Over Forty Wellness Podcast
Over Forty Wellness Podcast
"Your Health Is Everything Until It's Gone" with Cliff Hegan and Katherine Wang
What would you do if faced with a split-second decision that could determine whether someone you love lives or dies? For Katherine Wang, this nightmare scenario became reality when her husband Cliff Hegen collapsed with a severe headache and vomiting—symptoms that would reveal a life-threatening brain hemorrhage requiring immediate surgery.
Their story begins with professional success. As founders of Fitco-consulting, an executive search firm established during the 2008 financial crisis, Katherine and Cliff demonstrated remarkable resilience from the start. When the economy crashed, they pivoted to teaching Mandarin to CEOs before their core business rebounded. Over the years, they expanded across Asia, recruiting C-level executives for both Western multinationals and Chinese companies going global.
But everything changed in January 2013, just three weeks after relocating to Zhuhai. What seemed like a minor fall while walking dogs—resulting in what Cliff thought was just a fractured rib—was actually much more serious. The bump to his head created a slow bleed that built up over weeks. When Cliff woke with an excruciating headache, Katherine's decisive action to call an ambulance saved his life. At the hospital, doctors discovered 150ml of blood in his brain and gave Katherine an impossible choice: approve immediate high-risk surgery or lose her husband by morning.
The surgery succeeded, but Cliff's journey was just beginning—ten days in an induced coma followed by a careful rehabilitation process. What's truly remarkable isn't just his survival but how this experience transformed both their lives. Three months after being at death's door, Cliff began strength training. Now he works out almost daily, alternating upper and lower body exercises, building core strength through planks, and feeling "stronger and more resilient than before." He's even planning to participate in a high-intensity fitness event next year.
Katherine, too, faced her own recovery journey, working through PTSD from the traumatic experience through exercise and renewed focus on health. Their marriage emerged stronger, having passed the ultimate test of their vows "in sickness and in health."
Their powerful message resonates beyond their personal story: health is everything. As Cliff says, "Realize that your life is very finite." Katherine adds, "Keep yourself healthy—that's the most important thing." Their experience reminds us all to appreciate our vulnerability, make the most of every day, and build the resilience to bounce back from life's challenges.
Ready to prioritize your health before a crisis forces you to? Subscribe now and join us for more inspiring stories of transformation and practical wellness advice.
My key message is go and find yourself a good personal trainer and get to the gym and get fit and healthy and realize that your life is very finite and that, by building up your strength and fitness, I'm actually now feeling much stronger and more resilient than before. I'm actually now feeling much stronger and more resilient than before and there's no reason why anyone if I can do it, anyone else can do it. No, problem.
Speaker 2:No matter what I think, the key message I would like to express is in life, the health is the most important thing. So keep fit, keep health thing. So keep fit, keep health. You must have a healthy lifestyle, healthy diet and healthy mindset psychologically health, yeah, so keep yourself healthy.
Speaker 3:That's the most important. Hi, I'm Vincent Hiscox, a health coach, podcaster and storyteller. Welcome to the Over 40 Wellness Podcast. We all have the ability to look better and feel better. Becoming healthy should not be complicated. On this podcast, I talk to health and wellness professionals who share their stories and their expertise so that you can optimize your health. The conversations will inspire and empower you with simple tips that you can put into practice to transform the way you feel, look better and feel better with the Over 40 Wellness Podcast.
Speaker 3:My guests on the podcast this week are Cliff Hagen and Catherine Wang. Cliff has 25 years of management experience with large multinational corporations on both sides of the Atlantic, including, but not exclusively, alcan Aluminium and Rockwell Automation, focusing on business development strategy, developing innovative teams and managing key executive postings. Catherine has 20 years of professional experience in Asia, with focuses on board and director level positions across the APAC region. Functions include, but not exclusively. Functions include, but not exclusively, board of directors, country manager, sales and marketing, r&d finance. Her expertise is in China and Southeast Asia markets and searches scope across Asia-Pacific region with alliances in Europe and US in Europe and US. In the podcast, catherine and Cliff share how they arrived to live in Jew High, including some of their backgrounds, how they set up Fitco Consulting in 2008, just as the world financial market was in crisis. However, they were adaptable and taught language skills to ensure money was still coming in. The exec search market took off in 2009.
