Host Amelia Phillips answers our listener questions with simple hacks and products she loves. Today she answers questions on how to get back into exercise after a break, the best affordable and fun fitness options, and what to do if you’re struggling with motivation to be healthy.
Below is an unedited transcript of the podcast episode:
Welcome to another. Ask Me Anything episode. Gosh, I love getting questions from you, my lovely listeners, over DM more sometimes email. Please keep them coming. Ask me anything from topics on nutrition, exercise, parenting, career. I love to know what’s top of mind for you at the moment. And of course, if I don’t have the answer, I’ll dig around and find someone who.
Now I’m particularly excited because my show is now featured in Apple’s Top Parenting Family shows. Thanks to you listeners for following and subscribing and downloading my show, so please continue to do that. If you give me a star rating, ideally five stars would be great. My show will then get even more love from Apple and from Spotify as well.
So you just simply go to the show view, scroll down, tap the stars, and leave. Review. I will be forever grateful. So let’s get into our questions today. Our first one is from the lovely Kylie Anderson. Hi Amelia, can you give me some tips on getting active after a winter’s break? I’ve literally done nothing since last summer.
Thanks for your honesty, and I’m sure there’s lots of listeners that are feeling exactly the same. Kylie. So look, it’s really common to have a break in winter time. I mean, let’s think about it. You’ve got less daylight hours. It’s colder weather outside, and even the fact that we’re just wearing layers means we’re not as body conscious.
Some of the lesser known reasons as well are things like our CIAD rhythms. Winter has a real impact on these natural hormonal rhythms that we have. We have a drop in our serotonin levels, which are our feelgood hormones. A melatonin levels and vitamin D intake via sunlight tend to drop as well. And so all of these lead to this body transitioning into a, almost like a sluggish state.
I mean, think of it a little bit like a mild metabolic version of hibernation. We’re basically little hibernating bears in. And actually extreme cases of this can be known as sad disorder or seasonal effective disorder, which can actually affect our mental health. And I think it impacts something like one in 300 Aussies, which I imagine that number may even be higher now.
So people really do underestimate the impact on our waistlines in winter, due to all these reasons. And obviously less exercise means fewer calories burnt, more hardy mood boosting rich winter foods. See how calorie intake go up. So no wonder. So anyway, what are we gonna do about all of this, Kylie? So number one, I would say do not overthink it.
Don’t go on some big programming plan, especially if you’ve been putting it off for a while. Literally, just get your shoes on. Just get out the door. Just get moving that lo of inertia to keep you moving. Once you start, the next steps easier and easier and easier. So let’s just do something after you listen to this.
Just get your shoes on and just go pound the pavement for 20. The other tip I’d have is to make it convenient and comfortable. So convenient means it’s not an effort to get there. There’s some research that says a 12 minute radius, meaning you’ve gotta either walk less than 12 minutes to get to your workout, or you gotta drive less than 12 minutes.
So make sure it’s close to home and work. Make sure you have a wet weather alternative, a clear wet weather alternative. So if you hear the raindrops when the alarm goes off, you have a really clear excuse to do something. And when I mean comfortable, I mean, there needs to be some kind of perk attached to your workout.
So maybe it’s meeting with a friend to train together and it’s seeing your gorgeous, smiling friend. That’s the perk. Maybe it’s witnessing a beautiful sunrise and you’re walking or running somewhere. Beautiful. Maybe it’s beating the traffic and you’re going to go into work really early and train at the gym near your workplace so you can get dressed in the quietness of the gym rather than having your kids all around you.
Maybe it’s near a cafe that serves the world’s best coffee, so you can enjoy that favorite coffee afterwards or sitting in a cafe quietly having a bray to yourself if you so you can afford it. So find an upside that you can attach to the workout as well. That comfort. Another tip I have is a 10% rule, so don’t be hero.
Go hard up front, injure yourself or be too sore to exercise. Just think about increasing your time and intensity by about 10% per week, and that avoids injury and burnout. Another tip I have is look at private and small groups if you are lucky, motivation, because these are a great option to have a trainer to meet you or a small group of people that you become familiar with, especially if you’re a social butterfly.
And the smaller groups can be quite cost effective as. All right. Next question. Holly Patrell, I’d love your thoughts on fitness options that won’t break the bank. Gym memberships can be so expensive and limited. What else is out there? Oh, I agree with you and the great news is, Holly, there’s lots of cost effective alternatives out there.
Apple Fitness Plus is this new platform by Apple. It’s probably been around for a bit over a year now. It used to only work if you had an Apple Watch, but they’re about to unlock it so that anyone that has either an Apple TV or a laptop. That has basically an Apple profile. We’ll be able to use it. The membership is super affordable.
There’s a whole bunch of workouts from pregnancy to yoga, Pilates, treadmill, roa, high intensity interval training, and they release lots of workouts weekly. They have different intensity levels. They have different times. They even have meditation. I love the yoga and meditation. So that’s a really great option and you can do it on the fly cuz you can watch it on your phone or you could do it in your TV room.
