E 177 Molly McNamee
[00:00:00] Hi everyone. I am so excited that you are with us today. I love introducing you to people in the world.
Cynthia: And this one is a super exciting one for me because She is going to teach us things that I didn't know and that you didn't know. I have Molly McNamee with me and she, I'm just going to let her tell you mostly about herself, but I just want you to know that this is going to be really important information for you to have.
So Molly, thank you for joining us today.
Molly: Thank you so much for having me. I'm just as excited to be here and speak to your community. So this is awesome. So yeah, my name is Molly and I'm a fitness coach and I am the founder of MFit workouts, which is an online fitness platform. And my main goal as a coach is to help people relieve their chronic stress in the, in their body and mind so that they feel less anxious and less joint pain overall, because I find.
Movement can be so healing for [00:01:00] your mental state, but there are certain types of movements that can also make your anxiety worse. So today I'm going to talk to you about what to be doing so that you can feel your best.
Cynthia: Okay. Well, that was one of the surprising things to me is that one of the things we always tell people to do when they're experiencing anxiety or depression is to exercise because that your body gets moving and you get out and about and, and I, and there are good things about it, but tell us about what's not good about it or how could it cause us to have anxiety?
Yeah.
Molly: So you're exactly right. If you speak to a doctor or really anyone about your anxiety, one of the first pieces of advice they'll give you is to start moving more. And I love that advice, but we need to be a little bit more specific because exercise in general can relieve so much stress, but there are certain aspects of it that can create panic in the body.
And this is something I hear from a lot of my clients is they will work out and they will. experience [00:02:00] more panic. And the reason that happens is because certain workouts or certain symptoms of a workout can feel like panic to the body. So your heart racing that happens a lot during your workouts. And for some people that can start to trigger a panic attack, feeling warm and sweating.
This can feel like feelings of panic to the body. So if you're doing workouts that are making you sweat a lot and getting your heart rate up a lot, then those things can feel like panic attacks. But also if you're moving too much at too much of an extreme level, then that's going to spike your nervous system heavily.
And that's actually what happened to me. I was working out every day. for multiple hours a day because I was feeling anxious and I thought that that would help, but the amount I was working out was spiking my nervous system so much that I was never able to feel not anxious, if that makes sense, [00:03:00] which is.
Which is a scary thing, because what happened to me, is like I said, I was working out for multiple hours a day. I was also having multiple panic attacks a day. And that felt horrible. And I wanted those panic attacks to go away. So I started working out even more. Even more at an extreme level. And what that did to my body, is my nervous system was always super heightened.
And it was heightened long after my workout and basically all day. So I felt nervous and anxious and stressed all day. And that's because of the amount in the intensity I was working out at.
Cynthia: Well, how in the world did you ever figure out what to do about it? Because it sounds like you were like, well, I'm doing all the things I'm supposed to be doing.
So then how do you, how do you figure it out?
Molly: Exactly. I said that multiple times every day. I'm like, I'm journaling. I'm doing the therapy things. I'm exercising. I'm getting outside. Why is my anxiety not improving? And it wasn't until [00:04:00] I got injured that I discovered how much movement was impacting my anxiety.
I injured myself and I wasn't able to continue the amount of workouts and the intensity of the workouts I was doing. And. Once I started working out less and at a lesser intensity, I realized I'm not having two panic attacks every single day anymore. That's interesting. And the only thing I changed was how much and how intense I was exercising for.
So it actually happened by complete accident. If I wouldn't have injured myself, I imagine I would have continued working out at that extreme level and feeling pretty horrible. So I was forced to stop working out at an extreme level. And then I realized how much better my anxiety got.
Cynthia: Well, I have not experienced that, but I know when I was really in you know, every new years I would come up with some kind of an exercise plan and it was always five to six days a week.
And it was, [00:05:00] you know, I would watch people do like extreme things. I'm like, I'm going to do extreme things. And yeah, I didn't, I don't think I experienced anxiety doing the workouts, but I had anxiety about, do about doing the workouts because I was like, Oh my gosh, it's going to be so hard. And I don't know what to do, or I don't want to do it.
And also when I would get into a routine, I would also get anxious if it got. Disrupted because then I would be like, Oh, well now I'm going to gain weight or now I'm not going to be fit or now, you know, whatever. So if you're someone who exercises all the time, like you were doing, and then you can't exercise, did you also have anxiety about, Oh no, now I'm losing my fitness or now I'm losing all the ground I made up by exercising so much.
I mean, was there any of that?
