We’re almost halfway through January; the cold’s biting, motivation’s hiding, and your physical wellness might feel like a distant goal. But what if it didn’t have to be that way?  

 Physical well-being is often boxed into gym routines, dieting, and the “fit” lifestyle, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a crucial part of overall wellness that affects our mental health, social connections, and even financial well-being. 

Though physical well-being might get talked about a lot —compared to topics like spiritual or financial well-being, which we unpacked in previous episodes, this overrepresentation can sometimes make it seem like there’s a one-size-fits-all approach. The truth is, physical wellness looks different for everyone, and it doesn’t have to come with pressure or unrealistic expectations. This episode reintroduces physical well-being as something inclusive, accessible, and deeply personal; something that fits your unique life and needs, whatever they may be.  

In this episode, our host Susu B sits down with Alicia Koebel, Coordinator of Fitness & Lifestyles at York University Athletics & Recreation. With over 15 years of experience as an athlete, coach, and certified Exercise Physiologist, Alicia shares insights from her research on access to physical activity for diverse student groups, and offers practical tips for making physical wellness part of your daily routine, no matter your starting point. Whether you’re a seasoned gym-goer or just beginning to think about movement, this conversation offers encouragement and fresh perspectives on reconnecting with your body in a way that feels good and sustainable.  

Resources:

• Student Health (Physical Activity)  https://students.yorku.ca/health/healthy-living/physical-activity 
• YU Athletics and Recreation: Offers a variety of opportunities to stay active, including access to fitness facilities, sports and recreational programs. 
• Physical Health Resources by YFS: https://www.yfswellness.ca/resources/ph-resources 
• Well-being for working at Home: https://yusapuy.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-04-06-YusApuY-and-York-University-Joint-Training-Committee-Wellness-HS-WFH-FINAL-HSEWB-and-JTC.pdf 
• Mental health resources for varsity athletes: https://yorkulions.ca/sports/2018/12/13/mental-health-resources.aspx 

Susu B.: Hey YU. Welcome to your future favorite podcast, if it's not already well-being and YU with your host, Susu V. It's mid-winter and honestly there is nothing better than sipping on hot chocolate wrapped in a cozy blanket, scrolling through Instagram reels while listening to the well-being. And your podcast. Of course.

It's all good until I get hit with a gym influencer staring into my soul judging me for lying on the couch for the past three days.

Listen. It's all connected to our well-being. Physical well-being is often seen through a narrow lens. All about gym routines, dieting and so-called fit lifestyles. But that's not the full picture. It's an essential part of wellness that deeply impacts our mental, social and even financial well-being. While many misconceptions box Physical wellness into strict routines or unrealistic goals. In this episode, we're reintroducing it as something more inclusive, accessible and personal. Something that can look different for every student. In this episode, I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with Alicia Koebel. Alicia is the coordinator of Fitness and Lifestyles at York University's Athletics and recreation. With over 15 years of experience in fitness and health, Alicia combines her background as an athlete, coach and certified exercise physiologist. She holds a master's in fitness assessment and exercise consultation where her research explored access to physical activity for low-income individuals and students in English language requirement courses at York. She is also certified in precision nutrition and lifestyle wellness coaching. I really hope you can join us on this journey. A few mindful minutes can really make a difference. So, let's dive into our conversation with Alicia.

Susu B.: Alicia, how are you doing today?

Alicia: I'm good, how are you?

Susu B.: I'm great, I'm feeling great. I can see you in your athletic clothing and I feel like I'm ready to just run into this episode.

Susu B.: So yeah, we'll get right into it.

Susu B.: So physical well-being can mean different things to different people. For some it's hitting the gym and for others it's about diet or being illness free. Even in this episode, we want to reintroduce what physical well-being really means beyond just exercise and healthy eating. Can you tell us more about that?

