Muscles Are Your Metabolic Currency With Jana Barrett [Ep. 56]

Lisa: 0:00

This is the Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well podcast. I'm Lisa Salsbury. And this is episode 56. Muscles are your metabolic currency with Yana Barrett. Yana asks us this important question. Are you overweight or are you under muscled? This is a new way to look at our body composition that has nothing to do with the scale. So take a look at how much muscle you have, and you can do that by assessing your strength in especially daily activities. Yana tells us in this episode of a 60 year old client who wasn't able to pick up her first grandchild out of the cot, this is a heartbreaking lack of function. And I'm sure no. No one wants that for themselves. Yana is all about exercising, to feel strong, confident, powerful, and to move with freedom pain-free for as long as we possibly can. She's attack, fit, certified instructor, strength and conditioning coach, and a qualified personal trainer. She has. Almost a decade of experience training women from complete beginners to professional athletes, her clients get strong, flexible, and powerful using exercise and movement that is intuitive. And suits their bodies, especially as they are transitioning through menopause. She's a strong advocate for women at this stage of life, which we talk about a lot in this episode. As she believes this is often a forgotten group. I'm excited for, to hear this motivating conversation about muscles and mobility and exercise. Welcome to Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well; the podcast for women who want to lose weight, but are tired of counting and calculating all the food. I'm your host, Lisa Salsbury. I'm a certified health and weight loss coach and life coach, and most importantly a recovered chronic dieter. I'll teach you to figure out why you are eating when you aren't hungry, instead of worrying so much about what you are eating. Before we jump into my conversation with Yana in this episode, I do want to remind you about that limited time offer of a free food planning session with me. There's just three weeks left to get scheduled. I've had a lot of fun with those that have already scheduled by the time. This airs, I will have done six. So that means I have just four spots left, but there is plenty of time. So I opened up a couple more. So we'll be doing probably 12 total. If you've always thought losing weight is hard because it's just so tricky, figuring out what to eat. There's just so much conflicting advice and you're probably just overwhelmed with how to parse it all out. You want to figure out what to eat and what works for your body. And I I've got you. That's just what this session is all about. I want to get you out of confusion. I think that's the biggest reason women don't get going on their weight loss. Is, they are stuck in not knowing what to do and what to eat. So come to this free food planning session, it's a one-on-one session, just you and me. So it's totally personal. You'll leave knowing exactly what to eat, to start losing weight. I talk a lot about emotional eating on this podcast, but I am realizing that some of you aren't even ready to figure out the emotional eating piece. Because you need to dial in what foods you really want on your plan. And it ends up all feeling like emotional eating when you don't know. Like which foods are really best for you. Also, I'll be gifting you the book I wrote for my jumpstart, your weight loss sessions that I used to do seal want to watch for that download in your confirmation email. When you get this scheduled. And if you go to schedule right away, it'll look like there are lots of times available, like more than six, but I do have a limit on my calendar that once those last six are booked, then there won't be any more available this round. So be sure to get your scheduled. Right away so we can get you going. And I'll be honest, if at the end of the call, I think you're a good fit for my coaching program. I will let you know, but the call is free. Either way. Now let's talk to Yanna Barrett I am super excited to welcome Janna Barrett here to the podcast today. She is a fitness and movement coach, and most fun of all for me, when she popped up on my Zoom, I was like, oh, you're not in America. So she's from New Zealand, which is so fun. So we're gonna enjoy listening to her accent. I know she's probably like, that's kind of. Over, over done with the, the accent. But for, for us here in America, I enjoy it. So I am, I've been enjoying chitchatting with Yana as we've been getting to know each other. So if you could just introduce yourself a little bit, tell people what you do, how you came to that work, and then we will jump into our topic today.

Jana: 4:49

So lovely, um, to be here with you, Lisa. Thank you for having me and. And yeah, I'm, I'm gonna inject a little bit of exotic down under flavor into your podcast today, but my name is Yanna Barrett, as you said, and I'm a fitness and movement coach, and I mainly help women over 50. That's kind of my main clientele. But, um, obviously I have coached people from, um, teenagers too. I think my oldest client is, was 72. Yeah. So a very wide range of, uh, women mainly. And I help women to, um, Unleash the true power of their body to help them move with freedom and pain-free so they can confidently navigate aging and live the life of their wildest dreams.

Lisa: 5:30

I love it. My listeners know I'm a big fan of making your health span match your lifespan. So functional movement all the way through our older years and. And really thinking about how we are exercising now to prepare our bodies. I know I've actually had a guest on previously that talked about how we can exercise today in our forties and fifties to preserve our joints. We definitely need to be. Thinking about that, thinking about our longevity as we are doing our workouts. So we are going to talk today about that demographic, the forties and fifties. We've kind of been hitting this on the podcast lately with this midlife menopause time. We've talked about some hormone replacement therapy that you can do. We've talked about thoughts that you have in your midlife and how we can live better in our midlife. So, Today we're really gonna talk about exercise in that mid lifetime. So one thing that Yana said to me is, muscle mass is your number one weapon in the fight against menopausal weight gain. Tell us about that. What does that mean, and why do you think that's true?

Jana: 6:42

So what's really um, great is that there is actually a lot of research coming out about this now. So, you know, in the past I think women were slightly or probably quite largely underrepresented in lots of studies. And, um, there's even, you know, in the fitness industry, there is actually not that many coaches who are knowledgeable about. Training women in perimenopause and menopause and you know, some women can be in perimenopause for almost 10 years. And then, you know, as you

Lisa: 7:11

Yeah.

