Therapy or Therapeutic?

Ask a lot of people who are into fitness why they train and you’ll get an answer that refers to mental health. There’s been a massive shift in recent years from people training purely for aesthetics to people training for how it makes them feel.

Exercise is a great stress relief, moving more literally releases endorphins, it can improve confidence, possibly get you outdoors and getting fresh air. So yes training can be incredibly beneficial to your mental health.

Viewing training as what your body can do and something that makes you feel better makes exercise a positive action rather than a form of punishment, where you train to eat more or change your appearance and size.

What exercise isn’t though, is therapy. It can be therapeutic of course it can. If I’m a bit stressed or anxious going to the gym or for a run can help alleviate the symptoms. If i don’t train for a few days I can feel the difference to my mood, largely because I actually enjoy the time I’m running or lifting, it makes me feel good, is a break from whatever is going on and a chance to blast some music and focus on me.

But exercise can’t replace therapy or solve actual problems. If training is literally the only thing keeping you sane or making you feel better it’s time to look at the issues exercise is acting as a sticking plaster for. The issue when you get to this point, is if you can’t train for whatever reason, you end up feeling terrible. When you feel like training through an injury because that would be better than how you’d feel if you took some time off, or rest days sound like a terrible idea because even though you’re knackered and burnt out a day off would make you feel guilty.

The benefits of training for mental health can’t be denied but we always need to remember that for it to be a benefit it needs to complement our life rather than dominate it, which means knowing when to rest even if you really want to train, when to pull back, when to take it easy and then appreciate what you are still able to do when you can train.

Should you Train When Ill or Injured?

Above the neck – OK

Below the neck- No

Chest Congestion – No

Hacking cough – No

Upset Stomach- No

Fever – No

Slight cold- OK (this Might temporarily ease congestion)

Runny nose- OK

Slight sore throat- OK

Hungover- Maybe (but you might be better to rest)

Injured with swelling – No

Injured and in pain – No

Injured but you are able to avoid using affected area- OK

Ideally when ill, injured or hungover you’ll rest and recover, but if you do feel like you need to train for whatever reason try and consider your intensity, what you are doing and modify where you can to avoid training having a negative impact on your health.

Training when ill

I’ve got a cold, I started to feel a bit run down Friday and Saturday morning my nose felt blocked up. I went out for a run Saturday lunchtime and by the time I got home I felt rough and spent the day on the sofa. Sunday I felt better but decided not to train instead going out for lunch but by the time I got home I knew it was man down, a full blown cold had hit. It’s not a total shock, I’ve had a bust and stressful few weeks and actually said a few times recently that I knew I was doing too much and was making myself sick. The fact of the matter is when we get stressed and over work ourselves we are more susceptible to picking up colds etc.

Once ill, people who train regularly often find it hard not to train when they are ill, even if rest may actually be more beneficial for them, I used to be the same, although now I’m a lot better at listening to my body and taking a break to recover.

So, should you train when ill?

It’s generally recommended that mild to moderate activity is usually OK if you have a cold (with no fever). In fact, exercise may even help you feel better in the short term, opening your nasal passages and temporarily relieving congestion.

If your symptoms are all above the neck generally it’s considered safe to train. Symptoms above the neck include a runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing and sore throats. You may still want to think about reducing the intensity and length of your workout, so maybe going for a walk instead of a run for example, or if you do want to run reducing the distance and going at a slower pace.

If symptoms are below the neck (chest congestion, a hacking cough, an upset stomach, muscle ache) it is however recommended that you do not exercise and instead rest until the symptoms subside.

A Fever should make exercise a hard no, raising your body temperature further if you already have a fever, will not aid recovery and could make you feel worse, so if you show any signs of fever sit out of any exercise until your temperature is back to normal.

Of course you shouldn’t exercise with or around other people if you have any type of contagious illnesses, although if you feel OK you could always do a gentle home workout.

