Strong Today, Independent Tomorrow: The Natural High for Longevity

Episode 6: Strength is the Natural High for longevity and our focus this week.

What if one of the most powerful things you could do for your future health wasn't another supplement, diet or wellness trend... but simply getting stronger?

In this episode, Clodagh and Aisling explore why strength training may be one of the most underrated tools for improving our health, wellbeing and longevity.

Aisling shares her passion for what many experts now call the "organ of longevity" – skeletal muscle – and explains how building strength can support everything from metabolic health and energy levels to mobility, independence and healthy ageing.

Along the way, the pair discuss:

💪 Why muscle is about far more than appearance
💪 The surprising link between strength and longevity
💪 How skeletal muscle impacts metabolism, hormones and overall health
💪 The role of protein in supporting strength and recovery
💪 Why resistance bands, Pilates and bodyweight exercises can be just as valuable as the gym
💪 The importance of maintaining mobility, balance and independence as we age
💪 How small, consistent actions today can dramatically influence your future health

As always, the conversation is packed with practical insights, personal stories and simple actions you can start implementing immediately.

This Week's Natural High Invitation:

Take a look at your current relationship with strength training.

•  If you're doing none, try introducing two or three short strength sessions this week. 
•  If you're already strength training, challenge yourself a little more than usual. 
•  If you've been on autopilot, ask yourself: Am I truly challenging my muscles?

Remember: the goal isn't perfection. It's progress.

Your future self will thank you.

Resources Mentioned

📚 Forever Strong – Dr. Gabrielle Lyon
📚 Unbreakable – Dr. Vonda Wright
🎧 Huberman Lab: Alcohol & Your Health
💪 Protein Calculator -> https://www.instagram.com/fitpositive.ie (go to link in bio and explore all her free tools including the macro calculator)

Quote of the Episode

"We don't weaken because time passes. We weaken because of neglect."

Because strength isn't just about adding years to your life. It's about adding life to your years. ✨

🎙️ The Natural High Podcast with Clodagh & Aisling

This is an exclusive discount for our Natural High Lifer Listeners. Doctrine Skincare have offered this across season 1 - 15% discount across all full priced and full sized products. 

Transcript

unknown 0:01 Aisling 0:04

Y

Clodagh 0:21

Aisling Woo! The energy is hot today. How are you, my girl? Great girl, great girl. Great girl. How am I? I lost myself. So um I'm flying it, actually. This is just about me. Um how am I? I hear. Um I'm I'm I'm brilliant. Are you brilliant? I'm still stuck in the fact that I didn't ask you back. I know, I was so sorry. I actually do have an awful tendency, like my family would know this about me. I'd often ask a lot of questions, like weird questions, because I want someone to ask me back. And you know, when you ask questions or in a dinner table or something, and people don't even really want to be participating in it. And I'm like, yeah, go on, ask me, ask me. And they don't. I'm like, oh, sound. That's actually hilarious. I do exactly the same thing. I I in my marriage, where I'm like, Do you ever think, um, what if you did like, do you ever think, what if you didn't meet me? And what if you and then if you did everything? I'm terrible. No, and then I just and then I go into a soliloquy and all I get is nope.

Aisling 1:22

Nope.

