Ep24. Emotional intelligence, PMOS & IKEA

In this episode, Laura and Sarah share their weekly adventures - from jiu-jitsu injuries and book reviews to the evolving landscape of women's health and the importance of emotional intelligence in fitness and beyond. Tune in for honest reflections, practical insights, and a little chaos sprinkled in between.

Chapters:

00:00 - Introduction to today's chaos and honesty 

00:15 - Laura’s journey through jiu-jitsu injuries and motivation

02:30 - The emotional side of coaching: reading body language and building trust 

04:00 - The significance of emotional intelligence in gym and social settings

06:20 - Women’s health updates: PCOS renamed to PMOS 

08:00 - Understanding the symptoms and diagnosis challenges of PMOS 

10:00 - The impact of hormonal health on energy, sleep, and mental health 

12:15 - The role of genetics and GLP-1 in weight management debates 

14:00 - Overcoming exercise setbacks and managing expectations 

16:00 - The importance of communication and inclusive cues in gyms 

18:15 - Reflection on body image, social comparison, and social media impacts 

20:00 - Targeted interventions: blood testing, health tracking, and personal data 

22:00 - The power of community and shared experiences in fitness journeys 

24:00 - Embracing individual needs: personalized coaching and mental health focus 

26:00 - The emerging conversation around emotional fitness and resilience 

28:00 - Creating psychologically safe fitness spaces for women 

30:00 - The significance of ongoing education for coaches and health professionals 

32:00 - The role of fitness brands and social responsibility in women's health awareness 

34:00 - Practical coaching tips: warm-up design, body cues, and feedback 

36:00 - The importance of patience, empathy, and nuanced support 

38:00 - Personal reflections: navigating judgment, perfection, and progress 

40:00 - The joy of community events and the inclusivity of running and fitness 

42:00 - Closing thoughts on continuous learning and self-awareness 

44:00 - Final reflections and mission to foster safe, empowering fitness environments

Thank you for listening, like subscribe and tell your friends!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Hello and welcome back to Fit for What, a no-nonsense, evidence-based take on health, fitness and wellness with some humour, honesty, and practical advice to help you build your fittest year yet. My name is Laura, also known as Biceps. I've done a few things in my time within the world of health and fitness, and I really want to use the opportunity with this podcast to break down some of the myths and barriers and really focus on taking the piss out of myself and often Sarah.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Thank you. Hello, my name is Sarah, and if you're not bored of me saying it yet, I'm a women's health coach enthusiast PT, and I am really trying not to laugh at the state of me and Laura right now because we agreed. I was like, yeah, I'll put a bit of makeup on and wash my hair. I come onto this call, and there's a hair mask on, eye mask on, and her Elton John red glasses on. So I'm so glad we caught that memo well.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Listen, I am literally like I look like a I look like a bi hacker. I'm bi hacking my way through. A hair what a hair mask? Well, yeah, it's basically it's like an overnight, obviously it's not the night. We're recording this during the day, but like it's Sunday night, I'm not seeing anyone. Um so it's just like a yeah, an intensive conditioner um gel that I put through uh my roots around my face because this new fucking sports, I've sworn early, that's the explicit button pressed. This new um this new jujitsu career has got my hair fucking mash up. Whoa. My hair is like under bollocks, elbows, chins, it's just it's getting it's getting absolutely savaged. A lot of action. Golly. There's a lot of action, I can tell you that.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

And you're washing it once a day still.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Yeah, yeah. I still I would I would never wash it more than twice a day. I wash it in the morning and and let it be. Let it be, let it be. It's very Elton John of me. Is that an Elton John song or is that John Lennon? That's John Lennon. That's John Lennon. I also look like John Lennon. We look fantastic. You what Sarah hasn't pointed out, is she's also wearing the same glasses.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

I couldn't miss out. They are like a cuddler on the eyeballs, they are lovely. I don't know what brand these are, but I love these.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

I can tell you by just one quick little peeps to the side. Um, there are a optics. There are optics. Oh, I like them a lot. I like them a lot. Anyway, what have your weeks been like? What have you been up to last week?

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Oh god, I've been everywhere and and everything. I I've done a lot of travel again. I sort of it it hits me in waves all of this travel. Um I always take it very badly because I don't like being sat down and I don't have free will on a train for three hours. I can't do anything apart from look at a screen or um think of childhood memories. Um so I've been up to what have I done? I've been up to Newcastle and back for at work-related meetings. So yeah, lots of um time on the laptop. But I have I've said to myself now that I am getting uncomfortable with jujitsu and I'm gonna push myself to get out of the beginners' classes, and I'm going, it's quite a big jump, I would say, from the beginners to the fundamentals classes. Obviously, I'm not going to the advanced sessions or competition training, like there's absolutely no point in that. I'd get absolutely hammered. Um, but yeah, so I've gone into that and I'm actually I'm doing a mix of gi and no-gi, um, and I'm just oh, it's so good. And like honestly, I'll keep raving about my the the club that I'm at. I sound like I'm you know, it sounds a bit culty, I know, but Armour is the oh, we're so lucky with the coaches that we've got, they're literally all world-class, world champions, so good with people. They're not just you know, sometimes you've got like someone who's really great at their sport, but absolutely abysmal at interacting with humans, yeah. Uh and I feel really lucky um that we we we they're great coaches and they're great people and they really want people to do well. So that's been cool, but as a result of that, I've honestly my elbow is cooked.

SPEAKER_02 4:17

No, your elbows, it's always your elbows. And I've got I know Laura, elbows are a big, big issue always. Oh my god, you remember the oh my god, elbow gait? That was not through sport. No, that's through listening so intensely, she grabbed it. That was through the sport of dating.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Oh god, no, uh yeah, my elbow is mash up, um, and I felt it was mashing up at the time because we did some arm bars, so it's it's a bit brook, but it's also been scraped along the floor, so it does look like some sort of carpet burn, but I promise you it is um jujitsu. I'm so delighted to tell you I've been reading my a book, I've got a book and I'm reading it. Oh my god. I know, which is just not me at all. Which one? Oh, I'm a breed one. Course, course, course. It's so good.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

How many though? Say again. How many pages?

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Oh god, I don't know. I mean like chapter six, seven. Like I'm well in. She's well in. I've been in. Well in. Um, and I wondered if I wouldn't enjoy it. Not because I don't like children, but I don't own any, so sometimes I can't relate. And her she talks a lot about it, but actually, what I find is her directness and honesty about what it has taken her to succeed. I I really like that, and I you know, the whole women can have it all and blah blah blah. You can't, you've got to make you've got to make big sacrifices, and I think she would be doing it women an injustice by saying that you could. So she says, I see my kids a couple of hours a day max. Yeah, and you know, that's how I that's that's her choice. I'm I'm not to judge. So I've I've really enjoyed getting into that. She's a girl, a hard-working girlie from nothing in East London, and you know, she's she's she's pretty global in her um her experience, uh, and and I say that I'm quite proud of reading my book. Now that I'm not running as much, like I am still running, I've got this ultra coming up, but I'm kind of conditioned for it a little bit already, like I'm not stressed. I'm sort of grieving the loss of following my marathon plan, and I don't really know what to do with myself. Isn't that silly?

SPEAKER_02 6:28

It's not silly. I think I can take I literally talk about that to um girls today who I went to watch the Hackney Half and they're like, I don't know what I'm gonna do with my time now. And it's so true, like it's you think how many hours a week you were running, and like your whole day was planned around a long run, right? Like your Sundays was like you've got to get up at what crack of crack of dawn to eat sparafart to then get out of a run. Like you didn't have really any like downtime. It was like you're you you didn't have any of it, it was all preparation for running. So I totally get what you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

But I think I said I said it out loud to my friend this morning. I said it's you know, I felt a bit something happened back end of last summer coming up to sort of yeah, Q4 October time that made me decide I want to I want to run this marathon, and I usually decide to do something like that that's gonna keep me busy to sort of get through to work through something, and then I sort of and then I sort of grieve the loss of of the of the structure. So, but you know, yeah, I went to I went to Barry's boot camp this morning. Stunning. It was like I've never done a Barry's ever.

