Welcome to the Stayfit2fly Podcast with Coach,
Tracy Smith. The Marines have a saying, “Everyone wants
to go to heaven but no one wants to die.” Flight crews are exceptional people who live
exceptional lives. The way we eat, train and show up in the world
takes more strategy and precision than the average person. We can’t afford to whine, complain or make
excuses when our goal is to optimize our career, health and happiness. We are the Top Guns of our generation, the
one percent who have made it. We are the best of the best and we intend
on keeping it that way.
Hello and a big welcome! I am so glad that you are here with me today. There are so many good things going on right
now. I love that summer is here. I love that my kids are playing sports, baseball
and football. And my other son is in marching band, which
isn’t really a sport but it definitely takes a lot of his time and teaches him to be part
of a team. I grew up competing in gymnastics and I think
it’s so important that kids do sports when they are young. I think it really helps their development
physically and socially and mentally.
My teammates were some of my best friends
growing up. You work hard and care about having a healthy
body. I know a lot of people blame things like dance
and gymnastics for body complexes and eating disorders but I had awesome coaches that were
constantly praising how strong I was instead of how I looked. They encouraged me to love my body and be
proud because of what it could do. It wasn’t about how skinny I was, it was
about if I had the strength and speed to be dynamic on vault or the guts to really swing
and fly on bars.
Also, I really like that when you’re young
in sports…. you are going to fail 🙂 …. A lot! You are going to lose games and miss passes
and run the wrong direction. And I love that kids learn that that is okay. It’s so important to learn how to lose and
how to take failure as fuel to get better. My husband has a saying, “If you never fall
then you aren’t pushing hard enough.” Anyway, I’m a huge advocate for sports. They were such a big part of my childhood
and I am lucky to still be seeing results from that now as an adult.
Let’s get going on today’s topic. It was kind of interesting, I had a darling
teenager in my gym last week, let’s call her…. Alice. And she was working out with her mom and her
cute mama was teaching her Kettlebell swings. And Alice kept trying to avoid the mirror
and her cheeks were a bit flushed and she finally said. “Don’t you ever feel stupid doing exercise?” I know Alice and her Mom quite well and so
I know that Alice struggles with some heavy anxiety and depression.
And while I have never struggled with either
of those things, it does run in my family and I work with many many youth who I am noticing
are showing signs and symptoms at an alarming rate. The thought about how I look when exercising,
had literally never crossed my mind. What I am thinking about is something like…
“is this exercise is effective?” I actively FOCUS on every element of my form. I am paying close attention to my body for
any indication that I am doing something wrong and may cause an injury. Now to be completely honest, there is always
the awkward barbell hip thruster or inner thigh machine at the gym that will give me
a slight moment of hesitation to see who is around and may be watching, but swinging a
kettlebell? Nope.
You would think that maybe a new movement
pattern like when I learned snatches or clean and jerks? Also Nope, I’ve never felt self conscious
about how I look when I exercise because who cares? Who do you think is watching you instead of
them self? I chose to believe that no one is watching
me. I also had a dad that has been sneaking me
into the gym since I was 10 years old.
(Back in the day almost any Globo Gym, like
24 hour fitness or Gold’s required you to be 16 to enter) So maybe I started exercising
young enough that I never thought to feel awkward about movements? I just found it really interesting that when
Alice was learning a new skill with literally only her mom and I in the room. That she was so embarrassed and aware of possible
judgement.
The lesson that is important to consider and
possibly learn here, for everyone, is that thinking that way is a choice. Creating anxiety in that situation was a choice. Judging yourself constantly and trying to
guess or change or control what other people think about you is a choice. When you become anxious in everyday situations
like this, you expend precious energy and brain power that would be much better used
on other situations throughout the day such as interacting with people, having difficult
conversations with a spouse, children or maybe a co-worker. It’s important to conserve willpower for
more important things such as goals that you are pursuing. If you exhaust this precious daily supply
of mental energy then you will often find yourself shutting yourself up in a dark room,
unwilling or unable to be around people and needing time to decompress alone. I’ve seen it time and time again as a few
seemingly harmless mental decisions lead to almost hourly crippling anxiety.
