Advocating for the Essential Role of Movement in Physical and Mental Health [Podcast Series]

• [:53] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Francesca Schuler

• Francesca Schuler is President of the California Fitness Alliance.  

• She is also a Board member of the Physical Activity Alliance.

• [1:07] Health & fitness industry background

• “And through that really realized not just the impact the fitness industry can have, but how much work we have to do to really get people not intimidated and feel like they're invited into the world of physical activity, which is, in my opinion, sort of an essential part of all of our lives for mental and physical health. But I saw how many people don't know how to start that process. So that's part of why I'm involved with CFA and the PAA and a variety of advocacy efforts, because I really learned in my job at In-Shape, I saw how many people that once you invited them in gently you can really change their lives.”

• [2:41] California Fitness Alliance mission

• “How do we help increase access to safe and equitable places to exercise for all Californians? Because we know that there's many communities where people don't feel safe outside. So we want to increase people's ability to join a gym. We also know gyms aren't for everyone. So how do we help people find their new activities?”

• [7:04] Being at the table

• “Anyone who is involved and believes as part of their mission that physical activity helps your mental and physical fitness, they should be part of this. And it shouldn't be owned by any of us. It should be a platform for change. And that's probably the biggest thing I've learned that you got to earn your seat at the table. And when you're at the table, you’ve got to behave as a citizen of the communities you serve. Not as just an advocate for your industry, whatever that may be.”

• [13:18] Changing the perception of the health & fitness industry

• “But there's no question there's a perception that we're still like the gym people, and we're just about weights and, and kind of the business side of health versus the true greater good. And so part of my role is not just participating, but I'm, is to help change people's perception of the industry.”

• [17:11] California Moves Month success

• And then the long term vision would be hopefully we could get some funding to run an ongoing public service campaign that's all about kind of movement for mental and physical fitness. And that could take a form of a variety of TV ads, billboards, etc. Just inviting people, educating people, building awareness around the importance. We say that pharmaceutical companies spend billions of dollars and they sell hope in a pill on their TV commercials.  I want to sell hope in a workout.”

• [19:17] California Equal Pay Pledge

• “And so part of what we're trying to do, to your earlier question of how do we change our perception as an industry is taking a leadership stance on just good practices, to showcase that the fitness industry is a great industry, and we're good citizens, and it's a great place to build a career. So the Equal Pay Pledge is a great example of that.”

• [23:27] Rebranding the industry

• “I mean, we had some of the worst restrictions of any industry, not just fitness. What that illustrates is, is that there's just a lack of understanding of this industry. So we can't just run around and say we're essential, we have to demonstrate it on multiple dimensions.  We have to lean in, we have to collaborate with others. And we have to kind of rebrand ourselves or, it is rebranding, but it's also showcasing all the things that people don't know about us.”

• [25:43] Research linking movement and mental health

• “ And I think the pandemic really illustrated the fact that community, the fact that movement, the fact that feeling good about yourself, like everyone has a mental health moment at any given time. And so physical activity is such a great, it's by no means the end solution for someone with severe mental health issues. But for most people, if you're having a day that you don't feel great, and you just go for a walk, you will feel better.”

• [30:00] Call to action for California Moves Month

• “We'd love any support we can get because we're excited and we hope this kind of ecosystem approach will be a playbook that we can all use to really accelerate what I know everyone is passionate about, which is ultimately creating a more healthy country and world.”

Using Wearables to Make Exercise Motivating and Rewarding - MyZone® [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Mike Leveque

• Mike Levque is the Group COO and CEO of the Americas for MyZone®. 

• He is also a Physical Activity Alliance Board member.

• [1:09] MyZone® history and vision

• “So it's a heart rate-based platform, but we focus on intensity rather than fitness. And that's sort of the secret sauce of MyZone is, we wanted to create a system that included gamification, to make sure to keep the member interested and motivated to hit their fitness goals and to continue along their fitness journey.”

• [6:03] Social connectedness

• “If a member has four or more connections, they work out 41% more than the average member. If a member gets four or more likes in a month, they work out 84% more. And then a richer social interaction is a comment. If a member receives four or more comments in a month, they work out 132% more than the average member on our platform.”

• [11:07] Motivation

• “Is it intuitive? Is it motivational? Is it rewarding?  That's the way that we develop our product and in our software. But the key is not only making it motivational and intuitive for the new to fitness member, but also making it rewarding and motivational to the member that's been a member of a health club for a very long time.”

• [15:47] Cooperation and collaboration

• “But in terms of cooperation and challenges, the most interesting way that we've seen to set up challenges is a club versus club challenge, or multiple clubs against each other. And in that respect, rather than highest point total wins, we do the average MyZone effort points of the whole community within the club. And so you have that competition, but you also have that cooperation.”

• [17:52] Corporate fitness

• “And we're gonna go direct to companies, direct to benefits providers, and offering these same tools so they can receive the same benefits that the health clubs get, not only into just physical activity and the benefits that you get from physical activity, but also also the benefits that you can get from the increased motivation, camaraderie based on the community elements to the platform.” 

• [24:29] Congressional Physical Activity Challenge

• “The goal is, is to raise the awareness of our industry on Capitol Hill. And so gosh, we'd like to get 750 Members of Congress and their staff to participate in the challenge this year.  And really work with organizations like ACE and American Heart Association and NASM and ACSM and IHRSA, use all of our resources to support an activity like this to increase the awareness on Capitol Hill. And then I think May, which is the physical activity month, that's when we're going to do the challenge.” 

Exercise as a First Line Treatment for Depression, Anxiety and Stress [Pocast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Carol Maher

• Dr. Carol Maher is Professor of Population and Digital Health at University of South Australia. 

• She is also a Deputy Director of the Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity (ARENA).  

• [1:15] Study conclusions on effectiveness of exercise and physical activity

• “Our conclusion at the end of it all was we really should feel very confident recommending physical activity and exercise as an effective treatment for depression, anxiety and stress.”

• [2:58] Exercise as a mainstay approach

• “So it's really interesting that the leading U.S. clinical guidelines for managing depression and anxiety consider exercise as an alternative treatment. Because that really implies that there's not evidence behind it or that it sort of isn't congruent with mainstream medicine. And neither of those things is true.  Exercise is very well accepted by mainstream medicine as holding real physical and mental health benefits.” 

• [9:15] Bridging the evidence gap

• “That's the real gap that this study has filled. You know, I think the problem has been that there is absolutely tons of evidence, individual studies that have been done on exercise and mental health.  Yet, it's not being used consistently as a treatment in the health system.”

• [12:17] Effectiveness of interventions by frequency, intensity, time, type

• “So, and also when we looked at dosage, we actually found that the reasonably modest dosage seemed to be just as effective as a higher weekly dosage of exercise. So, so that would suggest that even just like a reasonably small amount of exercise still holds good benefit.” 

• [16:30] Effectiveness of shorter programs

• “From this review, I can't tell you why the effects are a little bit less for longer programs. I can only take some guesses of why it would be.  Certainly it could be to do with adherence, like that people start to fall off the wagon a bit with their exercise. And it could be that, no, they're not falling off the wagon, but as their fitness improves, perhaps their program needed to become a bit more intense to keep improving their kind of fitness.”

• [19:04] Exercise has a larger effect than medication and psychotherapy

• “I must admit, I was surprised that, at the size of the effects that we found. And, you know, I think a big part of why this study has had a quite a lot of interest in the media is because the effects of exercise actually seem larger than the effects for medications.”

