Fit For What?
The podcast that brings you all the health, fitness & wellness advice you could ever want, with a sprinkle of banter & a whole heap of realness. Join Laura & Sarah each week to hear what's going on in the world of gyms, life challenges & everything inbetween, without an ounce of either of them taking themselves too seriously, and neither should you (we think!)
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Fit For What?
Ep 30. Gym goblins, gazelles & heat waves
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In this episode, Sarah and Laura share their experiences navigating the extreme summer heat while maintaining their fitness routines, plus a deep dive into ultra marathon adventures, fitness industry trends, and personal branding in the gym.
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction and episode overview on managing fitness in heatwaves
02:10 - Hot weather's effect on daily conversations and sleep disturbances
03:27 - Speculations on train cancellations due to heat and staffing issues
04:22 - Concerns about vulnerable populations during heatwaves
05:25 - Laura's ultra marathon story: route, wildlife, and mental challenge
06:30 - The physical and logistical demands of trail ultra marathons
11:14 - Encounters with farm animals during running adventures
12:21 - The Crystal Palace dinosaur statues and their historical significance
14:50 - Reflection on the physical toll of ultra events and recovery tips
16:30 - Industry sponsorships and marketing strategies in fitness brands
18:50 - Impact of heat on sleep, recovery, and injury risk
22:22 - The science of heat regulation: vasodilation and body’s stress response
25:20 - Personal branding and appearance standards in fitness professions
30:37 - The growth and investment in events like Hyrox and its industry implications
36:39 - The role of branding, sponsorship, and athlete presentation in competitions
43:45 - The societal perceptions of fitness and athlete stereotypes
50:19 - The importance of adaptation, authenticity, and mental resilience in training
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Hello and welcome back to Fit for What, a no-nonsense evidence-based take on health, fitness, and wellness with humour, honesty, and some practical advice from me and Sarah to help you build your fittest year yet. My name is Laura, and this week I've triveled up into tiny ball of flames that is constantly attempting to squint and really asking myself why I feel so sleepy, but is it because I'm being roasted alive in my own country?
SPEAKER_00And my name is Sarah, and yeah, I am cooked. I'm sat here recording with an ice pack stuffed down my sports bra. Um, we've got about six million beverages in front of us combined, and it's too much. I'm so bored of talking about it. Like literally, I spent, I think at least, I would say in total, 90 minutes discussing what the weather today at the gym. I just it's just one of those things, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01You've got to go, go, it's hot, isn't it? You okay there? Have you got any air color? Like, it's just the standard chat. Did you sleep okay?
SPEAKER_00Did you hear did you hear that storm? Did you hear that storm? Oh my god, yeah, I forgot about that. Storm. That storm could be a topic, that could be a podcast in itself. I must admit, I was awake for about two minutes of it and then went back to sleep.
SPEAKER_01Alright, for some. Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01I saw the whole show. It was like fireworks, it was like bonfire night. Yeah, it was a lot of banging and crashing.
SPEAKER_00I thought, what's going on there? And then I went back to sleep.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's um, do you know what I was I was thinking today, obviously, like my own I we I don't have any air con at home and I'm on the 4,000th uh floor of apartment, so it's fantastic because I don't I've never put my heating on ever. Um, but it is absolutely roasting, like honestly, 31 degrees. Yeah, like it's just absolutely bonkers. And I just think, why genuinely, why are the trains cancelled?
SPEAKER_00Why does it understand this? What is it? I just put my neck. My only thought is do the tracks swell in the heat? You know, like your doors and your windows swell because they're wood. Does metal do the same thing?
SPEAKER_01Does it mean I don't I don't know that, but what I do know is that trains have been working. So surely that's not the case. Yes, it's cancelled trains.
SPEAKER_00Maybe they're all just a bit sleepy. Maybe the drivers are like, you know what? Let's just call it a day, let's just have a nap at home and which I would understand.
SPEAKER_01I just wonder if is it that is it a staffing issue? Is it that everyone is just so they wake up and go, stuff this, I'm not going to drive the train today.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, to be fair. I mean, my car read 36 degrees at one point today, so can't blame them.
SPEAKER_01So, what I'm what I'm worried about is um those that are unable to re and I'm talking about elder uh elder people, elderly, I'm talking about kid family, you know, parents that are managing kids, pets, yeah, like they don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_00They can't take their fur coats off, can they?
SPEAKER_01They can't, they're just walking around going, What the hell?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I'm not gonna lie, my ginger cat, he's not got a lot, if any, brain cells. And I was saying to Rob before we started, I put him in the bath as in with no water in it, just because it's a cooler surface, and he looked at me like his brain was buffering, and he was like, What's going on, mummy? And I just thought, Oh bless you, you're so thick. He's looking at me now as talking about him, he knows I'm talking about him, but he's not smart enough to think cool surface, I'll sit on this. He's still continued to sit on warm carpet, but I mean he's he's a ginger cat. What do I expect?
SPEAKER_01We can't, there's not much we can do about that. Do you know what is uh another thing that I probably wouldn't wish for anyone to do in this heat? A trail ultra marathon.
SPEAKER_00Do you know what? Do you know what I was thinking of you when you were doing, I thought she's absolutely lost the plot. Insane. I'm insane, clinically insane. Yeah, yeah. I think my mum asked what you were up to that weekend. She said, Oh, how's Laura? What's she up to? I said, Mum, right now, as we've sat in the garden signing ourselves, so right now she's running an ultra marathon. She thought, that's an interesting choice. And I said, Yeah, she makes some interesting choices, this woman. But yeah, bless you. I I mean, hats off, you love, like you did it. I mean, we knew you were gonna do it, but you did it very well. We've not really actually debriefed for this ourselves.