Speaker 3:Then, in 2012, three weeks after moving to Ju High, cliff was walking the dogs. He tripped and fell flat on his chest. He went for an x-ray and had a fractured rib. However, what he didn't realise was he must have bumped his head. On the 3rd of January, he woke up with a bad headache and started to vomit. Catherine called an ambulance and, following a CT scan, the diagnosis was there was 150mm of blood in Cliff's brain. An operation was required and a positive outcome could not be guaranteed. Catherine was faced with the responsibility of deciding how to proceed. So welcome Cliff, welcome Catherine. So pleased to have you both on the podcast. I'm really looking forward to talking to you today and learning more about your story, and I understand that you now live in in Zhuhai and maybe, cliff, you could sort of share some details how you ended up in Zhuhai.
Speaker 1:Sure, we set up our executive search firm, Fitco, in 2008 in Singapore and in 2010, we opened an office in Shanghai. At the end of 2012, we relocated from Singapore to Shanghai and we were there for seven years, and then in 2019, we moved to a beautiful valley in Beijing, in the north of Beijing, where we could see the Great Wall from our property. It was great being up there during COVID because we could just basically stay at home, away from people. And then last November we came to a big conference in Zhuhai. The delegates from the conference took a coach trip to this high-tech business park in the north of Zhuhai and it was very impressive what was built there.
Speaker 1:The following weekend we came over to Hong Kong and met with John Bauer, who's been our representative here in Hong Kong for more than 10 years. John says there's a big opportunity in Hong Kong for our business executive search, recruiting senior people, because of all the people that have left. So we then made a decision strategically and went back to the business part, and they offered us a great deal to rent an office there. So in December we relocated from Beijing to Zhuhai permanently Great, we now have an office there.
Speaker 3:Absolutely fabulous. So you took us there from 2008 through to 2025. And so this is the time that you've been running Fitco and maybe you could share with the listeners some detail about what Fitco does as a business.
Speaker 1:Well, we recruit senior level people for both multinationals and Chinese companies expanding overseas. We pride ourselves on being flexible and moving with the times on being flexible and moving with the times. So these days we're helping some significant Chinese companies, including Popmart, who are expanding rapidly overseas. So that's our business. We define ourselves as a retained boutique executive search firm and we work on finding the very best talents for our clients.
Speaker 3:Right. So fundamentally, you're looking for talent for your clients. Your clients come to you and they'll say, oh, we need a X, and then it's your job to go out and find an X for that company. Is that a fair way to put it? Absolutely yes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and Catherine here is absolutely excellent at finding these people and persuading them. Yeah so my main responsibility is business development. Catherine's main responsibility is executing on projects. It'll be 18 years on the 1st of November and she's never failed to deliver successfully.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's something quite large to live up to, Catherine, that sort of accolade that you've got there.
Speaker 2:I had a mentor in Singapore, so I learned headhunting skills after graduation. At the same time I did university lecturer, so it's a part-time researcher role with my mentor, mr David, and I learned the skills from zero. So I was the first researcher of him and then after some time, I enjoyed the headhunting work very much. I thought, okay, let me join a bigger firm in China. At that time I joined the top four large executive search firm in China and then, once I joined the first six months, I became number one consultant among 70 consultants. I thought, okay, so that means my mentor is really good. So I learned a skill from the boutique firm which is really top level. Okay, so for two years, consecutive years, I was the number one, always among the 70 consultants. Then the boss sent me across China to give training sessions. So actually I was thinking to learn from the larger firms, but it turned out to be me training across China the larger firm consultants. And after two years, my boss said, okay, let's set up a company in Singapore. So I went to set up a company for my boss in Singapore.
Speaker 2:However, that time is 2008. After a few months, because the Lehman Bank collapsed, went bankrupt, the economy in Singapore was really seriously hit. So the business was not very good, didn't take off. So my boss said it's not very good timing, why don't you come back to China? And I thought, ok, I actually enjoy Singapore a lot, that's why I want to stay in Singapore. That's why I thought, ok, let me, because that was with Cliff. Cliff said let's set up our own boutique firm, fitco, so that we can continue to stay in Singapore and enjoy the life overseas. So that's how FITCO came into being during the toughest time during the crisis.
Speaker 3:Yeah, super story Because, yeah, I wrote down earlier that you'd started FITCO in 2008. Now you've put this sort of put that together. That was the financial crisis. So this, you know, setting up a company at that particular time must have been quite tough.
