Podcast Episode: Melanie Wintle

Summary

In this conversation, Melanie Wintle discusses the importance of movement and exercise as we age, emphasising strength training, injury management, and the need for consistency in physical activity. She addresses common concerns related to menopause, weight gain, and the benefits of group activities for motivation. The discussion also highlights practical tips for incorporating exercise into busy lives and the significance of mindset in achieving fitness goals. Ultimately, the conversation encourages listeners to embrace movement at any age and to prioritise their health and well-being.

Keywords

movement, aging, strength training, exercise, rehabilitation, menopause, health, fitness, lifestyle, community

Takeaways

It's never too late to start exercising.

Any movement is better than no movement.

Strength training is crucial for preventing frailty as we age.

Consistency in exercise is key to long-term health benefits.

Injuries should not deter you from movement; consult a professional for guidance.

Incorporate exercise into your daily routine, even in small chunks.

Mindset shifts are necessary for embracing strength training, especially for women.

Practical movements can be integrated into everyday life, like carrying groceries.

Group activities provide motivation and accountability for staying active.

Older adults can gain strength and improve their quality of life through exercise.

Titles

Embracing Movement at Any Age

Strength Training: The Key to Aging Well

Transcript

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (00:02)

We have two Melanies, Melanie Wintle talking with Melanie Wilson. Hi Melanie Wintle.

Melanie Wintle (00:09)

Hello.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (00:13)

We've had a great chat before we started recording about how people can look after themselves as they are getting a little bit older and trying to be more active and able to live a fulfilling life for a long time. So let's start off, though, with introducing yourself. For those who don't know, what do you do?

Melanie Wintle (00:41)

So I am a chiropractor, and I also, in the past, when I was going through school, going through university, I did a kinesiology undergrad, and I ⁓ put myself through university by coaching gymnastics, and working in a weight room and teaching people how to lift weights. So I've always been very active and enjoyed exercise. And then when I became a chiropractor, it seemed like a natural transition to treat people manually, but then also provide them with exercises. And I reached a point where I found that the people that were getting the best results and not coming back two weeks later with the same problems were the ones that were doing the exercises that I would prescribe because they would, what you do on a daily basis is more important than what I do in a 20, 30 minute treatment session every two weeks or even maybe sometimes depending on.

How severe the injury was at the time, maybe sometimes twice a week. Everything that you're doing on a daily basis is more important. So I found I just got so frustrated with people coming back and not getting better, and started to really focus on the exercise rehab side ⁓ and pretty much transitioned my practice 100 % to that type of rehabilitation or just strengthening for people who want to improve their physical fitness.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (02:03)

That's amazing.

So you have the chiropractic side and the gymnastic background. And for those who don't know what exactly is kinesiology?

Melanie Wintle (02:05)

you

It's ⁓ so when you're going through, because obviously, to become a chiropractor, you need to have an undergraduate degree from a university. So you can choose a health science or there's different choices. Kinesiology is all about human motion. ⁓ Yeah, a lot of human motion, biology, ⁓ bit of chemistry, but mostly based on sports science, exercise science and human movement.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (02:43)

There's a lot of science behind what you're doing. And I think that's really significant because you were saying before I clicked record that some people might be guiding groups in some forms of movement with a little bit more or less or varying backgrounds and knowledge. And so I think I'll start off there just because that's where we've landed that

People are looking for all different forms of movement at the moment, be it Pilates, or yoga or something else. And I am curious what of what sort of forms of movement have you seen people leaning towards? mentioned weights. So what have people been doing and what advice do you have to people who are showing up to a group wanting to look after themselves, and wondering

Are they getting the best guidance?

Melanie Wintle (03:41)

That's a lot. So I think personally, I like to focus on strength training just because right now, too, a lot of people, a lot of women, especially in the menopause space, are being told that they need to start lifting heavier weights. If you want to avoid frailty, you want to build up your bone density, you want to improve your independence as you age. So a lot of women are being pushed into strength training. However, if they don't have the background in strength training and they haven't ever really lifted weights,

⁓ They might feel intimidated either A, just not start at all or kind of start doing something that's too heavy for them and then causing them to either want to give up because it's not enjoyable. It's not enjoyable to be so sore the next day that you can barely sit on the toilet or walk up the stairs. So, a lot of people are intimidated by that, and they're just not progressing into it in a natural way. ⁓ Also, if you have a specific injury that you're dealing with going into any kind of exercise. And you definitely want to consult somebody who's going to have some experience in exercise rehab because they have to ⁓ be able to tell you how to rehabilitate that injury at the same time as you're doing your strengthening. So ⁓ I think a lot of people too, unfortunately, when they have an injury, depending on the comfort level of their practitioner, they may be just be told to avoid anything that aggravates the pain of that injury.

which is in some ways one of the worst things you can

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (05:12)

Are you saying that it's worse to avoid these activities entirely if you have an injury?

