As a student I was always looking for ways to get better marks and if possible with less work. Little did I know that shooting hoops with my friends and playing co-ed intramural volleyball was doing exactly that.

A recent article quoted a study from Purdue showed students “who visited rec facilities 15 times or more earned 3.08 GPAs, compared with 2.81 for those who made no visits.” Further evidence for the benefits of visiting your campus recreation centre are shown in a study that “Recreational sports and fitness center members achieved higher GPAs and completed more credits than nonmembers.” Read More →

When did you last cycle 100 miles in one day? For most of us such a question would only raise an eyebrow. “You’re kidding, right?”

Well, five current and retired RRC employees and three spouses drove 478 km from Winnipeg to Park Rapids Minnesota the weekend of September 26 to do just that. The Headwaters 100 is an annual one-day, 100-mile (161 km) bike ride through Itasca State Park, source of the mighty Mississippi. The route is stunningly beautiful in the fall, and this year’s sunny 27 degree weather certainly added to the enjoyment.

Our Head Honcho, Wayne Ferguson, was the first of us to ride the Headwaters some fifteen years ago. Retired from RRC in 2012, Wayne was the inspiration for this team trek that included current employees Lisa Case, Guy Dugas, Dayna Graham, and Mike Poitras. 2014 marked Lisa’s and Dayna’s 1st Headwaters, Mike’s 3rd, Guy’s 5th, and Wayne’s 8th.

Did we all ride the full 100 miles?

Actually, only Dayna and Mike can boast completing the entire 161 km. And this was the first time in eight outings that our Head Honcho did not go the full distance.

But what made this year particularly significant was the fact that Wayne had undergone hip replacement surgery this past spring. So he hadn’t even started riding again until late July!
Oh, and did I mention that Wayne is 75? Sure, he had pronounced before his operation that he intended to cycle the Headwaters again this year. “Yeah, right.” I thought. But, true to his word, there we were again.

In the end, the spirit was strong but the flesh weak(er). Wayne did complete a “century”, but he quit after only one hundred kilometers, not one hundred miles.

Still, not too shabby I think.

Maybe next year…

You’ve taken the plunge; you are working out on a regular basis.  You’ve been more faithful to your workout schedule than any girlfriend/boyfriend in the past.  You are starting notice some changes and then days become weeks, the scales won’t budge you aren’t seeing any changes in your body and your resolve slowly turns to cookie-dough ice cream. You’re at serious risk of becoming another statistic, one more person fallen prey to the dreaded plateau.  Somebody who decides to pack it in, accept life as a couch potato accepting that the only way you’ll ever see your toes again is in mirror.

The human body is a remarkably adaptable instrument. Once it grows accustomed to the initial stimulus of a change in diet and activity level, it may simply submit to the law of diminishing returns, decide to declare a new state of normalcy and effectively put a stop to muscle gain and fat loss.

A plateau has a snowball effect, both mentally and physically. Mentally, you become frustrated, which leads to emotional eating, fatigue and finding excuses not to workout. This either amplifies the plateau or actually causes you to backslide. Physically, if you allow a plateau to negatively impact your mindset, you produce stress, which has many well-documented ill effects on the body, inhibiting the ability to gain muscle and promoting the storage of fat.

Plateaus are essentially a form of maintenance—if you run three days a week for the same amount of time you’ll continue to hold your own in terms of health and fitness, for example, but you won’t move forward.

So what do you do now?

• Build variety into your workout. Change what you do and how you do it. Alter your routine in duration, frequency and intensity. Add more exercise, or different activities, workout at different times.
• Sometimes less is more. When you hit a plateau, it’s tempting to workout more. You may be overtraining and stalling as a result. Rest is a critical aspect of any fitness regimen.
• Alter your diet. A change in nutrition can make a difference. Most people go the wrong way, lowering calories, when sometimes raising calories to maintain weight for a week and then dropping them again is all that’s needed.
• Don’t decrease the amount you eat — food is fuel for the metabolism. Try manipulating your eating routine — have your main meal at noon instead of the evening. Eat several smaller meals rather than three big ones.
• Stay focused. Write down goals and read them every day. Have an underlying reason to achieve your goals that’s more than a superficial ‘I want to lose weight.’ Focus on overall health.
• Don’t weigh yourself every day. A static scale over an extended period of time will just increase your frustration and be disheartening over the long run.
• Consult with a certified professional.  Now may be the time to schedule a session with a personal trainer to help you get back on track.  Perhaps one of the reasons you are stalling is improper technique.

