Interview with Mama's Me-time

I was recently interviewed by Prue Henschke on her blog called mamasmetime. Its focus is to inspire mamas to find the space for me-time. I hope this Q & A provides realistic, practical tips for how time-poor fellow mamas can cultivate a culture of self-care and well-being while juggling the needs of their children, house and work...

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Diet and athletic performance: an interview with Blake Worrall-Thompson on my work with the Roosters

Following on from my recent blog post on the work I did with the Sydney Roosters as their nutrition coach, I was recently interviewed  by Blake Worrall-Thompson who is the Director/Founder of Ministry of Wellbeing, a personal training organisation.

To view the interview on U-Tube click here.

Blake runs periodic "6 Weeks to Sexy" personal training programs aimed at females. For those who might be interested I encourage you to check  out Blake's website and/or contact him on: Phone: 0433 820 408 Web: www.ministryofwellbeing.com Email: blake@mowb.com.au Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wellbeingbyblake Blog: http://www.wellbeingbyblake.com Instagram: blakewt1

I will be offering cooking classes to Blake's clients who are undertaking this 6 week program. Training becomes so much more effective when you combine it with eating the right foods. You can't out-train a poor diet.

Coincidentally, a couple weeks after I posted my article on the Sydney Roosters, an article was published in the USA on the Lakers who have also adopted a nutrient-dense traditional wholefoods diet under the guidance of their new nutrition coach. To view  the article on the Lakers click here. I find it interesting (but not surprising) that the new nutrition coach for the Lakers is  Catherine Shanahan who wrote “Deep Nutrition- Why our Genes need Traditional Foods”.  I read that book a few years back and it is, in my view, a seminal text on nutrition and one of the few books that I am constantly recommending to friends, colleagues and clients.  I have the utmost respect for Catherine and what she has brought to the table in terms of her research and learnings on epigenetics and how environmental factors – in particular nutrients and toxins- directly impact gene expression. There is definitely a growing  movement worldwide back towards a nutrient-dense ancestral wholefoods diet, which is where we originally started from. The tide is starting to turn. There is a long way to go but the experience of the Sydney Roosters and the Lakers are but 2 examples that more and more athletes and their nutrition coaches worldwide are starting to question to the conventional food pyramid which has been such a dismal failure in protecting our health. The dangers of sugar and trans fats have now squarely hit the mainstream. I think its only a matter of time before more people start to question the consumption of refined grains, sports foods/drinks, synthetic supplements and industrial seed (processed) oils.

Would love to hear from any athletes (professional or amateur) or PTs out there on their experience with how conventional diet versus traditional wholefoods influences training and athletic performance.

Shakin' it up....

Exercise should be, first and foremost, FUN (as well as safe and effective). Otherwise the motivation to do it is zip. In addition to interval training and yoga (both of which I love), I have recently joined the world-wide dance craze of Zumba. Much like technology, I have joined as a very late adopter. I resist fads and trends, or at least try to. I was slightly embarrassed for my sister when she told me she took it up years ago. But when she  took me to a class earlier this year I walked away eager to do more. Why? It was so much FUN!! And it was something different. Moving my body in ways that it hasn't moved in years. Shaking things up a bit.

If you like dancing, popular music and working up a sweat, then you'll probably love this. It has all of the benefits of dancing in a nightclub without any of the seedy, smoky drawbacks. The dance steps can be fairly complicated, which I actually relish, because when you nail the routine- co-ordinating different body parts to music at the same time- it feels awesome.

It's also cheap ($7 per 1 hour class for a block of 20), convenient (it takes me 5 mins to walk to Tamarama surf club) and I get to look at this view out the window when dancing:

Class timetable and price list is below.

How do I fit it all in? With difficulty. It seems that when I prioritise one thing, something else (like sleep and admin!) slips by the wayside. At the moment it's 2 Zumba classes a week, 3 interval training classes a week and 30 mins of yoga most nights at home after kids have gone to bed. I find this combination of movement is a really nice balance of co-ordination, aerobic fitness, strength, speed and flexibility. For me, the more movement I do in winter the more it keeps feeling cold at bay and the better my circulation (and head space). I'm not drawn to doing so much exercise in summer as it too hot, I feel naturally more chipper when the weather is warmer and  I want to spend more time just hanging out at the beach.

I've written about the benefits of interval training here, here and here if you want to know more about that and where to train. And check out my previous blog here on ideas on how to keep kids active over winter. 

How are you shaking things up?