Body Outfitters on Investing in Your Health

April 2022

As we move further out from 2020 and forward toward a new “normal” way of living, I spoke with Mark Moreland, owner and personal trainer at Body Outfitters Personal Training Studio, about how people—especially over the age of 50—are looking to invest in and optimize their personal health.

Just as many folks are investing in their financial well-being earlier in their lives, there has been an upward trend in taking care of one’s personal health at an earlier age as result of the pandemic.

Moreland shared with us his studio’s philosophy on physical health and how he and his trainers have always focused on the holistic health of their clients and not just how often they work out.

A Brief Overview of Body Outfitters Personal Training Services

Body Outfitter’s personal trainers have over 40 years of combined experience. They use experience and expertise to create tailored workouts. They have degrees in exercise science from accredited universities with a variety of certifications in fitness disciplines.

Body Outfitters personal trainers offer a variety of personal training services to meet clients’ needs and goals. From one-on-one personal training sessions to training for teams of two to small group training and classes, they help clients discover the best fitness programs for their goals. They provide an environment curated to strengthen your body and mind and guarantee space to move with confidence and execute the best workout for your body. Body Outfitters personal trainers strive to create an experience that is intimate, upbeat and motivational.

Post-2020 Priorities

“We have seen a shift in priorities since 2020,” Moreland shared. “We ask our clients if they have ‘feel better’ goals, ‘move better’ goals or ‘look better’ goals. These things are integrated, but there has been a huge shift into the feel better goals. It’s moved away from ‘I have pain and I want to look better’—those were the two main drivers in 2017–19. Now most of people’s triggers—2020 and going forward—is yes, the pain, but in general, people don’t feel good, and they want to work at feeling better.”

Moreland acknowledged that there has been a lot of factors in our lives that we haven’t been able to control, but he reminded us that there are some factors related to our health that we are in control of.

“There are four things that you can control,” Moreland stated. “You can control your sleep or at least position yourself for [proper] sleep. We get into our beds too late and often take our phones into bed. We’re not resting or sleeping when we do that. That’s just one thing that we can control—at least behaviorally—that has a huge impact on feeling better.”

Being more active, staying hydrated and proper nutrition are the other three points that Moreland prioritized.

“Your activity is what you do during the day,” Moreland said. “And I separate hydration and nutrition. I put those in their own categories because some people are awesome at one and lousy at the other, but they are both unique things. Hydration highly affects your joints and your movement. I’m not a certified dietician or a nutritionist—these people can specifically prescribe meals that are relevant to you, so I move towards the behavioral aspects. First, what are your ‘oops’ [foods and beverages]. Those are the things that you’re already thinking about when I say that word. We’ll talk about what you are eating—are you eating fruits and vegetables? How much bread are you eating? Are you eating carbohydrates—are they the trash kind or are they more of the fruits and things like that? Nutrition is just like a bank account. You have to figure out where your ‘spend’ is going to be. So, in review, it’s about rest, activity, then hydration and food—those are four controllables that we can have a lot of say in.”

Moreland added, “I would say that even if you didn’t see a [personal] trainer, and you moved in this direction, gave yourself an honest analysis and made a couple of changes—you’d start to feel better fast.”

Caring for Yourself Today to Be More Active Tomorrow

After 50, many folks are transitioning from having dependents to look after and coordinate schedules around and are looking onward at the next phases of their lives. Women, especially, find more time for themselves at this point.

Moreland talked about how many of his clients who are over 50 are making the decision to keep working their bodies so that they can continue doing and even improving on the activities that they enjoy most.

“The currency of your health has never been thrown in your face more since 2020,” Moreland stated. “First, be active. Get out of your chair. Schedule walks. Go outside. That’s really important. I think people recognized the significance of that over the last couple of years and realized they needed that.”

Moreland continued, “Hopefully, they’ll maintain that. So, outside time with activity is good. Take a 10-minute walk. I still do 10-minute walks, but I also strength train because muscle, joints, connective tissue—they’re all part of the structure of the vehicle that you move around in all day long. It’s your strength and ultimately the ability to move that will dictate what you can and can’t choose to engage in.”

Physical health, mental health, emotional health and spiritual health are all overlapping circles.

“We know that all of it affects all of it,” Moreland said. “I would say a really safe place to start if you’re looking to start taking care of yourself is with the physical health because it’s a little more objective and you don’t have to ‘unpack’ as much. You can start with moving, and you’re going to instantly start feeling better because the body is designed to do that. You start an upward spiral that helps contradict some of the downwards. And hopefully it’s becoming less taboo to see [mental health] counsel. I’m ‘body’ counsel. You see a financial counsel, so seeking that counsel is just wisdom, and it should provide you with a little more peace of mind. We call it the Humpty Dumpty scenario. Sometimes, it takes all the king’s horses and all the king’s men to really help you optimize your [overall] health.”

For more information on Body Outfitters and their Carmel and Zionsville locations, visit bodyoutfitters.com.

Writer:

Janelle Morrison

Photography:

Mark Moreland