• [19:58] Exercise as a legitimate form of treatment for depression and anxiety

• “I think it's really important that when we talk about the results of our study, on one hand, I think our results show exercise really needs to be considered a legitimate and important form of treatment for depression and anxiety. However, it would be a mistake to interpret our findings as saying we should use exercise instead of medication and psychotherapy.  That would be a very harmful takeaway message.”

• [22:00] Takeaways for clinicians

• “I think there'll be a lot of doctors that when someone comes to them with depression and anxiety, would say, try to eat well, get some exercise, make sure you're getting enough sleep. But it'd be like a very short conversation. And then most of the session is focused on a prescription and perhaps referring them for the psychotherapy. I would love for the lifestyle management to be more strongly featured in medical management.”

• [24:54] Takeaways for policy makers

• “Certainly it would be beneficial if there could be more education for general practitioners and physicians to feel sort of well educated about the benefits of exercise for mental health, and some basics on how to prescribe exercise as a treatment.”

• [27:22] Takeaways for patients

• “I think the takeaway is, the benefits of exercise for mental health are real and substantial. And they have the benefits directly on depression and anxiety. They've got other benefits though, too, because they avoid the side effects of medication.” 

Joining Forces to Promote Healthy, Active Lifestyles - President's Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Rob Wilkins

• The Honorable Rob Wilkins is retired US Air Force Master Sergeant and member of the President's Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition (PCSFN).

• [1:18] Physical activity champion journey

• “And he talked about the importance of physical activity and that the President of the United States thought so much of this fitness and the importance of it that he decided to put a council together that Arnold was the chairperson. So I said, One day, I'll be a part of it. And then fast forward to 2018. And fortunately, I was appointed. And I am now serving on my second presidential appointment with the President's Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. So I'm living a dream.”

• [3:10] Lessons learned on the playground

• “So I remember like all these lessons that come through life we learned on the playground many many many years ago. And if we would just take those lessons and keep using them in our daily lives, I think we'd all be better off.”

• [5:10] Physical activity and military readiness

• “Fast forward to 2023, and we're still concerned about the same thing that we were concerned about 67 years ago and, actually, we're probably even worse off now post COVID. Recent statistics say there are about 31.8 million young men and women eligible between 17 and 24 to serve our country.  Out of that about 420,000 can serve. And the propensity to serve is about 2-3%, meaning those who do want to serve our country. So we're in a dire straight for national security and military readiness with regards to those who can and want to serve our nation's militaries.”

• [7:18] President’s Council goals

• “The research and the statistics show that a healthy nation is a more productive, a more secure nation.  And when our health care costs are going through the roof where we can't sustain the costs, that's a problem for our nation. But more importantly, as you get down to the individual, there’s your lifespan and your health span. And that health span, you want to make that extend as long as possible.”

• [9:41] Joining forces to promote, healthy active lifestyles

• “By using our megaphone by using our voice, but I also think by joining forces by bringing more groups together—so be it the VFW, Move to Live More, schools, individuals—all these voices coming together in one big cruise ship liner or something like that.  We have more voice, we have more power working together, as opposed to each person trying to do this individually. So by bringing these voices together, we combine resources, we combine skills...”

• [11:51] National Youth Sports Strategy goal

• “So the National Youth Sports Strategy is basically a way that we bring people together so that every child or every adult or everyone who wants to play has a chance to play. Everyone who wants to get a chance on that field—be it no matter what your age, your capabilities—it doesn't matter about limitations, there are no limitations. You get on the field, and you do what you can do.”

• [14:54] National Youth Sports Strategy champions

• “And they found so much success because now these kids belong to a community, they belong somewhere where they're wanted, where they have expectations, where they have to maintain good grades, where there's people looking out for them. And they're still playing sport.”

• [17:18] Sports and life skills

• “And I think those are great lessons that we're going to be knocked down many times in life, but you don't quit. You keep moving forward. And the lessons that you learned on the field, on the court, moving, will help you later on in life. Or throughout your life, actually.”

• [18:22] Overcoming barriers to being active

• “Many people, they want to try to do good things, but based on the resources they have available or where they live, there are some challenges with it. So I thought, what can we do? So maybe running outside is not the best for you, but how about jogging in place? How about doing something called, well, there are push ups during commercials, I tell people like if they don't want to really set some time aside, maybe during a commercial of your favorite show, it’s usually about 60 seconds to 90 seconds, you can do push ups, crunches, jumping jacks, running in place, just movement. And for some of them, they never thought about that before. And they decided to do it.”

• [21:19] President’s Council future

• “So if we can bring them into the fold and share their experiences and share their knowledge, share their wisdom, we might be able to make some inroads because there are smart people out there like yourselves doing a lot of great things, but you need more help. And so if the President's Council can use their message, if they can use the Surgeon General to help with a message delivery, if we can tap into some celebrities or some sports stars to help promote the work we're doing, then maybe those are things that we need to do…”

• [22:49] Developing physical activity champions

• “So the earlier that a child learns about physical activity and sports, I think we can start having them become lifetime members of this club of enjoying physical activity…”

• [26:19] Physical activity options

• “And asking people what really gets you motivated about it is a key component. And I think for a while we kind of got past that. We were kind of telling people what we wanted them to do, as opposed to, here are some different options.” 

• [28:15] Call to action

• “And then you can send us an email, can maybe tell us about some of the things that you're doing in your local communities, what you're doing that is successful. And maybe that's something that we can amplify and share with our growing database of folks.”

The Art & Science of Health Behavior Change [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Jessica Matthews

• Dr. Jessica Matthews is Associate Professor and Program Director at Point Loma Nazarene University and Director of Health & Wellness Coaching at UC San Diego Health.  

• Dr. Matthews is also on the Board of Directors of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.

• [1:19] The science of health behavior change

• “So it's not a lack of knowledge, per se, right? It's not that people don't know that exercise is good for your health. It's not that people don't know that eating more healthful, nutritious, wholesome food is good for your health. But the thing I was realizing is, but why don't people change?  And they really invited me to reflect on my own educational journey and training, to be quite honest to say, You know what, in all of the training I've had, thus far, which was quite a bit, to be honest, I really never learned about the science of health behavior change. And really then the applicable skill set by which we effectively work with patients or clients, whatever setting we might be in, to empower them to actually enact and sustain those health behavior changes.”

• [4:47] Training health and wellness coaches

• “I had the ability and the pleasure to lead that project to say, let's really ensure that health coaches have the knowledge. They understand the models and the theories of health behavior change.  They understand all of these various facets, physical activity clearly being such an important piece. I'm preaching to the choir saying that.  But to also recognize there's other pillars, if you will, right, of lifestyle behavior change that are also important.”

• [7:48] Secret sauce for translating knowledge into action

• “The key piece that I really see as being a core ingredient, in fact, I would say it's the base ingredient of the secret sauce, is the coaching skill set. It's the way in which we communicate, again, informed by science. So it's not just a feel good kind of thing. It actually is a systematic, intentional, and evidence informed way in which we engage with the patients or the clients or the participants that we serve in whatever role we're serving in.”

• [12:13] Partnering to achieve health behavior change

• “That shift when you really embody it, and you bring it to the way in which you meet and see the people you serve, it will transform the way in which you then devise a plan forward together, those action steps, the programs, the intentional changes that people make when you see them as an equal partner. And in fact, they're kind of the captain of the ship and you're the co-captain, and that feels weird to some professionals. But it will lead to sustainable change.”