Alicia: Yeah, sure. So, with physical well-being, or like most people, like you said, they think of it as exercise, right? But for some people it'll be like, oh, it's, I want to like clear up my acne. Because your skin is part of your physical well-being too, right? for some people it can be, I just want to be pain free. But, for other people, it could be I'm limited in my mobility, and I can't do the typical basketball, I can't do the typical volleyball. So it would be, how can I move within some type of limitations that I have? So, which is nice because now there's so many options now for people. And, unfortunately, our building's a little bit tricky. We could probably talk about that for a long time. How did people get into our building? but so physical being is what it means for you specifically.

Susu B.: Right.

Alicia: so just because, like, maybe for me, for me, physical well-being is, oh, I want to have a large muscle mass, I want to lose weight. That's the typical thing people want to talk about. But I think if that's not for you, then that's fine. You can define physical well-being as to what you want to define it as. and then you work within that. So, when it comes to that, it's kind of figuring that out and talking to people, maybe finding people that have similar ideas on that too. Right. And kind of creating that little group and then you kind of go from there.

Susu B.: No, that makes absolute sense. I think what you said last is kind of highlighting it that maybe there is a big group of people that believe that physical well-being is about exercise and eating healthy, but that doesn't mean that there isn't a group of people that also just want to do it just for their mental health even. Because I think physical well-being is something that relates to mental health in so many ways. It's just when, you even say go on a walk or stuff like that, someone could think about it as if, you know, you're just going for a walk for your body to just move. But it's also just the, the endorphins that come out and seeing the sun.

Alicia: Yeah, well, it could even too. It's for some people too. Like if going for a walk, it's like, I'm not able to do that. Right. It's. So how do they get those endorphins, right. That are good for them physically, good for them mentally? then it's figuring out, okay, what am I able to do? Right. That will still give them those endorphins. So, there's research now that it's like, oh, even just seeing the color green will give you all these crazy good endorphins and stuff like that. So even if you're just doing something like in your room or if you live in a dorm or whatever, and you just Have a bit more green and maybe you do you just stand up and sit down on your couch or your chair or whatever. That'll help more: than if you did it without the green in your room is kind of really interesting. So, this is why we tend to be happier in the summer too.

Susu B.: It makes sense because there's so much.

Alicia: Green around us and it's really great. so yeah, there's a lot that goes into it, so try. It's usually just finding out what works best for you and then kind of.

Susu B.: Creating a. I wish that color green thing was happening with white because that would be great in the winter. But that makes absolute sense. so many students are genuinely interested in improving their physical well-being, whether it was for whatever reason that you kind of captured. but things like a busy school schedule, poor work, life balance, or even low mental wellness can make it hard to start. What advice would you give to those students who are facing this kind of challenges?

Alicia: It's tricky, because everyone, because even two people who, if they wanted to work on physical well-being, that's like their goal. But even if, let's say financial was an issue, two different people who both have financial well-being as an issue, they're going to need different advice on what to kind of go with. Right?

And to try to find their best way to go about it. so usually what I usually tell people is I tell them to usually get off social media, if they want to work on their physical well-being, because it creates a lot of unrealistic expectations a lot of the time. And we know a lot now that social media, can really lower mental health. So, if you're trying to work on that and your mental health is maybe a little bit lower, your mental well-being is a little lower, that could help a little bit. but it could. If you're trying to work on your physical well-being, but you're just constantly scrolling through Instagram and you're like, oh, that's what I want to work towards. It's taking me a lot longer or I don't know how to start. It can create all this additional kind of unhealthy patterns and stuff.

Susu B.: Right. I really like this indirect way because I thought you're going to think about something that, about physical well-being right away. But then the fact that you talk about social media and how to improve mental well-being and how that would improve physical well-being is amazing. because I agree a lot. There's a lot of pre, planning that happens when you're just scrolling. I personally have on my Instagram there is like, you know how you can save, an Instagram reel? I have like this is for if I want to go do my abs, if I want to do my, my arms. And then I never actually open it. I just sit down there. Not actually engage in even the minimum amount of physical well-being, just like standing. Because when you're scrolling, I'm pretty sure you're just laying on in bed.

Alicia: Yeah.

Susu B.: So, not even moving around. Like you just like the blood circulation.

