The Uneducated PT Podcast - #33 Coach Calum / Mental Health PT and Online Coach

Episode Date: June 10, 2024

In this episode of the Uneducated PT Podcast we bring Calum on to do a live coaching call with the School Of Fitness clients. We talk about Calums struggle with anxiety and depression as well as training methods and much more. 

that couldn't make it and Callum do you want to just start by introducing yourself to the group just tell them a little bit about where you're from and what you do essentially okay hi guys hi everyone my name's Callum I'm from Aberdeen which has been classified as the most depressed city in the UK so we're off to a winning start there but what I do is I basically take individuals that are suffering from low confidence anxiety low self-esteem and basically using fitness or exercise in general, turning them into completely our badass over time. Is that something, how did you end up getting into that column? I got into that simply because, so I've suffered from anxiety pretty much my whole life.

I was born with a condition called motor learning difficulty, which has never been diagnosed properly. So you're getting a head start because I'm going to speak about this next week in terms of that. and then from there obviously that played like games in my head

didn't actually know where I was going with stuff but I found that the gym was really my therapy to start with and from there recently they took out a course called the Mental Health and Exercise Coaching Award so I jumped on that saw the benefit of that

and that's three years down the line Sorry, I'm just going to mute there. And so is anxiety something, so anxiety is something that you've suffered away your whole life. When was your first introduction to exercising to the gym in terms of being kind of the start

of your journey in terms of improve probably the overall quality of your life with that? So I joined the gym when I was 16 but I'd previously done martial arts. So with my condition, my balance is basically the main family.

actor, I fidget all the time. And so confidence was a massive one, but my balance was the biggest issue for me. So I started martial arts via my mum basically forcing me to go to it. Because I was like, I'm not doing that. But I grew to love it. I went on to do like world championships, European championships. And then in Britain, we've obviously got the rule of film. You can't do it until you're 16.

So the first opportunity was there. And that's when I went in. And it was the most daunting experience in my life, but you get through it. And 18 years later, I am doing what I love to do. And when did you, when did, when did the journey from, you know, having your first fitness experience to then, uh, going into the coaching aspect and the coaching side of things? So, uh, it was, went into gym when I was 16 and I started college when I was 16. So that was a progress to get into that. I have a little coached since I was 18 years old so I've made every mistake humanly possible and I think we all have

and yeah it's just about piecing things together it took me ages to find who I wanted to work with as well so you didn't know you even though you suffered with anxiety you didn't you didn't see it straight away that that was the niche that you were going to go down definitely not I think because I think over the last few years mental health more like openly spoken about

so it's definitely a niche that's appeared or is a lot easier to go into nowadays whereas 18 years ago like if you'd mentioned it were in anxiety people we'd have what are you on about so was there something that you didn't speak about for a long time? I probably

suppressed it for a good 20 years of my life. Really? Yeah. Because I didn't know what it was and there wasn't that much information and it was a certain event in my life which triggered me to completely understand what was going on.

What was the event? Standing on the edge of a cliff wanting to jump off it. So it literally got to as bad as it can get before. Yeah. And then there's a trigger in my head that went, what am I doing? What was the next step from there? Did you reach out for help from people that you knew?

Yeah, I reached out from help from therapists. I went to therapy and it's one of the best things I've ever done. And I would recommend it not only to anyone that's suffering from mental illness, I would recommend it to everyone try a therapy session at some point in their life. Do you, the type of clients that you work with, do you, do they work alongside therapists, on yourself as well. Is that the... Some of them do,

some of them don't. My aim is to, basically, however they come to a session on a daily basis, is to get them as little as 1% better. If I do that and I see an improvement through what they're doing in the gym and they leave in a better shape than they came in, that's me done my job for that day.

I'd say probably the biggest obstacle for you, then if you're working with a clientele who are as anxious as you were, they're probably not even in a position yet to reach out for help from someone like... No. And that's what I'm... I always try and be quite vulnerable with my clients. I'll tell them experiences I've been through. Because if I'm the coach and I can be vulnerable to them, it allows them a way into being vulnerable with me.

And I'm never going to be the person. If they tell me a story, I'm not going to tell them to go to therapy. I might suggest that they go and have a think about it but it's not my place to go you need to go and see them one thing that I've noticed is when you're working with people who struggle with self-esteem

or have low confidence it's very easy for them to give up on themselves is that something that you see with your clientele and if so what are some strategies that you use to make sure that they kind of continue the journey until they start to build up some momentum So yeah

I've been there myself I've walked out with a gym many times gone in to do a session walked out, not done the session felt like shit for the whole rest of the day so I always look for the smallest win we can possibly get so whatever that is

if they don't want to go to the gym that day well what can we do out with the gym that's going to get that mindset changed a little bit can they do a small workout at home? Can they go up a walk? Can they meet a friend? Even meeting a friend for a coffee? It's just getting them out of the house,

getting them into an environment that they're able just to talk it out or do something that is beneficial to them. You said that you've been coaching for, what, 18 years, did you say? Yes, yeah. What are some of the common mistakes that you made early on? The first biggest one was doing a bodybuilding split when I wasn't wanting to be a bodybuilder.

made no sense to me it made perfect sense at the time but if you look back here and go why on earth whether doing that I have What type of training do you do now and just for anyone on the programme that would know what would like

a bodybuilder split look like because some of them may not know so a bodybuilder split is usually arms one day back one day legs one day and chest one day abs one day

and yeah then you have a week a week of doing nothing else but and then you come back to it and repeat that every week and it is just the most boring thing in the world to do and doesn't actually get you that much progress unless you're training

at a super high intensity which I certainly was not. Yeah it's the worst kind of spit you can start off with yeah 100% and that's the one I started with that's the one I got chocked into the deep end of it and I was like this is so not me compared to now

what I do is I train three before times week full body sessions and it's literally five to six exercises per session push it as hard as I can depending on the day that can be quite light if I'm feeling good about myself it'll be heavy but I just literally is determined by my state of mind on the given day and the thing with full body workouts as well that I love is that like you can be quite flexible like let's say one of the weeks you might be able to get into the gym two or three times one of the weeks you might only get in once a week but essentially you've still done a full body workout

so you still hit all bases regardless of what your frequency is. Yeah, 100%. What are some of the, would you have set your clients on bodybuilder programs when you're starting off? What are some coaching mistakes that you made with clients? Definitely, probably, I would say, giving them far too much volume to start with.

