Off Air and On Track with Joy McClymont
Joy’s passion for action comes from her upbringing and her desire for variety in life. IMAGE CREDIT: Joy McClymont
Do you ever wake up and think, “how much could I possibly fit in to today?”
We reckon Joy McClymont doesn’t do it consciously, but when you hear what she gets up to, you might wonder if she’s got more hours in a day than some.
On the Friday we caught Joy for a chat, she had already been out with her husband Pauly doing some jobs on their property near Longreach, QLD, she’d taken her kids and dogs out for a run, organised breaky, and set up the School of the Air virtual classroom for the kids.
She told us that after our conversation was over, she was going to help Pauly with the sheep, teach PE to School of the Air students, write some programs for her Off The Track Training clients, make time for a hills session (more running), before sitting down to mutton fritters cooked by Pauly.
How does she stay across it all?
“Well, you don’t really. And I think there’s a lot of people doing exactly what I’m doing, if not more, and I think you just take it one step at a time and go ‘okay, what can I tick off now? What can I do next?’ I could never sit down and plan my day from go to whoa… a lot of the stuff I do, I do because it’s the right time to do it.”
Joy, her husband, Paul, and two of her children getting their daily movement in back in the day. IMAGE CREDIT: Joy McClymont
Joy grew up in Goondiwindi.
“I just grew up in the most simple, non-flash, working class, bottom of the rung farming - but great environment and family.”
Her dad was her active influence growing up, and arguably he still is.
“My dad’s very sporty, always been very good at boxing, basketball, running, tennis - he could put his hand in anything. He had a vigilant exercise routine that he did every day, even now.”
Her town was also hugely influential on her relationship with being active.
“Goondiwindi is always and has always been a pretty sporty town. We didn’t have the flashest of sports, but we had just enough, and if you were involved in sport, it was almost like your social currency. Like it is in small towns. Sport is what keeps it alive, and Goondiwindi was exactly the same.”
She tried all sorts of sports - basketball, netball, athletics - but when her asthma started to have a bigger impact, Joy took up swimming. She wasn’t the strongest swimmer to start with, and she had coaches who bet against her in races, but those early days in the pool not only taught her resilience, but an idea of the kind of coach/teacher she didn’t want to be.
After school, she went to university to study teaching.
Before we had Zoom, Joy would coach Off the Track Training via conference call. IMAGE CREDIT: Joy McClymont
“I did teaching, I didn't do ag as such, however, it's so weird because you sort of get pulled in different directions. So I worked on a lot of farms overseas when I was travelling. I ended up teaching in lots of rural communities and working on people's places, cattle places, cattle stations and things like that… I did learn a lot, it does pay to work for lots of different people to see how different people do it.”
Today, she’s a teacher, a farmer, a mum and a personal trainer. Her business, Off the Track Training, has been going for over 10 years and is currently training 50 people, with 200 people part of Joy’s Fitness Hub.
“When I started Off the Track Training, I did it because I felt so lonely when it came to fitness. I felt like I was the only one in rural Australia trying to run or doing anything. It's not the case, there would have been plenty but I just didn't have [that].”
Joy is a passionate advocate for physical wellbeing and its impact on mental health - something she sees as especially crucial for people who spend a lot of time caring for properties.
“Remember, there is always a better way to feel. So if you feel like you're really struggling with energy, sleep, mental clarity, mood, emotions, whatever it might be… and you want to just have something for yourself that's within your control, exercise really fills that gap. So it will influence how you operate now and into the future. It's like making small deposits in your bank account, every workout counts, every good meal counts. Looking after your body, you've only really got one place to live and it's not your property, it's your body. So you have to take care of it.”
Joy and her kids out on a morning run. IMAGE CREDIT: Joy McClymont