Tag

Stephen Morrison

Time to Come Clean

Recently I haven’t been eating clean. I haven’t been training well. I haven’t been sleeping well and I have struggled to get out of bed, to enjoy any of the activities that normally make me smile or to even shave (currently sporting a poor excuse of a beard).

It hasn’t gone unnoticed at home, where I am more irritable, more grumpy and eating more than I should be. Even as I write this!

I’ve had a bout of sickness and a wee dose of the cold, but the truth is I recognise these symptoms. I have experienced them before. When I was morbidly obese.

Then, as now, I was suffering from depression. There, I said it.

If you read this blog or follow my tweets or Facebook updates, you will maybe question how I can dare to say that I am depressed. I have a wonderful partner, two smashing boys, an amazing mum and the opportunity to do so many things. I even ask myself what right I have to feel depressed. But, I know I am.

On Facebook and twitter and among friends I have been trying my best to pretend that I am ok, but I’ve probably been dropping hints. I’ve slept in for PT sessions, I’ve struggled to write and complete tasks and I have been (over) reacting to too many posts on obesity by fitness professionals who are anything but professional in their opinion of the obese (but that is another blog).

Ask me what is making me depressed and I might struggle to pinpoint it. Like most people I have regrets, fears and I have stuff going on in my life that I wish wasn’t. I’ve lost friends and seem to be losing my way. As I continue to eat, I think of the Biggest Loser contestants who regained their weight and my old fear, that I too will again become obese, resurfaces. I have began to doubt myself and as my doubts increase, my eating and my weight increases. Self medication and self sabotaging.

It is a vicious cycle and one I must turn around.

I am not wanting medication and I am not wanting sympathy. Writing this and speaking to my girlfriend has been cathartic, even if some may judge me. But it hasn’t rid me of the dark clouds that hang over me. I guess, like the Black Dog in the video below, I will never be free of them, but I can try and prevent them from clouding my judgement or from preventing me from realising my dreams.

I can find new activities to keep my try athlete life alive and I can clean out my life. I have made a clean break from some people who made me feel low and I need to focus on my goals and on the people who I value and who value me. I can stop seeing and talking about myself as fat.

More importantly, I will use the poly pill of physical activity to make me feel better about life and about myself. Exercise works and it worked for me when I was morbidly obese. Hopefully, it will work again and if needed, I will reach out to professionals.

January 29, 2015 7 comments

Try-Athlete

You Take The High Road, And I’ll Take The Paddle Board

written by Stephen Morrison

And I’ll be in er, Loch Lomond before you. “In” being the operative word.

As an active travel champion and try athlete, I like to champion and try new active ways of getting from A to B and, via WILDERNESS SUP, I have discovered another activity that I have added to my “must keep doing” list.

It is Stand Up Paddle (SUP) boarding and it is exactly what it says on the tin. You stand on a board and paddle. Sounds easy.

So when asked by Barry of Wilderness SUP if I wanted a wet-suit, I looked at him incredulously and politely declined. We shared a “we are men” look and headed towards the shoreline with an 8ft inflatable board under my arm.
The instructions were simple. Climb on, stand up and paddle. However, before standing up, Barry encouraged me to get comfortable on the board by paddling on my knees. After a few minutes and several hundred metres into Loch Lomond, I stood up.

And promptly fell off and fell in.

If anyone is wondering, Loch Lomond is as far from the warm waters of Hawaii, where SUP hails from, as you can get and at times the water is persishingly cold, but fortunately after about the fourth time I fell in, I no longer felt the coldness seep through me. I’m not sure if had become accustomed to it or if my body had just gone numb, but after a while I did gain more confidence and I spent more time standing up and less time swimming. And yes, this was a “put your hands in the air” moment.

Hand SUP

Stand Up Paddle boarding is like yoga on water. Equally relaxing and strength sapping. As I skirted amongst the islands of Loch Lomond…ok, as I slowly (and wind assisted) floated around the islands, I realised why they are called the Bonnie Banks and why SUP is one of the fastest growing water sports. It is a magical and beautiful place and paddling with Ben Lomond in the back drop remains one of my favourite pictures.

Bonnie Banks

By the time we had reached Inchconnachan or as it is also known, Wallaby Island (it is actually inhabited by Wallabies) I was in need of a rest and some of the homemade tablet kindly donated by Barry’s mum. If Wilderness SUP does not make him rich, then selling this tablet could.