Setting them up, what it should basically sets them up to fail. straight away. So that was one thing that I definitely did early on in my career. But you just learn from your mistakes. And yeah,

you challenge yourself. Definitely giving people bodybuilding and splits, giving them ridiculous leg workouts that you look at it back and go, yeah, I couldn't even do that. So why in our from a given I client that? You said something there

that I caught, that you said, I'll go in and do, I'll go and do a workout depending on my state of mind how I feel. Is that something that you go off now essentially training for how you want to feel

and how you feel you can show up that day? Yeah, so my whole philosophy in my own training now is nothing to do how I look is how I feel. So if I if I'm having a really poor day with my mental health I won't even go to gym

I will do a nine minute workout at home and the nine minute workout will be like three exercises and it can be run it can be whatever they are and you do it three times through one minute of each and all you're trying to do is beat the reps

on each round and that's it obviously like a misconception people can make when they start off a fitness journey or they're trying to build a bit of muscle they're trying to build a bit of strength they're trying to improve their body composition is that they need to be perfect

every week or follow that perfect training program every week when essentially doing something like that when you're struggling might be the best thing that you can do. Yeah, 100%. Consistency of doing something rather than nothing will outweigh perfection every single time. One thing I wanted to ask about, so obviously, you know from your previous experience, probably from the type of clients that you work with, that mood will dictate a lot of the actions and behaviours that we want someone to implement. Let's say we put someone on a three-day split.

They have to do three full-body workouts. They have to do 6,000 to 8,000 steps, whatever it is. But because they're feeling very depleted that week for whatever reason, they're finding it difficult to adhere to that plan. What advice would you have for anyone in the group that might be struggling with low mood and finding that hard to adhere to their training plan? pick the easiest option on that and get that ticked off so if that is walking 5,000 steps instead of 8,000 steps if it's going to the gym for five minutes rather than an hour it's about ticking the box off

and showing yourself that you are capable of doing it and and I think the gym one especially is gyms can be very daunting and people will get very self-aware and one of the things I've always attempted to get my clients to do is if they're in a state where they're not feeling like going go and do the one exercise you know that will make you feel better

and if it's bench press it's bench press if it's walking on a treadmill for five minutes is walking on a treadmill for five minutes once you've done it get the hell out of there what are someone do other ways that you I've seen you put up a post about this a couple of weeks ago

what are some ways that you can go about making sure that you're actually let's say you have someone who after they go through that a little bit of a funk they're starting to improve their mood they're feeling motivated

they're feeling energetic what are some ways that people can go about maximising their training sessions I always say that keep it simple don't overcomplicate it and make it as intense

as you can during the session you're there so let's say we have Jim Niobe's here on the car what does intensity look like what is intensity? It's pushing yourself to not failure

never go to failure I don't believe in that but it's pushing yourself to a position where it's uncomfortable for you, which doesn't necessarily mean it's uncomfortable overall in terms of when I'm looking at intensity. So, for example, if I go into the gym and I have a routine of, say, six exercises, and I get to exercise four, and I've pushed myself really hard in terms of what I'm

capable of doing, and I don't feel like the next two exercises. are going to be beneficial, I will actually leave them out of the program because they're not going to benefit me at all. And I'm actually going to put myself, if I go in do that next and then don't get what I want to get out of it, that's going to actually affect my mood just as bad as if I didn't go to the gym in the first place. So let's say you had like four sets of back squats, for example, right? You go one set to close to failure, just a high intensity then and then you feel depleted after that. It's like move on to the next exercise. Yes, 100%. Yeah. Do you think that people fall into the trap of just being like, okay, I have four sets of 12.

I'm going to tick this off, tick this off, tick this off, tick this off. A hundred percent people fall into that trap. Yeah. And it's just not beneficial to them. And I think at times because they're so set in their ways, people are putting themselves at a massive disadvantage about doing that as well. I'd rather get one really good set out than for mediocre sets. So what advice would you have for someone who is going into the gym and, subconsciously are going through the motions.

So if you're going subconsciously, they're going through emotions, I would probably tend to get them to use a machine that they're comfortable using and then push a weight to where they can't push it anymore. And then they'll understand what, like, intensity, an intense set is.

And once they found that, they'll understand where they can go to with everything else. Yeah, a common mistake that will hit the 12 reps and we'll just stop but realistically if we assess ourselves we probably had another

six, seven, ten reps in the tank. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. If anyone has any questions that they want to throw into the chat box or they want to jump in and ask any training training questions. Another question that I wanted to ask you about was just if someone's generally

in a slump in terms of their training and they're not even getting to the gym. Do you have any advice in terms of that. So if you're in a slump and you're not even going to the gym, my advice is work backwards. So figure out why you're in the slump in the first place and then allow that to determine your actions from there.