Melanie Wintle (05:19)

Yeah, because what happens is if you have an injury and you want to baby it for a little bit, obviously, it depends on if it's something that you rolled over and sprained your ankle, obviously, you're not going to go for a run the next day. You need to let it heal. But once that healing phase has come on, you may still have some residual pain. And then the tendency for some people is just to continue avoiding it. But unfortunately, joints and ligaments and...

and tendons, all those supportive structures and muscles, they need movement. They need movement to bring in fresh circulation. They need movement to keep their strength up. They need the movement to keep the synovial fluid, or that fluid that's within joints, still there or active. So you need to make sure that you don't avoid 100 % movement. You also become weaker, right? We know it's move it, use it or lose it. If you stop moving because you have an injury, then you're going to deteriorate your entire state. And then you're going to start being fearful of doing certain movements because you're so worried about the pain. So you start kind of losing perspective of what you can and can't do and what's appropriate and what's not appropriate at that stage.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (06:35)

That's something to really keep in mind. And this can happen to anyone. I broke my leg years ago, and I, for a long time, thought that I shouldn't try various activities for pretty much a year or two afterwards. And I think that we give ourselves limiting beliefs. So I'm glad you're encouraging people to get back out there after they might've had a setback.

Melanie Wintle (06:57)

Yeah, and make sure that you're working with somebody who knows how to work with an injury and how to rehabilitate an injury. There's a lot of people out there that will teach you the exercise. They'll either A, tell you you need to work around it and just avoid moving that or just stop doing that. If it hurts, don't do it. But unfortunately, some of that pain is just an alarm signal that's a little overactive because you've guarded it for so long. It's just gradually increasing your range of motion within your tolerance, and you'll find that if you keep doing it over time, little by little, you'll actually increase that range of motion, and the pain will start to become less severe over time, especially if you stay within your tolerance, right? And you're increasing your tolerance over time. If you've ever had a back injury, you know that the day you have it, I've had back pain where I was down on my knees.

And the day you have it, you're super guarded, right? I mean, even as a chiropractor, I've been literally been taken down to my knees by a back pain episode, a flare-up. And that day, yes, you have to be a little bit more ginger, but you have to realise that you need to start walking, you need to start moving, you need to make sure that you don't allow that pain to keep you stuck on the couch for a week or two.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (08:16)

That's so symbolic. I think that people let all sorts of pain hold them back, and we need to just get up. But the common theme that I'm seeing is to keep at it for a while because that's the lesson you had for injuries, but also even when people come to you for all sorts of issues to fix, then if they are, said that if they're doing their practices over time, they're going to.

Melanie Wintle (08:29)

Recover or improve their situations more. So are you saying one of the most important things is to keep going and have consistency over time?

Melanie Wintle (08:57)

Absolutely. Exercise basically has to become part of your daily hygiene and your self-care. You wouldn't think about going a day without brushing your teeth. I mean, just finding things that you like to do. So it has to be part of your daily self-care.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (09:14)

It has to. What would you suggest to people who feel very busy? It's worth addressing this because people feel time-poor. I'm seeing a nod. It happens so much. We overfill our calendars. People are doing two jobs or two businesses, whatever it might be. How do you recommend that your clients or anyone should be fitting in their appropriate exercise on a busy day?

Melanie Wintle (09:42)

Well, first of all, you don't have to do it all in one clump. If you think, OK, I want to do 30 minutes, and it doesn't have to be every single day, right? So as long as you're moving to a certain extent every day on a daily basis, doing ⁓ walking or things that you enjoy to do, and then in terms of any exercises that you know you need to do in terms of strengthening or anything that you've been prescribed, if you have to chunk it up,

into manageable time sections, that's okay. Three times 10 is still 30 minutes, right? So if you have, for example, I tell people to do what we call exercise snacks. So when you go to get up, if you have an office job, when you go to get up to go to the washroom or get a coffee or right before your lunch, do 10 squats, 10 body weight squats.

Right? ⁓ And then go on your way, or just kind of what we call like associating habits or habit stacking. So, okay, while my coffee is brewing, I'm going to do calf raises, or while my water is boiling, I'm going to keep a pair of dumbbells in my kitchen and just do some bicep curls. So it doesn't have to be one solid time of 30 minutes. You can break it up into manageable times for you, right? Whatever fits into your schedule.

And when I tell people in terms of if you're doing any kind of fitness or exercise training, the minimal effective dose for that kind of strength training or resistance is about two times a week. It'd be better if you could do a three or four, but minimum is twice. And you can get a great workout in 20 minutes.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (11:24)

I have two questions branching off from that. The first one is twice in a week. You said it's really important to get this strength. And that was such an important priority that you mentioned, even before we started recording, that women were taught to just be thin and use cardio. So I'm guessing that was mainly a hold of treadmill running. And so

How do you guide the mindset shift ⁓ to people who are needing more of the strength and what can that look like if someone is at home? Do they need to get those little small hand weights or I have no clue. Where would someone begin with all that?

Melanie Wintle (12:14)

Well, first of all, to go back to what you were saying, yes, well, I'm 50, gonna be 53 next month. So I'm of that generation where, you know, we were teens in the 80s and all the models were thin and everybody was told to be thin and it was cardio, cardio, cardio. Everything was cardio, stay thin. A moment on the lips, lifetime on the hips, you know, that kind of saying was commonly stated.

And so now, unfortunately, it was a huge disservice to us, that whole generation, and more so for the generation ahead of me, because those women are now in their 60s and 70s, and their bone density is low, and their strength is low. And so ⁓ the reason why I mentioned strength training is because really that's the best way to prevent frailty. And frailty is what is going to have the biggest impact.

