A Yarn with Joy
As many of you are aware, I've been working with Joy McClymont from Off the Track Training for almost a decade. In that time, it's hard to sum up how much I've learnt from her. She's imparted wisdom around motherhood (a mum of 4!), business, women's health, public speaking, friendship and fitness... just to name a few!
This super-mum-of-four entrepreneur from Western QLD is truly a living legend. So, I thought I'd have a bit of a yarn with Joy so you can experience some of her wisdom too.
What are your personal major motivations for staying fit and healthy?
Staying fit and healthy for me is part of who I want to be - it's almost part of the identity and role I feel best fulfilling in life. It's also when I'm at my most genuine, and when I feel confident, excited and content with life. The motivation to keep making an effort with my health and fitness really stems from how I want to show up in the world for myself and others, now and into the future.
I want to be the person who didn't leave anything on the table when she left this world. As morbid as that sounds, it's real for me. I want to feel like I really grabbed life with both hands and had amazing experiences with deep connections. When I'm being active and eating well, my mind and true character really shine. Life is for living and to live you need to feel truly alive - that's what motivates me to go for that run, cook that meal, get up early or rise to new challenges.
What’s your philosophy around nutrition?
Well firstly I have to give credit to you Stace, you transformed me from a seriously confused dieter to a consistent nutrient consumer. I learnt some absolutely golden principles from working with you that have kept me content and nourished for many years - thank goodness! The philosophies and principles that work for me are:
Aim to eat closest to the natural source with the options you have available to you - whatever that may look like at the time.
80:20 rule : 80% nail your nutrients, 20% is for celebrations and flexible eating options.
Variety is the key: eat as many different types and colours of foods that you can.
Don't go hungry, it confuses the hell out of your body and mind
Do the best you can with what you've got
Do you have a favourite type of exercise?
Oh gees this a big one! If I had to choose the top 3 they would be:
Trail running
Open water swimming
Cross training (strength and cardio)
If I was pushed to just choose 1 then it would be....... cross training! It's time efficient, exciting and ticks so many fitness boxes including strength, stamina, speed and power - for that I love it!
What advice would you give to someone who is struggling to find momentum with movement?
"Something is always better than nothing". So, find the "something" that you can do without too much fuss, money, time or equipment. Find that and do it as much as possible so that you start to feel the fitness fire. Also, remember that consistency always wins so find the activity and routine that you can maintain with your life.Some examples of activities people use to re-enter or begin movement habits are:
10min walking per day
2km running per day
15 min yoga per day
squats, push ups and planking for 30 sec each
10 laps of swimming
But, YOU DO YOU! Just choose something to start and let yourself warm up into movement. No judgement just keep moving!
In all your years of training people in both large groups but also individual coaching, has your perspective on fitness changed?
Absolutely! One thing in particular is the importance of rest and recovery. Once upon a time it was all about doing more, more, more whilst eating less, less, less and recovery got shoved under the carpet. Dr Halson, recovery specialist for the Australian Olympic team, stated in a podcast once that "...we are only as good as the workout we recover from.". This has truly stuck with me throughout my coaching because as much as we feel we need to "bootcamp" the hell out of fitness, it all comes down to how well we recover, to enable our body to do the work.
Exercise is stress on our body, which has a positive response to how our bodies function IF we give it time to recover from the workload. We can handle stress as long as we take the pedal off the metal to enable growth and recovery.
Understanding your unique body and how much it can handle and how much rest it needs is absolutely 100% the biggest game changer in developing a healthy and fit body and mind.
Bottom Line
So many nuggets of gold here! And this is just the beginning of what this woman has to offer the world 😉
Check out the website to learn more about Joy and all of the ways she can help you find your happy place with mindset and movement. She really does make fitness fun and achievable for anyone living anywhere, and has certainly already had an enormous positive impact on so many people (me included!).
Until next time,
Stacey.