SPEAKER_02 7:33

Oh you know, no, never be like, I'm overstimulated, Karen. I think I'd really struggle with it, even like at the Hackley say, I was like, I think I said I'm overstimulated about four times my friend. She's like, Are you okay? I was like, I'm just really overstimulated right now, but yeah, Barry's. I'd I think I'd like the idea of I I just I get stressed out with like the lights and not being able to see things properly, so maybe it's not for me.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

I think you should try it. I think don't knock it till you tried it. I think there are so many positives about it. Like the music, uh it was yeah, the music was absolutely 10 out of 10 today. Um, the exercise some of the exercises, as we know, for me who is like, yeah, I'm the grumpiest class participant when it comes to exercise selection.

SPEAKER_02 8:23

I'm gonna adjust that one for me.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

I'm gonna adjust that. I just do, I just if I don't like it, I don't want to I don't want to stick out like a sore thumb and look like I'm having a strop. I I really don't, but I also don't want to do mountain climbers, I don't want to look like a a dying ant um for for no reason just to mash up my hip flexors. So I I did some lovely V-sits.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

Oh god, I hate V-Sits so much.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

Yeah, well, I just thought, you know, I'll um I dived in. Jananne is it was just great to see her. She's been training for years, she's super fit, but we're we're not 21. Um, she's got a a knee injury that occurs every time it gets close to booking a Hyrux, and that's how and that's how our friendship continues. We talk when we have a drink. Well, it was her birthday. Well, we were we we said, oh let's do a Hyrux. And then she's like, let's not, let's not, and that and she's like, let the cycle continue. So we just love the fact that we say we're gonna do one, but then never do one. It's really a foundation of our friendship these days. Um, but yeah, it was it was really good, but yeah, you're right, it's completely dark. Um, you can't see anything, and you do need to go back and forth from the benches on other people's sweat.

SPEAKER_02 9:42

Ooh, yeah, maybe not for me. I'd give it a go. Do you know what? Never say never. I mean Tribot the One Rebel class as well, because there's a new one that's opened up near Ish. I'm like, ooh, quite a fancy little class. I might maybe grab a class bus. I need to try Blaze actually, David Lloyd Lives.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

Yes, we need to do that. Why don't we go to Fulham?

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Yeah, or maybe we should like I was thinking we should podcast like a live podcast before and after would be so funny because I just come out like I need to go lie down now.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

Yeah, you need to book a room for yourself to decompress. Yeah, I would I would love to. I had book one, but then I realised it was a digital one, there was no instructor.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

I thought that's why we found it funny because you were like, I'm cracking up myself, and I was like, She's going to go to a class at 6am to a to a computer. And you thought it's a computer, I was like, Yeah, that's why it's virtual, but at least you tweaked it.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

No, I just I don't think I got I don't think I grasped that, and then I grasped it and I was like, oh god, no, I'm not doing that. No, no shade, no shade if if people like that. But it's not for me. I'm not someone but yeah, so yeah, it's it's it's been um a big week, and I felt yesterday I was it disp I had a uh nine and a half hour sleep. Oh I woke up yesterday Saturday being Saturday morning and I thought no, I could sleep again for another nine hours, what's happening? Oh um I just think yeah, I just think mentally it's been a mentally been a heavy week.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Um and I think that's that's what's um that's what's got me. So yeah, it's it's been it's been good. Um I've had a great weekend, ready to get stuck in for the week ahead.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

Gorgeous. Yeah, what was my week? Yeah, busy vibes. When do we record? I feel like this week I say every blinking week, but I don't know where this week's gone. I just don't know where this week's gone. Busy, what was I up to? I've trained quite well this week. I've actually really enjoyed taking my volume down a little bit, I won't lie. Like I I did I'm now doing three strength sessions a week, and bless Harrison, my coach, shout out at Harrison Performance on Instagram, love him. Um I sent a bit of a sassy message and I was like, it's just too much, I can't get through all of this. I want to be in out of gym 45 minutes to an hour tops for me. Um, and I appreciate I've still got quite a bit of prehab rehab bits to do in my movement, but now my sessions are literally in and out on an hour, three strength sessions, strength strength stress, three strength sessions when easy for you to say, yeah before I get my tooth done. Um and then went for a swim and I went for a run. That was it. I went for a run. I I think I messed it to after. Oh yeah, you told me can I say, can I be honest what you said? I felt, yeah, you can go on. You said it was shit. It was shit, it was utter shit. I was so grumpy. I thought my garment was mugging me off the pace it's telling me, but I actually think on reflection I was running that pace. When I say run, I wasn't really a run, it was a plod. But I just felt like lard. I felt awful, I genuinely felt awful, and I was like, I'm hating every second of this. I was actually, I was near your flat and I was like, Do I just go into Laura's and just put on our Melton John glasses and cry at strongers? What's happening to the pound? Honestly, I hated it so much, and then I was gonna try and trick myself to go again on Friday to be like, no, you can run, but I didn't had like a really long work haul in the end. But um, yeah, I really hate it, I'm not gonna lie. So I'm hoping that this week feels a bit better. But you do, I mean, I'm sure you've had it, you just have runs where you just feel awful, like every often I hated my sumo deadlifts.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

I did it the other day. I'm glad I did it, but I was doing it, and I was like, in my head, I was thinking, why the fuck am I even doing a sumo deadlift? I didn't like them.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

That was me, but I was like, I was just grateful because I'd spent a large proportion of that day on my bottom, so I was just grateful. I was like, You're just getting your steps and you're just getting some movement, and I was glad for it, but yeah, it felt frickin' grim to be honest with you. But yeah, hey.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

But just to pair to pair that with what you also told me is that you've cancelled your Strava. Yeah, I think. Do you think that is? Because you've had a bit of injury, a bit of you know, you've picked up some more work that is a bit time, energy, investment. And I hope you don't mind me saying, well, I am saying it now, so you'll have to edit it out if you don't want me to say it. But you were saying that you don't want the comparison. Yes. And actually that's maybe getting in your head.

SPEAKER_02 14:01

So maybe and sometimes that that happens, like we don't feel yeah, it was weird because like it wasn't it, yeah. I definitely, I was like, Do you know what I just don't need this? And it's not even I don't even look at other people that much, it was looking back at what I have been capable of previously running, and I was just like, do you know what? This just for me, I'm I would say generally I'm very lucky, I'm quite a positive, um half like cup full kind of girl, like I really am like that, but it's I don't know what it is with me and running. I think because at one point in my life when I was I wasn't, I'll be totally honest, it wasn't particularly well mentally, but I was apt and I will and I was as a result of that really really tiny. I could run really fast, and I think I still have a little bit of a of a kind of attachment to that which doesn't make me feel good. So I just thought, you know what? I'm just gonna delete it. Because I've got all of those runs on there, obviously, you've got all your historic data, like I've got all of my old runs on there. I was like, I just don't want to see this, and like one of your lovely friends that we met last week. Um, she was like, just don't look at just upload it and don't look at it. I was like, I just don't work like that. What is that? Oh, what's your lovely friend called that we met last week at the Run Club? Where? Oh, Anne. Annie. Annie, yeah, she met she replied on my Instagram. I was like, that's so sweet, it's a really lovely idea. But I was like, I just don't want it, I just don't want it, so it's gone, it's gone. So yeah, that was last week. What else did I do? I had a do you know what I had my follow-up consultation, I don't think I told you about this, with Health, H-E-A-L-F, about a couple of really, really good. Like um for anyone who's going through kind of or want to have private blood tests. Um, it was really good actually. I had a follow-up consultation with a lovely lady. Um, it was 30 minutes, it's pretty thorough, and all luckily all of my markers are pretty good. So we're kind of just a kind of deep diving on a couple of bits, and she's gonna look at some relationships between a couple of hormones for me that I'm interested in just because of my women's health. Um, we kind of nerded out a little bit, but really, really recommend. Very smooth process. You do blood tests, you send them off, you book a consultation, and you take it from there. So, no, I was really impressed with that, so yeah, busy week. Got my teeth more. I think that's the future, yeah, yeah. No, genuinely, it was really, really impressive, very smooth. And from that, I guess if I did then need supplements, then it would be look, you can you can shop them through health. But I was very lucky there was nothing I really needed, which is fab. But it was really refreshing that she was like, you don't need anything. It didn't feel like a upselling less. Like, look, great, let's keep it here, maintain what you're doing now.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

But yeah, we're doing do you know what's amazing about that as a brand for for health? So they've obviously for transparency, we we were gifted these blood tests ages ago, and I've still not done mine. Yeah. Um and and I will, but we we were given them with no and and the sales pitch as it was then was we believe that people are buying in supplements that they don't need, they're not getting any result, and then they're just spinning it. Yeah, and actually, what you if for in short term that's good if you have build up hype and everyone buys into your thing and great, but then if you can't sustain it because you're not getting any results, like what's the point? And I think their approach of saying, right, we're gonna help you to understand what you're actually deficient in, you've come out and you don't need anything, right? But that was such a positive experience that you had with that brand. So it is as and when you do need something or somewhat, you'd probably recommend them.