Or the lack of frailty, hopefully, is gonna have the biggest impact on your independence and your ability to carry on the activities that you enjoy. ⁓ What do you want your last 10 years to look like is one of the big questions you ask people, and you don't want it to be in a nursing home, right? So the biggest goal with strength training is avoiding frailty and putting on some muscle mass, because as you hit over 30,

⁓ We naturally start to lose our muscle mass. And then that keeps getting faster as you get over 50, the amount of muscle mass that you lose rapidly increases. So, you want to stave that off, and one of the ways to do that is with some resistance training. So, to go with what you were saying, sorry

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (13:51)

That's so crucial.

Now dive in.

Melanie Wintle (13:56)

So, to go with what you were saying about what does that look like, ⁓ well, right now, unfortunately, there's a lot of menopause experts or experts for people over 50 saying you got to lift heavy, you have to lift heavy. And that can be extremely intimidating for somebody who has never lifted weights. So I even heard one expert say, the pink weights away. But there's nothing wrong with those pink weights because that might be your starting point.

So you don't need to go to a gym, and you don't need a lot of equipment. And what I tell people to do is start with your pink weights, and then you'll find that you outgrow those pink weights, and it's too easy for you. And then guess what? You get to buy yourself the next set of dumbbells. And then when they become too light, then you get the next set. And it's just a gradual progression. It has to be gradual and has to be enjoyable.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (14:53)

Wondering if people can also get some practice in by incorporating the movement and the heavy lifting, the accessible, achievable heavy lifting, into their everyday lives. Perhaps it could be walking a few blocks to something instead of taking the car. I've seen some people driving to something that's so close they could have walked. Do you recommend that sort of thing to get more movement?

Melanie Wintle (15:18)

⁓ yeah,

absolutely. like you were saying, just doing things that they could have done ⁓ otherwise. So strength training, carrying your groceries. That's strength training. So you're carrying two bags of groceries and you're walking.

That's, and there's a term for that move. We do it with dumbbells. It's called farmer's carry. So you're carrying two bags of groceries and you're walking. So you now have to resist the weight of those grocery bags in each hand. So that is a form of resistance training. And that's why it's so practical for everyday life. You could just you could be taking your bottle of

Laundry detergent and raising it over your head and doing exercise that way you don't even need equipment Just think about the movements that you want to be able to continue to do on your own If it's your you've got a vacation coming up and you know that you don't want to have to ask for help to get that Luggage in the overhead compartment. Well, maybe you could start, you know, like I said with your with your laundry detergent or I don't know a two-litre bottle of

you know, soda, you could start raising that above your head just to start getting that movement in place. And it doesn't have to be heavy until you're ready. You just keep looking for something heavier for the next step.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (16:41)

Start small and be gradual.

Melanie Wintle (16:44)

Yes. Otherwise you're going to hate it because you'll be either you'll injure yourself and then you'll be even more fearful or you'll be so sore the next day. I mean, that's one of the most common complaints or one of the most common things I have from women or people that I train is that they say, I don't want to be sore. So I say, okay, well the best way to avoid that really horrible stiffness that you get two days after your first workout is just to start really light and build up, and you will find, you might feel a little bit sore, and that's how you know it was working, but you don't want it to be so unpleasant that you can't go up and down the stairs without feeling the ache.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (17:25)

Absolutely. You talked about menopause, and I'm in my 30s. I heard that women in their 40s and 50s start dealing with that, but there's all this media talk now about peri-menopause, things like that. I'm wondering what's going on with this menopause. I hope you can relate to having not really grown up hearing about it, because I think I grew up just not hearing.

Much about it, or they could have been stereotypes. So I'm sure you would agree it's in the public conversation a lot more than before, but what do we need to know?

Melanie Wintle (18:05)

Well, I have to say, I feel so happy that I'm in the generation that I am because us, know, the ones that are currently in their 50s or below, we are the generation that are just thankfully getting into that point where a hormone replacement therapy is being deemed safe again, because ⁓ I don't know if you know about the Women's Health Initiative study that was done, I believe it was in the 80s, but basically it was very poorly done.

The results were poorly read, and ⁓ basically, they said to women that the media just took the results, some tiny little results and said that it caused breast cancer. And then an entire generation, so my mother's generation, were basically told no hormone replacement. It's not safe. It causes breast cancer. Stay away from it. So anybody in that generation, unfortunately, missed the boat in terms of starting the hormone replacement therapy.

I myself started just because I started getting pains in my late 40s, all over, joint pain. had hock lashes, but very minor, so it wasn't something that I felt I needed to take medication for. But it was the joint pain that was jumping from my elbow to my shoulder to, and as a chiropractor and somebody who did rehab, I couldn't understand. I wasn't doing anything that was causing an injury.

I was trying to rehabilitate it myself, but it wouldn't go away. And so I started doing more reading about menopause because that's another thing. The practitioners, doctors, chiropractors, physios, there's very little education provided on women's health, particularly around menopause. It's all around pre and postnatal care. There's a lot of care or education provided around pre-and-postnatal care for women, but menopause not so much. So I just started doing some reading, and I found out that there are estrogen receptors everywhere in your body, even in your brain. And so that was explaining the symptoms that I was having, jumping from, you know, joint to joint. And ⁓ within four weeks of being on my hormone replacement therapy, I haven't really had much symptoms like that since. And if I have, I've been able to manage it with,

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (20:26)

That's.

Melanie Wintle (20:29)

conventional rehab therapy.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (20:33)

It's amazing. Was one place in pain and then the next spot. So it was one and then the other hopping. The look, it sounds like it shocked you or surprised you.