Jana: 7:12

Absolutely. And, and you know, like the, the, I think somebody told me there's like 150 symptoms you can possibly have when you are transitioning, you know, through perimenopause to menopause. And what is really strongly coming out in a lot of research now is that we are not actually not overweight. We are underused. So we are not cultivating and maintaining our muscle mass and, and you know, like our hormones are not really kind of coming to the party here because you are actually starting to lose muscle mass after 30. After 30 years old, you already are on that downward slide. I think it's about 3% of muscle mass every decade, which might not seem like a lot, but it is actually a lot. And then that process is a lot speeded up once you hit your forties, fifties, and even sixties. So suddenly,

Lisa: 8:06

let me, sorry. Let me just, uh, interrupt and ask you a question there. When you say that we're getting that muscle decline, is that if you do nothing about it, I'm assuming that's that's the decline that we are going to be fighting against, is that

Jana: 8:19

Yeah, absolutely. But you know, obviously you, you've talked about if you are strength training and if you are doing mobility training or you're doing any kind of type of exercise or physical activity, then you are preventing this muscle mass loss. So, absolutely. Yeah. That is, if, if you do nothing, you are losing 3% every decade. Um, and it could be up to like 10%, um, once you hit your fifties and sixties and you are transitioning, through menopause because of the diminishing, estrogen, you know, hormones and, and you know, we are losing a lot of hormones, by that stage. Yeah. So the researchers there that, you know, that we. It's actually, I read somewhere, um, a study that a woman who is bigger but has a really good muscle mass will have better health outcomes and better quality of life as she ages than a woman who is smaller but doesn't have a very good muscle mass. And I have coached people who are on both side of the spectrum. I have just started coaching someone who is 60. Who's very lean, but literally no muscles, no muscle tone, no muscle strength. And the reason why she came to me is because she cannot lift her first grandchild comfortably out of a cott or for cuddles. And imagine if you are not exercising, and then suddenly at the age of 60, You are faced with a situation where you finally got that first grandchild and it is the most, you know, one of the most joyous probably events in a, in a woman's life, apart from having her own children. And suddenly you don't have the strength to pick up this eight months old baby and have a cuddle with it with her. Yeah. So that is kind of some of the devastating impact of not having adequate muscle mass, but also, Muscle is the organ in your body that burns the most calories,

Lisa: 10:10

Mm-hmm.

Jana: 10:11

and as you are losing muscle mass, generally what happens is that the muscle mass is replaced by body fat. It's just what happens. And then the body fat has a very different, as you probably know, a metabolic kind of demands. And then usually it makes you crave for the foods that perhaps don't serve you so well. So, so maintaining muscle mass is not only so important for. Preserving the functionality of your body and to be able to do what you want to do as you are aging. But it's also the organ that will burn the most calories and speed up your metabolic system. And then, um, will allow you to maintain a healthy weight as you are going through perimenopause and menopause, because that is usually the biggest complaint that I hear from women. You know, suddenly they put on 10 kilos, which is 20 pounds. Um, In America and you know, within months and they haven't changed anything.

Lisa: 11:05

Mm-hmm.

Jana: 11:06

So what is going on there?

Lisa: 11:09

I, um, I was gonna say I love that story about the grandchild, but actually I, I hate it. Like, I hate that that happened to her, but I love that example just because it, it is why I train it. I again, I have said to my clients multiple times when we talk about why we are either getting to our natural healthy weight or improving our health'cause I coach on weight loss and just general health coaching that we need to have really strong whys. And one of them I always give them as example One of my sentences, one of my thoughts is I want to be an influence for good on my grandchildren because for me, that encompasses the idea that I am going to be able to travel to wherever they are. They probably won't live in my neighborhood. Right? Of course, we want them to, but they probably won't. And so for me to have the function to be able to carry my own baggage and get on the plane and get to where they are and attend their events. I mean, of course when they're babies, there's less events, just more cuddling. But as they get older, I want to see their events. I wanna go to their plays and their shows and their football games and their graduations. Like all of those things. And so when I hear that story that she isn't even able to pick up the child. Like we wanna be able to have the function to get down on the floor, to play with them. At their level. And yeah, I just think that is so impactful, and I think you're so right about the idea that we have this complaint about I've gained weight, and people say, oh, my metabolism has slowed down as if it's just this magical thing that has happened. My metabolism slowed down, and they just like, it is what it is. They throw their hands in the air and they're like, I don't know what to do. My metabolism like, no, it's not that. It's that You've let your muscle mass decrease, that is what is happening. I think that is so important for people to hear. Your metabolism isn't just randomly going down. It's not like, oh, well it has to go down in menopause. No, it doesn't.