Alicia: Yeah, exactly. So, there's, so there's that, that's kind of usually the first thing I tell people to start with is right. If that's your goal and especially if you're trying to be physically, if you're working on your physical well-being to be healthy. Instagram's not the place to do that. TikTok is not the place to do that. So that's usually where I kind of start suggesting it. What's nice too is it does also force you to stop the doom scrolling. So, you actually open up some time in your day a little bit. If that is a barrier. Like students, I've seen your crazy schedules, they're crazy. So, it gives you some time back in your day too. So that's usually where I start. And then after that it's just do something small. You don't have to work out an hour a day. If you're able to do 10 minutes, if you're not even able to do 10 minutes, if you can do five minutes, that's better than not doing anything. Right. So even if you're just like, oh, I'm going to try, like I'm going to try to. Instead of using the elevator to get out of my dorm, I'm going to use the stairs. And if you're like, I'm tired after that. Cool. Take the elevator back up. You did something right. So, it doesn't have to be these crate again because social media, because the social media kind of gives us these unrealistic expectations a lot of the time. So, it starts small. Do five minutes and then you'll notice. Oh, okay. It felt good. But I'm really tired. Okay, that's fine. if it's just, oh, I'm gonna try, I'm just gonna go walk around. And again, if it's five minutes, cool. It doesn't have. Or I'm gonna do just like five minutes, I'll try some squats. Maybe I'll do like a modified push up in my dorm. That's good too. You don't even have to leave your dorm to try and do something. You can start very, very small. and I think that's kind of the best way to go about it because a lot of the time too, sometimes working on physical well-being can actually hurt, some of the other, well-being aspects as well. Thank you. Yeah. So, because it like gym memberships, I like to talk about our gym membership, because it's very cheap. It's only like, if you buy it on August 1st is when the new memberships come out.

Susu B.: Right.

Alicia: if you buy August 1st, it's good until July 31st the next year. And it's only $25. It's very affordable and we purposely do that. but if you don't live close to campus, gym memberships are really expensive. Like, it's not, but you don't. And here's the nice thing. You don't need a gym membership to be physically healthy. But if you're working on something specifically a gym might be a better option. So, it's weighing, okay, can I afford the gym? Can I not? and that can cause some kind of financial insecurity. If the gym membership you're getting, if the closest gym to you is, I don't know, like $1,000 a year or whatever. Right. That's an expensive gym.

Susu B.: But yeah, now that you're putting it in the year, it makes sense because I always think about it monthly. But when you actually calculate it, it could be something as high as that.

Alicia: Yeah, it's really expensive. so that could cause some issues when it comes to the other aspects of well-being. And two, like even, you know, social well-being like that can get effective if someone really wants to really focus on that. You spend more time in the gym than spending time with other people, if they don't have similar goals to you. Right. So, it's weighing. There has to be a little bit of weighing. Is this that important to me or do I need to lower kind of my physical wellbeing kind of goal?

Susu B.: Right. No, I'm glad you're talking about this. That's actually my next question.

Alicia: Oh, shoot.

Susu B.: Yeah. No, no, no. Yeah, you're doing great. Because for me, when we think about, like, physical well-being. We gotta be realistic. Right. Because as you said, social media makes it a little bit unrealistic when you're trying to get, you know, healthy physically, you could be in a mentally drained, status.

Alicia: Yeah.

Susu B.: Maybe you don't have friends who would Encourage you to go out or maybe you're financially challenged. Just as you mentioned, all of these aspects are like mental, social and, financial well-being. Because these are all like. When we talk about the dimensions of well-being, social well-being is a big thing too. So, if I don't have friends, they want to go to a gym with me, I could feel a little awkward going to the gym on my own. Right. so how can students optimize their physical health when other dimensions of, well might be at risk, as you said?

Alicia: Yeah. So again, it kind of depends on the dimension that's at risk. So again, if it's financial, again, you don't need a gym if there's parks close by, especially if it's walkable or, if you do have, some mobility issues and you can't walk there, maybe it's still close enough or accessible enough that you can wheelchair to it or whatever. So, looking for options that are a little bit closer by so you don't have to spend that gym membership. Right, right. But let's say you can afford a gym membership or you decide to get the membership that comes at York, then it's okay. we have, actually we have a free recreation membership for all students too, so. So, you don't have to pay anything extra.

