Mark: Hi, this is Mark Gray from the DVCC, and I am here with Jan Brown, who is a client at DVCC Milton Keynes; a lovely lady, sitting opposite– we are having a good banter because she’s Scottish, and I have a tiny bit – I think my little toe is Scottish!
So Jan, how long have you been at DVCC?
Jan: 13 months.
Mark: I want to talk with you specifically about why you originally came here - the reason is slightly different, perhaps, than the majority of people who come here; it wasn’t specifically weight loss or anything like that, it was to do with an injury. Please, go ahead and share what you particularly wanted to fix or get help with.
Jan: I have had a long period of back injuries for many, many years, but in 2012 I took another incident, where the pain in my back was excruciating. I couldn’t walk, couldn’t do very much at all. I engaged an osteopath and then a chiropractor; they then referred me to a cranial specialist from November 2012 to July 2013, on a weekly basis, with recurring bouts in between.
Mark: What kind of pain did you have, what did it stop you doing – what kind of pain was it?
Jan: Sitting in a chair and going to stand up, my whole lower body being completely seized. Not being able to correct yourself, not being able to walk. Waking up in the middle of the night, because I’ve gone to roll over or turn over and had excruciating pain across the lower back and not being able to do anything about it. Being on quite heavy medication, anti-inflammatories and painkillers to try and relieve it. I had contacted you back in 2010/2011…
Mark: When we had no grey hair and were very young and fresh and green!
Jan: … Yes! I received frequent emails from you, which I found very interesting, they were wonderful. Anyway, I got the email on the shoulder injury, which was showing a video on the exercise. After watching that, I decided to see if you had come into Milton Keynes. I discovered that you had, made an appointment with Josh and came over to have a conversation with him. I booked to commence towards the end of August 2013, coming back from vacation.
Mark: Were you still in the same amount of pain, or similar amounts of pain?
Jan: A similar amount of pain; it would go maybe a couple of days where it was bearable, but I was still taking quite a lot of anti-inflammatories.
Mark: Were you daily taking painkillers and anti-inflammatories?
Jan: Yes, I take something – I don’t now – I took something called, I think, Naprositan. I was taking 4 of these a day, at 500mgs a shot. I also took co-codamol 500mg strength as well.
Mark: Most days?
Jan: Yes
Mark: That is strong; co-codamol is strong and you’re not meant to be on those for long, because it is so strong.
Jan: I couldn’t go to work unless I was dosed up on the painkillers and anti-inflammatories.
Mark: To quickly rewind; just before you joined the DVCC, were you getting better by having physio and chiro, or were they at a bit of a loss as to why?
Jan: They helped, whereas it would be a couple of days where the pain was bearable and I could move about and maybe only have 1 anti-inflammatory and maybe 2 painkillers, but it wasn’t working. I could go into work in the morning, thinking I can cope with this; then for no reason, either getting out of a chair or just walking down the department, it would kick in and I would be doubled over and not be able to stand upright or walk.
Mark: I should have asked, just in context for other people, what is your age?
Jan: 62
Mark: So how many years had this been going on for, up until 61 I guess?
Jan: Basically this last bout started just before I was 60.
Mark: So you have had bouts, off and on, over the years.
Jan: Yes, over the years, I could go anything between 3 and 4 years with absolutely nothing at all, and then for no reason it just comes back.
Mark: Gosh – so in those times you were happy, just about forgetting that you get back pain, and then “pow”.
Jan: Yes, out of the blue
Mark: So you came back from vacation in August?
Jan: I came back from vacation, I had already spoken to my GP before I went on holiday and told her what my plan was. She gave me a list, almost as tall as myself, of “Do not Do’s” – no weights, no bending, no twisting.
Anyway, I came in on my first day and had a meeting with Josh. I told him what my list of “Don’t Do’s” were. He smiled at me; he then introduced me to Scott and he asked me to repeat the list to Scott, which I did. Scott basically just laughed, picked up a weight, handed it to me and said this is what you’re going to do.
Mark: Let’s just clarify! Obviously, no-one was disrespecting the authority or the knowledge of doctors or physios or chiros; however, we are very used to dealing with injuries, and more in a sports context, so we are less afraid of directly doing work to strengthen certain muscles because we know how we can do it safely, and generally quicker; because obviously in the sports arena it’s not about getting someone about getting someone back to general living, which is what a GP cares about, general living for most of us is taking the bin out, which isn’t that much of a life if that is all you can do. So that’s what Jan means!
Ok, so you started doing exercises specifically to strengthen…
Jan: Basically to strengthen the muscle round the lower back, to try and give me a core to actually work from. I can truthfully say that, in a week of coming here - or 6 days, because I did it for 6 days - I wasn’t taking any anti-inflammatories and I wasn’t taking any painkillers. Since August 2013 to today, I’ve had 2 bouts – on both occasions Scott and Ross sorted me out in less than 3 days.
Mark: Awesome!
Jan: You have to go through the pain to understand what it means not to have it.
Mark: I understand that; my father used to have those kinds of bouts as well. I’ve trained a fair few people, who were sometimes bedridden for 2 months and have not been since. As you say, I wouldn’t be able to necessarily empathise because I have never experienced it, but I have been in contact with enough people, for whom it is just massively debilitating.
Jan: My garden means a lot to me and I used to have lots of pots in the front garden. I used to lift them and lay them, when I was not having back problems, and then in 2012/2013, I couldn’t. I physically could not lift any of the pots at all, even the smallest ones.