Aisling & Clodagh 1:22

Absolutely. Absolutely not. Conversational cul-de-sac. All right, all right. Yeah, well, let's always ask each other back, even if we ask each other weirdly. Do you ever meet someone who doesn't ask how you are? No, I know you just did it there now, so the answer is yes, because the answer is yes, me. But there's people you that was a mistake. I've been with you many times to do all was reciprocal. I'm sorry to have to you, Jeremy. You were a small but, but do you know? Do you ever have someone who habitually doesn't ask you back how you are? I think that's so rude. That's really rude. I don't think. There's one person who stands out Vulva, remain nameless. You know who you are. But there's one person that I know very well who just I'll I'll say, How are you? Granted end of paragraph, next paragraph. And I'm waiting there, nah, didn't again. Oh no, I I know, I'd have no interest in that. I know. Because at the end of the day, we all just really probably want to talk about ourselves. Oh no, I'm nosy. I want to know about other people too. I'm very nosy as well. Oh I mean, I do want to talk about myself at length, you know, air and enter a podcast. But um, I do want to speak about myself at length. No, no, no, I don't like talking about myself. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Shrinking violet here. These two have made up the podcast. I don't know what I'm gonna do to get me to come out of myself. Um right, if we get on to something there about something like that. Yeah, oh yeah, sorry, we have to get down to business. You never sang the song, so I'm about to do it. I had to tie up Gesto for the summer now. Okay. I do. No, not really, but I just don't want to be overdoing it. Yeah, yeah. Um what's our sober hot topic? Sober hot topic. Oh, yeah, I was uh I'm like came across obviously as I do uh a little few quotes from someone on the gram there recently, and I had to save it, and I said I'd bring it to you today because you know I love to do that as well, surprise you with the with the insights. Um, so I think this one for me just got me thinking. It was just a very simple way of thinking, but something I hadn't thought of before. So basically, let me just get it uh in my little saved inspiration. Some of these things frustrate the hell out of me, too. So they're not really inspo, they're more like frostbo. I don't know, that's not a that's not a term, but anyway. Ah it's a term, it's good, it's good enough for us. I've been sober three years and nobody ever asked me why I drank, they only ask why I stopped. And I was like, oh my god, that is so true. The honestly, not drinking, easy. Navigating questions around why I don't drink, very annoying. But isn't it like I think like so? He goes on to say a few things. He's like, Alcohol is the only drug where you have to explain why you don't do it. And that's also so true. Like so true. Surely, if a friend of yours was taking some kind of drug regularly, you might say, Jesus, everyone. But no one says, Why don't you smoke? Why don't you take cocaine? Yeah. Why don't you take sleeping tablets? Why don't you take benzos? It's just not a question. Do you know what I mean? I actually think that that's kind of the the sinister nature of booze as well, is not just how ubiquitous it is everywhere, but also just this like onus on the people that everyone knows that we don't that you try not to smoke cigarettes because they're addictive. People don't take cocaine because it's addictive. And we all know that cigarettes, cocaine, whatever addictive substance is the problem. We don't put the onus on the consumer. But I think booze gets a some kind of a free pass where they they came up with that drink moderately thing, yeah, which is just lunacy. No one says smoke moderately, because we all know fags are the problem. You know what I mean? It's just one of another sinister side of booze that the opting in is is accept is accepted and it's the opting out. That's not accepted. That's not accepted. Yeah, or quitting makes you be the weird one in the group, yeah. But that's how they've gotten away with it because all the responsible use is put on the consumer. Yeah, you know what I mean? And then the problem is never with the drinking that you were doing, the problem is that you've given up the drink, which is so hilarious. Just because in fact, that's actually obviously the opposite of a problem when you've decided to remove something that that is toxic out of your life. Um, but yeah, I guess it's it's taken over our world. And I know so many people would say it, and I'm sure they say it to you as well, especially at our quit your whining events. Like you just often stand out as the kind of you know, the sore thumb when you're the one not drinking. And so a lot of times you kind of a lot of people on their journey that they've shared with me is they'd be masking it for quite a while before they'd actually say it because it causes so much bother. So like they wouldn't be saying I'm not drinking tonight. They'd be like, Yeah, I'll have a few, but they'd be drinking sparkling water totally and pretending it's like a vodka soda. And let's not pretend we're not drinking. Yeah, but like let's not be around the bush here. No one actually cares what anyone else is ingesting. Like, I also don't eat gluten, and people don't give a single like people are like, oh, snooze, like who cares? Like, pick anything else. Imagine if you were like, guys, I've I've done a stint off sweet corn and I'm actually gonna stay off sweet corn, it's not agreeing with me. I think I might do a year off sweet corn. Everyone will be like, what the absolute? And she's insane. Because nobody has an emotional response to the consumption of sweet corn. So it speaks it doesn't speak to no one cares what everyone what anyone else is eating or drinking. But when you say you're opting out of booze and you're like, I'm gonna drop that mad behavior, it show it just puts a mirror up to other people's drinking, hence why it's such an emotive topic. Yeah, it no one actually cares what other people are ingesting at all, full stop. You know, no one cares what anyone else eats or drinks in general. Yeah, but the not drinking, by you opting out, I'm building a narrative on what you think of my drinking. Yeah, that's what's actually happening. Yeah, and I think sometimes people are afraid that they've lost the fun in you. And I know for you that now. I think people like I think sometimes friendship groups, and again, people have shared this in the past with me, like then I think they're a little bit scared, like, oh my god, you're not gonna be my drinking buddy anymore, or you're not gonna be as much fun anymore, or you're gonna not probably come to the big parties anymore. And I think they might find like a bit of grief over that. Totally. And like to give those people a bit of understanding and a bit of like, I love this thing of the most generous interpretation. I don't know where I heard it, I didn't come up with it myself, but I heard it somewhere and I just loved it. Of like, most people, myself included, are not I don't know if malice, like I'm not badly intended, I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings. Just sometimes people don't know how to navigate this new you, they don't know whether you want to come to the party, or do you still want to be hectic with them sober or not at all, or do you even want to be there? And I guess it's just now and navigating like sober you might be difficult if they got drunk you a lot of the time. And that I would but I would also say to people if you love someone who's gotten sober, ask them, don't assume, like talk to them, like you know what I mean. Like it's a very vulnerable position to be like to your friends and family, I've opted out of this because it's not working for me. So match them in their vulnerability and ask them, hey, do you want to go to this? Yeah, like don't assume anything, just just give them that kind of um that love and respect and be like, Do you want to come to this? Does this still work for you? Yeah, do you want to come for a while? But don't don't don't do the assuming because you don't want to be vulnerable enough to ask the question. Ah, so true. And I and I also I think sometimes as well, it's not even people's reaction, it's more like the culture that's been created that like so many people because of the culture around it do believe that you're not as much fun without drink, or anyone's not as much fun without drink. So that was one of my biggest worries when I was giving it up. I was like, oh shit, I won't have as much crack. And I know we've spoken about this before, but the other day I was like, I I've I'm going to the All Together Now Festival. It'll be my first festival completely alcohol-free. And originally I was kind of worried about that, but the other day I was thinking about it, I was like, I actually cannot wait to go to a festival sober because I'm gonna drink it up, like I'm gonna enjoy the daytime stuff so much more. I know. Can you actually cope? It wouldn't do your heart or your mind or your pocket or your inner accountant any good to think. How many things have you gone to that you're very hazy on the details? I know. Like myself and um Simon, I've referenced him before, my current husband. We went to, I'm just joking, the current is just a joke. Um, so we went to a rugby match. Now I don't know anything about rugby, but he wanted to go, blah, blah, blah, right? It was in Paris, I can't even tell you who was playing all blacks, all blacks and someone. I mean, presumably us were the other team, surely, that say we were there. But anyway, we're sitting there, that's fine. Obviously, I'm not drinking. And the atmosphere is was it Ireland versus all blacks? Or yeah, probably Monster. I'd say Ireland. I really don't know. Yeah, look, we'll take it. Yeah, oh yeah, because all blacks are a national team. Yeah. So yeah, Ireland, okay, cool. It was in Paris anyway. And there was a girl behind me, and she was absolutely godlover, flaming. Now she was kind of falling over from side to side. She was kind of trying to focus on the match, and then she glued focus again. And I was thinking, she with the I don't know her, and I don't know her story, but if I had to take a guess, I'd say she was so excited because obviously, unlike me, she actually knows something about rugby and enjoys it. And she was like, probably this cost an arm and a leg this match. I know because I paid for the tickets. That's the only thing I remember from the from the whole RD. Flew to Paris paying for a hotel, paying for those match tickets, and presumably got too excited because she was excited to go. And she's currently, I'm like watching a blackout unfold. And all I thought of was, I'm sorry, I'm about to swear, what a fucking waste. You're allowed to swear for that. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Like your favourite, not for me, not my favourite team. I don't have a favorite team, but don't even know what to do. Exactly. But like, okay, I can do it for music though. Do you know what I mean? How many people like I loved Florence in the Machine back in the day, and I was a little anger seeing her, and I just don't recall it. Yeah, no, I 100%. And like even if you recall a good chunk of it, you definitely have fuzzy memories and parts that you don't sure see. I know. I like that term browning out. Like you don't have to be black, blackout is blackout, right? Like you, yeah. Did you never hear brown? Browning out is. I know. Did you quite call the term? No, I didn't actually, but like it would have I wasn't married back in the day, but it would have been accurate. Yeah. Like that, and that was so often my experience. Not like not necessarily blackout, like like blackouts are terrifying. But there was different stages, wasn't there? Depending on the night and what you drank. Oh yeah, and this isn't this is another thing that they've done to us. Put the blame of a kind of a a brownie out and hazy on the details, like that that must be cloaked in shame the following day. Yeah. There's no shame when a chemical did what a chemical does. Totally. Do you know, like like I said before, like that's that is literally akin to standing over someone in the hospital who's gotten a general anesthetic and being like, Are you going to sleep? You can eat it. There's no shame I mean, but there is a cost, and it's good for people to be aware of the cost. If you just step back sometimes and go, Jesus, was that worth it? Like that lady at the rugby who probably missed out on remembering it. And the on the other flip side as well, then I think once you get comfortable in your sobriety of giving up, I think it takes some time to get to this space. But I was like thinking about I booked the Camino recently with one of my friends, and we're gonna go do that. And I was like, I wouldn't have done that a year ago when I was drinking because I I just wouldn't go away for two weeks and not have a few drinks on a holiday, whereas I'm not gonna go drinking on the Camino, it's like 28 kilometres each day. Like it's insane. Although supposedly there is a priority WhatsApp group and they all go wild. Yeah. I need to get myself put in there. Oh, exactly. But you can go, like, go, go bring your brain because that's what does all the thinking and talking for you anyway. That's do you know, like this? Oh, that shows me spare. Like, do you know, like that kind of people go to the Camino and like this so that's an amazing experience, and then getting up and trying to like dust off a hangover. Don't do it to yourself. Like, worse. I really couldn't. And you know that the sordid thing after that is like when people wake up in the morning, they'll just be like nearly giving themselves lines, like in their like those lines you'd get in school must not hit my friend, or whatever. Like, must learn to moderate, must learn to moderate. You know, and we that's the messaging. But listen, there is nothing, no messaging more screwed than you must learn to moderate. You must learn to moderate a highly addictive substance that turns off your cognitive thinking once you start drinking it. Tell me a person who thinks the exact same when they're drinking as when they're sober, because I can't name a single person. So the problem with that learn to moderate is sober you made the decision. Sober you decided you must moderate, but it's drunk you who has to act that out. Yeah, those two people are different people, are very different. That that doesn't actually work as a strategy, as I'm sure anyone who's ever been drinking knows. Yeah, it doesn't work. I know, and then that makes a bit shaming. So, what can we take away from that? It doesn't work. So, which is flawed? So, who's flawed? I know I'm a very determined person. I know I've I've excellent willpower. Yeah, so who so is it me or is it the strategy? Do you know what I mean? It's the strategy. These loads of people in my life, highly intelligent people, fail to moderate more often than not. Of course. But it's they're not, it's not them that's broken. The system of moderation is broken. 100%. And also, sorry, my last point. Um I know, but um hear you, hear you, sorry. But also, I would say the thing with this, like, we must moderate. I actually just feel so sorry for people when they fail to do that. Because in the morning they will say, I must learn to moderate better. It's still the same solution, and then you'll see those people going into which I think is the worst part of drinking, the mental gymnastics. Yeah, I'll second a water, I'll do water every second time, I'll only drink this. You know, all the rules around your drinking. The system was flawed in the first place. So putting rules around a flawed system that doesn't work either. You know what I mean? Yeah, I guess I suppose like for everyone, yeah, and for everyone it's so different. And I I think the ga the the guilt and the shamey thing is another like horrendous side effect of alcohol. It's horrible when people feel guilty or shameful about not being able to moderate a some substance that's really not it's not down to you at that stage once you've had a few drinks. Yeah, exactly. But I guess I suppose just for me, and I can only speak from my own experience and as we do when we share here, it was more like getting to a space where you can actually be excited about doing things that are deemed fun because you are fun, and it's not just the alcohol that brings the fun. And but it takes a while, I think, for that veil to be lifted once you give up the drink and the booze. But I guess just yeah, even his post in particular kind of just makes you think, what has gone on in that industry and the strategy, as you say, that it's like you're questioned if you stop it, but you're not questioned if you take it. There's a brilliant comedian, and I've seen this clip a few times. I wish I had his name. I'll find him, we'll pop it in the show notes. It's a brilliant video. Uh, this American comedian, do you ever see it where he's like, where people are like, You he was like, I don't drink alcohol, and people are like, Why were you hitting your kids? Why did you lose everything? He's like, I don't want to drink poison. Like, how don't you people understand that? And he's like, he was hitting his kids, you know. Like he was like, There's no rock bottom. I don't want to drink poison. How is it the fact that that's radical is radical to me. Exactly. This is exactly also. Is that a New York accent?