SPEAKER_02 17:19

And even at the blood testing, like, I'm not I'm not bad with needles, I'm not great with needles, but it was such an easy process, literally, like you, it's one of the it's a bit like a continuous glucose monitor. You literally stick it on the back of your arm, press a button, you don't see a needle, and it was so easy. And honestly, like I'm I'm a big I'm a big kind of data fan for any kind of health metrics. So for me, I want to get into a routine of maybe doing a blood test once a year just to kind of check everything's in check. But I'd a hundred percent go back, and I'd I'd pay for it, honestly. Like, I was so impressed with how smooth it was. And the lady was over, she's like, If you ever need anything, you've got my email, da da da. But yeah, I would really recommend it if anyone's looking for private blood testing because it was really smooth and wasn't very stressful at all. So that's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

That's amazing. Just um, it's just come to my to into the front of my brain to say this back on what you were saying about your run paces and comparison. Again, I hope she doesn't mind me saying, but my friend uh Jananne, who I went uh running with today, she said to me, she texted me a couple of days ago and said, just to let you know my running's not where it was, and I read it and thought, okay, cool. I get I me too. Um and then she said it to me again at Barry's today. And she was like, I went for a run the other day and I looked at my pace and I thought you're having a laugh. And it was like a minute and a half slower than because she's she's a rapid runner, like she's a really, really good runner, and she's she's strong. Um, and it just made it made me sort of we had this conversation. She said, Oh, I listened to your podcast when you were talking about how when you're doing more running, you've you don't always feel as good. And she said, I she said, when I have felt her worst was when she was was running a lot. And I do think you come to a certain time in life where something just doesn't work for you anymore. Yeah, and and she was like, Do you actually like running? to the question to me, and I said, Um, yes, there are times, but on the whole, did I enjoy that last part of the training for the marriage? No, I was in the I was like, I couldn't think of anything worse than to do that. And I think, yeah, I I can relate to what you were saying about the relationship with running. My relationship with running has always stemmed historically from negative mindset or a negative situation. So I've been on like this forever redemption with running to try and get to like it again, and I I think I do on on on the whole, but yeah, it just reminded me of that, like you know, who are we actually disappointing? All you did was go out for a run. Who are you disappointing?

SPEAKER_02 19:40

I know, and I was actually I was really like chatting to myself, but I was like, Sarah, like no one cares, like genuinely no one cares what you're doing. And I was like trying to rationalise it in my head. I was like, you know, it's good to be going slow to kind of pay more attention to how I'm placing my foot and all this stuff. I thought just like just shut up, just go for a run and just listen to podcasts and just enjoy it. And it was and I needed to get off my bum that day, so it was a really I'm glad I'm glad in some ways I did it, but yeah, I was really and I was like, this is silly, like this is so silly, like so. Yeah, so yeah, I'm still gonna do it. I'm gonna I think once a week for an hour whilst I'm building back up from an injury, but yeah, watching the hackney half today, it's I want to get back up to that level. I just it's so cool. Like when you see someone running that distance effortlessly, it's like it's the and it does it can get to that point. I've had that feeling where like it just feels effortless, and that is when running is like genuinely joyful for me, but it takes a lot of work, and I've not I've not been able to put that work in, so no wonder it felt a bit bit lardy. So so so what does that mean then?

SPEAKER_01 20:38

What are you gonna do?

SPEAKER_02 20:39

What am I gonna do? Well, I'm gonna keep I'm gonna keep working on my priometric block. I actually need to do a little check-in with um Mr. Harrison about my programming, which I'm really enjoying. I need and I'm really enjoying doing the plymetric work and power work. I think that's why I was so peed off because I feel like I'm actually progressing with those skills in the gym space. Why I'm is why is this not translating? Um but yeah, so carry on with those. Lots of I'm still doing a lot of boring rehab and prehab on my calves and shins, but I think I'll thank myself for it later. But yeah, I think I probably will start to increase the running volume very gently. But I think for now, just with the way my timings are, a run a week, a couple of runs a week if I've got time will be great. But yeah, I'm just there's a lot of juggling going on at the minute, so it's not it's not a big priority for me, but I would like to get to a point where it doesn't feel so awful, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

And I think that that period of time is just close your eyes and just crack on and just try, yeah, try and get yourself to a position where like just going is the win. It's it's it's it's all about how we how we reframe it. Um I I believe. Um, but I I I also get it. Um but spe speaking of uh in and around women's health, um I know that there was something quite gigantic um over the last week that obviously I'm interested in, um, but is obviously very Very much in your wheelhouse in and around some of the topics and from your own personal experience in the the PCOS saga and the evolution to its new its new name.

SPEAKER_02 22:16

What's the deeds? What's the T on PMOS? Yeah, so PCOS has been renamed this week, which I kind of was aware that that transition was happening, but it kind of like sprung up on us, oh fantastic. So for those who aren't in um I guess the women's health space or they've not been affected by PCOS, PMOS, PCOS was previously polycystic ovarian syndrome, which is a really debilitating condition that a lot of women suffer from, and it was previously called PCOS because I think there was a lot of onus put on the fact that you had to have cysts on your ovaries to have this, which is not true. So it's now been renamed PMOS, which is a polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome. So it's been renamed in my eyes, really effectively. I I haven't got PC PMOS myself, but I've worked with a lot of women who have even been struggling to get a diagnosis of it or they feel like they have possibly have it. Um but yeah, so I'm I'm actually really pleased with this progression. I think there was a bit of mixed feedback as there always is online about it. Um, but I think it's great because it's kind of the name is shifting the focus towards the fact that your kind of metabolic system is really, really affected in terms of insulin resistance, you've got increased risk of type 2 diabetes, um, you've got obviously the ovaries are still impacted, so that's why ovarian is still in there in the name. Um but yeah, I was really pleased with it. I was really, really pleased with it. I think realistically, as with everything, it's gonna take a lot of time for people to get used to it. Um, even I had a client I actually had a client yesterday who was like, Yeah, I'm still kind of chasing this diagnosis for PCOS, and I was like, it's not called PCOS anymore, like it's PMOS. And I said to her, like, you need to, if you want your doctor, and I think we this is with anything, it's not just with this condition, but if you want your doctor to take yourself seriously, you've got to educate yourself as well around something. And I said, You need to go in armed with what this now means for you, and it it nothing on paper, nothing really has changed yet. You basically to be diagnosed, you need to have two out of the three symptoms. So the three symptoms are um high levels androgen, so that's typically testosterone. That's why women with PMOS would have kind of like increased levels of facial hair, darker hair, oily skin. That that is what is why it's quite present in women. Um, irregular periods is another symptom that they you need to present, and polycystic ovaries, so cis on your ovaries. But again, that is quite a kind of complex thing to get diagnosed anyway. But sometimes, I mean, women, lots of women will have cis on their ovaries and not have PMOS. Lots of women with PMOS won't have cis on their ovaries, and they're actually follicles, so it's a really, really difficult diagnosis to get. But I'm hoping that this shift will help women get the diagnosis that they that they deserve and people to take it more seriously, like this is a full body condition, like it will affect blood sugar, it will affect energy, skin, hair, sleep, mental health. The risk of cardiovascular disease. Exactly, like it is so debilitating, and I've seen it firsthand how difficult it can make things for people. So I'm I'm I'm really pleased that it's getting the attention and the renaming, I think, is actually a massive step. There was some la um backlash as there always is. People like, what's this gonna do? Like, well done for kind of recognising. I'm like, well, do you know what? Like, we can't like the past is the past, Addy. We know there's massive gaps in women's health and men's health, we know that. But actually, like, look, this is this is a big turning point with this in itself, there'll be more attention, hopefully it'll funnel more funding, and we can start talking, even like we're talking about it on a podcast, so this wouldn't happen five years ago. I mean, like, as much as we can be angry 100%, but let's use that anger towards something more positive and let's like actually talk about it and educate people and help people have these conversations with their nurses and their doctors to get the support they need. So, yeah, I'm actually really tough about it. I was really buzzing about it. I dropped all of my work, I was like, right, I need to make an Instagram carousel so everyone knows about this. But I was buzzing, I think actually, great. Like, we're talking about stuff like this, like it's so important, um, and it affects so many people.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Yeah, so I was it apparently it's somewhere estimated globally, women of reproductive age between 10 to 13 percent of women, and the World Health Organization believed that around 70% of women who have it are unaware. Totally, yeah, totally. And and I I also I I'm I'm very, very interested to listen to and and follow uh sort of the the GLP one, you know, as someone that's been a PT that has helped people that have fat loss, weight loss goals, yeah. I'm very interested and fascinated to see how how this evolves, and more and more I'm seeing that people in medical positions, and and this is absolutely not uh spoken from a position of qualification. This is just me sharing the conversation that I hear it evolves within that sort of uh circle of thought leadership on this subject, is that people have long thought that people who are overweight are uh or are obese are so because they are lazy, um low will, blah blah blah. And what they're starting to say now is that genetics has potentially a bigger role um than we than we believe. And I think this is really um uh can relate to this particular condition for women, PMOS, yeah, because we know that you know obviously lots of higher uh um hormone uh issues, thyroid, etc. Yeah, that do have an impact on your metabolism and your ability to yeah to to process uh energy with within your body. And I think women are just always you know, we're always a failure if we're not the small or or thin. And I just think this this whole thing of like being undiagnosed or it not being taken seriously, and then women having because they're not getting any answers, they're having to resort to you know, and then this is not always the case, let's say, but millions of people statistically are using a GLP one because quite frankly, they've they've tried everything else and it hasn't worked for them. So I think we we we we have to really uh approach this with as with as little judgment as possible because uh I I hear it talked a lot about in terms of food noise. People say one once they use that or they have medication or or are find a way to manage these conditions, then it's not that they were just lazy bastards and and and just spent all day in the fridge. Actually, this was a biological or or or or response uh to a hormonal change. So, yeah, I I completely um uh echo what you're saying about you know go growing up through school and all of this, you know, we always talk about periods and heavy periods, and some people get it worse than others, and oh you know, I might have endometriosis, and someone's got really bloated, you know, lower abdomen out of nowhere, and what's that? Like, it's actually bonkers to think that half of our global population have not had answers on something that impacts 13% of us.

