My Supplements

As a health professional I often get asked for my opinion on different dietary supplements. Most of the time it’s usually regarding the one’s found in 'health food' shops particularly the most marketed one’s such as protein powders. Some of these products have been proven to be useful whilst many of them have little evidence to back up the various claims.

I use four different supplements, these are all supported by the Australian Institute of Sport and have proof via research as being beneficial for athletic performance. I also trust that they are safe. It wasn’t a totally conscious decision that lead me to use these particular ones, it was more circumstantial as you’ll see in my reasoning below.

1. Multi-vitamin supplement: The key word here is ‘supplement’. There is no way a multi-vitamin can replace healthy eating – these tablets provide a fraction of the ‘recommended dietary intakes’ for micronutrients. I take one when I think my overall diet has been neglected. When I’m training more intensely I take one everyday, especially since I’m a vegetarian and I particularly want to address my iron needs. I choose Centrum simply because they contain many micronutrients and have little additions of ‘herbs’ and other products that I’m not too sure about. I can’t say if I’m any better off from taking multi-vitamins, I take them mostly for the reassurance.

2. Sports drink: I only use sports drinks when I’m doing activity over a long period of time. I’ve trialed the two most available one’s and found a personal preference for Gatorade as it’s slightly saltier and not as sweet as the other choice. I find these drinks give me a bit of extra energy and even help control hunger especially during long training nights. I tend to have 600ml plus water in the first two hours then water and a small carb snack in next two hours.

3. Caffeine: I love coffee and usually have an espresso every morning. I sometimes have a second one before training and almost always before performing. I find I am more alert and focused about an hour after a coffee which really helps when I train at the end of the day when I’m fighting fatigue anyway. Although the diuretic effect is supposed to be reduced with physical exertion I do find I need to use the loo after having a coffee especially when combined with the nerves of performing. I estimate each of my coffees have around 120mg caffeine which is a dose shown to have some beneficial effects on performance (between 1 – 3mg/kg).

4. Glucosamine: I was hesitant to use this product but after sustaining a debilitating injury during training last year I was desperate to take any reasonable measure that could get me back into action. I would like to think it assisted me when I trialed the product for a short time earlier this year. I’m on a second short ‘course’ at the moment, I’ll report on its effects later. I find I had the best result when taking 2000mg/day. I tried half this dose but did not feel it improved my symptoms.

The great outdoors

The novelty of camping wore out for me as a child; we did it so often since there were so many places to go to within an hour or so of Darwin. But every now and then I love going back to the bush for some true R&R. When I camp I do it in style; plenty of great food, entertainment and of course a good stash of quality beer – yes there is such a thing as ‘quality beer’. This weekend I had the chance to either catchup on some work and housework (boring) or take a real break and head out down the track. I had no training lined up so I was pretty much free to have a weekend off. I had an opportunity to go out camping last weekend with my colleagues over on the Islands but I knew if I went I’d be roped into doing most of the heavy work! Not my idea of a leisurely get away.

It was a great weekend, the fire started first time with each attempt, all the food turned out better than expected, the weather was very comfortable and our fellow campers were friendly and considerate. What was interesting was another event that was happening near us in the bush land. We noticed a sign on the way in, ‘Winter Solstice’. We weren’t too sure what it meant exactly but figured it would involve a large gathering of dread-locked, unwashed, hemp loving hippies. At around 4pm we heard the distant sound of hard core techno music. This went on well into the early hours and started up again after about a 2 hour break in the morning. But the strange thing was I’m sure it was the exact same track that played repeatedly over the night. Very weird! We pictured some kind of cult-like moon worshiping ritual taking place. We were really curious and toyed with the idea of ‘accidentally’ stumbling across it whilst we looked for firewood. But after a few beers, a great dinner with a cozy campfire we were too content to even think about doing anything that meant removing ourselves from our campchairs. I think I drove past one of them later the next day. Whatever rituals they had been doing it certainly didn't seem to do him any favours!

It’s like, you know, like…

How did it happen? The excessive, superfluous use of the word ‘like’? I didn’t realize until recently just how much this annoying trend has invaded the Australian vocab. The first time I really noticed how much this irritates me was when I watched an ‘interview’ with a female Hollywood celebrity who had a reputation of not quite being the sharpest tool in the shed. I don’t think a single sentence that came out of her mouth contained less than four mutterings of the word ‘like’. As she sat there, turning her head from side to side while she spoke, twirling her hair with her fingers, struggling to form comprehensible sentences I found myself not actually interested in anything she had to say. I was totally distracted by her inability to use other words from her native English to describe her thoughts and responses.

