Anyone who has left the house lately will have noticed that Christmas is well & truly on its way.  Parking spaces have become rare & precious, to-do lists have quadrupled and most people have mysteriously lost the ability to walk (or drive) in a safe and logical manner.  Basically, we’ve all gone mad as the pre-Christmas pressure builds.

I am one of the lucky handful who love this chaos.  I’ve never been a fan of routine, so I’m in my element running from supermarket to work to christmas party and beyond.  But I realise that this is the time of year that pushes others to their limit.  So what can we do about it?

1. Create mini-moments of calm

Don’t wait for someone to offer you a cup of tea and an hour to yourself.  Make it happen.  Does it really matter if you don’t go to your book club end of year party?  Probably not.  Commit to the events that matter most and put yourself first the rest of the time.  Even 10 minutes reading your book in the car before you collect the kids is enough to recharge your batteries.

2. Should I?

I’m not a fan of ‘should’.  It implies obligation.  An obligation that generally only exists in our mind.  I should bake gifts for the neighbours.  I should write a newsy Christmas letter for all of our relatives.  I should host a party.  I should buy better gifts for the kids.  I shouldn’t buy myself those shoes.  I should plan what we’ll do on our holiday….  Enough!  Who says you should?  There are some things in life that we need to do, and some things that aren’t important.  Let people help you and let some tasks remain undone.  No-one will even notice.

3. Feed the machine

It’s true…. we are what we eat.  So fill up on a balanced diet of whole foods and feel the difference.  Fresh veges, lean meats, nuts and plenty of water.  Refer back to some of your favourite recipes from Spring to help you to eat well and feel fabulous.

If you’re eating out a lot, make the best choices that you can.  Choose fresh dishes full of veges off the menu and take a plate with you when you’re eating at a friends house.  Healthy can still be tasty.

4. Fill the bucket

A friend of mine is forever telling me, and anyone else who’ll listen, that you can’t give from an empty bucket.  When you’re stressed, exhausted and about to hit the wall, you have absolutely nothing to offer your friends and family.  You need to stop for as long as it takes and look after Number 1.  A coffee in the park, a massage, meditation, a movie, a walk.  It doesn’t need to cost a cent and it doesn’t need to take more than 10 minutes, but it is essential if you want to return to your a-game.

5. Move your mood

I saved the best tip for last – Move!  Everyday, for at least 30 minutes.  Walk, run, cycle, swim, do tricep dips on your dining table, push-ups on the lounge floor, dance, dive, surf…. it doesn’t matter what you do, just do it.  A little exercise everyday makes the chaos seem controllable.  It might mean getting up early or arriving late, but it’s the best way you can invest your time.

Be safe, happy & healthy

On that note, we’d like to wish you a safe, happy & healthy festive season.  Enjoy your time with family and friends and remember to appreciate all of the good moments.  They’re there if you look for them.

We’re taking a few weeks off blog-writing.  A little break is needed, so we can hit the ground running in 2013.  We hope that you’ll be there with us, ready to enjoy the fun and fulfilling year ahead.

Why is it that being fit and healthy has to be taken so seriously?  Why do people view training as a chore, instead of a hobby?  To be honest, I think personal trainers need to take the blame for this.  Especially TV trainers.  Barking orders, refusing to accept excuses, yelling loud & often…. I find watching Jamie Oliver smile and chat while he cooks up a storm far more inspiring.

So let’s make a change.  We don’t need to train like Olympians and live on protein and salad.  We don’t need juice detoxes or boot camps.  We just need to find new ways to be healthy-ish and have fun while we’re at it.

Here are some ideas on how to inject some fun into your food & fitness:

1. Freaky Fruit Friday: Each Friday, try a fruit you’ve never eaten before.  This is even better if you have kids.  I dare you to feed them durian.
2. Buddy up: It’s an oldie, but a goodie.  Training with a friend is so much more fun, even if it’s only once or twice a week.
3. Mystery box: Ask your partner/kids/friends to cook for you, but you choose the (healthy) ingredients.  This also works the other way around, in case you don’t trust their cooking ability….
4. Get social: A game of netball, touch, frisbee…. something that doesn’t feel like the usual grind.
5. Hide & seek, find & eat:  This is great for binge eaters.  Eat one tim tam, or whatever your vice is, then ask someone who lives with you to hide the packet.  You can’t have another one until you find them.
6. Games vs drinks: Are you tired of the same old sedate drinks & snacks? Especially in the lead up to Christmas.  If you’re hosting an event, why not switch it to a games day?  Twister, tag, leap frog, egg & spoon, sack races, 3-legged races – the list goes on.