Melanie Wintle (20:41)

Yeah, kind of popping or becoming so chronic that I couldn't, like, I got tennis elbow from using, I don't know if you know what a weed whacker is or a whipper snipper. Like I was just cutting the weeds in my ass, like a lawn mower type thing. And I was only doing it for maybe 30 minutes. And I got such a bad flare-up of tennis elbow, and I could not get rid of it. I ended up having to get a cortisone shot, which was a terrible experience. That's a whole other story.

⁓ And then, within three weeks of getting the cortisone shot, it came back again. That was the straw that broke the camel's back for me, that it was like, no, no, no, something else is going on here. And I started listening to more podcasts and educating myself about the symptoms of menopause. And sure enough, that is a very common but under-talked-about symptom. One of the things that drives me crazy is that everybody's going on about weight gain, weight gain, weight gain, and menopause.

Of course, you're going to gain weight if you can't move and you have pain, okay, or you have brain fog, or you're exhausted. So I think the focus is on the wrong place, right? I think it's a big disservice to women to be focusing on the hot flashes and the woman constantly going like this or the meno-belly. I hate those terms. They just drive me crazy. Yeah.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (22:05)

Menno belly. Again, it's going back to the appearance, isn't it? Of course, the public is focusing on our weight without looking at what's happening behind the scenes and what might be causing the weight. And I can't help but bring up the trend that popped into my head, this Ozempic thing. I worry that women are having these weight concerns. I'm not going to tell someone to take or not to take any medications. I'm not a doctor, but

Melanie Wintle (22:09)

Yes.

Uh-huh.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (22:35)

I think that women are worried about their weight, and instead of doing these basic things like checking out their hormones and getting the movement, then they're jumping to possibly quick fixes of any sort. Do you think so?

Melanie Wintle (22:50)

Right, well,

Ozempic is definitely an obesity drug for people who have always had an obesity problem. I'm not ⁓ a doctor who's licensed to prescribe Ozempic, so I'm not going to go into much detail about that, but Ozempic is not really a weight loss drug for somebody who wants to lose that last 10 pounds, right? It's truly for people who struggle with weight, and mostly for people who have struggled with their weight their entire life.

And it is a tool to help you lose weight. The problem with Ozempic, that is coming out now, is that people who take it unfortunately start to also lose muscle mass. And muscle is the most metabolically active tissue or organ in your body. So you want to have, if you want weight control and you want a better strength and power and all those other things that avoid injury and...

allow you to do all the things that you want to do once you lose weight. You definitely want to have Ozempic if you need that, if your doctor is recommending that it's reasonable for you. The best thing to do is to exercise in conjunction with it. Right? But yeah, Ozempic is a weight loss tool for those last 10 pounds.

I, yeah, don't get me started. know a lot of people, there's enough really strongly educated doctors online who are speaking against that. So I would rather let them speak against that themselves.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (24:25)

At least you're giving insight into what the intention is for that. And also the broad picture there was that people want a quick fix of any sort instead of looking at why, why these things happen. And the hot flush is such a stereotype for sure. You really educated me just then about the aches. I didn't know about that. And you mentioned the brain fog. I think it's possible to get this sort of

Melanie Wintle (24:31)

Okay.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (24:55)

Fuzzy, it's so, it's a weird feeling when you're ahead, it's just going fuzzy, and you wonder what is going on. So I wonder, is your solution when people have things like that, does it come back to getting movement and sorting out the lifestyle as a beginning or as a part of it?

Melanie Wintle (25:03)

Yeah.

I think lifestyle can be part of it. And I think really the biggest thing for women, I mean, we can talk about men as well after, but the biggest thing for women is you really want to educate yourself because part of it is the fear of not knowing. For myself, just wondering why the heck was I getting these joint pains all over the place? And then reading that, wow, this is a thing. ⁓ okay. Then you realise you're not crazy. It's a common problem. And then you can start to think about, okay, how can I manage this?

And if you want to talk to your doctor about the different types of ways of managing them, then that's wonderful, right? Whether it's hormone replacement therapy or if it's exercises or lifestyle modifications, absolutely. Right. And then also you have that, that the sleep is affected as well due to the drops in hormone levels. So imagine you're not sleeping well, which we know when you don't sleep, you have heightened stress and cortisol, and then that contributes to weight gain. So

It's not, you know, that's why it drives me crazy that they're so focused on, gain, weight gain, I want to control the weight gain and menopause, I'm so unhappy with my body. Our bodies are beautiful, and we need to, you know, respect the health that they give us and really try to focus on, okay, understanding what's going on inside and not focusing on, and again, that's really society putting that on women and that stereotype of the whole.

Like I said, menopause, weight gain. Let's focus on really the more important factors here, is that this is a true health problem. Let's deal with that and stop focusing on what's going on on the outside.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (26:57)

Yes, it has to be about more than the appearance. I can relate to that so much. My weight fluctuated dramatically, give or take 20 kilograms over the years. And I think that there's such a reaction from anyone when someone is so thin, but it's just as important to make sure that someone is actually having enough energy and strength and all sorts of things. And you said you do want to talk about men as well.

I'm wondering what sorts of issues men might have. Some of them might be going to the gym a lot and it could be becoming an extreme activity for them that might be needing a bit of responsible ⁓ moderation, I'm not sure. Or are you saying men may be staying at the desk late at night and not getting out and moving around? What sort of issues have you seen?