And I think we over, or we put too much emphasis on going to the gym, do we need to go to the gym to get, a positive income. No, we don't. So what can we do in order to get us moving forward rather than staying where we are? And that's what I look at.

So whatever it is again going for a walk, whether it's going for a swim rather than going to the gym that day, what type of movement's going to benefit us moving forward to get us back into the routine that we need to be back into? What else do you do for your anxiety other than train? I go walks. I love.

the hills so I'm lucky I live in Scotland for that one. I read, I journal, I try to meditate, it does not work, I am useless at it and I will open my hand up about that. But it's just about, I try and keep myself busy as best as I can. And when you're a coach and when you work with people online,

that's not always the easiest thing to do. I spend a lot of time by yourself. I've got quite good close-knit of friends and, yeah, I spend time well in as much as I can as well. How do you keep yourself level when, like, let's say, obviously jumping on calls like this where you're talking to a load of strangers is obviously anxiety-inducing. And you're doing a public speaking event next week in Manchester as well.

So, like, how can people get from, you know, that person who's riddled to anxiety to taking on challenges like this that would be stressful for anyone. No, I am completely. Anxiety was high for about 10 minutes before his call. It will be high for about the week of the talk guaranteed, and it probably will go through the roof when I stand up to speak. But my coping mechanisms are breathing.

Definitely works. And at the end of the day, for me, I've got a lead by example. So if I want my clients to do some men or I want individuals that are struggling to do something unless I go and do it, they're not going to see that it is possible to go and do. So it's about taking responsibility for what I have been through,

what other people are going through and just showing them that you are capable of doing it. Makes sense. Des Roe, do you ever feel overwhelmed when someone comes to you like, oh shit, I can't help this person? It's too much. How do you take care of yourself so that you're not overwhelmed? by other people's stuff.

Gosh, I lost that. How do you take care of yourself so that you're not overwhelmed by other people's stuff, especially with the work that you do? So I learned this from Lewis, Angelo. So it's have boundaries in place and have certain cutoff times where a client can't contact me.

So that is 8pm through the week. And at the weekend, if you contact me I will not respond till Monday morning and as soon as I leave work that is my work done and I will switch off by also having the past used

therapy to go for myself because some people come and lay it on really thick to you and you're like that's far too far out in my comfort zone so you end up going to therapy yourself so your clients are putting you through therapy? Yes

so they think because I'm I'm a mental health, an exercise coach. They see it as a therapist and I'm like, that's not what we are. We're there to help your mental health. We're not there to listen to everything that's going on in your life and give any help on that basis. That's what a therapist for.

Yeah, the goal is to refer out. That's what I have. That's what I have Christy here for her. I'm just going to refer out there. Lucy guys, I pick out of it. It's like, yeah, I do a little bit. next question so can you read that question

I can't move this down I'm using the wrong keyboard that's why do you have any examples of clients success stories that you're proud of and willing to share yes absolutely I've got two that sprung to mind I had a client

Caroline who she's no longer with me but for good reasons and she came to me and she literally had the most severe back pain humanly possible. And the doctors were like, nah, you're going to, we're not going to do anything. It's not on us, we can't do anything to help you.

And I was like, bullshit, I don't believe in that. So we literally broke down what the root cause was, and it turned out that she had had a breast implant for medical reasons, and that was causing the back issues. So we just broke it down. We built it up over three years very, very slowly, building up the back, building up her core, getting her to a place where there's no longer any back pain

and her life is so much better for the better of it. The other one that springs to mind was just believing in someone. And I had a lady who came to me, she was a nurse and we put 40, kilograms on the trap bar deadlift she took one look at it and went I can't lift that

and I my exact words were right there you're a nurse you're on a ward there's a patient falling off her bed go and pick it up that's a good one and she went and did it she did it eight times she left

and then due to circumstances I never saw again but she thanked me for that so yeah it takes one just saying the right thing to the right person to get them to see what they're capable of doing. I like that. Going back to what you were saying about going to the gym and just going through the motions not being beneficial.

Why is it not beneficial? I'm definitely guilty of this, but still feel proud I showed up rather than didn't bother. That's a good point. So, yeah, going through the motions won't get you what you're looking to yet. and that's what at the essential year at the gym for a specific reason and whether that reason's weight loss whether the reason's strength whether that reasons uh improvement in mental health and well-being you're there for a very specific reason and yes showing up is the key factor to it and kudos to anyone that's feeling overwhelmed or anything like that and they show up to the gym but always try and go a little bit of

go by purpose of what that gym session is going to get you're going to get out of that gym session. Yeah. I think I think the key point is if you're going through the motions all the time, you're most certainly not going to see the results that you could potentially see. I mean, to put it this way, you're already in the gym for half an hour, an hour. Like, it's worth because you're in there anyway to, to, like people don't need more time. They need more focus usually is what I say to people. So like, all you have to essentially think about is, okay, I'm already in the gym.

I'm being consistent than the gym. So now can I push a little bit more? Can I push a few more reps? Can I create that progressive overload? And like, I don't think there's anything wrong with going through the motions. Like, there's times that I'll go into the gym and I'll be like, oh, that was a shit session when I come out. Actually, that's probably the majority of the time. And like, there's only going to be a few sessions that I'll come out and I'll be like, oh, yeah, that was a brilliant session.

but like that consistency of showing up will create intensity over time but you still need to be in there and say like well like this is what i was lifting last week so at least be close to it if not pushing a little bit more like but going through the motions is essentially just going in and not really thinking about what you're doing or having any intent it's like oh yeah like we talked about oh yeah on my program it says 12 reps three sets and you just do the 12 reps you just do the 12 reps you do the three sets, you're not even making any ugly face expressions. You don't look like you're about to shout yourself.