Aisling 16:39

I don't know.

Aisling & Clodagh 16:39

Is he from New York? I don't know. It was just generic American, I'd be honest. Well done too. If you if it wasn't New Jersey, uh like I just did generic American. I just pressed that button in my brain. Right. Well, we'll see where he's from and we'll follow up on that. It's so good though. Like, it's just such a you know, I think sometimes comedians are just the best for saying the truth, like the kind of thing. In a funny way, yeah. Jester King Lear kind of situation. Like, but it's like it's make it make sense. This ex at this explanation that we require when people are like, I don't want to drink something. I've actually just recently listened to again Huberman's podcast on what alcohol does to your body and brain. And I I'm sober for good, like for good, like for the good of my now. I hate the forever question. People are like, You sober forever. I'm like, how will I know I've done it? Will you like forever? What are you talking about? Then I only I only can congratulate myself on my deathbed. I did it. Like, no, like I'm sober for good, yeah, day to day for good for the rest of my days. Um, but I so I have no desire to drink, as I said, I'd rather lick the bin, I have to ick off drink. But every now and then, just because I enjoy it as a listen, I will listen to the Huberman's podcast on what alcohol does to your body and brain. And if you're in that sober curiosity space and you're really on the fence, but you want to go into sobriety, oh, best listen. We link him in the show notes. Yeah, I might go have another listen to that. Oh, it's really, it's just excellent. Like, it's very good. And he basically just speaks in a serious way to the same thing the comedian is saying in it in a jovial way. Yeah. It's poison. Like, we can turn it up any way we want. It's poison. We'll have a bit of comedy and a bit of science to share in the show notes. That's our favorite. So, how did you get on with? I actually can't believe it's been a week. I actually was there thinking earlier, it's like that was only two days ago. No, that was a week ago when we talked about panayama and breath work to regulate our nervous system. And obviously, we invited everyone from episode five to try and just practice a little bit more mindful breathing, in particular, belly breathing. And if anyone missed episode five, there's a linked video that I created, a guided belly breath video that you can access on YouTube for free, obviously, um, in that episode show notes too. So if you missed that or you need some support, you can go and look at that video. Um, but how did you get on at? I actually got on very well. Um, apart from one day, which was a particularly stressful day. I won't get I won't get into the boringness of the stressiness of it. It was just, just trust me when I tell you, it was so stressy. And by the end of that day, I did have an epiphany, which was, oh, I only stop and take deep breaths when I'm a little dysregulated, when I'm full gone and I'm full stress, it doesn't even enter my head. Okay. Oh, yeah. When I when my brain is still online and I'm starting to feel, oh God, a little activated, a little stressy, you know, there's been milked catapulted up the wall just one too many times, but I'm still, I'm my mind is still in the room. Um, then I can access it. Yeah. And then I really do use it as a tool all the time. And you know, I have the thing that when I'm called mom, I I take a deep breath. It's just an I have it now, it's just a an um a mental cue, and I never miss it. But I've one particularly stressy day this week and I got into bed and I was like, Wow, did I even breathe? I actually did a reel on it yesterday or a post or a video. I don't know if they're all the same to me on the gram, but whatever I did something, some kind of a mid job. There's something up there somewhere. Just reminder to us all, like, and this is me who this is my bread and butter, like the breath, you know, and like well, the breath through movement, and I literally noticed I got into bed, and I was like, Wow, if I have even taken my breath as far as my clavicle, as far as my collarbone, I've done well. I did little sips. Oh god, and I got into bed, and I was like, I didn't take one deep breath today. Okay. So I realized I can use it as a tool, and I wonder who if people have a similar experience, I can use it as a tool when I'm a little stressed, but sometimes when things are gone full circus, it doesn't even enter my head. Yeah. So that is, I need to do some work around there. But I did chapter my day with three belly breaths a lot on most days. I sent you a couple of little photos of myself. I know they're lovely. And you know what I like as well is to chap, you know, our days all go in chapters, you know, get the kids organized, get the kids out the door, and then begin a workout, uh, get the house under control, go and get the groceries. You know, our days are chaptered like that. And what I was trying to do was put in just three short belly breaths, pop them in between those little chapters, you know, like just about to get in the cards, go and get do a pickup, three belly breaths. Yeah. So I was puts I was popping them in in the little, we'll say chap at the chapter lines. Um, but yeah, something I definitely, something that definitely needs attention is if things go total shit disco for me, I don't breathe at all. Okay. Well, that's really cool that then at least this shone a light on the fact that you aren't breathing probably at all when you're highly stressed. Because we don't want you to collapse. But no, I mean I'd say so many people can probably relate to that because when you are gone to that kind of stressy level, it can be so hard to reach into the back pocket for your toolkit. I mean, you're you're kind of far past that. So it is really hard to remember that. But then I wonder the next time it happens, if we do remember it and whether it'd be stepping outside for like a 10 second breather or whatever it is that would work for you. Will it help then diffuse the stress a little bit? I'll sure of course it will, but how do you remind yourself to do that is really the trick. So that's your challenge, I guess. Yeah, that that totally and don't get me wrong, I was called mom a lot of time. That it normally is the cue. But you know those days where you're just like bits, you know, we we've all we all get them every now and then the universe just says today's your day. And you just don't so lousy as well, because you wake up in the morning and you don't know that Mr. Universe is pointing his finger at you saying today's your day. You don't know it yet, but today's your day, and you are gonna have to more passion, more energy, like literally one of those days, but um, but yeah, yeah, so it was a very good eye-opener because I I I feel I kind of felt like I had good breath awareness in general in my life, but since we've put in um a more dedicated focus on it, it definitely highlighted that uh to me. How did you get on? Yeah, no, I suppose, yeah, off the back of that, one of the things that became apparent to me is actually so obviously we we move through different different types of stress in our lives. So, of course, it can be the day that feels extremely frantic and busy and overwhelming and just nonstop and you're just pulled so thin. Um, what actually was highlighted to me is so the times that I feel the most, I suppose, fearful and overwhelmed and anxious would be when I'm flying. It used to, I used to be a terrible flyer, like I couldn't fly. And this is actually kind of tight to drink too. So anytime I would go on a flight, and this wasn't great for me because I travelled a lot and I also lived very far away, especially when I lived in Australia. I was terrified. I mean, my sister and some friends would vouch for this. They were mortified sitting next to me on the flight because I would be shouting obscenities. I would just be like practically on the floor. The seatbelt used to be around my neck, patty choking me. I'd be like, what's happening? We're gonna die. Like, we're absolutely fine when you sit up straight. That's a grown up. Yeah. I really couldn't handle it. Anyway, so then I started drinking. So anytime I'd go on a flight, I'd have a glass of wine or two. Maybe on the flight I'd have a drink as well. If the turbulence, the seatbelt sign was coming on, I'd be like, ding ding, give me some wine, like ready to tear out off the lid with my teeth and drink out the bottle. But you're just trying to try to come up with solutions, like you know. Yeah, I suppose. And then I was Xanex, I would go on, Marjorie would take my Xanex. But there was one time I remember getting a flight home from Spain and it was fairly early in the morning, and I drank a glass of red wine, and I remember people were like, This is like eight o'clock in the morning. Um train, alright. Yeah, and it was it was next level. I was like, this isn't cool. Yeah, we all know that airport time isn't real time. I'll give you that. Yes. And I mean, of course, they're serving that drank. They're not doing GMT in airports, it's whatever time you like it to be. You look at red wine in a cross-on for your breakfast is never gonna be a good idea. Like, but I couldn't get on the flight without it. And I was like, something's gotta be done here. I need to stop this nonsense. Uh so in recent times, I obviously gave up to drink, that's fine. Then I did have this annex as my backup, but now I don't do any of that. And what I do is breathe. So whenever I get on my flight, I do a huge amount of rounds of inhaling through the nose from maybe a count of six to seven and exhaling, and I try and exhale for a double count. So maybe getting to 14. And now this is quite a restriction in breath, so it takes a bit of practice, but it is so calming and relaxing. And if we hit turbulence, I my my anxiety spikes, and I do get scared and I do get stressed. But again, I go back to my breath and I calm myself, and like the outcome's going to be the same outcome regardless, whether I'm on the wine or the Xanax or breathing. So it's how I manage it myself. That's the answer. And it really, really helps. And I just love that I don't need to be, yeah, drinking or taking Xanax to get through my flights anymore. I love that view because the goal is actually the same. Whether, you know, maybe a couple of years ago, maybe you didn't have the awareness or the you know, vocabulary to know what I'm trying to do here is downregulate. You know, it's just that we've been taught to, and it's all this language around it, take the edge off. You know, what are we actually trying to do? What does all that actually mean? Yeah. It means we're trying to downregulate, it means we're nervous, it means we're feeling scared, flight or fight, highly regulated, highly dysregulated, highly activated. Yeah. So that's what's actually happening. So it's our nervous system saying, asking the question as it does, as it's supposed to do, as it's hardwired to do. Am I safe? And you've responded, no. Yeah, I'm not safe. And then because you can't flight off a fight, a f a flight, flight off a flight. You can't flight off a flight. That could be a nice tongue twister. You can't go anywhere, then it becomes even nearly more nerve-wracking. So you have to kind of sit and be with the moment. It's terrible. Yeah. It's terrible if you're nervous, but it's all to the end goal of downregulating. Yes. So that you so is that so now you've stepped out of that, found tools within yourself instead of reaching outside of yourself to get to the same objective of downregulation without the penalty of feeling like crap after drinking or taking Xanax. Like unreal. Yeah, it's great. Like unreal. Yeah, it's brilliant. It's unreal. And I and I love flying. And I but I am so glad, yeah, I've got that because like I back in the day it nearly cut me off the travel. And I'm sure a lot of it is unnecessary worry, unnecessary stress, unnecessary anxiety. But it's a nice way to come back into the present moment and be like, wait a sec, right now, here and now, everything is good. Yeah. My mind used to be like, you know, in 10 minutes the flame is going down, like insane stuff. But I guess to your point as well, like when you are feeling extra stressed, or like when I'd feel extra anxious in those moments, oh my god, does your birth go up to the to your chest, doesn't it? It's unbelievable. I get actually that's probably my number one telltale sign that I'm feeling anxious, is the tightness in my chest. Um, it doesn't have me as much anymore, actually. But in the height of my anxiety, it would have been a real tightened chest. Yeah. Was my first kind of physiological symptom. Yeah. And I I'll take little tiny, and it's almost like if I do catch it and I do notice it, it a full breath into my belly almost feels unavailable. It's like I'm too far gone. You know what I mean? I'm like, I couldn't possibly do that. No. What I actually find to be really good if I'm feeling really like I've done so much to um reduce my anxiety. But you know, I had a brilliant therapist, my CBT therapist who I adore, who um I know you're not supposed to fall in love with them, but I just did like so, you know, make up. I just did there, I would say it. If you're listening, Gemma, I would say it. Uh, she was just a fantastic therapist and a really good fit for me. But, you know, when in one of our final um in one of our final sessions, she and I were talking about like it's actually unrealistic to expect no anxiety, you know, like that's not the goal. Like accepting that a little flare is going to happen from time to time. And as a person who's deeply involved with other people and with my own life, and I'm really engaged, I have so much skin in the game. I care massively, and that's okay. And like anxiety can sometimes happen when we, you know, I'm a mom, I care a lot about my job. I care, you know, like all these things that I'm deeply invested in and all my relationships. Like sometimes a little anxiety around that is almost the privilege, like problems of the privilege of living. It's almost that, you know. Like, so the goal is never to feel zero anxiety, but it is to have an adequate toolkit when I deal with it. So I'm I'm it I love how you have that breath that you do on a flight clo. And I think we all, people who are like a breath awareness, we all have a one that we gravitate to. I know, you know, for me it's the physiological side. For some reason, I can genuinely feel my shoulders drop in that in the in the shortest amount of time. But one hack that I found really good for anyone who's listening who might struggle with anxiety as well. If I'm having a very anxious he time, if I have a shower, something about the steam relaxes my lungs anyway. And if I have a shower, I'll put my hands up on the edge of the shower. You know how you can kind of grab the top of a shower and stretch down and take a do a physiological size. So for anyone who isn't aware, a physiological size is as smooth, really smooth and as silky as you can get it, inhale through the nose. You get to the very top of that inhale where you feel like your lungs are fully expanded. And at that point, you take three last sips, and that just kind of explodes those alveoli, those small little sacs at the ends of our lungs wide open. That never happens. We're in when we're in that sympathetic response. So by them opening up fully those little like grape-like sacks at the end of our lungs, them opening fully is a signal to your nervous system, all is well, I'm calm. Because obviously, if a tiger is chasing us, we're not going to be doing that. Something about getting in the shower and the steam and also stretching my eye. So literally, I'm I'm demonstrating, which is useless to all I understand, but I hopefully you'll understand what I mean. Holding the top shower unless it's like stretching down and taking a nice smooth in it. I swear to God, it's just if those belly breaths feel totally unavailable to you. I know it sounds odd, but try that shower hack. Because have you ever gone so far that your belly breath feels unavailable? Um, yeah, maybe it takes me a while, but like I would definitely say sit with it and try and bring it back down to the belly because that is what's gonna help us to signify or signal to our our our bodies and our systems that we are safe. But 100% I I understand, yeah, I've definitely been breathing high up in my chest, and it can feel very hard to bring it back down. But I think the challenge of bringing it back down and slowly inhaling and exhaling and bringing it back to the belly is part of the practice, isn't it? Like that's how we're part kind of imagining ourselves regulating ourselves again. But it can be really hard and it can feel like we're restricting ourselves sometimes. So of course mine comes into caveat that you need a shower nearby, so you cannot do it if you're in work, if you're outside of your house, if you're thinking my mine comes when it comes some some limitations, I accept that. And I think I think that's why the invite really is to start to bring in the belly breathing and make it start to feel like a really nice baseline place that feels comfortable for you, that actually starts. Maybe sometimes you move into that automatic belly breath. I know that has happened to me now since I've started doing it, and I now naturally breathe in my natural form and expand my belly while I'm breathing. Like that's not just something that I just try and do every day. Uh that's how I naturally will breathe now. Like a lot of babies will breathe that way as well. Um, but then when I want to take longer breaths, of course, I I practice that a little bit more. So it's a practice for sure, and it can be sometimes feel very unavailable to us. But I think even when I was at the hairdressers uh earlier, I was doing my belly breath at the sink, like when I at the basin, and I was like, that's so lovely that you can kind of bring it anywhere with you and take it with you. To also was like kind of like in a shower, but not in a shower. Yeah. My head was in the shower. Look, good enough. Good enough for you can join shower club. Yeah, good enough for me. But I'm just saying, as a as a tool, if you feel like on on an exceptionally fried day, that that actually I think really helps. You know, the way people take um in days god by they might do a bit of esteem, you know. I I think that's a really good hack. If you just really do need a change of setting to to to change things up and try and come back. But I I love that, and I love that I know it sounds you're like do you? Um do you know it doesn't I know it's so obvious, it's almost it's almost patronizing to say it, and I don't mean it like that, but it's a gentle like a reminder to us all, me included, your diaphragm goes everywhere with you. You know what I mean? Everywhere you go, you can choose to breathe differently.

