The Unfiltered Health Podcast
The Unfiltered Health Podcast delivers real, authentic conversations about health, wellness, and longevity. We break down complex health topics, sharing evidence-based insights, practical advice, and personal experiences. Our mission is to educate, inspire, and build a supportive community committed to living well and thriving together—no filters, just the truth about what it takes to achieve lasting health.
The Unfiltered Health Podcast
86 - Happy New Year, Embrace the Journey to Health in 2025!
Ever wondered how to seamlessly ease back into your fitness routine without the pressure of immediate results? Join us as we explore the art of embracing consistency over perfection, especially after a holiday break. We share insights on why it's crucial to choose fun workouts and activities you love, letting go of the fear of feeling unfit, and focusing instead on healthy choices that make you feel good. This episode is all about finding joy in the process and kickstarting the new year with an approach to wellness that prioritizes enjoyment.
Prepare to have your perspective on gym memberships challenged as we dissect the business models of gyms and fitness franchises. By revealing how these establishments often prioritize quantity over quality, we illuminate the gap in support and education for both trainers and members. The conversation encourages a shift towards prioritizing genuine client care and continuous trainer education to foster meaningful relationships and provide personalized support. It's a call to action for the fitness industry to evolve beyond numbers and focus on what really matters.
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Welcome to episode 85. Happy New Year. We hope you had an amazing holiday if you went away, or just an amazing time at home, and if you didn't have an amazing time, I hope you're starting the year with a bit of rest and some rejuvenation, and maybe you've been listening to our previous episodes and writing some goals or, honestly, just enjoying some sunshine. Whatever it is, we're hoping that the new year is going to start strong for you, because we are also looking forward to this year. The theme of today, our topic of today, is if you had a break and you kind of went off track, you did some things that you didn't intend on and you had more fun and you enjoyed life, how to get back into it and not reach for eight-week challenges and cookie-cutter diets. So kick us off, steph. Tell us how do we get back into it if we've had a bit of a break and indulged?
Speaker 2:I think the main focus is just reminding yourself that, like it's okay to restart and I think you know we've spoken about this a lot of times but it's very much not having that all-or-nothing approach Like you don't. You know we've spoken about this a lot of times, but it's very much not having that all or nothing approach Like you don't. If you you know, if you skip a day or if you're inconsistent one day, it's fine, you can reset the next day and you know you won't have any issues. So I think that's number one. And I think the second one would be just move back into your training slowly. I think a lot of people get really carried away on needing to hit the same amount of weight that they were hitting the last time they trained. And if it's been a good month where you haven't been consistent, well, you probably want to start with something a little bit lighter to get you back into things.
Speaker 1:Oh, was I muted Oopsies, I think. Oh, did you hear me? Drinking water and everything. Oh, thank God. Okay, they were great tips, I think as well. To add to that sorry, steph is you know the new year always brings on a lot of energy, and either people are either killing it and posting about like the things they're doing and I think, a lot of energy and either people are either killing it and posting about like the things they're doing, and I think a lot of people do start the new year with like they just want to showcase how awesome it is and, and then you get back into the gym or you start doing other things and it does feel a little bit harder.
Speaker 1:I know for myself. I always expect after I've taken a break to feel a sweaty, but it's like one of the best workouts I do after a holiday because I just go in with the intention to just kind of enjoy it and see what I want to do. I don't really follow a structure. With my first workouts back, I don't have a current coach, so to me all my workouts are self-led and I actually actually really enjoy at the moment because I've had coaching for the last five, six years and if, if, a bit longer than that as well actually no way longer 20, I think I was 23. So yeah, almost seven years of just having always coaches. It's nice to have a break anyway. So my personal opinion would be go into the gym and have some fun.
Speaker 2:Or if you're going to. If you're going to go do some movement.
Speaker 1:Go do something you actually like. Is it a bike?
Speaker 2:ride. Is it just going to golf with?
Speaker 1:some friends, is it hitting the tennis racket, like what do you enjoy? And just do that, because I think that kicks off the motion, rather than feeling like you're obliged to start this journey and start getting fit again and like, get that out of your head. It's not about getting fit again, it's not about restarting, it's just about getting on the consistency train.
