Crisis Talks: From CrossFit to Podcasting

Is CrossFit a cult? We investigate…

In this Crisis Talks episode, Vikki’s back and we’re chatting all things CrossFit, confidence and podcast plans.

From women’s fitness and strength training in your 40s to the reality of competing as a masters athlete — plus what it’s really like trying to launch a podcast — we cover a lot.

Expect:

🏋️ Midlife fitness chat
🎙️ Podcast planning
💪 Strong women and healthy ageing
😂 Midlife chaos as usual
👀 And possibly Katie being recruited into CrossFit…

#MidlifeFitness #CrossFitWomen #StrengthTraining #WomenOver40 #HealthyAgeing #MenopauseFitness #CrossFitMasters #MidlifeNoCrisis

Keep in touch, follow our socials or send an email to hellomidlife@icloud.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Hi.

SPEAKER_03 0:24

Hello, you're right.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Welcome back.

SPEAKER_03 0:27

Crisis Talks. So Crisis Talks is our little show spin-off where we spend depends on how we feel, but time talking about something that we've covered in the main episode in a little bit more detail. Um sometimes it's just our opportunity to moan, really, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 0:44

Well, yeah. But as we've got a guest, we're not gonna moan it. No, no way. Positive thoughts about podcasting.

unknown 0:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:52

We should have played a game of positive tennis.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Oh yeah, we should have done that.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

So we can see that we need to get Pat back on to remind us how to do it.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

I'll struggle today.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

Yeah, maybe we'll leave it today. We'll book in we'll it's always good to book in a room 101 when Katie's feeling like this. She needs to get it all out of the chest.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Yeah, yeah. Not today. Not today.

SPEAKER_03 1:16

Not today. So we talked in the main episode to Vicky. So welcome back, Vicki. And um Vicky is an incredibly internationally renowned CrossFit athlete, where you are, because you've been semifinals.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:35

Um, I did have one question actually that I was going to ask in the main episode, but we ran out of time, which was has doing what you've done in terms of building up your strength and competing and all that kind of thing, has it changed you outside of CrossFit? So do you tackle life in a different way as a result of it?

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Um I'm not sure. I'm not sure that's going to cross. I think just as you get older, I just have a little bit more of a like no shit attitude. I think um, and I probably are I'm very much like that in the gym as well. Um yeah. I I I don't I don't really. I I don't think, yeah, I don't think it's down to cross it. I think it's just an age thing. Yeah, you just get less patience, don't you? Low tolerance levels, yeah. Yeah, less time for just bullshit and like yeah, I just um and I think yeah, as you get as you do get older, your circle is important to you, so it's not about the big circle, is it? It's just it's your small circle. So yeah, less things bother me nowadays. Um but I I'm not sure whether that's down to CrossFit or or just my age. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

It's just a good way to be, isn't it? Are you disciplined anyway? Are you a disciplined person?

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Oh yeah, I'm multi. Um everything's I'm a planner. Right, yeah. Um, yeah, so so it's great for me. It's great for me because obviously my programming, it's like Monday this, Tuesday that, which is like perfect, you know. I love a I love a plan. Um, so I think that's why I love it. And obviously CrossFit is very structured, so I think that's why I enjoy it so much as well. Because I've got a plan, I've the workouts there, I know what I've got to do. Um yeah, so yeah, that's very much, very much me.

SPEAKER_03 3:23

Well, maybe I will come. I quite like the sound of that. I'm quite sure. I've told you before you should try it. I can't do a press up and I can't do a pull up.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

So yeah, but I couldn't do that when I started. Nobody can do that when they start, but you you you soon learn, you soon get it. Your strength soon builds up. It's amazing how um how quickly it can when you start incorporating weight into workouts, how like your definition will change and and you increase um strength as well very quickly. Very quickly.

SPEAKER_03 3:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Yeah, maybe I'll see you there.