Clodagh 33:25

Yeah.

Aisling 33:26

Such like it's a tool that's just sitting at the center of who we are. You know what I mean? And I suppose it's that point of just kind of trying to remember like what kind of little triggers could remind us, especially if we are getting a little bit extra stressy or extra anxious, uh, like the next time that maybe you're feeling like you've been pushed overboard and you're like, oh God, now I'm in the chest breath. Um, yeah, can we try like when you're on the flight, if you are nervous, can we try that kind of deeper breathing or anything, I suppose, before a big meeting, if you're anxious, I would always say, can you think of ways to regulate your nervous system and then bring those tools in? It will feel clunky at first and it will also feel you know, often be forgotten, I think, as well at the start. So it's trying to, I know we talked about the habit stacking and all that before, but it's just starting to bring awareness and bringing it in to be make it a habit, and then it becomes second nature, and that's the magic of it. Yeah. When I started doing that thing where I take a deep breath every time I call mom, I missed it so much at the start because it wasn't yet a habit. Do you know what I mean? But then as like the years rolled on and I reminded myself again and again and again, and it really is such a cue for me now. Do you know what actually could be a good cue for some people as well? Is like if you're someone who goes to a tendency of picking up your phone and just jumping onto the likes of Instagram or TikTok just for no reason, like I think we all find ourselves doing it sometimes just for a distraction. And Kamira, distraction is good for us too. I'm not saying remove them completely, but as you jump into something like that, if it's something you do quite regularly or your emails, whatever, can you take three deep belly breaths and then go on with your distraction? That's fine too. But could it be a trigger? That's actually incredibly clever, Chloe. Um you are incredibly clever. Um I want to I just turn this camera, I'll just turn this spot class off so we can just whisper sweet documents to each other. No, that's actually unreal because that you know, you know, the way sometimes we all feel like our phones are using us as tools instead of we're using them as tools. And I know I'm not alone when I feel when I say I sometimes feel like that.

Speaker 2 35:20

Yeah.

Aisling 35:20

And I want my my phone to be a tool, like a hammer in the shed. I use it when it suits me and I don't when I don't. Do you know what I mean? Um, but w when it comes to our phone usage, we all habitually check our phones, let's be real. So flipping that, which is I I'm not happy with with permanently checking my phone. I don't know how ever anyone else feels about it. But changing something which I deem as a kind of a negative habitual um behavior, switching that into something positive, now that's using your phone as a tool to work for you. Yeah. So if you could actually put a time lock on it, because if you're if you're habitually checking it, you might be doing that in autopilot and miss the cue. Yeah. But if you put a time lock on it where you have to put in a code or, you know, or and then you have a screen, a screensaver saying breathe, and you have to put in a code. Do you know what I mean? Like put up those little those little things to like I'm all about helping myself, you know. I honestly think removing small barriers is actually I I truly believe it's all the boring little bits that we put in throughout our day that really move the needle. Like I always lay my clothes out for my workout the night before, when I I alternate between strength and plates and strength and yoga in my in my little studio, and I'll I'll set up the the room for my next thing. I always do that when I'm finished up. So I did legs this morning in my little studio, and tomorrow I'll do a nice bit of mobility. I'm gonna start working on some new lesson plans, and I've got all set up for plates, and I'm all about putting the little things in place to set myself up for success.

Speaker 2 36:55

Yeah.