SPEAKER_01There's nothing. I mean, it I it's very me to just go, oh, I did it and it's over. What now? Um, but uh yeah, when I really think about it, yes, it was it was it was quite significant. I mean, I woke up at uh 4:30 last Saturday morning. I was on the bus, the night bus uh with my with my friend Shah, who I dragged uh if the podcast listeners remember, I dragged uh Shah into my uh night through the night marathon. Um Sha Shah was with me there and I I had I don't know why. I think maybe in my head I've got so had so much on recently that it's like I'm a bit like I couldn't just take one day at a time. I'm very basic at the moment. I'm I know I'm doing a trail ultra marathon on Saturday, but I can't think about it yet because I've got five million other things to do. So on the Wednesday, I messaged Shah and I said, Are you working this weekend? She's a PT. No. Would you like to come and do a trail ultra with me? And she's as insane as I am, and she said, Go on then. So we were on the bus, quarter past five. We met um my friend Joe, my friend Emily and her husband at 6:30 in Woolwich.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was really confused by it.
SPEAKER_01So it started in Woolwich. It started in Woolwich. We we ran the entire like the belly of London. So we went Woolwich to I mean, I was in, I was like looking at all these signs. I was like, oh, we're in Bromley. Like we literally, yeah, we we were then I was like, we're in Crystal Palace. Um yeah, it was really I actually should really just look back at the route and just see where I went.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was quite an interesting one to be fair. It yeah, I I in my head for some reason you were starting in Richmond Park, but you weren't.
SPEAKER_01I told no, that no, that is because that is what I told you. Because I was so unprepared, that's what I thought.
SPEAKER_00Right, because I thought we ended a so cool start for her. Right, I understand now. So you ran from Woodridge to Richmond Park.
SPEAKER_01Yes, and at the end, we actually ran past Richard E. Grant on the bank at in Richmond. Yes. Emily went, that was Richard E. Grant. Did you see him? I was like, no, I'm so in the bin, I'm just needing to finish this.
SPEAKER_00So glory. He normally he I think he stopped doing it as regularly, but he used to post quite regularly videos of him running through Richmond Park, and he always had like a neck scarf on or something, and he used just he's so gorgeous. Like I see him sometimes in Richmond, he just looks like the nicest man on the planet. He does.
SPEAKER_01Oh he does. My friend Joe, we took some pictures of some deer, there's lots of deer in Richmond Park, and I sent it to my mum, and she said, Oh, very pretty gazelles, and I said, Mum, she'll listen to this. So she goes, Oh no, you're going to post that now. Very similar. And I said, Yes, I will. That is ridiculous. I said, Gazelles, live gazelle. What is it like? No, wild gazelles in the wild. Oh, yeah. Just trotting around Richmond Park, sure, a couple of lions in there.
SPEAKER_00To be fair, I did something very similar recently. My parents went to a they were at some kind of sanctuary, some some kind of bird sanctuary, and there was there were penguins there. But I there were puffins. I said, Oh my god, I love puffins. And my dad was like, Sarah, babe, that's a penguin. And I was like, Yes. Now I now I can see that very clearly that that is a penguin.
SPEAKER_01There is, do you know what? Of the penguins, there is uh I'm gonna Google this as we speak. Who is the king of the penguins? There is a specific type of penguin that's a big penguin. Huh? An emperor penguin. Yes, is it? Emperor that looks more like a puffin. Wait, what? An emperor penguin. Oh gosh, I don't know. Are they gorgeous? But there is there's a particular penguin that I believe is smaller and has got more he's got a what bigger hair.
SPEAKER_00A macaroni penguin. What? A macaroni penguin, yeah, that's what you're thinking of. Macaroni, like like the pasta penguin. Yes. I know my penguin.
SPEAKER_01I never knew that's what it was called, but that is exactly what I mean. They're smaller and have got cooler hair, but are more important, and I like that.
SPEAKER_00I love them. I fucking relate. I feel like that relates to us very heavy. They look like they're possibly part of a 90s boy band with those blonde highlights at the front. Yes. I love a macaroni penguin.
SPEAKER_01No, I've just googled a puffin. Fucking hell, it looks nothing like it.
SPEAKER_00That's not what I thought a puffin looked like. Some of them have a coloured beak, which is similar to a puffin, I believe.
SPEAKER_01Got it, got it, got it.
SPEAKER_00I love a bird and I really love a I really love a puffer. So do I.