The unfortunate thing is that even I have unknowingly fallen victim and find myself slipping in the odd ‘like’ in the pause of a sentence. During my aerial circus classes I’ve put out the challenge to my students that we will not use the word ‘like’ inappropriately during training. I thought the group would laugh at me and think I was being a pompous old biddy, but they actually agreed with the whole mission and constantly remind each other of the challenge. Even the high school teacher of one of my students is on the same mission and has his students use the word ‘potatoes’ instead.

Another trend I’ve only just noticed is the ending of sentences with ‘you know what I mean’. I think I’ve managed to escape this one and when on the receiving end of that statement I find myself taking it literally. “No I don’t think I do…” I’ve found myself replying much to the shock of the offender who then is forced to realize what they’ve said and interrupt the flow of their conversation to explain themselves. I don’t mean to sound like the grammar police, I’m not perfect, but I think there’s value in maintaining some sense in our everyday language. I’m sure there’s something that, like, totally irks everyone, you know what I mean?

Another batch goes thru

What a weekend! Two days of shows for my aerial classes as part of the mid-year workshops showcase. Saturday night my young ones performed (pictured here) and last night my older ones went on. Both classes did brilliantly and I couldn’t be prouder of their efforts. But the kids went on last each night so I’ve just had to endure two days of five hour waits with constant “when are we going on?”, and “how much longer?” The older ones were happy to keep themselves amused; chatting excitedly amongst themselves, but the younger one’s required a bit more input to keep them settled while they waited. The rehearsals always make me worry but each class pulled off their acts almost seamlessly in the end when the pressure was on.

So this signals the end of teaching for me until next semester and it now becomes all about me – so nice to be able to say that. A member of my performing troupe, who is usually very cool in the weeks before our shows, reminded me tonight of how many weeks we have left before it’s showtime for us. I don’t really feel stressed about it just now as I did a run-thru of part of my act this week and surprisingly I managed to pull it off quite nicely. It was a surprise to me as I honestly haven’t done any pre-show training, it’s been more so just for maintenance of strength and fitness. End of July is when the pre-show training officially starts, it’s also when the kid’s classes start up again. I’ve already been asked to do some school holiday sessions but I think I’ll pass and use these few weeks to get myself fit and ready for Melbourne!

Liability

Tonight at training I was asked to perform at a big event which is on next weekend. My initial reaction was to turn them down as I know I am only at about 20 percent of the required physical condition to be able to perform. I tried to play down my rejection by suggesting that what I could offer in terms of my fitness was only a very short routine. I hoped this would sound unsuitable as they had thought my routine could be one of the main attractions. “Oh anything would be great, it’s just so beautiful to watch” was the unfortunate response. I tried another tactic, “I suppose I could ask a couple of my students to see if they could perform with me but I have a feeling they might not be able to”, “oh no we think a solo performance would be much better” they keenly replied. I didn’t want to sound ungrateful so I thought it was time to pull out the big guns. “Well if the venue is willing to have a loaded rig set up from their ceiling I suppose I can do it”, “hmm, actually we should look into that” they said, smiles turning into frowns of concern.

Having to cover all bases for liability is something that scares even the most interested event organizers and for circus performances aerial acts are one of the more difficult to arrange. Ensuring the safety of the rig is paramount. Some of the ‘professional’ aerial circus artists that I’ve met have told me that they usually also train a ground based skill as they come across this problem quite frequently. I do have a couple of other skills I can offer but I haven’t trained them for a while and I’m not too keen on having people watch me perform when I’m not at my best. It makes me realize how much training is required to do this for a living. It’s times like these that I am glad I have a day job!

Attack of the ‘motherly instinct’!

I’ve previously written about how much I enjoy teaching aerial circus but something happened the other night at training that made me realize this had moved to another level. As I sat back watching my students rehearse their show for an upcoming performance one of them began exiting out of her favourite move, four metres high on the tissu. But instead of controlling herself she slid down to the floor, practically falling. My reaction was to gasp aloud and bolt out of my chair, heart beating so fast I thought I was going to faint. But she looked coyly at me and giggled as she went about attempting the move again. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her mother in the audience practically let out a yawn and shift position slightly. Seeing that she was okay I slid back into my chair and reflected on my reaction. It wasn’t that I thought if she hurts herself that I’d be in trouble, it was genuine concern that she would be hurt and I wasn’t nearby to protect her. I chuckled quietly to myself realizing what I’d done and looked around to check that no one else had seen my over-the-top reaction.