Jana: 13:16

No, no, absolutely not. You are absolutely right, Lisa. It doesn't now, and I, I love the, you know, the simple statement of you are not overweight, you are under muscled, because I think that immediately switches the thinking of. Trying to lose weight to, no, I'm gonna set that aside. What I'm gonna work on is I'm gonna try to increase my muscle mass and stimulate my muscle growth, which is entirely possible at any age. And they're kind of like, you know, because we've been so exposed to the message, you need to lose weight, you need to be skinny or beach body in six weeks and lose 10 kilos in 10 weeks. You know, all these kind of messages that I think have been really harmful to, to women and um, Always focusing on the aesthetics, but I think that a body can be healthy at a very wide range of weight. And you know, everybody looks different, but we can absolutely just focus on health and the functionality of our body and being independent and aging with. Confidence and ease and not freaking out. Oh my gosh, I'm turning 50 and what am I gonna do? And I'm overweight and I can't do these things. You know? So I think that that statement kind of immediately takes the focus from just the aesthetics to a. Your body, what can your body actually do? Can you pick up your own groceries? Can you go, um, for a big walk with your grandchildren? Can you live in your own home when you're 70? Can you get in and out of a car easily? Can you go down, up and down the stairs and can you live without pain or are you in pain all the time? So I like that. I like that switch because often when you focus on the muscle growth and. Increasing the, you know, your strength and your confidence, then the aesthetics will come as a byproduct'cause you will lose weight. Absolutely.

Lisa: 15:10

And I think the idea that we may have had in the past, I don't know how much of this kind of message that you, if, if the messaging and the magazines and things are the same in New Zealand, but we got a lot, especially when I was younger of, well, don't lift heavy weights. You don't wanna look like a man, which.

Jana: 15:30

I love, I love busting bed. Yeah.

Lisa: 15:33

It's so silly like unless you are on heavy doses of anabolic steroids, you will never be able to put on so much muscle that you will quote unquote look like a man. Like it. It is actually difficult to build muscle, which I think we can talk a little bit about today, but it's not like it just happens really quick. As soon as you start doing the bench press,

Jana: 15:58

Absolutely not. And I think for women, they actually don't bulk up. They tone up. So The muscles will appear firm and there will be a, a slight definition, you know, you're not gonna get jacked up. You know, you just, we can't, we're women, we're not men. You know, men have completely different physiology and they can grow, grow muscle at a phenomenal rate. But for women, it's more about strengthening the muscle. I mean, when you think about ballet dancer, ballet dancers, and gymnasts, They are phenomenally strong. I mean, you see what gymnasts can do and, and ballet dancers, but they're not bulky and you know, they can do crazy things. I mean, when you see ballerinas performing for an hour and a half, you know, you, you know, they are phenomenally strong, but they're not bulky. So there, there it goes. There goes the argument immediately.

Lisa: 16:51

Yeah, for sure. so. Let's talk about, you mentioned there are kind of three main reasons why you put on weight in the forties and fifties, so I think we've kind of covered one, which is that we're under muscle and so we're shifting from muscle to fat, and that causes an increase on the scale. what are other reasons that you see there?

Jana: 17:13

So what I see a lot is, um, stress. I think women in midlife are dealing with kind of fundamental amount of stress. And I even see it with women in their fifties and sixties. We, we stressed about work and children and you know, climate change and what do we eat and how to stay healthy. And you know, women are dealing with phenomenal amount of stress and that doesn't really suit our bodies because. You know, when we are really stressed, we don't sleep very well. and then we are tired. We are reaching for the wrong kinds of food. We don't have energy to go and exercise. So, so I think often stress is the, median to then kind of start sliding down into a bit of an unhealthy state. So I often. Tell people, sort out your sleep, sort out your stress levels, and then your weight will settle because a lot of these hormones, like when you are really stressed and you are always in that flight and fight mode, you are not in the rest and digest. Parasympathetic system. So that means that your cortisol levels and you, you're basically running on jet fuel, you're running on adrenaline all day long. And, and you know, women are rushing and they're trying to squeeze so much into their days now. Like we have to do it all. We have to be the perfect wife, the, the perfect business owner or the, you know, the perfect mother. And you know, we need to exercise and hang out with family and do community work. And I think that our plates are so full that we are just stressed. Completely and, um, running on adrenalin and cortisol and that is really, um, negatively impacting our health and ability to, to be, just chilled and, you know, maintain healthy weight.

Lisa: 18:56

And not only that, I coach a lot on the thought aspects of weight gain. And so what I see, in fact I just coached on last week was she started with, I just, I just have feeling so stressed this week. I'm busy, I'm overwhelmed. And then what she told me was, and then I overate and what happens is, We are overeating to compensate for that very, very negative emotion that's happening. Our brain is very uncomfortable with this negative vibration going through the body, and it's like looking back in the past and saying What has helped me feel better in the past? Extra cookies. So let's do that again. It offers up that idea and you're like, yes, that is the solution. And so we go to solutions like food to tamp down that stress and all that it does. If you think of this visual, instead of bringing that stress up to the surface and processing it and seeing what can we do about it instead, we're just spackling on some food on top, pressing it down farther, farther into the body, and so it is still there. We've only just put some food on top of it and now guess what? We're more stressed'cause we can't lose weight.

Jana: 20:05

Yeah, absolutely. It's that comfort eating and, and it's, it's about, as you said, just having some strategies at your fingertips. What can I do that doesn't involve that? So, you know, I often recommend my clients just go for a walk. Just go for 10 minutes around the block. Just leave your to-do list, you know, because in this state you're not gonna be that productive anyway. Go for a walk, because I think that once you start moving your body, everything in your body just starts. You're starting to relax and you're starting to kind of remove yourself from being so stuck in that stress and in the overwhelm and, and you kind of gain a little bit of perspective and, you know, you hear the birds and you're in the sunshine or in rain, doesn't matter in the wind. And, and you know, like as soon as you start moving your body or even just a little bit of like 10 minutes of mobility or do some squats or whatever you can do and, and just elevate your. State of being and your vibration as you mentioned, Lisa, you know, like, I mean, exercising in nature, going for a walk, it's so potent and so powerful and you don't have to do it for hours to completely change the way you feel and change the way you think and yeah.