Molly: I absolutely did experience that where I was just completely stressed thinking, Ugh, I'm going to get so weak [00:06:00] and I'm going to get fat. And I'm like, I was, I was talking really down to myself. But what you said is another reason that exercise can cause stress and anxiety in the body.
And things I hear about a lot, people are nervous to go to the gym. They're nervous to exercise around other people. Or they get into that extreme mindset where As you were explaining, if you're not getting your workouts completed and you're not working hard enough, then you'll feel bad about yourself.
So sometimes the anxiety and it's sort of, as you explained for yourself, doesn't even feel like traditional anxiety. It can just feel like general stress about your routine. And that can really build over time to be. Quite detrimental to your mental state.
Cynthia: Now I know we've talked a lot. Well, you and I talked before about what you do in your business.
And it's mostly about custom creating workout plans for people in all different kinds of situations, not just anxiety, [00:07:00] but just menopause or someone who's recovering from an injury or recovering from a surgery or something like that. And I think we talked about, I don't think you do mindset.
Mindset is not part of your coaching or is it, I can't remember.
Molly: Mindset is always a little bit a part of the coaching and it's especially when I first start working with someone, it's, it's figuring out where their mindset is around movement and around exercise and seeing how we can heal the relationship that's potentially broken with, with movement and exercise because many people I know have some sort of negative experience.
With movement, whether it be like at school, some traumatic thing happened in a PE class, or if you're an adult and you at one point did a workout program that was way too extreme. And now you hate exercise. A lot of people have some negative experience. So there is that mindset element of how can we heal your relationship around what you think exercise should look like and what [00:08:00] it should look like for you.
Cynthia: Yeah, I can totally see that because I had the experience of PE and recess, you know, like I'm never getting picked because I'm so terrible or whatever. So I have like that kind of like, I'm not an athlete. So then therefore I can exercise, which, you know, is not true. And I don't believe that anymore, but I kind of got into that sometimes for a while.
And I also I used exercise for punishment for so long, like, Oh, you ate that cake. Well, now you have to exercise two hours, you know, like it was like a way for me to punish myself for doing, for eating things that I wasn't supposed to be eating or whatever, some diet thing that I was doing. And that took me a while to get out of the exercises, just moving my body and enjoying nature or enjoying being, you know, in a.
Dance class or something. So that's probably something you have to get help. People get over to
Molly: exactly. I think that a lot of our anxiety [00:09:00] around movement or our stress or our Maybe negative behaviors around exercise and food start when we're kids. I know for me when I was 13 years old I overheard someone saying that I'd gotten a little chubby and from that point on it was like, okay Well food and exercise is now I'm gonna project all of my stress and anxiety so that I can look the way I want So it it does start even younger than that for some people And, and it is something that is a process to work yourself out of but if you can get out of that mindset and you can take the steps to separating your, the stress you have around exercise, then you'll just feel so much better.
Cynthia: Mm hmm. Well, I've noticed now that I'm not punishing myself with exercise, but doing it because I want to. And enjoying, like picking things that I really enjoy doing because I used to when I was punishing myself, I would choose exercise that I [00:10:00] didn't even really like because it was a punishment. And so now that I'm choosing things that I enjoy doing, I want to do it.
And I wish I would have known this a long time ago because I was not very nice to myself where it comes to that, but well, I am working on a workshop for parents and one of, and what I'm going to be teaching in that workshop is how parents can help their teens to calm their anxiety immediately.
And this is kind of tricky because it will be different for everyone. But I wonder if you have any tricks of interest in your own experience or some with your clients that you work with where. They have been able to stop anxiety right away.
Molly: So I definitely have a whole list of exercises that I do when I'm feeling anxious so that I can break those anxious patterns and some of them are stretches and physical exercises.
One of my favorites that I do pretty much any time I [00:11:00] feel anxious is I rub my hands together really fast and make my hands really hot. And then I cover my eyes and take really deep breaths. And that is by far my favorite exercise. panic technique, because what it does is You're changing the state of your body.
You're changing the temperature of your hands. And if you can do that, you can also change the state of your anxiety. So by making your hands warm, you're telling your body, I can change the state I'm in. And then you're bringing warmth, you know, to cover your eyes, which is a relaxing technique. So I love doing that.
And I have plenty of other stretches and physical exercises that I. do personally and I encourage my clients to do as well when they're feeling panic. So I guess I do two things. I help people structure their workout program so that overall they feel less anxious, but there are specific exercises you can do when you're feeling those feelings of anxiety.