Melanie Wintle (27:51)

Well, men are subject to the same decline in muscle mass as they age as well. So just to give you some numbers, so after 30, it's a 3 to 8 % decline per decade. And then after 50, it's 1 to 2 % per year. So for those 20 years from 30 to 50, you're talking in decades. And then after that, you're talking 1 to 2 % every single year. And I have a friend whose father wrecked his hip in his late 70s. You know, men can suffer from frailty as well. I don't find there are that many men that I know of or that I've treated personally or worked with personally, they're not the kind that are going to the gym or focused on the gym. ⁓ Like a lot of the time, it's more that they've been, you know, focused on their careers, and then their health has suffered because they've spent so much time focusing on their careers.

And now they love golf or whatever sports it is that they like to do, and then they're starting to realise, ⁓ my golf swing is suffering or I'm getting back pain there or I'm getting joint pain as I'm playing golf now and that wouldn't have happened 10 years ago. So it's more of those types of things that I'm dealing with. But men can get osteopenia or osteoporosis. They do suffer, just not to the same extent as women. They're lucky, too, because they can get their muscle mass back.

A little bit easier. So if you're training a husband and wife, the husband will start to gain muscle a little faster and will lose weight. He'll see results a little faster than the wife will, but it's okay. We all progress at our own rates.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (29:31)

You do. So everybody has a different rate of progress. That's something to keep in mind and it's very encouraging. We don't have to compare ourselves to each other so much, right?

Melanie Wintle (29:35)

Yes.

No,

no. And I love that you said you love to do yoga ⁓ because yoga is one of those things where you really, when you're in the yoga studio, you're not looking, well, hopefully not, look at that person's downward dog. They're so much more flexible than I am. You're focused on your movement, how far you're going. And then because you're doing the same movements over and over again from week to week, you really do see.

a progression and a change in your flexibility, your strength, your ability to hold poses, maybe even getting into new poses that you weren't able to do previously. it, because a lot of the moves are progressive as well. So I think that that's one of the ways too that you can, you can, you know, strengthen your body. It doesn't have to be strength training necessarily. I do think that they work well together because yoga gives you that flexibility.

and the stability that you can't get anywhere else, really. And then the strength training just gives you that power ⁓ that will help you avoid falls and be able to do those lifts that you hold lifting grandchildren, or like I said, your luggage in the overhead compartments.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (30:57)

Absolutely, well, for the younger audiences who might become parents, it's a shock realising that a young human is still what, four to seven or eight kilograms, and a person is heavy.

Melanie Wintle (31:09)

Yes.

Yeah, yeah. And then, you know, you're holding them on your hip. I have two kids, now they're 22 and 20. But you know, you're holding them on their hips, you're lifting them up. And sometimes you're lifting them even when they're four and five years old, just because they're, you know, they want mommy or daddy to carry them. Yeah, it's not just limited to newborns and babies that don't walk, right? You're lifting and carrying them for a long time.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (31:38)

I can't remember how many kilos or pounds it would be for a 9 or 10-year-old, but that's not light.

Melanie Wintle (31:39)

Thank you.

Well, you're piggybacking the nine and 10-year-olds, hopefully not putting them on your, on your hip. Yeah.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (31:54)

But the yoga, I follow yoga, I'm not an expert in it, but I follow it to learn and, and I can really personally feel the difference if I've had a few days, maybe I catch a cold and I don't do it for a week, and then suddenly I'm not bending the way I did a week ago. So I totally relate to what you said about how when you're doing something over time, whatever it might be, you can see how you're doing. Then if something has changed, it's telling you something, it's giving you information.

Melanie Wintle (32:29)

Well, it's giving you, it's telling you something, and it's also very encouraging and very validating, and it's very motivating because, you know, at the beginning, the hardest part is to become consistent, right? But then once you get, you start to nail down that consistency, you start to feel so good that you can't imagine going back to not doing it, you know, or you get sick, you know, and you can't work out. I broke my wrist in February, stillboarding, and ⁓ I couldn't work out for...

I mean, I did what I could, body weight stuff, ⁓ but I really missed it. And that was one of the first things that I thought, I've got to get back into it as soon as it's safe to do so.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (33:11)

Getting back in, definitely. And that's a lesson everybody needs to remember because we never know when someone will have an injury and then have to keep that wisdom in mind, really.

Melanie Wintle (33:13)

I hope.

Well, yeah, and now also being stronger going into the injury means you're going to have a better chance of getting out of it, right? And quicker, you have a quicker recovery when you have already have a stronger, more resilient body.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (33:37)

Absolutely. I'm learning so much from you because I'm not from the sporty background. And I think that when people are from perhaps a more nerdy or creative space and not so sporty, then we don't know these things that are going to make us more healthy. And one thing I wanted to go back to is you talked about people really focusing on their careers and I'm guessing the implication there is.

Melanie Wintle (33:42)

Thank

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (34:03)

Someone doing what eight or 12 hours into the office, things like that. And you said earlier that someone can perhaps have a walk, going to the coffee or whatever is around the water cooler. I'm curious, would you give a guideline as an approximate suggestion, even though everybody is different, get up every two hours, and have a stretch? I.

I don't like to be at a desk for hours anymore if I can help it. But for those who are at a desk a lot, what do they need to know?