Susu B.: I heard the word free and I'm like, oh, I'm listening.

Alicia: Everyone's listening. yeah. So, what's nice is with our free recreation membership, you get, as long as you get into intramurals with your college, you don't have to pay extra for those sports. The college will cover your cost for you.

Susu B.: Wow. Okay.

Alicia: so like, they'll set you up in a team. Like, you just need to contact your athletic rep. and then.

Susu B.: Yeah, I was gonna ask you about the intramurals.

Alicia: Yeah. It's complicated. A little bit.

Susu B.: I don't get. I personally don't get it as much as I want to get it.

Alicia: Yeah.

Susu B.: So maybe you can tell us a little bit about it. Yeah.

Alicia: Yeah.

Susu B.: You said something that I liked. You said, they are gonna set me up with a team.

Alicia: Yes.

Susu B.: Because I thought I need to bring the team and come in and I don't think I have enough friends to make a team.

Alicia: Yeah, no, that's fine. So, yeah, so if, so like I said, if you go through your college, it's free. If you wanted to make your own team, you would have to pay the team fee. You would still have to. but if you try, if you want to join intramurals I would always tell people, go through your college first. if you have enough people or even if you don't have enough people to make a team, they'll make a team for you. So even let's say like you and like one other person wanted to be on a team, when you contact your athletic rep, it's just, hey, me and this person want to be on the team together, but we don't have enough people. They'll be like, cool, we'll put you somewhere, we'll get enough people for.

Susu B.: Wow, that's perfect.

Alicia: Yeah. and two, if you don't know, maybe you don't want to play with people within your college because maybe you want to broaden out a little bit. That's where we have like free agencies. So, you register to join on your own and we'll make a team for you. so, you don't even. Again, it's that social aspect. Maybe you know everyone in your degree because you're kind of clumped together by your degrees within the colleges, right? So, if you don't, let's say you're like, okay, I talk to the kin students all day. I don't want to play with kin students today or with this sport. I want to meet some other people. That's where the free agency is kind of nice because it's like, oh, I can play with someone that's in like the arts program or who's in dance program or whatever. And then you can meet all these new people and then maybe you keep playing together because now you have this group of friends again and you try other sports together and stuff. So that's really nice. So, there's that bit. but then too we also offer like drop-in sports. So maybe again, maybe you don't know anyone throughout the entire day. As long as there's no like additional like rentals going on. Summer, there's a lot of rentals, so there's not a lot of drop-in time usually. Right. but you just show up and sometimes there'll be a staff there, they'll organize games and set up all the nets and stuff like that for you. But sometimes it's just show up. We have this sport going on and this sport going on and you can make friends that way. And again, you don't have to pay anything. You don't need the ball. Let's say you want to play basketball. The ball. I think it's like a two-dollar rental or something just to make sure we get it back. Right? But yeah. And then you just, you go up into the space, you go play.

Alicia: And now too, we've actually introduced like wheelchair basketball too as part of drop ins and also, like intramurals as well. so those are really, really good options, for everyone. Like anyone can sign up for wheelchair basketball. You don't have to be bound to a wheelchair to do that. We provide you like, let's say you are bound to a chair, and you don't have the sport specific chair. We provide it for you.

Susu B.: Okay.

Alicia: So you don't have to worry about bringing your own equipment. We'll give it all for you, for that specific sport and then you.

Susu B.: Go from there and the chair will be like for free or do I Need to know it's provided for you?

Alicia: So, if so, let's say I joined like a one day tournament and its wheelchair basketball. I just show up. They're like, cool, here's your team. We'll run through how to use the chair properly.

Susu B.: Right.

Alicia: And then it's okay, you're going to play the game, you're going to warm up a little bit and then you'll play. So, it's all there for you. We have enough wheelchairs for everyone to play.