Within a week of coming here, I was moving all the pots and I was back in my garden full time – it’s incredible!
Mark: Awesome – I do know how important a garden is to people, my mother – it’s off the hook how into gardening she is now, so I understand!
So it took just 6 days for you to notice a difference, which is very quick really; especially after years of the pain you’ve had. Since then, you have had a couple of bouts, but you are just progressing in terms of strength.
Jan: I think the main thing that sells it for me is the fact that I walk in here and the first thing the boys say is “How are you feeling?” They want to know if I’ve got any aches and pains, no matter how small, and they take into consideration with whatever we’re doing in that session. If I get a slight pull, or when my arm was playing up and I kept getting clicking in the elbow, they would slightly alter the exercise or give me something completely different so it was not putting additional strain or stress on that particular area.
And I think it worked – well, I don’t think it worked, it does work!
Mark: That’s the thing isn’t it, it’s progressing you through – you’re always going to have slight aches and pains as you’re going along and it’s just managing those and doing it progressively, that enables you to get to where you’re mud running – which is another thing I wanted to talk about! Realistically, you’ve never done a mud run before have you?
Jan: No.
Mark: And it’s not something you would necessarily say that, at plus 60, is something you are going to do. I haven’t heard that many people say “I’m 60, that’s what I want to do – a mud run!”
Jan: No, I never thought for a minute that I wanted to go and do a mud run either!
Mark: A mud run, we do them at the DVCC relatively frequently now. Basically, as a team we do, generally, 5 kilometres but with lots of obstacles – mud, climbing, jumping, whatever it is – not small things. Climbing over things, 7, 8 feet…
Jan: 10 foot walls!
Mark: Exactly! When did you do your first one?
Jan: March this year; then the second one was either May or June.
Mark: And they’re not easy ones. Would you have ever imagined doing that?
Jan: I used to run when I was in my twenties, and I used to go to the gym when I was younger. But mud runs, doing obstacles – no – it never entered my head. It was down to Scott who said that I should do it. I didn’t think I was fit enough, I was absolutely convinced I wasn’t fit enough; my breathing isn’t perfect when I’m not exercising! The first run I did, we went round the lower field first.
Mark: This is the one in Northampton, isn’t it? It’s actually quite a fair bit of running to start with; I was huffing and puffing there!
Jan: Yes, we went into the field, I was huffing and puffing, and I said to Scott, “I can’t do this, my breathing’s not good”. He just started talking to me and making me answer questions; he took my head completely away from the breathing, so I wasn’t thinking about the breathing any more. It wasn’t easy, but I did it!
Mark: You did all the obstacles as well, didn’t you?
Jan: I did it. One ball I missed out, which was a 6 foot wall, I think that was the first one.
Mark: The last one you definitely did, because we were all watching. Everyone was there, because obviously we are doing it as a team so everyone finishes at different times, so everyone was there cheering each other on; and we saw you over the edge, little head peeping over.
Jan: I missed out the 6 foot wall, but I did the 10.
Mark: Yeah – you don’t need to do the 6 - it’s too small - just go straight for the 10!
That is awesome, really cool. If anyone thinks that they won’t ever be able to achieve something like that, you’re here to say you can. So, if you were exercising and going to the gym in your twenties, when did you stop, what age?
Jan: I probably started doing it when I got married, when I was 22; I stopped in about 93/94. I did it for about 20 years, and then stopped for 20 years.
Mark: So you haven’t exercised for 20 years and then you’re running round muddy fields - awesome!
What then, are your goals for the next 6 months or so? You’re getting stronger every time; we use a heart rate based training here and your heart rate is now getting up to 96%, so we’re nearly finishing there! The fitter you get, the harder you can work.
When you’re starting at 40 plus, a lot of people think they have to slow down and not challenge themselves, but every session, you are working super hard and challenging yourself and that’s allowing you, I guess, to see yourself.
Jan: If I’m being honest, Mark, the screen I don’t look at, because I am too busy concentrating on what I am supposed to be doing. I know what’s happening on the screen, roughly…
Mark: Because you hear us shouting “You’re in the red, you’re in the red”!
Jan: Because somebody is telling me what colour I am in, I have no idea what else is on there!
My ambition is to carry on doing my garden; I do not like asking for help, I like to do everything myself. That’s my main goal, so that I can continue to do that. But also, about 3 years ago I lost 3 stone, just being really strict about what I was eating, and stopped eating rubbish. I am now at the stage where I am actually considering making the attempt to lose weight. If I lose weight at the moment, it’s a bonus, I am not that bothered. But moving forward, this is my goal – once I can pick up and do snatches with twelve and a half’s, then I know I’ve actually got to a level I want to get to. When I get there, then I will concentrate on the diet side.
Mark: Awesome – that’s great! I hope you enjoyed that; I did. As always, it’s all written down and transcribed so you can read if you need (laughing). That’s a joke, because it will be, but obviously you’ve got the Scottish accent there, so for some it’s tougher to understand than others.
Thank you very much, Jan, I appreciate that very much, it is awesome to hear. Because we forget sometimes how much of a difference or a change you have had in that period of time, because obviously everyone sees you a fair bit; but it is really good to be reminded of what a change you have had in strengthening your body as opposed to just weight loss, which is awesome - thank you.
This is Mark from the DVCC with Jan – bye bye!