Speaker 2:Yeah, at the beginning we were there was no, almost no business. It's alien land. It's a brand new company, everything from zero, Very tough. So Cliff and I discussed okay, let's get some billing in. So why don't we teach the CEOs like the German CEOs or Dutch CEOs? Why don't we teach them Mandarin? This is your skill, you can teach the CEOs Mandarin. So we got some clients for the teaching Mandarin.
Speaker 2:Just to get some income coming in, yeah, and then later the Mandarin became a very stable income and then suddenly the market, the executive search market, came in, take off. Then we got the first billing it's very good billing and then cliff said let's stop teaching mandarin. Okay, let's, let's go back to the executive search business. And then then we started the executive search business, I think around the beginning of 2009 and then from there we always focus on executive search all the time. And then actually we were helping many multinational Western multinational companies to come into Asia, to expand in every country in Asia. So we recruited every country C-level positions in Japan, korea, southeast Asia and Indonesia. So quite many countries. We have placed C-level positions. That was very good. We became specialized in Asia-Pacific country level or Asia Pacific regional level positions, our leadership roles.
Speaker 2:And then in recent years, since the COVID, we are helping more Chinese companies going global, because nowadays many Chinese companies are going global. They need global talents with cross-cultural competency to help the company enter a new country, enter a new market. So we're helping one of our clients very successful is PopMart. So PopMart is going global. We are helping them find country managers or senior level positions to help PopMart to accelerate the globalization process. So up to now we are in Zhuhai, but we are helping global companies to hire global talents. Most of my work of delivery is done through online and video conference. However, I travel regularly to Beijing, shanghai, hong Kong and Singapore to meet some of the top talents, which is a very currency, is a very rewarding career.
Speaker 3:Yeah, what I can get from what you're saying, without knowing a whole heap around your business, is that you know both of you are very successful. When you undertake something, you usually, from what you told, told me, then it becomes a success, and you've been doing that. It's not a one-off thing. This has been, this has been the case. Okay, you're talking about FITCO being set up in 2008, during the financial crisis, and here we are in 2025. So already, 17 years later, it's still going and it's still going strong.
Speaker 3:And I think from you know, from the listener's point of view, what I would, you know, what I would highlight from that, is that you are two very professional people doing very professional jobs. But this is a health and wellness podcast, so what we'll do? We'll get on to the health and wellness story within this. So I think you've set the scene really well. You've set the scene to say, okay, you're both two good professionals, you were doing something very successfully, but then something happened and maybe you know, maybe you can introduce it, cliff, and then we'll switch it across to Catherine.
Speaker 1:Well, I'd like to just share that. Back in 2011, I had a serious health crisis. This was before we were married. A serious health crisis. This was before we were married. We'd been dating for three years and everything had been wonderful, and then I basically had to go and rushed into hospital because I had a hemorrhoid plus a cough, and the cough was making the hemorrhoid get bigger and bigger and they had to operate on me. And then I was in a serious condition for a month and Catherine had to nurse me back to health, and what she showed me during that month was that when the going gets tough, catherine gets going. She was absolutely wonderful. She didn't complain. All. I wasn't a great patient. I was in a lot of pain and risk, so I made a decision then I'm going to marry this girl, and so we got married in 2012. I just wanted to share that because it was a big health crisis for me.
Speaker 1:I was actually for one week in danger of life and death. Gosh, it was that serious. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because of the operation that they had on me. The next health crisis actually took place just three weeks after we moved to Zhuhai. I was walking my dogs one morning, which I do every morning, stupidly looking at my mobile phone, one of my dogs pulled me, I tripped over and fell flat on my front and I actually fractured a rib. It was a serious fault. This was around the 20th of December. What I didn't realize I actually went for an x-ray the following week. What I didn't realize was that I must have banged my head as well, because on the 3rd of January I'd gone to bed at 11 o'clock and I suddenly woke up with a bad headache and I needed to go and throw up.
