Dr Rachelle Reed of Orangetheory Fitness: 5 Lifestyle Tweaks That Can Dramatically Improve Your Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Make Time for your Family: As someone who is very much career-focused in this stage of life, it’s extra important to prioritize making time for my family. Work and life can change quickly, but family is always there. No matter how busy it can be, making time for family re-energizes me and reminds me of my ‘why.’
As a part of my series about “5 Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Rachelle Reed, Senior Director of Health Science and Research for Orangetheory Fitness.
Dr. Rachelle Reed has a BS, MS and PhD in Exercise Physiology and brings forth expertise in body composition, metabolism, physical activity measurement and behavior change, along with 12 years of group coaching experience. She translates research about physical activity and behavior change into practice, bridging the gap between academia and the fitness industry to create science backed Orangetheory workouts to maximize fitness results.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share a story about how you first got involved in fitness and wellness?
Fitness, heath and wellness were always a passion of mine early on. I grew up in a large Italian family, where both academics and athletics were highly valued. Throughout middle and high school, I was involved in competitive cheerleading. It follwed me through college as I went on to cheer for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for the basketball and football teams. I’ve always been interested in exercise and how training and staying active can make a big impact on your performance and quality of life. When I found out that you could major in Exercise and Sports Science, it was a no brainer to pursue it.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
I had been with Orangetheory for only 4 months when the world came to a standstill due to COVID-19. The pandemic brought on many challenges to most industries and individuals, however, through adversity comes many silver linings. It was a Thursday morning when we realized most of our studios would need to shutdown to keep staff and members safe. Our leadership team tasked my team with a new project — develop a new OnDemand fitness product over the weekend. We rose to the occasion and developed our Orangetheory At Home series, practically overnight, which helped members stay physically active throughout an insanely challenging year. Looking back, I feel very proud of what we accomplished during that time and how we were able to provide a crucial service to our members when they needed it most.
Can you share with our readers a bit about why you are an authority in the fitness and wellness field? In your opinion, what is your unique contribution to the world of wellness?
I believe combined experience in academic training, university teaching, coaching, and overall industry knowledge sets me apart from many others in the fitness and wellness space. I’m a highly trained scientist who also understands what it’s like to coach group exercise classes and have tough conversations with members to help them change their daily behaviors for their overall health and wellbeing. There is typically a gap between the amazing work academic scientists are working on and publishing, and the fitness industry. I see myself as having the ability to bridge that gap, bringing more science to consumers in a digestible way. Science communication, combined with conviction and credibility, may just be my secret weapon!
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I am so thankful for the many people and experiences that have shaped me along my career journey, both personally and professionally. From a personal perspective, I have to point back to my mom. She has modeled what it looks like to be a strong female, both in work and in life. From a young age, she taught me to use my voice, speak up when others won’t and believe in my convictions. I’m so thankful for it as it’s something that’s shaped me into the woman I am today, especially working in a male-dominated field. From a professional perspective, I’m so gratefeul for one of my very best friends and graduate school colleagues, Dr. Christie Ward-Ritacco. She has been my biggest supporter and confidante throughout my career. We spent a lot of time administering graded exercise tests and body composition analyses during graduate school and we now regulary text each other about our careers and motherhood. Everyone deserves a friend and colleague like Dr. Christie Ward-Ritacco.
Thanks for sharing those details! To now focus on health and wellness, we all know that it’s important to eat more vegetables, eat less sugar, exercise more, and get better sleep etc. But while we know it intellectually, it is often difficult to put it into practice and make it a part of our daily habits. In your opinion what are the 3 main blockages that prevent us from taking the information that we all know, and integrating it into our lives?
You’re absolutely correct. For many people, getting started with behavior change is difficult. In fact, behavior change researchers and practitioners use theoretical models to explain and understand how difficult it can be for humans to change their behaviors. The Transtheoretical Model, commonly known as the Stages of Changs, proposes that people move through stages of behavior change including precontemplation (not really thinking about changing behaviors), contemplation, preparation, action and eventually maintenance of the desired behavior.
Orangetheory Fitness recently conducted a national survey and found that almost 70% of Americans reported their fitness behaviors took a hit during the pandemic, despite their best intentions. We heard loud and clear through the survey data that 41% were also dissatisfied with their current routines and also lacked the motivation (43%) to improve or change those behaviors. When it comes to physical activity, research suggests that the most common barriers to regular participation include lack of time, motivation, access to equipment and/or a safe place to be physically active and social support and accountability.