Aisling 36:56

And and I'm just being like be your own mom, be your own dad, and just do do those little bits for yourself to help yourself along the way. So I think putting a little thing in my I'm actually gonna do that. Do it, girl. Actually, for the my app Cree, we have a little sun that rises every time you enter the app, and it's the sun that rises and you follow it, and then it breathes out. So it's a breath prompt every time you go into the app, and I did it for that purpose. So because like technology, do you know it is it's the phones do, yeah, they absolutely use us, but technology is also fantastic as well. So can we find ways to use our phones to give us little prompts, whatever way we can, that will actually create negative positives instead of negatives. But that's that's the ultimate hack. If we can use something like a habitual habit that we're kind of a bit half pissed off that we're doing, if we can flip that to something that benefits us, like ideal. Also, I think if you pick up your phone later and you go onto the gram or ever and you go, actually, I'm gonna do my three breaths here, it has a domino effect where you're probably maybe like, yeah, I'm still gonna go on, but you might be like less. Or like, do you know what I'll actually want on some of the things? Yeah, you would have for a chair. I don't want to do any more than that. Yeah, exactly. And then just I think that's a really, really good idea. And it, like as you say, it's totally is dominal effects. And maybe if you took those that small little tiny moment, maybe you don't even really want to go on your phone right now. You know what I mean? Ah, 100%. Okay, so are we ready for the natural idea? Better or worse, do you think? I don't know. Do you know what I think? I think we're clapping two hands at the exact same time. I think it has to be more drum roll alternate hands. Oh, look, power in numbers, we're better together. That was actually all right when we did it together. Um drumming. I I I jest. No, clearly not drumming. Um, the natural high of this week is beyond the people in my life, the thing that honestly probably gets me the most excited and going, I'm having a speech. Uh like this is actually going to be a bit of a speech. Okay. Um so today's natural high, and the and the natural high that we're gonna say it is strength work. We got there. We got there in the end. I just wanted to give it enough of a run-up that it really yeah, exactly. But honestly, unlike any sciencey bits that I've done in the past now, this science piece on strength today is going to be somewhere between a like the scientific benefits of building skeletal muscle and honestly an impassioned plea. Oh, like I actually can't talk just scientifically about strength because I'm honestly just too passionate about it. So, when we're talking about strength, what are we actually talking about? We're talking about the maintenance and the building of our skeletal muscle. And if you're not already thinking about skeletal muscle along these lines, I urge you to reframe it. If you're thinking about skeletal muscle just when just in the terms of like locomotion and aesthetics, trust me when I tell you it runs so much deeper than that. Skeletal muscle is the organ of longevity, to quote the amazing Dr. Gabrielle Lyne, who's one of the many experts who uh who has completely transformed my thinking on this topic. And she's really truly opened my eyes to a muscle-centric medicine. So, yes, of course, at the heart of why skeletal muscle is important is locomotion. No one's disputing it. And of course, there's an aesthetic component beneath that. But deeper than that, and more important than that, your trajectory, my trajectory, all of us, of physical capacity, resilience, and aging well is directly tied to the health and mass of your muscle. I'll get on to loads of other experts in a while, but right now I'm going to stay on the work of Dr. Gabrielle Lyon and outline why building skeletal muscle is crucial for your health, using some of her core concepts and philosophy. And I'll link all the pieces and papers that I reference in the show notes. So, according to Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, it is the organ of longevity. She emphasizes that muscle is not just about physical aesthetics or aesthetic performance, it is a vital organ system. It is the ultimate metabolic currency. So, what does she mean when she says that? She says that skeletal muscle is the primary site of glucose disposal. So basically, how your body clears carbohydrates from your blood sugar. Building healthy muscle directly reverses or prevents insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic dysfunction. It is our largest endocrine organ. So for the longest time, by the way, skeletal muscle wasn't thought of as an endocrine organ. It is now fully accepted that it is. What does endocrine organ mean? I'm sorry, you're losing me on a few of these amazing top things. So an endocrine organ is an organ that emits uh molecules into your bloodstream. Okay. Sometimes they're peptides and sometimes they're hormones. Okay. So your pancreas would be a perfect example. Okay. So we didn't know that muscles could emit uh things into our bloodstream, yes, changing your body systemically. So when we say movement is medicine, that's not a woo-woo throwaway sentence. It is biochemically correct to say movement is medicine. When you contract your muscles through resistance training, meaning putting a meaningful load on the muscle, they secrete peptides called myokines. These cross the bloodstream and act as chemical messengers and they reduce inflammation, they enhance mood, they protect brain health, and they improve bone density. Another benefit of building skeletal muscle, it is your body's amino acid reserve. And what I mean by that is when you are sick or you have an injury, your body will need amino acids. They are the building blocks of proteins to fix whatever is wrong with you. And where will it take them from? It will take them from your skeletal muscle. I never hear that. For the longest time, we have had such a honestly depressingly juvenile interpretation of what skeletal muscle is, and that it's it's just for moving around and for looking good. There is if you want to age, keep breathing in and out, and if you want to age well, build your skeletal muscle. And the last point I'm going to make along that mess muscle-centric medicine, and just to say also, Dr. Gabrielle, her ever strong, it is astounding. It's kind of like per life's work in one book. Um and I'd highly recommend that. And also, like I said about the James Clare book, if you don't, if you're not interested in reading books about health, like I get that this isn't everyone's jam. Everyone who's written a book worth its salt is dying to talk about it. So they're all, all these people either have podcasts of their own or go on other people's podcasts. So you just need to pop their names into Spotify. And they're only too pleased to bullet point all their like these are people's entire lives have been taken up with this research, and they'll condense it in 40 minutes for you while you're also painting your fence. I mean, podcasts are the job, you know. So this is the last one, and I think that this is something. We never think about. So as we age, there is such a thing as anabolic resistance. Okay. So what that essentially means is hormonally speaking, our anabolic days are behind us. So when we're younger, my son, for example, is five years of age. I give him an egg, which is six grams of protein. His body is so primed for growth that six grams will stimulate his muscle build, his bone build. No problemo. When we get older, unfortunately, our hormones peak and then eventually start to decline. I'm 41 years of age. So my days of build build, they're behind me. But what's the good news about skeletal muscle? We can get old, older muscle to act like younger muscle if we choose to apply a meaningful stimulus. So all those benefits that I've talked about, it being the organ of longevity, it being our ultimate metabolic currency, it being the largest endocrine organ, it being your body's amino acid reservation or res reservoir, all those benefits are sitting at our fingertips. And the only thing that's in our way is us making the choice or not making the choice. So when it all boils down to it, there is one, only one organ system over which we have total autonomy, and that's our skeletal muscle. And that isn't an accident. You can't think your colon into action, you can't think your pancreas in and out of action. Our skeletal muscle is the only organ system that we completely control, and that is by design, and we're supposed to pull that lever. So, okay, on to my next bit. So the last, oh sorry, I know I said that was the last point, but this is the last point. No, no, keep coming. I know it's like this is taking note. I guess it I guess once this penny drops, of how important it is to safeguard your strength and safeguard your skeletal muscle, it can't undrop. And I really do feel like it's the missed piece in a lot of medicine. So the last point I'll make is Gabrielle makes the point, it's the sixth vital sign, an armor against fat. So what she means by that is she points out that obesity is often just a downstream symptom of damaged, unhealthy skeletal muscle. When muscle tissue is healthy and active, it optimizes fatty acid oxidation, meaning burning fat, and regulates stress hormones like cortisol. And all of this is to say this obsession we have that we have all been victim to, that the smaller the better, particularly as women, the thinner the better. That has done untold damage to us in this world. And I will say particularly to women, to the people who have been told that they are quote unquote overweight. You are not now, nor have you ever been overweight, you are under muscled. And ironically, when you were looking to get big, and ironically, and this is my opinion, not the Dr. Gabrielle, whether you're looking to get bigger or smaller, and if you if you are interested in body composition, you are interested in the shape of your body, whether you're interested in getting bigger or smaller, the answer is actually still building skeletal muscle. If you want to get leaner, and that's your objective, and you want to get more quote unquote toned, it's actually building more muscle so that you have more muscle versus fat ratio. And also, if you want to get bigger, like I do, I'm desperately trying and I'm doing my very