Melanie Wintle (34:39)

⁓ The biggest thing I find is a ⁓ lot of people have very tight chest muscles. They're very, like, hunched over because of computer, especially. Unfortunately, too many people are using laptops without external monitors So, you know ergonomically that's not that's not the best situation is to be hunched over a laptop because also you're trying to sink your eyes down So you're putting a lot of strain on your neck. So one of the best things I is every two hours is a little bit too long, so I would say every hour.

Even if you don't get up from your desk, reverse the position that you're sitting in, that you're spending the most time in. So if that means that your arms are in front of you on a keyboard, and I know that some people are going to be listening to this and they're not going to hear or see what I'm saying, but you you can all picture somebody hunched over a keyboard, right? So everything is closed in within your chest. So what I basically tell people is reverse that position and open up your chest. Yeah. So like stretching up.

Really arching your low back and looking up right, so going in the opposite direction, and holding that for I know 10 10 seconds, and then you know release, and then go back into it, or standing up and doing some hip circles or doing circles around, moving your arms, anything that's counteracting what you're doing all day long.

Right? Imagine your hip flexors, right? So your hip flexors are bent and contracted all day long. Getting into a gentle lunge position is going to help ease some of that tension that builds up from sitting in that position for long periods of time. And then nowadays, so many of us have meetings over the phone, right? So, walking while you're on your telephone meetings, like, why not go outside? I have one patient who

He does that every single time he's on the phone, he goes for a walk, and he's talking. Thankfully, he doesn't have to take notes. Mean, it depends on what kind of meeting you're in, but that's one of the things that you can do. Or on your lunch hour, rather than sitting in the lunch room, start walking, right? Start, go outside for a walk or depending on the layout of your building, you can even just walk up and down the hallways or up and down the staircase. I used to do that. One of the buildings I worked in was just,

at lunchtime maybe do three or four sets of stairs just to change it up and get up and move around.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (37:08)

Does that give us a bit of an extra challenge going up and down the stairs? Does that have a different physical impact instead of going along the hallway?

Melanie Wintle (37:15)

Yeah, because going up is challenging because every time you put your foot on the step, then you're using your glutes and your quads and your hamstrings, all of your leg muscles are contracting to lift you up. And then going down, believe it or not, is actually harder than going up because you're using a breaking movement. So the leg that is still on the step has to support all of your weight while you're stepping down. And then the foot that is touching the step and goes down first, it's gotta brace the impact and then take all of the weight onto it as you step down. So going up and downstairs is a great, great, great exercise to do, if it's comfortable for you, obviously. And again, what you do on a daily basis is more important. So one of the things I love to tell people is if every day for the rest of your life, you stand up and you touch your toes.

You will be barring some kind of injury, you will always be able to touch your toes. It's stopping doing things that causes that, you know, lack of movement or that stiffening.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (38:21)

There are so many practical solutions here. And I really appreciate that the practical ideas you mentioned doing the opposite of what we're doing at a computer. And that sunk in so much for me because I pretty much always use a laptop. A lot of people do. And although that happens at a desk, people hunch over or even looking down at the screen. I know some people will put books or whatever they have under the laptop to put it up a bit more, but

Melanie Wintle (38:21)

for me.

Yes.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (38:50)

I was reminded I've had a couple more trips, long trips on a train recently, and a lot of people travel. So it'll be relevant to the audience that I found myself looking down at the laptop for a couple of hours, and I was in so much pain. I'm guessing that would make sense. And you said doing the opposite will help, so I found myself feeling desperate for a bit of a stretch to ease that. So, would you recommend that if

People are going on a flight, a train ride, or anything else. If someone is doing a lot of travel, is that going to be really crucial?

Melanie Wintle (39:26)

Yeah, well, our bodies are made to move, right? We are meant to move. We're not plants, we're not static. We are meant to move. And walking is one of the most natural movements, the most successful movements around. So I've recently done a couple of overseas trips as well to Europe. I'm in Canada, by the way. And so one day I really want to go to Australia. My mother-in-law is from Australia; she's from Brisbane. Yeah, my husband desperately wants to go to where...

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (39:52)

It's lovely over there.

Melanie Wintle (39:56)

Where his mother is from. But I, every time that, you know, the seatbelt sign is off, I hate to bother the people beside me and have to get them to shuffle, but I just get up and I start, you've seen people do that, walking up and down the aisles, right? You could, that's even more accessible and easy to do on a train, is walk up and down the aisles because, you know, you don't have those seatbelts. But just getting up whenever you can, just to avoid that stiffening and especially if you already have a low back condition or hip or knee, you don't want to stay in a position. Those people do get very stiff and sore from prolonged positions. Anybody who has arthritis, joint pain, or stiffness really suffers from sitting for prolonged periods.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (40:46)

So the simple accessible thing is to walk around wherever you can.

Melanie Wintle (40:51)

Absolutely. Yeah.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (40:53)

That's so easy. And it's worth keeping that in mind because there is the cost-of-living discussion these days, and people are careful about what they sign up to. And as much as I love signing up to the spaces that will help any form of wellness, but for those who are right now not putting any subscriptions in any way, or they can't visit a place. It sounds like what you're saying is if you can't get to a gym, it's

Okay, do something that she can do anyway.