• [16:58] Tips for health & fitness professionals on partnering

• “Because again, lived experience, I tended to arrive with the expert hat on. I have all the answers.  I'm going to help you.  And it's well intentioned, but it's not actually what the science says will actually support the engagement in and sustainment of healthful behavior change, in this case, physical activity. But, like you said, extrapolated to any other health behavior, or really any other facet of your life.”

• [21:45] Whole person approach to health

• “I think the pillar that's come up pretty loud and clear consistently is this aspect of stress management or stress mitigation, resiliency, lots of different ways we can approach it.  But what we're really getting at the heart of it is people are overwhelmed. They're overwhelmed with just I mean, they're overwhelmed with information. So that's a beautiful segue back to like, we don't just keep hitting people over the head with more knowledge.”

• [24:15] Role of health coaches on a care team

• “So those have been pieces that have been important, really having the trust because that's what you need in a team, right? We need the trust that each member of the team has the right level of training, experience, education, and expertise, if you will, to be able to best serve patients. That's what makes physicians comfortable.”

Integrating Movement into Learning in Active Classrooms [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Rebecca Hasson

• Dr. Rebecca Hasson is Director of the Childhood Disparities Research Laboratory at University of Michigan

• [1:07] Motivation to work with kids

• “So while working with adults is great, working with children is even more impactful because we can reach them at a very young age when physical activity habits are being formed. And we can help to give them a passion and a lifestyle for moving more throughout the day that can hopefully carry into adolescence, young adulthood, middle age, and all the way until they are senior citizens.”

• [3:30] Giving children equitable opportunities to move throughout the day

• “And so, we have been again for about the last five years been trying to close the gap in what schools aspire to do and what they're actually doing so that kids have an equitable opportunity to move throughout the day. And then we can supplement that with home activities and community based programs, but really focusing on zeroing in on that classroom, that school environment.”

• [8:05] Setting up active classrooms

• “Active classrooms can take on many forms.  What we do is just help teachers think about how to create that ecosystem of a classroom that makes it conducive for physical activity.  Thinking about classroom management, thinking about the space, thinking about how to motivate their students so that they get the outcomes that they're looking for, so that the investment in activity is worth the time and you are getting, reaping the benefits of improved student behavior, improved focus and attention. And eventually as fitness improves, improved academic achievement.”

• [13:59] Partnering with schools

• “But all teachers recognize right now after students were sitting at home for two years trying to learn successfully but in some cases unsuccessfully, virtual, in a virtual environment, that students need help with their behavior management, managing their emotions, managing their behavior. And fortunately with exercise, almost any outcome you can think of, exercise, movement, physical activity can be a part of that solution.”

• [19:23] Implementing school wide initiatives

• “The teacher said it was hard for them just as individual teachers to do it if it was not a school wide initiative, because you really need to get the whole school connected around physical activity. And you need to get the whole school excited about recognizing that a whole child is important.”

• [25:19] Replicating success

• “So if I had to sum it up in just a couple of words, I would say, knowing the need, then providing the why for why your program meets that need, and then also giving them the tools and support for the how, how do we actually work together to solve the problem using the product of physical activity?”

Building a More Inclusive Fitness Culture by Learning from the Past [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

• Dr. Natalia Mehlman Petrzela is Associate Professor of History at The New School.

• She is also the author of Fit Nation: the Gains and Pains of America’s Exercise Obsession.

• [1:13] Group exercise instructor perspective 

• “And that is really the beginning of this book, in some ways, because that was that first moment I realized there's this thing called sport that we talk about a lot in our culture, but then there's this whole other world called fitness. And that's a super interesting world.”

• [5:45] Fitness professional challenges

• “It's actually, I think, made the job of being an instructor a lot harder, because you're no longer tasked with just like the physical transformation of people's bodies, nor are you expected to only operate in this one note way of sort of like, hate yourself to a better you, which I feel like is what it used to be like no pain, no gain, right? And now, you know, I think the really inspiring instructors are like these vessels of brilliance and inspiration.”

• [8:03] Health & fitness industry labor experience

• “And I think one of the contributions I hope this book makes is not only talking about fitness from the consumer experience, which other people are doing, but also from the labor experience of the people who are doing this work because it's not insignificant at all.”

• [9:53] Fitness professional professionalization

• “But if you think about what counts for expertise, like somebody who has a six pack and good lighting and a bunch of supplement deals and a lot of followers is probably more likely to be dispensing advice that people listen to than somebody who actually is maybe less charismatic or less media savvy, but is dispensing actually more sound knowledge. And I think that's a real issue.”

• [13:45] Women in the health & fitness industry

• “One of the things that is notable is that there's so many women who are like really pioneers in this group fitness world. And they're pioneers in a way—and I say this indelicately—because no one else cared about it like they were creating experiences for people that no market was thinking worth serving.”

• [20:16] Serving the women’s market

• “Part of the story that I'm telling is like about a time when no sports manufacturer would lower themselves to make clothes for women because that just wasn't something that you would do. It would actually diminish your brand. It reminds me a little bit of today how even though they could profit from it, some apparel clothing, some apparel manufacturers won’t make like plus sized clothing because it's like no, that would like diminish our brand.”

• [23:06] Public versus private sector investment in fitness

• “A big story is laying out the way that we have the rise of a massive fitness industry and a kind of collective sense that exercise is good for you and you should be exercising more and this is just uncontroversially like a positive thing. Yet, at the same time, we don't believe that hard enough to make it a policy priority or a right of kind of civic participation.”

• [26:48] Expanding access to fitness

• “But if you think about the 80% of people who are not even close to being in that group, wow, wouldn't it be something if they were served either by consumer options, or I would prefer, by kind of more publicly available stuff with programs that were like, here's the on ramp, here's something that will help you. And this is like my, become my tagline. Find a way to exercise on your own terms.”

• [30:12] Fixing a broken system

• “It's mostly happening in the private industry. And so I think it would be amazing to be able to take some of those lessons and integrate them with public policy that does more than just have like a charity class or like a free day or like free passes.  That stuff is great. I don't want to diminish it. But I think that we need a more sustained solution that brings those worlds together, because they are not together now.”

Achieving Better Health Through Information, Empowerment and Self-Advocacy [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guests, Dr. Mary O’Connor and Kanwal Haq

• Dr. Mary O’Connor and Kanwal Haq are Co-Authors of Taking Care of You: The Empowered Woman's Guide to Better Health. 

• [1:31] Advancing health equity and empowerment

• “I fundamentally came to realize that while we need so many changes on multiple levels to advance health equity in the United States, we also need to advance the empowerment skills of patients and women in particular to advocate for themselves for better health care.” 

• [4:11] A guide for better self-advocacy

• “We created this book as a tool to help women, as a tool that's literally in their hands, that can help guide them to become better advocates. And so with that, the clinical chapters, each one, it explains, What is the condition? Can it be prevented? How is it treated? Questions to ask your healthcare team. Why this matters to women?”

• [7:05] Achieving better health

• “So for the here and now, probably the best, the best way to advance better healthcare for women is for women to be better informed patients and to be more proactive in feeling that they have the strength of using their voice. And so that's why we focused a lot on language to help those, help women feel more secure in asking questions because the power differential is very real, right?”

• [9:35] Behind-the-scenes process 

• “Everyone poured a lot of love and their expertise into this because we went with them of like, if you could sit down with every patient that you have, what is it that you want them to know if you had all the time in the world, and you wanted to make sure.  And so they really, they really poured that into this text.”