We need to wash this feast of fun down with a little dose of reality.  Want to look like Michelle Bridges?  You need to prioritise training over anything and everything, consistently eat a clean diet, restrict yourself at every social event, only occasionally sip a glass of red and keep this up for life…. sound like fun?  Maybe not.  So why not do the best that your lifestyle and commitments allow, have fun with your food and fitness and appreciate all that your body does for you.  You’re far more than just a reflection in the mirror.

How well do you know the voice in your head?  The one that pipes up as soon as training gets tough and tells you “it’s OK, you’ve done enough, you can stop now”, when you’re perfectly capable of pushing through.  Or the one that says “I…. can’t….. do…. this” again and again.

We all trip ourselves up.  As a personal trainer, I came across countless people who planned to “start personal training soon, but want to get fitter first”.  From the outside it’s clear that they’ll get fitter, faster if they just get on with it.  But their ego stops them.  They don’t want the trainer to think they’re unfit.

The other day I was riding up a ridiculous hill (let’s call it a mountain, it felt like one).  It was the hardest ride I’d done in months and before I knew it I was almost hyperventilating and telling myself that I can’t ride big climbs anymore.  I was working out the easiest way to get back to the car without climbing (there was no option). I was getting grumpy and resenting my bike.

You know what we all need to do?  Get out of the way!!  Step aside and let ourselves achieve.  Turn that voice around and ask it for support. Life is lived outside of our comfort zone, so we need to spend more time there.

When I was struggling up the mountain on my bike, I recognised that my voice was being ridiculous.  I realised that I needed to start by getting my breathing under control, and then just keep turning the pedals.  About a year ago I did a swimming event that pushed me further from my comfort zone that I thought was possible, and I loved it.  I was completely surprised that I was doing well and enjoying myself.  Even the voice in my head was surprised – it started to support me instead of holding me back.  Who knew that was possible?  Now, whenever a physical challenge really pushes me, I can draw on that experience and find a way to get through.

We all have lessons we can draw on.  We’ve all done something well in the past, but for some reason we tend to block it out and focus on the failures.  I’m no psychologist, but I can see that this doesn’t help us.  The next time you want to do something – wether it’s finishing the run that you started 10 minutes ago or completing a marathon…. do it.  Back yourself.  Get out of your comfort zone and live a little.  And if the voice says you can’t?

Prove it wrong.

“The consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it.” - Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

“A large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.” - George Burns

“When what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” - Mahatma Gandhi

My quote search didn’t help to answer the question at all… So what is happiness? What does it take for us to enjoy ourselves?  We’ve been told that money isn’t the answer, but we haven’t been offered many alternatives.  Which led me to contemplate my own happiness and back it up with some research.  Here goes….

If I had to say what makes me happy, my immediate response would be France.  I’m lucky enough to spend a month each year working all over France, and I love it! But what if I couldn’t go to France, could I still be happy?  I think so.  So here are some of the other things in my life that make me happy…..

Friends

Having meaningful relationships with people around me can always make me smile.  Wether it’s my clown of a husband making me laugh, unexpectedly bumping into a friend, a fat chat with my sister (who lives too far away) or a night out as a group, it makes me happy.  Meaningful conversations make us human.

Purpose

I’m one of those lucky people who really enjoys my work.  Constantly striving to create something bigger and better excites me.  Helping others while I’m at it makes it all feel worthwhile.  The ability to direct my work where I want to go is fantastic.  Getting paid for doing something I truly enjoy is an added bonus.

Mini-moments

Watering my veges, coffee at the beach, having the time to walk to the supermarket, cooking up a storm, training with friends, seeing photos of my nephews, reading the Sunday paper…. there are so many mini-moments each week that make me smile. We just need to remember to appreciate them.

According to the experts

Dr Happy should know a thing or two about what makes us tick.  So I read his list of 20 simple tips to be happy now.  It turns out that we need to make happiness a priority, plan for it and do things that make us happy.  This sounds a little obvious, but it’s worth stopping to think about.  We often get caught up doing things that ‘should’ get done and forget to do the things that we truly enjoy.  Could you add 10-minutes reading a book in the park to your day? Or make sure you catch up with a friend who makes you laugh each week?

I also came across some fresh research out of New Zealand.  The research into what makes us tick found that face-to-face interactions make us happy and facebook doesn’t.  Out of 30 surveyed activities, the top 5 activities that make us happy are:

1. Sex/making love
2. Partying
3. Care-giving/volunteering
4. Meditating/religious activities
5. Childcare/playing with children

And our 5 least enjoyable activies are:

1. Lectures/class/lab
2. Paid work
3. Commuting/travelling
4. Internet/on computer
5. Washing/grooming/dressing

It’s worth keeping in mind that a lot of students were included in the sample, which is clear from the responses.  But hey, weren’t most of us pretty happy when we were students? You can read the full article here.

I’ve realised over time that the toughest moments in life are there to make all of the other moments shine a little brighter.  The hard times, wether it was a hard day or a hard year, have all served their purpose.  I reflect on them, then tuck them away so they can’t drive me crazy.

