You know, you get one body and only you can take care of it, only you. People can help you. People can influence you, only you can actually do it. And so I think it's similar to budgeting money. If you want your retirement to look like x, then you've got to make some decisions and plan along the way, right? If you want your body, your health, your enjoyment, to look like X, you better start making some plans.
Hello and welcome to another episode of uplift for her. We have a guest with us named Angela Sudbury. Angela is a personal trainer and owns a gym called alloy personal training and holiday and we are going to have a really helpful conversation for women today. So thank you for joining us.
You're welcome, happy to be here.
Tell us first, to start with you have sort of an unconventional path that you've taken to get to this point. Will you tell us about yourself and how you ended up as a personal trainer? Yeah,
you bet. I live in Cottonwood Heights with my husband. We have three young adult children. I spent most of my career in the corporate technology world and so very fulfilling, productive career, but I've always been interested in health and fitness, and as I've gotten older, it's been a yearning for of mine to really understand what it takes to take care of ourselves and to help others take care of ourselves. Part of it was through just my own interest. Part of it was through some health issues we had in our family, some chronic issues, and so kind of in the back of my mind, I thought, well, I'm 54 now, and I thought, well, how many working years do I have left? And for however many of those working years, what do I really want to be doing? What I really wanted to be doing was helping people, especially women, improve their health. So I did a little research, found alloy personal training, a franchise based in Atlanta, got on the phone with the CEO, and just like literally on a Sunday, I said, I'm interested. He called me. We hit it off. We talked for probably two hours, and we both were of the same mind when it came to improving your health, and there's a number of facets to it that truly changes people's lives. I decided that's exactly what I wanted to do, and so that's where we've made the decision to go on. And it just was exactly in alignment with where I was and made sense to go forward.
I love that, and I love that. It comes from a place of a passion project, you know, really wanting this to be the change that you wanted for yourself, and wanted to offer to other people tell us how alloy is different because it's a little bit of a different type of model from a regular gym. You're
exactly right. And that's what I said when I started my search. I was pretty particular about what I was looking for. And so when people think of going to the gym, so many things come to mind, right? You're thinking of a massive space and tons of equipment and loud music and crop tops and mirrors and the whole deal, right? Yeah, I knew that was, was, was what I didn't want. I was very clear about what it wasn't didn't wanted. And so, yeah, with alloy. So it's personal training, and sometimes people can't quite understand the concept, but it's small group personal training. And so it's not a class, it's not an open gym. It's very much appointment based personalized training, but we will train, and we train in small groups, so up to six people at the same time. It's a small space, locally owned, very community based. So what I do is, when people reach out and say, you know, I'm interested in learning more. Often people are timid. Often people are like, Oh, I shouldn't have submitted my information. Like, am I really ready to do this? Right? And so when I have a conversation, it's very much like, where are you starting from? What have you done in the past? What are you looking for? And this is all just kind of on the phone, just a quick conversation. I'm not selling, I'm not trying to, like, oh yeah, this is the best thing ever. I just really want to understand where a person's coming from. So we talk on the phone, and we, you know, more often than not, people are like, You know what? I at least want to come see your space and see how I feel about it. I very much encourage it. Just come in, like, see people working out, and as soon as people come in, they're like, oh, wait, these are people like me. Yes, like we're we're all just trying to take care of ourselves. We're all trying to figure this out, right, and do the best we can with our bodies. So the way that we offer personalized training in a small setting is I do an introductory session and an assessment, super important. A lot of gems. Don't do that, right? You sign up for a class, you come in, you follow the instructor, you do your thing, you leave. And I think that works for a lot of people, and quite honestly, I think it works for a lot of younger people. You know, you're young, you're more confident, you kind of have your routine down. You're fine with this kind of busy environment. But most of my clients are not comfortable with that. So when they come in to do the assessment, I walk them through what the people are doing in the gym. And we have every body type and age and, you know, and people are just so happy, uncomfortable and doing their thing. And we have, you know, music that makes sense for the people who are working out. And we have a trainer who demonstrates every exercise. They're tailoring the exercise for the person who's working out. Or. Modifying for injuries. And so all of that comes from the assessment that I do initially, where I write a very in depth profile for my trainers about kind of where they're starting from and what their bodies need at this point. Then also we look at our goals, we talk about injuries and limitations. We do a body composition analysis, which is so helpful as a starting point for the conversation, because the majority of my clients are like, Oh, I just need to lose weight. I need to lose 40 pounds. And that seems so overwhelming, right? Like, where do I start? What does that entail? And I love to do a thorough body composition analysis, because getting healthier is around changing your body composition. It's data. It's not like, oh, I weigh this, and I'd love to weigh this. It's like, well, this is what your body composition analysis shows me, of your total weight, how much water you have, how much muscle mass you have, how much body fat you have, and of that body fat, how much of it is visceral fat. Visceral fat, as you know, it's not subcutaneous fat. It's fat around our organs. Its true impact is a direct correlation to our health and our longevity, quality of life. And so when I do this body scan, we get this data, this print, out of data, you know, and I'm very deliberate about there's no judgment at all. This is, this is where your body is now, and we can improve this. And so we do the body composition analysis. We look at, are you in healthy ranges for your muscle mass? Are you in healthy ranges for your body fat? Of your body fat, how much is visceral? How close are you to being in a healthy range or not? What do we need to focus on? And so it's just such a good catalyst for let's take a step back, step back, and not be so overwhelmed with how much do I weigh and how much should I weigh? But like, given the body I have, where am I at and where should we focus?