Exercise can help boost your body’s natural defenses against illness and infection, and regular moderate exercise 3-4 times a week (for around 30 minutes) has been shown to have numerous benefits to a person’s health.

It’s worth remembering though overtraining can actually lower immunity. That means if you are training intensely every day with no rest days, de load weeks or structure (i.e. you’re constantly trying to get a PB every session) you are not only at greater risk of injury but also may find yourself catching colds more often (group exercise instructors doing multiple classes a week you may also find yourself in the group!).

So ultimately, training when ill (as long as it not chest or fever based) won’t hurt if you feel well enough to do so, but resting and letting your body recover may well be more beneficial. For many of us exercise is as much for our mental health as physical and taking a break can make you feel a bit rubbish anyway, so when you already feel bad because you’re ill it’s even harder. Having said that, in order to be as healthy as we can we need to think, not only about actual training, but also how we look after our bodies overall, and sickness is in an indication that our body isn’t currently running at 100%, meaning taking time to look after it rather than trying to push through may actually be something to consider.

A Fitness Blog – Where’s the Exercise Posts?

This is a fitness blog and I’m a PT and group exercise instructor so my main job is very much training focused / related. Yet this blog and a vast majority of the online coaching I do is very much nutrition and mindset based.

Here’s why.

You know when you think about getting fit you think the actual exercises you do, how many reps, training splits, the amount of weight lifted, the ratio or cardio to strength training – all that jazz – is going to be the most important part of getting results? Well, it’s not that it isn’t important it’s just not as important as you think it is.

If you are already very fit and active and you want to improve in one specific area or you have a very specific goal to train for then the details of your training will matter much more, if you want to work on doing a pull up, doing legs every day won’t help much.

If you’re starting to get more active, want to drop weight, improve your health, feel better in yourself, then the actual specifics of what you do are going to be more based what you enjoy and what you feel comfortable doing right now. In my mind, what’s the point of trying to force people to do an ‘ideal’ training plan if they hate it, are too nervous to go into that area of the gym yet, haven’t quite got to grips with the movement patterns? Would some modified moves and a more simplified program that helps them gain confidence be a better starting point? of course. If someone prefers classes or using resistance machines over free weights and incorporating those things mean they train then why wouldn’t we incorporate them?

If you’re meant to do a legs session, a push session and a pull session a week and one day you really cannot face doing legs but you’d be up for a second push session then, you know what, the world won’t end and you won’t end up some weird uneven specimen for it.

Basically training has so many benefits and it’s an important element of our fitness and health but it doesn’t need to be over thought or cause dramatic stress. Whilst I think it’s useful to encourage people to do it via blogs, detail adds only so much value.

Secondly with training most people is simple. If it’s a live PT you do what the PT says (with various levels of moaning), away from sessions when given a training plan (or if it’s online training) people tend to follow the plan as given. You say do squats, they’ll squat.

Nutrition advice, not so much. For the majority of us, food is so much more emotive. Whilst training certainly acts as an anchor and stress reliever for many it doesn’t tend to have the same emotional pull as food does. So when you say to someone here’s a training plan it’s generally not questioned. Talking about calorie deficits, not needing to cut out food groups, the importance of actually eating carbs, why it’s ok to have chocolate, why ‘clean foods’ don’t really exist. These are concepts so intricately engrained into our culture that push back is much more likely with the nutrition side of things.

Same with mindset, even if someone accepts what you say about food or say the importance of resting when injured rather than pushing through, it’s much harder to act on it and go against ingrained instincts.

So it’s not that training is easy to do or not important, it’s that once you get started doing something – anything – it’s often the most straightforward unemotive part of health and fitness. You soon start to see benefits beyond the physical and form habits. It’s that diet and motivation and mindset around health is a much more challenging area for the majority of people, whether that be people new to fitness or very experience people (PTs have to convince people not to train some days a lot more than you might think).

