Fitness Plans for Busy Schedules
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About the Show
On this episode, Chuck Gaidica is joined by Marissa Jarrett, onsite well-being coordinator at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Angela Moore, empowerment coach, NASM personal trainer and fitness presenter for the Detroit Health Empowerment Project and the American Heart Association. Together, they discuss the best way to incorporate exercise into a busy schedule.
“Whatever you can, do consistently… do a 10-minute workout, do a 15-minute workout. If you have a day where you have the opportunity to schedule a longer workout appointment… take the longer time… Don’t rush through it.” – Angela Moore
In this episode of A Healthier Michigan Podcast, we explore:
- The key to staying motivated
- Creating workouts that fit your lifestyle
- The value of the buddy system
- The importance of tracking progress
- Tips on how to clean up your diet
- Maintaining realistic goals
- The importance of choosing activities you love
Transcript
Chuck Gaidica: This is A Healthier Michigan Podcast. Episode 35. Coming up, we discuss fitness for a busy schedule.
Chuck Gaidica: Welcome to A Healthier Michigan Podcast. This is a podcast dedicated to navigating how we can all improve our health and well-being through small healthy habits we can start implementing right now. Even if you’re on a busy schedule, we’ve got tips for you. I’m your host, Chuck Gaidica. Every other week we sit down with a certified health expert from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, others who help us along the way with a deep dive into topics like fitness, nutrition, and a whole lot more. On this episode we’re talking about how to balance fitness with a busy schedule. With me today, empowerment coach and NASM personal trainer, we’ve got with us, Angela Moore. Angela is… The resume is just incredible. I mean you do all kinds of stuff and I have to be nice because it looks like you can take me. And then it’s just, you’ve got all this training. Also you’re a counselor.
Angela Moore: Yes, I am.
Chuck Gaidica: So on top of all this physical fitness and corrective exercise specialist, you’ve been a fitness presenter for the Detroit Health Empowerment Project and the American Heart Association. So, so much experience too in radio and television. So we’re so glad you’re here.
Angela Moore: Thank you.
Chuck Gaidica: Because we’re all so busy, right?
Angela Moore: Yes, yes we are.
Chuck Gaidica: Marissa Jarrett is a onsite wellbeing coordinator for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. She has more than 15 years experience in health and wellness. So good to have you with us.
Marissa Jarrett: Good to be here, Chuck, thank you.
Chuck Gaidica: And it’s so cool to read both of the bios for you about things you’ve done, things you’re still doing. So Marissa is into group fitness and personal training and bodybuilding and crossfit. But so many cool things. A nine acre farm she lives on with her husband and her kids where they raise and grow their own food. Their farm includes Tibetan yaks. They’re the ones with the accent.
Chuck Gaidica: Turkeys, chickens, ducks, sheep, honeybees. Come on. That’s wild. Yeah.
Marissa Jarrett: We’re busy.
Chuck Gaidica: You are busy. Yes, you are busy. I’m so busy, I’ve got a guy working out for me right now. I hired him.
Marissa Jarrett: Love it.
Chuck Gaidica: He’s probably doing pushups right at this minute. Well, you know, this is really something we’re all facing today, right? It seems like many days in our life we’re trying to pack 10 pounds of coffee into a five pound can. What is a good place to start for a lot of us, because some of us just can’t get going. If you don’t begin something, you can’t start it. Is that really one of the ways to think of this, that you just have to start anything when it comes to fitness?
Angela Moore: One of the things that I often tell people and clients specifically is you have to find a reason why that you want to get healthy and once you find that reason why, you’re willing to commit to doing whatever you need to do to meet that goal.
Chuck Gaidica: And what would some of those reasons be?
Angela Moore: It may be, you may have grandchildren and you may say, “I want to be a healthy grandparent.” It may just be being a good, healthy parent, you know to your children.
Chuck Gaidica: Sure, sure.
Angela Moore: Being a role model for the people that you love in your life. One of the things I said to my husband this morning, is I said, you know, “Thank you honey for taking such good care of yourself.” I said, “The greatest gift that you can give to me to present your healthiest self.”
Chuck Gaidica: Isn’t that sweet? Did he kiss you?
Angela Moore: He did.