SPEAKER_02 29:56

Yeah, it's yeah, it's really why, and it's it's it's so true. Like, even I'm sure my client won't mind me talking about this. Like, well, I've worked with her for six, seven years now, and it's been an ongoing thing, and we've both really worked together to get to build her confidence to a space where she's like, actually, I said to her, like, you're working, she works so hard in the gym, she works so hard for me. But I said to her, like, look, we need to we need to look at some blood testing here, we need to actually really pursue an answer in terms of what's going on. I was like, I can see you're working so hard in the gym, you're eating well. I said, It it just feels like your body's fighting you on this, and she was like, Yeah, and I've had, and again, I know she won't want me to talk about she. We've had tears, we've had so many tears where she's like, I'm working so hard, and I'm not and I said to her, like, you're not you don't you're not seeing the results you deserve, and that's truthfully what I've said to her because she works so hard, and I was like, Look, there's something going on here, let's get you into the and she's finally, thank goodness, found an amazing doctor and an amazing nurse that are actually taking her seriously. But I said, like, look, let's look at these, let's look at these issues, but it's so slow, like trying to get like even kind of like transvaginal scans to see if you've got cysts and ultrasounds and all sorts, like it's so hard, and you might even have a scan like this. You and I think this is why this is great. We've shifted from PCOS to PMOS now because I think people would wait years and years to get even a scan done to see if they've got cysts, not have cysts, and then think, well, I don't have polycystic ovary syndrome. Then it's like, well, you you could still very much have that, you just don't have that one of three symptoms that they want from you. So yeah, I'm really I am really pleased, and I think you're so right in terms of actually, are we gonna see people understanding what is going on more because they're actually taking the time to educate themselves on maybe actually it's not this, I'm not lazy, I'm working really hard. Actually, could there be something underlying here that is really not helping me? Because it's it's so obvious, like some of these symptoms are so obvious. I'm the same life. I can check, I check myself for symptoms all the time. So I'm like, actually, I'm aware that I'm kind of still chasing some something, something for me I know is not quite right here. And I'm someone who spends hours a week educating themselves around this, so yeah, it's we're getting there. I again I feel like we say this every but I feel I do really truly feel like the tides are turning. I had a really long um workshop call before my exams next week with my um mental health institute that I'm doing my qualification with, and we it was finished really uplifting these. She was like, Look, like you guys are part of this like turning tide now, like women care, people are getting loud now, and I feel like we actually are making so many more inroads than we did even kind of five, six years ago. We just the fact, yeah, we're talking about this, and there's been a massive shift in in a massive diagnosis. You think, as we said, those numbers, so many people are impacted by this, so but people have got no choice but to pay attention now. I feel I feel like we're just making the noise that it deserves, finally.

SPEAKER_01 32:49

Yeah, and and um I was in uh David Lloyd's uh this week. Big up, um big Dave. I was in David Lloyd this week, and I attended a class on their timetable, um, which is a educational seminar delivered in the club room by one of the female health professionals on the topic of the menopause. And I was in I was in there with fellow members uh and a male, um, my uh a chap that I work closely with, uh David Lloyd, he is the the partnerships lead at David Lloyd, and as part of the work that we're doing on nutritional education together, um we thought let's go and sit in one uh you know from as a as a member. Yeah. And it was just I just sat there and I was just like, wow, on the actual time, not it wasn't a peak slot, no, it wasn't as you know, a 7am, a 6 p.m. It was in the middle of the day, but I think there's good reasons for why it was in the middle of the day because I do think you need it needs to be the right environment. You know, who wants to be getting up at 7am to talk about menopause? Probably not many people, you know. So it it was it was a lunchtime-ish vibe, and we sat down and we've what we followed uh a very well thought through presentation. Um, and obviously, uh you know the the individual um elements of of how people perceive this information, how they take it, you know, it we're we're still in the early days of truly understanding all of this, but I just felt so pleased to be sat there that they have put on the timetable. This is part of a lot of investment in training up female health leads in all of their clubs around the country to be able to have this conversation. And the member that one of the female members that I was with, she was sharing a story, she was French, and she said that she has no idea about any of this information. She was older than me, so probably was within perimenopause from what she was saying, what she was describing, but didn't seem to really know. And she said that her father was very um, he was very much oh, you know, I would never he wasn't interested in older women, but it basically he wouldn't he they were his her parents were divorced, and he was saying that he wouldn't date a woman who wasn't in her fertile years, essentially. And she said that's he's very he's very like that, you know, he he would openly say that, and she says that she now in that time of life now feels a lot of shame attached to that because she remembers when she was younger her father would dismiss older women, you know, but they're past it. Um but that's obviously that's her own personal situation. But I just felt I felt a lot of sympathy for her. Not only has she not, you know, she's grown up in a situation where older women are basically wish I was dead, um, and she knows nothing about probably a phase of life that she's in. And the symptoms that she was discussing was you know being having hot flushes and you know everything. And I'm sort of sat there and I'm thinking, who's gonna tell her? Yeah, who's gonna tell her? She's probably in perimenopause.