January 28, 2015 2 comments

Commonwealth Games #Team14 DoMore with Strathmore Physical Activity Try-Athlete

Do More Child’s Play

written by Stephen Morrison

One of my personal trainers, Scott, asked me about my goals. He may have been expecting me to say that I wanted to be lighter, stronger and faster, but instead I told him that I wanted to be able to climb trees, swing from bars and jump over walls. I wanted to be able to play with my boys and I wanted to be more flexible and supple. This pleased him greatly and over the past few months, I’ve been hanging from bars, practising on rings and crawling on the ground

So, when my friends at Strathmore Water invited me along to their Do More event with Commonwealth Games Gymnastics superstar and Do More Ambassador Dan Keatings, I pictured Dan being overwhelmed by my grace, strength and ability on the apparatus.

What can I say? I have a vivid imagination and an overwhelming amount of self belief.

Plus, look at me on these rings!

A front lever. Who said a camera doesn’t lie?

If ever there was a blogger prepared for an event, it was me. What I wasn’t prepared for was the scene I witnessed on my arrival. For one moment, I thought I had arrived at a One Direction event, not one for Dan Keatings. For it was full of screaming and hyper children.

I have often questioned the value of using athletes to promote physical activity to the masses, but seeing how the children responded to Dan, my views have changed (a little). These children were in awe of Dan and in turn, I was in awe of them.

In the waiting area they were jumping up in down, doing cartwheels, splits and various others moves that made me wince. I shared a look of fear and bewilderment with some of the other adults present.

Ross bent over backwards for Dan

To get us warmed up, we played a version of Tig. Two youngsters and I were charged with catching every other attendee, making them stop and wait till someone crawled under their legs, before they could resume running

I felt like Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, as I ordered the ten year old on my left and the twelve year old on my right to take the flanks while I assaulted the main body. I also pictured a lion hunting gazelles. I did say I had a vivid imagination.

Ten minutes later, my pride was shattered and I was lying on my back, gasping for breath. I had forgotten how fast and light on their feet, children could be.

I had also forgotten that I had often wondered how gymnasts looked like they did. With cover model physiques and muscles upon muscles. The first training session provided an answer. I was only just recovering from chasing the kids, when we split into three groups, with my group enduring a strength sapping circuit class. The presence of Dan Keating did momentarily give me a boost.

Trio of Tricep Dippers

As I did planks, press ups, burpees and crunches, my eyes were drawn to the other two groups. One session had the kids focusing on their floor work and the other had them working on their pummel skills. Both groups showed more talent than I could ever hope to achieve and my own efforts on the apparatus were met with laughter and even some applause, as I seemed to invent new ways of landing. Most of which involved my backside.

I’d have liked to have seen them try this with me!

Throughout the morning I was amazed and impressed by the skills and attitudes of the kids present. Hidden amongst them might be future champions, but in my eyes they also represented hope. We often read about how inactive the youth of Scotland are, but here were a large group of kids who had honed some impressive skills and who genuinely loved what they were doing and who hung on every word of advice Dan gave them.

Dan holds the floor

However, despite all their hard work, there can only be one, and it was left to Dan Keatings to make the final judgement and decide upon his star pupil:

I spoke to Dan later about his success, his future goals and his training. Like Libby and Robbie before him, he is determined, dedicated and disciplined while also humble and passionate about his sport. With Glasgow hosting the Gymnastic World Championships in 2015, he has another challenging year ahead.

He too spoke about the children, about how impressive they were and how important it is to get them involved and to keep them engaged. His own training started at five years old, as he prepared to follow his family into Thai Boxing and it shows the value of being a Try Athlete at a young age. We can’t predict what sports and activities our children will enjoy, but we can try and let them Do More of them and allow them to discover new talents and their own interests.

October 2, 2014 0 comment

Physical Activity

Make Exercise Personal

written by Stephen Morrison

T and Me

I started joint Personal Training (PT) sessions with my girlfriend, Teresa, partly because I wanted to support her and I do enjoy doing activities with her.

We cycle together, we go to classes together and now we even run together via Great Run Local.

It made sense to train together. Especially with our trip to Australia only 11 weeks away (eek). Plus, I enjoy any opportunity to train.

I do my own PT with the brilliant Scott Devenney PT and have great fun crawling around, hanging about and playing with bars and sticks (this is great fun and tough). If you want to improve your movement and feel stronger mentally and physically (and feel like a kid again), I really can’t recommend Scott enough.

My sessions with Teresa are with Christine Docherty and they are different. I absolutely love her Kettlecise class (and Zumba, but don’t tell anyone) and when Teresa said she was doing personal training I didn’t have to be convinced to sign up.