Chuck Gaidica: I know it’s personal, but I mean, that’s really sweet. That’s a great thing for a spouse to say. And when it comes to this idea, Marissa, of starting something, for me it’s always been, I try to find something interesting and fun so I’m not going to fall off the wagon. Should we not pursue things that are not, maybe rigorous isn’t the wrong word because rigorous can be good. That we’re interested in doing or at least trying.
Marissa Jarrett: Oh definitely, I think you need to find something that you enjoy doing. You’ll be better able to stick to it because if you choose something that you’re not comfortable with, you might not carry through and you might not be persistent. So if you start with something that you love and then once it becomes a habit, then you can start getting into different things and trying different things that might be a little bit more challenging outside your comfort zone. And then eventually that’ll become a habit.
Chuck Gaidica: I have to share with you this story. We have a daughter who’s in themed cruise travel, so we’ve gone on a couple of cruises and even before that we went to Alaska with my parents and my wife’s parents. Susan and I have figured out a way to be busy on a ship and still eat what we like and lose weight or maintain weight, which is we never take an elevator. We walk everywhere. We do two miles on the track in the morning and sometimes we work out, but not crazy stuff. We literally are walking 15 to 18,000 steps a day.
Chuck Gaidica: Now, if you would’ve told me before we tried this on ourselves that that would be enough for me to have a little piece of something, something after dinner I would have thought, “Well maybe, I don’t know.” It’s true. So it doesn’t have to be rocket science, I guess was my point. It was just a big discovery for us, you know? So when you pack into a busy schedule, we try to find things that we’re going to do maybe with consistency, right? What does it mean to get creative when it comes to workouts? What would that mean?
Angela Moore: Oh, well one of the things that I will definitely say when you talk about being creative, I often encourage clients to think about things outside of the box, you know? So one of the things that I think is really important is one that you should really think about. Where you’re going to be working out. Where you’re going to be training. And so for instance, if you’re going to be exercising in your office, think of creative ways that you can be active in your office. Maybe it’s sitting down and getting up, sitting down, getting up out of your office chair. Maybe it’s doing movements, calisthenics, in the middle of your office with the door closed. Also, if you are a person who maybe has like a hallway, okay. Doing walking lunges down the hallway, going from point A to point B. And that’s what I mean with being creative. Think of creative ways to integrate physical activity into your day.
Chuck Gaidica: You know it’s funny, you’re into crossfit, right? I don’t know, maybe you both are. So we had an interview a few episodes ago about taking the tire, rolling it down the street. I mean talk about creative, it’s kind of nutty, but I know that’s part of crossfit is getting things that, I guess you wouldn’t even qualify that as a body weight exercise or would you, it’s just some peculiar thing you’re lifting or doing.
Marissa Jarrett: I would probably say more functional because we’re always picking things up and lifting them or throwing them. So I would probably go more functional with that, with body weight.
Chuck Gaidica: Yeah. And you can’t do that anywhere at any time. But yet when it’s appropriate it is working on core and other things that you are working on if you’re just sitting there and lifting 20 pound dumbbells.
Marissa Jarrett: Right, right. And it’s something out of the ordinary so it can be fun.
Chuck Gaidica: And for you, what is creative then?
Marissa Jarrett: For me, partner workouts can feel very creative, so turn it into a family function or with your spouse or best friend. Somebody could do a wall sit while the other person is doing tricep dips on their knees or maybe the other person is on all fours and you’re doing a push up. Combining movements like that, making it fun. If you’re at work and you’re taking the stairs, we talked about that, rather than taking the stairs, take them two at a time. If you have the ability to bring a jump rope with you, you can use the landing. If it’s large enough-
Chuck Gaidica: Oh, interesting.
Marissa Jarrett: -and it doesn’t get a lot of traffic and jump rope on the landing, doing calf raises or tibia raises on the edge of the stairs.
Chuck Gaidica: Tibia raises, why is that new to me?
Marissa Jarrett: You want to strengthen the muscles on the front part of the leg.
Chuck Gaidica: Okay.
Marissa Jarrett: Especially if you’re someone prone to shin splints, but you always want to work the opposing muscle groups. So if you’re going to work the calves, you may as well work the front part of the shins as well. So yeah, I mean there’s all kinds. Take that stairway workout, make it a little bit more creative. Doing pushups, if you’re worried about your hands getting dirty, brings some hand towels or surgical gloves to put on your hands. But you could do tricep dips on those stairs, so you can get creative that way.