Our upcoming generation worries a lot! They worry that everyone hates the shoes they
are wearing or that no one likes their hair. That they have the wrong backpack at school
or that they shouldn’t have a backpack at all. They worry that they don’t have enough followers
and likes on social media. They worry that their friends are doing fun
things without them and that means that their friends don’t like them anymore. They worry that their life is too boring,
too average and that they need to be exciting and spectacular and the best at everything. Anxiety and depression is a mental illness
so finding ways to lessen or completely remove it from your own life is an important step
on your path to optimal health. And that is my overarching goal with this
podcast. To help EVERYONE who wants to improve their
life through achieving and enjoying optimal, lifelong, sustainable health. Because anxiety and depression is so prevalent
in the teenagers that I work with, I have put a lot of time and energy into researching
what is going on in their bodies and their minds to create this.
Now if you are one of those people thinking,
this doesn’t apply to me. I don’t struggle with anxiety or depression. Don’t turn off this episode quite yet. Because with 40 Million Americans effected,
odds are that someone you know and love dearly or maybe your own kids or grand kids could
use your help and support. Long gone are the days of sticking up your
nose and telling someone to “get over it.” That they just need to be more positive and
my personal NON-FAVORITE- that things could be worse and that you should be grateful for
what you have. Yes, that is a true statement. No, that is not what you should say to someone
who is struggling. None of these glib phrases are helpful and
often that attitude is quite harmful as it minimizes an issue that needs immediate attention.
Death from anxiety and depression in America
is on the raise. We had four teenagers take their own life,
just in my small area, just this year. This is something that you may think will
never come your way, and I hope you’re right, but learning a little bit more about what
the disease is, and what you can do to make it better could literally save a life. We all need to pay attention. I know that was a little heavy but this is
also a really invigorating subject for me because I do believe that it is possible to
create such change in your life and in the life of your innermost circle of family and
friends when it comes to mental health. First, I think it’s important to make a
distinction between being depressed and having clinical depression. I wish that those were different words. Just like fat on your body and fat in your
food are two completely different things, so it goes with depression. Medical News Today defines the two different
types this way. “The first is Situational depression also
known medically as “adjustment disorder with depressed mood.” It often resolves in time, and talking about
the problem can ease the recovery process.
The second type is Clinical depression, also
known medically as “major depressive disorder,” It can develop if the individual does not
recover. This is a more severe mental health condition. Medical treatment and counseling can often
help relieve symptoms, but I believe that it’s lifestyle remedies, such as a nutrient
dense diet and less time on social media that can really start to heal the true problem
at its core. So the solutions I want to discuss and focus
on today are lifestyle changes as opposed to medical treatment including taking medication. I know that medication may be necessary but
I believe it should be a last resort. I want parents and teens and especially all
prospective pilots, to consider and research which medications could possibly prevent you
from holding a first class medical.
It is also important to stay up to date on
what conditions could disqualify you from a career in aviation. I’m not going to read through the current
list of approved and not approved vitamins, herbal preparations, and medications from
the FAA because it does change and update but I will put it in the transcript if you
are interested. Anti-Depressants / Anxiety – Single-use
Anti-Depressants such as: Celexa (Citalopram Hydrobromide), Lexapro (Escitalopram Oxalate),
Prozac (Fluoxetine Hydrochloride), Wellbutrin (Bupropion) or Zoloft (Sertraline Hydrochloride)
may be approved by the FAA for depression on a case by case basis only. Approval is very strict and does not permit
applicants to be approved by an AME or even the FAA office in Oklahoma City.
These cases are decided by the FAA office
in Washington, D.C.. All other psychiatric medications, including
other SSRI’s such as Effexor XR (Venlafaxine HCl), Xanax (Alprazolam), Klonopin (Clonazepam),
Ativan (Lorazepam), Luvox (Fluvoxamine, Nortiriptyline, Norpramin (desipramine), Paxil (Paroxetine),
Viibryd (Vilazodone), Silenor, Zonalon, Valium (Diazepam) and Prudoxin (Doxepin) are not
acceptable to the FAA. Some vitamins and herbal preparations such
as Deplin (Levomefolic acid) or Saint Johns Wort may be utilized provided the condition
being treated is not disqualifying. I do however, want to mention that diagnosis
of certain medical conditions involving your mental health as well as taking supplements
and medications when you are a teeanger can destroy the possibility of a flight career. As it should. Being in charge of an aircraft of several
hundred people is a heavy responsibility that requires you to be very healthy mentally. Do your research and be sure that you are
consulting with your doctor about any and all medications you are taking and if there
are other alternatives.
