Dr. Aw The Power of Nature Video Transcript

Hey everybody, welcome back to fitness with... Oh gosh.

Let's try that again.

Fitness Fun with Fox and Aw!

Hi everybody welcome back to Fitness Fun with Fox and Aw.

Yes, we are back, and we thought we'd mix things up.

I thought we'd mix things up a little bit this this time and actually film outdoors because the pandemic is getting a bit better, more people going outside.

Clearly it's safe to be outside as long as you you know, get your two shots get double immunized.

So we thought it'd be outside.

And Brendan, of course is in his home studio.

But we thought we would share some of our lessons learned about the importance of nature during this crazy pandemic.

I know personally, it's helped me sort of walking my dog getting outside.

Now the weather's bit better going up north to the cottage and doing some fishing, it's really been therapeutic good for the mind, body and the soul.

And really, for my patients too I mean, so many of them have talked about changing the way that they exercise because they can't get to the gyms, going for their walks, spending time with their loved ones spend more time with their animals, you know, learning and appreciating nature.

And actually, there's a lot of literature on the importance of forest therapy or forest bathing originated in Japan where they'd have folks go outside and incorporate this for their mental health circulation immune system, and also the Scandinavians, a lot of other folks have actually incorporated this into a group therapy or individual therapy.

So anyways I'd like to sort of hand it over to Brandon and have him share some of his experiences, both personally and professionally, with the use of nature for his clients and also for himself.

Over to you, Brandon.

Yeah, perfect. Thank you for proving that this is science. And we're not just joking around and having fun here today.

And I love to I love to mix in nature walks because it helps lighten the mood.

Right. And when life is getting too serious, it brings in infinite variety.

You know, nature is the infinite entertainer.

Nature is a healer, as you talked about forest bathing, and it being good for mental health. And it's motivating.

So I'm a big fan of just mixing it in when and where we can.

And I applaud you on multitasking in a business meeting in this moment while you're walking.

Can you take a couple of quick steps, James just so we can say you actually walked?

And yeah. Yeah, can you also just for everybody, your background looks a little bit fake.

So can you like pick up a rock or penetrate or something? So that we know that this is legit, like this is legit see, I'm touching this. Yeah,. It’s virtual reality here.

All right. All right. We're good. We're good. Good.

I'll try to walk slow. Cause I think there's some technical difficulties.

Yeah. I’m going to get you to slow down, because you're too fast for reception these days. It's a nice problem to have.

So if James starts cutting out It just means he's just too fit the internet can't contain him. Yeah.

All right. So one of the things I like to do personally, I go on nature walks a number of times a week. I do it for date night with my wife. I do it as a w ay to catch up with my parents or friends.

And I always just try to mix in some fun and mix in some fitness.

So I have a really interesting workout to show you that I devised while I was out in nature.

You want to see it? Absolutely. All right, here it is. I call this the chipmunk workout.

That's me doing bicep curls with a chipmunk, which is a you know, there's no lack of resources, just resourcefulness.

So you want to get fit, you just need some creativity. I'm doing lateral raises.

That's an overhead press for the upper trapezius, triceps and mid deltoids you know if you want to work do this workout at home just know it's like 20,000 reps each to feel the burn because they only weigh like an ounce each and special.

Thanks to coach chippy right there, my little personal training coach.

And by the way, if you stick around to the end of the segment, I'm going to show, I'm going to share a whole bunch of the great photos I've taken while I've been on nature walks. Amazing.

I think that level of weight is something I could even benchpress. I like that beginner nature version. So now I do have it's a great place to start. Everybody can lift a chipmunk

I'm pretty sure now I do have some practical action steps for for viewers and participants.

One is to get a good pair of shoes. You don't want to twist an ankle if you're outside walking and hiking because of poor footwear. So invest in some good footwear.

Another tip I have is James did you bring any seed for the birds or anything?

I forgot I did not bring my food for the animals. No worries.