Chuck Gaidica: So I used to think peer pressure was just something we experienced when we were kids. But then I’ve seen the good side of it. So I downloaded an app, Lose It, and I’m tracking food. And for awhile my wife told me later, she said, “I thought this was kind of goofy. You’re tracking it. We’re at a restaurant, you’re inputting all your food.” You know, within about a month she downloaded the app and she started. And my wife has no trouble. She could eat Cinnabons from Metro airport with butter and then go, “Honey, I lost two pounds.” I mean, it drives me nuts. So she has no trouble. But for her, this was a good way of having someone, like you’re saying, when it comes to the workout, maybe when it comes to what you’re ingesting, which is a huge part of whatever we’re going to call a workout, right? That I guess we’re looking to somebody to give us some guidance in our life and in this case, an app does that by itself, right? Do you have an app? Do professionals worry about that or you just intuitively know what’s going on?
Angela Moore: I’m an avid workout fanatic.
Chuck Gaidica: So you don’t worry about it.
Angela Moore: Yes, I really don’t. I really don’t. But I often tell clients whatever you need to do that’s going to keep you motivated and keep you consistent. So if it’s an app that you have to download on your phone, if it’s journaling and writing down your activities of the day, your food consumption patterns throughout the day, if whatever you need to do to keep yourself on track, do it and commit to doing it consistently.
Chuck Gaidica: Do we have to invest in a gym membership? Because I hear so much, I see a lot of videos on body weight exercises and I think we know what some of those are that we’ve grown up seeing. Could you do an entire workout and never touch a weight?
Marissa Jarrett: Absolutely.
Chuck Gaidica: Isn’t that something we could think about? Because I don’t need to carry, or I can’t carry, 20 pound dumbbells everywhere.
Marissa Jarrett: Right, right. Yeah. No, you can use your own body weight. Obviously we’ve discussed that. You can carry resistance bands and jump ropes. We talked about that. They’re easy to pack, they’re portable. But take a look around your environment and what do you have. Maybe when you’re going to the grocery store, if you have four bags, instead of pushing them to your car in your cart, carry them. For me on a farm, I’m constantly filling up five gallon water buckets and carrying them to the pasture to feed the animals and water the animals. So that in a sense is something that I never have to go to a gym for after I’ve worked in the yard for an hour.
Chuck Gaidica: So wait, five gallons, you said?
Marissa Jarrett: Yeah, they’re five gallon buckets.
Chuck Gaidica: So that’s 30, 35 pounds, right?
Marissa Jarrett: I’m doing a nice little farmer’s carry.
Chuck Gaidica: Wow.
Marissa Jarrett: Yeah. So I mean, you do that for a half an hour or if you like to garden and you have compost, you’re shoveling it. Usually we’ll go pick compost up from the farm down the way, and we’re shoveling it out of the back of the truck into the wheelbarrow, carrying it over to the garden. Or if you have a gardening project and you’re having mulch delivered or sand or gravel, have them deliver it at the edge of your driveway so that you are shoveling it in your wheelbarrow, you’ve got a longer distance. So there’s all sorts of things that you can do without having to go to a gym.
Chuck Gaidica: Well, if you are going to schedule a workout for yourself, whether it’s with a trainer or otherwise, is there a specific amount of time for a busy person that would be the minimum amount of time you would want to allot? Can you really get by with just a few 10 minute workouts a week? Can it be 15? Is there a good time, or is it just so different for each person?
Angela Moore: I would say whatever you can do consistently and I think if you have a day where your schedule is very busy, do a 10 minute workout, do a 15 minute workout. If you have a day where you have the opportunity to schedule in a longer workout appointment, and I do encourage you to schedule in your workouts just like you would do any appointment, then take the longer time and do the longer workout. Enjoy the longer workout, don’t rush through it. There’s definitely benefits to HIT training, high intensity interval training. Tabata training where you’re doing 20 to 10 intervals, for four minutes.
Chuck Gaidica: Sure.