SPEAKER_03 3:58

Oh no, I can't come to your gym, it'll be too scary. You'll scare me. Um, so tell us about your podcast idea. We're gonna do some blue sky thinking. Let's let's design your podcast while you're here.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

So the podcast, I can't take credit for it, it's not my idea. It's my coach's idea, Hillary. So myself, and we've discussed this many times. As we have like we we have lots of discussions about what we should do, and we're gonna live together, and you know, we're gonna have husbands gonna be in the shed, and we're gonna need to fully aware about this, so don't aware, so don't worry. So we there isn't much in the CrossFit scene for masters, we don't really get a lot of airtime in in the competitions, um, not many podcasts around um masters athletes, and obviously now that is our area, and we just want to try and bring it a little bit more to the fore, for and obviously we compete myself and my coach, um, and we know a lot of masters athletes now. So mainly just to yeah, try and get something going, talking about it, bring it to the forefront of everyone's mind to talk about nutrition, obviously, in our 40s, strength training in our 40s, like perimenopausal aspects and everything like that. Um, just just to get it out there, really, and to go through the issues that we have or how we adapt our training, how we have to adapt our nutrition. Um, and yeah, so that's that's the basis of what our podcast is hopefully going to be around, um, and get a few masters athletes on on it as well, because there's some incredible, incredible masters athletes out there. I know a woman in New Zealand which I met, um, and she was in the 65 plus category, and she's amazing, absolutely amazing, and is actually a CrossFit Games athlete. So she's only just sort of retired from the sport now, but she was there last year competing. It's it's unbelievable. 65 years old and and doing everything that I do as well. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 5:57

Yeah, it's phenomenal, isn't it? Yeah, I mean, I think it sounds like a brilliant idea. Like you I think it is a massive gap, isn't it? That people don't really talk about is that coming to exercise later in life. I mean, I apart from doing BMF with you, once I stopped doing that and I went to start going to the gym, and then I got a PT, so that was probably 11 years ago because I wanted to be fit when I turned 40, and now I'm about to turn 50. That's really depressing. Um, but but I learned so much, and I just we Katie, we've talked about this loads of times, haven't we? You just don't know, do you?

SPEAKER_01 6:32

You you never taught about strength and eating properly and and all of those things, and fueling your body, and it's not I'm hoping that it won't just be for CrossFit people as well, just like women in their 40s, 50s, that late 30s. Um, just how how we all encounter it and how we approach our exercise, then you don't have to be doing CrossFit, um, but just fueling your body, you know, that's that's that's the main thing. Um, and just little tips and tricks, really, of like what works for us. What works for us doesn't necessarily work for everybody. What works for me doesn't necessarily work for Hillary, my coach, and and vice versa. You've just got to try things, but again, about supplements and what works for us, and um, yeah, so hopefully we're gonna we're gonna have a lot of content. That's a plan. So we just we've got our structure, but obviously I've come to you, the experts, you too, to try and get a little bit of information and obviously some tips about about it and how you started off and um and what your biggest what was your biggest issues, first of all, with your podcast? Did you have any?

SPEAKER_02 7:40

Loads, get a microphone, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

Katie told me that one already.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

Definitely, that was that would definitely was a bit of a game changer, I think, with us. It's always like um I mean we have talked about this, but you like get a plan up together, even if it's a loose plan, you do tend to find if you're with particularly if you're with someone you're friendly with who you can chat easily to, yeah, then it does tend to flow, but it's good to have a little structure that you can stick to, you know, like bullet points of make sure you cover this and speak up with that, you know. Um, yeah, microphone. Katie's the techie one in the in the group. I am not the techie one. So she does a lot of all of that, so she can probably give you more tips on that than me, obviously.

SPEAKER_03 8:25

But I think one of the big things that our issue when we first started was where to be in our houses. I think we touched on this last time we talked about when we did our 50 years 50 years, oh god as if 50 episodes episode. And we start when we first we did our first one after the day after my 49th birthday party, and we were pissed, slightly over and pissed at the same time, which is a weird combination. And we just sat in my kitchen, didn't we, and talked into a laptop. But then, and then you went home, Katie lives in Bristol, obviously, and I live up here, and um we used we were doing our recordings, we worked out that Zoom was the best way to do it, and then we worked out kind of what tech we needed, but then it was like where to sit in your house. I mean, it sounds ridiculous, but uh you like we started you were in Olivia's bedroom for one episode.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

I was I was in we were all around everywhere.

SPEAKER_03 9:18

I tried to for some reason I didn't want to come in here, and I don't know why, because this is the office that I work in when I work from home, but I don't wonder why I never came in here because it would have made so much sense. But I for some reason chose to sit downstairs, so then I had all the interruptions of the family just popping into something.