Susu B.: That's just wonderful because I can, as you said in the beginning, it really depends on the well-being aspect that you're trying to, you know, maintain. Yeah. so, I feel like you already took care of my financial well-being and at least like the social well-being, like I'm being able to, you know, see other people in other programs. And so I guess the one step that like I would advise people would be to just if they are mentally drained, to just take this push, to actually come knock on the door, talk to the person, tell, them, hey, I want to engage in this because I promise that after that it will feel like the drainage will probably go away. it's usually what happens with mental well-being when, when all of these aspects, it's not really, you know, it's the one plus one equal to like if you have the social well-being aspect and the financial well-being and the physical well-being going on, I think your mental drainage will, will, will be improved in one way or another. And as a follow up to how we have been talking about all of these dimensions, just like, you know, hitting each other and intersecting. Can you share times when taking care of your physical wellness helped you mentally, socially and financially?

Alicia: Yeah. so, I think the easiest one is it's Funny, we were talking about this before we started was Covid. So, Covid's gonna be forever in front of my brain. but I found over, because, I lived in an apartment building where I didn't have a balcony, so I, like, I couldn't go outside. And they were quite strict about you leaving the building at the time. Right. so, it was essentially just me and my partner in this tiny little box, essentially. And we were. I don't want to say going insane, but we got stir crazy, essentially. Close enough to close enough too. Right. so that's where we're like, okay, we need to start working out, because we just weren't moving and actually too, Like, we were actually having a lot of, like, physical pain. Especially me. I've had a lot of injuries over my life, so if I'm not active, my pain kind of flares up a lot. and so, with that, mental well-being, the physical activity, my pain was going down. So, I wasn't as kind of agitated all the time. I wasn't as irritated all the time. but then, too, I was like, oh, I feel better because I'm moving. My brain's getting all the oxygen, and all that fun stuff is getting the dopamine. so, it's. So that was definitely kind of the first time in my life I was like, oh, my gosh. Like, my mental health is not. It's not at a good place. I've been very lucky that that was kind of the only time that it was kind of at that point. but so that's kind of where I think that. I don't think I'm the only one that feels that felt that way over Covid either. I think a lot of people over Covid realized how important being able to get out of the house and moving around, was. Is so beneficial for their mental well-being. but then socially, so I used to be a student here, so I, was an undergrad and a master's student here as well. I came from a town of like a thousand people. Very small town.

Susu B.: That sounds nice. Yeah.

Alicia: It was very peaceful, very quiet. And then I moved.

Susu B.: It must have been a big shift for you.

Alicia: Yeah, so. And then. But I didn't know anyone. I was the only one from my high school that came here and anyone. The only person from my town that came here. and so what I found for my social well-being was joining intramurals and, believe it or not, getting a job on campus. And I just happened to be within athletics and recreation. So, it kind of helped out with that physical well-being as well. but that really helps with my social well-being. I was like, wow, okay, I'm meeting all these people because again, the colleges help. They want you to join intramurals because they budget for it. so, they really want to get in as many teams as possible. but then you get to meet all these like, cool people that you would have never met before. Like, like my closest friend that I'm still friends with. She. She was in the writing program. She wasn't even in kin. And I met her through like A and R and through rec.

Susu B.: You would have never met.

Alicia: I would have never met her. Yeah. Unless you took like a writing course.

Susu B.: Writing course just for fun or something.

Alicia: Yeah. And like, she's my closest friend and I'm like, whoa, I never would have met her if I hadn't have joined athletics and rec in some form. so, I think, people kind of don't, I don't want to say don't value any murals as much as they could, but it's so important. Not even just like through all the. From actually for most of the aspects of physical well-being and not in like mental well-being and social well-being. It's so important. and yeah, I just think everyone should join in because you don't have to be this super. And this is one thing I think is maybe why people struggle to join intramurals. You don't have to be the most athletic person on the planet to join intramurals. We have different tiers. So even if like, let's say you've never played volleyball before, but you're like, I really want to learn how to play volleyball, you can join the team to play M league, and they'll teach you how to play. And it's not competitive. You're literally just there to kind of play around, understand the sport and kind of just move.