Melanie Wintle (41:26)

I haven't worked out in a gym in over 20 years. I just have gradually built up what I have at home as I get stronger and need or the desire to try something new. I mean, it's way less expensive than belonging to a gym. Also, I said I'm in Canada. So the last thing I want to do in the middle of winter is bundle up, get in my car, drive to a gym. I also live in a rural area, so drive 15 to 20 minutes to the gym.

Get out, change, then get back home. Mean, you're talking two hours when I could have in 20 to 30 minutes done something more effective and more comfortable in my own home. You can work out in your pyjamas if you want, whatever you want.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (42:12)

That's something to keep in mind for any winter in any country, I think.

Melanie Wintle (42:15)

Yes,

You can start with bands, too, right? So body weight bands cost $20 Canadian from Amazon for a set of bands, and you can do a lot with those.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (42:28)

Easy.

And that's another thing, you don't have to even go shopping physically.

Melanie Wintle (42:37)

Exactly.

Yeah.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (42:39)

Mean, as much as we should support small businesses, if you need something accessible, you can have those affordable tools that you need in a day or two.

Melanie Wintle (42:48)

Yeah, and there aren't too many small businesses, unfortunately, that are selling exercise equipment anymore, right? So ⁓ Amazon is one of the places, unfortunately, where it's the easiest place to order some of these things.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (42:54)

Right.

⁓ I,

I subscribe to Amazon Prime. I'm not promoting it here. I'm just saying that it really does bring some things to you that you really need. That absolutely, absolutely. I'm in a small city that doesn't look like a small town, but it feels like one. And so I see where you're coming from. Sometimes you can get something delivered then.

Melanie Wintle (43:05)

Me too.

Especially if you're in a rural area, right? Yeah, yeah.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (43:32)

That will be helpful for all sorts of people. So I'm curious. So we talked about what the thirties, forties, and fifties can do. Let's dive into the really older demographics, because why not? I know some people who are far beyond retirement age, seventies, eighties, things like that. And I'm wondering,

If it is that late in life, but they want to improve things as best they can, what can they do?

Melanie Wintle (44:05)

It's never too late. First of all, the best time is now, right? It's not yesterday, it's not two weeks ago. I mean, it's whenever you're ready to start. So don't put that kind of pressure on yourself. I currently am training a 79-year-old woman, and in four weeks, she has gained a massive amount of strength and ability. And she was actually way more capable than she thought she was.

The problem is with age is that a lot of people think, ⁓ I'm older, I can't do this, or I won't be able to. I've got her walking up and down stairs, I've got her doing squats, I've got her doing exercises with the ball. I mean, it's been progressive, but ⁓ no, it's never too late to start. And again, it has to be something that starts at your level and then progresses as you gain your strength.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (44:58)

So part of this is believing that she can as well.

Melanie Wintle (45:01)

⁓ for sure, absolutely. You have to know that, I mean, there's been studies on older people and they have shown that they have gained strength ⁓ relatively quickly. It doesn't take a whole lot. Two to three times, and as you're older too, you're not dealing with jobs, you're not dealing with children, you're not dealing with the same time crunch that you would have had when you younger. So I actually love working with older individuals because they have more time. I find they are the

most consistent with their exercises because when you, especially if they're investing their money because they're retirees, especially if they're investing in you to teach them what to do, they're going to do what you've prescribed. And they derive a tremendous amount of benefit from it, for sure.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (45:50)

That's a fair point. They have the time do something meaningful with the time. It's great to see the cultural shift of older people living much more fulfilling life because I did see that in some people over the years. And of course, that was some of my grandparents and other people, but I think there is that stereotype culturally of the grin with the cane or the walking stick and

Melanie Wintle (46:17)

Yeah.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (46:18)

It's nice reminding people that it doesn't have to be that way. And we can look up to perhaps the public figures like Jane Fonda. I mean, there are some, she's doing okay, right?

Melanie Wintle (46:27)

⁓ yeah.

Yes, she's doing incredibly well. And who was the other woman I just, my aunt sent me, sent me a post about her. ⁓ Shoot, I can't remember her name, but there's another lady who's in her 80s as well, who was, who's, you know, very, very strong and do, is it Lauren Bacall? I can't remember. Another actress, very well, very well known actress from the US, but.

Also very, very strong, very fit, very healthy, very vital, right? It's that, again, it's that avoiding frailty that is the biggest thing, is that you don't want to be limited because you don't have the strength to get off the couch or to be able to enjoy your grandchildren or to be able to enjoy a walk on a nice day or travelling for that matter.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (47:22)

seeing the world, seeing people living life.

Melanie Wintle (47:26)

It also creates social isolation as well, right? And we know that social isolation is one of the biggest causes of lack of quality of life and dementia as you get older.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (47:27)

I'm curious.

It is that sounds really familiar because some people are teaching a lot about dementia and Alzheimer's at the moment. And it's also, of course, it was World Suicide Prevention Day, think that's what it was called. Over here in Australia, we had something called R U OK Day. So, preventing isolation that's of course relevant to all sorts of forms of health, mental, physical. And I'm hoping you would recommend, of course, walking groups because walking has been such a theme, but have you seen people sometimes having more of a habit with any sort of movement, strength or otherwise when they're in a group?

Melanie Wintle (48:21)

absolutely. Groups are one of the most supportive ways to stay fit, right? And it's also, you're encouraging each other to stay. So there's an accountability piece as well with that. ⁓ I don't know if you have that in Australia, but we have mall walkers in Canada. Those are all, yes, because we don't have outdoor malls. All of our malls are closed in. They're like very large spaces ⁓ with, I mean.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (48:37)

through the mall inside.