SPEAKER_01So I threw this run and I was we I was running for a long time. So for the context of the podcast, I ran 55 kilometres, trails, it was very, very hilly up and down all the fucking time. The the terrain was very, yeah, it was very gritty. Um, and yes, which is just shy of 35 miles. So I was uh my running, my moving time was somewhere. I mean, our watches were a little bit different. It was somewhere between five seven hours five minutes and about seven hours twenty. We were out there for a long fucking time. No, um, yeah, I know. Yeah, I just we just kept on going. But anyway, um, we were out for a long time, and on part of the route, there was a farm, and I was like, unbelievable scenes. I was like, Emily, there's a pig. There's a I was like shouting, and then I saw a turkey, and the turkey like made a noise, so I made the noise back. Of course. So I got I did a live and direct running my trail ultra. I gobbled, which I won't do again, but it was just the moment took me to gobble at these turkeys. And Emily was just she was a little bit behind me, and she was like, Laura, did I just hear you gobble at a turkey? I was like, Yes, you did. Why would you not turkey? Exactly. Why would you not? It's more the question. If a turkey gobbles at you, you gobble back. And I did that, and I was like, Oh my god, pig sick, like really like high vibes. Later on in the run, there was like some dinosaur. I said nothing to the dinosaurs. My vibe went off a cliff. We were out there for so long, and I was like, I have had enough. I don't want to look at another haribo. A dinosaur? Yes, Crystal Palace Park has got large dinosaurs through it. I'm gonna Google that to see that I wasn't hallucinating. Well, not actual dinosaurs, I don't know if you know, but they have diseased. Yes, this is correct. The Friends of Crystal Palace dinosaurs. It is a conservation place protecting and promoting the world's first dinosaur statues. And through my yeah, there's lots of dinosaurs there. So what is there? Learn about statues. There are many. There's amphibians and therapids, there's some marine reptiles, um, some very good ones, uh, very big sort of iguana vibes, some other mammals. There was uh a megal megalos, which is like a sick deer. Sick gazelle? Yeah, it was no gazelles, mum. But yeah, you were just sort of running round. I was like, oh, it's a dinosaur, it was a bit weird. But it was um, yeah, Crystal Palace. I had a love-hate relationship because the dinosaurs were sick, but the hills were sicker. Oh my god, the the steep the the hill that I had to look up, part do you know what? Part of we walked a lot of it. We walked a lot of it because it was so steep, and there was a man in his sort of 60s, 70s, and he said, You know what? If this is your first, he says, Is this your first trail ultra? I said, Yeah, and he goes, Right, run the down the flats and the downs, walk the the steep hills. It was rough, it was absolutely rough, and um I think it was good that I didn't quite have my head in gear for it or prepare for it. I just took it on. Um, my ankles were an absolute madness. I've absolutely hope my my osteo doesn't ever listen to this. She did like my post that I had uh completed it. Um but yeah, my my hip was uh madness after about half a marathon.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god. I just the idea of that being your morning has really tickled me. Like the the the difference in our mornings. But I think fair play, mate. I don't think I would ever I just love the fact that you messaged Shah and you said, Hi mate, do you want to do an an ultra marathon with me? And she said yes. Like if you looked at me, it I think it would be no kiss. And you know it would be no kiss.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wouldn't even ask you. No, it just wouldn't. I know you don't want to do it. Not that you could I think you could, I think you could if you wanted. Don't think you're sensible given your your injuries, but you you could you could if you wanted. Do you know what? I'm I'm really glad that I did it because part of me, you know, I wanted to tick off all the distances. I've never run an ultra distance. If in on in hindsight, yeah, if you know me well, you know this is just what I do, but in hindsight, the trail ultra, the combination of the two as my debut was probably not ideal.
SPEAKER_00I would agree with that statement.
SPEAKER_01I would agree with that statement, but I don't think I quite realize the challenge of the terrain. Yes, and and the distance in itself is challenging enough.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I would agree with both those statements, but hindsight is a fantastic thing, as we know. If I had considered it more, maybe I would have sacked it off.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. So, do you know what it's good? I like doing tough, I like doing the hard things, and I like doing yeah, I I've I've done all the distances now, haven't I? I've done 5k, 10k, half, you know, it feels like a long time ago, but a 10k race in Italy, that was sick. It's like for me, that was 52 minutes, not fast for everyone, it is for me. Um so yeah, I I'm and at the end, my friend Joe, he's run all the world majors. He was like, right, let's go to France and do this. I said, Joe, no, take a moment, please. No, Joe.
SPEAKER_00We're very you've got another stripe to get, you can't be doing this as well. No, I've still a one stripe white belt. Like I'm waiting for this. I'm waiting for this. I thought every time we talk about it, we speak into existence. So let's speak this into existence. Another belt.
SPEAKER_01I want so it takes a long time in uh in the sport of jujitsu. As we saw King Charles started this week, he got his white belt this week. Uh King Charles went to Roger Gracie Academy uh with his um with his full suit on. He got gifted a white belt. It's gonna be a white belt for a while. Apparently, they say a good time to get to your blue belt after all your stripes is is a year at least, and I'm going six months. How many stripes do you need to get a blue belt? Uh I think it's three for then four you go up belts, I think.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna fact check, I'm gonna check fact-check myself there. Jiu Jitsu white belt stripes before blue belt. Uh it is four stripes, yes. Okay. And then so you have to have four stripes before you're considered. So at my club there is a grading this weekend. Uh, and I no, I'm not, I'm not going as I I can't go because I've got dinner with some girlies, but um, I wouldn't be up for it anyway. I mean, just I'm I'm in, I'm in, I'm in next, I'm in two stripeville is my next eyesight on the prize. Um but yes, no, the the ultra, I if if you have ever considered doing an ultra, I would recommend being slightly more prepared than me. Um, I literally I ordered on Amazon some sodium tablets the night before because do you know what was the real challenge? And Joe, uh Joe, who's far more experienced in these distances than I am, he said, if you would like some feedback on your performance on this run, I said, okay. He said, You didn't you didn't hydrate or fuel anywhere near enough. It's really hard taking on a litre and a half of water every hour. Yeah, I I how many times did you go to the toilet if you don't mind me asking? Um I would say three times, I would say three times that we were sweating so bad, like immediately. Honestly, if you looked at my shins, which I don't recommend anyone to do, it was like it was like dripping salt crystals. At one point at the end, I went, I sort of felt like there was something, maybe like a fly or something stuck in my armpit. And I was like, oh, what's that? It was salt had crystallized in my armpit.
SPEAKER_00Oh, fantastic. You could have put that in your dishwasher when you got home.