For this reason the topics I choose to write about are often diet and mindset based because they are the areas where I think people often need reminders and support and clear information to help make informed decision with regards to their fitness. When I do write about training I try to keep it to posts that will be useful to people, what to expect from classes, at the gym, what to pack in a gym bag and so on – practical things that might help someone train, because if they’re already training and don’t want to pay for a PT or coach they’re probably happy enough with what they’re doing and I’m not sure how useful a bunch of generic training sessions would be.

Don’t be a Fitness Jack of All Trades

If you follow a lot of fitness type accounts on Instagram / Facebook and scroll at any one time you’ll see posts telling you to eat clean, eat intuitively, eat in moderation, have that chocolate, fast, cut out carbs, eat a high protein diet, count calories, don’t count calories, train hard, train in a way you enjoy, only do classes, never do classes, do CrossFit, don’t do CrossFit, lift heavy, lift for reps, run, walk as the absolute key to reaching your goals. You’ll be encouraged to love your body as it is, lose weight, gain muscle, work on your butt, train for a PB, train for fun, never skip a Monday, not over train. You’ll see posts telling you to reach out to someone if you need support alongside positive vibe only quotes.

My point is that there are so many, often contradictory messages out there. That can make knowing what your goal is and how to get there confusing. It can make knowing when to push and when to rest hard. It can make dealing with your own mental health effectively difficult.

Let’s take exercise intensity as an example. Messages about there being no such thing as a bad workout and the sessions you really don’t want to do being the ones you should do are potentially useful for someone who is struggling to motivate themselves to train, hasn’t trained for a while and needs a bit of accountability. Yet if you are someone who trains religiously every day (or more than once a day), ae showing signs of injury and fatigue and really should dial back your training to avoid burnout, those same messages are not useful. For those people an exercise philosophy that encourages listening to your body and resting when you feel you need to works better. Of course if you flip it that message wouldn’t be useful to someone who often tells themselves excuses not to train as it won’t get them moving.

Of course your social media viewing is largely a prism of your own ideology- we choose who we follow but still not every post you see will be applicable to you, that can make knowing how to approach your fitness difficult. That’s where bringing in a fitness professional can be beneficial.

Most PTs have their preferred methods- things they believe will work best in terms of training and nutrition, however they will also have the knowledge to adapt plans to work for you. That means what your PT prescribes for you won’t be the same as every other client they have, because we are all different and what motivates you effectively won’t motivate every other person to the same level.

Social media is a great tool for ideas and inspiration but as much as we often hear about being careful not to fall into the comparison trap, also remember to not fall into the trap of trying to do every single thing in a quest for the ultimate level of fitness. The most successful people at most things are not successful at everything – they specialise, and in the same way the most effective way for you to get results is to focus on they key things that will most benefit you.

DOMS V Fatigue

One of the hardest things for a regular gym goer can be knowing the difference between DOMs and fatigue.

Most of us are aware of the concept of over training, but in reality most of us don’t really hit genuine over training territory, we can however reach the point of real fatigue, which could unchecked put us at risk of overtraining.

The key is knowing the difference between your body feeling DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) which can be a normal sign that you have pushed your body harder than normal in a particular training session or accross a particular week, but which should go within a day or two, being tired (which could be because of lack of rest/sleep) and actual fatigue.

Fatigue is more than being tired, it can manifest itself in a variety of ways that go beyond just feeling a bit kanckered, including; difficulty concentrating, having less stamia than normal, difficulty sleeping or sleep not making you feel any better, anxiety, lacking motivation and feeling less enjoyment from things you normally like to do. These symptoms also normally last for longer than those of pure tiredness and can feel more intense making everything feel harder not just your training.

From experience I would say that fatigue can also make your body feel sore, giving you almost DOMS like symptoms, which can sometimes lead us to thinking we have DOMS which we can just push past when in fact our bodies are probably fatigued and need a real break.

Normally, and as long as you act quickly enough a few days down time (mentally as well as physically) will often get you back to feeling ok again.

So the key is recognising in yourself when you are tired because you’ve worked hard and when you are geninely fatigued and at the point of needing a rest.