Speaker 1:Catherine, very diligently, immediately called an ambulance, which, arrived after midnight, rushed me to a local hospital. I had a CAT scan. They diagnosed that I had 150 milliliter of blood in the brain and the surgeon said to Catherine unless you give approval for me to do surgery immediately, he won't be alive in the morning. So I went under general anesthetic, under the knife, for three hours. They cut my head open from the front to the back and they drained my head of the blood, and then I was put into an induced coma for 10 days. I think Catherine should take over the story, because I don't know anything that was happening.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's actually a January 4th evening. It's an evening I will never forget this lifetime because Cliff had a headache. I said, okay, how are you feeling? Maybe lie down for a while. Then he had an acute headache he didn't know, very, very painful. Then he started to vomit. Then I realized I don't really know very much. But I thought, okay, this is not very usual. I thought, okay, let me call the ambulance to come. Not very usual. So I thought, okay, let me call the ambulance to come. So from the even the ambulance came, the ambulance bed couldn't come into the elevator From our door to the elevator about 50 meters. So Cliff was already lost conscious. So the staff of the ambulance and myself, three people we carry Cliff. He can still barely walk. He can barely walk but he already lost the conscience. So we walked the 50 meters. That's the most difficult. If we didn't make the elevator it's very much in trouble. So we made it to the elevator, came to the first floor and then the ambulance bed was waiting there Immediately we got him onto the ambulance bed and then we went to the hospital Zhuhai's best hospital. So the doctor did some CAT scanning and then the doctor told me he got brain bleeding. He needed to do operation, brain operation.
Speaker 2:My world suddenly became really really. It's like lightning in the good weather, you know, sunshine weather, lightning. It's really like I couldn't believe it. It's midnight, friday, and then I was thinking how can this be? It cannot be real. I asked the doctor again and again how can this be? This is not possible. How can this be? It's midnight, I have no one to call because everyone is asleep my parents, my siblings, any of my friends, they are asleep. So I call his friend in the UK, his classmate, tony Tony in the.
Speaker 2:UK. So Tony said yeah, you got to do what you got to do. Then the doctor have to debrief me about the operation. You know it's the consequence could be, because the operation is the most uncertain operation the brain operation. So the consequence could be very serious. You have to sign. All the consequences happens.
Speaker 2:It was very scary experience. I hear that Cliff could be a vegetable, cliff could be paralyzed, cliff could be dead. You know, any possibility is, you know, is there. So we don't know. So the nurse just debriefed me. The operation is only the first step and after that there's a long way to go. So it's like a feeling my world is suddenly like wow, that's really terrible. But anyway, I signed and then at 3 am he went to, he was sent to the operation room and I was waiting I was the only one who wait outside the operation room and then at 6 am he came out of the operation room and then straight away to the ICU.
Speaker 2:So he was in the ICU for 10 days. He's in a coma, induced coma, all the time. So for me I can only visit the ICU for half an hour a day. So every day 4.30, I go there and then I just talk to him. But he didn't wake up in the beginning a few days and then later he can wake up briefly, look at me and then later on the third or fourth day, he can smile, but still do not recognize me or cannot talk to me. So and then later he, and then about the fourth day or fifth day, about similar.
Speaker 2:I was very, very worried. I talked to the doctor every day. How is he so? The doctor gave me a lot of confidence and information and so it was just feeling fearful about the future and fearful about the uncertainty in the future, very, very scary. So I thought, okay, then the fifth day he became better, and then the sixth day he became better. It looks like the third and the fourth day is the most similar, the most down. And then after the fourth day he just became better and better and day by day dramatically better.
Speaker 2:And then we moved to a common out of the ICU. On the seventh day he was still trying to, you know, like moving around unconsciously, because his four arms are his legs and arms are bind to the bed because he was moving around. It's not good for his injury. We bind him all the time and then slowly, slowly, after seven, eight days in the ICU, we moved to the common ward and then, slowly, every day, he's becoming better and then he started to recognize me. Yes, he can, he cannot talk. I play some music to him during those days. I play a lot of music that when that he his favorite music to help him recover the memory. And I talk to him a lot. I talk to him. So that's how I do, how I help him recover his memory. And then eventually, after 14 days in hospital, he became actually very, very recovering. It's really like a miracle he recovered. The status is really ideal. He's the best patient. He's the patient that recovered the best. In the particular ward.
Speaker 2:In the hospital. Yeah, yeah. Given the operation is very like very serious operation yeah.
Speaker 3:I'd like to take you back on that, because there are a few things just you know, from the listener's point of view. You know from the listener's point of view, the initial thing and okay, this is really for Cliff was just you tripped over whilst you were walking the dog.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Something which anybody could do at any time? Yeah, just a very simple accident. And that was an accident, yeah, which actually had consequences that you didn't realize.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yeah, all I could think about was my hurting rib. Yeah, I actually went to hospital and got an x-ray and they confirmed it was fractured. Yeah. I didn't even feel anything in my head.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's. Three weeks later, he started to have an acute headache.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, it's three weeks later he started to have an acute headache, yeah, which I mean I can empathize with you because around last Christmas I fell over in a skiing accident and injured one of my ribs. Wow, it was so painful. But okay, this was in the scheme of things. This was just like a scratch. This was like a scratch for you, but then there was this much more serious thing that was going on and in fact, it didn't develop. It wasn't something that happened quickly, it was over a long period over a three-.