Lisa: 21:13

Such a good solution. So that's number two. So number one, the muscle. Number two, the stress. And what do you think is number three?

Jana: 21:23

Probably the, just the lack of kind of self-care and exercise and kind of prioritizing that over. Millions of other things that are competing for your attention and your time, you know? And you know, women often prioritize. Others over themselves, and I've been guilty of that as well. You know, I was a, I was a mother of three small children for a decade, full-time at home, and my husband had a very demanding career where he traveled a lot and he was in the film industry and working phenomenally long hours, and I knew that. If I didn't exercise early in the morning when he was still at home, it would never happen, and then my days would just be quiet. It would be always about other people and other things. Whereas if I fit in a 20 minute run in the morning, then I knew that it was my time where I could be with my thoughts and then I could give my day to my children and my husband and the household and everything else because I felt that at least part of the day was my own. I. So yes, I think the self-care and the prioritizing of movement, and I'm all about exercising, that takes 10 to 20 minutes. So all my programs and, and most of what I coach is,'cause I coach busy women. And you know, the, the research is there that 10, 20 minutes a day. It's enough to keep you healthy and, for your mental and emotional wellbeing as well, because let's not forget that exercise is extremely potent way to improve mental health and emotional health as well as physical health. So, you know, your 10 to 20 minutes every day can pack in a quite big punch for your overall, health.

Lisa: 23:09

for sure. And that is a a good point that 10 to 20 minutes can be plenty. And what we see in so many women is exercising just way too much, I mean we can be effective at 10 to 20 minutes, but 45 minutes is also fine if that's the type of of exercise you enjoy. But there is a point where, especially if you are kind of subscribing to maybe 10, 20 years ago where women mostly were like, you know, you gotta do cardio and don't lift weights again.'cause like, we don't wanna be bulky and so we, we got these like cardio bunnies and these super, super long runs and just. Multiple hours in the gym, we can't exercise too much. And what, what happens then?

Jana: 23:56

So you basically. Basically reach a point of diminishing returns. And the research is strongly backing that for women in midlife. low to moderate intensity is the kind of the golden window. So unless you are a professional athlete, obviously, where you have no choice, but you also have a team of professionals around you to manage your recovery, and you have doctors and physios and massage therapists and nutritionists, you know, uh, the average woman in my life doesn't have all that. So, Yeah, you get to the point of diminishing returns where, you are basically just stressing the body too much. So what I think we really need to discuss is that exercise is stress on the body. It is a physiological stress. you are basically putting your body under a duress, a physical duress. It's uncomfortable. your heart rate goes up, you're breathing heavy, you are sweating. It is stress. Now we know that exercise is a good stress, but our nervous system doesn't recognizes it as such. our nervous system only recognizes one level of stress. So exercise can sometimes be the, literally the, the straw that broke the camel's back. So if you. Haven't slept. You are not eating very well. You've had a massive fight with your husband. You have massive deadlines waiting. Your teenager has a depression, basically like this whole array of stress, and you add your exercise on top of it. That could literally be the. The cup has now overflown and you are thrown into a deep, you know, cortisol dominance and, and what we talked about being in the sympathetic nervous system, so always being in the flight and fight mode. Whereas if you're not that stressed, you can add a bit of a stress of the exercise and your body will recover from it and it will get stronger from it. And then you get the, the, the ideal. What we call the, you know, the optimal stress where you are recovering from the stress of exercise. You are getting stronger, you're getting fitter. It's becoming easier and easier, and you have to kind of add a progressive load. So you have to do just a little bit more every few weeks to get the same kind of effect on your body. But if you are doing too much, then you ask just, you're not recovering from the stress. So then you enter the over training zone where you're getting sick a lot. You are starting to get aches and injuries. You are not getting better. So you're not getting stronger. You're not getting the, the kind of the adaptations from exercise that you desire and then you're basically starting going downhill and you generally it will, Result in a burnout or, or generally an injury because the body just goes, I can't, I can't deal with this anymore. You know, this is just too much. So I think that there is that kind of golden window that in order, you know, women kind of sometimes try it themselves. Like, I gotta lose weight. I gotta lose weight, and you know, I've gotta exercise. I've gotta exercise. But sometimes actually doing a little bit less can give you more. Because you just need to recover the hormones and you need to allow the body to just go back to the homeostasis of, you know, like recovering from the stress back to the baseline and then you can do it again. Whereas if you never come back to the baseline and you're never recovering, you're just kind of spiraling into this, a really ugly overtraining state, which, you know, I coach many women in that state and it's, it's not fun once you are in it because you're getting sick a lot too

Lisa: 27:22

And then you're not seeing results on the scale as well. Right, because

Jana: 27:27

No, no. You'll be putting on weight. Yeah, and nothing will be moving off the scale yet.

Lisa: 27:31

Which is like such a crazy phenomenon.'cause we've talked about how exercise doesn't make enough of a difference in your calorie burn as far as, changing what you're eating, that you're really losing scale weight in the kitchen, you're putting on muscle, improving cardio, all kinds of other things in the gym. But where it really, it starts to affect your weight loss is when you're doing too much and then you. Either can't lose weight or possibly even gain. Have you seen that weight gain? Mm-hmm.