best to pull the slever to get a little bigger. The answer is actually to build skeletal muscle. Okay, all that aside, how do we do it? Okay, there are two stimulus for muscle protein synthesis, the making of skeletal muscle, which ultimately means the building of our strength. Okay, so one is dietary protein outside of my lane to start talking about how anyone does that. But if you you can use many online calculators, and I will link my favorite one in the show notes to figure out maybe your protein requirements in any one day. And the other one is obviously stress draining. So if like me, you're around that 40 years of age, your late 30s and your early 40s, and if like me, you're you're a woman, you have and you then right now you're about to embark on the next huge hormonal and full-body change that is part and parcel of perimenopause and ultimately menopause. And they say, and I say this with nothing but love and respect, 100% of women will go through this change. Unfortunately, there is no avoiding it. But I actually love this time in a woman's life because I think because it's a time of huge transition, it is a time to take stock and start asking yourself, am I happy with where my health is? Am I happy with where my strength is? What am I doing? Why am I doing it? And where is it taking me? And I think they're really important questions for us to start asking ourselves about our health and about our strength. Because, in my opinion, this time of our lives, it's like the great crossroads of our health. And we decide what road we'll head down from here. And it's all in your hands. And when you are, and I never use the term little old lady, but when because I've no notion of getting little when I'm old, but when we are when we are in that stage of our lives, have we chosen sadly to neglect this strength piece and then ergo we will start to shrink and we will start to get frail, and then our independence might start to slip from our grip. And 30, 40 years ago, we could have made different choices around our strength and been on a totally different trajectory. So, like I'm not an enormous fan of Sylvester Sloan per se, but that man is 80 years of age and he is absolutely jacked. And to quote him himself, he says he is fiercely independent. There are they're his words. And so, my point being, if physical decline was inevitable through the passing of time, how has he avoided it? It's because it's not inevitable through the passing of time. We do not weaken due to the passing of time, we weaken and become more frail due to one thing and one thing only, and that is neglect. So if you haven't started strength training already, now is the time. The very best time is yesterday, but the second best time is today. And the beautiful thing is when you pull on the lever of skeletal muscle, that muscle pulls on the tendon and that tendon pulls on the bone. And because muscle and bone are sisters, you don't have one, you don't have the other, they need to be thought of as just one system, the musculoskeletal system. And so, ergo, when we opt into strength training, we by extension strengthen our bones, which brings me nicely onto the work of Dr. Vander Wright, who is another queen in this space. Dr. Van der Wright is a double board certified orthopedic surgeon, sports medicine specialist, and an elite team doctor. Now, she has a book called Unbreakable, and she reads it herself, and it's actually on Spotify. I'll link it on the show notes. If you do one thing, listen to that. It's just it's art. It's just a stunning book. But basically, Dr. Van der Wright frequently points out that 70% of how we age is determined by our lifestyle choices, while only 30% is dictated by our genetics. And when you think about that, it so gives us so much power and so much autonomy. And I'm not saying for a single second that if we do strength work, all our days will be rosy and we will live independent lives up to 100. I'm saying when there's so much left to chance and this lever is waiting there to be pulled, why not pull it? So her big thing, because obviously she is an orthopedic surgeon, so her big thing is bones. So I don't know if you knew, did you know this, Chloe, that it takes 10 years for an adult body to completely replace its own skeleton? So 10 years ago, you did not have the skeleton that you sit in today. I absolutely did not know that. So what does that even mean? So your skeleton is constantly breaking down and remodeling. There's cells in your skeleton called osteoblasts, they're the building ones, and then there's cells in your skeleton called osteoplasts, and they're like little Pac-Man and they go around gobbling up your bone. When we're younger, our osteoblasts are far more active than our osteoclasts. And tragically, if you do not resistance train, if you do not put any stimulus on your bones, the osteoclastic activity starts to get too great. Then that leads into osteopenia, which is the starting place before osteoporotic, you know, before we become osteoporotic. So a lot of this, I think we just accept, oh, as we age, our bones weaken, and then you know, osteopenia as though we're rolling the dice. No, there's no dice rolling. If you put enough of a load on your muscle, the muscle will pull on the tendon and the tendon will pull on the bone. And Dr. Vanden Roy talks a lot about the targeted movement, impact, and heavy resistance. So she talks a lot about loading up your muscles with weight, and also a term that she uses, bashing your bones. So when you're out for a walk, walk heavy. Really feel that impact up through your legs. Or maybe you don't like that. And if you have knee issues, that might not work for you, if you have hip issues. And if that's the case, you can walk softly with a with a weighted vest. That would be my other top trick. Yeah, just to create that stimulus and to create that impact on the bone. And when we do that osteoblastic activity, the building bone cells, they are upregulated. So we can keep our bones strong in really, really simple ways. I love that concept of bashing your bones. And actually, even though there's a place for this, and I do actually love those um really those transitions with so much control and yoga when you land extremely softly, yeah, they're beautiful, and there's another type of strength at play there. Yeah, I'm not bashing them at all. But sometimes I think in our world of movement, landing softly can almost get too much kudos. Yeah, and there's nothing elegant about bashing your bones, but it is so effective. So when I'm out for a walk now, I will actually land heavy and bash my bones. And I do wear a bit of a I do wear a bit of a weighted vest, a full weighted vest. I wear a vest. I'll leave you with this last dot. This is absolutely terrifying, but I'm just gonna say it because sometimes I think not with a shame or a blame, but the severity of the how would I say the severity of the aftermath if you opt out of maintaining your mobility and your flexibility and your strength. And by the way, when we're talking about that, what are we actually safeguarding? Ultimately, our independent, our independence. I don't accept this kind of thinking that for the last 20 years of our life we're dying. I don't accept that. I'm gonna leave this world kicking and screaming the same way I came into it. And I just feel like if you're putting so much of your time and attention into other people or into your job, stop and notice you deserve your own time and your own attention as well. This is your body, it's your right. And if you're looking over the fence at someone who's taking their health so seriously, who's really almost could be seen as selfish because they're so good at safeguarding, they go to the gym at this time and da-da-da. Why them and not you? You're no different to them in in what you deserve, you know? So it's a time, I think. If most people, well, I don't know what the age group are, but if I assume that a lot of the people who are listening to us are kind of in their 30s or 40s, um, although I actually don't know, so who knows what age group. But if if you are in that kind of time period of of those 20s being in the rearview mirror when your body was just so primed for building, you know, those teen years, if you're in your 30s, your forties, your 50s, it's a brilliant time to just take stock and be like, what do I want? What do I want my 70s and my 80s and my 90s to look to look like? And I'll just leave us with this um with this, and I'm I'm gonna say terrifying stat, and it is it is terrifying. So globally, of the people who fracture a hip, 20 to 30 percent of those people will die within a year. And the first time I heard that was from my teacher Annie Kerwin in Reformation in Dublin, and so shocking, I found it I had to go home and do a deep dive in Google. But it turns out Annie's never wrong. And I just couldn't get my head around that. That if I fracture hip in my 70s, that I have a one in four, one in five chance of dying within the year. And the point being, instead of not wanting to be the one in five, the one in four, don't be in the five or four at all. And how do we keep ourselves out of that group? We work on our balance and our mobility and our strength. So you won't fall, but if you do, you will not break a hip. And the time is now. That's all from me. On that. Alright, I have so many questions that I feel like it could hold back into a whole new podcast, and I won't ask all of them, but I will ask one very prominent one on that last stock because that is really scary. What if we've got people listening in their 70s, in their 80s? Like it's not, you know, you were saying the time is now, like, surely there's things we can do at all ages. There is literally, it is there is no such thing as too late when it comes to this. Brilliant. And I also meant to say one other thing. I get it if people are like, I don't like going to the gym. I'm a planning teacher, I'm not a gym girl at all. I lift weights at home. I don't even have a gym membership. There are so many other ways that we can build our strength. And if you don't like that, lifting heavy at all costs. And by the way, I'm not sure I enjoy that school of thought sometimes either, and certainly not for some people, because we don't just bring our muscle to the gym, we also bring our, you know, we bring all our tendons and we bring our ligaments. So sometimes the lifting heavy will come at a cost of injury. And if that's not where you're at, due to whatever reason, I use resistance bands loads. I swear by