SPEAKER_01I could have, but I didn't. So it was just one of those things where it was like, oh, I feel actually Yeah, like we were I was running through Richmond on a Saturday early afternoon, and everyone was out vaping, smoking, having beers, and I literally mount, you know, I lip read a one woman look at me because on my on my number on my bib, it says ultra. Yeah. And she looked at it and she went, Oh, ultra, no thanks. And I just looked at her, I must have looked absolutely dreadful. Uh, and I was just like, Yeah, fair play to you, just want to get this done now. So that was like the absolute end, absolute end of it. Um, and yeah, I actually saw our well, your your ex-colleague, our mutual uh pal, uh, a lovely lady Pandora. She was at the pub as I arrived in in Wandsworth, and she looked gorgeous with her friend having a nice little drinky on a Saturday evening, and there I was looking like a salt grit. I know. She was like, where the fuck have you been? I was like, well, actually, mate, long story. Um, I've been running uh through the entirety of London since 7:30 this morning. She for the for the benefit of the podcast, this particular girl, Sarah and I love because she kept trying to get us to run a half marathon from uh from East London to this kebab shop because if you do the run, you get a free kebab, and she always used to ask us, and it was it was very much a no, wasn't it, from you, Sarah?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we kind of just ping. I love it a bit. Shout out, Pandora, what a girl. But we literally ping-ponged her from one another to be like, I was like, Well, I I don't fancy it, but I think Laura fancies it. And then I remember her coming up to me going, No, Laura said you're doing it, and I was like, No, no, you can't say that. Laura did not say that. She's a cutie pipe, but she's the actually, shout out Pandora, she's the one I did that Francamanca run with, which was also ages ago now. But we ran in the shape of a pizza for a free pizza, which was winnowing. We were good at the time. Yeah, I can't remember what I was literally saying to Laura earlier, we're on episode 30 now. That is wild.
SPEAKER_01It's mad, isn't it? It's absolutely mad. And it wouldn't be it wouldn't be a podcast episode or from me if I didn't mention the current macro pressures of uh protein. We talk about life maxing, looks maxing, everything fucking maxing, fitness maxing. And at the moment, the biggest thing that I'm still continuing to talk about is protein, protein maxing. You know, it is everywhere. And the the the latest update is that in the US, some suppliers are now completely sold out of whey protein for the rest of the year.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god. Where's the what what is everyone gonna do? What are we gonna do? What are we going to do? I'll be honest with you, I don't think I've taken any whey protein for approximately six months. Yeah, you don't really do that, do you? I don't really dabble with the supplements. I will purchase very happily from a provider. I would I would buy a protein shake that's been blended for me. But I make more if I do make anything at home, so there's a really annoying noise going on outside. I don't know if you can hear guys can hear it. Let's ignore that. Um I don't tend to make protein shakes at home. No, I don't. I don't dabble. I do like a clear protein, I like a like a squash-like protein, but yeah, I'm not much of a protein shake consumer. So I'm upset for those who are, but can I say it's going to impact my quality of life? I don't think so.
SPEAKER_01I mean, yeah, it's very much part of my sort of day-to-day life. I I I talk about this a hundred times a day. Um, but I do I do take I am a protein maxer, and I do think that is mainly because I am uh well a very fussy eater, but I I'm on the whole a vegetarian. I will every now and again eat some very, very well cooked, refined chicken with no funny bits on it, but it's it's once a quarter, and I'll they'll find something about it I don't like and it'll give me the ick and I'll never go back again. But it is really hard to get for me the protein that I I need, and I'll be really honest with you uh something that has been on my mind for a long time, and I have mentioned this previously, but bearing in mind my identity, my personal identity, personally and professionally, really is around having a muscular body. Yes. And I don't feel like I've got that at all. And the the and I do also I think the the run the running the running journey that I've been on this entire year will have contributed to that, of course, because I've definitely not done as much. Strength training, bodybuilding. I haven't just done that, given that stimulus. But I think as a result, I probably had less protein as well. Interesting. Hmm. It's a personal, a personal reflection from me. I do try my best, but I do I often do a madness in terms of my nutrition. I know I do it. I know, I know myself so well. And then I'll have, I'll be doing really well. And then for dinner I'll have some ice cream and a rice cake. I've had I've had literally had a solero an hour ago.
SPEAKER_00I think she said some more last night. She said, Oh yeah, I'm gonna have a Solero now. I said, Isn't that dinner with a rice cake? And I just got yes.
SPEAKER_01I just honestly, I think it's because when I live on my own, it's like I am a full adult and I can decide.
SPEAKER_00And actually, I'm such a savory girl. Like I remember even as a child, like if it was like the choice between like a sausage roll, or which makes Laura gag, I'm sure, a sausage roll or like bag of sweets, I'd have a sausage roll. I'm so like I'm so looking forward to the season. I'm gonna have chicken burgers, sweet potato wedges, and a salad. Like I'm buzzing about that. Whereas you're more of like, you love you, you love an oat, you love an oat. You're a sweet poet. Are you sweet? Are you a sweet toothpaste?
SPEAKER_01Well, not really, because I don't really like like if someone has a cake, like a birthday cake, not interested at all. I I don't mind I like a I'd really like a pastry. You do? I really like a pastry, however, a biscuit, not so much actually.
SPEAKER_00Do you know? I found since having the teeth done, I I'm diverting my way away from the biscuits, this the biscuit selection. We don't buy a lot of biscuits, but I don't think I bought a single biscuit since the teeth have been added to my to my mouth. I see.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I oh hello Diego. The cat has just walked and shown me its asshole. Fantastic. What a gone.
SPEAKER_00He's gone a full no, he's worked out for himself that laminate floor is cooler than laptop. So that's that's progress.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, smart guy, smart guy. If I could, I would eat all day picky bits and different sort of yoghurt oat pots from Marks and Spencer's. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Picky bits for your top, you know, the three for eight. Give me your three for eight, go. What's a three for eight? No, Laura.