Jana: 28:02

Yeah. So, so one of the main modalities that coach women is to work with their bodies to be able to weave the intensity of their exercise to suit where their bodies are at on any given day. Because, you know, um, women's bodies are not like men. You know, we are very cyclical. Creatures. You know, like our hormones are very different over the, month, and I think that if you. Working against the body rather than with it. You are not gonna get the full benefit of everything that you're doing, whether it's nutrition or exercise. And so, um, what I teach a lot of my clients is work with your cycle if you're still cycling, because I have some women obviously, who have gone through menopause and then they're not anymore. Learn how to work with what your body needs on any given time. And there's a lot of research. There's actually a fundamental scientist here in New Zealand who is originally from America, called Dr. Stacy Sims, that really does a lot of research on women and exercise, and even she kind of confirms this. Idea that over the period of the month is that the first two weeks of your cycle, you have a lot of energy and you can train basically as a man. So you can really push and get, get kind of the bulk of your training and what you want to achieve in the first two weeks as you're

Lisa: 29:23

And that would be more like heavy strength training, is that what

Jana: 29:26

yeah, heavy strength training. And you can kind of just push the body just a little bit to the edge, but then for the second, Part of your cycle where you probably know that your mood is not as cheerful, and sometimes you can fall into these kind of. Spaces where you are judging yourself quite harshly and you don't like the way you look and you just get a little bit gloomier and it's just a normal kind of drop of hormones, you just, and that kind of progesterone dominance, then that is the time when you need to maybe focus more on walking and yoga and mobility. So you can still do a little bit of strength training, but you really need to adjust the intensity. Of your training to accommodate your hormones, because generally you're a little bit more tired at that time. You're probably craving a little bit more comfort food at this time as well. So it's about acknowledging I am who I am and I want to work with my hormones and to make sure that I am giving my body what it needs. So it needs exercise. But maybe today I am not gonna push it at the gym so much. I'm gonna go for a half an hour walk and be in nature and just feel really good. And then obviously you've got your period. And I often tell women rest on day one because it's, there's a lot of kind of energy leak from your body and you're kind of processing a lot of things and that's a really nice time to just maybe go for a walk or just be gently be gentle with yourself rest, and then you get that again, that massive burst of energy and then you can go again. So often I think that women and coaches. Don't understand how the female body works and how to weave the intensity throughout the month to really kind of get the most out of everything that you're doing for, for your wellbeing.

Lisa: 31:17

I haven't done that. I'll ha I have to be honest, I have noticed like, okay, I need to pay more attention'cause I've seen information on this. It's kind of one of those things where I'm like, yeah, I should, I should start incorporating that. But where I'm really challenged, and I think other women I've talked to as well in my same age range. Are in that perimenopause time where our cycles are 20 days long, or 40 days long, or 35 days long, or, I mean, I just, I track my period on just on the, um, on my phone, on the health app, you know, so Apple pops up and it's like, Hey, just so you know, your period's gonna start anytime in the next two weeks. I'm all, oh, thanks, thanks so much. That is not helpful at all.

Jana: 32:02

No, that's not, no, that is not yet.

Lisa: 32:05

what would you say to a person who is deep into perimenopause, which I definitely am, I've got a lot of irregularity, a lot of symptoms. So what would you say as far as cycling your workouts when that's the case?

Jana: 32:22

But in the absolutely ideal world, we'll be teaching this to our girls when they are young. So by the time they get to this stage, they are so intimately connected to their bodies that they were intuitively know. What they should be doing and how they feel on any given day. So that's the absolutely ideal scenario. You know, I have two daughters, so I, um, I know, you know, when they first start their periods, you know, just to really explain and teach this to our girls and, and not put it behind shameful closed doors, but really talk about it and teach everyone about it. Teach our men and our sons about it as well, that okay, sometimes she's gonna be really hippy and cheerful and sometimes she's not going to be, and it's just. Hormones is not actually her. And it's not you either. So I think in the ideal world is that by the time you hit this stage, which is a beautiful transitional stage of our lives as well, even if it's really challenging for most women, you would know. And if, if you don't know, then I often say, um, just do something. Just do some exercise and start and see how you feel after 10 minutes because, and also like assess. How are you sleeping? How are you eating? What are your stress levels? How are you feeling inside your body? And, um, just kind of tune in a little bit because the thing that we live in our heads so much and you know, often a lot of my clients and women that I talk to tell me that we, I feel really disconnected from my body. I kind of look at the negative things, the weight gain and the, you know, the wrinkles and the gray hair and the where things kind of sagging now, you know, and, and I think of feel, we are not connected, really, truly connected in what our bodies are asking for, because I think that if you open that channel of communication, your body will actually whisper to you what it wants to do on any given day. Do you need to listen? It's a whisper. It's a, it's a whisper. It's not a shout, you know?

Lisa: 34:21

Yeah. And I, I hear what you're saying there, and I have to say, there are some days where I think I have weight training planned and I go out there and I'm like, that is not happening today. And so maybe I'm listening more than I think, because I do notice that some days I wake up and I think, no, it's a yoga day. I'm just gonna head to yoga. And that's what I need. I, I. Happen to do yoga at hot work, so it's in an infrared sauna and sometimes I'm like, I just need that heat. I just need that relaxation. And um, so that works really, really well for me.