resistance bands, and also this raging social system just loves resistance bands because they cost 250. And it doesn't matter where you are in the world, how much money you are, have anything, you can use a resistance band. There's so many workouts on YouTube, resistance bands, and the work that you can do. Oh my God, they're so powerful. There's really clever ways of getting in strength, weighted vests, resistance bands, simple ways that if for financial and geographical reasons, gyms don't or health reasons, gyms don't work for you, they're your biggest hack. Brilliant. Yeah, because that was going to be one of my other questions, because obviously we want to make sure this is as accessible to people as possible. And so, of course, we're not talking, I'm guessing like it's not you don't have to do like a big 45 minute or hour in the gym here. Like there's other ways of bringing in strength. And what is your invite, I guess, that people could to to start for the week for this natural high? There's no uniform invite because it depends on where you are, where you are. So it depends if you're at, you know, a question that I'm sometimes asked, is walking enough? Now I mean this respectfully, that's not actually a full sentence. Is walking enough for what? Like walking, yeah, to help your cardiovascular health, yeah, to help your sleep, yeah, to reduce stress, yeah, great. As far as resistance training, no, because it isn't resistance training. No, it isn't enough to safeguard your muscles. So there is such a thing as progressive overload, meaning that your muscles get a bit bored of what you're doing, they need a new stimulus. So the invite will have to be a kind of a balance between what I'm saying and where you're at. So I'm asking you now, do you do any strength training? If you do do some, how, and only you know this, how much do you feel when you're there, you're being challenged? Because that's actually what you need. And that will be different for everybody. How challenged do you feel in those moments? Or could you do it in your sleep? Are you going to the same class for ages and you're kind of an autopilot and it's not that challenging for you? That is not going to be enough for hypertrophy, and that word means to grow your muscles. And I'm not talking about big bro growing of muscles. I'm talking about safeguarding what we have and building slightly upon that so that we're definitely not lowering, you know. So I would ask you, if you're doing nothing, could you go to body weight only strength classes? And I love Pilates for this. I think Pilates is the most powerful strength work if you're coming from zero, because it also has so much mobility worked into it as well, and it's so available to people. Could you find a Map Pilates class? If Map Pilates, if going to a class doesn't work for you, could you do one online on the computer? There's so many free um classes. It's just amazing what's at our fingertips now on YouTube. And if you are going to the gym, are you being challenged? Could you up your weights? Or where could you challenge yourself if you're already strength training? And if you're if you're in autopilot in your strength work, can you up your game? You should feel challenged. It should feel hard. That's kind of the point. Gorgeous. And how many times a week? Yeah. So I think for strength training, and again, this is just my opinion, I think a minimum of twice to three times. If you're new, I'd say two times could move a needle, could move the needle, but my sweet spot is three. Perfect. So what are you going to do for the week? What's your I already do strength training, as I'm sure is obvious from my impassioned plea. It's a huge part of my health, and it's it's just a huge part of my health plan. But, and I know anyone who strength does any strength training, and I mean this by the way, when I say strength training training, I'm talking about my general I lift weights, but I also do so much strength and platys. And if you've come to my class, you know that that's kind of our bread and butter. That's the that's the meat between the bread. Can it be the bread and butter and the meat between the bread? You get what I'm saying. That's kind of one of the main focuses of the classes that I teach. Um so it doesn't matter whether it's it's lifting weights or whether it's or whether it's plates or whether it's body work only but body weight only. All that matters is that you're being really challenged. Now that what I'm going to do for the week, and anyone who has an established practice might also fall into this category. Sometimes I go and I don't challenge myself. Sometimes I kind of challenge myself a little, hang out a little bit where it's comfortable. I might do a couple of rounds where I'm really like leaning into the work. But that's actually where the challenge I think lies for a lot of us is there's two showing up. There's the getting, there's the rolling your mat out and pressing play on the YouTube video, safe, you know, you know, put setting aside that time. There's the getting to the class, there's the getting to the gym, there's the making the commitment and showing up. And then there's a second showing up, the one that only you can see. Are you actually trying as hard as you can? Are you actually working the workout? Are you actually digging as deep as you possibly can? And sometimes, and honestly, I'd say I'm half and half. Like I'd say I'd say I'm about half and half. But could where I would feel challenged is every single work up workout, every single practice when it comes to building my strength, could I lean into that discomfort a little bit more? Because that's what will move the needle. Do you ever find yourself going to do some either plates or strength work or whatever other type of strength work you do, Chloe, and you're just kind of autopiloting it a small bit? Oh, absolutely. And in yeah, of course. And there's I I love I love the idea of bringing more of your like intention behind it. Like if we're gonna, I mean, in your classes as well, you're very much like you're here now for the hour, so let's make it the best hour, make every second count. Like, let's actually get the value for your money here. You've shown up, you are here. Let's actually like you're going to do it regardless. So, can you do it in a way that you actually get the value from it? Because otherwise you're doing yourself a disservice and your time a disservice too. So, I really like that idea of like just asking yourself as you enter into if you've shown up for a class or you're doing a workout yourself or whatever it is, even if it's a walk, could you even stop on your walk and do some body weight uh squats and tricep dips from on a bench? Like, could you just get a little bit more value for what you're doing? So, yeah, I think I'm going to, I know sorry you didn't ask me yet, but I'm gonna just jump in and tell you. I was just about to. Yeah, I'm gonna do it. I was, I think for the week ahead, I'm going to, I know I do weight training, same person as you, fit positive. I know we've mentioned her before. Doing great work out in the West of Ireland Claire. I did slack on that. I'll be very honest. Oh, slacked on it. So I haven't touched it in two and a half weeks. And it's it's a it's a it's a nice chunk of money that you spend every month on the subscription. Like she definitely knows her value, which I love. So I'm gonna get back into that. It was just always. I really love paying. I love I love paying her. I only have believe you. Nobody nobody jokes. No, no, no, sorry. I was just gonna classify the clarify this for a second. As a female founder of an app, I absolutely love when people and women in particular value themselves and charge the right price. And when I signed up to her app, I actually questioned my price because I think it's quite low. But she definitely charges a good value, like you, it's worth it. And you know, sometimes you pay for something, it could be a five or a ten, or you're like, ah sure, that's there, and I won't use it. This is 50 euro out of the account every month. I'm like, I've got to use this. So it's really smart, but also she deserves it. She's fantastic. So yeah, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna do hers again. And the only other thing that I will say before we wrap it up, the protein calculator, and I know that's a whole other podcast, uh Session to talk about protein and of course that nutritional piece we wouldn't talk about nutrition to that extent as we're not certified. Well, I'm not certified in it. But what's really helpful for me, Ash, and thanks so much for all the info you shared today, because I'm absolutely fascinated by you talking on this subject, and you shared so much with me outside of the podcast. The protein calculator of understanding how much protein you should try and pack into each meal. Like when you share that with me, I bought my protein from Connecticut, and I honestly think that is a game changer to all of my workouts because I'm actually fueling myself in the right way and I feel stronger and more energized and more able to actually, you know, push myself. A hundred percent. And like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I could literally stand up and like do a Bart Simpson pot and bang a pop on my head like yes, yes, yes, yes. So what when what are we what's actually happening? Like when I'm talking about moving into the discomfort, what's actually happening? Little tears on your skeletal muscle, and those those tears will be rebuilt bigger using amino acids. Amino acids are the building block of protein and they're literally taken directly from your food. So uh without being too um depressing, if you go and you work your ass off in my class, any other class, and you're really digging deep with the strength, and then you go and you you don't refuel with any dietary protein. You're essentially it's like Lego bricks, and you're not filling in those bricks. So it's it's such a wasted opportunity. Yeah. And I think as well, like I kind of hate how proteins can really been taken over by commercialism. No, that's just everywhere. But strip all that crap away, that marketing crap. This is just biology. There's nothing actually, there's no marketing or nothing emotive in it. It's just simple biology. There's two things that will stimulate muscle protein synthesis. One of them is resistance training, and the other one is dietary protein. And sadly, you can't, it's not one or the other. You need them both. Yeah.