It's so nice to hear about about you and to hear where you're coming from in this gym and as a trainer of this perspective, because I do think people have a lot of some misconceptions, but also some true perceptions of what it's like to work with a trainer. And so I love that we're starting from this place of you know, there are ways to work on your fitness and ways to work on your your strength and your training without there having to be these big barriers of intimidation or overwhelm or, you know, feeling bad about yourself because everyone in the gym is wearing, you know, sports bras and tiny shorts. If, if you're the type who's wearing sports bra and tiny shorts, then, by all means, no one cares. But if you're the type who feels uncomfortable with that, then there doesn't have to be that barrier. There can be ways that you can still get started on your fitness journey without having to have those barriers in place.
Yeah, you're exactly right. And in Yes, I we train for exercise, we train for strength training, but I'm just a big proponent of health. Yeah, let's improve your health. And there are so many facets of health, especially women's health, and it changes continually, as you know, and there's mental health, there's physical side, there's the emotional side, but there are so many components to improving health that, in my experience, my opinion, directly relate to your quality of life. Yes, I mean, there's a true physical but there's so much wrapped into this like, especially for women, I have this body, and I'm not comfortable with it, and I'm not confident in it, and somehow we should all look the same, to be healthier, to be right, you know? And I just, I want to help so much with that, like, perspective of what health and why it matters. And let's focus on your quality of life. Let's focus on what things you aren't doing because you're uncomfortable with yourself. Let's focus on you quit skiing because you didn't feel like you had the stamina or the strength or the balance. Let's focus on you want to play with your grandkids on the floor, but you can't get off the floor, and so you're kind of, you know, you're making adjustments in your life. So I just, I'm super passionate. I'm not nutty about it, but I'm super passionate about, like, helping people improve their health so they're more comfortable in their skin and they could enjoy their life. Yeah,
I always love having a conversation that that is kind of taking away from the esthetic, a little bit that being said, there's nothing wrong if you want to your body to look a certain way. You know you want to look a certain way when in a swimsuit, or you want to not have a muffin top, or you want to not worry about your clothes grabbing into a roll here or there. Like, I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but for our focus, you know, I heard someone talking the other day, and they were talking about just the difference in natural body types. You know, a lot of times we see trainers, and they're they're sharing their methods that say this is what I did to to become this way. But how much of that is genetics, and how much of that is, you know, you got that body type because you were born that way, and then you did these things and it improved it. But I may never have exactly that same body type, and I just really enjoyed seeing the conversation switch a little bit away from, let's all look this certain way to let's be. Our strongest, healthiest selves. And what you mentioned about using metrics to go by is so valuable, where we can actually say, Look, I'm lifting more than I was before. Look, my my lean body mass is going up compared to where it was before. Look, my visceral fat is going down. And then along that when I'm seeing patients and I'm hearing them say, like, my rings fit better, like I'm not as puffy in the morning, and when I get out of bed, I don't have to, like, stretch and creak and be all stiff, like I can just get up and get going more quickly. I recently talked to a client of yours, actually, who who said, and she's not, she's she's not 40. You know she is. She's up in years. And she said, Oh, yeah, I was doing some work in my yard, and I just decided to do it myself. So she moved piles and piles and piles of rocks all by herself. And you know what? Because she could, because she has been working with you and working to get stronger. And you know, there's so many good things we can talk about there and that we're going to talk about there that are not the esthetic. So I don't may say the esthetic, like, look how you want to look. That's fine. But also, let's not forget the other part of the conversation, that's, let's function how you want to function. Let's keep functioning until you're 100 you know? So you can bend down and pick something off, up off the floor, and so you can get off the toilet by yourself, and you can move rocks. If you want to move rocks, you know that you can garden or maintain those habits that that bring you so much joy. So let's first start with what you described earlier as functional movement. Tell me what that means when you talk about functional movement, because a lot of times we think about strength training and going to the gym, and we just think lifting weights break it down for us. What is functional movement specifically? Yeah,
I'm glad you asked. I would oppose it to powerlifting, and I'm not saying powerlifting is not a good idea, but my my clients are generally 40 plus, and they are generally not going to a large gym and working out on their own. Some have done strength training in the past. Some haven't. Some have done yoga or different things in the past. Some haven't functional strength training is doing different movement patterns that behoove us in our everyday movements. And so there are certain things we do every day, we squat, we pick things up, we lift things overhead, we reach and grab something. And so functional strength training is full body strength training, and it's meant to make sure your body can do these movements in a way that you is efficient, that you don't injure yourself. And so there's a methodology behind it, where our workouts look different every day. So that's not mean to say every day we do. It's an exact squat, but you will see certain patterns, because that's what we need in our everyday life. For example, core training. You know, a lot of people think, oh, core is my abs, like, I need six pack abs to have a good core. Your core is your whole midsection, yeah, and twisting and bending, twisting, yes, right? Yeah, doing your thing, right, lifting, dog food and whatever kids. So the whole intention behind, I mean, you know, people like to be lean. We like to feel strong. But the, really, the, the main reason you want a strong core is to protect your spine. I mean, your your back health is so integral to everything else you can do in your life, that quality of life and so with functional strength training, with our training, we aren't doing setups and crunches and things that you would think as core training are very intentional about training all around your midsection, those deep core muscles, your low back, your your hips, your hamstrings, your glutes, because all of that contributes to a strong healthy core. And a strong healthy core means you can keep doing what you want to do without injury. Yeah,
