Gym Scene, Hare and Tortoise, Go for Gold & Nature As Teacher

Taken from Lynne’s weekly column ‘Green Scene’ for the Western Mail
2^nd April 2022

Gym Scene

Please indulge me in making this week’s column a little more ‘Gym Scene’ than ‘Green Scene’.  On Tuesday I qualified as a level 3 personal trainer after studying in Usk College since September last year.  It has been an incredible journey, and even though I have completed parachute jumps, wing walks and fire walks, it was by far and away the most nerve-wracking thing I have done for a very long time.  Enrolling was a challenge in itself – I recall not being able to complete and submit an online form and being convinced it was a test that I had already failed and would therefore be refused entry to the course.

That experience and a whole lot of others were only made surmountable by the incredible staff and tutors.  As well as a brand new shiny qualification, I also have a new-found respect and regard for teachers. The right ones can change your life in quite spectacular ways.

As well as absorbing anatomy and physiology and nutrition like a sponge, I have had great fun and even better results by putting it all into practise.  My A & P understanding has meant that I have been more respectful of my body in work, especially when heavy lifting.  But the real eye-opener has been the nutritional information.  Most of us are far more careful what fuel we put in our cars than what we put in our body, because our bodies are far more tolerant – to a point.  I finally realised the harsh truth that I can’t keep eating like I did when I was in my 20’s and 30’s and expect to stay lean.  My metabolism has changed, life has changed and habits must change accordingly.

Although I am still very active and physical, it is not to the extent that I was in my younger years. That couldn’t possibly have been sustained.  I was like Road Runner – now I’m often more like road kill, flat out.

Carl Jung said that most of our ‘midlife’ crisis’s happen because we try to live the second part of our life like we lived the first.  It is impossible to do.  Like many, I simply blamed the menopause for my weight gain, (and a lot of other things) rather than a lack of necessary knowledge.

Weight gain is predominantly (not always) caused by more calories going in than are being burned.  However I wasn’t actually consuming enough calories so my body was hanging onto what ‘fat’ it could as it thought I was ‘starving’.  Drama Queen body! I had to totally revise my eating habits but it has been worth it – we’ve dropped the drama and are enjoying the karma.

Most weight gain is scarily stealthy. A gain of just 1 lb per week – little enough to be comfortably ignored – will result in almost a stone gained in just 3 months.  I went up to a size 12 during the menopause, and borrowed clothes from a friend as I absolutely refused to buy that size.  It may not seem a ‘huge’ size to many but I have always been a 6/8 and so that was up by 2/3 sizes. It’s all relative.

I ricocheted between being angry with myself, angry about the injustice of it all, guilty for being so self obsessed and just got too tired to really address any of it properly.

What I learned in college changed that.  Calories are actually interesting things – not to be feared or resented. And knowledge is power – it is so underrated.  Knowledge about anything – keep learning, stay inquisitive, it’s so important.

Hare and Tortoise

I absolutely dreaded going back into education, having hated it so much the first time around.  This time I was also the oldest in the classroom.  I struggled to introduce myself on the very first day and spent several of the early journeys home vowing I wouldn’t go back the following week because of some trigger or other.

One week, the words “find a partner” left me devastated as I was the person left on their own – just like being back in school in games and PE lessons.  It stung.  But that contributes to learning and growth.  It wasn’t personal.  Sometimes you just have to ‘get over yourself’.  Fast-forward six months and I was the first to qualify (three weeks early) and was therefore able to help those struggling to make it to the finishing post. It genuinely felt good to be able to help out.

And that is not a brag; it is merely a reminder about the Hare and the Tortoise.  www.read.gov/aesop/025.html  I kept turning up, I put in the work, I did extra work on myself and my own insecurities, I got out of my own way, I listened, watched and learned. It paid dividends.

Go for Gold

Dividends in the guise of a Gold medal. The week before I qualified, I won a Gold medal in the personal trainers sector of The Welsh Skills Award.  Me. Gold. For PT. I still can’t quite believe it.

I had to submit a 10 minute video teaching an online exercise class using a household object as a ‘weight’.  Inspired by past COVID restrictions, it was intended to motivate people to work out when the gyms are closed or gym equipment is unavailable.

I chose to shoot my video on top of the mountain … with a watermelon.  It was January and it was 4 degrees.

I’m guessing there wasn’t an award for the most bonkers video and am still rather stunned (and delighted) to have bagged the Gold with my rather unconventional approach.

As well as providing a welcomed confidence boost for me, it is a huge testament to the tutors, Chris, Cerys, Ray and Diana at Usk College and also to my fellow students for their acceptance and support during the course.

It also goes to show that amazing things happen right at the end of your comfort zone.

Nature As Teacher

Funnily enough, I think gardening has taught me a lot of life lessons.

It teaches you patience – you don’t keep digging a seed up to see if it’s growing; it teaches you persistence – not everything flourishes as you would like; it teaches you resilience – just think ‘weather’; it teaches you to be flexible – you have to work with nature, and above all it teaches you that a will to grow is one of the most important attributes to success – just look at these daffodils growing out of a wall or a buddleia growing out of a chimney stack.

So I would just like to end with a huge heartfelt thank you to all the tutors, staff and fellow students at Usk College – you have all contributed to a new chapter in my life – and to all my readers, please keep learning, keep growing – and consider college (especially Usk) as part of that journey.  I’ll definitely be continuing my studies there.  As some bright spark said, “Don’t ever let go of anything that makes you a better person.”

As well as the ‘fitness and wellbeing’ options, the stunning rural college offers animal/countryside courses including Small Holders, NPTC Chainsaw Certs, Animals Management, Landbased Studies, Veterinary Nursing, Cat and Dog First Aid and many more.

Visit www.coleggwent.ac.uk/campuses/usk for more details.

Oh and I have a fab’luss idea for a Government-led Fitness Campaign – anyone help me with that please?