Speaker 2:He even fly to Beijing during the three weeks. Okay, so-. He's lucky that it's kind of a Friday evening. You know he starts to have acute headache. What if it happens in the plane?
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, so a whole sort of Lucky, a whole sort of series of things, yeah, and I think lucky is a good way to describe it. Yeah, and then, and what I get from the story and you can tell me if I'm right or wrong it was really your determination, catherine, that made sure that Cliff, you know, got to hospital and got looked after. Is that a fair analysis?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I didn't know it's something serious. I thought, okay, let's go by ambulance to the hospital for a checkup. You know, maybe something minor. You know, after doctor give us a medicine, we can come back, yeah. So I just thought, okay, let's go. But then when I realized it's something serious, the whole world become very gloomy and dark, you know. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And since this, we've met a lot of people that have told us about their relatives that have had a similar problem and they haven't recovered like me.
Speaker 2:Yeah Right, I had some friends who had the brain bleeding and then some never came back. Some you know like have very serious consequences. Yeah, Some lost memory, cannot talk properly.
Speaker 3:Some cannot walk properly yeah, yeah, and the fact that this happened quite a while after the accident. Then the usual thing would be to sort of say, well, you know, go to bed, go to sleep, you'll be better in the morning. But no, you took the decisive action. Sorry, this has gone far enough. I'm now going to call an ambulance. We need to get this sorted out. And it was from that, from the action, that you took that really okay, there were lots of things that happened afterwards, but but that was a decisive action absolutely.
Speaker 1:If she had just said, well, we'll see how you feel in the morning, I wouldn't have been alive. Yeah. So what she did was vital.
Speaker 3:Right. I think the message you know to the listeners that I would give you know, following what you've described, is that anybody that has somebody in their family that has an accident, they need to take the same decisions as Catherine took and said okay, let's go to the hospital. It's a lot of people would steer away from going to hospital because, oh, you know, it'd be okay in the morning, but that going to the hospital was the key step in having Cliff in front of us today and if you've not done that, he wouldn't be in front of us today.
Speaker 1:Well, it was the cat scan which basically diagnosed that I had this fluid in my brain. Yeah. So the only way you could tell that was to have a cat scan, and so you have to go to hospital to get that. Yeah, so the only way you could tell that was to have a CAT scan.
Speaker 3:So you have to go to hospital to get that. Yeah, yeah, so certainly. For me, the positive things about that is that you need if you're ever in this situation from a listener's point of view I'm talking now then just go to the hospital. They shouldn't wait. Just to Just go, absolutely yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because, you just can't be sure. Yeah, you can't. I mean, I had no idea I had fluid in the plane. Yeah, catherine had no idea either, but that's what it turned out. Yeah. I just got a headache, but it must have been the pressure of extra fluid which caused that headache. It must have been building for three weeks.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Then the doctor even told me there is a possibility of a second-time operation. I said, oh my God, the first-time operation was already so much and there's still a possibility. They say, oh, because we opened a hole in the skull and if that hole we put it back immediately, that skull bone, then it will be okay. But then it really depends on his recovery. If the recovery situation is okay, then everything is fine. But if during the recovery process if there's some inflammation happens, then there will be too much pressure in the brain again, Then we have to take the skull out, let the pressure out. Then that skull cannot be reused to put it back, so we have to change to another one. It's another operation. So I thought, okay, that's another possibility. But happily that didn't happen. So he recovers very smoothly, yeah.
Speaker 3:And I think that what's clear from your story is that you had to take all the responsibility yourself. You couldn't ask anybody.
Speaker 2:I couldn't.
Speaker 3:You could talk to doctors, of course, yeah, and they would give you a doctor answer, but you couldn't talk to anybody else. Certainly you couldn't talk to Cliff. You know what do you think, Cliff? What should we do? So you were having to take these big decisions.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Which.
Speaker 2:This is the first time in my lifetime.
Speaker 3:The first time in your lifetime, yeah, so from that point of view, how did it feel for you to be in that position?