man, it's so important. I think it's important. One of the questions that I get the most from my patients is, how do I age gracefully? How do I how do I make it through this life? You know? I think with our current age expectancy, there's no reason to think that many of us won't live to be in our 90s and even early one hundreds, you know. And so as as my age is in my 40s, you have women in their 40s, and then their 50s, there's a lot of life left. I mean, that's almost half of your life that's going to be spent in. What we're hearing about is all of these terrible things about menopause, how health goes down at menopause, and how we all feel like trash, and how, you know, we forget things and we can't do anything. And here is this amazing tool in strength training and building muscle that is so so powerful to help us age gracefully, to take the second half of our lives and to make sure that we're continuing to do the things that we want to do, which is important number one, because we don't want to lose function. If you lose a function as we age, what are the chances that you're going to just happen to get that function back? You're not, you're not so if you can't bend over and pick something up, you're not going to, like, magically be able to do that in the future. You're going to continue to lose function. But we don't have to. We. We can keep doing those functions and doing them safely by practicing them in a gym setting or or with weights, so that we can continue to have those functions. And what most of us want more than anything is to be able to keep functioning. You know, to be able to feel good and keep functioning. What are the other things with maintaining function and with doing strength training in general, we talked about functional training, which means mimicking our daily movements with weights and repetitive movements so we can stay strong and keep functioning. What is strength training and resistance training? Strength training
is putting resistance on your body in a very deliberate way, right? And so you're literally forcing muscle contraction in a very deliberate, controlled way. And so you're kind of, again, not only are you challenging that muscle but you're kind of practicing these movements right, very deliberately. And so when you ask about benefits of strength training, one of the things we immediately think about is building muscle mass. I have a lot of females who haven't done strength training in the past, and they're like, Well, I don't they're like, Well, I don't want to get bulky. I don't want to be you know, the and for a female to get bulky is takes incredible discipline and incredible focus, which just our our body may not going to accidentally become bulky. Yes, you're not. And so kind of leave that notion aside and think about all the benefits of having muscle mass and good, deliberate muscle mass, that works well for you. And so muscle mass, first and foremost, improves your metabolism. So when you have muscle is a very active tissue on your body, and you have to maintain it, as we know. And so when you have additional muscle mass on your frame, your body is inherently just more efficient, like your body's trying to maintain this active muscle and so your your base metabolism, or vasometabolic rate, improves just every single day. And but you have to maintain it right. It's it. You have to keep, very deliberately, keep that muscle mass on your frame, your you can move better. You can enjoy your activities with this additional muscle mass. But, you know, putting resistance on your frame also improves your bone density. So huge for that, huge top of mind for women, especially as we age right men as well, but definitely with women as you know, estrogen declines, our hormones change. We really need to challenge that. Rebuilding of our bones and strength training will do it. I think often just kind of a side note, when people think about bone density, bone health, there's a misconception that needs to be high impact, and there isn't. I mean, high impact doesn't necessarily serve us well. You can definitely by resistance training, by bullying your bone, your muscle mass, and challenging your bones, your tendons, your ligaments, you inherently put stress on your bones, and so what we do is low impact, and which agrees with most of us much better than anything high impact. There's also, there's a lot of science behind the chemicals that your muscles release when you contract a muscle, right? These brain proteins. I mean, so so much is beneficial as far as, like, very deliberately working those muscles and getting getting things moving in your body. So we were speaking a little bit earlier about dementia and the benefits of, you know, routine exercise. And there literally are chemicals that your muscles release that your brain benefits from. And I guess the last thing I would mention is improve circulation, so beneficial to our whole body, right? And I tell my clients, you know? I said, let's move that sludge like, if we just are, we sit and we're not active, like nothing is or things aren't regenerating. We're not moving that sludge around that's hiding in the nooks and crannies, like, let's just get that sludge movement in a very controlled, very deliberate, very safe, very comfortable way.
Yeah, gosh, such important things. I want to actually recap them again. So you mentioned improvements in brain health, and that is, that is evidence based. That is, there are more and more and more studies showing that the more strength training we do, the healthier brains will be from a from an early age on. So some of what we're talking about is in, you know, the the perimenopause and menopause and beyond population. But this is not just 40s and 50s. This is 20s and 30s and 40s and 50s and 80s and 90s. Of doing strength training is healthy for the brain, and that is, it's so important to know, because we can do this. You know, we can do this. There's so many things in life that are so difficult and inaccessible for people based on money. But like, you can lift heavy stuff, you can do a squat, you can do a push up. Like you can do a wall push up. You can start exactly where you are at this moment and and just get started doing that. And that decreases the onset of dementia. It curves dementia, and some studies are showing actually improvements in dementia, so huge for brain health. All accessible to us. All accessible, right? All accessible. Maybe we can't afford to all eat organic all the time, but like we can do this one. Um, you also mentioned. Bone Health and the importance of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis, I think we, we hear about it, but it's super common, and it it kills people. Um, hip fractures are one of the main ways that people die as they age, because they fall and they tip over, and that's because their bones aren't healthy, and so they tip over, and the bones just break so easily. So Osteoporosis is a really, really big deal, and doing the strength training prevents that. But it also, you mentioned earlier, the functionality. So the muscle is what allows us to keep functioning. You also mentioned, I think you mentioned metabolic health and insulin resistance and energy expenditure, that when we have more muscle on, we walk across the room and we we do more metabolically just because we're walking with more muscle. You know, every action that you do is better when you have that muscle on board. So there are huge benefits for strength training. One of the things I as a doctor, I am overly compassionate sometimes, and one of the ways that shows up is I want to be understanding of where people are starting. You know, when they say, Well, I know I need to exercise more, and it's easy for me, as a doctor, to be like, I totally get it. You're so busy. And I'm busy. I'm a working mom. I've got three little kids. Like, I get it. I will admit I have not had a regular exercise routine for the vast majority of my life. I've gone through periods of time where I did okay and then fell off, and then I did it again, that I fell off, and this is the first, probably three ish years that I've been somewhat more consistent, getting there, getting I've got some room for improvement, but I'm getting there where I'm getting that consistency. So I have a lot of compassion for people starting where they're starting, and yet there's too much good for us to downplay the importance of muscle building and of strength training, your health just will not be what it could be when you're doing strength training.
