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The mental performance office gym
92 Plays3 years ago
Welcome to episode 57 of the Green & Healthy Places podcast in which we discuss the themes of wellbeing and sustainability in real estate and hospitality today.
I’m your host, Matt Morley, Founder of Biofilico healthy buildings and today I’m in Munich, Germany talking to ex-athlete Katharina Naumann who is behind a new office gym concept focused on mental empowerment.
We discuss some of the tools for mental empowerment at work, both physical and mental , including the need to integrate movement in daily lifestyles, the importance of body connection and intuition, the benefits of meditation, the role of functional training in an overall fitness regime and the gap between standard office gym solutions such as a local membership and a carefully tailored office wellness space as Katharina envisions it.
If you enjoy this episode please hit like or subscribe, you can find me at biofilico.com and Katharina at goldkern.de, all links are in the show notes, now let’s get into it, here’s mental performance coach Katharina Naumann.
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Transcript
Episode Introduction
00:00:10
Speaker
Welcome to episode 57 of the Green and Healthy Places podcast, in which we discuss the themes of wellbeing and sustainability in real estate and hospitality today.
Meet Katharina Naumann
00:00:21
Speaker
I'm your host, Matt Morley, founder of Biophilico Healthy Buildings, and today I'm in Munich, Germany, talking to ex-athlete, sprinter extraordinaire, Katharina Naumann, who is behind a new office gym concept focused on mental empowerment.
Wellness in Office Spaces
00:00:37
Speaker
We discuss some of those tools needed for mental empowerment at work, both physical and mental. We cover how to integrate movement into daily lifestyles, the importance of body connection and intuition, the benefits of meditation, functional training within an overall fitness regime, and the gap between standard office gym solutions, such as something as basic as a local membership on offer to staff, and a carefully tailored office wellness space, such as the one Catharina envisions.
00:01:04
Speaker
If you enjoyed this episode, please hit like or subscribe. You can find me at biofilico.com, Katarina, at goldkern.de. All links are in the show notes. Now let's get into it. Here's mental performance coach, entrepreneur, ex-printer, Katarina Nauman. Katarina, welcome to the show. Welcome to the
From Athlete to Coach
00:01:24
Speaker
podcast. Thank you for
00:01:25
Speaker
Joining here, we'd love to start with a little bit of background on how you made the transition from an Olympic athlete, so an elite level sports professional to the world of business coaching. Yeah, thank you for being here, first of all. And there actually were two reasons for me. So first of all, I made a very negative experience in my first job in an agency after my studies.
00:01:53
Speaker
At that point I just had finished my career as an athlete and suddenly I found myself sitting full time behind a laptop, which sounds for many people very normal, was quite a shock for my body. I imagine I trained about 10 times per week before that and now I was sitting 8 hours a day not moving anywhere.
00:02:21
Speaker
So of course, this quote is some physical and also mental trouble for me. I had a very well trained body feeling and I will never forget what it felt like to lose all my muscle tension. It was a feeling of standstill of my body functions actually. And it really didn't feel right and healthy at all. So after six months, I found myself in a very bad condition.
00:02:52
Speaker
especially mentally.
Mental Empowerment at Work
00:02:53
Speaker
So I decided to quit and to hope that I will find or create a job which not does take place in front of the screen all the time. So I decided to start a training program to become a systemically personal and business coach. And this was a very good choice. I now combine fitness training with life coaches.
00:03:16
Speaker
life coaching to help people being mentally and physically healthy and hopefully happy. Yes. And secondly, I knew from my former races that mental empowerment is so important to reach goals. There are a lot of mental techniques that I want to carry further towards society. I think mental empowerment should be actually a subject at school. My kids would love it. But there is
00:03:45
Speaker
emotional, no difference between the nervousness at sports or at work. No emotional difference between the stress at a competition or the stress at work. But while the athlete will relieve stress while moving, the employee is not relieving stress because he remains seated. And this can lead to chronic illness in the long term. Yeah, that's really
Balancing Training and Mental Techniques
00:04:12
Speaker
interesting. Okay, so there are a few things that you said you were training
00:04:16
Speaker
10 times per week. But in terms of hours, just to give us an understanding of like how that dominated your life. I mean, I might do on a really good week 10 hours of physical and mental training. In your life as a pro athlete or an elite level athlete, how much of that was physical and how much of that was working on the mental game? Or was it 10 times a week, you were just training strength, conditioning, sprinting,
00:04:43
Speaker
Yes, I trained like 10 times a week. Yes, physical training stuff. And the mental part was actually not included in this 10 times. So this was actually beside the training. We worked with a psychological coach and there this was this mental empowerment. And the mental empowerment, that then becomes the transition in a way, right? That's the bridge between
00:05:11
Speaker
your life before and your life today, the idea of mental empowerment at work? Yes. So I really got to know how important is the mental empowerment.