So that you can get back to [00:12:00] reality. And one of my favorite ones is that rubbing of the hands.
Cynthia: I love that because I could see a high schooler, middle schooler, anybody doing that in the class, even like, cause that's something that's quiet and you could do that. You know, if you were experiencing anxiety in the class, or maybe even taking a test, you could do that, you know, just, and it's going to bring you back to where you need to be to be able to take that test or to listen to the teacher.
If if parents had this. You know, information, which I think, are you giving that to my listeners as a gift?
Molly: I would love to give your listeners my anxiety toolkit, which includes a masterclass, which explains my favorite exercises to do to lessen those feelings of panic when they, when they arise. I love
Cynthia: that so much.
Okay. So then they're going to know this. So then if their child is having a panic attack or experiencing anxiety about going to school or something that happened at school, or maybe [00:13:00] they're, you know, going to some event or something and their child is experiencing that, but they'll be able to say, okay.
Let's try this trick or, you know, let's do this and I have been telling parents to do it, you know, do it with your child, you know, at least until they get used to doing it on their own, just so you're role modeling it. And, you know, a lot of the parents in my story, my daughter had anxiety and I didn't.
But most of the parents that I talked to, they also have anxiety. So they, they, it's kind of like they have a real understanding of it because they're, they experiencing it, but then they also, it's hard for them to help their child. And also manage their own anxiety. So sometimes I think not only just being the role model of these techniques, but it also will help the parent to be calm when sometimes they don't feel calm in these situations.
Molly: Got that exactly. Yes. I, I see, I see the same thing with [00:14:00] people is even if you don't have. The level of anxiety, maybe your child is feeling, you probably have some sort of anxiety that you're also dealing with, so I love that you encourage them to do those exercises with them, and, and yeah, these exercises that I teach in this masterclass, I intend for you to do them if you're starting to feel your heart racing to start to bring down that heart rate.
So whether you're experiencing that or not, there are still just great stretches and exercises to do.
Cynthia: Well, that's what I think about emotional regulation just in general is that everybody needs it for different things. Like some people maybe. Don't have anxiety or I call it diagnosable anxiety because, and the reason I say it like that is because everyone has anxiety.
Like there's no, there's no human that doesn't experience that for some reason or other at different times, but so I don't want to act like, oh, some people [00:15:00] have anxiety and other people don't have anxiety. Cause it's not like that. But some people, okay. Are able to kind of handle it in their, in their minds or in their bodies without like extra medicine or going to therapy or whatever.
And so that's what I kind of mean. Like, I have not been diagnosed with it. I don't, I don't need extra things, extra support to, to manage it. But yeah, I still get anxious about things. I get anxious about getting on a podcast. I get anxious about, I, I actually not always anymore, but I used to get anxious every time it was time for a client to come on a call.
Just because I'm, you know, I don't know what they need. I don't know, you know, you get in your head about, Oh, can I help them? And maybe I don't know. And, you know, all that stuff. And so everybody feels that sometimes I think the people that know or can manage it, go forward and do things anyway, even though they feel anxious.
And I noticed with kids that when they were feeling anxious and [00:16:00] they didn't have a way to manage it. That then they shut down and they don't go to school or they don't do their work or they don't hang out with friends or they don't come out of their room or, you know, whatever all the things are and they really want to, but they just, they get trapped kind of in the, I don't, I don't know how to move forward.
That
Molly: is the exact difference where everyone experiences some stress or anxiety around work or life or relationships. But then there are the second set where they're getting. Extremely anxious. I like to explain anxiety like cars, where some cars, you can take a bat to them, swing it, swing at it, kick it, and the alarm is never going to go off, and then there's other cars where the wind can pass it, and the alarm will start blaring.
So, everyone experiences some stress, but how they react to it is different. So, absolutely. Exercises and the tools that I use can easily be used if you just have mild work [00:17:00] stress or relationship stress. Or again, if, if you're getting on a podcast and you're feeling a little anxious, you can do one of these stretches or these exercises to get back into your body.
Or if you're someone who experiences full blown panic and depression, these can help you break out of those feelings so that you can start to feel more like yourself.
Cynthia: That's what I like about coaching for people that have anxiety, because even if you also have a therapist and you're also taking medication, coaching and thought work and, you know, stretching and different things like that are going to help.
They help everybody. And so you're definitely going to get some relief from those things, even if you're doing some of these like other things alongside it. And actually I've had clients that were also in therapy and regulating medication and working with me. And then I had some people that. They just needed to have tools to manage it.