I believe that anxiety and clinical depression
are frequently caused by many lifestyle choices that are very prevalent in our western society
today. Some of the main culprits that I want to talk
about, and I believe that there are no surprises here, are exercise, nutrition, screen time,
comparison and over stimulation. DON’T FEED YOUR ANXIETY THE NEWS
I feel like with the Corona Virus Pandemic that we are all experiencing, people in general
are struggling more with anxiety and having a harder time controlling it. Some of my friends have gone so far as to
lock themselves in the house, turn on the news 24/7 and flee to places like Facebook
and Twitter for their minute by minute information. There is an old Indian Parable where a Grandfather
tells his Grandson about these great, hungry wolves that live inside of him.
They are always battling and fighting and
trying to get his attention. Some say the wolves stand for good and evil. Or pride and hatred along with love and virtue. The little boy asked his Grandfather, “Which
wolf will win?” The Grandfather answered simply, “The wolf
who wins, is the one I feed.” If we feed into anxiety, and fear, and uncertainty
then that will rule our life. Little by little we will become that person. However, if we are constantly trying to find
ways to love and get along with other people then we will become the embodiment of love
and that will feel a whole lot better than constant fear. One of my very favorite speakers that I have
learned so much about depression and anxiety from is doctor Stephen Ilardi.
He is the author of the book, The Depression
Cure: The 6-Step Program to Beat Depression without Drugs. I highly recommend this book. It is excellent in every way and very helpful
with actionable steps to take. If you have listened to this podcast for very
long then you know that, I don’t like to just learn things, I want ways to really take
action and improve my situation and life and that is what his book is all about. Anyway, he speaks a lot about our ancestors
all of the way back 11-12 thousand years ago when humanity was hunter gatherers. Life was very different then. The only current events you would know about
was what happened directly to your small group, and maybe a few details of other groups that
reside within a few days' journey. Perhaps you would get a small update when
scouts or travelers wandered past you but you would have no idea about what is or has
happened to 99% of the people also living on the same planet as you. We have not only local, but statewide, national,
and worldwide news.
We hear about women and children being kidnapped
and sold into other countries, or about horrific traffic accidents that kill a dozen people
or tsunamis that wipe out entire cities and our brains can’t help but respond. It dumps hormones into our system that sends
us into fight or flight mode and we immediately are very aware that there is danger and that
we need to do something about it. This is a response meant to save our life. Back in the primitive times we may have been
chased by a wild animal or fallen into rushing water. This burst of adrenaline is designed to help
us get to safety. But it takes an incredible toll on the body. It leaves behind a lot of inflammation that
takes several hours to dissipate. It is hard on our nervous system and produces
waste products that add stress on the body to clear out. We are not meant to live in fight or flight.
Hunter Gatherers would experience 30 seconds
up to…maybe 30 minutes of fight or flight if they were really caught in a very dangerous
situation. Whereas we tend to have so many fight or flight
experiences in a row that some days we don’t get a chance to turn off or dissipate enough
of the hormones out of the parasympathetic nervous system so that we can get back down
to the rest and digests system. There are just so many triggers, from being
cut off in traffic, to taxes, to bills, lost or broken cell phones or even phobias such
as heights.
Our bodies are still trying to regulate and
we’ve already jumped into the next emergency. Reading the news keeps us in a high anxiety
state. And then when we do finally pull ourself away
we can’t stop thinking about it. Have you ever gotten so involved in something
in the news, political or social or whatever and not been able to disconnect? You keep checking all of the updates and new
headlines. By the end of the day you are exhausted and
I guarantee that you don’t feel like that was a productive, awesome day. Dr. Stephen Ilardi made this very astute observation. He said, “The problem is for many people
throughout the Western world, the stress response goes on for weeks, months and even years at
a time, and when it does that, it’s incredibly toxic.” While I’m not saying to stick your head
in the sand when it comes to news and current events, I do think that reading about every
horrific scene that happens to all of humanity is not good for you.