Can you share your “5 Non-Intuitive Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing”? (Please share a story or an example for each, and feel free to share ideas for mental, emotional and physical health.)
- Incorporate Short Bouts of Physical Activity:
Recent research suggests that any amount of physical activity is better than none. Even small bouts of physical activity (5–10 minutes) is associated with health benefits.
2. Implement Walking Meetings at Work:
I encourage my teams to step away from their desks when possible and take meetings while walking. Whether that’s in person or virtually, this is a way to keep your body moving throughout the day while brainstorming or working simultaneously. My goal is to have at least 1 walking meeting a week to mix things up and help promote opportunities for physical activity throughout the day. It’s fun, too!
3. Schedule your Workouts in as Meetings with Yourself:
Planning ahead is ideal for many people when it comes to improving their exercise behaviors. Each Sunday, I sit down with my old fashioned paper planner and schedule in 2–3 workouts as meetings with myself. That way, I’m making the commitment to stay active during the week, which minimizes my chances of ‘something coming up’ to distract myself from my fitness goals.
4. Make Time for your Family:
As someone who is very much career-focused in this stage of life, it’s extra important to prioritize making time for my family. Work and life can change quickly, but family is always there. No matter how busy it can be, making time for family re-energizes me and reminds me of my ‘why.’
5. Make sure you Have a Hobby Outside of Work:
I learned this the hard way during graduate school. In a field that celebrates high achievers and deliverables, it can be hard to make time for hobbies when work goals are piled high. However, keeping up with hobbies — reading, exercise, listening to my favorite true crime podcast, etc. — allows my brain to rest from work and enjoy the simpler things in life.
As an expert, this might be obvious to you, but I think it would be instructive to articulate it. Aside from weight loss, what are some benefits of daily exercise? Can you explain?
The benefits of a physically active lifestyle are vast. Regular physical activity done at moderate intensity or higher is linked to massive health benefits and protection from several chronic conditions. We like to steer our members away from focusing on weight loss or weight alone (or caloric expenditure), as it really sells the health benefits of exercise short. Yes, it is possible to lose weight from exercise, but most research suggests weight loss primarily stems from dietary changes. One benefit of exercise during weight loss is to help you maintain lean mass. Exercise, however, is integral to weight management.
For someone who is looking to add exercise to their daily routine, which 3 exercises would you recommend that are critical?
I’d like to take this question in a slightly different direction, as there aren’t 3 specific exercises I recommend that are critical. I’d like to instead walk you through what the evidence shows about exercise and its primary components — aerobic and resistance training. First of all, major kudos to anyone looking to add exercise into their daily routine! The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends that all adults participate in a minimum dose of weekly activity including least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic physical activity weekly, plus 2–3 days of resistance training on all major muscle groups weekly. Meeting this criteria of physical activity is associated with a slew of acute and chronic health benefits, including lower risk of cardiovascular disease, hypertension and type 2 diabetes to name a few.
It’s important to also keep in mind that any dose, even 5–10-minute walks, counts towards your weekly total. If you are new to exercise, I recommend starting ‘low and slow,’ selecting bouts of physical activity that work with your lifestyle and allow you to gradually progress in frequency and duration of your workouts.
You are a person of influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Thank you and I want to begin by saying that I don’t take my responsibility and influence lightly. I hope to start a movement about movement itself. I would love to continue positivey influencing more people to incorporate physical activity into their lifestyles, much like I’m able to do in my current role at Orangetheory Fitness. Our recent national survey found that 101 million Americans are unsatisfied with their current activity levels, further amplyfying the importance of incorporatng movement and physical activity into our routine. However, encouraging people to move and be active will take more than just one person to accomplish that. It requires change from every level — from individual behaviors, family units, communities to government and policy. We have a long way to go, but I am committed to making the largest difference I can.
What is your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?
I’m a country music fan and Tim McGraw’s song ‘Humble and Kind’ chokes me up when I listen to it. One part of the song goes, “when you get where you’re going, turn back around. Help the next one in line, always stay humble and kind.” I try to live by these words everyday — help and educate those making their way and always stay humble and kind. When I first heard the lyrics, it reminded me of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill men’s basketball team. Anytime a player scored during a game, the entire team and supporting students would point to the player who assisted with the shot. Think about that. If we encouraged and uplifted those around us more often, it would have a profound impact.
What is the best way our readers can follow you online?
Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, or Twitter! I’d love to connect and talk all things science with you.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
Dr Rachelle Reed of Orangetheory Fitness: 5 Lifestyle Tweaks That Can Dramatically Improve Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.