For me, the key give away if enjoyment. I don’t mind DOMS normally as they normally occur when my training is going well. When I start to feel frustrated in sessions or start making excuse not to train and everything hurts I know the time has come to take a few days off and regroup.

The key here is learning to listen to your body as we all react in different ways and recognise and react to your own body. Overtime you may see patterns which you can then work around to ensure you don’t reach the point of fatigue.

The most important thing to remember is no matter how much you like training sometimes you need to rest.

Things I’ve Learnt – Re-Blog

I wrote this six months ago- all still remarkably true and relevant.

You aren’t perfect.

I think I’m like most people in that when I start something new I want to be 100% perfect or I feel like I’ve failed and need to start again. But it’s impossible to never have slip ups on a long term plan. Getting out of the cycle of deciding a whole week was a write off become of a bad day or bad meal was one of the biggest factors to starting to see results.

Day 30 (or 60 or 100 or 200) is harder than day 1.

People always talk about Day 1- and in some ways Day 1 is tough, it’s the starting something new, the first step in making changes. But by the same token, Day 1 is exciting – it’s the start of something new, when you feel all positive and hopeful. Sticking to something once the novelty wear off or once results start to slow is the real challenge.

Consistency and steady progress is boring.

Everyone loves a Facebook status or Instagram post where they can show their before and after pictures demonstrating dramatic results. Realistically though long lasting changes take time and progress isn’t always immediately apparent.

The loudest people in the gym often don’t have a clue.

When I started venturing into the free weight section alone I used to feel so inferior. All these people claiming space and equipment and confidently broadcasting their strengths and opinions on how things should be done. I tend to assume that if someone is loud and forward with their opinion they must know their shit- and yeah, some do. Get comfortable in the environment and take time to look and you will see however that many do not! Go in, do your own thing with confidence and don’t worry about what anyone else is doing in terms of training or weights.

You need to eat more.

I used to try and keep my calorie intake low – the bigger the calorie deficit the better. Really, this makes you tired, makes training harder and will eventually stop you getting results. Stick to a sensible calorie deficit and results will come and will be easier to maintain.

There is no such thing as an ideal diet.

And by ideal I mean those diets you see advertised in magazines- ‘Eat all the cake and still lose weight’ ‘Drink all the Gin and still lose weight’. We would all like that magic diet which would allow us to eat as much of our favourite foods as often as we like and still loose 10lbs per week. Essentially, though, if you look at them, all these diets still involve some form of restriction – eat low calorie meals through the day and allow yourself cake everyday in moderation (i.e. a small slice). You therefore have to accept that you can eat what you want within reason but if you also want to stay within a calorie allowance and hit your Macros you will need to balance that out with sensible options for other meals. I have 4 pretty strict days to allow me the freedom to have 3 pretty relaxed days and stay within my goals. That means for 4 days a week I sometimes have to say no to things I want in return for that relaxed weekend.

Some days will be shit.

Not all training sessions will be fun, not all will bring PBs, sometimes you will feel like you have made no progress. If every session was a great session they would just be your normal sessions. Accept that even a tough session will bring benefits to you and don’t sweat it.

Rest is important

When you start it feels like you will get more results if you keep on going and do as much as you can. Rest allows your body to recover and prevents over training though and in the long term will improve your results.

You can’t do everything.

It’s tempting to try and master as many things as possible. Realistically though unless you are naturally talented at something the chances are you will need to devote time to things to master them. Therefore trying to win a Strongman competition whilst also training for a marathon is probably not going to work. Pick your thing and focus on that. I wanted to run a second marathon but with teaching classes around my full time job I had to accept that finding time to fit the training in would not be possible and as I didn’t want to take a break from teaching I put that aim on the back burner.

Weight is a bad indicator of progress.

Muscle weighs more than fat, your body is full of water blah blah blah. At first you may be able to monitor your weight- eventually you will need to go off clothes size or pictures if you don’t want to feel completely demotivated.

Things I’ve learnt over the last 18 months

You aren’t perfect.