Melanie Wintle (48:46)

like you see in the TV and the American movies where you have large stores and ⁓ escalators and all of that stuff. you will see, yeah, so you have elderly people that will meet before the mall opens in the morning because in the wintertime here it's really too cold to be outside. ⁓ And also, you have the risks of slipping on snow, curbs, and all those other things. they will get together, they will meet and they will walk the malls, the perimeters of the malls for I don't know, an hour.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (48:54)

We have that.

Melanie Wintle (49:15)

or whatnot before the other patrons arrive.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (49:20)

Love that idea so much over here. So I'm along the coast, but in our winter that just went, we had, I think, three rounds of floods and the weather was extreme. Oh my gosh. A couple of times, I was realising again, we're having more floods, but I wasn't going out as much for that. And as much as I liked to go to particular places, it never occurred to me to just

Melanie Wintle (49:36)

Yeah.

So.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (49:48)

Go to the mall or the shops for those who aren't in America or Canada, go to the shopping centres or anything like that to walk around in a group. think that's a great idea. We need that everywhere else.

Melanie Wintle (50:02)

Yeah, well, I've been to California

Now twice, and the beauty of being in a warm environment, right, is that when you're there, you can't, I couldn't get over how active people are. Of course, I'm there in our winter, and because they have the benefit of relatively, you know, nice weather year round, they're just active all the time. So everybody's outside walking on the boardwalks. Everybody's outside meeting. You can see we were in Santa Monica, just outside of Los Angeles and

You know, the beaches are full of people walking, doing exercise classes, playing beach volleyball. I mean, it just definitely encourages more activity when you live ⁓ in those environments, but it's a collective. You could see a lot of people were getting together and doing it. It definitely gives you a motivation factor when you have a social group to do it with.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (50:55)

Absolutely. I can relate to that so much because I love to go for a walk along the water alone or with someone, because of course, I just love the sunshine and the peace away from the world. But I know that some people just don't do that. And someone told me earlier today that they just don't get to the beach, even though it's nearby. But I saw that, especially overseas, there are networking groups.

Where, if you want to network with these people, you're going to go for a walk. And that's outdoor walking networking. So maybe that will be the motivation for some people to get outside.

Melanie Wintle (51:36)

Well, instead of meeting for coffee, go for a walk together. Or instead of meeting for a drink, go for a walk, right? So in the UK, they go to their pubs, right? So instead of going to the pub, go for a walk and socialise that way. There are walking groups here all summer long. There's a ravine not too far from here, and there's a walking group that meets. And it's on Facebook. There's a Facebook group that goes with it. So.

I'm sure you can find Facebook groups of people in your local community that are doing these kinds of organised activities. Or pickleball, there's pickleball groups, everything.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (52:08)

Mind when.

There's so many groups, so many groups. And if there isn't one, I find that there is so many groups for 6 am and as much as I'm trying to learn to do mornings, if there's not the precise group you need, then make one, even if it starts with a few people, right?

Melanie Wintle (52:13)

I'm hungry. ⁓

Exactly.

Yeah, yeah, grab a few friends and start the group. Exactly.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (52:32)

We've really covered all of the demographics. We've covered hormones, walking around, and group activities. We got so many practical solutions. So as we wrap up in the last five or 10 minutes, I wanted to know what do you want everybody to know? What are three key lessons that everybody should know? And how do you want people to learn from you or connect with you?

Melanie Wintle (52:35)

you

⁓ Three key lessons. Well, again, I can't stress enough that it's never too late. It's never too late. ⁓ Just find something you like to do. Yoga, Pilates, whatever exercise you like to do. Any movement is better than no movement. ⁓ The second thing I would say is just don't underestimate yourself. You probably could do a lot more than you think that you can. ⁓ And then thirdly,

I think just give yourself some pain, be patient and give yourself some grace. It's not going to be perfect at the beginning. and, and, and just find a way to, ⁓ to get consistent. That's the hardest part. Find the consistency. And once you start feeling good, you're not going to want to stop.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (53:45)

Awesome.

To wrap up, how should people follow you, connect with you? Are you mainly serving people locally? What's the next step?

Melanie Wintle (53:57)

So I do provide online personalised fitness programs for people who are interested. We meet on a monthly basis, and we adapt and progress the program. I use an app to program the fitness based on their needs, ⁓ mostly strength training. But if they really want to, you know, adapt it to a running program, then that can be done as well. And I have, I'm on Instagram, Move Well underscore MW.

I'm also on Facebook Move Well with Dr. Melanie Wintle. I think that's it. Have a website, movewellhealth.ca.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (54:39)

You support people online. Even if someone is anywhere else, as long as the timing aligns, then that's an option.

Melanie Wintle (54:46)

Yeah, I'm training a friend who is in Australia, just ran your Sydney Marathon. Was it a week and a half ago?

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (54:53)

I'm a couple of hours north of Sydney, but it's definitely that time of year. There are fun runs and walks all the time at the moment.

Melanie Wintle (54:55)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (55:02)

Look, that's awesome. Melanie Wintle, thank you so much for talking.

Melanie Wintle (55:07)

Thank you so much, Melanie, for having me. It was a lot of fun.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (55:11)

Awesome.