SPEAKER_02 35:47

I wasn't very bold about right.

unknown 35:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

I obviously I I I have to uh it's it's not my it's not my show. I was I was there as a participant, right? So I just was was very was very grateful. But you're right, I do think the tides are turning, and often, you know, when we see sort of fitness news, we see brands, big brands, think Gatorade us or I think maybe we talked about this last week and invested loads of money in, but it's a smart brand move as well. You're gonna get a lot of women like in your brand if you're seen to you know be doing this stuff. So yeah, but I think one of the things that um I found about this seminar is is the woman that delivered it, uh and obviously, you know, it it was a woman, she delivered it in such a way that I just thought, yeah, it was non-judgmental, it was factual, it was inclusive, it um and she shared a lot of her own personal, so she made it a safe, uh, a safe space, psychologically safe. And it got me thinking about uh with another experience I had in in another gym uh this week around this the topic of emotional intelligence uh in the fitness industry. I would like to think that you and I have a high level of emotional intelligence. Um I I I haven't ever had any psychological uh tests, I've never been tested for any neuroide diversity, but I'm sure there's something going on. Um I I I can be uh yeah, sometimes a little bit hyper-fixated on things, and I do look into the detail of absolutely everything, and then I'm not interested at all for the next 10 to 12 business years. So I I I but I do think emotional intelligence is something that I've found has been very important, and I think it is also a reason why I have been able to experience um a long career in fitness, is because I really want to or hope that I do understand people. And something that I saw a few weeks ago um around consumer profiling in gyms, it was around the different segments, and yes, you can look at I've done a lot of work in qual and quant studies in in sort of consumer research groups at my time in Unilever L'Oreal, but also uh in my time within sports supplements, and yes, you can cluster behaviours by need state and goals, and you can get lots of people in together. But I saw a quote that said, I don't have 10 consumer groups. How I've got a million members, so I've got a million consumer groups, and what they were obviously trying to say is I can't I can't treat any group of people as the same. I have 10 people in my class, I have 10 completely individual needs, and I talk about this a lot. I was talking uh to my friend Janine about the the bloke who ran our Barry's class today. I mean, he was basically like calling the horse racing, it was like tread six, seven, eight, floor on your renegade rose, you're going three, two, one, and it is stressful. And having taught that type of class, yeah, you've got to be on it, and you're coaching lots of people, so something that's gonna gas that one person up might really offend or demotivate another. And I said there is real skill in global coaching, uh, coaching the room, and I think emotional intelligence is one of the key success factors in having a long career in fitness at any level. So, what is emotional intelligence? So, emotional intelligence is the ability to recognise, understand, and manage our emotions and identify most importantly, emotions in others. It involves uh empathy, um, self-awareness, and emotional regulation. Uh, people with high emotional intelligence are better equipped to navigate social complexities, lead and motivate others, and under stressful, high-pace situations can make good informed decisions. And I know that sounds all very corporate, but actually, in on the gym floor, you've got to make decisions constantly from what you're hearing, what you're seeing, what you've seen before, all of this context of that client or or that group. You obviously have just come into coaching group fitness now, and you don't remember no offense, of course you don't, you don't even know their names yet. It's gonna take a bit of time, it's gonna take a bit of time.

SPEAKER_02 40:03

I really impressed myself. I was on the register in you come, in you come, in you come. But that in itself, like that feedback is so key. Like, people want to be full, they want to feel like they're included, and that's so I I totally agree. And I I when I saw this, was that you want to discuss about this? I was like, great, like I find this topic so fascinating because I do truly believe it is why I have been successful at my job because I am again never been diagnosed in the process of I think there is also something going on there, possibly in terms of a neurodivergency, because I feel like I operate at a very high E um EQ, possibly a little bit on the on the level of burnout level at some points where I'm kind of so concerned by everyone's emotions around me, but I do also think that's a real benefit of me and a real I think that's a lovely part of my personality is I care so much how people are feeling and how they're doing, and especially, and that's actually something I really thought about this week when I was coaching. I was like, everyone in this room, there's 10 wonderful people in this room, but how they will receive me and how they want to receive me will be totally different, like and it obviously it depends on what time they've come in, but it's so it's so it's really difficult to nail, it's a really really hard skill to nail, and I think especially when you've got timers going on and and all that kind of kind of logistical stuff to battle, plus how you're finding people and meeting people, it's a really really hard thing to do, and I think especially when you are operating on the higher end scale of kind of EQ, and it can be really exhausting, and I think that's honestly a level of why I burnt out so badly last year was because I was engaging with a lot of people at on the one-to-one level. That's in some ways they're both they're both exhausting, but I think the one-to-one level for me was even more exhausting because then I would then leave that session and worry about them for four days after. So it's it's a real skill to have, but it's learning to harness that in a sustainable way as well, is really hard to do, I think.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

It is, and I definitely think um in the early stages of my fitness career, I was like way, I was deep in every single person, and you know, probably overcoaching, over queuing because I just wanted so badly for them to do well and develop, and I could see these things, and I want to help, and and certainly later on in in life and and in my career, less is definitely more. Um but I think you've got to go through, I think you've got to go through um that that evolution, and I and I also could probably look back and reflect on because at the time in my fitness career I was doing a lot of sort of high-intensity, uh call it functional fitness, crossfit, whatever. Uh, and I do think it is it it can be easy in that lens that you're in as a coach to project your bias, your goals onto other people. And I think the real skill is it's not about obviously it's not about us, but it's to some, it takes your time to learn that. It's not about you, it's about what it's about what they want and how they and how they've arrived. So the the example that um that I had this week, and I'm gonna this is no shade on on the on the person, this is just I cannot go to group exercise classes because it is mental torture for me because I have coached and educated and developed coaches and run teams for 10 years and been part of a gym, so it it I just can't do it. It's it's really is torture for me. But anyway, I was in this session, and one of the exercises was lunges, and it was dumbbell lunges, and I had had a really busy, psychologically, physically busy day a couple of days before. I was physically not feeling my best, and I just wanted to move. That was my goal for the day. I didn't express that as I arrived, I arrived as myself, and I chose a particular weight on the dumbbell, did a round. With that weight, went back, came back to it, and to the the dumbbell was there, was not the one I chose. It was it went from 10 to 15 kilos. Now I'm gonna immediately see the positives in this, and and this is how I believe the intention was. So this is not a negative. I just wanted to share this as an example of how it could come across to someone. So I have chosen the 10. On that day, I chose that 10. I know I could do more. I didn't want to. I just wanted to I just wanted to move. Ideally, I wouldn't even have chosen a weight, I would have just done body weight lunges. But anyway, I chose 10. So I've come back. The coach delighted with themselves because what they've done is they've given they've shown me confidence in me. Yeah that what are you doing with the 10? You can do the 15. Now I know I can do the 15. I just didn't want to. Yeah. I didn't want to because I knew what I was going on to do that day. I knew what I had to do tomorrow. Yeah, I just didn't, there was no need for me. And I started picked up the 15 and started doing a couple of reps. And I was like, no, just don't you don't have don't you don't have to do that. So I popped it down and I said, I don't want that one, and I went to collect my 10 again, and then I thought, oh god, you've been a bit of a diva there. But I thought, well, no, and then I thought, obviously, because I'm now really overthinking this, as I always do in every group class. I'm looking at the warm-up, the exercise selection. I'll tell you another thing that I also is my pet peeve in fitness classes. If you're using ergs, right, and you've got ergs in the room, don't face the erg to the wall. Turn that machine round so it's facing inside inside the room. Yeah. I said um a load of bins, I was on the bike in the corner looking out the window, and I was just looking at some bins. I couldn't see anyone else. I was in the corner anyway. Just turn the bike around, is my connection, yeah, yeah. Just make their environment more inclusive, more great anyway. That was what I would do anyway. But yeah, so then I was like, oh no, I hope I haven't offended them. I hope they don't think that I that I'm being a diva about it. And I thought, well, how could I have how could he have done that uh differently? He could have, and what I would have really liked is he could have put the 15. This is what I would have done, put the 15 next to the 10 and said, here's an option if you feel like going for it. So what that does is it's not saying that 10's shit, it's not it's not dismissing it.

SPEAKER_00 46:31

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:32

And I know that sounds like a really minor detail, or that I'm being really pinnickety, but it actually got to me a little bit. So I was like, oh, I don't want to do the 15. I chose the 10.

SPEAKER_02 46:44

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I I something I'm aware of as well, because I I've been in class before before it's like, oh, you can do heavy. It's like, yeah, but I don't want to do heavier, like I I'm I'm my own person, I can make that. That's why, like, my my generally my coaching cue is we've done like X rounds, done three rounds in this push press now. Do you feel like you can give me a little bit more? You know yourself, you know your body, and I kind of preface all of my warm-ups with checking with how your body's feet, say, where are your energy levels and match it there? Like, I'm not gonna make you do anything you don't want to do because we're adults, you know what you want to do in this project, and now you can tell when someone needs a bit more of a push or they want that encouragement. Yeah, it's a different difference between if someone's sandbagging it because they don't feel supported.