I'm going to give you the data, and I'm going to show you that you can totally do it, yeah, and it's going to make a difference in your life. Like you're going to be proud of yourself, your confidence is going to improve your health is going to improve your quality of life will improve. And it's not easy, but I will do everything I can to keep you going, because it will serve you well. There is no doubt
that's exactly right. It's and we can be compassionate and say, I understand that it's hard, and I'm going to keep reminding you and keep reminding you. And if you can do 10 minutes a week to start with, and that's amazing. And then if you can add on another 10 minutes, and that's amazing, and it doesn't the trajectory doesn't have to look the same for everyone, but we just can't downplay the importance that having some sort of regular strength training, I'll say fitness routine, but I really think especially strength training routine can have on especially women's health, we just have to keep talking about it, and we just have to keep trying, and we have to keep looking for ways to overcome those barriers and to be able to incorporate this into our lives.
Hey, there, listeners,
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beyond intimidation, beyond the like, Man, I know I need to do something, and I'm beating myself up in my head, but I'm not doing it. So it's like, you working mom. I had a very demanding corporate job for 30 years, and I have young adults now, and so life is feeling a little bit easier, aside from running a business. But I get it like I'm a woman. Women generally have a lot of responsibility at home, and if you work and you have a family and, you know, primary caregiver, I mean, even in the best of relationships, women, I think just we take on a lot, a lot of responsibility. A lot of women are generally outwardly focused, so we're constantly, like, making sure everybody's good. You know, in every environment, takes a lot of energy and a lot of time. We make a lot of decisions. I mean, I get it, I've been there, I'm still there, but i i Something. I go back to, as I've told my kids. Try to be very practical. I'm not saying it's all or nothing, and you have to be crazy and devoted, but if you truly want a better quality of life, a better outcome, you have to prioritize it. I've told my kids forever, and some of them do some of the things I suggest, and some of them don't, right now, but you know, you get one body and only you can take care of it only you. People can help you. People can influence you. Only you can actually do it. And so I think it's similar to budgeting money. If you want your retirement to look like x, then you've got to make some decisions and plan along the way, right? If you want your body, your health, your enjoyment, to look like X, you better start making some plans to make that happen.
Yeah, I want to go back to that you just said about telling your kids you know that you're the only person who gets to take care of your body. I think it's we can approach that from two different perspectives. One perspective is like, Oh, great. Another guilt trip, like, another guilt trip to tell me I'm not doing enough as a woman. Or, you know, I think that's going to be some people's response. And so I do want to address that, because I do have so much compassion, you know, for myself and for my patients who come in and they're struggling and they don't feel good, and we say, this is the, this is what's going to make you feel better. And they're like, I don't, I don't know if I can do that. So I understand if someone listening does have that perspective of, like, great, just what I needed to hear. But on the flip side of it, I think we can hear that from a perspective of empowerment, of saying, you get to do this, and you get to do it in your way and in the way that works for you, and you can, you can do it. I think going back again when we hear about these negative messages, like, I'm so glad the words about perimenopause and menopause is spreading, but also it just makes it sound like we're all doomed, right? And so going back to that messaging, like we're not doomed, there are things that we can do. And what I hope people take from this is the empowerment of as we start to understand truly what the winds are here, that idea of being a certain weight or being thin or being shaped a certain way, I always wanted it, but it was never enough to like make me do the hard things. What has made me do the hard things is really sitting down with women and seeing how they're struggling, and understanding the physiology and understanding the benefits, and saying and honestly, watching people in my life age and as I'm seeing them age, and see how uncomfortable it can be, and feeling like, hell no,
yeah. Like,
yeah, I'm not doing that. Like, I'm not getting to that point. I am going to take charge, and I am going to, I almost get emotional talking about it, because we can, you know, there's so much that we do that's so difficult, but this is what we can do, and this is what we should be doing. This is what we can do is get up for ourselves every day and say, I want different things out of my life.