It means that they won't slow you down now they won't distract you. Right so you can get super fast paced walk, otherwise I usually carry like a bag of black oil, sunflower seeds, because birds and little friendly critters like it. I do want to just tell everyone to have wise caution if you do feed birds or any wild animals just calculate your risks in advance, but I've always had nothing but positive experiences.

Another thing I would suggest is taking long strides when you walk can work the glutes, in
hamstrings, James, can you just take a few long strides and just demonstrate for us here, just so we can see how fast you can go.

So you want to go fast here, right? Okay. Yeah. So really fast walking long strides. That's it. Warp speed. Warp Speed.

A liitle jog here maybe. No? Okay.

Yeah, perfect. You got to slow down, I'm losing you the reception can't keep up with your pace there. But that's good. That helps t o reverse the postural tension in the body, you're getting glutes and hamstrings straightens you up, helps protect the back, you can also do intervals by going up and down hills.

When you go up and down hills, it works your heart and lungs for cardiovascular benefit. So
there's great benefits to be had. But most importantly, I think there's great social benefit.

I would encourage people to always just try to work this in with social time, or with work time.

It because life is busy enough. And I don't want to take any more time out of your schedule. But I'm just going to encourage you to try to find ways to blend this in with your daily habits and routines.

What can you do while you're on a nature walk a phone call a zoom call, try to be creative, it'll
put you in better spirits.

Right? What about the importance of stretching? You know, I mean, the nice thing about this nature walk is very low impact. You know, you get the right equipment, as you say lots of water and you know, proper shoes, comfortable clothes. But what about the importance of stretching before and after?

Yeah, so stretching is not as much of a factor before you go on a walk because you're not really pushing your ranges of motion to the extremes.

So most people are pretty fine to just go into a cold and use it as a warm up. Right? Just start off slow and work your way up. However, if your goal is flexibility and mobility, I'd recommend you try the 10 and one, it means 10 minutes of walking.

Then you mix in one minute of stretches. Like you got a tree there, James, you just want to do a chest stretch.

You can just put your arm on the tree. Turn your body away that can open up some muscles in front.

Yeah, like, yeah, you just do some stuff like that.

Absolutely. You can do like a hamstring stretch, some neck stretching, whatever you want mixed in just mix it into your walk. Yeah, no, that's a great

idea. Yeah, absolutely. Just blend it in. Great.

Super.

Yeah. So any other you know, final tips. I mean, maybe I could just sort of say that, you know, as the pandemic is, is getting better and people are going outside.

I mean, there's so much benefits again, both scientifically, just sort of common sense wise, of just getting outside.

What about the importance of social connection? Going on these nature walks. Brendan, do you want to comment on that?

Yes. We all need social connection to thrive mentally and physically.

It is like a nutrient like vitamin C, you got to make sure you take in your dosage of social connection. The beautiful thing about this is if you can't get people to meet up with you and go for a walk, I go for walks, and I meet people all the time and have great conversations.

I'm friends with all the people that I'll run into consistently. It's a great way to get into social connection with other humans. With chipmunks with birds, you will just feel grounded, rooted, connected.

Like it's just a great way to connect with yourself as well. Okay, awesome. Okay, well, folks, well, thanks so much for tuning in.

This is about the power of nature. It's a usual fitness fun with Fox and Aw that we do. We're trying to mix it up a little bit and try to do stuff that hopefully you'll find interesting.

So get up there, move, get some fresh air, step away from the laptop, go outside, connect
with your friends do stuff safely, and stay safe.

So any parting words there Brendan for the group as usual?

Yeah, absolutely. Let nature be your healer.

Let nature be your entertainer. I've taken tons of great photos, I always bring my phone and take photos. I've got a bunch of awesome photos from my nature walks that I'd like to close out the segment by sharing with you all and I hope it inspires you to take some of your own photos and really maximize the enjoyment of the experience because it's always available to all of us.

Okay great, awesome.

So Goodbye everybody and stay safe and get outside.