Speaker 2:Oh my God, it's very scary and it's really like very fearful. But I thought, ok, the doctor said that if we don't do the operation then he may not be alive anymore. And then we have to do the operation. Even there's a serious consequence after the operation. That's a possibility. But the operation is the only hope that he can keep alive. I thought, okay, let's do the operation, no matter when I sign. I already have in my heart, I said to myself, I said even Cliff had the worst consequence, the worst scenario. I will take care of him.
Speaker 3:So I signed with determination, with determination.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I signed with determination because I said to myself no matter what the consequence after the surgery, I will take care of him. So after I said it to myself, I just signed calmly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. And thankfully for both of you, you both sat in front of me. Now this has turned out well. What was it like for you in terms of the recovery? You know so. You saw Cliff you come out of the operation. You saw that. You know there were signs coming day by day. From what you said there were improvements that you could see. How long did that recovery take?
Speaker 2:For the 14 days. The first week is in ICU, second week is in the ward. In the ward he improves day by day. Once he passed that most down two days and then he's improving day by day. I can feel that he's improving.
Speaker 1:They gave me a walking frame and after the work he started to use a walking assistance walking frame to walk.
Speaker 2:So the first month after the coming out of the hospital is with the walking assistance to keep balance. Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And then after the first month I asked the doctor, I said, can he do anything drastic? No, he can't. So first month is very mild, just walk with the walking frame. And then the second month still very mild. And then the second month still very mild. And then the third month I start to hire a gym coach who is good at rehabilitation to help his leg to become more balanced. And then after three months, because I asked the doctor, can we take a plane? Doctor said better not within three months because it might increase the doctor can we take a plane? The doctor said better not within three months because it might increase the pressure in the brain. So after three months we okay, let's say, take a plane. We actually, to keep safe, I think we took train to Beijing and then after four or five months we take a plane to Singapore. So that's kind of the plan. I observe him every day, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and from your point of view, cliff, I mean from your memory, okay, I'm sure there's a big hole in there when you don't remember anything From the time when you were starting to sort of say, okay, now I can remember what, what's going on. How did it feel for you?
Speaker 1:the way I'm thinking about it, it was a chance for me to recharge all my batteries. Once I started going to the gym, I've really got into going almost every day and working out a lot. So Catherine's actually saying I'm in better shape now than I was before. Yeah, so I'm just taking the perspective that I've got a second chance at life.
Speaker 2:Rebooting.
Speaker 1:That I was as close to death as you could ever be. And here I am alive and kicking and well, and now coming to Hong Kong every week almost with this BNI chapter which John, who I've known. He's my oldest friend in Hong Kong, he's the president of our BNI chapter, so I'm really enjoying getting to meet all these new people in Hong Kong. I feel that life is great and golf is actually my passion and I'm finding that, thanks to all the exercises I've been doing in the gym getting strong, my golf game is actually getting better and more consistent, which is great, and I'm signed up for a big golf event on the 18th of september in Zhuhai tremendous, tremendous I feel that, like I said, I feel like I've got a whole new lease of life and it makes me realize how important health is to you and how every day in your life is vital.
Speaker 1:So make the most of every day. That's kind of my new philosophy of life, which I don't think most people appreciate, but when you've had this kind of experience, you sure do appreciate how vulnerable you are. Yeah, that you you can be going along and then suddenly everything's taken away in a heartbeat. My message I want to send out from this podcast is everybody, take your health really seriously and value every day like it's the last and live it to the full.
Speaker 3:Yeah, value every day like it's the last and live it to the full. Yeah, value every day like it's the last and live it to the full. I mean great and great advice, you know, to the listeners. What I wanted to do is to sort of dig a little bit more deeply into the detail of what you are doing in terms of the work that you're doing with john, your your trainer. Yeah, so that people get an idea of you know what's a typical day's training for you.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, basically I want to say John Bauer is the best personal trainer I've ever had. He really understands the body's physiology and gives me great lessons in how to train very well. He says don't do too much every day. Try to limit your training session to an hour and try to mix it up so you're exercising your top half one day and then your bottom half the next day, which is what I'm trying to do, so I don't do the same exercises two days running. I tend to focus on the top half of my body. I've got about eight top half exercises and about five bottom half exercises. Now I'm trying to finish every gym session by doing one minute planks with a one minute interval and right now I've.