Entrepreneurial Challenges and Mental Health
00:05:23
Speaker
It doesn't matter what goal you want to reach, you know, and even it's a goal of at work, yes, to do a good presentation or something like this, or to reach a goal by sports. It doesn't make this big difference,
00:05:40
Speaker
actually, you need to be mental empowered. And is that, is it a, the various different interpretations of what that can mean? Or is it an established concept in the world of sprinting and fitness or running in particular and elite athletics? Is that almost like a module? Is it something that you study within the course of your week? Or is it something that you interpreted and developed your own ideas? Or is that like a standard part of being an elite athlete?
00:06:10
Speaker
both of it so there are some concrete techniques where you just need to learn it yes you can hear it once and then you practice it by your daily life and then you can see how it works and you get always better in that and there is like your mental how you see all the things yes if
00:06:38
Speaker
you see everything positive. It's much easier to work for that, you know? And yeah, it also depends on how you see the world, actually. Yeah, I sympathize completely with that as I am now working as an entrepreneur by myself, which is almost as stressful in a sense as working in a big company with a big corporation where you have to deal with
00:07:07
Speaker
the politics and the stress of being part of a much wider network of people. But when you're solo and building your own business, then that comes with its own challenges in terms of mental empowerment. And there's no one really around to help unless we go and look for a coach or we find people who can play that role for us like a boss.
Katharina's Coaching Approach
00:07:30
Speaker
or a senior wise person who we can rely on for help. And I think that's actually one of the techniques that I've used in the past or had to do for myself because otherwise it's a very, very lonely path doing this. Having a corporate structure, having a team around you obviously has challenges too, but I think can also be very, very rewarding. But you need to know how to navigate, how to sail through those waters, right? Because it's not,
00:07:59
Speaker
No one teaches you that. They teach you the work. They teach you how to do banking, how to sell stocks, how to design an interiors, but they don't teach you the soft skills, right? So now your services as a coach based in Munich, what type of festival services are you offering? And then who are you working with in terms of the clients and the type of companies that you find are attracted to your proposition, to your work
00:08:28
Speaker
At the moment I'm training teams within one or two day workshops how a healthy life would look like for them and I coach one to one people to find a better life balance. So the company is now realizing that the mental health is decreasing. In Germany already 20% of the people have mental issues in the same year. So I think this is
00:08:59
Speaker
Yeah, very bad conditions. So they start doing some workshops too for mental health as well, but yeah, far too less at the moment.
Post-COVID Mental Health Awareness
00:09:12
Speaker
And do you see that as having changed greatly from the pre-COVID times, everyone's talking a lot more openly now it seems about mental health at work. It was a far less common subject. Have you seen
00:09:29
Speaker
more interest after COVID or has there been a steady growth over the last few years? Is there a change in attitude within your clients now to how they think about mental health? Yes, now it's the moment where the mental health should be stigmatized and to offer some solutions for these issues.
Remote Work vs. Office Environment
00:09:50
Speaker
So many people struggled with post-COVID mental issues. We not only talk about real mental illnesses, but also mental health.
00:09:59
Speaker
everybody handled the COVID time differently. So there is the type of people who are introvert, for example, and actually like to stay at the safe home. And they are now struggling much more to get back to the office place and into the community. They are forced to get out of the comfort zone now. And it's quite hard for them. And there are the extrovert people, for example, who felt
00:10:28
Speaker
in a deep hole while staying at home and they are also not happy by now. So beside that there was also no higher stress level in history like at the moment. And the opportunity for company is now to integrate a new healthy and more flexible working flow. Most companies recognize that the online work works
00:10:52
Speaker
So a nice way now would be to stay with the tools which made the life easier and get back in the same time to the more social working way at the office place.
Home Office Critique
00:11:05
Speaker
So keeping the good stuff and combining it with the good old stuff actually. And it is always a question of balance. So many companies missed out unfortunately to find healthier rules for home office work.
00:11:22
Speaker
I always sees it at my time management workshops. The online meetings are planned from hour to hour and without any opportunity for a course. So you don't need to be a coach to recognize that this won't work in a long run. And also the working conditions are very far away from nature, human beings. So the human being is able to use his body and his mind so much more as he does at the moment.
00:11:51
Speaker
This makes me sad, actually. And this is part of my mission, to empower people to use the human being's strengths.