• [12:47] Impacting how women receive healthcare

• “We're highlighting that these are differences that people need to be aware of. Why? Because it impacts the way women receive care. And that impacts, honestly, and I don't mean to make this sound dramatic, but it impacts whether women live or die.”

• [15:16] Addressing social determinants of health

• “The first section of laying the landscape of what is women's health and kind of understanding the conditions in which we work, we live, we play, how much this impacts us, right? And like why public health is so vital.”

• [18:24] Moving wellness into communities

• “And we simply have to stop expecting the current “healthcare” system to deliver on health. It's not structured that way. It can't do it that way. Doctors and nurses are not trained to do that. And we need to move wellness into communities and leave sick care for the sick care system. And that is a fundamental mind shift that needs to happen if we're going to change the disastrous trajectory of health conditions and chronic conditions in the United States.”

• [21:06] Movement and physical activity

• “I'll just emphasize that it's never too late to start moving. I think one of the misconceptions that people have, particularly women is, if I'm unfit or I'm overweight or I don't exercise, it's kind of too late for me. That is absolutely not true. Any time is the right time.”

• [23:17] Creating a community of self-advocates

• “Through the process of this book, I think I became a better advocate for myself. And I started exercising more, I started asking more questions, I started becoming more engaged. And I think it was also this book, not only did it give me tools, but it gave me this community of other women who were engaged in writing and reading this text and moving towards the same thing, and I think that's really, really powerful.”

• [26:21] Changing the health of women, families and communities

• “It's important that we all understand that we're all in this together, a rising tide lifts all boats, and the better the health is and the better the health behaviors of anyone in the family in general, the whole family benefits.”

Making Exercise a Standard of Care in Cancer Treatment [Podcast Series]

• [:54] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Karen Wonders

• Dr. Karen Wonders is Founder and CEO of Maple Tree Cancer Alliance.  

• She is also a Professor of Exercise Physiology at Wright State University. 

• [1:14] Founding story

• “My vision for this is that we would really advocate for exercise to become part of standard of care in cancer and that Maple Tree would be viewed as the authority on exercise oncology in the world.”

• [5:02] Making exercise a standard of care in cancer treatment

• “But when you look at it as a whole and the impact that it has on the patient, the way that I feel is how can we not offer them exercise when we can visibly see the impact that it has in the life of someone? You can't say that about chemotherapy. You can't say that about a lot of the traditional treatments that are out there that are standard of care.  Here's something with no side effects, that chemically, mechanically, every single, everything all the way around is going to help someone. And how can we not make this standard of care?”

• [8:44] Empowering cancer patients to exercise

• “I have not seen updated stats, but pre-COVID, we're talking only about 2% of cancer patients exercised. And so when we do the education piece, we really want to feel, we want to help the patients feel like they can do this on their own, that we will help them and get them started and work with them one on one individually each week. But also it's going to be up to them to continue it on the rest of the six days of that week. And ultimately, that's how they're going to see the benefits.”

• [12:36] Improving quality of life

• “But that showed me that even in the end of life, exercise can still improve quality of life. And getting people to that mindset that something is better than nothing. And if all I can do today is walk to the mailbox, well, then let's start there. If tomorrow you're a little stronger, maybe we'll try to go around a block.  But doing what you're able to do, and doing that, that's always going to be better than never even trying.”

• [17:02] Measuring impact on quality of life

• “Every study I've ever seen, every person I've ever seen that has exercised leaves that session better than what they were when they came in. And that, to me, is the best definition of quality of life that I can give you that they never regret coming in, even if it was hard for them to get there. And you can look at the statistics and the measurements that we're able to make. And yes, there is a dramatic decrease in anxiety, a dramatic decrease in depression. Patients feel more supported—I think it's like 60%—more supported than what they had before they came to Maple Tree or before they began an exercise program.”

• [20:26] Individualized exercise program

• “And if you look at how cancer is treated, that's how cancer is treated.  You have a tumor board, and they bring up a case and they all talk about the support system for that patient, the health history of that patient, and together they create this plan of care for that patient that's individualized to that patient. You're not going to go to a group chemotherapy class. So why would you go to an exercise program that's not going to be tailored specifically to you?”

• [23:54] Exercise physiologists as part of the care team

• “But I think that we've been able to share back to our partner hospitals the impact that we have. They've heard about the impact from the patients directly and from the nurses and from everyone who's involved in the program. And so they see the benefits to it. And to have that validation that yes, you actually are an important part of this, of this care team. To me, that just is another step closer to getting this to be standard of care.”

• [25:39] Communication within the oncology care team

• “So we try to maintain open doors of communication back to the oncology care team. Because number one I think it's important that they know what's going on. They're not just blindly referring patients to us and then they never hear from us again. I think it's important to have those open channels of communication.”

• [27:59] Community-based fitness center role

• “I think it's important to continue and kind of close the circle for patients who have completed treatment and they're no longer going into the cancer center. Then to move them into a community based setting, into fitness centers that are trained and equipped and able to work with a survivor—someone who's been through cancer treatment—and safely create exercise programming for them.”

Meeting Athletes Where They Are with a Holistic Approach to Youth Coaching [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Hadiya Green

  • Dr. Hadiya Green is Founder and President of Healthy Healing Community, former Senior Practice Specialist for the American Physical Therapy Association, and former President-elect of the Physical Activity Alliance.  

  • She is also a long-time youth coach. 

• [1:19] Beginnings of youth coaching

  • “And I really think that I would say my beginnings of youth coaching have genuinely started as an athlete and having great coaches, because I really think that's the foundation from which I have been able to peer coach as well as when I became an adult myself starting to coach now over 20, 25 years.”

• [2:16] Great coaches

  • “But for me, the coaches who I adore the most and I find are great coaches are the ones who can take someone and take them to the next level. They can adjust their plan and still attain that goal at the end of a person's personal best, in addition to what may contribute to the team. And so I think, an attention to detail, an ability to gauge and meet an athlete where they're at, the ability to understand what an athlete brings to the table both physically and mentally…”

• [4:21] Meeting athletes where they are 

  • “[P]eople aren't the worst things that they do. And that goes for our athletes, too. They have moments. But we can grow from them.”

• [7:59] Being your best athlete

  • “And so can everyone be an athlete? I think everyone can be their best athlete. Yes, absolutely.”

• [9:33] Benefits of youth sports

  • “There are so many benefits to participating in sports that lend itself beneficial to absolutely any and every youth. And that's everything from being less likely to engage in activities that would be harmful, being more likely to be, if you're a female leader, there is a very high percentage of women who are in CEO or positions of leadership, who actually participated in a sport at some point in their lifetime. And just on a mental and physiological level, there are a lot of children who actually need physical activity.”

• [13:02] Tips for good coaching

  • “That's probably one of the number one tips I would give a coach is to read the room. Yes, you may have your plan of action and yes, you might have it out for the entire season. But you, adaptability and meeting your kids where they're at is so necessary…”

• [21:02] Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth sports participation 

  • “So one of the first things that was of concern from a provider standpoint—and these children have literally been inactive and we know that muscles atrophy four times as fast as you can build them. So you put these kids back into school or sports or a club once we're finally able to for those who do have some access. And then you're going to be dealing with injuries from lack of foundational training because you're going so fast to try to catch up…”

Moving for Mind/Body Health [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Michael Hosking

  • Dr.  Michael Hosking is Creator of Revocycle Mind and Body Cycling.  

  • He is also on the Program Advisory Board of the John W. Brick Mental Health Foundation.