Be successful. Create a vision of where you want to be and stick to it. Set goals, form a plan to attack those goals and consistently take action day after day.  Don’t get frustrated if you don’t advance X amount on a certain day; because it’s the long term plan (and results) that matter.

We’ve all been caught in the rush of the world in its quest to be going somewhere. This constant pressure has had us staring at a screen until out eyes are pounding , sitting on our butts until our back hurts…..what’s up with that, and going for hours without eating except for those few cups of coffee….that’s kind of like food right?

When I was younger I had a mentor tell me there was an on/off button on my backside. Anytime I was sitting down the button would be pressed to off and anytime I would stand up it would be released to the on position. This didn’t make a lot of sense hearing it but was something to be understood by applying it. It makes sense now, as I sit I am sedentary, there is little flow. As I stand I am in more motion as little as standing would be compared to sitting. Once some motion has been started it can grow into more and lead to many places. It’s like water, stagnant water has little life, can be dangerous to drink or play in. Whereas water that is flowing has vibrant energy with all sorts of life and purity, and this flowing water can be anything from a small creek to the Iguazu falls in South America.

Your life is that water. However you choose to live will reflect what kind water you manifest. There are times in our lives when we need to be slow moving like a creek to gather thoughts, have gratitude for the things we have now and there are times we need to move fast like giving time to our heart to challenge it and strengthen it cause it beats for us ALL THE TIME.

Here are 5 tips to be like water and disengage that button.

1. Stand up right now! Read the rest of this standing. Stand up and keep standing. From here after you read this make a decision to take a step forward.  What do you want to do? What can you do? Do something small as that will lead into something else and you can use momentum to keep going.
2. Set an alarm app on your phone or computer. Have it set for every hour. When the alarm goes off, stand up. Being in the office chair all day is no good for anyone. Make that once an hour commitment to do a back extension, stretch your pecs, or walk a flight of stairs. This does not have to take a long time. It can take less time than waiting in line for your morning coffee and results will come.
3. Be mindful of what your present actions are. If you are going to stand in line how are you standing? Try standing on one foot to work on balance. Try doing calf raises or just moving your body in general. I know… what if someone sees me right? Get over it. Yes people will see you so be one of the aware ones to use your time to your advantage. I bet you if more than half the people in that line were doing movements you’d do some small ones to just fit in and not be the minority. Start that movement to allow other to follow.
4. Build a ladder. Every day during your one hour self-check bell do a ladder activity. Start with one push up at 9am, then 2 at 10am and keep going until your done your day. If my math is correct in one day you will do 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8=36 pushups. That’s a lot of pushups! Next day, do squats, steps ups, ab crunch and change it. Remember to challenge yourself so maybe you need to start with 5 squats for example.
5. Commit to a club, group, games, and organization once a week. This has to be a you time thing that can include your family, or partner or just yourself but needs to be a regular commitment. I know for one of my groups we have game night every Tuesday where we play board games all winter to keep people moving out of the house and not get too nested. These change in the spring to more outdoor type activities. This has been one of the most positive additions to my life as I get to be with friends when I’m feeling worked over by winter, as well as it gives me something to look forward to each week.

Ultimately as long as you can focus on your back side button and check it often to see if it is on or off you can begin to see what the future has in store for you. The more often you can leave it on, the happier, healthier and fulfilled you will be. Once you develop the pattern, the way the river has its path it will just flow naturally and you can enjoy the ride.

Mario De Negri

Fitness Coordinator

Life style Design

When I went to university I had a difficult time making the transition.  During my first year, I reached the half-way point and I still hadn’t found that feeling of being “in stride” with it. I understood the routine of getting up for classes and making sure I caught my bus at the same time every day.  I also felt the stress of the workload piling up on me and I barely had any free moments to relax and not think – to be young and having fun.

I thought my January resolutions would’ve held out … but who was I kidding. I knew it would be the same pattern as before, and just thinking that way had already set me up for failure. I knew that if I was to succeed with what I wanted out of life I had to really take a good look at myself, really see who I was and face some of the unwanted answers to the question “Who am I?”. I would have to make some tough decisions, and change the way I live by recognizing my personal patterns (both good and bad).

Here are some tips that helped me back then and continue to help make my life one that I design for myself and not something that others have programmed for me.