Speaker 2:Yes, getting on the consistency train, doing things that make you feel good, doing things for your health and fitness, and not feeling like you know if it's day one of your training. Not feeling like you need those results ASAP or you need to feel instantly fit, or getting upset because you feel very weak. You know that expectation that it needs to feel a certain way or be a certain way at the start. I think that's what lets people down, or the warriors. Oh, you know, I haven't trained for so long I've been so inconsistent. Oh you know I haven't trained for so long I've been so inconsistent. I'm worried of the feeling of being a bit unfit or weak or a bit rusty getting back into, you know, training, so I'll just avoid it or I just play a really like common theme that comes up with clients who don't want to feel weak.
Speaker 1:They don't want to feel like they've lost strength. Yes, and even in, not just for new year clients, but with with clients who come into see you and myself. They'll come in and they want to start a journey. They want to start, you know, changing and getting their health on track, and they just don't want to feel like they're not good enough or they're not doing the right thing, which is quite amazing, Cause it's like well, that's quite subjective.
Speaker 1:how do we measure you feeling like you're doing enough weights for your body when you haven't built up the tolerance to do xyz yet? Yes so I think, drop those expectations, ladies and gents, really drop those expectations and go in with the intention to just make yourself feel good and choose the things that are not always easy, but at least give yourself five to ten reps where, ooh, there's a little bit of struggle there and that's a good thing.
Speaker 2:I was very much the same in the November period. Training dropped off quite a bit and there was probably three weeks straight where I did not train. And so December period the first week I was like okay, I love when you're honest Deft off quite a bit, and there was probably three weeks straight where I did not train really, and so December period, the first week.
Speaker 1:I was like okay.
Speaker 2:I was like okay, I've got to get back into it and um, my first session, I literally told myself you're probably gonna feel weak, this is gonna feel crap. You're gonna have to drop the weight, but who cares? Get back into it. And and that was my exact attitude like it felt heavy things. I felt very rusty, I felt a bit crappy, but I'm like you know what. So what? I'm gonna pick back up in a couple weeks time and it'll be fine. And I said that to my clients. I said to them because I was discussing how I had to train and one of my clients said how did you go? How did you go? How did you feel? I'm like you know what. I felt so weak but, to be expected, I haven't trained in three weeks. I haven't trained heavy or consistent. In three weeks I'm going to feel a bit more fatigued, I'm going to feel a bit weaker, it's going to feel crappy, but you know, in three weeks time, I'll feel back, you know, back to normal.
Speaker 1:So what you've done there is like you've reverse engineered, because A you understand that you're going to feel a little bit weaker. So what we're trying to say here is that, going with the expectation that you are going to feel not perfect and not to where you want to be and that is a good thing to acknowledge, because you can drop the expectation so much easier than going oh, I don't want to feel this. I don't want to feel that. Well, you're going to feel some sort of discomfort, regardless of what it is, whether it's training or in a room full of people and being a public speaker right, there's going to be a level of discomfort, whatever it is. So if you can just go in there and go, yep, I'm probably going to feel like this, I'm probably not going to like this. Eh, we'll see how we go.
Speaker 2:I think that's a much better attitude.
Speaker 1:I think that's a much better attitude and exactly embrace the process.
Speaker 2:You've got to embrace it and embrace the challenge of it, embrace the difficulty of it.
Speaker 1:Because it is hard.
Speaker 2:It is hard, yeah.
Speaker 1:Especially for people who don't have that routine.
Speaker 2:And your first training session back after weeks of being inconsistent is probably going to be crappy, and I mean crappy as in it might be a really really good session, but it might not be the same session that you're used to.
Speaker 1:you know, three weeks ago or when you were really consistent it could also be on the other spectrum, where it's like the three best sessions you've ever had or the three best weeks of training absolutely yes, a hundred percent, and then it goes downhill you can have all this energy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah yeah, then, yeah, then it goes downhill. The new year warriors that, um what? What are some characteristics of a new year's warrior? Let's roll with that they do a lot of talking but not a lot of walking or it's like they they go so hard one session and then they can't walk for the next week. Yeah, they tell you all their plans. They're so sore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they've been so sore and they're so wrecked, but they love it. And then all of a sudden they don't love it anymore and like they're too tired and they're too sore and they're not eating BBs and they drop off and oh, I don't know what happened. And then they're injured.
Speaker 2:Yeah, then they're injured. Yeah, then they're injured. And then they're hopping to the next challenge. And nope, challenge hoppers are a big one in the new year. Like new year, new me, new resolution.