• [1:42] Research on mental health and exercise

  • “We've known about the connection between exercise and mental health and the brain now for at least 20 years.  And this research has been slowly building in the literature, but not much of it has made it to the popular press, yet.”

• [5:10] Physician exercise prescriptions/referrals

  • “[A]nd you and I and pretty much everyone else in the world knows that exercise is simply one of the greatest things you can possibly do for health. And yet the very people we go to see to take care of our health have no confidence in prescribing exercise, which speaks to the lack of training, the lack of emphasis in medical training. And maybe it speaks to the type of mind that goes into medicine in the first place.”

• [8:46] Pathways for exercise benefiting mental health

  • “[t]hey highlight three different pathways by which exercise can benefit mental health. One is the biological pathways I've been talking about. And there are many, and they are complex. The others are social. By being around other people in a gym or in a group fitness class, you are interacting with people and away from your isolation in your home, and that is beneficial to mental health. But there's the third which is self efficacy, the thinking or the understanding that I can do this. Taking on something difficult and accomplishing it and saying to yourself, well, I can do this, and I'm proud of myself.”

• [13:33] Marketing exercise and mental health

  • “We don't advertise with sexy pictures of instructors or clients. We don't talk about the body ever in our marketing or in our classes. We don't talk about burning calories. We don't talk about losing fat.  There is no 30 Day Challenge. There is no new year, new you or summer’s coming promotion. We don't talk about any of that. And that's the first thing people notice is you talk about mental health, you talk about mindfulness, you talk about meditative movement, you talk about being present.”

• [20:00] Building a new fitness emphasizing mental wellness

  • “[W]e can start to build from scratch a new fitness that emphasizes the things we're talking about today. Mental wellness, holistic health, meditative movement, mind body practice. I think that's the way we'll make it sustainable.” 

• [23:43] Meeting the needs of clients seeking to address mental health

  • “I’ve read that report. And I was just astounded that fitness professionals recognize that mental health has become an important part of the reason why people are seeking out fitness or movement in general. And yet they also have very little confidence in their ability to talk about it with clients or their ability to program or partner with people who are mental health professionals.  I thought, we need to start at the very beginning.”

• [28:08] System change in physician exercise prescriptions/referrals

  • “Who's the fitness pharmacist? Well, there are none at this point, right? So they might lose their confidence in that approach, because there's no one that they can refer to. Because there might be fitness people out there that are undermining the message of fitness for mental health, or disregarding it completely. So that speaks to the need for systemic change.”

Helping People Achieve Sustainable Self-Care with Wellness Coaching [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Jason Gootman

  • Jason Gootman is a Mayo Clinic and National Board Certified Wellness Coach.

  • He has a background in exercise physiology and is a certified sports nutritionist.

• [1:13] Referrals to wellness coaches

  • “[T]he overwhelming majority of people that come to us come to us directly, aren't coming through the medical system.  They're making a decision on their own. I'm gonna say it this way. I don't mean this flippantly or adversarially. They're making a decision that the medical system isn't providing them with something that they need.”

• [2:21] Wellness coaches value proposition

  • “[W]e have specific training in positive psychology and we have specific training in lasting behavior improvement and positive habit formation.”

• [5:09] Consumer demand

  • “What they need more is the help with behavior change along with the accountability, guidance and support that tend to be part of a health coaching relationship.”

• [8:57] Wellness coaching success

  • “Training wheels is an analogy I use quite a bit.  A good wellness coach is like training wheels. And a successful relationship results in the client being able to ride off on their own.”

• [13:37] Tips for other wellness coaches

  • “At Mayo, in like week one of that training program, they teach you that 50% of your ability to help your clients is going to be from the coaching techniques and methods that you use with them. And 50% is going to come from creating an alliance with them so they feel like they have a partner in this process.”

  • “And for someone who's new to this idea, what you're really doing is acting as a mirror and a magnifying glass. You are showing them who they are, allowing them to grab hold of what they bring to the table that's going to help them be successful in this behavior change process.”

• [17:42] Standardizing wellness coaching

  • “And the fact that there are wellness certifications that need to be accredited in order to qualify for the board exam have created a degree of legitimacy and standardization so that if you're talking to a wellness coach in California or you're talking to a wellness coach in New York, if they're saying they're board certified, they're talking a similar language, providing a similar service.” 

• [20:40] Marketing wellness coaching

  • “What makes it easy for me to market and advocate for wellness coaching is that what's behind it is just such a cool opportunity. And it's such a humanistic approach to a professional and a client working together that does teach them how to fish and does give them a set of skills that they can use for a long time that helps them with their well-being outcomes, but also empowers them in a way that I just have no trouble advocating for that.”

• [23:04] Empowerment

  • “[A] lot of what comes from wellness coaching is it takes the sea of information, and helps turn it into empowered action kind of thing. Because there's a lot of information. A lot of it is very useful. But ultimately becoming empowered is what it takes to move these needles in an individual sense or a community sense.”

• [24:41] Care team

  • “If I'm on a team with a physician and a dietitian and an active fitness trainer, we're learning from each other all the time. And that helps our clients, helps ourselves.”

A Whole Child Approach to Helping Kids Thrive - Action for Healthy Kids [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Rob Bisceglie

  • Rob Bisceglie is the CEO of Action for Healthy Kids

• [1:08] Health as a right for kids

  • “[A]nd it ignited a passion in me around issues, specifically in that organization for maternal and child health, and specifically around kids’ issues and health issues. Because I got to go to work every single day and think about and work on and fight for the rights of kids when it comes to health. And I think that health is a right for children.”

• [4:00] Engaging parents in advocacy for kids’ health

  • “And now I feel like we really need to seize this opportunity, as hopefully the pandemic is coming to an end sometime soon, that we engage parents in a really constructive way.”

• [6:18] Family-school partnerships

  • “[W]e fundamentally believe that there needs to be a partnership between the school and parents and caregivers and families in order to foster real change. Because we know that kids spend part of their day in school and then they spend part of their day and their summer often times out of school. And so that partnership between schools and families is really critical.”

• [10:21] Action for Healthy Kids evolution

  • “And so there's a framework in the school health space—you probably know about it—called the whole school whole community whole child framework.  It was created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and one of their partner organizations. And it is the most science based, most evidence based, best health framework for kids that exists. And that is at the core of what we do at Action for Healthy Kids.”

• [16:38] Beginning in local health and wellness advocacy

  • “My oldest daughter was entering our local school. And I realized that we didn't have a health and wellness program. And so I literally gathered some of the materials of Action for Healthy Kids, walked into my school building, met with the principal, who was a health and fitness advocate and passionate about it himself and just hadn't had the resources or the support or the volunteer support to begin a program. And together we started our health and wellness programming in our local school district.”

• [19:37] Finding champions

  • “Once you find those leaders in your school, building a team around them, engaging classroom teachers, PE teachers, school food service is incredibly important. So it's all about building that school health team. And starting with someone who's really passionate about the work.”

• [23:50] Foundations of lifelong health

  • “And so this idea of the three foundations of lifelong health, that is what we at Action for Healthy Kids have adopted underneath our core framework. We are pursuing a life for every child that has those three foundations and all of our programming and all of our work and all of what our wonderful staff does every single day is to pursue that for the kids in our network.”

• [27:42] Whole child health approach

  • “The only way I know to approach that issue is from a whole child perspective. I have spent 15 years studying and experiencing this. I see no other way. All the issues that kids face are intertwined. You can't separate them out and say, Oh, we're gonna deal with the nutrition or the physical activity or make sure that they have a connection to a school nurse or make sure that they have mental health support. It is all those things, it's the only way to do it.” 