SPEAKER_01 47:24

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 47:24

Yeah, exactly, exactly. And it's hard, it's hard, and I think you as you learn to get to know people, and perhaps because this coach, obviously, you are known for being a fitness, a fitness person, like he would probably, or he or she would maybe think actually she could do heaven, but but it's it's it's a skill, isn't it? And I I think that's that and you're so right seeing the positives that I think that's a hundred percent the intention there was like come on Laura. Well I tell you, let's go. But actually, you know yourself so well if you want to do the tens, do the bloody tens. But yeah, I hear you, it's and it that and I do think that will have an impact, and obviously, I'm sure this coach, as they learn and develop, will will coach in a different way, perhaps, or will learn what people to do that with or not.

SPEAKER_01 48:06

But it's hard, it's really hard. It is, and I I now I believe that the next time I'm there, they won't do that because they've learnt actually that person didn't respond how I thought they would. So I'm I'm not I'm definitely not saying that it's uh it's a negative, it's on me on how I took it. It was on it was how I walked into the room that day, yeah. And and and that's why I was then beating myself up. I didn't enjoy the rest of it. I was beating myself up thinking, I hope I haven't offended the coach.

SPEAKER_02 48:38

Yeah, yeah. But that's the thing and then some days you like last like next week, for example, you can walk in and be like, yeah, thanks for that. I fucking love the fact that you just gave me some 1500.

SPEAKER_01 48:47

But I I think there's there's real skill in showing someone that you believe they can do more and letting them it be their choice to go there. 100%. Right. And and that's that's that's the nuances I I think in in understanding or learning uh uh about a person. So I think yeah, it emotional intelligence, we've we've all been, you know, and actually today I'll say another example today in Barry's, and again, this is not an anything specific, I think this is just how the class style is or or or or maybe just what I heard today. But as they were going down the treadmills, they only called out the high numbers uh and or on the treads, so it was like if you it was like yes, 12, 11, like what if you were running at a ten, you didn't get a shout out. Oh and I j and just because I'm always in my head with these things, I'm thinking, well, the person next to me was running at an eight, but that's and they were but they were giving it some, so it's like at what point do we celebrate the efforts? I and I know that you know we're in a performance environment, and sometimes that's it just be like that, and you've you've gotta, you know, that's the whole point, right? And that maybe some person will be like, I didn't get a call out, right? I'm gonna make it my mission to work really hard and then I'll run at at 12, and that's what makes them better. But that won't be the case for everyone.

SPEAKER_02 50:04

No, I think my reaction is that would be like, yeah, yeah, I'm just I'm a stubborn, I'm a little stubborn cow in a class situation that I'll be like, I'm not gonna run then, fine, because you've you but yeah, I I that's it's just not how I would do it, but it works for some people, and like Barries, they're bloody successful because people love those classes and love them. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 50:26

It definitely works for some people, and it definitely and that's what I mean about you can't just group cluster, this is that consumer pro yeah, you've got individuals, and yeah, uh what I love about Barries is they've really stuck by their print. This is how this is us, they've not suddenly they're not suddenly uh this or the new trend, or you've not seen Barry's Pilates. They are running and they are lifting at speed in the red room to bang in tunes. What was on the playlist today? Oh, it was everything. There was like there was Jewel Peeps, um Jula Peeps, there was a bit of Little Mix, there was Oh Um Yeah, Unholy, Sam Smith, the remix, the the like the disco remix. Yeah, it was it was it was um yeah, it was really really good. I I loved it, but yes, emotional intelligence for me, I just I think about it a lot, far more than I far more than I should. Um and I think about the people that I have worked with and the and the mentors that I have uh looked up to, and actually the ones that I feel very grateful to have been around have got a really high level of emotional intelligence, and I know I always uh you know guess him up, but uh as I should because he he's he was the greatest had the greatest impact on me and my fitness career. But Ben, Ben Gotting, he just he knows how to speak to every single person as an individual, and the person that's doing the four kilo dumbbells, he will celebrate. He he just sees effort, all he sees is effort, and he's like and he'll be like, if for example, he could see I was sandbagging my weight, he'd come up and he'd go, You look super strong on that last set. If you've got some more, let me know. Of course, I'm gonna be like, Oh wow, he thinks I look great. Um actually I might choose that for myself because he believes in me, and I know it's only you know small, but that that communication is different, is is amazing. So I I what while I was um fascinated on this topic, I found uh an article about emotional fitness. Uh they this article said emotional intelligence is overrated, we should aim for emotional fitness uh in instead. And and they say most of us struggle with difficult emotions and moods because we were never taught much about them, either how they work or how to work with them. And as a result, most of us feel bad for having them and try to get uh make them go away uh as fast as possible. And instead of constantly trying to fix or eliminate these emotions, what have we learned how to work with them? So they say the idea of emotional fitness is that in order to lead healthy, happy emotional lives, we need consistent habits and exercise that supports our mental health. Just like physical health, it depends on a foundation of good diet, exercise habits, our emotional health depends on our positive habits and exercises. So it's like we might understand that intellectually that beating yourself up with negative self-talk can only make your mood worse, but changing that inner voice is slow, challenging work. So there he's talking about how we can like like we do in the gym, how do we work with emotional fitness because it implies that to achieve meaningful and lasting change in our emotional lives, it takes a commitment to exercise and new habits in addition to more knowledge and information. So it's almost like you can improve how you manage your emotions if you train them. So you can't, it's not just saying that person has high emotional intelligence, that person has low emotional intelligence, it's like how emotionally fit is someone, and I don't know if I think people are able to work on their emotional intelligence. I wonder if it is just a character trait, it is just your personal profile.

SPEAKER_02 54:13

Yeah, I agree with you on that one. I think to some extent, you're either born with it or you're not. I think, yeah, I guess it's that there's always an element of kind of nature versus nurture with everything is in there in terms of kind of characteristics, but I do strongly believe, yeah, you kind of it's something you're born with. Like I've always been like I can remember even being like this is quite exposing, but like even being a child, like I'd be sat at my piano practicing. This is such a key memory of mine. Like sat, my mum set like a 20-minute time in the oven. She's like, Sarah, you will do your piano practice, and I'm sat there, but I can't focus on practicing my piano because I'm worrying. I'm literally going through a list of who could I've possibly upset to or said anything wrong to that I'm gonna look who after this to check they're okay. Like, and I was what, six, seven? Like, and I like that's not I don't think like I think you're naturally born with that kind of like want to check on everyone. Like I I always say to everyone, like my maternal instincts are like someone's up, someone up there is like turned mine up to like an extreme, but I've been like that since I was since I was at school. Like I remember even on school playground, if there was an argument at school, I'd be kind of running around the playground making sure everyone was okay, and that like that was recognised by teachers and spoken to my parents, being like, Sarah's like really, really emotionally intelligent, and that wasn't necessarily taught to me. I think I was born like that, and it's something that I've had to learn to kind of harness a little bit and get under control because it can be really consuming. So, yeah, I think I and but then saying that I have m invested myself and my time in into therapy, which I've been very privileged to do to learn how to look after my emotions and keep my emotions in check as well. So I think there's an element of I guess kind of cognitive behavioural therapy where you can start to learn to self-regulate a little bit, but I do think I agree, I think genetically you're more predisposed to be like that. I think from my experience from what I've seen as well.

SPEAKER_01 56:12

I am I have this very strange thing that later in life I've become very aware that I do in that sometimes when I'm interacting with some people I actually proactively avoid looking at them because I am such a deep reader of body language. Yup, yup, yup, and sometimes it burns me to read if their body language is negative towards me. And I know that sounds real I know that sounds really bizarre to say, but it is like if you're having a so as an example of this, if I'm having a conversation with someone who you know you've always you've spoken you've always met that person at the party who you're talking to, but they're looking through you to look who else is at the party, that is a great example of me being emotionally internally burned because I'm reading their body language. Oh, bye Diggs, that was the cat. Um, I'm reading their body language that they don't want to they don't want to actually be in this conversation, and so much so that when I'm talking to people, I try so hard to look at people in the eyes to give them the confidence that I'm listening.

SPEAKER_02 57:33

Yeah, yeah, I get that too. I'm similar, like I'm like I'm a real eye contact person.