I'm totally with you. The thing that saddens me is when this impacts women's self confidence, which is, exist, always does, and then they're not living this fulfilled life, because they're they're always judging themselves or holding back from things they want to do. I struggle with confidence issues. I was shy. I was never comfortable in my own I mean, it's, it's a lot of us are have these similar thoughts, and it makes me sad when that's how people judge themselves? Yeah, and so that's why I like to really focus on we don't all need to look the same. We need to take care of ourselves. Let's focus on health. Let's let's just start introducing some some good habits to how we live, and let's just start moving in that direction, because I think the negativity of not is so unhealthy and it weighs so heavy on females minds that even though it's hard, like, commit to doing yourself a favor just to get in a better headspace and to feel like you're empowered to take some steps, don't get overwhelmed by being perfect or losing 50 pounds, or, you know, Whatever. Just like, get stronger. Yes, get stronger. And like, get in the headspace where you're like, hey, I can do this for myself. Yeah,
let's talk about that headspace for a second, because that's been one of the biggest benefits for me that I've seen in my connection to moving my body, is it brings on a different sense of headspace and a different sense of thought patterns and confidence than than other things that we do in our lives. I think it's really one of the cool things about strength training and moving our bodies is that it is so powerful, right? You can't do body movement really without power. I mean, I don't think, right? And one of the things that I've seen is as you're going through these times when you're like, gosh, this weight is getting heavy, and my muscles are shaking, like, I don't know if I can keep going, but my trainer's telling me to go, or the guy on the, you know, the peloton app, or whatever, the the guy on the screen is telling me to do two more reps, and I don't know if I can. And there is this sort of other voice that comes up that's like, Yes, I can tell me what your experience. Has been with that in in your clients and and in that idea of strength training, and how it, how it hits our brain differently, yeah,
yeah. I'm glad you asked. So I want to just step back a little bit and talk about strength training. So strength training is not always heavy weights, right? It's, it's really, getting really efficient movement down in our bodies, and then it's challenging. Keep continuing to challenge our body. So again, it's we don't power lift, and I'm not saying you shouldn't, but we don't, we don't Power Lift. It doesn't behoove our clients, as well as functional strength training. And so we start out with some body weight exercises. We use resistance bands, we use stability balls, we use different things to challenge our body in these very deliberate movement patterns. And so I just want to dispel like we're not maximizing our bench press. And so that's the purpose of the assessment. Is I want to see where, where your body needs us to start, and we're going to start there. And so that, like lifting heavy has a kind of an intimidating ring to it. You feel like you're
not ready to lift. What lift heavy? It doesn't mean you're not ready to matter. Yeah, yeah. We're
going to meet you where you are, and it will still do your your body a good job. So, I mean, good for your body. So and often, as opposed to lifting heavy, we work range of motion like I want to see that your knees work well, that your hips work well, that your shoulders work well, and then we'll add some weight. So I kind of got off track a little bit, but I just kind of want to dispel that. Yeah, idea of what strength training is, yeah, getting started is the hardest part, right? Getting your head around. I think I'm ready to do something to improve my health. That's the huge, huge, huge first step. And then when somebody reaches out to me on one of my ads or calls, or, you know, calls from a friend's referral, another just ginormous step right? Like, I think I need to do this super intimidated. Don't know what it looks like, not ready to commit. So I think those are just the mindset things. Once you like, I said, I keep going back to this. Like, hey, I want to, I want to improve my health. Let's just talk about improving health. Once people come in, they see how we work, they see who our clients are, how we're going to meet you, where you are. It's so awesome. People come in, like, peeking around the corner, like, don't know if I even should have showed up for this. I meet with them. We talk through it, we look at data. We have I have them do some practice movements. They leave like, I'm so excited to get started. Nothing better for me than like people are like, I could do this. I got this. And so similarly, when you're in the middle of a workout, so once people get going, first couple of workouts always intimidating. But we have such a my trainers are as compassionate as I am about just helping people feel healthy, get healthier. We have such a great community. Everybody is cheers each other on, and you and I may be working out by each other. And something works better for your body, then it works better for mine. And so my trainers are going to adapt it. But I'm not like, Oh, hey. Why are you doing that? You know? I'm like, Hey. I can tell this is what my body needs, and I can tell that my shoulder doesn't want to do what your shoulder is doing. So my trainer is going to change it. And so I think there's more of a once you start working out. I think the continuing to challenge yourself is just feels good, and it comes naturally. And that doesn't mean like doing super heavy, crazy things. I think the barriers the mental is more the getting started and committing to improving your health. Yeah,
I love that. I love, that you're talking about personalizing it, and that it's not about keeping up with the person next to you. It's saying, How do I specifically get stronger? And that does actually go back to my question, because I think that it's just one of the perks about doing exercise regularly, is that reinforcement of I can show up for myself. I can continue to better myself. I think in other aspects of our life, we can still get that. We can still get that feeling of like I set a goal and I reached a goal, I created a project for myself, and I completed the project, and I feel that sense of accomplishment. But there aren't a lot of ways that we do that every day. And I think in exercise, we get to do that every day. We get to say, you know, I showed up for myself today, and I did something hard. I hit, yes, I hit resistance, and I pushed through it, and understanding, why am I doing this? You know, we've all had those feelings when we're exercising to say, like, why am I doing this? Like, why did I come out on this hike? Like, why didn't I say at home? And yet, once you get through it, and you get to the top of the hike, and you feel like, oh, so glad this was worth it. And I've had hikes, speaking of which, before, where you get to the top and you're like, there's no view, like we did this hike, and there's no view, but you're still like, but this was really beautiful, and I'm really glad I can feel my body movement moving, and I can feel myself show up, and I can feel myself getting stronger. And that for me, is such a fun thing to find that connection to my brain and hear my brain kind of cheering me on and understanding really getting deep. I guess I'm kind of a deep thinker, so maybe this is just me, but you feel it go deeper, and you say, like, I. I'm not going to get in my way anymore, or I'm not going to quit this time, like I've quit other times, and I'm not going to, like, I'm going to finish this set, or I'm going to finish this these reps, and I'm going to show up even though I'm tired and even though I, you know, don't look how I want to look, or I don't have the workout clothes that are going to make me feel cute, and, you know, whatever, like, I show up, because that's who I am, and the more that we get into that fitness routine, I just find that self affirmation to be so hugely powerful for us, probably especially as women, I'm sure, for men too, but especially as women where maybe we do feel like I'm not strong enough, or I don't show up. I'm not saying we should feel that way as women. We should feel strong, we should feel powerful. And what better way to remind our brains of that than actually being strong and powerful and saying no more. I'm not going to not show up for myself. I'm not going to quit, I'm not going to give up. I show up. I am strong. I am powerful.