The Business Case for Inclusive Fitness Programming - The Perfect Step [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Hal Hargrave

  • Hal Hargrave is the Founder, CEO and President of The Perfect Step. 

  • He is also Founder of the Be Perfect Foundation.

• [1:35] The Perfect Step methodology

  • “Our own methodology really speaks to this idea of holistic minded approach where we take the approach of working below the perceived level of injury or perceived site of diagnosis, to work really from the ground up as opposed from the top down.”

• [4:46] The Perfect Step mission and vision

  • “By participation in a fitness and health minded program, in a neurologically based program, the worst thing that can happen to these individuals—through commitment and over time—is a healthier version of themselves. An opportunity to be hospitalized less, opportunity to come out of their shell because of a feeling of health and wellness, and competencies and independence and just that overall feeling of well-being and that they are a viable member of society and somebody that has purpose.”

• [8:18] Athlete mindset

  • “As I looked at the mindset of what it means to be an athlete, it's not just somebody who plays sports, but it's somebody who's proficient in all types of exercise and physical activity. And it doesn't matter if you have an impairment or a setback.  It's what you do to get up off the couch to be physically active that gives you that athlete mentality to not just compete with others, but namely, to compete with yourself, because that's really what you're competing against post injury and diagnosis.”

• [12:40] Creating a community center

  • “We really wanted to create an arena and a facility that was a place where people call home in their community.  That was very important to us to just be more than just a transactional endeavor of come and get your therapy services.  But rather, a build something where it was much more than build it and they will come but build it and they will stay. And having a place to call home that's inclusive of mental health therapy services, chiropractic services, acupuncture services, and physical based services like we offer here, really just took this whole idea of a one stop shop to another level.” 

• [17:03] Business case for inclusive programming

  • “[T]he need is here.  The diverse populations are here. The equitable access and the inclusive programming is not. So how do we create that bridge, and provide that and see where it goes….The club made money by accident, by just creating profit centers that were equitable for clients by way of their price point, inclusive by way of their programming, and they were cultural changing throughout the entire landscape of the commercial health club.”

• [21:23] Removing barriers to inclusive programming

  • “And so we've really moved forward with this mentality to assert the DEI initiative through doing what we do best. And that's being people on mission that live actionably through our core values of leadership, dedication, unity, work ethic, integrity, positivity, and self growth. And we do this as a cultural understanding of who we are, as employees in our business, to really just be the reflection of what we want to see in the world rather than continue to harp on those that maybe haven't gotten there yet, that maybe haven't taken a step off the curb yet.”

• [25:59] Getting started with inclusive programming

  • “[I]f you're a health club owner or operator, reevaluate your space, evaluate your center, look at your profit centers and see where maybe there's more room for upside—unused space.  It doesn't have to be much, it can be integrated into the better part of your club or into your actual gym itself or carved out in a small area. It doesn't have to be much, all it has to do is start with one person and one client. And it can lead to so much more. Let it see where it starts. And you'll see where it ends.”

Empowering Older Adults to Age Well - Ageless Workout [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Nate Wilkins

  • Nate Wilkins is Co-Founder  of The Ageless Workout.  

  • He is also President and Chief Transformation Officer at the Now Group Fitness Company.

• [1:08] Being ageless

  • “The years may be accumulating, but we're not aging, we're aging well. And so it's these people who have decided at some point that the barriers are not for us, right?  We may move a little bit slower, our minds may not be at the place that it was, but by God, we may be so much better. And we can help younger people matriculate or maneuver through the world. Our wisdom and knowledge and understanding about life might be beneficial to those who are coming behind us.”

• [2:57] Positive affirmations and healthy aging

  • “We're talking about living to the fullest and being able to play with your grandchildren if you want to, to travel, to pick up bags, to be strong, right? Because at the root of everything that we believe is this foundation of strong muscles and strong bones. And when you have that foundation, the sky's the limit.”

• [5:09] Connection to the health and fitness industry

  • “I looked around, people were exercising. I started walking. Walking led me into taking classes.  Classes led me into teaching.  Teaching led me into managing a fitness operation and later on led me into developing my own concept…”

• [7:34] The ageless tribe and social connection

  • “If you look at people from the Blue Zones, one of the factors that helps them to live a longer life is this social connection.  Something to do, something to love, something to belong to. And so this ageless tribe is a tribe of people who can look, like you and I, look each other in the eye and say, I know what you're going through. I know how you feel. Let me help you through the journey...”

• [9:25] The ageless tribe characteristics

  • “So we are the ones who can set examples. And we're the ones who are learners and doers. And really sort of setting the pace, if you will, for those around us.”

• [10:58] Personal care

  • “So we’ve come up with exercise prescription if you're talking about working one-on-one. Now that's different in our hybrid classes. We even try to turn our classes into personal training where we work on individuals and correct their posture, positioning, attitude, their whole mindset, encourage them to make one, put one foot in front of the other. So it's personal care thing that we've incorporated.” 

• [13:20] Connection to medical fitness

  • “So it's more like a full service operation as opposed to somebody taking a piece of this or a piece of that. Really most of us need what I think is an integrative approach to health, wellness and healing.”

• [15:25] Knocking down silos

  • “ My doctor is going to talk about the importance of screening. I have a scientist involved. I have another doctor talking about the future of healthcare. So these are people, again, that I decided that I need to have a relationship with if I have some questions, if some of the clients that I have have some questions. So it's no longer acceptable for us to build silos, that we really need to be connected.”

• [17:04] Building a referral network

  • “And I know that perhaps there may be some challenges around the technical work, but for the most part you get around knowledgeable people, you can grab enough, and then they'll bring you along more and more if you're open minded and willing to learn.”

• [18:41] Advocacy for Black men’s health

  • “And so we want strong men, we want strong families, we want strong communities. This is about, in my estimation, this is about creating the new world that we want to live in. And so that's why I have a particular interest in helping men.”

• [21:31] Empowering older adults to be self-advocates for their health 

  • “So prevention is what I'm talking about. We get out in front of it. So I think that it's going to take a relearning and some more conversations like you and I are having.  If we really want to reach 100, like I say, kicking and screaming, we have to change the way we think. So that's where this mindset stuff comes in, right? That goes back to having the right mindset, that yesterday's keys don't open today's locks.  That perhaps we might need some new keys.”

• [25:32] Fitness professionals as trusted sources of information

  • “Perhaps your coach or your trainer may be as important as your financial advisor.”

• [27:48] The health and fitness facility of the future

  • “So it is almost like a home away from home. That's sort of what we're seeing as a new wave of, maybe you call it a fitness center, but maybe it's this life, life center that pumps life back into people.”

Burnout Prevention [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Jacqueline Kerr

  • Dr. Jacqueline Kerr is host of the Overcoming Working Mom Burnout podcast.

  • She is also a burnout consultant.

• [1:14] Burnout survivor experience

  • “And essentially I ended up crying on the way to work and crying on the way home and feeling just that this was not something that was sustainable. So my burnout recovery really started with a leave of absence and getting a handle on my stress. Definitely through exercise. I have always found exercise has been a great tool for me.”

• [5:06] Identifying and addressing burnout

  • Really my recovery was not related to necessarily knowing that it was burnout recovery.  My recovery was essentially to fix myself, to do everything I could to become the better mom, the better boss, the better colleague, the better wife, the better friend.  That's what I was trying to do.”