SPEAKER_01No, I don't.
SPEAKER_00What it's I've only just um just done a meal deal the other day. Never done it. No, stop. We need to go and do picky bits. I've never done it. We're gonna vlog Picky Bits for Laura shopping and put it on the podcast.
SPEAKER_01Can I tell you can I tell you where I'll tell you where I go? I go to um there I I've there's like a a good I've started having a bit of sushi in there, but it's not fish, it's not fish, it's just the rice. It's basically just the rice. I don't know. Honestly, don't uh don't even listen to me. Don't take any nutritional advice from me. I do have good nutritional advice to give, but just I don't take it. Yes, I hope.
SPEAKER_00But you know, I'm fully functioning. You are, and you've got fantastic muscle mass on you, so you know, but yeah, what else has been going on this week? I'll tell you what is going on this week. We're recording this on a Thursday, plot twist, um, because I am going, and Laura's also busy, I'm busy. We are going, I well, I am going to the longevity show tomorrow at Tobacco Doctor. That's cool. When this drops, we drop this on a Sunday, so I would have been Friday, Saturday. Um, and it's I've actually had it in my diary for months and months. But the reason I am going, there's some great headline acts that I love when it's like a headline act, it's like a nutrition talk by Dr. Megan Rossi, who I love. Um Hertility is launching or hosting, sorry, a women's health summit, which I'm really excited by, shock. Um Rina McCall is hosting breakfast tomorrow. Don't think I'm gonna get there in time, I'll be honest. I'm gonna avoid public transport peak time at all costs. But there's some cool babes there, and I'm really excited. There's there's some great talks around kind of general women's health, but kind of specifically around hormones and nutrition and training and longevity. And I think it's gonna be great. They're all good because they're like 30-minute talks. So I think they're gonna be quite short, sharp, informative. Um but it's a full day, like it's literally nine till five both days, and I am actually really excited to go and prompk my little tushy down and take some notes because I just think, yeah, I mean, as cringe as it sounds, you never stop learning. And I think actually, I'm excited to just put myself in that. I think there's gonna be some cool, cool people there tomorrow in that women's health space as well. So, yeah, that's that is very much happening, and I will give a full debrief on that next week. But I mean, you never know, I might meet some listeners there, Laura. I might I might have to might meet some um polder listeners, but yeah, that should be in east. It might be swarmed. I doubt that, but I I've got to get over to East London, which I'm not buzzing me little tits about, but I think it will be worth it.
SPEAKER_01I shall also be in uh East London for us tomorrow night. Tomorrow night. Yeah, my my one of my besties um has just bought her own gaff. Um so me and some girlies, all from my school, are going over to um to to to rob the place. No, we're going to but it's it's quite funny actually. She listened to this podcast, so hopefully she'll listen to this. And she was texting me, going, What do you eat? What do you want to eat? Because she's she's creating dinner. And she's like, What type of cheese do you like? I was I was like, I like cheese. What about this cheese? No, no, not that cheese. And she said, I'm actually listening to another podcast that you've did where you talk about the things that you like to eat, and it's actually been very useful for her. So she was like, Do you like tomato sauce and pasta? I was like, Absolutely, I do. That sounds fantastic. That sounds delicious, yeah. But do you know it's it's girls that I've known since I was like five, so they shall not judge, they shall not judge me because they know I'm I'm an absolute disaster. Um on other uh topics of the week, one thing that has been doing the rounds, our one of our favourite uh subjects is the hydrox. Um, in and what we're seeing, and I always find it fascinating to see where investment goes. And we talk a lot about investment in women's health, especially something like hertility and other you know, female tech um brands and apps, cycle tracking. Uh, and and probably the biggest one that we've seen, or the growth that we've seen, obviously we've got to give it the nod, right? It's Hyrux. It's absolutely everywhere. Um, you know, I think how they've you know close to professionalizing it is is very cool. So there has there's a private equity firm. Um El Cataton Um has shown interest and and will invest um in uh in Hyrox, and and this firm has the other investments that it's made have been in the likes of Equinox uh and Peloton um and the group in total. So there's some uh uh partnerships, I believe, of the Paris Olympics with Louis Vuitton, um, with athletes, and you know, anyway, lots of funding and sponsorship in and around this, and I just think it is a sign of things to come that you know, Hyrox is big, it's getting bigger, the big boys are cut, big boys and girls are coming in to invest. Um, and I just think I think it's a positive for the entire industry. I I genuinely do. And what I hope for all of this, as Sarah and I talk about often, is the challenge with fitness that we love it so much, but it requires every ounce of your being and energy to do so, and there is always a cost as much as we love it, right? You can love doing something for one hour, but if you've got to do it 10 hours a day, seven days a week, it then becomes a challenge. And I I always think it's can be a bit of a you know, it's a bit like we talk about the NHS, right? The NHS is a is a is a body that helps, you know, people's health and save lives. We also know that some of the workers are the least well people, and that always just gets me a little bit. Yeah, and I feel sad, and I think, well, how can something that profits off the mission statement of getting more people more active more often? What about your staff? Totally. I don't know what the answer is because I've also I also know how difficult it is to make things commercially viable.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's something I talk about a lot, actually, I think, and we've both experienced it ourselves. Like, yeah, and I think it is it's across all industries where I think where you are client-facing or people facing, like, yeah, how do you actually look after those people that are pouring all their energy into it? It's so hard, isn't it? And I don't, yeah, we've we've spoken about it privately a lot as well. Like, I don't I don't know what the answer is. I really don't know what that answer is.
