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Staying Active staff share their active hobbies and tips for staying motivated As the nights draw in and the weather takes a gloomier turn, it can take an extra effort to lace up those trainers or stop by the gym knowing there’s a warm home and comfort food to return to. Winter can often mean our fitness goals take a hit, so we spoke to colleagues to hear what their tips and tricks are to stay motivated… Julie Smith, LTHT Volunteer “Although exercising is not one of my favourite pastimes I think if you make it part of your weekly routine and book ahead so you can’t chicken out, then it just becomes something you do. My usual routine is gym three times a week for about an hour. Tuesdays I swim before volunteering, which is also brilliant exercise as it involves walking around every wing of St James’s delivering newspapers to wards. We look after our son’s dog at the end of the week and she likes a good couple of hours’ walk on Fridays and Saturdays. I finish the week off on a Sunday by getting up early and doing a five-mile run. My reward at the end of this is a full cooked English breakfast.”
Lydia Kolb, Specialist Audiologist “I like to go hiking with my partner across Leeds and the Calder Valley as well as the Peak District and Yorkshire Dales. I love the outdoors and walking gets my heart pumping without it feeling like ‘hard exercise’. I have problems with my joints so certain exercise can be challenging, but I like the thought that my muscles are getting stronger the more I walk and move. Being amongst nature, even in the depths of winter, feels fresh and
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new, and having expended some pentup energy in the outdoors I always come home feeling renewed.”
Building the Leeds Way programme director Mike Bacon and Project Managers Alec Musson and Jonny Sylvester “Lockdown meant eating more and moving less initially. A number of our Building the Leeds Way team therefore decided to get active using the BBC’s ’Couch to 5K’ app. The app is brilliant and contains several celebs cheering you on, telling you when to run and when to walk, and provides some extra motivation to start running. “We started an informal running club in work - just 30-40 minutes running during our lunch break so when the nights creep in we can keep the exercise going. If the run lasts a little longer we just add some time onto the start or end of the day and take a flexible approach as we realise how important it is both physically and mentally to stay active. Our top tip is a good pair of trainers - and some headphones to get some motivational tunes playing!”
Hayley Duffy, Personal Trainer and Health and Wellbeing coordinator “I won’t lie to you, I find winter a struggle to navigate through. In general, the combination of the short, dark days mixed with the fact I spend approximately five months of the year being a human ice cube doesn’t make for a particularly cheerful time. The battle is to find the balance between sticking to a healthy lifestyle and allowing myself some motivational treats along the way. Here are my top tips to staying motivated: 1) P lan in advance. This goes across the board from menu ideas, meal prep/ batch cooking to set workout routines and times. If it’s all there and ready to go in advance you are much more likely to stick to it rather than relying on finding the motivation to do it from scratch that day. 2) A llow for slip ups. Nobody is perfect and sometimes things just don’t go to plan. By allowing for and making peace with this potential you can help avoid the all or nothing complex, which can lead into relapse (e.g.: I forgot my lunch today so had to buy something at the shop which wasn’t healthy in the slightest so I may as well just write this entire week off). 3) B e kind to yourself. There is such a thing as healthy treats and these can be used as a motivational tactic. Quite often if I’m having a bad day I will think of something I really consider to