With her, we play with Battle Ropes and Kettlebells. We spar with boxing gloves (Teresa enjoys this, just a little too much), we sprint (oh, the sprints) and we squat.

Whether it is Zumba, Metafit or Kettlecise, it has become clear that Christine likes squats.

She combines these lethally with stair sprints and stair jumps.

Jump

And it is fantastic. Not just because I’m with Teresa, but because Christine, like Scott, provides a great variety of exercises and knows both our weaknesses and our strengths.

We train in a park and watched classes of people simply sprinting up a hill. Again and again. Yes, it may be effective, but how quickly would you tire (no pun intended) of that?

Having both Scott and Christine encourage and challenge us (especially about our food diaries) is complementing and enhancing what we do throughout the week. It is making us feel fitter and stronger.

And this is the point of my ramblings. I often advocate that we should find and do activities we enjoy. This is still true, but we should also fill our days with a variety of activities.

Personalise how you exercise.

Try not to focus all your efforts on one activity. Be, as I ALWAYS suggest, a Try-Athlete. If possible find others to train with and with whom you can be accountable to.

Blend your approach to exercise and you will have a smoother journey to fitness.

Think not just about classes or running but think about all the little changes you can make to your day. From using stairs more (you don’t have to jump them four at a time) to gardening and investing in a good personal trainer (they DO make a difference), everything you do should make you feel healthier and happier. Do any of us really need more than this?

The Activity Pyramid

September 27, 2014 0 comment

Commonwealth Games #Team14 DoMore with Strathmore Running Triathlon Try-Athlete

Libby’s Guide to Running

written by Stephen Morrison

If you follow my blogs here, at the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine or at Great Run you will know that I like to promote physical activity for all; that I like to run and that I love meeting amazing athletes and participating in exciting events. Every activity I try is fun and every person I meet is inspirational, in their own unique way.

None more so than Libby Clegg. I spent a day with her and Strathmore Water as part of the #DoMore campaign, for which Libby is an Ambassador. A day that has left a lasting impression on me and inspired me to literally do more.

I had returned, after 24 years, to my old school, Hutchesons’ Grammar, to learn this time from Libby Clegg and her team about guided running for the visually impaired. As a runner I appreciated and enjoyed the training session with Lincoln Asquith, Libby’s former guide and step-father to her current guide and fellow gold medalist Mikhail Huggins (watch out Mikail, I’m after your job).

Lincoln putting us through our paces

As a former Team GB sprinter and coach, Lincoln’s advice to increase my cadence (speed of my steps) hasn’t been lost on me, although I am more likely to share with my running buddies how he informed the group that I was strong and fast (he didn’t add, for my size!). Maybe, I am a sprinter after all!? He put us through shuttle runs and speed drills, focusing on knee drives and using our forefoot to push and propel ourselves forward..

Wait, sorry, I am possibly losing you and confusing you for my Great Run audience. Simply put, Lincoln provided us with some simple tools that we can use to become faster runners. The same tools that have helped Libby Clegg win Silver at London 2012 , World Championships and Gold at Glasgow 2014 and which give her continued hope of realisng her dream of joining the able bodied sprinters at the next Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast and the Rio Olympics in 2018.

However, here with us, her goal was to share some insight on what it is like to run for those with limited or no sight and to give us an opportunity to experience what it means to be a guide. I’ve watched Libby and Mikail at both the Commonwealth Games and at a British Athletics meeting in Glasgow and marvelled at the synchronicity of both the runners. One of the reasons I run, is because it is simple (once you forget about biometrics). I find it hard to coordinate my own movements, without having to factor in someone else’s.

So I was both honoured and horrified when Libby split the nine attendees into pairs, with the odd man (both psychologically and numerically) me, partnered with Libby, herself!!

The first thing we had to master was walking as a pair. Libby had us use hair bands to tie our hands together and she explained that we would walk as if a mirror was placed between us. Despite my fears, matching stride and arm movements came naturally. After a few practice walks, Libby decided we were ready for blindfolds. Libby is registered blind with Stargardt Mascular Dystrophy leaving only peripheral vision in her left eye , but watching her move around her surrondings, it is easy to forget, so I thought nothing of it when my partner put the blindfold on me. Until, that is, Libby stated that it was the blind leading the blind. Even then I felt confident. We were on a running track with no obstacles and I had every faith in Libby.