SPEAKER_01I think, yeah, for me, that the the government needs to treat fitness businesses differently um and and and recognise its possi you know contribution correlation to a healthier, fitter population, because I can guarantee you that the person that's doing high rocks, you know, and and doing their their 1k intervals and and all of that is likely to be you know healthier than your average anyway. Who knows? I I just I just think it's interesting. I think I think it's a fascinating evolution where you know growing up all the only competition I had was at school in sport or the Olympics, and now think about all the competitions that we can as aspiring uh Zed list athletes, you know, we we we can compete, and I I I love it, and I've genuinely met some of my best friends or or people that I love or of professional network doing all these things in sort of shared pursuit of of doing hard things, but not in an actual elite professional arena. And one of the things that I think is is also really fascinating is the link to I think there's a couple of links that these competitions um have. It's obviously the social element, so you know you're going there and you're meeting like-minded people, you train in a group with like-minded people for this event. And I you like I asked the question to say, would you go to the gym as often as you do, or would you do the things you do if it made no difference to how you look? Would you go to these uh events if you couldn't take if it was like so house, no photos, can't take any photos, there's no there's no evidence, you just go and experience it. Would you still do it? Part of me thinks the way this is set up and how you are almost a celebrity of the competition, and it gives you something to share as part of your social identity, it plays a bigger part than the actual fitness itself.
SPEAKER_00Yep, I totally agree. I mean, for me, I'd rather there weren't for photographers there when I put Pertook in a Hyrox, for example.
SPEAKER_01Like when Laura said, Oh, I've been asking, what is me working?
SPEAKER_00But I remember when Laura said, I've booked a I've booked a videographer for Hyrox.
SPEAKER_01I think I did.
SPEAKER_00Fuck. I thought, okay, well, as long as he focuses on you, you love.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I did say that. I said if you don't want it to be you, I wouldn't have done I wouldn't have done that to you. It didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00I think I totally agree. Like, I think there is a a inner circle of athletes, especially in the Hyrux field, who are obviously like brand ambassadors. They're they are making like an amazing name for Hyrocks. But yeah, I think a lot of it is it's it's this it's the social, isn't it? It's the it's the marketing, it's the images, it's the photography, it's everything that people love. People love it's the outfit, it's the outfits as well.
SPEAKER_01So like Puma, Puma is like a headline sponsor. One of the interesting things I did see from a commercial partnership perspective is that Hyrux, similar to what CrossFit did back in the day, if you've got a headline partner sponsor, you then ban all the other brands from having anything to do with it. And I just think that's a real challenge because obviously Puma is the headline sponsor. I and again, this is just purely my my opinion, my observation, truly from afar. But you know, obviously, Puma, I expect, will have paid a lot to become the headline sponsor because they love what it's about, they want to align with that. But does that mean that everyone has to wear Puma to their cost? I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, it's very true actually, it's not something I've ever thought about before. But you think, I mean, you you see a lot of particularly the the beautiful girlies doing it, they're matching. I've seen a lot of Gymshark sets that you see there, you see a lot of them matching kind of Nike sets and stuff. But that's interesting thought, actually. Like, would I wonder if I mean I don't think you can ban people from wearing what they want at a competition, surely?
SPEAKER_01But I don't think so, no, but you can ban, I think what they're trying to do, or what I have seen, is that it you have the brands that are not headline sponsors are restricted from talking about the the brand or the the sport of higher. Yeah, so they have to find other clever ways of being part of fitness racing, but not talking about it. It's similar to CrossFit back in the day, you couldn't say what you know that there was there was some trademark I've just used that as an example. There were some trademark elements of CrossFit that if you were not an affiliate, you didn't pay your affiliate fees, but also is you know that if that is the IPO, if that is uh sorry, if that is the IP, intellectual property of CrossFit, potentially it isn't right for someone to maximise commercially your IP. You know, that that is your CrossFit is a a business. Um, but anyway, I do I just think it's it's interesting. And I saw this week, um, it was an article in The Guardian uh that sort of made me giggle. It said the polished Pilates princess aesthetic, what a mouthful, is being replaced by a more authentic, less curated approach to fitness. And this is talking about the rise of the gym goblin. Um, and I've seen this a lot, I've seen it on some sort of fashion uh mags. We sort of see the blurring the boundaries of fashion and fitness, and more people are getting into fitness. And Pilates is very much, you know, it is an aesthetic. You know, we've got to be honest. There, you know, when I say that, you can probably imagine what that aesthetic looks like. Um, and yeah, research indicates that one in six women, so about 17%, intentionally wear makeup while exercising. And now, listen, I'm in that statistic. I'm certainly not here to judge, but I'm also not judging if you don't. I just think for me, the gym has often, more often than not, been my place of work. So therefore, and not that I wear a lot of makeup anyway, but it just is part of my I wake up, I do my my hair, my makeup, and off I go to the gym.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you're like Wallace and Gromit, like you're just like straight through.
SPEAKER_01I just do the same thing.
SPEAKER_00Like your alarm going off straight through the machine.
SPEAKER_01I do, I get thrown out of the beds into my trousers. No, not trousers, shorts, no, no trousers. My six-inch black Lululemon aligned shorts, yeah, that I've got 12 pairs of.