Susu B.: I'm really glad that you're telling me that because I always visualize it that like, oh, this is your team. Go. But no, you have someone that's actually teaching you. You have something that you know is there for you.

Alicia: Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, that's if you join the learn to play. But even let's say like, you know how to play the sport, but you're like, I'm not into like the competitiveness. I'm just there to play. We have a semi comp, which is usually what I still play intramurals every once in a While, people might see me playing every once in a while. We make like a staff team occasionally. but we usually join semi comp because we're just there to have fun. We just want to move around.

Susu B.: Yeah.

Alicia: So. But we know how to play, so we're not going to join. Learn to play. It wouldn't be fair. So, we joined semi comp because it's like, we're there, we know what we're doing, but we're not going to be the people like arguing about every point and stuff like that. So, if you're looking for a bit more chill, but you still want to be active and you know what you're doing, there's the semi comp as well.

Susu B.: Is there a specific time when I should be applying for intramurals or.

Alicia: So, I would just say at the start of the year, contact your athletic rep.

Susu B.: Okay.

Alicia: whether it's through email, I think most of the athletic reps or like group councils on campus have like Instagram accounts too. I was saying avoid Instagram, but it might be the best way. I don't know the best way the college is going to reach out to people. but yeah, just finding your athletic rep. and two, I think if you reach out to intramural specifically, they might be. They know who your college reps are because they have meetings every month. So, if you're like, I don't know who my college rep is. This is the college I'm with. They could potentially direct you as well.

Susu B.: Okay.

Alicia: so there's a bunch of different ways. but to even just like, I, think like every college, they also have like an office for their athletic reps as well. So, if you're in McLaughlin, like, and you're bored one day, maybe walk around McLaughlin and see if you can find their office. It's usually very obvious which office the athletic reps have because it's usually decked out and all that stuff.

Susu B.: Yeah.

Alicia: But so, there's a few ways to go about it.

Susu B.: In other words, like, there's no deadline.

Alicia: The deadline would just be, whenever the registration deadline is. So, that's why I'm saying as best as you can, reach out as early as you can.

Susu B.: As early as possible. Yeah. Okay. Because I'm hoping like, if someone is listening to the episode right now and they didn't know anything about it, they can still, you know, fit in one of the teams somehow.

Alicia: And too, like, we run like intramurals even runs into the summer. So, like we have intramurals going on all the time. so best thing to do, find out.

Susu B.: Reach out who.

Alicia: Find out who your athletic reps are again. They usually have an Instagram account that they manage and stuff, so that might be the best way to go. Or even to just find out who your college reps are as a whole. And then they can always direct you to. They usually have like a general email that. And stuff like that. I don't know how people would find that out. But, And then even to. They could direct you to get into sports and stuff too.

Susu B.: No, I'm glad you captured that beautifully and I'm really happy that you are also early. Like, that was earlier, but I still want to talk about it because it was just like a thing in my mind. They talked about how, like, for example, it helps you with pain. Because I feel like there is this misconception that sometimes it's true, but that if I'm in pain, I shouldn't be moving. and I'm glad that you're talking about that. That sometimes it's actually the pain is a signal from your body just communicating with you that by the way, I needed to move.

Alicia: Yeah, it could be. To be honest, it could be both.

Susu B.: Right?

Alicia: Yeah. So, it's good. It's tricky. Yeah, you just gotta. It's like as a person who's had pain for a very long time, it's because even too I have days where it's like, no, this pain is different. I need to take a rest. So, it's figuring out, okay, if I try to move, is it making it worse? And then, you know, it's kind of a rest day. but then if its, ooh, okay, things are loosening up, it's liking what I'm doing, then you kind of keep going with it.

Susu B.: So, I guess maybe like, what we get out of this episode is that, like, physical well-being is not only about movement, it's also about understanding your physical presence.

Alicia: Yeah, exactly.

Susu B.: And going from there. Because it could be just the fact that, like, oh, I understand that I need rest right now.

Alicia: Yeah, Right.