Meditation for Entrepreneurs
00:11:59
Speaker
And also, it is wrong to put these mental techniques like meditation, for example, in an esoterically corner. Many very successful people like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and so many more are meditating and having their morning routines. Yeah? And it is time now for open app
00:12:21
Speaker
to these manual strings and to integrate this in the daily lives. And the company could offer the place and the possibility to go for this, for their previous, for example. Well, that neatly opens the door to my next question about the project that we've been collaborating on over the last few months.
The 'Mental Gym' Concept
00:12:41
Speaker
The idea of you setting up your own studio, whether that be a temporary pop-up space within
00:12:47
Speaker
an office building in Munich where you live, or perhaps taking on your own studio space and realizing that vision that you have. So tell us a little bit about that. You're really pitching and aiming for, in a sense, answer that question around how you can be healthier at work and what type of techniques and practices are most beneficial. What I found interesting when we first started speaking was from the beginning,
00:13:17
Speaker
you were very clear that this was not a gym in the typical sense. And I designed a lot of gyms, so it's easy. Okay, well, it's just another one of those, but you were very clear in your description and your brief saying, look, Matt, this is more of a mental gym. This is about mental and physical wellness, and we need a space that can
00:13:41
Speaker
represent that, that vision of well-being both in the mind, the body and the soul to some
Pop-Up Studio for Wellness
00:13:50
Speaker
extent. So let's talk a bit about this concept that you have for the studio. How will that work? What will it look like? What will you offer there? Yes, I was thinking about a possibility which really empower people mentally and physically in their daily lives. Yes, this is very important that it's
00:14:10
Speaker
helps in the daily lives, because this is most of all the hurdle of it. Obviously just subsidizing a fitness studio membership is not enough. So there are body and mental techniques which should be learned in the first place, but often the integration in the business calendar is a difficulty. So I planned this pop-up place with you, where the employees can learn
00:14:37
Speaker
integrate and practice the mental and physical tools at work. Yes, they don't need to go somewhere else, they can do it at work. It is more effective to do these exercises three or four times a week, just for 20 minutes, than training once in a gym for two hours per week. This pop-up allows the employees to choose, rather they need some stretching or some
00:15:06
Speaker
past years training or 20 minutes meditation as well. They will find them intensive support from my team. We offer morning and lunch routines, one to one coaching to solve psychological concerns and group sessions to get the background knowledge for all these things. So over the time of three or four months, the employees will be able to stay in a healthy routine and to handle mental stress by
00:15:36
Speaker
Well, this will lead to more healthy and happy careers. We hope they had improved the body feeling and the intuition. They know about mental tools and maybe increased their self-confidence within the coaching support, for example. And of course, if the company wants to keep this pop-up place or parts from it, this won't be
Rethinking Gym Memberships
00:16:00
Speaker
a problem. The pop-up is composed of natural materials.
00:16:06
Speaker
And the most discreet and athletic way, I think, yes, we made a good job. I think I've seen from based on your description there, the part that really interested me is that gap between what is often a very easy task for a company, for a business to do, which is well, we're going to provide access for our staff to a local gym.
00:16:36
Speaker
And they tick the box. I've recommended it. It's an easy option. It gets you the credits that you need in your healthy building, healthy workplace certification scheme. And yet, what's the issue with that?
00:16:56
Speaker
You don't really know who's using it. You don't know how many times they're going. And the probability is that it's not going to really change anyone's life or make a positive impact because people who like or know or understand the benefits of exercise are probably already doing it. The challenge is that sometimes dedicating a space within an office can also be a big step for a business. And I see a lot of
00:17:22
Speaker
You know, they say, well, okay, how much space do we need? How much budget does it cost? And they don't really see the benefits. And I think that is maybe the strongest point in your pitch and the proposition that you just made. The idea of it being specifically about not just getting people to exercise more, because it's quite a journey from, well, your staff will be healthier and more fit, and therefore they'll be more productive. Yeah.
00:17:50
Speaker
We hope, we hope so.
Workplace-Specific Wellness Solutions
00:17:52
Speaker
But I don't know, if someone's running an hour extra a week, are they going to be more productive and that much happier at work? Sure. To some extent, maybe not so much. Maybe not so much. But the idea of creating something specifically for the office environment, rather than just saying, well, gyms or fitness exercise in general,
00:18:20
Speaker
and you have a solution. The idea that actually maybe we need to think a bit harder and tailor, create something specifically for office workers, I think is really key. And that's really where you're going with this. So why don't we go one level deeper then? I was interested in the type of, you've mentioned the various mental techniques, the idea of meditation, mental tools, et cetera. So what about the physical training practice that you would recommend for your office workers?