SPEAKER_00Literally, yeah. I hear you. I'm I do know what I would say I'm I'm I'm more gym goblin than Pilates Princess, I would argue. I would say I I don't make a terrible amount of effort with my appearance if I'm not in the gym in a working profession setting role, sure. But when I worked in the gym full-time, did I always have some kind of makeup on yes? And I think we've we've touched on this before in terms of personal brand, but I think in terms of presenting, and I remember even having a conversation with my fellow PTs when I worked there about presenting yourself, and one of the guys shout out James Hampshire, he always had the most impeccable haircut, like he was always there, took such pride in his appearance, not for vanity purposes, but he made the very fair point of like people are investing in me, I need to present myself in a certain way. I thought, fair play, I hear you. And I think I was subconsciously aware of it, but I think it made me very consciously aware of the fact that yes, especially when you're a coach, people are investing in you as a person. If you're not going to take the time to care for, and that that's not to say you have to have your hair cut perfectly every day or you have to have makeup on, that's not what I'm saying. But you do need to present yourself to a certain standard if you want people to invest in you. I really do believe in that. And yeah, I think even when I I mean, yeah, coaching today, I literally slept with an ice pack on my head. But did I get up and do my hair to a reasonable standard so I look presentable for the people I was coaching to say, absolutely, because I also want them seriously. If I turn up looking like I do now, would I be taken so seriously? Maybe not. Now they know me better as a person, as a coach for sure. But especially in my first month or so coaching there, I thought, yeah, I really need to turn up looking more Pilates princess than gym goblin. But yeah, I I would argue I would say I'm more of a gym goblin if I'm just in the space training. But I think we we've touched on this before in terms of do I feel like I maybe perform at a better level when I feel good in myself, and does that correlate with me sometimes having a bit more makeup on than usual? Yeah, and I'm not I'm I'm not embarrassed to say that I do think I actually probably perform better in the gym when I'm feeling better about myself, and yeah, I probably won't I won't shy away from looking at myself in the mirror so much if I've got a little bit of summon something on my face.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I hear that, I hear that. I remember once on uh social media, I think it's just a story I posted. I I sort of fessed up, well not that I was hiding it, but I said I I this is think of it what you want, but I wash my hair every morning and I blow dry it, and that is why it looks exactly the same all the time. Um, and someone was like, Oh my god, thank God, I just thought that you like your hair just was like that all the time. I was like, No, no, I literally do it every single morning without fail. And if I didn't, I would be so upset with myself. I don't know what call it whatever you want, but I that is just and and I do think it's because I when I was very young, I had a a job in a very strict, very posh Weybridge hairdressers. So I just I I've just always I've always had to, and and the roles and jobs that I've had, especially at L'Oreal, you know, appearance is really important. And I do think if I feel good, yes, then I'm likely to be able to present myself better with with more confidence. I know, do you know what there's there's so many um they sort of use the example in gyms, or you know, should your PT be in shape, you know, or or should should a it's I feel like saying, well, should a football manager, you know, should Sven Goren Ericsson, you know, have be be an incredible football player to be able to be a good manager? No, I don't think you have to, but I do I do think in a in fitness you are presenting yourself, and I I do think however that looks like to you, yeah, you you you should come across you know presentable, and you would hope that you look like you look after yourself as much as you can. And that's not to say you have to look a certain way at all. In fact, quite the opposite. I I I think some of the best coaches I've ever experienced, you may not look at them and think they're in the best shape, but they probably have been in some part of their life, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And also, like being real, like last year was probably when I was training the least in my life because I was a really busy trainer. Yeah, but practically speaking, if you're a busy, successful trainer, and you could argue in terms of you've got to make time for it 100%, but things happen the same with anyone who's busy and got lots going on in their life. Sometimes training isn't the priority, so I think it's a very shallow opinion to think that a trainer has to look a certain way. I think it's a load of shite, to be honest with you. Um, and yeah, I totally agree with you. Some of the best trainers I've ever come across aren't necessarily bikini competitors, but like that's also doesn't mean that they're not a good coach. Like, yeah, I think it's one of the most ridiculous like preconceptions in the industry, and I I think it is getting better, but I think sadly there's still a lot of prejudice. I mean, not just in the fitness industry, there's prejudice everywhere, we know that. But yeah, I think it's a very superficial opinion to have, and yeah, I think people are missing out on great coaches if they think that that is the way to select a coach.
SPEAKER_01I think the reality of life is people we do judge people by their appearance, we do judge people by their appearance. This isn't just in in fitness. I I also think that there is you your your vibe attracts your tribe, right? And I and I do think that if you are, you know, let's use this as a stereotypical um uh example that you've got what you would, you know, imagine as your stereotypical gym bro or or gym girl that's like you know, super lean and jacked and blah blah blah. I know for a fact, just by that looking at someone, that will put off a huge a lot of the population. It's not said it's right or wrong, or that there would be good or bad coaches for them. There are some people that just wouldn't feel comfortable at that point or wherever they are in their journey of someone that they deem to be like, you know, super obsessed, that it just they wouldn't feel comfortable. So I just think, yeah, I just think all we can do in in fitness, you know, whether you're the the consumer, the gym member, you're turning up. You've got to be your your authentic self. I think that's what it comes down to, really. I, you know, yes, I I'm probably the Simon Cowell of my gym outfits. I I've yeah, again, un untested, but I'm sure there's something going on there. But I just it's like my uniform. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I think, yeah, it's you.
SPEAKER_01That's literally it's just you. It's my personal brand. And I feel I don't I they actually say that really high performers often wear and eat the same thing because it is less decisions to make every day. So actually, it's because I'm a high performer, you bastards.