SPEAKER_02 9:39

I think we were trying to keep it relaxed, but actually, you do have to take it more seriously, so get your setup right, and also if you are because obviously we're like really busy working and everything, so if you are recording it, you need to know exactly how to set up how to do it quickly and get it all there, don't you? And I think once you kind of get into that, it makes it a little bit easier, yeah. I've plugged this into the wrong thing and I've forgotten my notes and I've left my drink and I've done the uh whereas you you get used to it, don't you, if you've got a problem with setting.

SPEAKER_03 10:12

Yeah, and I used to I used to put extra makeup on and stuff before we record it.

unknown 10:19

Did you?

SPEAKER_03 10:20

You're lucky I've brushed my hair today, if I'm honest. I only just I look at mine.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

I even I've mine's a mess.

SPEAKER_03 10:29

And I think it's about um probably I mean, we didn't start the crisis talks bit till we were quite a few episodes in, did we? And I suppose it's like not trying to do too many things. So we've done one video podcast where we put the whole thing out as a video on YouTube, and it was really successful, but it was really, really hard work for me to do because the editing's quite straightforward with Garage Band, but to edit a video is much more complicated and difficult. So we've not done that again since just because I've just not got physically got the time to do it.

SPEAKER_02 11:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:03

Um but there's plenty of software that's set up for podcasters. So once you get into that world and you join a few Facebook groups, and if you're a bit geeky like I am, then you find all sorts of little trips, tips, and tricks and things that recommendations and all that kind of thing, and it's it's it is fairly straightforward.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Yeah. I'm excited about it. I think it'll be good. We've got a good plan um and topics, so we've got we've got that organised. I think we just need to um do a little bit of a tester, test of all. Um so we just need to get that in the day. It's just been busy recently, um, with obviously all the competitions, but yeah, we want to um we want to try and get that sorted. So it is exciting, but yeah, it's again, it's sort of finding your time, isn't it, between your busy schedules and and locking that in as well, so that it's quite repetitive.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

Yeah. Um yeah, but it's like we said about habits, isn't it? And you you like we've not got a a regular night that we record on now. We used to do Friday nights, but then as soon as the summer comes, we're away and doing stuff at the weekends. So you know, you but you once you've got the habit of doing something, it doesn't really matter when you do it or or really where you are either, does it? I mean, you rang in from Australia, Katie, so I did we managed to do a recording then, didn't we? So just about works well apart from the loud birds. You did have a lot of loud birds, loud birds, yeah. But I quite liked that.

unknown 12:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

So yeah. I think it's good, but what you've said about your topics and your platform, it sounds good to me. It sounds like something everyone to tune into, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Yeah, yeah, I think so. I think uh well we we we'll we'll find out, won't we? We'll find out, but I think um obviously um we don't have anybody. I'd listen to it if it if it yeah, I stumbled across it. Um and again, I guess obviously it'll just evolve as we get into it with different um different topics, and like I say, I I think we've got a list of a few people that we can pull on, so that then should enhance the conversation.

SPEAKER_03 13:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

Um but that's that's the big plan anyway.

SPEAKER_03 13:12

So yeah, and just don't like don't set massive expectations for yourself, like you know, if you don't put like we've had the odd week where we've just said, Oh, we've just not got time to do it this week. And so we just don't put one out. And then we have got a couple, well, and I'm saying this is literally a couple of people who do complain if we don't put podcasts out. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

That's good though.

SPEAKER_03 13:36

So let's go, yeah, no, it is good. Um, and then I made the mistake, and that someone else, Jenny, in fact, Jenny, who's contributed a few times for us, um, was was complaining about the fact that I'd put a repeat out, and I was like, Well, it was just because I didn't have time, and I put a repeat out, and I did put it in the notes that it was a repeat. And um, I just think people get used to once you get consistent with it, people get used to that you put something out and they expect it then, and then that becomes quite nice because you get like a regular little community of people that listen and don't like don't have high expectations of numbers either. It it'll be what it'll be. I think I think you'll be really popular, and I think you'll have loads of listeners. But if you don't, and you've got a nice little community of people anyway, it doesn't matter, does it?