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And like I said, I, in my opinion, females are generally more outwardly focused. And so we could think of a million reasons why we don't have time and we should be taking care of everybody else and everything, yes, and they're legitimate, yeah, right. Things are competing for our time. So you talk about, you know, being glad you showed up, being glad you did the hike. So there is absolute truth in feeling proud of ourselves. And like, Yeah, I did it. And you know, my clients will say, clients will say the hardest part is getting here, but I'm always glad I did. But there's also true, there's there's evidence, there's science behind the chemicals that our body releases that really does help our mental and emotional health. Absolutely, it's huge, huge. Yeah, and there's one other thing I wanted to mention, the thing that really resonated with me as well when I was looking at what I wanted this space to be, this experience to be for my clients is the accountability side is painful and so helpful at the same time. So just like a one on one personal training, we all of our workouts are appointment based. And so my clients will generally say, you know, they want to work out three times a week or two times a week. Those are most common. And I'll, you know, we'll talk about their schedule, and they'll, I'll say which three days or two days and times most often work well for you. And it can be two mornings and a evening. It can be a lunch time and a this, whatever. And I literally pre book all of their workouts, so they I only have six spots an hour, so I will reserve their spots. And then, of course, life happens, and of course we need to move them. But that accountability piece is so often why people come to us. It's the you have a great space. I'm not intimidated. I feel good about it. I can do this. And then secondly, you're going to hold me accountable. And it's painful for people. I mean, it's painful for all of us to know, like, Oh, I could use that hour for something else, yeah, but it's absolutely beneficial in some congrats, yes. And so, you know, people will move their appointments, but my trainers, they know, like, Oh, hey, I almost blew you off, but I know your trainers are totally waiting for me, and so is the rest of my group, you know, or somebody missed, and they're like, hey, where you been? You know, you're supposed to be here Tuesday, you know? So it's, it's so it's so beneficial. Ability
is so good, yeah, well, so let's switch gears a little bit. One of the questions that I get from women all the time is I keep hearing about this protein thing. Like, you know, they tell me that I'm supposed to be lifting heavy weights and then I'm supposed to eat a million grams of protein a day. What are your thoughts on those higher amounts of protein from a nutrition standpoint that we're hearing about more and more for women, especially in perimenopause and menopause? Yeah.
So protein is important. I mean, we have three basic macronutrients. Protein is one of them. Has a very specific purpose in our bodies to build and repair right? To build and repair cells. Carbohydrates have their job. Fats have their job. So it's important, when we think about it in the context of improving our muscle mass, protein is absolutely required to repair and build muscle. If we're looking at improving our muscle mass, protein is absolutely required. And yes, it feels like a million grams, and it can be overwhelming. The approach that I like to take with my clients is nutrition and exercise go hand in hand when it comes to improving your health, right? Exercise is a fabulous strength training, a fabulous place to start, and then let's just start adding some other goodness to it. So I like to ask, I like to advise my clients to prioritize protein. Protein comes in a lot of forms, and you have to find what works for you. So I will give them kind of a minimum grams of protein that I'd like them to work towards, hitting a day doesn't have to be tomorrow. But by improving your protein, you're improving your eating habits, you're improving your overall nutrition. You're going to improve your body composition, like it all is interrelated, but it doesn't have to be all or nothing from today to tomorrow. So I, you know, we talk about, I'll set a goal for my clients, like we did, your initial body composition. You're going to get in a good habit of strength training in a month. I'd like to hear that you're close to hitting your minimum number of grams of protein. Per day, mostly lean protein, primarily lean protein, and we'll see if it's changing your body. If it isn't, let's keep working at it, because that's what we're all about, is changing our body composition. So it's the general rule is, if you take your weight in pounds, and you take 80% of that, that should be your minimum grams of protein per day. So the rule I like to follow, and that can seem overwhelming, you're like, oh my gosh, I need 100 grams of protein a day. So the general guideline, I like to say, is, okay, your palm, and this isn't perfect science, but your palm is about 30 grams of protein. And I treat chicken, fish, beef, whatever, all the same. And so if you have to hit 100 grams of protein a day, you need to be thinking ahead about how you're going to prioritize protein in your meals. And so if you need three portions of this size of protein, if it's a meat based, or, you know, plant based, however, and it's all about planning. And you know, I tell my clients, that doesn't mean all day Sunday in the kitchen, putting cooking and putting it in Tupperware, but you should know, like, what you're going to eat for the week, what you're going to eat for the day. And so I do a lot of big batch cooking. So I'm like, Yep, I know that I'm going to hit my protein not every day, most days. The other thing I would say is it gets kind of overwhelming, but just move in the right direction. Prioritize Protein Protein drinks, protein supplements, not my favorite source, protein bars are definitely not my favorite source, good quality protein drinks. I think they're a beneficial supplement, like other supplements. You know, I try to tell my clients, I'm like, if you can get 30 grams of protein in a drink, don't skip a meal. Use that as a supplement, and then you can kind of gage how your meals want to look on the protein front. So, yeah, I
think that's really helpful. I think it's helpful for people to understand when we're talking about protein, if we break it down just one more level, protein is broken down into amino acids. You don't have to know what an amino acid is, per se, but an amino acid is the building block for just about all of our body's functions. And so when we think about it that way, are there a bunch of amino acids in, you know, non protein plants, no, it's no, that that's, that's what the the pieces are that you need to repair your body, and you can get it from plant based protein. The difference in plant based proteins and animal based proteins, by and large, is the types of amino acids. So meat, by and large, has a more balanced amino acid profile, and you need all of those essential amino acids, and they're not all in plants. And so if you're getting your protein from plants, then you just need a wider variety of plants, and sometimes need to be more focused on filling in gaps. So regardless of if you're doing meat or animal protein or plant based protein, if you're not getting those building blocks, like, think of Legos. You know, if you're, if you're trying to build a Lego Castle, and you don't have any more Legos, it's not going to happen. There's no other, like, secondary way, like, maybe if you breathe correctly, you're going to get more amino acids. It's the only way they come in. And I think that's just helpful when we think about protein, because it can feel overwhelming. And you and I both share the same philosophy of before we ever talk about what not to eat, let's talk about just aiming to add, add, add. How do we get more of these amino acids? How do we get more of these proteins in I think that if you look at other types of foods, like vegetables and fruits and and colorful things. They're just, they're very, very valuable, but they're not as high in amino acids. So when we're talking about building muscle, we