Day 30 (or 60 or 100 or 200) is harder than day 1.

Consistency and steady progress is boring.

The loudest people in the gym often don’t have a clue.

You need to eat more.

There is no such thing as an ideal diet.

Some days will be shit.

Rest is important

When you start it feels like you will get more results if you keep on going and do as much as you can. Rest allows your body to recover and prevents overtraining though and in the long term will improve your results.

You can’t do everything.

Weight is a bad indicator of progress.

What is and isn’t Role Model for a Fitness Professional / Brand

As a fitness instructor or PT, how does your own lifestyle and physique matter?

In recent months I have seen so many Facebook posts debating this issue in a variety of ways and from a wide range of perspectives:

From an individual instructors point of view does it matter if you are, in less than perfect condition? What does out of shape even mean? What is too big or not fit enough? Can you go the opposite way and be intimidating or make people feel bad because of your physique or fitness? Is your lifestyle role model material and how do you balance your own real life situations with clients expectations of you? Does any of that even matter or should people just mind their own business?
For Fitness brands – How should you select people to represent your brand? Should everyone look the same or should diversity matter? If diversity matters should that trump their ability to do the job? Are there some shapes that should not be represented no matter what public opinion says because they do not fit your brand or what you want to represent (perhaps you view them as unhealthy)?

For myself I have been overweight, I have been very skinny and am now less skinny, more lean. I’m not the strongest person in the world but could be described as reasonably strong. I’m definitely a work in progress.

I have had a lot of positive feedback from members over the last year as they have seen my body become leaner and more muscular / defined. I work in a gym where there are already instructors with very good physiques (far better than mine) who definitely inspire a lot of members. Equally however for many (particularly females) seeing my shape change has created a dialogue about how I’ve done it and hopefully created a positive message that progress takes time and patience and doesn’t just happen overnight. So for me for every member / client who wants their instructor to look like a Greek God there will be others who find more motivation from somebody who seems to be working on their own fitness at the same time. Likewise, I think people generally appreciate that instructors have real life problems too and perhaps they have been injured or ill and are coming back from that and may not be in their peak shape – that in itself can provide motivation and inspiration to people.

Physically therefore I think fitness instructors can be positive role models regardless of physique. Here I think the most important element is how we promote health and fitness. I tend to be about balance – we want to eat well and exercise to feel good and give us energy but we have to allow ourselves room to live too, and unless we are training for a very time specific goal 80/20 is a good rule to live by. How should you find that balance? For me there isn’t a right or wrong answer- what works for me may not for someone else. If we promote sensible healthy habits and show that we live by these rules I think we are decent role models – why pretend we never let a cake or glass of wine pass our lips and provide people with unrealistic expectations for themselves, which just set them up for failure. If we preach moderation but then over train ourselves or say you should eat everything in moderation but dangerously restrict our own calorie intake i don’t think that is great role modeling.

I think for fitness brands this issue is far more complex but the importance of presenting positive role models becomes even more important as these people will have greater exposure than your average fitness instructor.

These brands are businesses so how they select the people who will represent it naturally will depend on and reflect their values. For some people diversity seems to be the key – customers want to see a mixture of ages, sizes, backgrounds to make a brand feel inclusive- they want to feel represented. I tend to lean more to the school of thought that people should be selected because they are the best people for that job – not because they tick a box on an equality drive. Yes sometimes this means that some groups are under represented but this highlights the issue of why some groups are more or less likely to succeed in certain roles (e.g. why there tends to be fewer women on boards in business etc.) . Of course if people who are perfectly good for a role are overlooked because they are deemed too old, not skinny enough not attractive enough this would lead me to question that brands values.

It’s actually a more important marketing point than the mere morals of employment law however. If you area large brand with a big following the type of people you choose to represent you say something about your beliefs. Can you truly promote inclusivity and everyone being welcome in your world / sphere of the fitness arena if everyone who represents you is a size 8 and under 30? Do these people provide motivation – an inspirational image of what can be achieved? Or does it suggest to customers who are older or larger that they are inferior / do not fit in?