The same applies to the best moments in life – we need to appreciate the brief moments of happiness as well as the big adventures.  And above all else, we need to be.  Stop comparing ourselves to others, stop dwelling on the past, stop worrying about the future… and just enjoy being right here, right now.

Following on from Monday, here are some more tips to keep your mind and body healthy, no matter how many hours you’re at work this week.  Remember, they only work if you actually do them.  So pick the tips that you need the most and fit them into your day.  Good luck!

1. Take mini breaks Sitting in the same position all day long limits circulation, leading to tingling in your fingers and toes as well as swelling in your feet.  Also, when you sit for a long period of time, your spine remains in a state of compression. Small breaks will help to decompress your spine and boost circulation. Stepping away from your desk, even for a short period of time, will also reduce mental stress. Taking a small break can be taking a walk to chat to a colleague instead of calling, going for a coffee or water, walking up a flight of stairs, stretching or simply moving your body.
2. Stretch your muscles: Every desk-bound body that I train has a tight back, neck, chest and shoulders.  Make sure you don’t become another statistic by stretching often.  There are a few stretch recommendations at the bottom of this post.
3. Lunch breaks – not just for lunch: Walk to a nearby cafe, walk for half of your lunch break, go for a swim, go to a nearby gym… the bottom line is to move as much as possible! You will be amazed by the power of exercise. It reduces physical and emotional stress, gives you a feeling of accomplishment, keeps your body healthy, is a great way to stay in shape and has been proven again and again to make you more productive at work in the afternoon.
4. Fuel your body: Drink. And I don’t mean after work on a Friday. Dehydration can make you tired and sluggish. Eat small meals throughout the day to fuel your body properly. Think of your body as if it were a campfire. If you put too much wood (food) on the fire at once, the fire will get smothered and burn out. If you forget to put wood on the fire, it will die out.  However, if you add small amounts of wood all day long to the fire, it will continue to burn. This is just like your metabolism. If you do not continually fuel it (every 3-4 hours), it will burn out. Overall, you will feel more energetic and you will not be hungry.

Stretch recommendations

Neck and Shoulders:

• Sitting or standing, hang your arms at your sides.
• Tilt your head sideways to one shoulder.
• Put slight pressure on your head by pushing down with your hand (If your head is tilted to right shoulder, use right hand).
• Leave your opposite arm hanging to the floor.
• Hold for 15 seconds.
• Repeat on the other side.

Back and Shoulders:

• Standing or sitting, reach one arm over your head.
• With the opposite arm, reach toward the floor.
• Hold for 15 seconds.
• Repeat on the opposite side.

Back:

• Standing or sitting, place hands on your hips.
• Slowly twist at your waist as if you were looking over your shoulder.
• Hold for 15 seconds.
• Repeat on the opposite side.

I’m lucky enough to only spend a day or 2 a week tied to my computer.  The rest of my hours are whiled away meeting with interesting people, running around with clients, doing errands at unusual times of the day and training myself when it suits me (aahhh, the joys of self-employment). However, chances are you spend far more time at your desk than I do.  And you probably have aches and pains to show for it.

Below are 5 simple tips for office workers.  I challenge you to keep your body and your mind healthier by implementing at least a couple of these ideas this week.

1. Sit with proper posture

   Slumping in your chair may feel better at the time, but in the long term, your body will pay for it. Slouching puts more strain on your spine, causing more pressure on the disks between the vertebrae, which can lead to injury. You’ll end up more likely to experience lower back pain and muscle stiffness.

2. Adjust your computer

   Check that you’re not straining your neck trying to look down or up at your computer screen. The monitor should be visible by looking straight ahead.

3. Switch ears

   If you are always on the phone, switch ears. Even better, go hands free. Always holding the phone on the same side often causes headaches.

4. Remodel the work area

   A change is (almost) as good as a holiday.  Change your work area every now and then, especially for the items you use the most.

5. Prevent Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

   Throughout the day, stretch your fingers often (spread them apart, then bend and straighten them).  Also stretch your wrists (flex and extend them and move them in circular motions) to prevent chronic strain. Having a proper set up at your desk is a key factor in avoiding carpal tunnel syndrome.  To do this: 1) align your wrists so your fingers are in line with your forearm; 2) make sure your keyboard is not tilted up in the back. It is better to have it tilting down; and 3) try to type lightly.

    

   There’ll be more tips later this week, so keep in touch.

Depression is in my family. In fact, the black dog and it’s nasty cousin, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, often dominate my family.  I’ve seen Mum’s highs, lows and general quirks more times than I could possibly count.  I’ve seen her struggle to cope when crisis strikes.  And I’ve seen her create a crisis for no apparent reason.  You’d assume I’d be an expert at identifying the signs and symptoms of depression.  But I’m not.