Susu B.: So that's good. I wrote that down. so, we kind of spoke about this for a little bit, but I guess we'll just reTalk about it a little bit. sometimes the more something is talked about, the more misconceptions there are. Just like the misconception I was just talking about. Compared to other dimensions of well-being, physical wellness is often overrepresented. Like, for example, when you talk about spiritual well-being, I don't think that's poking off as much at all. so, the overrepresentation, however, always comes in forms of gym influencers, diet trends, which can create a narrow and sometimes toxic view of what is, what it really means. Can you speak to some of these, misconceptions?

Alicia: So, I think that's always something important to remember that if whatever your goal is, it's finding the people that match that goal and are trying to get that too. rather than, you know, because usually the influencers and the people online, they're talking more physique, they're talking more really low body fat, high muscle mass. And if that's your goal, that's fine. I'm not, I'm not saying that's a bad thing. If you, that's something you want to work towards, that's really great. and, and, and two, it's good if you want it specifically yourself. Right. You shouldn't be pinned. And it, we teach, personal training at Tate. I'm the instructor for that. And we talk about how this goal needs to be coming from your client. Like if someone decides to do personal training, right. The worst thing you can do is have someone come in and say, well, I want to look like this person online. And they don't know why or they're like, oh, someone else told me to do this. This is someone else. Like, I want, because I want to fit in with my, the people that I hang out with, they all look like this. So, I want to look like this. Right. It's probably like the worst kind of way to do that because they're not, there's not this investment for themselves, it's an investment for someone else. So, I think again with social media, it's, we need to separate the two. If, if your goal is just to be healthy, you don't need abs, you don't need to be able to do 50 pull ups or 50 pushups.. Are you moving efficiently? Are you moving well within what you're able to do? And if that is what you're focusing on, that's kind of the best thing. And then you work for kind of from there.

Susu B.: No, that's perfect. I wrote that down.

Alicia: I saw you typing out. Yeah.

Susu B.: I said something good right now. Yeah. So, I guess you would just say that physical wellness is not one size fits all.

Alicia: No, not at all.

Susu B.: Yeah. Yeah. Especially considering, students with limited mobility or chronic conditions as well.

Alicia: Yeah, exactly. And too like even, it's not even, like even like Mobility, maybe someone eats differently, whether it's they culturally eat differently or they have restrictions because of allergies or whatever. Right. So even like a single diet doesn't work best.

Susu B.: It really depends on the person. Even like for example I know more about like pcos, and I know like as a woman and just there's conditions or things that for a woman it will be different from a man or if you're a non-binary person and you just see where it will fit physically for you as well. And I learned that for example for women with pcos, the more reps are better than the higher weights. And that was surprising to me because you always see people just telling you, oh, up the weight, up the weight. So, you understand that.

Alicia: Yeah, well it's funny because I actually wrote that down that you don't always have to lift heavy, I wasn't sure if we were going to eventually talk about it but because it's true because with pcos, specifically it's the inflammation. So, with heavy lifting it causes a lot of inflammation because you're doing like all these micro tears and all that stuff. But even if your goal is, let's say you wanted to build muscle and that's your goal, but you have pcos, what's nice now is we understand you can gain muscle mass if you work between six to like 15 to 17 reps. And usually PCOS, you want to work within that 12 plus range.

Susu B.: Right.

Alicia: Because it's that higher reps, lower weight, you can still gain muscle. And a lot of people are like no, you can't gain muscle if you don't do the six reps. You know that's not true.

Susu B.: So, I think I'm glad you said that's like that's the biggest misconception that you know, it is not a one size fit all at all. It really depends on you, what you have, what you understand. And you know, always talk to your physician as well. That's another advice I would say, to know what your body is like and then go from there.

Alicia: Yeah. And to like if II don't know what the student benefits look like nowadays. But like if your student benefits allow see a physio, if you have that in the benefits. I know when I was a student it was in there. I don't think it might be there. Yeah, she'd still be there. Okay.

Susu B.: Yeah.

Alicia: Like even like talk to a physio, like even if your goal is like, let's say you don't even have pain. Like let's say you just want to build muscle. A physio can tell you, oh, you, your movement here isn't ideal. Right. So, let's help fix that because then it'll help you build muscle easier too.

