happy place.  It is also why I have called it “Happy Café Hapus” (and let’s keep that Welsh in there always x)

Happy Café Hapus May/Mai 2021 – 1-30th May – message me for details of the next course

 

Saturday, 24 April 2021

Sunshine and Hunger

 

Sunshine and hunger - a-MSH - how to harness the sun to suppress your appetite ...






Yesterday, I quickly mentioned that I had read about how sunshine affects your hunger and how being outside can suppress appetite.

Frankly, some science makes you think it is a piece of fake news, but this is in fact,  a fact. 

Appetite is shown to be the main reason why people find it difficult to stick with calorie reduction over a long period of time. There are many hormones in our bodies that trigger eating, and sometimes stop us when we are full. Yes, there are also many other mental health issues around food, but that is for another time.

So why sunlight?  It is all to do with a hormone known as a-MSH –  an “alpha Melanocyte Stimulating Hormone”  - you may recognise the word “Melatonin” and know that this hormone protects the skin from UV light by developing a pigment in your skin (think safe suntan) – but it also has the ability to control appetite.

In a recent study, it was shown that morning sunlight has an impact on your appetite for that day – it does not mean that you will be able to eat what you like (!) but if you try to do a walk before breakfast  - outdoors – then listen to your hunger signals, you should find that you are more able to be in control of your food intake. Further studies seem to show a reduction in your fat cells which are exposed to the blue light of sunshine, and that this also helps your circadian rhythm to calibrate and will help you sleep better at night. Whilst this might sound too good  to be true, I would suggest to aim for a 10 – 20 minute walk before your day starts.

Please remember the basics of good sun cream to protect your skin – as it is the LIGHT that makes the difference.  Going without your sunglasses helps a lot, so again, early morning before the sun is too bright. Finally, in another, very old, study, looking “down” makes us feel “down”  - so put your phone away, look up at the clouds, the view, the distance  - looking “up” helps us to feel more positive too x

Get outside. It is good for your mental health; it is good for your physical health – and now it also seems to be good for your arteries x

Friday, 16 April 2021

NEAT - harnessing the power of the fidget


NEAT

No, not about keeping things in order….or maybe it is??  NEAT stands for non-exercise activity thermogenesis  - or to you and me, the amount of energy we expend that is not accounted for in sleeping, eating and exercise/sport.  Basically, the movement that we do each day.

So why is this important?

The pandemic has changed the way that will live, and many people complain about the amount of additional body weight that they might be carrying. Some of this could be down to the easy access to food in the house, the boredom, the loneliness, the stress, and tiredness. But a lot of it can be down to the fact that we simply do not move as much. I work part time, and in one 8 hour day I totally a huge 898 steps (!) – Given that the “healthy” aim is around 10,000 steps a day, or about an hour of activity, you can see how this can impact on your health (and well-being) when the walk to your office is only a few steps.

How can we harness these extra burns – “therm” being part of burning the fat off?  Here are my suggestions:

1.        Try to include short burst of activity within your day – this boosts your metabolism, as well as your concentration and memory. It is all too easy to get engrossed in work, stuck in meetings, and have the pressure of deadlines. But without some positive intervention, you will find yourself slowly slipping into gaining more weight and feeling more down. You have a choice to make and if you want to be serious about improving your health then take on board some of the research behind “motivation” and don’t rely on will power or good intentions. These are false news and don’t work….

2.       Visual reminders work. Hence why they are trying to ban adverts for junk food from children’s programmes or sweets by the check out. Dopamine is triggered when you see something that makes you feel good. This is useful information. First, put up some visual reminders of going for a walk – this can be an image of yourself outside, a post it notes on the fridge door, a calendar reminder, a date with a friend. Second, remove the visual triggers for food. Hide the chocolate, the wine, the crisps. If you see it, you will want it – and did you know that the more you try to “resist” eating something you want, the stronger dopamine will trigger you to crave it more…….therefore, I am not saying, ban yourself from these things – just be in control of the visual cue to make resistance easier to achieve.

3.       Rewards work. Linking good times to your memory helps – think of how many people post up photos of “this time last year/s” on Facebook – you must realise that FB is the second most active site on the whole internet,  knows how to keep you enthralled by scrolling through the images and remembering the “good times”.  Diaries help – “today I went for a walk and enjoyed” – that works. It helps you remember; it gives you the reward – so when you do your journal, don’t forget to include the positive words at the end of you day. Remind yourself, so that when you are scrolling back through your week, you will feel rewarded.

4.       N.E.A.T works – don’t underestimate moving around. You don’t always have to do a whole set of exercise (although that is always beneficial!) but think about your daily steps, the amount of fidgeting, the getting up and down – even little things like drink water makes you want to go to the loo more and so more steps!  Keep going. Be in control of your health. Be aware of the choices you are making. Be positive. Be kind. Be flexible. But don’t be still xxx