Winter Wellness with Victoria Barker, Master Fitness Lead

By Laura Ratcliffe January 21, 2021

WINTER WELLNESS

Women’s wellness: Forming healthy habits, goal setting and movement patterns

Did you watch Victoria Barker, Master Fitness Lead’s talk on our Everybody @ Home website?

Victoria talks about wellness habit forming and movement patterns, or general activity, she has specifically focused on women for some of this, however, much of what she discusses is equally as important for men, for example goal setting and developing foundational behaviours for a healthy lifestyle. The talk is available to catch up on Everybody @ Home here.

Victoria shares more about her role, her passion as a Fitness Instructor and Personal Trainer as well as more information about her winter wellness talk:

Victoria Barker: I am a fitness instructor and PT within my role in the company, and I have a real passion for training women and women’s fitness. In my opinion there is a strong argument that women’s fitness can be approached differently to men’s fitness, and I have spent a lot of time studying this topic.

Before I begin, I just want to acknowledge that much of what I address is not gender specific – some things, such as goal setting and creating new behaviours and habits is very relevant to everyone. The second part of this discussion is more tailored towards women, as it is information that many women have been deprived of by the fitness industry for many years.

Did you know, for example, that women were first included in fitness studies in the early 90s. 51% of all humans are women, and women make up around 2/3 of all personal training clients.

Generally, women’s fitness is targeted towards an incredibly narrow range of goals, such as ‘lose weight’ or ‘tone up’. 

In short – physiological realities such as pregnancy, menopause, hormonal health, the effect of the menstrual cycle on athletic performance, exercise related incontinence due to pelvic floor disorders – or even finding a good sports bra – are treated as ‘special topics’.

 As an industry we can and must do better, and the topics we cover embrace Everybody, just as the services we offer in centres and online do the same.

 I’m talking today about wellness habit forming and movement patterns, or general activity, and I have specifically focused on women for some of this. However, as I say, much of what I will discuss today is equally as important for men, for example goal setting and developing foundational behaviours for a healthy lifestyle.

 I have broken the topic today in to 2 sections;

  •  Goal setting – men and women
  • Activity and movement patterns – women

Foundational habits of a healthier lifestyle

OK, so how many people have spent a weekend eating and drinking, telling themselves that they will start afresh on Monday morning, clean eating and a full on exercise regime.

It’s very easy to set stringent and very broad goals when you are feeling full and comfortable. But how easy is it to stick to them 2 days in, when you feel hungry and achey?

As much as we would all love to be able to effect change in record time, the issue tends to be that such fast change is unsustainable long term, or even impossible to effect in the first place because we make changes we cannot maintain.

Watch Victoria’s full talk here with lot’s of support and ideas to make more sustainable long term changes and reach success and much more!

We also have a range of other Everybody Talks to watch on Everybody @ Home including:

Everybody Talks Staying Active in WinterMaster Fitness Lead Chris discusses how to stay active in the winter months with a focus on men’s health and ADL (Activities Daily Living) including how we can increase those all important steps, increase movement and activity in the comfort of our own homes!

Everybody Talks Healthy Eating Health Referral Lead Ellie looks at top healthy eating tips to improve your wellbeing through the winter months. The talk covers:

  1. What to eat in winter to keep energy levels high
  2. Daily nutritional requirements
  3. Important vitamins in the current climate
  4. Portion control and recipe ideas!

Everybody Talks Winter Workouts- A talk about the benefits of doing regular bodyweight exercises in the comfort of your own home!

Master Fitness Lead Jezz will go through different bodyweight exercises, how they promote stronger bones, muscles, and a more vigorous metabolism to help your body tackle whatever Winter throws at you!

Sign up and pay nothing until we reopen to get access to these amazing talks, plus access to over 30 online health and fitness classes to keep you active at home! Find out more here.