Angela Moore: There’s been numerous articles that have supported the numerous benefits during the exercise and actually following the activity. So whatever you can do, do it consistently.
Chuck Gaidica: And as we’re seeing the aging of America, which I know is important, we’re all aging somehow. I’m seeing more and more, maybe it’s just me. I’m perceptually thinking, I’m seeing more articles about weight training. That there’s never a bad age to start weight training. It’s good for your bones. It’s good for your overall health. Do you both agree with that, that we really should be including some kind of body weight or otherwise weight training exercise?
Marissa Jarrett: Absolutely. Absolutely, it’s very important.
Chuck Gaidica: So what other benefits am I missing? It’s anaerobic, right?
Marissa Jarrett: And you need that for our bone density, especially for women. As we get older, we start to lose our bone density, so you need to be able to lift something heavy enough that’s going to put stress on those bones.
Chuck Gaidica: And then muscle mass itself, doesn’t that burn calories?
Angela Moore: It does, yes. Lean muscle mass is much more active than fat mass. And as a woman, and while actually as you age, you lose lean muscle mass and you gain fat muscle mass. You definitely want to incorporate a strength training, resistance training into your workout to counteract that. Something that naturally happens.
Chuck Gaidica: So let’s picture somebody, I’m going to work and I’m in an office and now many of the newer buildings have that cafeteria style, long counter and there’s the Keurig and there’s this, it’s all cool. But that also means there may be the bowl of M&Ms and the this thing, and the free pop in the cooler. You can do so many of these great things, but if what you are putting in your mouth doesn’t match this new drive, right, for physical fitness, it may all be self-defeating.
Angela Moore: Yes. And self-sabotaging behaviors are something that I constantly combat.
Chuck Gaidica: Do you really?
Angela Moore: With my regular clients, yes. Yes. Because a lot of people will tell themselves, “Well, I did the workouts.” So it justifies, it makes it okay to eat a bag of M&Ms. And so one of the things I encourage my clients to do is think about the foods that you consume, not the foods that you should avoid. So if you’re eating seven to nine fruits or vegetables, you’re getting in a little lean protein, you’re getting in healthy fats and if you want to schedule in and I say schedule in your splurge, it’s okay, but let’s focus on getting those healthy nutrient-dense foods and first and then let’s if you want to, after you’ve consumed the nutrient-dense food, if you want a snack after that, then it’s okay.
Chuck Gaidica: Have you met a lot of people that are self-sabotaging as well?
Marissa Jarrett: Oh absolutely. Yes.
Chuck Gaidica: I worked out, but I need to eat a half a side of cow to get more protein. I mean, we all do that to some extent in our own context.
Marissa Jarrett: We do. Yeah, we do.
Chuck Gaidica: How do you counsel them? I mean, how do you break, how do you teach… As trainers, how do you teach others and how do you even instruct us listening to the podcast today to gain your sensibilities? That’s the hardest thing to teach somebody is how to be sensible about what they’re doing.
Marissa Jarrett: Well, like Angela said in the beginning, we try to counsel them to find their why, and once they have that, then we sit down with them and I will have them go over their nutrition. So they’ll keep a diary of everything they eat throughout the week. And if their why supports what they’re doing, they’re not going to have all of those self-sabotaging things in their meal plan. However, if we’re seeing that they’re going out to the bar and they’ve got some drinks or they’ve got some desserts, then we might have to sit down and re-discuss their why and their priorities and just let them know that in moderation, those things are fine. But reach your goal first and then you can add those back in, in small quantities.
Chuck Gaidica: So I know that we live in the Northern climes, so it’s sometimes tough in the winter to consider you’re going to ride your bike to work. Although a lot of people stood the Fat Tire thing. I’m still amazed when I see these guys go by, I’m like, oh my gosh, that’s just amazing. They’re doing this in the middle of January. But for us, even in Detroit where bike riding is now a big thing, when you think of commuting, there are ways to make even your commute healthier, right? You could just walk to work if you’re close enough.
Angela Moore: Well, something that I used to do at the counseling center, because it’s very different when I’m training clients, I’m moving, I’m demonstrating exercises, so I get a lot more steps than I would, as opposed to when I’m at the counseling center. So I would strategically, and I would say strategically make a plan to walk the long way for my next client. So one of the things that I encountered at the counseling center, so there’s an entryway and then there’s an exit way and now you can easily leave your office and go to the door and just get your client. I would go the long way around to get my clients. So it would take me, by the time I was done, I would easily get my 10,000 steps.