So it’s nice and flexible as well. So look that one up. Another great cost effective one is the park run. So these are these Saturday morning, I think it’s usually around 8:00 AM five kilometer walk or runs and there’s hundreds of them all over the country. So just Google Park run in my area and they’re really motivating and in fact my sister and I love to, whenever we go on holidays together, we’ll find one in that area and go and do it on a Saturday morning.
And you can take the pram, you can take the dog, you can take your kids as well, and it’s free. Another option is your local Y M C A or your local Y. Now, why is our awesome? So many of them have gyms and they have community fitness programs as well. They’re really cost effective and it’s got that great community spirit.
So look, Don’t discount group personal training with friends, because once you divide the cost between you and all your friends, often that can be quite cost effective and you’re getting that personalized service. You’re getting some programming. If you’ve got some injuries or some conditions that might need to be managed, then you’ve got a qualified trainer to help you along.
And then finally, you’ve got YouTube Fitness all free. And you know, I hate YouTube, but if there is one good thing that comes out of YouTube, there’s some great free workout. I would search Matt Pilates. I would search home, hit as in H I I T, high intensity interval training workouts, and then the Holy Grail, which is low impact, high intensity workouts.
So these will be the ones that are gentle on your joints, but not so gentle on your heart. Give those a try.
All right. We have Mickey Wang. What can you do if you’re struggling to find motivation? I feel so sluggish. I’ve lost fitness and the motivation to get active. Help . Hi Mickey. Well, hopefully I can give you a few little tips here, but it’s a very common issue. We have motivation, and I remember in 12 W B T, we always used to say that motivation is like a bad boyfriend.
He’s never there when you need him the most. . So a tip I’d have for you is what is your why? So this is a great question to ask yourself when the internal negotiations begin, whether it’s about having that slice of cake that you promised you wouldn’t have, or whether it’s about skipping that workout that you promised you were gonna do.
What role model do you wanna be for your kids? And I always remember this amazing member we had at 12 W B T, who was told by her doctor that if she continued the way she was, she would not be around for his 21st birthday. So she used to tie a Thomas the Tank Engine Bandana. That was one of his favorite shows.
She used to tie Thomas the Tank engine bandana around her arm when she. As a reminder of her big why, why she was doing this. And also a great thing to ask yourself is what’s the alternative? Not training, not eating well, skipping a whole year of being unhealthy. How is that gonna serve us in the long term?
The alternative to a lazy winter is an even bigger uphill of health to climb come spring. Think of a few 60, 70, or 80 year olds that you know that you really respect. Do you wanna be the person who respected their body and their health, or that other guy? You know, there is no alternative. We’ve got this one body, we’ve got this amazing full life to live, so we’ve just gotta get up and get it.
So another tip Mickey I have is to make it fun and to my earlier comments to Kylie up above, you know, have some perks in your workouts as well, whether it’s with other people or whether it’s going somewhere beautiful. Pick workouts you enjoy and find those elements to enjoy. If you love food and cooking, find a healthier style of food and cooking that you can enjoy.
Another tip I have is to commit to an exact number of workouts each. And really commit no exceptions, even if it’s two to three workouts a week to start with, diarize it. And that means that if you wake up and you wanna skip a workout midweek, you have to make it up. Cause then you’re laying there and you’re thinking to yourself, Well I can even just get up and get it done.
Or it means Saturday morning, I miss my sleep in on, I’m gonna have to do it then. So really make that commitment to. Another tip I have is to pay up front, join an exercise group or a gym, and pay up front, make that financial commitment. Honestly, it really does. Change your mindset if you’re like, Okay, I’m paying for this, but just do be warn that it also doesn’t work.
And there has been many a person that’s paid $800 for one gym session. final tip I have for you is to set some really short term but achievable performance goals with your workouts. So for example, Let’s say your goal is to be able to hold a plank for two minutes, because I can assure you, Mickey, that if you started this today, at least in a month, if you’re doing this plank, two minutes, three times a week in a month, you’ll be able to hold it for two minutes or prove me wrong, but I believe in you, Mickey.
I think you can. So for example, you might say, Okay, right now I hold a plank and I hold it for 20 seconds. So I’m gonna go hold it for 20 seconds. I’m gonna have a rest for 10 seconds. I’m gonna hold it for my second 20 seconds. Okay? I’ve accumulated 40 seconds and I’ll just keep doing that till I get up to two minutes.
Eventually, I won’t need those little ten second breaks in between. Maybe it’s to dance for a whole song without stopping. Maybe it’s to run two lamp posts further than you did last week, and then the week after that you run two lamp posts beyond that. So pick those physical or performance based goals that you can nail on a regular basis, and it really motivates you.
It motivates you to try a little bit harder at those times in your workouts, and then it motivates you because you can see real results coming. All right guys. That’s it for Ask Me Anything for this week. I’ll see you back in the booth soon.
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