SPEAKER_01 57:40

I'm a real eye contact. I'm nodding and I'm like, yes, I because I can read body language. So I studied communication studies at college, and non-verbal communication was like my the most fascinating subject for me because it's not what you say, it's how you say it, and sometimes it doesn't matter what you say at all, your body language says it before you've spoken. So yeah, it's it's mad, isn't it? And yeah, I think in a gym environment, you need it's again, it's not just what you say, it's it's how your body language is like you know, we're as coaches on the gym floor, we have it is our job, we're observing, we're watching. But how are we managing our body language and how are we reading other people? And when they've done that RDL wrong for the 5,000th time, how do we react? How do we find the positive and say, okay, next time we're gonna really hinge at the hip and really push our hips back? And I think that's you know, that having the ability to regulate your emotion to be able to communicate well to the individuals that are in front of us that have all had probably something going on in their lives. Yeah, you know, I'm here telling you to lunge, but you could have something really severe going on in your mind, and like how do we read that? And how do we help people feel safe and supported and and pushed? You know, I believe you can do more, but do you believe? Do you want to do you want to go there today? Okay, we yes, it's a joint, it's a joint decision. So yeah, I just the the more I I'm gonna ban myself from going to group classes because it's just it's it's too much in my head. I'm like, oh, that's a rogue. Push up some burpees as the warm-up. Are we okay? Okay, we move on. I definitely think I think too much uh about it. Like you know, no one's gonna die doing a push-up and a burpee, it wouldn't be my choice, but okay.

SPEAKER_02 59:31

Exactly. No, I'm the same, but like I'll check myself and like I'll and like bless Will who owns Barch, but like obviously I'm only like third week in now, and he's asking that how are you getting on? And I'm like, Yeah, good, and then I'm like sat there, like literally micro-analysing everything. I'm like, I could have done that differently, I could have done this differently. And I was like, he bless him, like he trusts I'm doing a good job. He's like, You're fine, but I I myself, I'm like, oh, I could have coached that differently, I could have approached that person differently. But it it's it's I think that allows me though to actually be really switched on in a coaching environment. It's tough for you, but it's positive self-awareness to help you learn. Exactly. So, no, I'm really I am really enjoying the challenge of it, and I think that's why I think that's probably why I love coaching so much, is actually in terms of my EQ, I'm like, it's it's quite challenging, it's quite different. So, yeah, and I think I think you've nailed it there. I think it really does boil down to making someone feel safe in in an environment. I think that's genuinely what it all boils down to is making sure someone feels safe, primarily, making sure they feel seen and you're meeting them where you need to meet them that day, and that will be different every single day you meet that person. It's the same with friendships, the same with any kind of relationship. Like it's true, it's true. You you meet someone where they're at, like and it's and it's making them feel safe and seen and understood, and just doing the best job you can, which in a in a coaching environment is really hard when you've got 15, 20 plus people in there sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:52

So it's but I that's why I think a smart warm-up, and if if I've never if I'm going to coach a group of people I've never met before, a smart warm-up will I will go through all of the movement patterns and I will do I will uh you know put in an exercise that shows me uh some power expression or some of the movement patterns, you know, a single leg bodyweight RDL, we've got RDLs in the workout, okay. I can immediately spot who's struggling, who's not, who's not putting much into their broad jumps. Okay, cool. All of that is learning for me at the start. So that's why when when I've experienced a a warm-up that feels ill-considered to me, I think what a missed opportunity for you to learn about these people to connect and to lock eyes with someone and go, how are you feeling? Good, okay, right. So yeah, I I just I just think you know, I'm I'm certainly not perfect, I'm certainly not an expert, but I just think in my experience of having a what you could call on paper a successful uh fitness career, as as we have over 10 years, you far longer than me actually, might you were you're like 15, aren't you? Um not years old, 15 years in the in in the industry. Yeah, it's just you you've got to continuously learn, and it's just that's why sometimes I think it's not even about the workout, it's how you deliver it and how you get the best out of that person as to what they need uh in that day. But yeah, it's I could talk about this for about 10 years, but we we must um come to the end of our of our podcast, and as we come to the end, I would like to invite Sarah to share her pit of the week. Do you know what? It links back to what we've just been talking about.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:34

We're always talking about the same thing. Who's rude this week? Tell me. Literally, but I do know what I have had a flurry of rude people in the gym. Rude toodes, rude toods in the gym, and I just a bit fed up with it. Do you know what I and I think again? I was randy to law about this before we even started. She's like, I'm sure you literally bend over backwards being polite to people.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:56

I can imagine it.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:57

I think it's possibly part of it. Like I'm always like, excuse me, hi, sorry, sorry to interrupt you. Just seeing you've been doing three sets of three reps, really great form. Da da da. Please make your cut. And literally, some of the- I love your shoes. Oh my god, where do you train? I love your hair. Anyway, I'm really nice to people in the gym, as I'm sure you can all imagine, because I'm a lovely, lovely person.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:17

But people aren't very nice back, and I'm just getting a little bit funny. And I'm just like, why are we being so unpleasant? And you know what? I kind of I'm kind of I've I'm I'm quite strong, I'm quite a brave girl in the gym. Again, we are aware it will shift through my cycle. Sometimes I'm feeling a little bit more fragile, I'm a little bit more stressed in the gym, but I just think it's so much easier to be a nice person, particularly woman to woman. We know that a gym environment typically is a male-dominated space. Me as a fellow woman, I'm I'm really going out of my way to make sure I'm like, I see you, girl, you're smashing this. Well done for being here. What's the need for being rude or being snappy or being sassy? Let's let's unite here and make this space feel inclusive and enjoyable for everyone. So, my pit of the week is that rude people in the gym have had enough. I've had enough. I get it. You get me. I can't wait, I can't wait to see you in the gym. I've not actually crossed paths with Laura yet in my gym.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:17

I know I went there for a whole day and she wasn't there. What wasn't that up on the teeth top? I so uh my my experience uh at the gym last week is I was in the rack and I was doing my sumo deadlifts that I didn't really want to do, but I'm trying I'm trialling out a new programme. I don't know if I'm into it yet, but I just I'm very much a structure, so if I say I'm gonna do something, I I do it all to the letter. Um I've really enjoyed the Zopman curls actually in the programme, but anyway. Um as I looked down the racks, racks on racks on racks, it was all full of birds, and I was delighted. And there's part of me that wanted to just go and chest bump them all. High five done that's just high five down the hole. I would have got escorted out, but yeah, some bird doing Zopman curls has just chest bumped all of the other females. Um, I think she's new here. Um, but yeah, I I I hear you rude people in the gym. I just always try and remind myself that it is not you. They might have just been fired and they just got an email.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:17

And I'll be like, someone's just beat me, it's just having a bad day. And I'm like, I know, but I just it just really upset me.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:23

I actually had um some, I think I touched uh an accidental nerve via email with uh someone uh work related this week, and I I think I asked one too many questions, but to my defence, I don't think they really clarified my uh questions, so I had to keep asking in different ways to try and get some answer. And they replied in all capitals. And I thought, okay then. And that I didn't even bother to reply. I thought, you know what, I it's not that deep. You've pushed it to the capitals. You've yeah, and I I I imagine I mean I thought I imagine they've probably not fully read what I've asked, and they've they've just replied, but they they only half replied, so I didn't get, I thought, you know what, I'll ring them. Next week, I'll let this slide, but I have just received an email in all capitals saying this is correct. I was like, okay. Um, yeah, just got we've just got we've just got to remember, you know. I might do that to you next time. What time are we meeting? 6 pm. This is correct. This is correct. Don't ask me again. Um, okay, my pit of the week. Um, I have experienced again. This is maybe this is similar to you could call this rude people in the gym. I don't think it's rude. I think people are just so str I the amount of times I hear in and about my life, people going, how you doing? Yeah, good, got work's been a lot and pretty stressed actually, but it's alright. I think people, when they get to the gym or they've finished their workout, they come and sit in the changing rooms and they just mong out. They look at their phone and they're just scrolling.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:49

Oh and they are sat in the chair.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:51

I always found it weird because I'm like getting changed, I'm like completely naked, and you're sat there on a mega scroll fest in your gym gear. So they're sat on the bench on their phones, and I'm like, sit sit on a comfy chair in the room.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:10

Just a changing room, the clue is in the name. We are in this room to get changed. Some gyms are quite strict on like not having phones out, which I'm kind of down for. Like, I do agree. I think if I Yeah, I hear you. I do understand, like, yeah, I try not, I do I've I'm so weird. I always like having a podcast in my ear when I'm getting changed and stuff, because I find change rooms a little bit overwhelming. Um, but I've always got my phone out, but I try and keep it covered with my clothes so people don't think I'm taking photos of them. I had a really awkward moment though, I think I messaged you. I was on the chew back the other day from the gym and I was taking a picture of a really, really nice sunset. But this poor woman, and I thought, should I explain myself? I was like, I can't be arsed. I think she must have thought I was taking a photo of her, but I was taking a photo of the sunset next to her, and I purposely cropped.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:57

Did you show her the did you show her the photo?