1)     Just Do It

One thing that stops most of us is our inability to just do something, anything. What should I do? How should I do it?  Just the momentum of movement will lead us to answers we seek as long as we remain detached to the outcomes and remain focused on ourselves. Energy creates energy. Fears will be there and barriers will come but by taking a simple step towards what you want you will bring yourself closer to that bliss we all chase.  This one step will also create emotions within ourselves which, when they are in line with our true path, will lift us up and carry us further down the path of our dreams. However if you deal with any type of anxiety this can seem like a huge deal. It’s easier said than done. Work on being gentle with yourself and working on non-judgment. If you can find yourself at a point where you can forgive yourself for doing nothing you are on the right track to getting into doing something. There is no race in life. You are on your own timeline which can give you that sense of freedom and relieve some of the pressures on ourselves.  Read More →

Christine Crowe joined RRC from Kwantlen Polytechnic University, where she served as Dean, Faculty of Academic and Career Advancement. Christine now leads RRC’s Schools of Indigenous Education, International Education and Continuing Education, while also overseeing the College’s regional campuses, Language Training Centre and community outreach (full bio here).

Mike Krywy (Chair of the Wellness Committee) went for a leisurely walk with Christine to get her thoughts about wellness.

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts about Wellness. To start with, who are some of the people in your life that you look up to as Wellness role models?

My mom was a dancer, choreographer and a teacher who danced with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. One of my most powerful memories was watching her sit on the floor listening to music, and picking something for her next routine. She could sit on the floor for hours, but you could tell that she wasn’t in the room — she was creating that piece of choreography. Afterwards, I’d watch the choreography come to life during the practices with her dancers. I was her pianist for a while, and it was fantastic observing her in the creative process and seeing the beauty that came from it.

My mom suffered from depression through much of her life, and she used her creativity to bring herself out of her depression and back to the light. A year after she retired, she passed away. During that time I think she grieved because so much of her life was tied to that creation, and she didn’t know what to do when she was no longer creating. From her life I learned there is power of doing what you love, and how those actions can sustain and feed you.

I know you have a couple of young children. Are they also wellness role models for you?

They are amazing role models for me.

First of all, I’ve learned from them that “not knowing” is okay. “Not knowing” is a place of curiosity and a source of great adventure. It is not something to hide or be afraid of. It speaks to humility. As an administrator, I’m someone who people often come to looking for answers. And that’s a scary place to be sometimes. However, if you’re able to admit that you don’t know something but are willing to explore finding an answer together, you’re able to move forward.

The other thing is “Being present”. I have learned a great deal from putting down my iPad and playing with my kids. The other day my kids were jumping on the trampoline and said, “Mom, come join us.” I hesitated. For one thing, I am terrified about jumping on the trampoline, as I haven’t done it for years. So I told them, “I just need a minute — can’t you do something on your own?” Then I stopped and said to myself, “Wait a minute, they want to do something with me. They want to play with me.” So I went and jumped on the trampoline…and it was terrifying! But it was also very fun.

I’ve had many of the same experiences with my own children, such as when they ask me to go for a swim and I make excuses about the water being too cold. Once I drop the excuses and jump in with them, I never regret it. Is there anything else that your children taught you? Read More →

Red River College’s VP Academic and Research Stan Sae-Hoon Chung joined RRC in 2012 because of its reputation as a global leader in advanced learning. Stan is an award-winning writer, visionary advocate for life-changing learning, and passionate believer in the college as an engine for social and economic transformation (full bio here). Mike Krywy (Chair of the Wellness Committee) sat down with Stan to get his thoughts about wellness.

Q: Wellness is sometimes broken up into physical, mental and spiritual aspects. What are your thoughts on this way of thinking?

I agree with that breakdown, as all those aspects are important. But I also think of wellness in terms of individual wellness, organizational wellness and global wellness. And those same three principles – physical, mental and spiritual – would apply to all three.

Take individual wellness. If we are not well as individuals, how can we be well as a community or as a people? So if individual wellness is not connected to the workplace or we fail to see the connection, you CAN end up with challenges. Then you have to ask, “What is the missing ingredient? Why are people not well or unhappy at work? What can we do to sustain and support individual wellness?” For me, the answer resides in a uniting sense of purpose.

Q: What are the key components of organizational wellness?

Organizational wellness can be defined in many ways. One way to understand it is through the strength of social bonds. We are all individuals linked in a network or community, and it is important to be socially connected, whether that’s at home or at work.

A simple question to ask is “Do you have a best friend at work?” Someone who – if you had a question as simple as “where’s the mail room?” – would provide you with directions. Research has shown that strong friendships can help make people more resilient and adaptable. When you have those social supports at work, you’re more likely to want to come to work, make a contribution, and enjoy it.

Q: As an organization, is there anything the College can do to help develop these social bonds and strengthen personal networks?