Speaker 1:When I first tried to do this six weeks ago, it was absolute agony just doing one minute. Now I'm successfully doing five one minutes with a minute interval. So it's strengthening my core and I got big inspiration actually from the podcast that you did with John and Alex Right, because I listened to that about three months ago and listening to that and hearing Alex's good words and the fact that it takes about four months John actually said it takes about four months for the benefits of weight training to come through. That was highly motivating for me actually.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and I've listened to quite a few more of your podcasts and learning a lot from the people you're interviewing. It's really excellent.
Speaker 3:Oh, thank you. Thank you for that, I think from you know, from the listener's point of view, what the point I want to make is that you've taken on board for yourself and at the end of the day, it's you, it's not somebody else. They can't do the exercise for you, that's right. You do it yourself. You've got a very good trainer. So, again, that's a good message to pass out for anybody that's listening. Get yourself a good trainer, then follow what your trainer is telling you to do Absolutely. And the other thing I heard from what you were saying is that, incrementally, you're making improvements. You're not trying to be the sort of 18 year old that comes to the gym and you know wrecks the equipment. You're taking it at a pace which is right for you absolutely, which is, which is advised by your trainer. You're following the advice from the trainer and you're seeing.
Speaker 1:You are seeing improvements yeah, and what I've learned from john is once you've warmed up, push yourself as hard as possible with the maximum amount of weight and try to just keep pushing yourself. So that's what I've been doing, and I'm actually getting a lot stronger through this technique every week. So now my goal is to follow John and do the high flux event next year.
Speaker 1:Oh the high rocks, high rocks, sorry. Yeah, that's my goal next year to actually compete in that. When I was younger, actually about 30 years ago, I used to do marathons and triathlons, so I used to be really fit Right and I really enjoy this training.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I would actually say I mean, I'm sticking my neck out. Is that the fact that you used to be fit and healthier when you were younger? That would have helped you.
Speaker 1:I think so yeah.
Speaker 3:Of course, and that also gives you the understanding now that you move back in that direction again.
Speaker 1:That's right. But John's given me the confidence that being my age is not an issue. Right, you can keep training hard as you get older, it's not a problem.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's great. I mean, it's a great message. I mean, the message of strength training is that you can start and you can even retake strength training at any age, and at any age you can make improvements. So this is this in itself is a great message.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and one of the exercises I'm doing regularly is to get on one knee and do side pulls on each side, which basically replicates your golf swing. All right, and I'm now seeing, because I belong to a simulator center in Zhuhai, that I'm actually getting much more consistent with my golf swing in both terms power and control. So I feel that my golf game is going to be better than ever thanks to this strength training that I'm doing.
Speaker 3:Absolutely fabulous, absolutely fabulous. So this is one of my questions that I ask typically in the podcast. You know, from everything that you've been through, from everything you've seen I mean both of you and the changes you know the changes that you've made what would be your advice to the listeners? You've got certain knowledge yourself now, some very intimate knowledge. What would be your sharing with the listeners?
Speaker 1:well when we made our marriage vows back in 2012 better for worse for richer for poorer and sickness in health till death do us part and Catherine had proved that to me the year before. That's why I was so confident, and she's basically followed up this year by absolutely giving me all the support a good wife should give her husband, and I feel the love between us has never been stronger.
Speaker 2:When the marriage goes through tough times, you can really feel the true love After taking care of him. I also have to recover from post-trauma stress disorder. Because I always talk too much about the details, I always have nightmares. So he gave me advice. He said why don't you go to the gym? You know, train yourself. Just forget about all those tough times and put it away. It's already passed. So I went through a gym training myself to recover from PTSD.
Speaker 3:And that's a great sort of you know, that's a great message that you're passing to the listeners there. Right In that, you were the person, you were the helper, you were the person that was having to take the stress of what was going on with Cliff. I mean Cliff, luckily for him, was not aware of the severity and you know the depth of problem that he was in. But you were, yeah, and I mean it's very interesting and I think it's very good for you to share with the listeners that, yeah, for yourself there was. You had PTSD. Yeah, sometimes people can say this is just for effect. This was really traumatic for you. Traumatic, yes, and you have to make sure that after that trauma that you… I can recover.
Speaker 3:You can recover exactly, I can bounce back, yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, this is a tough time and a really traumatic time, but it also helps us build our true love marriage. I think it's a good testimonial to ourselves and to the world that what is husband and wife for that, what is husband and wife for it's when the tough time happens, one support the other. Yeah, you support each other and I think it's, in a way, it's very, very good. Another is we can build the resilience in life, resilience when you have really the tough times, you actually aware of it, and then be resilient from you know, build up your inner strength to bounce back. Yeah, so that's what we learned.