00:18:49
Speaker
specific types of training that could be in there such as I guess mobility or more like neuromuscular activities where we see reaction times and having to use the brain. Do you see those as being better adapted for someone in a work environment than 30 minutes of boxing or 30 minutes of weight training, for example? That's maybe where your specialism lies, right? Between how we can
00:19:20
Speaker
help people in the office to perform better mentally through some kind of physical practice. So how do you see that connection? The connection is actually most of many people go for training just because it is, yes, in their daily plan to put this thing done. I did my sports today, but often it is even more stressful for the body if you go for a run 10 kilometers.
00:19:49
Speaker
after a stressful job at the office.
Intuitive Movement and Body Needs
00:19:53
Speaker
And in this moment it would be easier to stay at home and to recover. And actually everyone is able to feel what the body needs, but we lost this. We lost the mind, the feeling of the body intuition, and that is what I want to bring back to the people, and then they know the most
00:20:18
Speaker
the best way what they actually need for this moment. So I think it doesn't have to be very complicated with the training stuff, yes? The human being is made for trod 20 kilometers a day and to lift and carry things. So the most important thing is to integrate more movement in the first place into the daily lifestyle, all kind of movement. To bike, to work, to take the stairs,
00:20:47
Speaker
to work at a standing desk or so on or doing more movement breaks. And after that, the next important training I recommend is the functional whole body workout. Just with the body weight or with some holds and some little weights, it trains the whole body together and it is easy to integrate some mobility and balance exercises. I'm not a fan of
00:21:15
Speaker
training each muscle separate at a machine like most of the fitness studios offers. These movements are not very natural and they miss out to train the interplay of our muscles. Also, explosive strength training should be not ignored. This is what you need when you don't want to fall at a higher age. No one trains that at the moment. So the office working people all have in common that they often have a stiff neck
00:21:45
Speaker
or they also have very often low back pain because the abs are not strong enough. So they need core training and mobility training. And for example, petable training would be an easy way for that. We're talking ultimately about typically like 10 to 15% of the population who actually
00:22:10
Speaker
You use a gym, right? I think Germany is one of the highest in Europe in terms of gym membership. Yeah. Germany and Scandinavia do pretty well on that. I think the UK is like fifth or sixth, something like that. So not everyone's going to be interested in this. I think, or in fitness, right? But I think by adapting it a little bit and making it more accessible, because these classes you're describing are not so much about how fit you are.
00:22:41
Speaker
at the same time, but you're not offering the usual promises of you will lose weight or you will lose your belly fat or lose your weight around your waist. You're not talking, you haven't mentioned that once. So you're thinking more about mental performance and feeling good. Is it primarily about feeling that you own your life and your body and you're in good shape?
00:23:10
Speaker
Yeah, feeling good and feeling what you actually need, that your intuition is able to tell you what you need. And even if you need more movement or what you need at lunchtime for energy. So these are all points where it's good to know what your body needs.
00:23:34
Speaker
And everybody can actually close their eyes and ask the body, hey, what do you need by now? What do you need? What should I eat? What would be the best food in this moment? And yeah, we should go for that.
Listening to Body Needs
00:23:51
Speaker
That question that you just asked, I guarantee you is not part of the internal dialogue for many people. And I think that's a real benefit that you can help, that you can provide is
00:24:04
Speaker
answering that question for workers who perhaps don't necessarily see the connection between a lack of movement and exercise in their life or a particular food that they eat at lunchtime and then the lack of energy in the afternoon, for example. You know, there are often some simple things, drinking caffeine to keep the energy levels high, but sleep quality is low and there's no exercise and the diet's maybe not where it needs to be. So I think
00:24:31
Speaker
by taking a more 360 degree approach as you do, then you can really make maybe more progress, more of an impact than just suggesting to start exercising 30 minutes a day, five times a week or whatever. I think that's the opportunity. We are so much more able to handle our lives actually more healthier than we do at the moment.
00:25:01
Speaker
that we do just with the fitness membership as well.
Future of Workplace Wellness
00:25:05
Speaker
I think this space that we've been talking about today is really the future of fitness at work. I think it's a very different concept. I think it needs to go in this direction away from just standard gym training. And I think what you're describing is where
00:25:24
Speaker
the future lies for wellness at work and
Where to Learn More
00:25:27
Speaker
in the workplace. So, if people want to read more about what you're doing, what's the best way for them to contact you? Do you use LinkedIn, social media? What's your preference? Yes, they can find me on LinkedIn and they can see everything about this pop-up also on my webpage. It is gontkean.com
00:25:49
Speaker
Very good. We'll add the links to the show notes for the episode. Thank you so much for your time. That was really helpful. Thank you. Thank you.