unknown 1:09:05

Yeah.

Aisling 1:09:05

And when you were teaching that in that calculator you're going to link to, it could be interesting for people to check it out. Just a little bit of knowledge on it. Then I was starting to check the back of, you know, as you say, marketing jargon, it's like protein rice cakes, protein bread, protein, whatever. And you look at the back of you're like, this is a shockingly low amount of protein that's in here. Yes, there's a tiny bit added, but it's like overly manufactured food often as well. So be aware. And of course, then the protein powder to add in can really help to boost up that protein requirements. And actually, Connecticut are going to give us a prize. Um, so um, we'll decide now if it's this week or next week when we um when we get off into our pot admin. Uh, but in either this week or one of the weeks coming up anyway, Conetica um, because I sent them a photograph of me with all of their products. Kinetica are Irish, their unflavored way is so we have this word of like that's processed. There's ultra-processed and then there's processed. Cheese is processed, milk is processed. Processed just means it's not a raw hazelnut that you're gobbling down. So um it's me, like it's I don't know, I don't know if it goes under the category of minimally processed or processed, I assume processed, but um, it certainly isn't ultra-processed, they're unflavored way. It's an Irish brand, and I use it loads. Um, and it's really good to yeah, get your your numbers up. Like the thing about it is it can be so overwhelming if you have no resistance training, or maybe what I've said has been kind of basic if you know it all already. It's very hard to gauge where people are at. If you are at zero and you don't have if protein isn't even on your radar, and um, and resistance training isn't even on your radar, to start in a simple way, buy a resistance band. Do we start some YouTube videos? 30 minutes is plenty, twice or three times a week. And before you change anything in your diet, just see where you're at. Just have a little look, have a little look at the back, the back end of what you're doing. Have a small little track. No one's saying that you need to start weighing stuff or doing anything crazy like that. Just have a little look at where you're at. And you know, it might be really interesting just to get that data on yourself and say, oh God, I'm actually only eating 60 grams of protein in any given day. And the other thing I would say is sometimes we think things are really rich in protein, but they could actually just be more carb. There's a lot of food falling into those categories, humus. Um humus. Humus, hummus. Oh my god, who said humus? Who said hummus now? Hummus, I don't know where that pronunciation is. Hummus, sorry. Do you know what I mean? Like all things, all things of the chickpea family. There's loads of stuff like that that we kind of have convinced ourselves are high in protein, they're just not because they're just more carbs. Anyway, all that's all your investigation to to be doing because I don't know how any anyone eats in any one given day. But just do an inventory of where you're at, because you may not be meeting those requirements. So then you're breaking your ass, but you're kind of you know leaving money on the table if you're not like you know, refueling with proper protein. Gorgeous. And I do you know what? I do think we're gonna have to do at least another podcast episode on everything you touched on today, because I know there's so much more that you'd love to add. And as you said, it's a very it's a it's it's kind of like the nervous system. It's a there's a lot to it, and it's hard to gauge where people are at. So, as you say, this invite this week is kind of around the individual, where they're at. Only you know where you're at. I know where I'm at, you know where you're at, we know what we're gonna do ourselves and make that kind of promise to ourselves to do it for the next week. Yeah, exactly. And the I guess the invitation is when you're going when you're going to do whatever resistance training you're gonna do this week. If you're doing zero, could you do some, two or three? Um, and if you're already engaging in resistance training, can you lean in and make it really hard for yourself? Because that's actually the point. It's not supposed to be easy, you're not supposed to be able to autopilot through it. Yeah. Um, and I know like my impassioned plea is a bit like, okay, but like this passion, but honestly, and not that I'm gonna tear up in the last minute of the podcast, but this this education just wasn't um available and it just wasn't commonplace in the time of like my folks, for example, who are sadly both passed away. They had no notion what resistance training was, it just wasn't just wasn't on people's radar. And I watched them both decline so badly, and and and just their mobility and their strength just slip from their grip, and then their independence just slipped from their grip. So sadly, I've had a front row seat to what it looks like when when that mobility and that strength isn't safeguarded and it is not pretty, you know, and when so much is left to chance, let's control the controllables and let's pull the slever. Well, your passion is very, very what's the word, obvious, and I can feel it off you. And your plea, I girl, I'll answer it. I will I will do it. I can fit pause. I'm back on it, girl. I'm gonna go lick those ways. Am I coming to your Pilates class this evening? And I'm gonna show girl I have like a mega burn, like I cannot wait this evening. No, I'm excited. And thank you so much for all that info. I can't wait to listen to the podcast that you're gonna link to. Another podcast, could you believe it? And even get the book. I want to get that book on Audible. So thank you so much, Ash. It was really great. And uh, I'm gonna just like ask you five million questions now once we stop the podcast. Well, I clearly love to talk about it, so no problem. It was brilliant, thank you. So, yeah. Okay, well done. Great stuff, great stuff. Have a great week, bye.