Chuck Gaidica: Wow. Very cool.
Angela Moore: Yes, yes.
Chuck Gaidica: We’ve got a person that we know who’s a manager at one of the local Costco’s, and they added on to the Costco. He said exactly the same thing. He said, “You know, from one corner to the other corner, it’s like a mile.” He said, “So I make it a point to not walk to exactly what I want. I go the long way.” And that’s a big store to get lost in, and of course it’s his job, but he’s figured out a way in his busy life while he’s on the clock to get exercise.
Marissa Jarrett: That’s fantastic.
Chuck Gaidica: Yeah.
Marissa Jarrett: Yeah.
Chuck Gaidica: Any other tricks you can suggest about this idea of what we can do to incorporate it into our business life? You talked a little bit about, well, closing the blinds, but you’re going to do pushups against the wall if you don’t want to do them on the floor, and maybe not. Maybe you want to influence your staff or you’ll be an influencer to other members of the staff. What else can we think about when it comes to the workplace? What could we do?
Marissa Jarrett: You know, instead of emailing your coworker, walk over to their desk. With instant messaging, find a group of people and send them an instant message. Say, Hey, it’s been 30 minutes, let’s do some squats. And then you help one another stay accountable. Keep dumbbells, resistance bands in your desk. If you can get a stand up desk or swap your chair out for a stability ball.
Chuck Gaidica: Interesting.
Marissa Jarrett: Yeah, absolutely.
Chuck Gaidica: So that’s not a bunch of baloney, those balls?
Marissa Jarrett: No, no, no. And if you have an online meeting or something, they can’t see you, most likely you can sit there and you can do your sit-ups, you can pick your ball up, do your squats, you’ve got a little exercise going out while you’re watching a webinar or having an online meeting with somebody.
Angela Moore: One of the things I would love to add, because I love when you think about meetings and you mentioned instead of send an email, working meetings. So instead of sitting with the client or a coworker at the desk, walk during the whole time you’re having that meeting.
Chuck Gaidica: So personally I am notorious for going out letting my dogs take me for a walk. And returning calls or making calls, and then sometimes if someone wanted to come over to meet, I would say, “Would you mind going for a walk? I want to let the dog,” and I would always couch it that way cause it’s a little funnier, “I’m going to let the dog take me for a walk.” “Oh sure.” So I’d have to apologize a bit on the phone because of the barking, but outside of that, it was such a fantastic way for me to get in an easy, 30 minute walk and go around my path a few times. I’m in touch with nature, I’m breathing, I’m calming down. I’m actually at times being productive and the dog’s getting a benefit, you know? And the dog was taking me for a walk. It was just the best and still is.
Marissa Jarrett: And you were probably were more productive when you got back after that.
Chuck Gaidica: I’m going to tell my wife that. I’ll bet I was. All right, so you talked about working out in pairs. That doesn’t always work for spouses because my thing may be I want to pick things up and put them down and maybe Susan wants to be more into aerobics, but you can still find somebody, maybe it’s a brand new friend at the club that you met who’s doing something you like, right? Can’t we find someone to be a buddy?
Marissa Jarrett: Absolutely. They’re out there. They’re out there.
Angela Moore: And when you make a commitment to be active and you go to a club, if you go consistently, you’re going to eventually meet other like-minded people. And it doesn’t hurt to maybe send out an email and inquire about maybe coworkers that are interested in starting a workout program just like you and saying, okay, how many of you would love to meet with me at 12:15 at lobby A, and let’s do a workout together. And I love the fact that Marissa mentioned the tubes and bands, you can actually form a workout group at the office, remind everybody to bring their tubes and bands and you all do a work group workout together. How awesome is that?
Chuck Gaidica: Well, and you know what’s nice about those too, is those pack up. So if you’re the kind of person that’s job requiring some flying, you can take those, you could also use a two liter bottle of water or something. So there are these ways you can do that. But we do have bands and we’ll take them on vacation. So at least it gives us that, which is nice to have.