You're not crummed and even a little bit. You're not sweating. You're not out of breath. Like, then things have to occur at least some of the time for you. It has to be, you have to give your body a reason to change. Isn't that right?

Yeah, 100%. And it's one of them. It's like, yeah, I can count on my hand how many great sessions I've had this year. But having a great session doesn't mean anything. it's about being consistent and I would say I've had

a lot more average sessions and probably a lot more absolutely piss poor sessions this year than I have anything else. But I am consistent, I do show up and when I'm there, it might not always go to plan, but 90% of time it will.

Do you have any advice on how to take your own advice? It's an issue for me as a psychologist and not let your brain trick you into old paths like being too obsessed with certain parts of your body. Great question. That's her, I'll go to this question. So mine,

that's a tricky one to answer, actually. Yeah, well, I'll, I'll say that, like, the advice that I give all news, I'll go back and say, that's fucking great advice. I should probably take that advice myself. So I don't think there's anyone, like, I think everyone's really good at giving other people advice

because we're not emotionally invested. you know what I mean it's when you're emotionally invested like it's hard to see it's like it's like you're in a toxic relationship all your friends could say like break up with that person you're like oh yeah that's yeah I should probably do that but you don't listen because it's easy for them to say because they're not in the relationship they don't like it's very difficult for us to to take our own advice or to see our own advice and I think being aware of that and accepting that is a normal part of trying to to take that better advice. And I think that's the whole point of having the coach strike. Like even the best coaches in the, actually the best coaches in the world are the ones that believe in coaching the most.

So they have their own coach because they understand that, you know, your mind can play tricks on you and that you need that outside perspective. I think everyone needs that outside perspective. And if you don't have coaching, then things like journaling are a really good

second approach to that as well. That's, that's on my thoughts on. Yeah, I would only bit I would add to that is a really simple way of looking at it is how do you want to show up

each day? If you answer that in the morning and then at the end of the night did you shop the way you wanted to? You're very black and white but they also allow you to just like diverse what the feelings are

and they're very set in stone and if you don't shop, If you don't end up showing up the way you wanted to, well, what can you do tomorrow to change that mindset? That's a good one. That's a good prompt. What am I doing wrong if I'm in the gym way longer than 25 to 30 minutes?

Absolutely no. Because I, yeah, no, because I can, I've been in a gym for three hours at a time. It just depends on what your programme is at the time. Yeah. And it also depends on how much time you have. Like if you're limited with time, you might not be able to do an hour.

But again, something's always better than nothing. if you're someone who hasn't been doing any training and you can go in and do a 20 minute am wrap or a 20 minute circuit like there's plenty of times when I've only had 20 minutes to spare where I would just go in I would do a set of lap pull downs, chest press,

leg extensions, leg curls like four exercise push pull, hinge squat, I'm out the door. And like is it the most optimal training session to get me the best result possible? No, but does it mean that I've done something that day and I've practiced in perfect action? Yes.

You've checked on books. Yeah, exactly. And then I just feel better throughout the rest of the day. And it also sets me up to build a little bit of momentum for the rest of the week. So maybe I do get a longer session and a more intense session down the line. But, you know, it's just keeping me on track rather than having that mindset of, oh, well, if I can only do 20 minutes, then I might as well not work out at all. But yeah, yeah, like ideally if we could all train two hours a day and take our time and have five minutes rest in between.

twins. That's, like, that's not how life works for. No, definitely not how life works. Yeah. Yeah. It's, so this was a complaint more than anything. It's not that I, I want to be in the gym for way longer. I want to be in there for 25 or 30 minutes. You all talk about that all the time. But there's no freaking way that I can do it. Like, I tried. So I went in, I trained on my knee, right? I decided, you know what? I'm there anyway. I'm going to train my upper body. I'm just going to do it because I'm in there.

So I started that last week. And I can't get through the upper body things in like 25 or 30 minutes. It pissed me off. But regardless, what I decided to do was I wasn't happy with a fourth set on lap pulldown. I bailed. I worked and I worked and I worked on third. Your answer is in there. So you said that you can't get it finished in 25 to 30 minutes.

It's because there's probably just too many sets. for each exercise. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Like I said, I said 20 minutes I would did one. And that goes back to his point at the start is like maybe I'll do one set of back squats. But because I'm going close to failure or I'm having an intensity with that set, I only need one set. Right.

Rather than three or four sets. And that means, all right, I can I can move on from that exercise and actually finish that, that session in 20 to 25 minutes. So I would say if you only have 25 to 30 minutes and you want to get it done in that time, I would just say put the amount of sets. Increase that intensity. Yeah, yeah. Have intensity in that one or two sets. And, you know, probably go for exercise that you're going to get the most bang for your book.

So compound exercises. So like some sort of a, well, we're not going to do with squat variation, but some sort of a hinge variation, some sort of a push, some sort of a pull, whether it's a chest press machine, whether that's a lap pull down where it's a seated cable row, whatever it is. And basically just trying to be as efficient as possible with the time that you do have. Do you have anything to add on that, Callum? No, I think you hit the other one ahead. Yeah, I would just recommend cutting the sets down to one to two, pushing them a little bit harder than you have in the past,

and then move on to next instance. And something that you do with you're trying and a lot of the time now, Hima, you might not be able to do this if it's a commercial gym, but you do you do am raps or e-moms, don't you? Do you? Hey, Jeremy? Earl, are you talking to me or Callum? To callum, sorry.