just have to have it. It's just not there's no other way. Now, there certainly are other health tracks that aren't so focused on muscle, and I would say that they're focused on leanness and flexibility and breath work and balance. And there's benefit there. But what we're finding more and more and more with women is that the muscle is what's preventing the leading causes of death. If you look at the leading causes of death and morbidity, is the word that we use in medicine, of bad things. If you look at the leading causes of bad things happening in women, it's osteoporosis, it's dementia, it's colon cancer, it's heart attack and it's breast cancer, heart attack and stroke and breast cancer. And what is one thing you can do that can decreases the risk of all of those? I'll put a plug in for being less stressed. But other than that, it's building muscle, right? It's absolutely building muscle and then breaking down muscle, and then building more muscle, and then breaking it down again and then building it again. So just a massive plug for strength training. But then it's not the strength training alone will not do it. If you're trying to get a super low calorie diet and trying to eat less and exercise more, that paradigm is just so expired. It's so outdated we cannot eat less and exercise more and expect to have the muscle mass that we need to allow our bodies to function for the next 40, 5060, years that we have left in our lives. It's just there's you can't look at it any other way. I really, I really think you can.
I couldn't agree more.
Thank you for clarifying the protein question, because that comes up a lot one question as we wrap up here, and then I have a couple more questions from our Instagram followers. One question is, how do we get started? One option would be to sign up for a gym like yours that is really used to working with people who are starting where they're starting. I think there are other gyms that may work with people who are just getting started, but but your model that you're describing is so beautiful for people who really feel like, I gotta have someone meet me where I'm at. What are some other tips you have for people who are just getting started?
It's, it's a mindset, but it's not an all or nothing, and this has to be perfect. Yeah, it's commitment to, like, I know I need to do something. I know I need to improve my health for these reasons. It's committing to improving your health and not and trying not to get overwhelmed with, okay, that's 50 pounds, that's four times a week, that's whatever, right? Like, commit to improving your health by something, something, something, yes, and um, and then you need to figure out what works for you, like, what fulfills you, what. And of course, I'm biased to strength training. You definitely think strength training is the way to go, but start reaching out if you know there's a financial side to it. I completely understand that there are rec centers that offer beginning strength training classes. Often Getting started is just the hardest part. It's getting your money, committing to yourself that you're going to work on your health, and then it's figuring out how to do it. So I would say, do some investigation, reach out, have some conversations, visit a rec center, visit a studio like mine. You know, I'm not going to press you for a hard sale. I want to show you what we do and show you that you can absolutely do it right, find the right fit. And yeah, and the accountability is so big if you don't think you can do it on your own, if you don't think you can carve out that time or that you can show up for yourself, go with a plan that provides the accountability. Yeah,
I love that. I also think that finding a workout buddy can actually be hugely powerful. You know, finding a buddy to start walking with just so that you so you can show up, finding someone who, even if you're not working out together, that you can say, did you do yours? I didn't mind. Did you do it? Okay, we both did it. Well done. You know, having that accountability partner, one of the tools that I'll give patients when they're just starting to is to break up the workouts there. There's good data showing that it doesn't need to be 30 minutes consecutively or 60 minutes consecutively, that 30 minutes a day in 10 minute chunks is just as effective and so doing, you know, 10 squats every time you go to the bathroom. You know, go to the bathroom, wash your hands. 10 squats, that's what you do. 10 countertop push ups, you know, like, there are so many things that we can do, and I find it to be so beneficial for changing our brain patterns. When we say, like, Well, I'm not in shape, or I'm not fit, or I'm not the type of person who exercises every day. Like, if you're the person who's doing 10 squats every time you go to the bathroom, you are now that person who exercises every day like, you can't argue with that anymore, and your brain will hear that. Your brain will will really start to catch on to that and say, Well, I am the type of person who who goes for a walk with my kids at night, even though I'm tired and like, soon it changes to I'm not the type of person who's tired at night, you know, like, I'm the type of person who does these things and that mindset shift about who you are as a person that I am, the person who exercises that's accessible. I just want people to know that, that that's accessible for them, that doesn't have to feel like, well, I'm not one of those, like you can be and you don't have to do it their way. You get to do it your way. Yep. And your idea of habit stacking? Such a great way to start. Yeah. I'm a big fan of habit stacking. One question that comes up from some followers on Instagram is hit training, is it okay or no go. I see this a lot right now in women's health, that people are actually recommending against cardio and against hit training, saying that we are also stressed out, that our adrenals won't support it. I'll, I'll let you go first of what you think. So
I wouldn't say never do it. Cardio is definitely important, right? I mean, cardio for cardiovascular health. Cardio Exercise absolutely necessary to our health, right? Cardio looks different. Like I said, it could it could be something hit, like it could be high impact. It could be running. It can be, you know, there's so many ways of getting cardio. It could be a brisk walk with your family, right? It could be a hike. It could be swimming. So I wouldn't say avoid cardio by any stretch, because there it definitely needs to be part of our health routine. But in my opinion, prioritizing strength training, you're going to get your heart rate up, you're going to build the muscle mass, you're going to move that sludge around, all the things that we talked about. But then, on a cardio side, I prefer we're all stretched for time. We're all trying to figure out how to get going on this I prefer to say, use do the cardio for the things you enjoy. It's the hiking. It's the setting time aside to go with your kids to the park and play with them. It's the backyard volleyball, it's the whatever. And even that is hard, but once you start getting into a routine of moving your body more like you had said, you almost you feel so proud, and you almost like crave it, but you're almost like, hey, I want to try that. I want to try that. I can do that. And so. That's my opinion on cardio. Is it's, I don't want to say easy, but it's so accessible to do on your own for things you enjoy, proper strength training is not as easy, and many of us don't know how to do it. Yeah, so
what about HIIT training? And in particular, when you're talking about cardio, I'm not
against it, yeah. I think if your body allows it, it's often harder. I think what I always go to with training is, are you doing it correctly, and are you improving your body's function? And often, when you do things quick, you're not really getting full range of motion. You're not taking advantage of the movement pattern. And so I think it really just depends on how well you're doing those movements versus how you're doing it. We're very much slow, controlled, very deliberate movement. So if you think you can do that during hit, I don't think you're I think it's beneficial. I don't think you're doing any damage, but I'm very much more of a do it, do it properly.