SPEAKER_02 1:07:59

I thought maybe I should have showed her after, but she really was giving me some foul looks, and I thought, do you know what a fair play? If I thought someone would take a photo of me on the tube, I'd be like, what are you doing? Um, yeah, awkward, awkward. I hear you. Yeah, just check your phone outside the change rooms, please, everybody. Keep your phones all.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:13

I just thought, do you know what? I was just like, I don't know, but then I thought, why is this irritating me? Just get changed and leave. But it was taking up space. Fine, move. It was taking up space, and my key thing in life that I've been trying to as I'm getting older and I'm trying to understand myself a bit more, if it's not efficient, I hate it. I think let's get this done. Let's move, people. Yeah, I hate you. Yeah, I can't help myself. That is a family trait. Yeah, oh yeah. Yeah. How I've not been punched in the face for making comments like, could you walk any slower? I don't know. Yeah, I think. But it but anyway, yeah, so that that's that's my pit. So let's let's end on a high then as we come to the end of this podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:59

What's been your peak of the week? Your, I've literally just seen Laura's because we do plan this on document before, and it's actually just made me laugh out loud. But my peak of the week was the Hackney half marathon. I've just got back from supporting my friends. Oh friends, I've got back from supporting my beautiful friends. Shout out Remy and Ola and lovely Natty, they all smashed it. But I just love watching events. But that Hackney half marathon, everyone is. I literally said to Laura, everyone is so beautiful and so cool. Like on the outfits and all the gorgeous girlies with their beautiful outfits, it was just stunning. And me and my friend were like, She's beautiful, she's beautiful, she's beautiful, she's beautiful, but it's just everyone was buzzing. I think when the sun's out, I think I think sadly, if the rain was out, it would have been a little bit of a different story. But there's something about like running events, the sun out, live music, good vibes. Like it is just such a good feeling. Like, I I think I had the same like euphoric realization after I saw Laura in that landmark's hoff, but she was so inspired by me. You just can't beat it, can you? Like, it's just great because freebies here, there, and everywhere. Elf was handing out free skincare. There was tenzing, there was I had three kombucha waters. My gut health must be fantastic, but yeah, just a really lovely end to my week.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:15

Yeah, and I I also think obviously running is having its moment, it's exploding. Running is like a thing, and um I've I've had I have lots of conversations with lots of lovely girlies in in my DMs. Some I know, some I don't know, but I I'm very grateful that I guess this is the part of the reason I'm still on social media is that sometimes I get a lovely message to say, Oh, I saw that you've started jujitsu, and because you've done that, well, I've given it a go now, or weightlifting wasn't really bringing me joy either. And I I love how open you were about that that it was you you you weren't loving it anymore, and you just needed a break and you want to dive into something else. And I think we can we can attach so much of our identity to our sport, and with running, it's just it's just putting one foot in front of the other. I know everything can get super serious, and people can be judgy, and I honestly, with every single sport I've ever been in, you've got those extremes. But I love the little girly running aesthetic, the little shorts, the big sunglasses, and the little gilet, little socks. People are like expressing themselves through their running outfits. That's exactly it, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I I I know that I recognise that there's a bit of privilege in that, in that the you know, these carbon shoes and all this gaff and all these trainers and sunglasses, it's not cheap stuff, right? I do get that, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I but I I just I love I love seeing the joy that people get from running, the escapism that they get, yeah. You know, at the end of the day, it it's it's it's not that deep. Um, so yeah, I I I absolutely I I love it. I I've well I've got my I think I'm in a bit a bit denial. I've not done a long run again this weekend, and I'm just reminded myself by the way, hun, you are doing an ultra. What is that? It's the end of yeah, it's the yeah, yeah, it's four weeks. And so far, my training today was steps around IKEA. So my peak of this week was so I as I've said I went to Barry's with my friend Jananne and we had a really good coffee catch-up, as we do, and then she said, I desperately need to go to IKEA, and I thought, we're not going to fucking Croydon, and she said, No, it's Oxford Circus, it's IKEA in the city, and I thought, well, how the hell are you getting a lack table home with you on the tube? And she said, No, no, no, you just you fill up the little bits and bowls, you get a big blue bag. So my peak was just walking around IKEA with one of my besties picking up mugs, and I was like, Oh, I love that mug, and she'll kill me for saying this. But this was a genuine reaction. We were walked around this little corner, and there was loads of cushions, and she went, Oh my god, look at those cushion covers. And I was like, Are you okay? Like genuine joy. So I really recommend going to IKEA just for some escapism because that that shit's cheap. So my art I have five IKEA mugs, £3.50 each. Oh win, and they are lovely. And then I also bought a cutlery uh tray for my drawer. Is it the silver one with the no no, no, no, no, no, no. It's like um it's like a dark grey plastic uh tray divider anyway. I don't know what I was thinking. It doesn't fit, it doesn't fit at all. Jananne texts me, she was like, I'm desperate to know did the did the cutlery tray fit. I was like, absolutely not. She had a fail with um some storage boxes that she thought are massive, but they can basically fit two pairs of shoes in. Oh we've both had a fail, but we've got loads of mugs that we didn't need. So that has been my peak um of the week. And uh it's not non-gym related, so I think I'm I think I'm maturing. She's maturing, she's getting outside the gym. I know I'm reading books and going to IKEA. That's actually that's not great. I should put that on my dating profile. I'll get what I'm given for that. I had a great Sunday going to read a book and I've got five bucks for a pound fifty each. Yeah, well, thing is my future husband is he's not at the ship, I can tell you that for free. Oh hell I think he was actually at Hackney Half Marathon today. There was some or just people maybe. Well, you know, another day, another day gone by. I'm still uh loving my single life with five new mugs, so and you a hair mask and your Elton J. I know my hair honestly, I'm life maxing. Is that what they everyone calls it? Is that what it's called? Life maxing, yeah. I think you just say one, you can just say anything and say you're maxing it, so it's like I'm hair maxing at the moment. I'm gonna teeth max in two weeks' time, I'm buzzing!

SPEAKER_02 1:14:46

We are gonna do video once my teeth are done.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:48

I know we have pro the we have promised this podcast and to our wonderfully loyal listeners and all the new people that have started listening to us, like but just so you know as a listener, this podcast has grown. We've not done one advert, we've posted it once on our feed, um, and organically, like we've grown to like, yeah, we're nearly we've come our next master is 4,000 downloads, and we've not done anything. So we are busy girls and we commit to this weekly pod, but we do know that we've been saying for a while we're gonna turn this into um a video a video pod because I mean it's gonna take a bit of effort from us because actually Sarah, you look good to you look good today. Yeah. I'm letting the side down.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:33

Yeah, literally, what the hellie? I told I was I'm not gonna wash my face off because Laura was like, let's do video, and then I rocked up and she's got No, because I knew you weren't having your teeth done. I'm so excited, guys. All of my friends that showed the mock-up photos too they're like, I don't see the difference, I saw the difference.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:47

I 100% saw the difference. I think because I've had mine done, I get it. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I know. Well, we won't with that's another two weeks that you won't have it, but you can still you'll still be able to hear us um in your ears. And um, yeah, that's it for another week of uh Fit for What. We thank you as always. Always we get a lot of feedback, but you're listening to us on your long runs. So we hope that we are making life, whether it is a long run or it is your morning commute, or just to try and get away from your partner or your children. We appreciate you. We love you, we love you, we do. And um that's we'll Sarah's squeezing a spot into the camera. We've got to end it there because that is disgusting. No, that's disgusting. Don't no, that'll make no that'll creep me out. That's disgusting. Okay, that is goodbye from me. Goodbye from me.