Oh, sorry. Yeah. So, yes, I do am rap. Can you explain what an am-rap is for... So, Am-rap is as many reps as possible. So in your last set, so for example, if you have got three sets of eight, for example

on the last set you might do an am wrap and that would be push it as many as you can the great thing about an arm wrap is if you go more than 10

you're not lifting heavy enough because you've gone past the two rep reserve max that we normally work within so it just identifies on how hard you are actually pushing yourself

so if you get to 16 reps on your last set having done two excrucially hard sets before you're kind of lying to yourself. Yeah, I think the main point is just like because you're only coming back from an injury and you haven't been able to be as consistent as you would like to be like 25 to 30 minutes just getting in there and getting a set of each exercise and essentially being in there

and then taking that to a good intensity, like that's going to be more than enough for you. So yeah, I would say just cut the sets, cut the sets down, try to get a couple of exercises of compound lifts. And then like you're good. You're doing more than you were doing before and that's all that you need to do. Annalise goes, I suffer from anxiety, depression some mornings. I just can't get my ass out of bed, especially when I'm going through a rough patch. Any recommendations on how to get out of my head and get moving? I would say getting out of your head is probably the hardest thing in the world to do.

I always refer to anxiety as the prison within your head. It's brutal at times. But little things of starting the day with a win. It's a really easy way to do that or a really easy method to put in place. So the way I do that is by, if I've got clients that are suffering from that, I get them to make their bed for spring in the morning. and then that takes off a win for them because at the end of day if they if that's all they do in the day they've still won because they've done something rather than nothing and they can move forward with that

then you look at like little things of um when it comes to like exercising and that um like what is the smallest denominator i can do to make to make a positive impact today And whether that if you've got stairs in your house, it could be walking up and down the stairs 10 times. Job done. It's just breaking the barrier of, I'll always say this as well. It's like you're not anxiety.

People kind of put labels on people that suffer from like mental health, mental illness and we're not a label. It's just we have this thing. And it's just breaking that barrier down to understand that. Yes, you might feel. a certain way because of what's going on in the mind but it doesn't determine who you are at the end of the day it just has an impact on what you're doing at that current time

do you think there's a danger between turning that into your identity I think a lot of people do turn it into identity 100% you'll hear it like I have I am anxious I have this I have that I was like yes but you you have it but it doesn't define who you are as a person. It's just something you live with. And I suppose if you can build a network with people who are like-minded, who can bounce off ideas with you,

and give you suggestions, that would be a very positive thing to do as well. All right, I'm going to let a few clients jump on and just talk about a few things. Kirstie, can I start with you? How is training going for you at the moment? And is there anything that you're struggling with? Um, training in general is quite good.

I just had one of the days that Calum just talk about, like just, I didn't feel it. I don't feel good at the moment, but I went anyway and, yeah, did what I felt was okay. And then, yeah, still, still wasn't a gym like over an hour, but just a lot of Insta watching. So, but I did some sets. I'm only striving with this like knowing when it's like two reps in reserve I don't have

that down so I usually go until I can't do it anymore so that's that's a pretty good indication isn't it? And I always make faces that should be yeah that's my sign I don't go without making faces

or funny noise so I don't know if that's that's all right. That sounds pretty good to be. Do you, are you, do you think you're in a better headspace now since starting the program to where you are now from when you started? Yes and no, I think, I remember we did this journaling session where you asked, like, what are you lying to yourself about? And I didn't answer, I couldn't answer that.

And I think it's that psychologist thing that, yeah, you're pretty good at, yeah, being in your head. And I think I'm just getting to the point, like, to the core, what's the problem behind and what's the issues behind? And I did a lot of therapy myself. We have, you normally have to do that when you do your courses and stuff. but yeah I would say I'm in a in not in that good place like when I started I just said oh yeah I just want to get my gym mojo back and when I have the when I have my new program and then when I manage to go four times a week then everything's fine but now with all the journaling sessions we did I think I get to like I think I have to just rethink what my goals need to be or where I have to look at and that's a good thing that I'm not in a good in a good place so if that makes sense. That makes sense.

Colin what do you do? Let's say you're like do any kind of daily things that keep you on top of of your mood so you can continue to kind of implement the behaviors and actions that you want to implement with fitness. one, this is such a random thing I do, but it is. I try in adult colour

drawings per day because it just takes my mind away from reality really and I can just focus on something that's pretty cool to make. Is it more so anything that's going to take you out of basically your headspace? Oh, okay.

No, no, no. Is that what it does? does that. I also do a lot of breath work just because what I've found with my anxiety, it comes from getting worked up and then heart races, which is between to panic. So if I can rewire it, so deep breaths, I do the Wimhoff method. So I don't know if any of you're familiar with that, but it's literally 30.

deep breaths in, on the 30th breath you hold it for a minute, you release and you do the three rounds of that and that just calms me completely down. Do you have used it with William Hoffman and he's getting to cold water? Not there. No?