Angela Moore: And you can work every muscle of the body with a band or a tube, very effectively.
Chuck Gaidica: Is that right?
Angela Moore: You totally can. Yeah. And one of the things I love to do with clients is I like to do a push pull workout. So I have them do a chest exercise, a back exercise, and a shoulder, then a bicep and a tricep, and an exercise for their quads and their hamstrings. And because you’re working, there’s something called reciprocal inhibition, and contraction to one side forces the relaxation of the opposite opposing muscle. What that basically means is that when I am working, say the chest, the back has to relax so when the chest is contracting the back is in a relaxed position. So you are positioning the body in a perfect… The body’s positioned perfectly to do chest, back, thighs, tris, quads, hamstrings without rest. And so you can very easily and very effectively do a 15, 20 minute workout in no time.
Chuck Gaidica: I should’ve had bands here cause for the taping, I could’ve been talking to you and I could have been doing stuff, right?
Marissa Jarrett: That’s right.
Chuck Gaidica: All right, so if we’re going to look for friends, there is the notion of having somebody to be accountable to. That’s what I was trying to say. I was reaching for that before with my app, but there also is in all of us to some extent a little bit of competition. That’s not a bad thing either, isn’t it?
Marissa Jarrett: Yeah, no, I think it fuels us, you know, to be able to do a workout today and do it better next week, whether it’s a little bit longer or we increase the intensity or we were able to sustain it for a longer period of time. There’s all different ways that you can look at it. You can try and get through a workout quicker by increasing the intensity or you can try and be able to increase that duration.
Chuck Gaidica: And the stories are always amazing. And I know Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has been involved in various ways, but when you see an entire staff or a group lose an immense amount of weight because of this little bit of competition, or maybe it is peer pressure, we’re all going to get on this bandwagon and from January 1 to March 1` we’re all going to do the best we can. There is something to be said for forward momentum, just leaning in with people around you who are leaning in as well, even when you don’t know what you’re doing, which is most of the time for me.
Angela Moore: Yes. Yes. You know, I want to highlight something that Marissa said that I think is so important. I love when you talked about competition, Marissa, that you talk more about self competition, competing with yourself. One of those discussions that Marissa and I had prior to this segment today, is we were talking about how we are in a society right now where we unfortunately compare ourselves to unrealistic images that are on social media. And I think the greatest thing that you can do to yourself is be your own competitor but also your biggest cheerleader and still compete against yourself. And I think that’s so important because I think that when it’s all said and done at the end of the day, sometime early in the morning or late at night, you’re only with yourself and you have to motivate and empower yourself.
Chuck Gaidica: Yeah. I don’t know who said this, somebody important and famous, probably, said if you do anything for a month you’ll probably see results. And I know that anecdotally in my life, maybe in yours too, whether it’s changing your lifestyle, some would call it a diet. When you start a new program with bands or something, if you could just stay with something and find your way through it, give it whatever that period is for you, three weeks, six weeks. If you can do that for a month. For most of us, that can become habitual, so don’t give up in two days. That doesn’t make any sense. And that’s a bit of self competition. Driving yourself to that next level, right?
Marissa Jarrett: Absolutely.
Chuck Gaidica: So what about now? Let’s talk about, we’re going to the grocery store, we’re going to buy some bags of groceries. I’m going to carry them the long way. But back to this notion of food, we still may want to make sure we’re picking out the right things and we’ve done segments and episodes on that before, but is there a way that we should be balancing any of this? Is there anything that’s special that we need to think about or is it really just start a program that gets you active?
Angela Moore: I would say whatever you do, make sure that you’re setting realistic expectations and make your changes slowly over time. So when you go to the grocery store, try to get the most nutrient dense foods that you can, but don’t completely eliminate some of those other foods that are your favorite foods. Because I think one of the things that happens is we, we set this goal and we set the expectations way too high and we kind of set ourselves up for failure. But I think if you can go with the mindset, understanding that I’m going to start an activity, I’m not going to be an Olympic athlete when I first start. And then also understanding that when I go into the store, there’s a lot of education that also, that I’m going to have to educate myself and understand what food choices I need to make and also understand how to integrate those healthier food choices into my lifestyle. It’s going to take some time. I feel like when we think about eating healthier, we try to do too much all at one time. Yeah.