I recommend checking the news once per day. You decide on a set time, maybe 5-10 minutes
in the morning or at lunch time to catch up on your local city. You could also do a quick scan of a few things
that interest you but it’s not healthy to drag yourself through every frantic headline
that was especially crafted to shock, horrify and repulse you so that columnists can prey
on your attention. STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHER PEOPLE
If you were on this planet 12 thousand years ago, you would have grown up in a very small
communal tribe of maybe 100. That would put approximately 20 individuals
near your own age and half would be female with the other half male so about 10 people
that would be your contemporaries. Inevitably that means that you would have
something important to contribute to the group. Maybe you are an amazing hunter, or fire maker,
maybe you are really good at directions. Perhaps you have the precious skill of being
able to find water or maybe you are strong enough to drag trees and big rocks. This would make you very valuable to your
group. With the world the way it is now, and Google
right at your fingertips to provide you information about all 7.8 Billion people on the planet.
You will never be the best at anything. You will never be the fastest runner, or the
most beautiful, or the strongest. And even worse, we tend to compare our weaknesses
to other people’s strengths. We have the primal instinct that we need to
fit in and also that we need to be valued among our peers. That served us very well as hunter gatherers. That made the tribes better. That increased chances of survival. It does not serve us at all in the world today. Instead we can let it make us feel defeated
and worthless and unimportant all of which are triggers for depression.
From Dr. Ilardi, “In a study of 2000 Kaluli
aborigines from Papua New Guinea, only one marginal case of clinical depression was found. Why? Because the Kaluli lifestyle is very similar
to our hunter-gatherer ancestors’ lifestyle that lasted for nearly 2 million years before
agriculture,” I don’t think that hunter-gatherers had
an easy life and that’s why they were immune to anxiety and depression. I think that they were in constant danger
from starvation, wild animals and even the elements. There was also great violence and war between
tribes.
Children died young and often and even adults
usually only lived to be about 45 years old. This shows that despite intense sorrow and
hardship, these people knew how to grieve, how to process their emotions, and then how
to get back to life. We can learn so many lessons from the past
about how even though certain things may be acceptable in American culture, we are not
living as healthy and fulfilling a life as we could. WHAT EXERCISE CAN IMPROVE MENTAL HEALTH
My mom grew up on a farm in Cardston, Canada.
Her brothers worked out in the fields making
hale bales, mending fences and tending animals. The girls were busy in the kitchen, washing
clothes, cooking meals and tending to the younger children. It would have been absolutely laughable for
them to see a gym. People running on treadmills, lifting dumbbells
and doing sit-ups!? It would have been even more crazy and possibly
repugnant for hunters and gatherers to see such a waste of physical energy that got you,
what would appear to them, as no reward.
Oh how times have changed. We know that exercise is super important in
our modern world. The sad reality is that It would be completely
possible for me to literally sit in a chair all day. I could order in food and communicate as much
as I wanted through a screen. I literally do not have to leave my chair
if I don’t want to and I can survive just fine. In fact, It’s not only easy, it’s too
easy to become sedentary all day long. And therefore, even though running on a treadmill
defies everything in our very nature, we do it. Our body and brain want to conserve energy
and keep us alive; that is it’s number one job and it is very good at it, but we are
determined to lose weight. Our body perceives fat as precious and possibly
life saving. And before processed food it usually was. We have learned that fat can also make us
very sick, that obesity, diabetes and heart disease are much more likely to take our life
than starvation.
So we try to force ourself into unnatural
exercise that isn’t for a purpose or goal but simply to move our bodies around. It’s no wonder that the obesity epidemic
is out of control in American and many other countries around the world as well. In 2019 a study found 30% of the world population
to be obese or overweight. My suggestion is that it is going to be very
important to make exercise more natural. You need to find ways to get on the same page
with your body and brain and to use your instincts to work with you instead of against you. One thing that I have seen work time and time
again is to train with a purpose. Maybe it would excite and motivate you to
enter a 5k race or other small competition that highlights your fitness. My husband is planning on doing a century
bike ride this year. You could make a goal to walk your dog every
day. Do something with a purpose other than lose
weight or gain muscle. That is not a driving enough force when it
comes to the long game.
In my Stayfit2fly Program we encourage data
driven purpose by everyone posting their workout score on a daily leaderboard. When you know that everyone can see your results
from the workout your instinct will be to try and keep up with the other members of
your tribe.You can’t help it. I guarantee a leaderboard will make you work
harder. I would say it is the easiest way to improve
intensity and everyone should be tracking their scores and tracking their workouts and
comparing how they did the last time and what they would like to set as a goal for this
time.