Me & Mum celebrating after a Fun Run

You see, I’ve inherited a few of Mum’s personality traits.  Which means that if I’m sad or stressed or stretched beyond my comfort zone, I can act a little bit like she does.  Then I start to panic.  Am I acting ‘normally’? Can I cope? Uh-oh….. I don’t want to get out of bed, so I must be depressed.  Surely.  Because depression is in the family.  For some reason my brain is just waiting for Mum’s depression to be passed on.

So far, these concerns have been nothing more than voices in my head.  I’ve been told countless times that I cope well with stress and am incredibly resilient.  So I’ve decided to ditch the drama and deal with diagnosis.  Am I depressed?  To date, no.  But in future if I think I am, I’ll compare my symptoms with the ones listed below.  It makes a lot more sense than letting the racing thoughts take over.

Wether you’re worried about yourself or someone else, a good conversation is a great place to start.  From there, book an appointment with your GP or give the Beyond Blue Infoline a call on 1300 224 636.  The questions listed below are simply a guide to point you in the appropriate direction.

Is this depression?

These questions are from the K6 assessment of symptoms of depression and anxiety.  It’s used all around the world and is the assessment that we use in Spring.

For each question, respond with one of the following answers:

All of the time (4 points), most of the time (3 points), some of the time (2 points), a little of the time (1 point) or none of the time (0 points).  You’ll end up with a score out of 24.

During the last 4 weeks (28 days), how much of the time did you feel….

1. So sad nothing could cheer you up?
2. Nervous?
3. Restless or fidgety?
4. Hopeless?
5. That everything was an effort?
6. Worthless?

If you score 12 or more, please seek help straight away.  If you score 2-12 you are still showing some symptoms of depression and anxiety.  You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by seeking help, in person or over the phone.  Remember that depression is real and it does not discriminate.  There are people out there who can help.

A week of health, well done!  But don’t feel obliged to stop here.  Choose the food and fitness challenges that worked for you and keep them going.  Maybe an alcohol-free month?  Or a checklist to make sure you’re eating enough fruit & veg each day?  Treat-free Tuesdays?  And a good variety of high-intensity training sessions, with the occasional day of rest.  You’ll be feeling fabulous long before summer arrives.

Food tip #7

Water.  Lots of it.  Keep track of how much you’re drinking and make sure you get through around 2 litres of water and herbal teas a day, more if you’re exercising.  Remember that tea, coffee and soft drinks don’t count.

Fitness tip #7

Welcome to the 100 Club.  Your challenge for today is to do 100 of each of the exercises below, somehow.  You can set aside half an hour and do as many of each exercise as you can, as many times as it takes to get to 100.  Or you can break them into sets of 10-15 spread throughout the day.  (I’d go with option ‘a’, you’ll feel like you’ve had an amazing workout).

• Squats
• Push-ups
• Lunges (left)
• Lunges (right)
• Tricep dips
• Abdominal crunches

That’s it, 7 days of food & fitness behind you.  Watch this space for more fitness challenges while we all wait for Spring 2013 to get here.  But for now,…..

You’re probably familiar with the ‘swap it’ campaign.  It makes sense.  If we simply give something up, we feel deprived and miserable.  So why not swap it for a better option?  Swap the car for a more active (and environmentally friendly) commute, swap ice cream for fresh fruit, swap facebook for catching up with people face-to-face and swap reality TV for getting really fit.

Food tip #6

Swap your morning coffee for a freshly squeezed juice.  Fruit juice has a lot of sugar, so why not include veges?  Carrot, apple & ginger is a popular choice.

Fitness tip #6

Walk or jog to a set of stairs or a hill and put all of your frustrations into it.  Get to the top as fast as you can, then walk or jog back down.  Keep going for at least 15 minutes, then walk or jog to cool down.  It’s short, but should be one of the hardest training sessions.

We hope you enjoyed your day of rest yesterday, because the next 3 days are tougher.  There’s a lot of evidence that short, high-intensity sessions are better for us than longer, more moderate exercise.  It’s easier to fit into our day, gets results faster and sends endorphin levels through the roof.  So let’s get on with it!

Food tip #5

Whenever I look over a new client’s food diary, they seem to be lacking in protein.  Protein keeps us fuller for longer and is important in the chain of events that leads to increased seratonin.

So your challenge for today is to include some protein with every meal or snack.  Have eggs for brekkie, add a few nuts to your usual piece of fruit, include lean meat with your lunch and seafood or plenty of legumes with dinner.

Fitness tip #5

This is another plan that uses a timer.  Do  each of the following exercises continuously for 1-minute, then move straight to the next exercise without a break:

• Wide squats
• Alternate lunges
• Tricep dips
• Kneeling squats (pictured)
• Back extensions
• Plank

Relax for a minute, then repeat 2 more sets