Speaker 3:That's great and I think so many, so many sharings that you've made on the podcast, so many messages that the listeners can take on board. So many things that you've had to confront so many obstacles that have been putting you away. But even after all of that for the two of you, you've managed to make a path through that and come out of the other side. You know that's where you are today and nobody would want to wish what's going on with cliff on anybody. Nobody would like to say I need something like that to happen in my life so that I can get the good consequences later.
Speaker 1:No, no no, no way. No, I'm definitely very, very lucky yeah, you very, very lucky.
Speaker 3:I think the message that comes across, certainly for myself, is that this has pulled the two of you together For sure. It's a two-way thing as well. Even if, in this particular scenario, it was Cliff that required more assistance, that didn't mean that you didn't require assistance on your side, and that became obvious to you, I'm sure, after this thing happening. So we're coming towards the end of the podcast now and I think that I really, really appreciate your sharing and I think, from a listener's point of view, there's a lot that they can get from it, and I think, from a listener's point of view, there's a lot that they can get from it. But if you had to say in one minute, what would be the key message that you would give and you can have a minute each what would be your key message for the listener?
Speaker 1:My key message is go and find yourself a good personal trainer and get to the gym and get fit and healthy and realize that your life is very finite and that by building up your strength and fitness, I'm actually now feeling much stronger and more resilient than before and there's no reason why anyone if I can do it, anyone else can do it, no problem.
Speaker 3:Super, super message. Thank you very much for that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've gone through this tough experience for myself, so I already passed really the darkest time of my life past, really the darkest time of my life. Coming out, I feel that life is thriving and the business also thriving. You know, it's really like yin and yang, from one extreme to another extreme. So this year is our business history high, historical high, which is really the yang side, historical high, which is really the young side, positive side. But no matter what, I think the key message I would like to express is in life, the health is the most important thing. So keep fit, keep health. You must have a healthy lifestyle, healthy diet and healthy mindset, and healthy mindset psychologically health, yeah. So keep yourself healthy.
Speaker 3:That's the most important, absolutely great advice. So, keep yourself healthy, keep your diet correct, keep your fitness regime correct and get plenty of sleep. Get plenty of sleep yeah, all of the messages that I share with my clients myself. So and this, you're living proof of that. I mean, it's one thing that a trainer can tell their clients you should be doing A, b and C, but when somebody's sat in front of you and they've had to do those things to be where they are today, then that makes it much more powerful. Very last question now. So you, you have your, uh, your company, fitco. How can people get in touch with you?
Speaker 1:whatsapp or wechat or our website is wwwfitco-consultingcom. Yeah, so our contact details are there and my wechat I d is cliff hegan, one word in small characters, and my whatsapp id is plus 8614782151324.
Speaker 2:I think once you get in touch with Cliff.
Speaker 3:Cliff then automatically get in touch with you.
Speaker 2:Through our website you can see both Cliff and Catherine's mobile phone. Yeah. Yeah, and email.
Speaker 3:Super, super, so I'll put that into the show notes. So if anybody wants to reach out to you, then they're very welcome to do so. It's just for me to say a big, big thank you to both of you. I mean, I think the message that you passed is that is the super message, is super positive and and I thank you very much for sharing that on the podcast thank you.
Speaker 1:We want to thank you for giving us this opportunity.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you Great.
Speaker 3:Great podcast with Cliff and Catherine. I really enjoyed it, with some super takeaways. And here are my takeaways. Number one always err on the side of caution. Number two Catherine's decision to call an ambulance saved Cliff's life. Number three three months after being at death's door, cliff consulted and hired a strength coach and hired a strength coach. Number four you can improve your strength at any age. Number five build resilience, the inner strength to bounce back. Number six make the most of every day. Appreciate your vulnerability.
Speaker 3:If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review. Please share with your family and friends. You're welcome to email me with feedback, comments and questions at vincenthiscox at outlookcom. Would you enjoy getting a short weekly email from me where I share simple tips that you can put into practice to improve your health? Subscribe to Vincent's Wellness Newsletter at vincent1cdsubstackcom. At vincent1cdsubstackcom. If you are looking to get into the best shape of your life, to look and feel your best, visit my coaching website, procoachapp. Forward slash vincent-hiscox. All of the references to the websites will be in the show notes. And don't forget to share the episode with a friend. All of the references to the websites will be in the show notes, and don't forget to share the episode with a friend.