Fitness Tips

The Power of The Small Stuff

Fitness tips with Leanne Spencer | www.bodyshotperformance.com

It’s 2023 and this month I’ll talk about the power of the small stuff. Personally, I am not that keen on setting new year resolutions, but I have been reflecting on what I think are some of the big learnings from the year 2022.

Considering what are the important messages I can share with you. Especially, as we have just come out of a usually busy time for all, namely

Christmas and New Year celebration!

The Power of The Small Stuff

It’s really easy to underestimate the power of small shifts, particularly when done consistently, and the impact they can have cumulatively. So, for example, I’ve made an effort to get to bed 15 minutes earlier, I turn my light off 15 minutes earlier, and it’s meant that my sleep almost consistently starts with a seven, seven hours and a minute, seven hours and 59 minutes. Sometimes it creeps into the eight hours, and that makes a huge difference to my energy, my mood, my motivation. So what can an extra 15 minutes in bed look like for you?

Small Changes, Big Impact

Small changes, when made consistently can amount to a big impact. Another small shift I made was with fitness. I started to do more frequent exercise and fitness sessions, but shorter. And it meant I could fit more in. It meant I could do things like movement snacking (a movement snack is a little pocket of movement, just a minute of movement every hour. For example: You might get out of your chair and you may do some squats. So up and down in the squat position. Or you may go up and down stairs a few times) in the office, and I’ve actually seen more lean muscle mass. It’s not the only reason, but it’s a contributing factor. I feel more energised. I feel that my mood is better and it feels more achievable, which is a superpower of the small stuff. A common blocker to fitness is it’s easy to think “I’ve got a one-hour workout to do and I can’t fit it in” therefore it’s not going to happen. A 15-minute brisk walk, or a 5-minute movement snack every 2 hours, perhaps even gentle dynamic stretching when you wake and to destress before bed. So think about the small stuff. Creating more shorter opportunities to work on fitness as defined by you. What would a shorter but more frequent fitness routine look like for you? So, they’re just a couple of examples of small things, powerful little shifts. What could that look like for you? What small shift could you create towards a better habit? Doing more of something that benefits you in all those ways? Strength, health, energy, mood, and motivation. So, the power of the small stuff, that’s a real observation from me looking back at this year in summary. Take that with you into 2023 and see what that does for you.

Saturdays 7, 14, 21 & 28 January: Peckham Rye Park Run

9:00am -10:00am. Peckham Rye parkrun is a 3-lap anti clockwise course, entirely on tarmac is mainly flat and therefore a potential PB course the start & finish are located close to the Colyton Road entrance of the park. This scenic course takes you over 2 bridges along the pond keeping the black metal fence on your left before turning right running past the bowling green and around the oval gardens. Peckham Rye Park, Colyton Road, East Dulwich, SE15 4JR. www.parkrun.org.uk/peckhamrye

Monday 9 January: Dulwich WI Monthly Meeting

7:30pm – 9:30pm. We meet on the second Monday of each month at Vits+Kicks, 57 North Cross Road, SE22 9ET. https://dulwichwi.com

Thursdays 12, 19 & 26 January: Hand-building Pottery Classes

(afternoon session)

1pm-3pm & 6pm-8pm. Whether you’re a seasoned potter or new to the craft, the pottery at Bell House offers a warm, welcoming atmosphere where creativity flows as freely as friendship. We will help you create your own pieces from concept and design to construction and glazing. You will expand your skills in coiling, slabmaking and pinching. We also offer a great space to socialise with others with similar interests and spend a quiet moment or two dedicated to yourself exploring an ancient craft. Our studio hours are 1pm to 3pm and 6pm to 8pm on Thursdays, beginning 12th January. We aim to offer limited spaces so we can allocate fair teaching time to everyone! The classes will be run by Annie & Ekta AKA Mudlife, a community venture. Tickets www.bellhouse.co.uk/events

Bell House Dulwich, 21 College Road, Dulwich SE21 7BG.

For listings contact: angela@semagazines.co.uk

Thursday 12 January:

Mad Men & Artists – How the Advertising Industry Exploited Fine Art

8pm -9pm. Fine art has provided advertisers and their agencies with a great deal of material to use in their creative campaigns. The lecture will describe some of the processes by which these advertisements have been created and why the works of the masters have been a particularly rich source. From the Renaissance through to the present day, fine art continues to provide opportunities to enhance brand imagery with admiration, humour, satire and irony. In what should be an entertaining and informative lecture, the lecturer will use a wide range of visuals and video to show examples of the original works, the creative process and the (not always entirely successful) advertisements that are the result. Lecturer: Tony Rawlins. Also available to members and non-members live on Zoom.

info@theartssocietydulwich.org.uk James Allen’s Girls’ School Sixth Form Centre, Green Dale, London, UK.

Thursday 19 January: Human Health Woman Menopause Workshop

9:30am -12:00pm. Come and find out about your hormones and how to help your symptoms of brain fog, tiredness, anxiety and poor sleep in this 2.5-hour workshop. This event is designed to be fact filled and supportive for you. Led by Dr Mayoni you will be able to ask her all your health-related questions. Spinach, Lordship Lane, East Dulwich SE22 8HD E-mail info@drmhumanhealth.co.uk to book.

Wednesday 25 January: Cooking with Scissors

6:45pm - 8:00pm. An opportunity for local business professionals to meet, make new contacts and gain new business. The last Wednesday of every month. Free Admission. To find out more or register please go to our website. Location: The Lordship Pub, 211 Lordship Lane, East Dulwich SE22 8HA. Tickets can be purchased at:

www.cookingwithscissors.co.uk

Thursday 26 January: Supporting the Dyslexic Learner - introduction and exam arrangements

10am-12pm. Tina will help you understand how you can best support a child at home and at school. Children with dyslexia may learn differently from you. This course has been designed to help you understand how you can best support a child at home and at school. We will cover how to recognise different learning profiles, multisensory learning, ageappropriate reading matter and tools, note taking, mindmapping, making numeracy more visual and how to gather evidence that a child needs help and support. There will be six sessions on Thursday mornings 10.00am to 12.00pm 1) What is Dyslexia and

Exam Arrangements? - 26th January 2) Learning Styles - 2nd February 3) Reading Skills - 9th February

BREAK FOR HALF TERM

4) Study Skills - 23rd February 5) Writing Skills - 2nd March 6) Developing and Supporting

Numeracy Skills - 9th March PLEASE NOTE: If you would like to book all six sessions you can buy five and get one free. The total cost for this offer is £100. If you prefer to book single sessions you can still do this at £20 each but please use the appropriate Eventbrite listing according to which week you would like to attend. Tickets: www.bellhouse.co.uk/events

Bell House Dulwich, 21 College Road, Dulwich SE21 7BG.