Exercise As A Coping Mechanism With Dr. Helen Hsu (101)

Seasoned Athlete

Today, I am talking to Dr. Helen Hsu, the Lead Outreach Specialist, Staff Psychologist, Asian American specialist, and a lecturer at Stanford University. Dr. Hsu is a marathon runner, Crossfit athlete, Obstacle racer, and trapeze enthusiast.

In this episode we Discuss Helen’s belief in the Mind Body connection and her personal philosophy on being a seasoned athlete.

We discuss:

- Understanding what our bodies are telling us when we are showing physical signs of illness.

- The impact stress can have physically as well as mentally.

- Dealing with the muscle and bone density loss that we experience as we age.

- Exercise as a coping mechanism for mental health.

- Checking in with yourself and being in tune with your mind body connection.

- Dealing with the ongoing pandemic and how to adjust your regiment.

- Knowing your limits and doing what works best for you.

- Finding the exercise, you love the most and not judging yourself when first starting out.

… and more!

Here are some highlights.

Figuring out what motivates you

“A big thing is figuring out what modality might be helpful for you, and also that it's okay if it evolves. So what do I mean by that? I know a lot of people who it really helps to have some competition or accountability, so they're competing with other people about steps or they've actually signed on to one of these apps that help you gamify your goals, whether that's other life goals or work or fitness goals.”

Knowing your limits

“One workout is not going to make or break me, like to rest today and allow myself what my body needs will help me be stronger, so one of the things I realized at one point when I was doing half-marathons, doing a lot of obstacle races, I did a couple of local prospect competitions. But I sat down at one point and I was like: Okay, this is taking a lot of time and energy. I had to really ask what is my goal? My priorities are the value of my work, my community work, my family, and actually my final goal is longevity. So for seasoned athletes, I think that's a thing to think about. I realized my goal was to be as active as long as possible.”

Trying something different

”I went to trapeze school on a whim. I was on a business trip in DC. I was looking up if there is a Crossfit box or something, I can stop in between my meetings. And I said, trapeze school. And I said, Oh my gosh, alright, let's just go check it out. It was so fun, and has become a regular thing when I will be in DC. And one of my trips, there was a man up there flying overhead above the net and he was over 70, and he just said, “I just saw it and it looked interesting. So I was going to try it.” And I'm like, I love that.

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