They didn't really know what to do. And then once they have [00:18:00] the tools, they were fine with it. So I've had kind of all, all sides of what it could be like. And I've had kids that were refusing school and then ended up going back to school because they were able to work through what was getting in the way of them.
And it's all different for different people. But. I was, I was excited about that. One girl even got a job when she had never been able to, you know, try to get a job because she was too afraid to get a job. And so I think, you know, I could see exercise also being a beautiful piece of that. And I'm, I'm going to be glad to know these techniques too, because I'll be teaching them or telling them these things too.
Molly: Absolutely. And that's why I love. the wellness industry as a whole, because however you want to attempt to tackle your quote unquote problems, there's an option for you, whether you're just trying to eat a little different or exercise a little different, or if you need to just talk to someone or meditate or do breathing courses, there's, [00:19:00] there's a lot of options.
And I think that's a great thing because people will feel more comfortable taking one of those options first and then. The doors will open for them. Mm-Hmm. . That is also why I love working with people who have anxiety just to open their eyes that there's more options than one feeling bad. And also just taking medicine or going to therapy.
There's a lot of different ways you can tackle your anxiety and it's so exciting when I see clients who. Have said I've been trying to work out for years, but I've never been able to be consistent with it because I get panic attacks when I work out, then tell me, well, now I'm not feeling anxious anymore at all.
And I've been working out consistently for 6 months. That just it's, it's a win. However, people take their mental health journey, taking 1 step forward, whether it be through mindset, movement, food, talk therapy, medicine, it's whatever way you can get your foot in the door to start feeling better is
Cynthia: perfect.
I [00:20:00] love that. And that's why I am introducing my audience to so many guests over. I did it all last year and I'm going to do it all this year too. I'm and it's fun for me to just meet new people, but I want my audience to know there's so many ways to deal with mental health and it's not just me and probably of all the people who listen to me.
I wouldn't ever be somebody that they would choose to be their coach. Like they have to find other things that they could do that would be helpful. I just want parents and, and teens to know there are thousands of people out here that do lots of different things and you can pick someone else. So tell us how you work with people and how people could find you and work with you.
Molly: So I work with people one on one and in a group setting and all online. So I work with people all over the world. I love the online space because it's also more comfortable. I find with someone who has anxiety and a little bit of social anxiety. It can be uncomfortable to go into a gym to work with someone, but online there's just That comfort of [00:21:00] being from your home.
So I love to work with people one on one to help them customize their workouts based on what they're experiencing in their life. So if they have anxiety, I help them program their workouts to improve their anxiety. If someone has a knee injury, I help them program their workouts. around that knee injury.
And it's all online and it's all on my website. And if you take advantage of my free anxiety toolkit, I'm also going to give you two weeks free of my signature workout program so that you can start to see how movement can actually help you heal from your anxiety or whatever you're experiencing. If you're listening to this and you're like, I don't have anxiety.
I don't know anyone with anxiety. Surprised you found this podcast, but you're dealing with something else in life. I would love to help you program your workouts around that too. So yes, if you take advantage of that freebie, I'll also get you integrated into my world so that you can see how movement can be healing.
Cynthia: I love that so much. [00:22:00] And I I wish I would have known that a long time ago because I you know, exercise shouldn't be a punishment, but that's, you know, kind of where it was. And because I had a lot of little t trauma about not being good at athletics you know, then that also kind of. I think messed with me a little bit like, Oh, well, I'm not good at this, so I shouldn't be doing it or something.
I don't know. So I'm glad that you're teaching people a new way and a different way of, of experiencing movement because it is important, but we do need to know how to do it. So we don't like cause more problems for ourselves. And it was just, that was the most insightful thing that. When we talked before that was like, what I've never heard about X.
I mean, I knew the exercise caused me anxiety because of how I was looking at it, but I didn't think about like the actual sensations that you feel, feel like a panic attack because I've never had one. So I also don't know though, I've read about it and I've seen my daughter have one several. So I [00:23:00] know about that, but I'm just so glad you're with us today.
It's so helpful. And. All your stuff will be in the show notes so they can click on that. And I can't wait to see what people decide to do and get their exercise figured out.
Molly: Yes, I hope this was so helpful to people. Yeah, whether you took away from it like, Oh, my workouts can cause me mental stress just by doing them or actually the science of my body is not matching with my workouts.
I hope you took away something from this. But thank you so much for having me. This is a pleasure.
Cynthia: Huh. Thank you.