• [7:57] COVID-19 pandemic and burnout

  • “The things that lead to burnout are lack of control.  We all had so much lack of control during COVID. Uncertainty is something that we really struggle with.  It's such a threat to us as humans. It's stressful.  There was so much change.  Change management is something that leads to burnout.”

• [11:51] Parental burnout and youth mental health

  • “And I think that's one of the things we can think about. We couldn't hide the stress on the way to work or at work, or whatever. And we were very much experiencing it in front of our children and how we role modeled adapting and coping. I mean, of course, we were, we were demonstrating anxiety in front of our children. So it's not just that it's contagious, but that children would be more concerned because they saw their parents being concerned. So, you know, I am not surprised again that it's happened.”

  • “And so I think one of the things that I keep trying to remember in this, and it was really helpful to me is, for moms to not to think about being a martyr in this situation.  It's very easy for us to sort of play that role and do everything and then feel resentful about doing everything. That's not the role model that we actually want to play for our daughters in particular because we want them to see, yeah, you don't have to stand by the soccer field, you could go for a walk instead.  It's like that we don't have to dedicate ourselves so selflessly to our work or to our children, that us having our own lives and looking after ourselves and prioritizing our needs, that’s the life I want for my daughter.”

• [17:26] Self care and physical activity

  • “So we have to be so careful in what we think of our self care habits. But I definitely, as an exercise researcher myself, have always known the benefits of exercise for preventing these important diseases, heart disease, that are all related to stress as well. So it's a fantastic tool for managing stress, not just long term, but actually in the moment too.”

• [24:53] Advice for entrepreneurs

  • “Often we have left a job and become an entrepreneur because we might have experienced burnout, or at least some of the features of the lack of autonomy or potentially a toxic workplace. So again, I think it's really important to recognize that and make sure you actually take time to recover in that process and develop these stress management tools, because often we jump from one fire into to the next without giving ourselves a chance to do that.” 

Providing Health and Physical Education to At-Risk Children and Teens - Active Plus [Podcast Series]

• [:54] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Tarik Kitson

  • Tarik Kitson is the Founder and Executive Director of Active Plus.

• [1:17] Active Plus mission and vision

  • “You know, I was not aware that there were schools in the public school systems in New York City that didn't have access to physical fitness and fitness after school programs. And so we decided to turn it into a nonprofit, after learning of these issues within the Harlem community.”

• [2:55] Fitness, nutrition, mindfulness, leadership programming

  • “[W]e believe that you can't have one without the other. We can't preach to kids the importance of being active without discussing with them nutrition, cooking, the food that they put in their body as well as mindfulness, mental health, and knowing how to deal with stress.”

• [5:15] Train-the-trainer model

  • “We love it, you know those are some of our best workers, are the students who have went through the program. And it's a, it's an amazing model that I'm glad that we started, I’m happy that we started.”

• [6:17] COVID-19 pandemic impact on programming

  • “But I also know that a lot of these principals are understanding more of how important it is, right? Because we kind of saw that through the pandemic, of how they've been neglecting these programs in their schools, with the mindfulness, with the nutrition, with the fitness, of how important it is because kids have been at home for such a long time. And they're so reliant on their phones and games, and students having no interest of being physically active. And so we've seen a tremendous change in attitudes of the schools in regards to putting more resources towards phys ed programs and health programs.”

• [8:51] Emergency response work

  • “I'm just proud that we're in a position where we can help our community and be able to get people such as yourself and a lot of our other supporters to come and to assist and to help and to be hands on with these students to make their life as best as possible with the limited resources that they do have.”

• [11:40] Meeting students where they are

  • “And that's one big thing that we learned from the pandemic is how to meet these students where they're at. I feel like sometimes adults try to force things upon kids. But I think as we learn with technology, we have to, we have to catch up with the students. And I think a lot of these public schools have failed, they’ve failed to reach these students…” 

• [14:37] Helping kids live healthy lifestyles

  • “But how about those other kids who don't really care about being an athlete, but they have the right to know what it means to live a healthy lifestyle. You don't have to be a basketball player or a soccer player to be active. We want to be able to show them the foundation and the importance of working out, of walking or running, how to do a proper push-up, how to run properly.  You don't have to be the next athlete, but this is why you're doing this.  I feel like a lot of time kids think, okay, like, I'm running or I'm doing this just to be a basketball player not even thinking that, this is important for you to just live a longer life, live a productive life, live a healthy life.”

• [17:59] Access to a variety of programming

  • “Yeah, no, no definitely, and one thing that really gets on my nerves, especially within the Black community in New York City.  Even the schools, the schools in the Black community.  They have like two sports, football and basketball.  Maybe some of the Latino schools, baseball and soccer. And this is public schools. But when you go to the public school, the Upper East Side, where the parents are a little bit more, have more resources, you have a variety of different activities.  You have gym, you have, you have fencing, you have ice skating. And so it's just, it's awful, it's not even fair.”

• [20:13] Working with community partners

  • “But that's the way to do it. When you're in a nonprofit, you can't do it all yourself.  You have to be able to really tap into the community and get assistance. And like I said, I'm just fortunate to be in a position that we're in, there's a lot of people out here that want to help.  You just kind of have to put yourself out there. You have to be comfortable with sharing resources.”

• [22:59] Measuring success

  • “So that's really how you can set yourself apart from other organizations is really spending some time of how you're going to evaluate and measure the success of your program. I'm so happy that you mentioned that because sometimes, especially younger organizations, they don’t get that, they don't understand that. But it's like, you have to.”

• [25:09] Scaling through technology

  • “One thing that I did learn from this pandemic is how you can scale your organization through technology, and how you can get a reach—more families, more parents, more principals. And how it can just be a lot more affordable, like, yes, we're going to be in person, but when you're in person, you can't be everywhere at once, and it can be a lot.” 

Improving Student Athlete Safety and Well-being [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guests, Dr. Brian Biagioli and Dr. Jim Borchers

  • Dr. Brian Biagioli is Board Member of the US Registry of Exercise Professionals and Executive Director for the National Council on Strength and Fitness Board for Certification. 

  • Dr. Jim Borchers is Chief Medical Officer of the Big Ten Conference and Co-Founder and President of the U.S. Council for Athlete’s Health.

• [1:28] Goal of best practice recommendations on conditioning programs

  • “For too long we have stood by and really in only certain little corners of athletics paid attention to these issues. But now, medical organizations, fitness organizations, athletic organizations have come together and have really decided that we need to have a standardization to this and we need to professionalize what we're doing.”

• [6:16] Best practice recommendations as guardrails

  • “The guardrails really go into what we talk about in the six pillars around sportsmanship, protective equipment, acclimatization and conditioning, emergency preparedness, the responsibilities of athletic personnel, and then annual education and training requirements. And what we've done is codify what it means to be prepared, to be responsible, and to put into place those things that will be proactively preventing situations where athletes can really suffer these types of catastrophic events.”

• [8:42] Development of best practice recommendations

  • “So the next step was to look at a different stakeholder group was the strength conditioning coaches, and the three organizations that provide accredited certification, which is recognized throughout the United States, were ideal for creating the foundations, particularly for the research that was utilized.”

• [10:19] Standard of care

  • “So, as you correlate those associations and those organizations endorsing recommendations, they become best practice. And they become a real roadmap for us to follow and they become a roadmap that legal experts and risk management experts follow when they think about athletics in organizations, and especially in institutions and colleges. And this now has become standard of care.”