SPEAKER_01 14:22

No, I think it's just for us to again, it's good, it's good for us. We we want to get things out there, we want to discuss obviously not just our achievements, but like what you can do in in that community and and in those competitions at our age. Um just to highlight it, really. There's some amazing athletes out there at our age just absolutely like killing it, but there's just no recognition for it. So I think uh yeah, just to highlight, highlight that in the community.

SPEAKER_03 14:49

Yeah, no, I think it's great. I think it's gonna be um a super success.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

Yeah, maybe pull you two into the community, you know, the CrossFit cult. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

Katie, I have done it actually. I have done it.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Have you? Have you?

SPEAKER_02 15:03

But not properly, I would say. No, I didn't do it properly. It was in my gym, and they were trying to, there was one of the one of the women who was a trainer in there was training to do be a CrossFit trainer. Well, she or she was a CrossFit trainer, I can't remember. Anyway, she just used to do these classes which were CrossFit classes. I didn't even know they were CrossFit classes. I just used to go in and go, oh, it's this really hard one again. And unbeknownst to me, it was a CrossFit, and then I didn't understand like the whole setup of it, but I did like it though, I must admit.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Yeah, yeah, there's a like there's a new language that you need to learn with CrossFit as well, because everything's abbreviated, yeah. All the um all the all the movements and wraps and all that. Yeah, so when I first went in and I saw the board with the workout written down, I was like, I don't know what anything anything means. Yeah, anything means, so yeah, everything's abbreviated, and um, yeah, and emor means every minute on the minute, and yeah, there's um everything that you've got.

SPEAKER_03 16:04

I remember that suggested do that a workout of the day or workout of the week.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Yeah, so that's the WAD, workout of the day is the daily WAD that everybody does. Um everybody who does CrossFit does. No, no, CrossFit actually, the the main the main company CrossFit do release a workout of the day that you can use, but each gym will probably just have their own programming. They all follow um a specific um context context of programming, um, and they'll probably just do their own. But you can if say you've say you're new and you're new to programming, you can actually just take CrossFit's workout of the day and put that in your gym. Um yeah, so every everybody in our gym will do the same workout each day. Yeah, it's just one workout.

SPEAKER_03 16:52

Right, okay. It's so interesting. I'll have to find a Chorley CrossFit gym. There must be one.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

Well, there's where I went a weekend, there's CrossFit Leyland. Oh, okay. Yeah, it's just up the road, isn't it? Very nice. That's a very nice welcoming gym as well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Yeah. Could you give it a go?

SPEAKER_03 17:09

I'll give it, I'll give it some thinking. I've done high rocks, haven't I?

SPEAKER_01 17:12

So exactly.

unknown 17:14

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 17:15

Yeah, so you can do that. Come on.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Try it all.

SPEAKER_03 17:18

You haven't got enough time on your hands there, Katie. We could do that together, you and me. We could make it like a midlife. It could be a hobby that you never took up. Oh, yeah, I could.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Draw a picture instead. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:32

Right, on that note, we're gonna we're gonna love you all and leave you. I think um it's been really nice to have you on Vic. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Yeah, thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

I've not bored you all to death with um CrossFit um no, no, definitely not.

SPEAKER_03 17:46

Definitely not. Our guest episodes always do much better than our normal episodes, so I do think people prefer to listen to other people.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

It's gonna be devastated if the ratings go down.

SPEAKER_03 17:58

They won't, they won't. I mean, I do genuinely think people listen based on the name of the podcast, not on anything else, because we did one really early on in our podcasting called Does My Bum Look Big in This? And that has like three times as many listens than any of our episodes.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

I'll remember that. We'll have to, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:17

Make sure our podcast description is uh naming it and all that kind of thing. Right. Well, thank you very much. Oh no, thank you. We're back next week. Are we doing the Australia Diaries, Katie?

SPEAKER_02 18:31

Yeah, I think so. Oh, good grief. Do you want to? I don't know. I'm scared, but that's probably a good reason to do it. Maybe we track that then. We might do the Australia Diaries next week, or we might do something else.

SPEAKER_03 18:44

Yeah, we'll see how that goes.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

We'll see how we feel. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:49

All right, lovely. Well, I shall see you next week. Yeah, see you next week. See you at work. Nice to meet you, Vicky. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Thank you, you two. Bye bye. Bye bye. Bye.