No, I like my hot showers as well. Annie, do you want to jump in for a second just because I never can get you on chatting? So you've obviously The last couple of days Being quite consistent with your step goal And really

Implementing the behaviours and the actions that we want How have you found the last couple of days And even your headspace since Kind of doing what you've been doing over the last few days? Good, yeah I'm getting my steps in I'm really trying to focus on my protein I have set up a little gym home

now so I can start really gently just to get back in because it's like kind of still waiting on and all clear there but I know I feel ready to do it my results are good the levels are coming down for that's going in the right direction so yeah so yeah overall I'm I'm pleased

because I wasn't in a good space the first two weeks but that was physical it wasn't me more so it was everything that was going on so yeah I feel really good this week and trying to get steps in I even parked in Tesco today and walked in down the town instead of

you know, I'm just very mindful of it and I went for a walk this morning at 20 to 7 in the woods and it was beautiful and set me up there you go It's only half an hour, 40 minutes, but I did it. Yeah, but it's all them little small actions and behaviours that make the difference over time like parking a little bit further

and being mindful of that. It's not right column. Oh 100% and behaviours and building a routine is the fundamental to Beansucovy Festival. yeah and yeah great for getting up at 720 over a walk that's amazing and Elise how is your injury coming along good it's a lot better not enough

to do back exercises yet but um column do you have any advice for anyone who is coming back from an injury when they're getting back into the gym yeah literally take it as close possible and it sounds very like what you shouldn't be doing but yeah 100% go slow and pick the boxes but don't

don't push yourself because when you start to over estimate what you can do that's when injure can come back and buy you and that's something that you were yeah that's what i've been doing is kind of just starting back at the basics again and um and i'm going to start carl you're right i need to take more videos of myself because i I've been using different machines and I caught myself in the mirror and I was like, oh, my form is off. And I was like, damn it, he's right. I need to take videos so I can see what I'm doing. And again, I'm just going to start like when I start back on my back like five pounds, like

deadlifts, make sure that my form's good. Then like, okay, now I can do seven pounds. Now I can. So yeah, I've just completely cut my weights in half and I'm just starting back up square one kind of. do you recommend that your clients do technique form videos and stuff like that check out their technique? I'm quite lucky majority of mine in person

but yeah I still ask them to video check themselves and send them to me not that they ever do that but that's it's one of the most awkward things to do I think is for someone that when you're not comfortable to set up a video and film yourself but there are so many benefits of it and yeah the

what I would also say is a really simplistic way to come back from an injury as well is if you, for example, say you've got three sets of five, one week, add a rep on the next week. Not a set, not an ing drastic, just add one rep on and just build the framework from that. Yeah, 100%. I would even touch on that in terms of recording yourself.

like I understand how awkward it is and like I was a good couple of years training before I ever went there recording myself in a public gym in front of other people but when I did start to do it and I realised how horrendous my form actually looked even though I thought I looked great when I was doing it and then I looked back and I was like that doesn't look like anything in my mind um it was it was the difference in terms of uh having a better standard in terms of my technique in terms of depth and so and also in terms of intensity as well because you can then look back and be like oh yeah i always actually wasn't working half as hard as i thought i was um i think we can fulfill ourselves and thinking that we're working hard on a set and then when we look

back we can see even the speed of our reps that oh yeah we were absolutely fine yeah it's it's gonna be hard though it's definitely self-confidence like i the gym that i go to is the second largest in canada and it's like nobody has a tripod so it's it's going to be very daunting to like set up and just take some videos. It's going to feel really awkward. What would you say for that? Well, I work at a pure gym at the moment and I've been in an industry 18 years and I still get the daunting feeling of setting up a camera. So it's just something that kind of you have to just accept that it's going to feel a bit weird for the first while.

And maybe 18 years later it's still going to feel a bit weird. but yeah it'll put you out your comfort on but it will be the best thing you can do because it will really help you uh lucy can you chat because you look like you're you can't okay one minute yeah i just wanted to ask you because right so obviously with lucy one of our main objectives was she wanted to get back into training because she had a wedding coming up and then sometimes we can set ourselves a goal like for a big milestone or whatever and then once that milestone's finished, then it can be quite difficult to, you know, continue to do the behaviours and actions that have got you to a certain place where you're

feeling better about yourself. And I think that can be a dangerous, sometimes this is what I don't like about setting goals for big milestones, like a holiday or a wedding or something like that because it can kind of lead people into the, or it can mislead people into the, or it can mislead people into the perception that, okay, once that's finished, then you're finished in terms of the actions and behaviours that you've implemented. But like your health and fitness journey, going to the gym, eating well, like that is a lifelong pursuit. Like, hopefully every single one of you will be doing this literally up until your last breath because you're supposed to. And I think that's a danger people can kind of, or a trap that people can fall into it.

Lucy, are you able to chat? I don't mute you. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Hello. Hi, how are you? I'm good. How are you doing?

I'm good. How are you doing? I'm a while. How are you feeling? Yeah, great. Thank you. Buzzin. Yeah, so I've got a couple of points, actually.

The first one is that actually, since I've hit that milestone, I'm actually, I would say more committed to actually getting back into the saddle than I was a month ago because I was under so much stress and pressure that it all just went completely out the window, as you know. And I'm actually really looking forward to a bit of normality and getting back on training. Like for everyone here, I've actually, apparently I've actually graduated from the School of Fitness, like probably with the worst grades of anyone ever, but apparently

I'm a graduate. But I'm going to stay on as a graduate member. get back into it because I feel like I'm at a crossroads where I could go two ways. I could either go fuck this. I'm just going to start eating the yum yums again, you know, eating the takeaways, forget the protein, you know, and just go back to old habits. Or I could, you know, make myself accountable again. And actually now I've got the time, commit to doing what I wanted to do six months ago. So, yeah, so that was my first point that actually I'm feeling really inspired now to get back onto it. Now I haven't got the pressures of everything that was going on. But the second thing is something that I spoke to you about briefly, Carl, and that's more of a question

of why did I just, why did I, why did it go so to pot like a few weeks ago? Why when I knew that I had this big life event coming up that I was really going to like crucify myself over? Did I, did I sabotage myself and start like, you know, overeating and eating the wrong things. And I think we came to the conclusion that it was probably a dopamine hit, right? But yeah, it was weird how it was this self-sabotage crept in. And I don't know if that's more of a question or an observation. But yeah, that's. I'll put it to, Callum, did you find at times when you're more stressed in life that you