Jana: 34:59

So that's perfectly said. That means that you are listening to your body because it's like, no, it's not a strange training day today. I'm not gonna be, you know, punishing myself at the gym today. It's a yoga day. It's a walk day. Maybe it's a rest on the couch day, you know?

Lisa: 35:13

So um, back to a little bit on that strength training aspect. I wanted to ask you, uh, there was something you said about the way we strength train is different, and I wondered if you could maybe just briefly say some of your favorite ways to strength train for women. I tend to encourage my clients to pick up something heavier than your grocery bag, like something heavier than you're carrying on a regular basis. So I have a background when I was well when I was, when I was younger, a little bit in, I did CrossFit for a couple years, which was very, very hard on my body. But, I have to say I'm grateful for learning how to use a barbell properly, because of that time, I know how to squat and deadlift and good morning and, and just kind of the basic, you know, bench press. So I really love that. I love that kind of barbell type. Type thing, but I'm wondering what if somebody were starting with strength training and they're like, okay, I believe you muscle is my number one weapon in in this fight. I am under muscled right now. Where do they start? Mm-hmm.

Jana: 36:20

I often tell people, find something that you enjoy doing. I think, I think that's the number one thing, because that is probably the only way you're gonna stick to it long term. So I. When I first qualified as a personal trainer and a coach, I was very much in the gym environment and, um, coaching people with barbells and dumbbells and a little bit with machines, and, I loved it. Don't get me wrong, I think that there's something incredibly powerful and empowering for a woman to be lifting weights. but I also. Know a lot of women are really intimidated in a gym environment and they just wouldn't set their foot in it. So I have actually transitioned more into functional training. So I did a Tech Fit is a tactical fitness certification in the United States actually in 2017. And they are more about training with kettlebells. Club bales body weight as well. And um, steel mace. So these are

Lisa: 37:20

Sorry, could you repeat that At steal what?

Jana: 37:23

Steel mace,

Lisa: 37:25

I don't know what that is.

Jana: 37:26

the steel mace, um, for those, because not many people would know what it is, but it's my absolutely number one favorite tool. It is actually an ancient Persian. Warrior weapon, and it's a very long stick. Probably about, um, a meter which is three feet with a, ball at the end of it. And obviously the ball can be different weights, so it can, you know, be eight pounds or, and then go up and then, you use this tool, you can swing it around your body, you can do lunges with it. You can do. You can do lots of really kind of three dimensional, quite badass movements with it. And it's a, it's a warrior weapon and it really speaks to people because I think that is somehow wired in our d n a, that we are essentially warriors, even women. And we like moving these two. So I have kind of, slightly transitioned from the. Barbell and dumbbell work into more functional training, and I actually encourage women strongly to just do body weight movements because when you think about calisthenics and doing pushups and squats and body weight lunges, it's, it's actually a really great place to start because I personally weigh about 140 pounds. And to move that around and to do pushups with it and squats, it's a decent weight. So I think, for your audience. Just hire a coach. That's always a good start. If you are worried about form and technique and not injuring yourself and you wanna be safe, maybe just hire a coach for a few weeks just to teach you some basic form and technique. And then you can get a program or you can follow someone on the internet or, Just find something that you love, like I'm a surfer. That's, that's what I love the most in the whole world. All my training that I do, it's so I can go out and surf for as long as I want, so I go to boxing classes. I mean, there's so many options. How to get stronger and fitter. Just find something that floats your boat, something that you enjoy because why would you waste doing exercise that you dread hate and don't want to do?

Lisa: 39:31

I have been. Reading just a tiny bit. So I don't know if, if you'll know about this, but reading just a little bit about rocking, which is for those that don't know, is walking with weight on your back. And the idea is, that humans were built to carry. It's part of, in our d n a, we were made to go out and hunt the thing and then put it on our back and bring it back to camp and carry children often on our backs. Right. And so carrying is, really good. And so it's like the idea of doing, it's a little bit of strength training with the weight on your back while you're also walking. And so I just sometimes when I don't feel like moving weight's around,'cause I. It's sometimes just a hassle to me. Like sometimes I'm, I can't just get my brain around like getting out there and, and getting the barbells loaded up and it just feels like a hassle. It's just easier to put weight on my back and go out for a walk. I want to be outside, and so I'm wondering if that counts basically as strength training.

Jana: 40:36

Oh, absolutely. I mean, I have a weight vest, so I have like a vest that I put on myself, and you can add like a. Little weights into it. So I, I'm totally familiar with what you do and it's, it kind of turbocharges your walk, doesn't it? Because the, obviously the cardiovascular loading is amazing because your heart rate will go up so much faster and you will sweat a lot more and you will puff and half a lot more. And it's, it's loading, um, it's loading the core predominantly. So that's the most important part to condition of your body. It's because it protects your spine. So I think, I think it's a phenomenal, A way to get strong and fat, and if you maybe add like a little bit of upper body work. As additional kind of work, because that's where women often lack a lot of strength is in their upper body, because we just naturally, like men have 40% more upper body strength than women do. We have the strength mainly in our legs, and I think that's why we love walking so much because we can really kind of, you know, take advantage of where we were given the strength and the power, and it's usually our hips and our legs. So if you combine that with just, you know, Doing some pushups twice a week, then I think, um, weighted walking is a phenomenal way. And then you're getting fresh air, you're getting time in nature, you're getting your cardiovascular fitness and, it's walking on a, a natural surface. Like if you're actually walking in nature, like in forest or you know, anywhere in the field. you know, that's kind of working on the stability of, of your body as well, because you are hitting uneven surface and that's, you know, rather than if you're just walking on concrete, it's a very homogenous surface. So, yeah, I think, I think, um, weighted walking or I, I'm not quite sure, what did you

Lisa: 42:16

Oh, it's called Rocking, R U C K I N G.