Chuck Gaidica: And you mentioned a nutrient dense and there’s a mutual friend we have, Dr. Tom Rifai, and he was the one, I want to paint this visual picture for people because this is something that has stuck with me since the day I got to know him and I think it works for a lot of people. When he talked about the density of food, would you rather have this couple, and pick the kind of cookie, an Oreo cookie, Girl Scout cookie, doesn’t matter. You want to have two of those or how about this medium to large size apple? They both may show up at about 90 calories, but do you know how much you’re getting in that apple? So the density of that food, it fills you up. It’s giving you fiber, it’s giving you water. That visualization.
Chuck Gaidica: Whenever I shop now, whenever I talk to somebody, whenever I reach to eat something, I’m thinking about how much that food is going to fill me up because I already know. If I go for two cookies, there’s just no way. It’s going to be the whole sleeve of Thin Mints, and a 2% milk, because they do kind of balance each other out, right?
Chuck Gaidica: This density of that food has been a visual picture that I now look at with so many different things that I do and I think it’s those little tricks that can help us along the way. It’s fast and even though I’m busy, I know how to shop.
Marissa Jarrett: That’s fantastic.
Chuck Gaidica: Yeah. So let me come back to this idea of success. We’re going to try to find it. Success is one of those words that can always be a moving target for a lot of us. When you have worked out with people, is it purely setting goals? Do you see happiness come into their lives? What other benefits are you seeing to creating a plan like we’ve discussed today for a busy schedule?
Marissa Jarrett: I think that there’s a lot of fun that can be had.
Chuck Gaidica: Sure.
Marissa Jarrett: And that makes anything easier, when you’re having fun and when you’re doing something that you enjoy,
Chuck Gaidica: You’re getting fit.
Marissa Jarrett: Yeah. You’re getting fit–
Chuck Gaidica: Maybe you’re changing habits.
Marissa Jarrett: You’re getting more active, you’re going to feel better. You’ll think clearly.
Chuck Gaidica: Yeah. And maybe be more relaxed. Maybe if I’m working out the chest and my back muscles feel like I just got a massage.
Marissa Jarrett: Right, right. You’ll relieve a lot of stress. So there’s a lot of other things. You might have a reason why you’re working out, but there’s a lot of other side effects that are better for you, that you’re going to experience. Losing weight really is a side effect. That shouldn’t be your goal. That should be a side effect. Increasing muscle mass, things like that. That all comes from working out. I think we should just do it more from a longevity perspective, and wanting to be our healthiest self.
Chuck Gaidica: So my smartphone is one of my best friends. I hate to admit it, but I do put my calendar there and I share it with Susan. So if you’re a busy person and you’re into calendars, is it good that you schedule your workout or should you let it holistically just happen?
Angela Moore: I think it’s essential actually.
Chuck Gaidica: It is essential, okay.
Angela Moore: I really do. I really believe that because that’s one of the things that I find that people eliminate first when they get really busy, but you would not cancel an appointment that you would have with your doctor or a loved one, if you have dinner plans, and I believe that once you schedule in, what will happen is your schedule will work around that, as opposed to you trying to squeeze it in. But also I will say that’s something that’s really important. If you don’t get your workout in like you plan, don’t let that be your reason for eating badly and say, “Well, I didn’t work out so I might as well just-“.
Chuck Gaidica: Blow the whole day.
Angela Moore: Blow the whole day. And anything, even at the end of the day, say you had planned to work out early in the morning, but let’s say you’re a mom or a husband that ended up getting a phone call and he had to go to the office a little early, and had planned to workout, do the workout when you get home, but shorten it a little bit and make it a little less intense. Do it at the end of the day. Do a HIT interval workout right before you go to bed. If you need to take a walk around the neighborhood for 15, 20 minutes. So don’t let that be the excuse to not do it.
Chuck Gaidica: And I know Marissa, you raised this idea about combining exercise with things you do. And when I was reading some of the background about what our topic was today for this episode, that movie, the great movie where Robin Williams is playing Mrs. Doubtfire, remember when he’s dancing with the vacuum? I mean it’s a classic scene, right? And I’m just thinking if I walked in and either Susan saw me vacuuming or I saw her and I was combining my workout with vacuuming, she would think, well the day has come, this is it kids, you know? But as funny as it is that there is something to be said for the fun factor. It’s a bit wacky. So that alone of makes it fun.