• [13:28] Improving the health, safety and well-being of athletes

  • “When we talk about athletics we need to know that people that are working with athletes—whether that be in a medical space or whether that be in a strength and conditioning or exercise performance space or even in a sport coach space—are meeting certain standards when it comes to the health, safety and well-being of athletes.”

• [18:50] Continuing education

  • “[W]e want everyone to understand that you may not meet the requirements today. But this is an ongoing forward effort to becoming the best that you can be and complying with these requirements as quickly as possible.”

• [24:45] Registry of exercise professionals

  • “If it's the US Registry for Exercise Professionals, we need to publicize that and let individuals know they can go there and find out whether individuals are meeting best practice just as you can, for example, with a medical provider and board certification. And so all of this to say that it shows the commitment to health and safety and helps to make certain that we don't hear responses like, oh, I never even knew that that person didn't meet those standards, or I didn't even know that they had to meet those standards. I think we're educating the public as well in this endeavor.”

• [28:07] Minimizing risk of injury and death

  • “And as long as everyone's moving in the right direction, we're going to see the risk of injury and death go down incrementally. And that's our goal here.”

• [30:02] Call to action

  • “And so my call to action is, is to engage. And you have to engage and you have to being a willing participant to make certain that you're doing what you're illustrating to those around you.  And so I hope that this is a first step in really applauding leadership from this profession to lead other professions to be able to illustrate to their constituents that they're engaged in the health, safety and well- being of athletes everywhere.”

Outdoor Movement as Medicine [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Melissa Sundermann

  • Dr. Sundermann is a lifestyle and internal medicine physician. 

  • She is also a lover of everything outdoors, especially movement.

• [1:26] Health benefits of moving outdoors in nature

  • “So just spending time in nature can be your own medication for focus and concentration. Decreased levels of stress and fatigue. So, yes, so many health benefits of just being outdoors and preferably moving our bodies outdoors.”

• [5:23] Talking to patients about nature as medicine

  • “And I think that, as a lifestyle medicine physician and as a nature medicine physician, I think you really have to practice what you preach, right? And so if I was completely sedentary and locked inside my house or my office all day, I really couldn't speak from the heart. And so I think that that's really important is that if I'm going to talk the talk, I need to walk the walk, metaphorically and physically.”

• [7:31] Overcoming barriers to access

  • “Any kind of green space that you can find will work. And so don't let that, well, I don't live next to a national park, so forget it, I'm just gonna stay inside. No, just anytime you're outdoors, find anything that's green. And that's going to be really helpful for you.”

• [12:53] Supporting parks

  • “I really encourage people, like on the weekends go visit these parks because we want them to be there and accessible and the only way is that we have to visit them.”

• [14:48] Mental health benefits of being active outdoors in nature

  • “You just did that 10 minutes, you just did a meditation. And that's going to be great for your focus, and, and just feeling better. And I think just like connecting to our sense of self.  When we're out in nature and we get rid of all the other distractions, it's using all five of our senses, which can be really powerful. There's not a lot of activities that we do that we use all five of our senses.”

• [18:23] Mood follows action

  • “But if you take action and do the action, i.e., we're talking about moving our bodies outdoors, your mood will follow. And I pretty much guarantee that anytime you go outdoors or you move your body outdoors, you never come back and say, Gosh, darn it. I really wish I didn't do that. You're just never, you never feel like that, you think wow.”

• [23:04] Trusted role models

  • “When I say you’re right genes run in families, but so do recipes and lifestyles. And so I’m, as a lifestyle medicine doctor, nature doctor, I'm going to help you. I'm going to walk you through this. No pun intended. I will walk you through this, and I will give you the education and the tools that your genes don't have to be your destiny and you don't have to manifest these chronic diseases.”

• [26:26] Movement as medicine

  • “I absolutely completely agree with you about movement is medicine, right? And when we look at—I'm going to refer to the Blue Zones again—these are the healthiest populations that live the longest across all sectors of the world.  They don't go to Planet Fitness in Okinawa, and so, right?  They're not going there at two in the morning because it's open, Lifetime Fitness open 24 hours a day.  No.  They're moving their bodies, they're growing their own food, they're meeting their friends walking into another village to go meet up with their friends and maybe dancing. So it's, movement is key.”

• [28:34] Advice for healthcare providers

  • “So I'm gonna say first and foremost, you got to start doing this yourself. And there's been studies that physicians are more apt to recommend movement if they're doing it themselves. So I want you to start by getting outdoors, spending time in nature, go to a park. start feeling that yourself.”

Active People, Healthy Nation℠ - CDC [Podcast Series]

• [:54] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Ken Rose

  • Ken is CDC Chief, Physical Activity and Health Branch, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity.

• [1:16] Active People, Healthy Nation goal

  • “And so Active People really was an effort to build cohesion across a number of national public health partners to create a brand for physical activity and support the work that we do at CDC. So Active People, Healthy Nation, 27 million by 2027, is an important tagline and important for us to understand.  And just to directly answer your question it was based on a doubling of the Healthy People 2030 goal. But what's more important is that it's an effort to build a culture of physical activity in this country that we all know that we sorely need.”

• [3:53] Health benefits of physical activity

  • “So what I do think is really critical to understand at this point, particularly this time and place, is that physical activity is a critical investment in mental health in this country right now.  We know that there's so many benefits of physical activity and even traditionally we talk about the chronic disease benefits. But what I really want people to understand now is that there are fundamental mental health benefits to physical activity that are really critical for us coming out of the pandemic, rewiring ourselves into whatever this new normal becomes and helping us build more resilient communities.”

  • “And I think one of the things that we have to recognize as a result of the pandemic is that having places for people to be active and ways in which for them to be active in times of national crisis really is an essential function, not a nice function to have. It is an essential component of our infrastructure.” 

• [7:31] Framing physical activity as essential

  • “So it is important for us to understand as professionals that we need to make that bridge to the fact that physical activity can be fun.  It isn't a no pain, no gain equation.  It is an equation that means going for a walk with friends. It's a recreational experience that we really need to bridge to when we talk about going out for that walk or doing that bout of physical activity, enjoying your time with your friends, thinking of it as a recreational quality of life experience.”

• [12:23] Pandemic preparedness planning

  • “There's an article currently in peer review from our Physical Activity Policy Research and Evaluation Network that talks about what jurisdictions actually did implement from a physical activity perspective as a result of the pandemic. Both the restrictions that we saw early on of the playgrounds, but also the opening of streets that I mentioned earlier. And so I do think we need to translate that academic research that will be coming out and we need to make sure it gets into the right channels, in those planning channels, so that communities understand that we don't forget those lessons moving forward.” 

• [15:31] Active People, Healthy Nation strategies

  • “And what I hope your listeners will understand is that they are probably already doing something in our strategies for increasing physical activity.  And if you just Google Active People, Healthy Nation strategies for increasing physical activity, this will come up right in front of you.  But these strategies are important because what they do is they translate the community guide for preventive services recommendations. And those recommendations are based on the most robust science that exists on behavior change and policy systems and environmental change.”

• [21:34] Cross-sector collaboration

  • “We recognize that the public health sector alone is not going to change the culture of physical activity in this country.  The healthcare sector is not going to change the culture. The fitness sector is not going to change the culture. So it is really important that we think about other sectors that we can bring to the table and speak their language in ways that they can see their work and the importance of promoting physical activity.”

• [27:04] Call to action

  • “People don't understand how fundamentally important physical activity is for their health. It is literally one of the best things you can do today, tomorrow and 10 years from now. So I'll leave it there. I hope everybody goes out and gets a walk today, at least 30 minutes.”