Jana: 42:19

Rocking, Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. I mean that's how, uh, we probably lived in the primal times, didn't we, as you said, carrying animals and carrying stuff around and children, yeah. I think you probably had so many things with that exercise that it's, 20 minutes of that three times a week will probably get you pretty strong and pretty fit very quickly.

Lisa: 42:39

I just think it's, important that we talk about other ways besides just lifting barbells, lifting dumbbells, that there's other ways to get strong. Like is that a great way to build muscle. Sure. But if you absolutely hate that, there are other options.

Jana: 42:54

It is not for you. No, like I'm a big proponent of martial arts as well. All my kids do martial arts. I used to do martial arts. You know, like find something that, you know, if you want a component of community, if you're a little bit lonely and wanna find a tribe, then maybe find a class of some sort. You know, I go boxing, I love it. It's great. It's a massive stress release and it's community and it's. Encouraging of one another. And you know, find somewhere where you, where you belong, where you kind of find your tribe, find similar people of similar age who just wants to want to get fit and they don't care what they look like and they don't have to wear matching outfits and you know, like just find, you know, find your tribe. I mean, on boxing classes is amazing. People have like baked t-shirts and it's mainly kind of 35 plus and it's, Anything goes, you know, like you, you can go hard and sometimes you don't go hard at all and you just go and do a little bit of exercise. So find your jam, find something that lights you up and find something that you are likely to stick to. Yeah, swimming in the ocean. Have a lot of ocean swimmers as clients and biking trampolining, you know,

Lisa: 43:58

it's probably more common since you live on an island. Ocean swimmers. Yeah.

Jana: 44:03

Although there's sharks though. yeah,

Lisa: 44:06

I'm pretty sure that would be a no for me. And I was a swimmer like, uh, in, in high school and a little in college, so, but open water swimming kind of freaks me out, so I, I like a pool with like a line on the bottom.

Jana: 44:20

Well, you can No sharks.

Lisa: 44:21

no sharks for me. Um, okay. Well we've covered a lot of ground. One thing I'm not sure we've touched on is you mentioned that there are other reasons why exercise helps you lose weight. that isn't the calories spent, and I've, I've talked about this on the podcast, that the calories spent in. Exercise. So if you have a heart rate monitor or your treadmill is telling you you just burned 250 calories, or, I distinctly remember the first spin class I went to, like way back when I was, I mean, I think, I'm pretty sure it was in the nineties, and they told us, you're gonna burn 800 calories in this class, which now I know. Yeah. Ana's rolling her eyes like, no, that,

Jana: 45:00

I rolled my eyes. here for people who can't see. I rolled my

Lisa: 45:03

so that wasn't true, but Just the idea of whatever calories that you're burning while you are exercising is not really why you're losing weight, but why is it? What are the other reasons why exercise helps you lose weight?

Jana: 45:20

Obviously it's not as simple as calories in and calories out. It's like the human body is such a delicate, complex. Organism that it's, that's never gonna work. But what I often, and even I see it with myself, is that when I exercise regularly, it has a really positive flow on effect onto my day. So if I get up in the morning and I, I don't know, maybe I go for a couple of hours surfing, I am more likely to. Really think about how I'm gonna fuel my body, how I'm gonna rest my body and, and how I feel and how much energy I have. So I would, you know, come home and I will have a really good breakfast, you know, a lot of food, and I will have some rest and I will be eating really well when I compare it to the times when, you know, I, I. Even coaches fall off the wagon, exercise wagon. You know, sometimes, you know, maybe you're sick or you're just really stressed, or you're going through some really hard times and you stop exercising. Suddenly you are, oh, I don't care. It doesn't matter. I'm just gonna have three donuts and Oh yeah, I'm gonna have a glass of wine with a friend and, and then suddenly you're just kind of spiraling into this. Where everything goes. So I think often how what people underestimate about exercise is not just that you're burning calories and you are stimulating, you know that your metabolic system because you are growing muscle and you're just hung. And when you are more active, it's just what it is, is that when you exercise, you start thinking about what you're gonna put in your body and also you've just done all this work. Why would you kind of. Undo it with not fueling your body really well. You just wanna kind of pay the body backed on you for just kind of doing this amazing work for you.

Lisa: 47:11

part of that I think is the mental health benefit that's coming from exercise. And so we are getting a dopamine hit. We're getting adrenal, you know, all of those, like serotonin, some happy hormones coming from having done exercise. I think it's been termed as like the runner's high, even though I would never run if, even if you paid me.

Jana: 47:34

Yeah, I never get a high from running.

Lisa: 47:35

no, but we all know like when you've had a good workout, it's that kind of. Thing, the swimmer's high or the surfer's high or whatever. And so it is that mental health boost that you are in a better state and you're thinking better thoughts. You're having positive feelings. And so your action line is going to be where you really want it to be. You're making those choices that you actually truly want, that you know are good for your future self.