Read More →

The Wellness committee was fortunate to have Kelly Small of the provincial government come and talk to us about a new initiative they are running called the Health e-Plan.  This online tool is meant to help individuals assess their health, set wellness goals, take steps to achieve those goals, and track their progress.  It also provides useful information of services providers nearest to where you live, and ideally, will enable the government to better understand and coordinate services for individuals by region.  Below is the synopsis provided in the Health e-Plan brochure.  If you’re interested, read further, and consider creating a plan for yourself.

What is Health e-plan?

The Health e-plan is an online interactive tool to help you:

• Better understand your current health and
• Learn ways to improve your health over time

How does it work?

Health e-Plan involves four easy steps:

• Assess your health
• Set goals
• Take action
• Track your progress

The first step is to create your personal health profile by answering questions about your current health status. This includes questions related to your physical condition, lifestyle and family history. Based on established medical guidelines, Health e-Plan will produce a detailed report to help you learn more about how your current habits and lifestyle choices, your family history and other factors may affect your health in the future. The health assessment also helps you set goals for improving your health and provides useful information for making changes.

Customized to your needs

In addition to helping you set goals to help improve your health status, Health e-Plan can help you meet those goals with a customized plan. My Wellness Connections will link you to resources in your community based on where you live and the results of your health assessment.

Rewarding your effort

After completing your health assessment you have an opportunity to participate in our Rewards Program. To participate, you complete an electronic entry ballot. You are then entered into a draw with a chance to win small weekly prizes as well as a grand prize each month.  Each time you update your profile, you have another chance to enter and win.

Get started today!

Visit www.manitoba.ca and enter Health e-Plan in the search box at the top of the page.

To set up your personal health profile, you need information such as your waist and hip measurements, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. If you don’t have this information handy, you can still get started. Then, update your profile with the correct information when you have it to ensure more meaningful and accurate results.

Looking to motivate each other to get active in the new year, the Aboriginal Student Support and Community Relations department held the ” It only takes a minute to win it!” challenge earlier this year. 

To kick things off, event co-organizer Tracy Brant (Aboriginal Centre Coordinator) sent a message to staff in the department, encouraging them to enter into a four week challenge to increase daily fitness.  Two teams of five members were formed, and each member began tracking the amount of time they spent participating in daily physical activity.

The rules were as follows:

• The activity needs to be at least 15 minutes per session
• The activity should get you heart rate up.  If it’s something like walking try to walk at a brisk pace to get your heart rate up!
• Don’t stress out and put too much pressure on yourself…it is for fun (as well as an excuse to get off the couch and get active!)

The challenge ran  from Monday, January 23 to February 20, 2012 – and resulted in a whopping 167 hours of physical activity!  As one participant, Lisa Carriere, said:

 “I felt the challenge was a great idea, it gave us a chance to get away from our desks and motivate each other as a team.  I’m sure some people could hear us laughing in that stairway thinking – Hey, sounds like they’re having fun, and we were having fun!”

It goes to show how a little bit of friendly group competition among friends can help motivate one to spend a few more minutes each day to be active.

Staff from the ASSCR posting on the "dreaded" staircase

It’s easy to make New Year’s resolutions, and it’s even easier to break them.

Whether you want to lose weight, quit smoking, or simply be more active, our New Year’s goals seem attainable until we get sidetracked. So how do we make sure that we stick to the resolutions that we make? A lot of it is about willpower, but organization goes a long way in making sure you reach the goals that you set out for yourself.

It’s hard to keep track of what progress you’re making or things you need to change in order to meet your goals unless you record it somehow. It’s important that we see how well (or poorly) we’re doing to help stay motivated, so keep some type of a log to remind yourself of what accomplishments you’ve made so far.

There are several easy resources that you can use, including websites like Remindr and HassleMe which allow you to set up random daily notifications to your email, cell phone, or social media outlet that can act as reminders to do things you’re trying to make a priority. If you want to lose weight, sites like Traineo allow you to keep a food diary, track how and when you’re working out, and give you access to healthy recipes and training tips from professionals. And if all else fails, a good old-fashioned notebook and pen will probably do the trick too.

If you’re trying to give your finances a makeover in the new year, Mint is an easy-to-use web application that can be synced with most mobile devices, and gives you a breakdown of exactly where your money is going – like how much per month you spend on fast food, or shopping.

If you’re a Red River College staff member or student, you can develop your own Personal Wellness Plan for free with the “One” initiative. The program is designed to help users identify ways to meet their goals, and also let them know of any activities or programs around the college that meet their wellness interests.

For more great mobile apps and gadgets you can try to help you keep your New Year’s resolutions, check out these great lists from Time Magazine and maketecheasier.com. Know of any other great ways to make sticking to your goals easier? Share it with us on the RRC Wellness blog.

Submitted by Hayley Brigg, Creative Communications student