Marissa Jarrett: I thought so. Yeah. I know there was one morning I was driving down Big Beaver and I was stopped at a light and I just happened to look over and there was a building there that had glass windows and there was a guy in his office dancing.
Angela Moore: I love it.
Marissa Jarrett: It made my day, I don’t know what he was dancing if it was working out or if he made a great sale or what, but you know, whatever he was doing, he was having fun.
Angela Moore: I was going to say something that’s really interesting that I recall. I remember when I was working on my masters, sometimes it was hard because I was doing an internship running a business and plus trying to be – yeah – all at the same time. So one of the things that I would do is I would walk up and down the stairs while I was studying.
Chuck Gaidica: You were reading out of a book?
Angela Moore: Yes, and I would walk up and down the stairs safely. Right. But the whole time I’m studying, that’s what I would do. I’d go up and down the stairs and I would do that for 30 to 45 minutes, workout’s done.
Chuck Gaidica: Back in the old days, I used to have a Schwinn Airdyne. I still, I actually, I still have, I’ve gone back out and I’ve gotten a bike that’s similar, but it’s not the same. And I had the old magazine rack and I’ll tell you what, it didn’t vibrate too much. I could read a magazine and some books, depending on how thick they were, it was the best, most highly productive, 30 to 40 minutes I could get. And it was just my thing. Not everybody wants to read while they’re running, and I didn’t want to do a treadmill, but you’ve got to find that thing and when you find it, I know I put thousands of miles on that bike. I know I did, and it was good for me and I, I forget exactly all I read, but I know I went through a few Motor Trends, so it was really good to me.
Chuck Gaidica: So if we wrap this all up, we’ve got to be realistic in setting our goals, right? And probably we just need to start. I mean, let’s just find something to start with, right? Just be motivated to begin. And if I need your help, can I call you? Will you coach me? I mean, you’re both coaches.
Angela Moore: Yes, Chuck.
Marissa Jarrett: Absolutely.
Chuck Gaidica: I mean you helped me get going and something new because I’m not that gym guy who wants to hear all the guys grunting. It’s a bit intimidating to me. So I understand why some of these newer gyms have cropped up where you can be the average person and not be intimidated because there is that factor too. But I just encourage everybody to really think that it’s time that we just do something about it. Because sometimes that person we’re waiting for to get started is us, so maybe it’s time to go.
Chuck Gaidica: Well, it’s put such a great pleasure having you here.
Marissa Jarrett: Great. Thank you, Chuck. It was a pleasure to be here with you.
Chuck Gaidica: Oh my gosh. Angela and Marissa and every time I’ve got someone here, I go out and I get these takeaways. Trust me, I’m going to go out and do something different today. Last time Vince McKinnon who was here, one of your colleagues, he said, go get a weighted vest and when you go for walks with your dog, use the weighted vest, or make sure you use hills. I looked a little strange in the winter, but I got one. Yeah, and I’m doing it and it changes the workout.
Angela Moore: It completely changes the workout and something I want to mention that I’m so glad that you mentioned the weighted vest. Unfortunately something that I routinely see people do is they will walk with hand weights and that is not good. It increases blood pressure and it’s not an effective way to build resistance and strength in your muscles.
Chuck Gaidica: That’s a good tip.
Angela Moore: You’re not going to build lean muscle mass doing that.
Chuck Gaidica: Yeah. Okay, good. Well, I’m going to cut back on those. Thanks so much ladies. Thanks for being here with us today.
Marissa Jarrett: Thank you.
Chuck Gaidica: And thank you for listening. This has been A Healthier Michigan Podcast, it’s brought to you by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. If you like our show, you want to know more, you can check out all the episodes, previous episodes, and of course we’ve got more coming your way. It’s at ahealthiermichigan.org/podcast. You can leave us reviews or ratings on iTunes or Stitcher. You can also get new episodes on your smartphone or tablet so you can be productive. You get out your ear buds and you can go for your power walk with your dogs and you can listen to one of our shows. Be sure you subscribe to us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. I’m Chuck Gaidica. Have a great day.