tend to overeat a little bit more that you tend to train a little bit less or anything like that yeah 100% which can happen

quite frequently for me to be perfect honest stress levels go through the roof but I definitely notice that my training

goes out of the window when I don't when I was stressed and I think it's just the whole thing of overwhelm it just gets on top of you

and then you start over thinking, the overwhelm and you just get into a vicious mindset of fuck. This is not the plan. And then you're like, well, I'll leave it till next week. And then the week comes around and you're like,

no, fuck it, I'll leave it until next month. And then you're just in a business cycle that you can't get out of. And that's when like Carl and like coaches come in and kind of bring you back into the realm of, no, this is what you need to do. this is why you're doing it remember what you've done in the past and you've been there

so you know what you can do now how do we get you back on track yeah well I think it starts with a call this week isn't it Carl yeah so I think that that's a really big insight you said there

like I think the the first thing is just speaking it out like being like oh I've been well this isn't related to you because like to be honest I didn't expect

it to be, you know, full on train and while you're preparing for a wedding and I didn't expect you not to, you know, be on top, I didn't expect you to be on top of your diet. And I even said to you, well, maybe you should have some fucking Harrybows. Maybe it will, it will help. Maybe not the one kilo box I bought from Costco and it in about two days, do you know,

like, you know, like a Las Vegas, like one-arm bandit. That's what it was like, just going into my god. So, yeah. I think everything's on a spectrum. Like emotionally, is, is absolutely normal.

I think we all do when it becomes emotional. Especially when you've got a wedding coming up. Exactly. Yeah. Like, sometimes you have to say to yourself, well,

yes, I am stressed and then yes, I am using this as a stress scope and mechanism and, and what? Like, that can be completely normal to do. I was talking,

so I was talking to a friend of mine that, um, who's had bariatric surgery and it was a bit like the, um, there's some saying in like recovery that, the thing about recovery is you feel your feelings. The bad thing is you feel your feelings because you don't have that coping mechanism anymore of being able to mask them with food or alcohol or, you know, drugs or whatever it is.

And we were chatting about it last week when I was, you know, she was helping with something. And it was that that I was, I literally, when I took a step back and thought about, why the, why the fuck am I doing this? Why am I doing it? And it was literally because I was trying to swallow my feelings and I was trying to make myself feel better by using something outside of myself, you know, to try and make myself feel better inside. Yeah. But yeah. It was, it was, it was, I put up something on this, the other day is like, like food has a purpose, even food that you're overconsuming and

that might be having a, the, the, the effects of that means that you're consuming excess calories and your gain and weight and that extra weight gain is making you feel poorly about yourself. It might be affecting your well-being. It might be affecting your well-being. It might be affecting your mental health. So you might not even be like, I don't want to continue to eat that food. But then you still have to recognize that that food is serving a purpose, whether you recognize it or understand it or not. It is serving a purpose. And I was listening to a podcast with someone who went on a Zembek. And, you know, when he stopped being able to overeat, because his fullness cues would go through the roof.

He would be satiated really quick. So then he never had that coping mechanism anymore to overeat when he was feeling something. So even though he was losing all the weight that he wanted to, he still felt crap because he was like, oh, that food that I was overeaten that was making me miserable was still actually serving a purpose. It was helping me to cope with the feelings that I haven't addressed.

So you're absolutely right. It's like the bad thing is about it now is that you actually have to feel the feelings rather than then continue to use whatever coping mechanism, whether that's food, drink, gambling, whatever it is for each person. So it was fascinating how through like this, the mindset work we've done and stuff that I was actually able to identify that rather than just like just, you know, it was yeah. Sorry, Callum. I think it's like, so I a bit more about me was like I was a gambling.

for about three years and addiction is just filling the void of something that's missing in your life it's not actually you're not addicted to what it is it's just that's what you've chosen to use to fill the void so it's a really interesting way of looking at stuff as well so it's like when you're if you're overeating it's not because oh that's just what you've chosen to do and in terms of that's your chosen outcome for whatever the overwhelm is or the stress level is, it's not necessarily that's why you're doing it. I think it's an interesting point to be like, like whenever we want to change something in our eyes, we just go from, okay, I don't like that behavior. I'm going to change that behavior rather than stop it and asking, okay, why are we doing that behavior?

I think I create an awareness around it is going to be the first step in terms of actually making the change rather than just trying to make the change and trying to wheel your way into change and then, you know, hitting a, hitting a roadblock every time. So yeah, it's an interesting one. But most importantly, you're back in action. You're ready to go. The game. Yeah. And keeping yourself accountable by showing up to these calls. And that's the whole point of this community is that you do that. All right. We're going to finish off with Melissa, just because it's our first call, I'll get to jump in for a second. Melissa, just, just question, why did you, what was your initial reasons for starting the program again?

How are you feeling so far since being back at it? I'll unmute it there. Asto mute. There you go. Oh, hi, sorry, I couldn't find the unmute thing. And the reasons that I got back into it is because, like, a few years ago, I went on a weight loss journey and I kind of got results and stuff. But then after a while, I just kind of just forgot about it.

I just wanted to kind of just get back into it again because I was trying to make progress but I just feel like I fell into really bad habits so I needed something to kind of help me kind of get through the bad habits if you get me. And why is it that you wanted to implement these new behaviour change?

Like what's the driving factor for you? I think it's because I had a goal originally to reach and I feel like I kind of got like 70% there so just for myself to accomplish what I want to to begin with and that's kind of one of the reasons just to How has it gone for you so far over the last couple of days? How are you feeling? Yeah, good.

