On The Lead Live this week, we’re jumping back into conversations about health and wellness, and our first guest was Wende Beggs Jones, who owns a Kerrville fitness studio. During her nearly 30-year career, Jones has seen new trends, fads and changes in fitness, but she’s also seen it grow positively. We chatted with her and shared the five things we learned from Wende Beggs Jones of Fresh and Fit.
First off, change your mindset when it comes to exercise and health
“We’re toward the end of January where they’re slowly starting to fall off, but we’re trying to encourage everybody,” Jones said about those who start the year with fitness in mind. “You know, the best advice I can give on the whole January thing is also to be working on your mindset, your attitude. Make it a lifestyle and to make it an important part of your lifestyle.”
Working on your recovery is just as important as the workout
“This aspect of not just working your muscles all the time, but also taking care of your muscles and working on the recovery part,” she said. “Stretching something. So simple. So if you’re running all the time and lifting weights, you know, that’s good. But you’re losing your mobility if you’re not taking care of the muscles. It will cause injury and long-term overuse problems, so being in a well-rounded program is important. Maybe it’s getting in the sauna or the massage chairs or seeing a massage therapist or drinking enough water; you know, people that do all those things have the best results.”
Weight loss shouldn’t be the primary focus
“There’s nothing more important to be in my and all the girls at the gym is when our clients are having results and seeing good things happen toward feeling better and not even just weight loss, which I know is usually the focus, but when they feel better and they have more energy and they’re sleeping better at night,” Jones said. “When they work out, they’re increasing their dopamine and their endorphins and good things happen. You know weight loss is almost always the by-product of that.”
Maybe consider the sauna
“If I don’t get this exactly right, forgive me, but an infrared sauna at 150 degrees four times a week for 30 minutes lowers all chance of cardiovascular issues by about 80%,” said Jones, paraphrasing a recent trend popularized by self-help guru Anthony Robbins.
When it comes to body positivity, it’s back to changing that mindset
“I’m glad you brought this up because the mindset is such a big part of the whole scenario,” Jones said. “Let’s say you stand in the mirror every day, and you look at yourself, and it’s all negativity coming out of you. I’m so this. I’m so that I’m never going to be this. All you see is what you’re not. The negativity is never ever going to go anywhere unless they change that. I mean it all starts with mindset. I’ve really been on a mission to encourage people to change their mindset but figure out where it comes from. Yeah, you know, we all are wherever we are because of choices that we made and decisions we made, and it’s hard to do, but you have to kind of soul search and figure out.”