Jana: 48:05

Oh, without a doubt. Yeah, and you know the energy. I mean, we kind of think that you're spending a lot of energy on exercising, but you actually create an incredible amount of energy and then you kind of feel good about yourself and you kind of look in the mirror and it's like, oh good. You know, like you don't look any different to what you did, you know, before you went for your workout or something. But you kind of do you, you know, your muscles are tight and you've sweated a bit and You just feel good and you look good and, and you know you're full of energy and you feel great about yourself and you've got more confidence. And so then maybe you are kind of making better choices as you are going through, you know, your day, you're eating enough protein and you're eating some vegetables. But you know, I'm also all for having a treat. Like I think life is too short. And if you want a donut, You should really eat a donut every now and then, but you don't eat a donut twice a day every day because that's not, you know, that good. But, you know, if you wanna have a glass of wine with a friends and if you wanna have a donut and if you want to have, you know, McDonald's every now and then, I think that's totally okay as well because I think they're kind of restrictive culture. It's not that great either. But I think that, you know, go on an 80 20

Lisa: 49:19

I was just, I was just gonna say that, yes. 80 20.

Jana: 49:23

could see it written all over your face. Yeah. Yeah. Because life is to be left, you know, and, you know, going out for ice cream with your, with your children, it's, you know, it should be totally okay as well. So, yeah, eat well 80% of the time and, um, you know, reserve 20% for, for pleasure eating.

Lisa: 49:42

I totally agree and I think my clients are really good at that and, and not just, That you're eating something for pleasure, but you're being really aware of it and you're choosing the amount that's going to give you the most pleasure, I always am saying more, extra helpings of pie doesn't actually make the pie more enjoyable. The one slice is enjoyable. Three slices makes your stomach hurt, and so I always am saying have the pleasure food in the amount that is pleasurable.

Jana: 50:16

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Like eating a couple of pizzas is probably not gonna make you feel that great. It's gonna put you on the couch for a few hours.

Lisa: 50:22

Yeah. Yeah. So. All right. Anything that we missed that you'd like to share with my audience?

Jana: 50:28

Probably the one thing that I. Talk about a lot is it's mobility, which I think is probably one of the most kind of overlooked types of training that, that people do. And maybe they don't think about it so much in their thirties and forties, but once they get into fifties and sixties, you know, suddenly mobility becomes so much more important than anything else you do in the gym or anywhere else because, preserving the way. Your body moves. And also without mobility and without strong joints and connective tissues, strong muscles become almost irrelevant because the strong muscles, just the, the, the joints cannot keep with the strong muscles. So for your audience, you know, if you're in your thirties or forties, think about, doing some form of mobility training. So

Lisa: 51:18

And is that stretching or like, I'm thinking stretching, but tell me, is that all that it is or is there something else to that?

Jana: 51:25

Yeah, so mobility training is more dynamic movement, so it's not like passive stretching like you will do in yoga where you may be folding forward and kind of stretching your hamstrings. Mobility training is more about dynamically moving through a range of motions, so maybe doing like arm circles or doing some basic hip switches, and so it's basically preserving the health of your joints. And it, it's creating strong functional joints and connective tissue. So by connective tissue, I mean ligaments and tendons as well, because that's usually where the injuries happen the most in the joint, in the ligaments and in at tendons, because people focus a lot and you know, they have to rightly focus on building strong muscles, but at the same time, it's your bone structure and your joints that support your movement because, The muscles wouldn't move without your joints being able to move well as well. So I think that's often what people neglect on, on the journey to really building their strength and, you know, working out in the gym or being active and pursuing their favorite sport. You know, by 45, 50 the injuries start coming and the aches and the pains. And often it's because they neglect their mobility. So there'll be something that I would strongly recommend to your, to your, um, wonderful audience, is to think about mobility. Yeah. And mobility doesn't have to be complicated. It's literally five, 10 minutes every day just to keep yourself moving. Well,

Lisa: 52:58

I'm, I'm definitely raising my hand there. that's definitely one of my weak points is mobility. I've always considered myself to be very inflexible and I know it is not getting better, so yeah. That's a good reminder for me for sure.

Jana: 53:15

Mm.

Lisa: 53:16

Great. Well, why don't you tell people how they can find you and, take advantage of what you offer online.

Jana: 53:23

So you can find me on Instagram or Facebook or I have a website as well where I have, um, massive range of, free resources that you can start with. So, um, mobility is mainly my jam because, you know, I coach a slightly older audience, kind of going through their fifties, sixties, and seventies. So, I have tons of free resources on mobility and, um, I post a lot of videos with, exercise and the latest research and mobility movement. So if you just want to have a bit of a taste of what I do, just find me on Instagram or Facebook. I've also got a Facebook group as well where I do training every single week for my, female audience there. So that's a really good place to start, kind of for free and, without committing to anything.

Lisa: 54:08

Perfect. Alright, well we'll put all those links in the show notes and thanks again so much for being here with us.

Jana: 54:14

So much for having me. It's been a pleasure.

Lisa: 54:18

Thanks again. She was such fun to chat with, do check her out on Instagram and Facebook. And then if you're ready to get that personalized help from me, be sure to schedule one of those free food planning sessions. Let's get you into action, working on your health and weight loss I don't want you to regret not getting to the point. You want to so that you can keep up with your grandchildren or travel the world, or wherever your dreams take you a link for that is in the show notes. Thanks again for joining me, Lisa Salsbury in this episode of Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well