Now that I think about it, this isn’t really a new thing for me. I guess I’ve always had the motherly instinct and it just comes out in the right environment. I had an early intro to ‘mothering’ as a 17 year old when I often looked after my 16 year old friend’s baby while she went out and partied with an unsavoury crowd. I cared for him so often people used to think he was my son and I loved it. When I’ve worked on Paediatric wards I found it very easy to make a connection with the children to help them feel at ease with their scary surroundings.

But my relationship with my circus students is quite reciprocal. I notice that when they are training if they’ve done something that they’re proud of they look to me first for acknowledgement before looking to their parents. Again it does come down to being a good role model; I don’t think any of my students think of me as a ‘mother’. At the same time I know it’s going to be difficult when the time comes for me to move on and ‘let them go’.

You want me to perform to FUNK?!

It’s pretty exciting to be collaborating with a few different groups this year for the show. One of them is a popular local band who’ll be providing live music for us. Our director gave me their music for my MP3 the other day and I spent a bit of time listening to their albums – yes albumS, they have produced about four and I haven’t even heard their music AND I’m a local. I did feel a little guilty about that. It didn’t take long before I realized these guys were a ‘funk’ band! Think John Butler Trio and The Cat Empire but at a constantly uplifting, fast pace. “How on earth am I supposed to do a Tissu routine to this?!” I thought, madly going from song to song hoping there was something with at least a slightly slowish tempo that I could work with. Tissu routines are typically slow paced using moody, haunting tunes. As I reached their last album I found myself compromising on the most mellow and least vocal track. I hoped that meant that the musical parts could be extended and possibly slowed down slightly to make it easier to perform to.

Of course my decision will probably change, last year I changed my mind about the music around four times before being swayed by the composer at the last minute to go back to my original choice of track. It’s good to be given a choice but sometimes I think it would be easier to just be told what to do…within reason.

The work/life balance

I'm definately a "work to live" person but sometimes my work takes over the majority of my time. This doesn't mean that I'm constantly at work or in work mode, there are many times when I eventualy get home I'm so tired I don't do much else but eat and go to sleep. Sometimes I get a little resentful when I don't have the time or energy to do the things I enjoy and I guess this could be a source of 'stress' in my life. I remember learning about stress-coping strategies when I studied psychology and I find I use at least three of the different measures that are known. The strategy I think I use the most is turning to social supports whether it is to 'debrief' or to allow some form of disengagement. Having something else in your life whether it's family, trusted friends, sport or a personal project for example, gives us a venue to deal with what we consider to be the 'stressors' of our lives.

So after a hectic week of work, as I sit here writing this on a leisurely Saturday morning, having coffee and chocolate covered almonds for breakfast, with my favourite dvd playing in the background I find the work/life balance starting to tip back where I prefer it. To make things better, it's the start of a long weekend so I'm free to indulge in any number of activities I enjoy: training, fishing, cooking, shopping or just more dvd watching. First up though, another hour of lazing around on the couch and maybe a second coffee!

My Tutor

One of the greatest challenges with my tissu training is having to progress in my own skills without having a tutor around. Being the only tissu performer that I know of in my city (or at least the only one training) I have no one to discuss moves, wraps or drops with. This becomes dangerous when I have moments of doubt up there 8 metres high. It would be great to have someone to yell out to "does this wrap look right?" before I let go and start the tumble to the ground. I've managed to avoid any accidents so far as I always bail out if ever there is doubt. This is where my "tutor" comes in. It's my Sony Handycam. Everytime I go to Melbourne to train I get someone to film the moves and wraps so I have something to review when I get back home. No matter how many times I do the trick with a tutor down there, with time and lack of training I eventually forget exactly what I've learnt. With tissu the wraps have to be exact otherwise you can find yourself completely "uwrapping" and ending awkwardly or on the floor! There was a drop I learnt in January this year that I thought was very simple, however I failed to film the exit of it when I trained it with a tutor. When I attempted this drop a few months later back home the tissu ended up wrapped around my neck and I was suspended two metres above the ground. I definately had the strength to save the move however it ended up resulting in a deep friction burn underneath my arm. The scar is a great visual for my students to remind them the importance of controlling yourself on tissu.