It's kind of like my first proper week back so I'm kind of enjoying kind of having a new routine and like getting back into doing steps and everything. thing. Like I was very kind of nervous in the gym first because I was just doing most of the time just doing classes when I could. So I was always

just a bit anxious of being in the actual gym. Like I don't know if it makes sense, but I don't know I kind of just felt like I'm not like I don't, I'm not good enough to be in there or something like you know in the weight section I just like go and if I felt like I couldn't do a machine then I just like

want to just run away and like leave. But no I'm just kind of just like trying to get through that now and just if I don't know how to use a machine, just like take my time and just figure it out rather than just abandoning it and just walking off. Yeah. Callum, do you find out with any clients that have that they have like these feelings of not belonging in the gym compared to other people or then shine away from it because of them feelings of self-dow? Yeah, 100%. and a tool I use is looking at like a book and this is a bit out there but I always say if you're new to the gym or new to an environment think of that as your page one compared to someone else

like page 50 or even chapter 50 and we've all been there it's just we're all at different stages of our journey and that's how I tend to get around working with clients that are a bit nervous. I'm not going into a gym. And I also always say the hardest weight you'll ever left is walking through the different door. Yeah, 100%. And also, a good thing to do then is to actually say to yourself or allow yourself to be a beginner or allow yourself not to know how to use something. And I think it's the craziest thing in the world that, like, if you go into most gyms, I guarantee the gym instructors are bored out their head because they've absolutely nothing to do. and all they're dying to do is for someone to ask them to help them

so they can feel like they're useful and that they have done something with their day and yet no one asks them because everyone's afraid that they look stupid for asking them 100% do anyone else have any last questions for Callum before we bounce off we're all good yeah hema last thoughts go to you what do you tell me what are you gonna do now for the next two weeks in terms of on the road to recovery with this with this knee injury and working around and working around life and working around the stresses

of your life. So the one thing that I know that's changing is that ultimately I'll be going back to work. I'm very distracted by the golden. I know. Yeah. Kirsty's tag. Yeah. And so going back to work means the days are going to have to ultimately change. It might be the thing that makes it conducive to bring back the gym. So check your, check your WhatsApp. I just sent you a message. But I'm just thinking about maybe, maybe that's the crack in the schedule that will bring me back to doing something more intentionally in the environment that

I know I want to be sustaining that kind of movement in because so far it's been it's been mostly at home. And it's hard to keep, for me anyway, it's hard to keep accountable to those exercises and those movements that are beneficial for recovery outside of a program. right like it's it's um i don't have that accountability so i'm like well god do i want to sit here against the wall on myself for a while it's it's i think it's so difficult to get yourself pepped up to train at home i'm not going to lie and i know i have so much respect for people who do it but like for me like because i associate home with a place where i work or a place where i relax like i i need to set myself up an environment that's going to give me the motivation or energy to train. I know people say that, you don't need motivation to trade. Well, it helps. I've been in an

environment that can help that I think. That's how I see. What I've found recently, just my last comment, because I got my ass in there last week, right? And as I said, the motivator was to to train my knees. So I wanted the treadmill to walk backwards. And it gets me out of doing the home routine. But the nice challenge with that and maybe a bit of, I don't know, self-discovery is that my mind has changed a little bit about what normally has brought me joy in the gym versus what now seems to be of interest to me. I'm thinking about longevity. I'm thinking strength in terms of where I am in my lifespan. And so I started some, you know, hormone replacement therapy very recently.

So I'm on that. And I'm finding less, I'm looking less at the classes as like, oh, dang, I'm missing this or, oh, dang, I can't do that. And more encouraged by, can you turn that down just for a second, please? and more encouraged by the machines that are there, which I mean, I still don't get me wrong. I'm not making love to them or anything, but I, but you're slowly turning.

But I, yeah, I mean, I am thinking about, I am thinking about the longevity piece, right? And so I am turning. You're 100% right about that. I, that's my awareness that I, I want that social peace. I want to be back to teaching my classes, the fitness class,

I'm not distracted by them the way that you can have you can have both yeah like you can want to do classes and have that community and also want to have your individual program that's going to set you up for your individual goals and for your body to be more probably accustomed to having that more that bit of stability and so on and so forth um i think that's a really good point even in in terms of your perception around while you're training column even you said there early it's like the reason that you train is not for body composition goals, not that there's anything wrong with that, not for physique goals,

not that there's anything wrong with that, but essentially just to keep your head straight. Yeah, 100%. I think the second I dwell off that, it goes up short cricket. And if I was to focus on a physique goal, I would probably put myself in a position where I didn't even want to work in the industry again.

So it's just about keeping my head as straight as it can be. Yeah. Now understanding what motivates you and I think what motivates us to train will change over time. I presume for a lot of people when they're younger, it is more to do with vanity. And that's absolutely fine because, you know, it's vanity that got you into strength training, which is actually really good for your longevity. But then over time you understand that, okay, that might be why I started. is what's going to keep me going because, you know, how I want to feel as a, you know,

80 year old man, you know, and being able to do these things long term is, is probably going to be beneficial to that. All right. Listen, Colin, I really appreciate you coming on, especially on short notice. Thank you for all the advice. Folks, thank you for jumping in, for asking questions, for giving insights and for making the time. I'll get this all sent into the group to the rest of them.

But again, Colin, thank you again. for joining us. Thank you for having us. No problem. I'll catch us all later. I'll throw a message into the group but appreciate you and enjoy the rest of your evening, yeah.