Yeah, I think that's I agree with that. I agree totally with the joyful movement. You know, you've got strength training which can be joyful, you know, you can enjoy it, but there's a big place for just joyful movements. And I think that's what I think of with cardio, is I saw someone say like, oh, you should not be trail running. Like trail running when you're stressed is raising your cortisol. And I think that's a load of garbage. Trail running, if you find joy in it, is a beautiful, beautiful thing to do. So absolutely, if it's joyful, then do the cardio. I do think if you're coming at it from a place of chronic fight or flight and chronic stress or being super fatigued or worn down, that hit training is probably not the first step for you. I think some and hit training is not all created equally, right? There's, there's hit training that's short, and I like, personally, the really high intensity, and then the big, good, slow recovery, so brief high intervals, and then a really solid recovery. And I think a lot of the hit classes that people are going to are high intensity. They're going to, like 90% of your max, and then down to 70, and then back to 90, and then back to 100 and then back to 70, and you're doing that for an hour. And I don't think that, especially for someone who's dealing with fatigue and fight or flight or poor nourishment. You know, they're not fueling their bodies that way. I don't know that that's doing us a lot of favors, but I am a big fan of hit training. That is short, high like 90 100% and then back down to 20, 30%
or,
you know, going to that 50% for longer. I
think is a different conversation. But
quick note on that. So we, actually, we spend the majority of the time in the studio doing really solid functional strength training. But we do end up, end with a metabolic finisher, yeah, for that reason, exactly, exactly.
And it sends that, that messaging to our muscles and to the body of like, keep up with me. Like, I am not sitting on the couch. Like, keep up. And that is so good for our longevity to for to it kind of shocks our body in a good way, but then we slow it down, and we're like, but we're so good, yeah, so I'm a huge, huge fan of that. Well, thank you so much for being on. We could keep talking for hours, but I really enjoy talking through this with you. I think there's such good things to be gained, and I really appreciate your passionate approach to somewhat of a unique approach, but it checks so many boxes in terms of social and starting where you are and doing it with compassion, but still doing it and seeing really awesome results with your clients, and still seeing people you know, start when they didn't think they could start, and then make amazing accomplishments that you're then tracking with biometrics and just really proving that. So I love hearing about your approach, and thank you for sharing it with us.
You're welcome. Thank you. It was fun being here. And again, for me, it's all about helping people improve their quality of life. Yes, that's
what it comes to. Touches
everything. Yep,
exactly. Tell us where people can find you. Yeah, well,
do thanks. So I have a small studio on holiday I'm kind of at the crossroads of Highland Drive and Murray holiday road. So if you're familiar with your it's kind of the old cottonwood mall space. If you wanted to reach out, I would love to just show you around. I mean, I love to just have people in and be like, see, we can do it. You can do it kind of a generic website, but it's ally, personal training.com/holiday, there's a form there. You can submit your form. I'd be happy to reach out. Would love for you to stop in. Would love for you to give us a call so and tell us your Instagram. It's Alloway holiday. Alloway holiday with an A for those who aren't local, but the alloy holiday for me, yes, yeah, yes. And I would also just, I'm so passionate about having people at least just give it a try, right? Just come see what your body can do. I would like to offer your listeners, come in, meet us. Let me do an assessment. Let's look at your body composition. Let's do some movements. Let's talk about where we would start you, and then come try three workouts. I'd be happy not to charge you and just have you show your body that you can do.
That's such an amazing offer. I
hope, I hope many of you will take her up on that, because it's a fun space and it's easy to get to the biometrics alone are super helpful. And getting to go through three different workouts and just seeing what that approach is, I think you'll I think you'll be hooked. I think it'll be really awesome. So thank you. That's super generous. I hope I'm I'm so grateful for that. Thank you. Thank
you for having me.
Thank you for joining us. This has been another really wonderful conversation. We'll be back next week with another episode. If this has been helpful for you, if you've enjoyed it, please share it with a friend. We'd love to get the word out and be able to offer great information to as many women as we can. Leave us a review you can like, share, follow, we'll see you next time. And remember this information is for education only and not intended to be medical advice. You.
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