I appreciate this is difficult because if you are good enough to represent a big brand you are possibly at the top of your game – if you are at the top of your game are you therefore likely to be a certain age and size? Or does this train of reasoning exclude the fact that peak fitness isn’t limited to one size / shape / level and therefore there should be more diversity to show a variety of people a variety of ways they could work towards their fitness goals?

Finally, there is one particularly sensitive subject – regarding those people who are very very slim. I say this is sensitive as, the way I see it, there are different reasons someone could look very skinny. Some people are naturally very slight- they can try all sorts and struggle to put on weight- should these people be prevented to rising to the top of their fields any more than someone who naturally carries weight and find it hard to lose it? Some people this size however, will be small because they restrict their calorie intake in a way that is not healthy to promote. Is it responsible of a brand to allow these people to be presented to potentially susceptible customers as role models? How does one distinguish between the two? How do you stop the audience from trying to aspire to a physique that may only be attainable to them through starvation even if the person in question is just naturally built like this (it’s a similar debate to that of the Supermodel one which has been ongoing for years)?

On the same token, is it therefore also irresponsible to promote people as role models if they are overweight? Does this equally imply that this is a healthy aspiration? Is this balance between not wanting to encourage people to be stick thin or overweight the reason that for some brands everyone ends up looking the same? Is it possible to strike a balance?

To be honest whilst I know where I stand on individuals instructors being positive role models for their clients / members I’m not sure which side of the fence I sit for brands. I am torn between wanting more diversity in who is represented within the industry but also against a drive for diversity topping all other aims within fitness.

I do think that in an industry that is largely focused on aesthetics this type of debate is unlikely to ever be settled.

No Jazzy Title, Just an Honest One Today

I’ve struggled to train recently. I’ve also struggled to hit a calorie deficit in the last few weeks, having some really good days food wise and then some days where I’m dramatically overeating all the wrong stuff. This has coincided with not feeling 100% myself.

I don’t know why – nothing has happened to make me feel down and there hasn’t been any reason for my training or food intake to be affected. Often I find the two go hand in hand though – so if my training or diet isn’t great I will feel a bit low and when I feel a bit low I’ll eat my bodyweight in chocolate and train less.

I’ve realised that I, like most people I imagine, get myself caught in self – destructive cycles where if one thing isn’t perfect it feels like nothing is right, and in turn I let myself sabotage other areas of my life. I get a downer on myself where I feel like everything I do is substandard. The last few weeks I’ve questioned myself on so many things that to others may seem ridiculous and been upset about things I should have brushed off.

One thing I’m getting better at though is recognising this in myself, because this is when you can step back, get some perspective and draw a line.

Realistically I’ve still trained 2-3 times every week for the past few weeks, as well as teaching and running a half marathon – so I’ve not really been lazy.
I’ve finished the last two weeks in a calorie surplus which isn’t great, but I’ve hit my protein goals and I’m not overweight so I’ve not done any lasting damage.
I’ve been a bit down but I know I’ve had some stressful situations to deal with plus been poorly so this isn’t the start of something terrible, I’ve just let myself get a bit stressed.

What I’ve started to try and do when this happens is train – no pressure- just go to the gym and do something (and enjoy it) and then eat nice but fresh food that isn’t processed and sugar filled. Normally I’ll start to feel more positive quickly just from this little system.

Three points from this:

A week or so ago was Mental Health Week and there were lots of great posts- but people struggle all year round so don’t be afraid to speak up at other times if you feel like everything is getting to be just a bit much.
Sometimes depression doesn’t affect you all in. Sometimes you are perfectly fine and functioning just not feeling 100%. This doesn’t mean it’s any less important to recognise and deal with it – and being aware of how you feel and how you can improve your mood can sometimes help you catch yourself.
For me – physical wellness and mental wellness are closely linked. Small habits make a big difference to my mind-set.