I have a sister who says she doesn't like
competition and that she doesn't like when I make her track her workout. But paying attention to that kind of information
is how you keep yourself healthy. It’s not about winning. It’s not about being the best. It’s about knowing that you did YOUR best. One of my friends from CrossFit is built just
like me. We are both 5 foot 2 and a half. We very consistently get within seconds or
reps of each other on workouts. When we are being super competitive such as
in the CrossFit open (A worldwide CrossFit competition that lasts six weeks, where you
have a judge keep your score and there is a worldwide leaderboard) Then our scores are
pretty much identical down to the same amount of double unders or finishing a workout at
the exact same second.
It’s pretty incredible. It’s also very helpful in that I know when
I have an off day and my score is really different from Chantille’s, that I didn’t push as
hard as I could. When she is running without breathing hard
and I can barely keep up then I know that my cardio is slipping and needs some attention. When she blows me away and squat cleans 20
more pounds then me, then I know that there is a breakdown somewhere in my technique and
that I need to fix it and get back on par.
Keeping workout logs, using data and measuring
your workouts is a great tool. If you aren’t doing it, Start! I highly recommend that you know, using data,
that your workouts are effective because you can see that your fitness is improving. Ben Bergeron, a renowned CrossFit Coach of
world champions, really nailed it on his podcast a few weeks ago when he said, “The one thing
that is missed all the time, is it has to be observable.
Which means, post times to comments. I’m going to say it again. Post time to comments. No drill sergeant, motivational speaker, or
no amount of willpower, will get the same level of hard work and intensity that a stopwatch
and a whiteboard will. What’s your time? Post it to comments.” What he is referring to is how important it
is to get on a social platform. Greg Glassman, the creator of CrossFit, has
said forever that, “intensity is the shortcut to results.” Don’t just do the workout and put a check
mark in your brain. Yay that was fun. No, do the workout knowing that you are going
to be showing everyone else who also did that workout how hard you worked. If you really think that it won’t help you
then prove me wrong by posting scores for a week just to see what happens… If school didn’t give out grades how hard
would you work? Barely at all! You may not even continue to show up to class.
The same is true with workouts. You need to be writing down a time or a weight
or how many reps and it needs to be in a public place so that it is very obvious what your
result from that workout was. It needs to be repeatable so that if you do
the workout again you can see if you were able to improve and you will quickly find
that you can’t help but add intensity.
It’s natural and instinctual to want to
know where you rank and just knowing that you will be posting a score on a leaderboard
is powerful. Crossfit has done it from day one. I have always found it to be a very powerful
tool and so when I decided to create the Stayfit2fly workout program, I knew that in order to make
exercise sustainable for my clients, we had to have a whiteboard. Non negotiable. We had to have a place that scores would be
posted. We had to help people to be accountable and
it would produce longevity, proper workout intensity, and results. For our ancestors movement was life. They would spend hours every day hunting for
food. They would walk and track and swim several
miles very regularly. It was just a part of life. We have lost that and it has had a catastrophic
effect not just on our bodies but also on our mental state.
Be sure that whatever exercise you choose
it is something that can be consistent at and something that enhances your life. If you have a family and a flying career and
commute to work then being in the gym for 2-3 hours daily when you are home instead
of living your life and being with your family is unhealthy. It is also unnecessary. However if you are stuck in a random city
for 12 hours or 24 hours then perhaps a 2 hour bike ride or a long, unhurried, weightlifting
session is just right for you.
Just be sure to choose activities that you
enjoy. If you hate biking then don’t try and force
yourself to ride a hundred mile race. If you hate running then choose something
else. If you love skiing then work on a consistent
ski schedule. Maybe you have limited time and want to be
with your family so you decide to coach your son’s soccer or football team.
Use that time to run around the field with
the kids. You get to spend time with your child, help
other kids learn really cool skills and you get some of your own fitness as well. This has turned into a lot of information
and so I am going to stop here for this week. and I will post PART II next week. I still want to talk about:
Why you should be Eating to Live not Living to Eat
If social media and screen time make anxiety and depression worse? How better sleep can change your life
Thanks so much for listening and we will talk with you again real soon. Hey if you enjoyed this podcast you have to
come check out the stayfit2fly website.
We have personal training, an online fitness
program and everything you need to optimize your health, happiness and life. Come check out at Stayfit2fly.com That’s
Stay fit, the number 2, fly, dot com. I look forward to getting to know you better
through the stayfit2fly program. Talk to you soon!.