Susu B.: So.

Alicia: Yeah. And hopefully it doesn't cost you extra money to do that.

Susu B.: So that you're mentioning that because that's my semi. Last question. We have been talking about this again. but what are some free or accessible physical wellness options that exist on campus that students might not know about? We already talked about intramurals. If we have something else, we have to.

Alicia: We also have the pool. So, we have we call it lane and leisure swim usually. So, what we'll do is we'll set up kind of like two or three lanes for people that want to do laps specifically. Right. But then we have like a leisure section where like just for fun, jyou can just. I'm gonna swim around with friends. Do your thing. and again, it's pre planned time. So, I always tell people, because sometimes the pool, sometimes chemicals get in the way. So, it's just check the app to make sure we haven't canceled. and make sure the app is cool. it's York rec.

Susu B.: Okay.

Alicia: yeah, so that's the app too. You're always welcome to call client services as well if you're. If you're like, I see it, but I'm just not sure. You can always call to double check too. That's also fine. and then with, we also offer women's only options as well through all those. So, through swimming, intramurals drop in. There's always women's only stuff as well. So that's an option as well. if people get the fitness membership. We also offer, women's only and inclusive specific time slots. where it's a private studio. Unfortunately, it's in the basement. It's the only place we have that doesn't have windows. but it's and it's essentially, two days a week over fall, winter, we tend to do women's only. And then one day a week we do inclusive. It's like a two-hour time slot and it's a small weight room essentially. So, if for whatever reason, the fitness center maybe for religious reasons, or maybe it's just anxiety inducing, our fitness center can be quite intimidating. So, this little space, can be a great option if someone wants kind of a quieter area. The staff, I like to say my staff are very nice. So, my staff running it. I'm sure they'll show you how to use all the equipment that are in there if you're not sure. there's lots of like little pieces of equipment too. There's cardio equipment down there. So.

Susu B.: Yeah, no, I think, honestly, like, I think we can sit down here and talk about all the services you guys have.

Alicia: It's insane.

Susu B.: I know one of our friends at some point, I didn't even know that was a thing, but she took me. we did squash and. Yeah; that's part of our drop and stuff.

Susu B.: Yeah, yeah, so that was very interesting.

Alicia: We also have tennis and pickleball as well. Yeah, like, we actually just updated our tennis courts, so, we have some nice fancy tennis courts and yeah, a pickleball court now. We have that as well as part of it.

Susu B.: No, that's, that's. It is wonderful. So, I'm sure if a student wants to start, we'll definitely start on tape. and I guess that wraps it up and we have like this final question. if there was one thing a student could start, because we said a lot of things, to show initiative in taking care of their physical well-being in general, what could it be?

Alicia: that's a good question. I think it's just essentially just try something small. Like, I think that's kind of the biggest thing. So, and whatever that small is for you, that's gonna be the best thing to do. So even if it's just I'm switching out, I don't know, pop for diet pop. Like even that is better than not doing anything. It's not gonna change anything financially. It's not gonna change anything with mental health. It might improve your mental health a little bit but depending on what you're switching things out with. Right. but I think that's kind of the best way to go is just start small and whatever that small is for you. Yeah, got it. Yeah, yeah, Perfect.

Susu B.: All right. With that being said, this, concludes our interview. Thank you very much for being here.

Alicia: Thanks for having me.

Susu B.: I really want to thank our special guest today, Alicia Koebel, the coordinator of fitness and lifestyles at York University's Athletics and Recreation. I really enjoyed our enlightening conversation. Thank you, Alicia, for being such a valuable resource. You can also find links to all the services Alicia mentioned in the show notes for this episode, along with more valuable information, tips and resources. Visit our website at go.yorku.ca/wbpodcast. Click on the episode link and look for the episode Physical well Being, Wellness in Motion. This episode was co-produced by the Well Being and YU podcast team. Our podcast coordinator is Prabhleen Luthra. Our technical editor is Jonathan Varela Gonzalez. And I'm your host, Susu B. And as usual, we'll leave you with the quote of the day. Try something small, that's the biggest thing. Thank you for listening.