SPEAKER_00She's an efficient queen. Yeah. That's again, it's you. It's literally, I I think if I if I saw you and your hair wasn't perfectly bowed blow-dried, I'd be like, is everything all right, babes? Whereas you see me looking like a thumb 85% of the time, and then when I do look nice, she's like, Are you going somewhere? I don't say I don't say that. Somewhere, but yeah, I don't, it doesn't really bother me. I don't I don't I think it is just I I mean, yeah, we know that I'm filterless, and I just I've yeah, I'm very proud that I don't.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but you're relaxed, you're relaxed. I wouldn't, I have no, I wouldn't be relaxed. Not to say it if you you always look great, but if I had shit hair, I would not feel relaxed. I would you would be able to tell. You'd be able to tell. So yeah, that that's it's alright. So the the rise of the gym goblin, I'm I'm here for it actually, in in summary, because I I I would hate for anyone for uh an aesthetic or feeling like they have to wear certain clothes or shoes or whatever to be a barrier for participating in something that is is transformative, uh, and uh you know, uh but from a professional capacity, I do agree that it is not okay to just be showing up a bit careless and and and thoughtlessly because you just you wouldn't do that. You want to you want to present yourself well to your client to to enable yourself to get you know the the best the best buy-in and and results for your client. That's just your job. That's your job.
SPEAKER_00I totally agree, Bib, as always.
SPEAKER_01I feel like we don't disagree with a lot of stuff, mainly apart from no, I I never feel like I never feel like I want to really disagree. I think and I actually think if if there is something that we have different, we go, we go, well, actually we mean the same thing. Yeah, and in different contexts, yes, you're right. In this context, yes, maybe you could think of it like this. Yeah, no, I guess that's that's a good thing. I also I also think to be fair to us, and maybe I'm a bit more stubborn as I'm old, uh, I think we're open to hearing different points. I like hearing people's point of view. I want you to tell me why you tell me why you think that.
SPEAKER_00I'll hear it. Yeah, I think both both within reason, we we're very yeah, we are both very open-minded people. I think I I do like to be challenged and to have discussions for sure. But um, yeah, I think we yeah, I think that's why we do get on, is we have quite similar opinions generally across the board. We do. Something we do generally have the same opinion on is the fact that training in this heat is quite hard. Illegal. I have, for full transparency, really struggled to exercise this week. I think I did perhaps I went for a swim on Sunday with my mum at her local leisure centre, which was a delightful experience. So I swam on Sunday. I don't think I did anything Monday. No, no, I tell her, I trained in the gym on Monday and it was early because I thought I'm not doing this any later, I know I'm gonna get too hot. Then Wednesday I swam, and then yesterday I threw a full-blown tantrum and was like, I can't leave the house, it's too hot. And I do mildly regret it because I was I trained today and I had a really lovely time. I took the pressure off, took the pressure off. I was very fortunate to be in an A-seed gym all morning today, so I hadn't been exposed to the same kind of physical stresses that I had with um the heat yesterday. But yeah, it's it's it's not surprising. And I did say to everyone, actually, um everyone that came in this morning, I said, Look, guys, you're here. That's a win in this heat wave. Don't know anyone who's sleeping particularly well right now, don't know anyone who's probably eating in the same way that they normally do right now. Like, let's just be proud that we're here and we're moving our bodies in some ways, and we're under two beautiful AC units. Like, let's just make the most of this. And yeah, but I it was interesting. Everyone was saying that actually, and I'm not surprised by this, they were they were finding that they were sore still from sessions which they aren't normally sore from. And I said, Well, we know why this is. If you're not sleeping well, your body's not recovering. We need this. I can't stop looking at how hideous my nails are. We can't, we can't be surprised if we're not sleeping well, then our bodies aren't recovering. We know we need that seat to recover, so I'm not surprised that your your body's a bit sore today. So, yeah, it's um I find it really interesting actually. And I did have a bit of a look into the science of it as I do. Um, and I was like, okay, this makes sense, but like why do we find heat so shut? I and I I think even in the context of pets, I've banged on about it this week. I'm one of those women that will like walk around the streets, and I've seen if I see any animal being walked past 6am or before 10pm, I'm like, this is irresponsible. And my partner, yes, they was like, Sarah, chill, like there's dogs in Greece, there's dogs in like hot countries. I said, I know, but they're used to in their climate. I think that's the key. God's sake. Come on, let me have a moan, let me be a Karen. But it's true, like it's the same for us, we're not acclimatised to this heat and our infrastructure in London, at particularly in kind of big cities, and we're not we're not built for this. Like, my flat is currently 33 degrees in here. Like, that's not good for anyone, is it? No one's thinking well, but basically, in terms of the science, so this is this is basically the idea that the nervous system triggers basically vasodilation, so our our our blood vessels get wider to try and facilitate blood flow. We're trying to get basically blood to the surface of our skin to allow us to expel heat. So, basically, I guess in the same way that like when we're in a in a kind of state of extreme stress or extreme panic, even blood flow is diverted to where we need to divert blood flow through through. And that means that basically we're getting a lot of blood being pulled away from our muscles, and that's why we tend to feel pretty bloody weak and a bit weird because our blood is just trying to basically ventilate us well, which makes sense, which makes perfect sense, and that's why people get things that I found actually for someone. I mean, luckily, I don't say that I am a particularly anxious person anymore, but I can actually find the heat quite anxiety-inducing because I feel that my heart rate does get quite elevated in this heat. Um, which again makes sense because we're trying to we're trying to pump blood to get rid of this heat from our body. So, again, for anyone who is an anxious person, if you feel anxious in this heat, I hear you, I get it. Makes you feel quite claustrophobic, which can also make me feel quite anxious. So, yeah, I've I've not loved it, but yeah, I've kind of just trained around it really and just been a bit more gentle with oneself. Hi guys, slight issue. We've had a technical error. We not just us have melted, I think our laptops have melted in this heat. So we're gonna have a sudden draw to the end of this episode here. I mean, we've still been going for 54 minutes, so plenty of stuff for your ear holes, but we will continue this next week in this pod. But otherwise, I hope everyone's well. Stay cool, stay hydrated, and we'll speak to you next week. Bye.