Walking with a blindfold on was a strange experience. You lose track (no pun intended) of time, distance and speed. Despite being assured of the contary, by Libby, I didn’t feel like I was walking in a straight line or close to Libby, even though we were connected at the wrist. You don’t feel in control, but with Libby guiding me, I at least never felt in danger. After a few practice walks, we moved on to running. Slowly to start. And a strange thing happened. Running with a blindfold on felt easier and was more enjoyable than walking. I felt that I was more stable and more confident. Libby helped, by keeping me posted on distance and by telling me to stop.

And then we swapped roles and Libby dropped a bombshell.

Other than Mikail and Lincoln, before him, Libby doesn’t let others guide her……but she WOULD let me! I cannot fully convey how this made me feel. Honoured, trusted and just a little nervous. I shouldn’t have. We set off and as our arms pumped and legs strode in unison, running in tandem seemed the most natural thing in the world. I even felt that my form improved. Even as we increased our pace, our movements mirrored each other.

Running in Sync (told you, Mikail)

I have went from running solo to running with my friends at Glasgow Nike Run Club and now to running arm in arm with a Paralympian, Commonwealth Games Gold Medalist and World Champion. Of all the experiences I’ve had, this one has been the most special. Not just because Libby was a great host and sport and praised my efforts, but because it has given me a chance to DoMore. It also helped that she uttered the immortal words, that so many Team Scotland members have now proclaimed:

Again, if you’ve read my blog, you’ll know that I used to be morbidely obese and you might also know that I had mobility problems in my childhood, but aged 19, I also lost my eyesight, albeit only for just over one week, with Optic Neuritis .

Running with Libby has triggered a desire to learn more about guide running, in the hope that I can encourage and support blind runners. I’ve made contact with Visibility and Scottish Disability Sports and you can too.

Let’s Do More to enable more to Do More!

September 3, 2014 0 comment

Commonwealth Games #Team14 Try-Athlete

Team14 Are Bowled Over

written by Stephen Morrison

Old men in blazers with old fashioned views. A place where you go for funerals and 40^th – 60^th birthday parties. A place with drink prices and attitudes stuck in the past. If I’m honest, that’s how I perceived bowling clubs. Not a place that an, ahem , young hip and progressive person like me would go.

But maybe it’s my Presbyterian roots, but something about the discipline, tradition and the seeming simplicity of Lawn Bowls had always intrigued me

So, when Woodend Bowling Club and Bowls Scotland invited myself and some other Team14 members (including women and children!!) along to help promote the sport ahead of the Commonwealth Games, I thought, hell, I am now the wrong side of 40. It’s about time I took up a sport more befitting my age (I’ll hopefully be running well into my seventies, health permitting)

But, it wasn’t only that. Woodend Bowling Club were tweeting. They were funny, engaging and had pictures of kids having fun. This was not a Bowling Club like any I had visited before. And the introduction to bowling was more fun than I would ever have imagined.

We were met by Tom, who introduced us to our coach Ron of Team Scotland. We were given quick and concise instructions on how to hold and then release the bowl. To my horror, my week of practising lunges was in vain, as Tom explained how bowling required only small and controlled movements.

Tom not lunging

We were then let loose on the Crazy Bowling course, a range of fun obstacles, designed to develop skills and which had introduced bowls to over 1,000 children in the area. Was this REALLY a bowling club? Even little 4 year old Reese was having a ball, or should that be bowl?

Reese showing us how it is done

Once we had honed our skills, it was match time. Now, some might say I’m a tad competitive, so when it came to picking teams, I quickly partnered with Paula, who has taken part in 17 Commonwealth Games sports. She would make up for my general sporting ineptitude. However, I forgot why Paula had set herself the challenge of trying the sports of Glasgow 2014. She’s as bad at sports as I am!

Crazy Bowls

Thankfully, we had Louise, a 14 year old super kid, come to our rescue and we trounced (maybe a little exaggeration) Louise’s dad and @glasgowdaybyday and @buteifulbute in the last end. Bowling may have modernised, but I am not sure if my subsequent victory dance, fist pumping and hollering are now part of everyday matches.

It was a great night and as it progressed, I really felt I was improving. It’s a relatively quick game to learn the basics. I was obviously not alone, in thinking I had potential, as Ron had some inspiring words.

Bowling really is a sport that almost all can try and as a physical activity advocate, I noted that we were too busy having fun and focusing on the game, to notice that we were constantly moving, bending and lifting. Bowls Scotland are launching a Try Bowls campaign, and as a try athlete, I’d urge you to seek out your local club, take along your kids and find out just why, all these years, old smart men in blazers, were trying to keep it to themselves.

July 12, 2014 1 comment