Speaker 1:No fault of their own. This is the fitness industry. This is the fault of the fitness industry. This is what they've been sold for years about to say centuries, for years, people have been sold this idea of like you have to get fit in the new year and then there's always been gyms who profit from these people. That's exactly right Profit from you not coming. I think gyms make like a gym standardised gym, franchise gym makes more money from people not showing up than the people who do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right, they'll put it to quite an affordable rate, like, just say, I don't know, five bucks a week or something, and their goal like they don't care about people getting in, it's just more of the sign up.
Speaker 2:And if you know, a hundred people sign up and they're paying five bucks a week but they're not even showing up. Well, most of the time people are not going to cancel because it's. That's so funny, because I was having this conversation with a group of friends the other day and we're talking about how gyms get you when you have to call up to cancel and you can't, like, obviously, do it over text or anything, so you have to actively call up and tell them the reasons why, or you have to go in and a lot of people don't want to do that because they feel embarrassed or, I don't know, they're just too scared, or they don't want to have the conversation and because it's really cheap. Just say like $5 a week. They would rather just keep it going, keep that $5 a week getting out of their bank account, not showing up, then cancel because they're too scared. Yeah, it's such a big, I know it is.
Speaker 1:I know it is the amount of people who come to us and be like yeah, I was just paying for a gym for like six years a year. Oh, I haven't canceled it. I'm joined up at a new gym, but I haven't canceled my old gym. I'm like why are you paying like 16 a week and you're signed up at a new gym? That's the same amount of money. Like you're spending double now, and now you're saying you can't afford other things. Like what, what are you doing?
Speaker 2:Or it's like oh, it was $200 for the whole entire year, so I bought it and I haven't been. That's how they get. That's how they get them.
Speaker 1:But I don't blame the gym and I don't. I don't blame the industry, because the industry is notorious as well for people to not like be consistent. But I also don't blame people, because people have a good intention, like they want to change. But the fit, like the fitness world, needs a lot of work and it works and thrives like a lot of franchises thrive off people who are in pain, who are vulnerable, who are uneducated, unfortunately and that's a lot of the demographic and the people who are educated, who have been in the space for a while, who know things, who are inquisitive, they're the ones who kind of are the consistent ones.
Speaker 2:It takes a lot through it exactly.
Speaker 1:It takes a lot for someone to actually get in the right space with someone like us who will tell them the no bullshit. And they're like, wow, like where have you been my whole entire life? Like they'll send us something what do you think of this? And you like it's bullshit, like why you tell them and they're like, oh my god, I have, I've been buying this thing for years. Like why I've been doing this yeah, you just tell me the truth.
Speaker 1:People love when you tell them the truth, but all these franchises don't yeah, the business model isn't set up for that, it's's.
Speaker 2:You know. The business model for obviously those franchises is they thrive off quantity. They need quantity in the gym. So it's not necessarily let's look after our clients or our members, it's just more let's get as many as we can through the door.
Speaker 1:Yes, there is, I do think. I do think there would be some like franchises and gyms, who do care about their community, and I'm sure there are people who go into these places and who actually have a good relationship with the personal trainers or whoever it is, but there is a big, big majority of places that don't have best interests at heart.
Speaker 2:No, and I guess that kind of comes down to obviously like the business model for those big franchises is they need quantity, but then where they'll get, where clients and members will get the care from, is the actual trainers, like the trainers that are then in that model. If they want to bring in their clients, if they want to train their clients, that's where their care comes from.
Speaker 1:Which brings on another thing I was just thinking about mid, that the trainers have to be supported by the business. So if the business like and this is where I see trainers go wrong all the time is that it's not just their, it's not their fault. I think trainers need to be a little bit less egotistical in the industry and actually go out and seek education, because there are a lot of new trainers like, yeah, I just got my, and four like I think I know stuff. It's like you don't know shit. I'm telling you right, you don't know nothing. And then the business owners we're unfiltered here.
Speaker 2:Steph's smiling at me, laughing laughing because I was thinking about the more you know, the more you realize you don't know. Yeah, and so I love those new grads that are like and it's like you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you don't just wait, just wait as soon as you start getting complicated cases and people have complicated issues and injuries and nutrition stuff and diseases. You're like, oh, I need to, I need to work for this yeah anyway, like the business needs to also support the trainers.
Speaker 1:So I do think there is a bit of fault in the franchise gyms too, because the businesses don't facilitate good educational things for the trainers. They just teach you a kettlebell course and that, that, that, that like fine, go teach us big lifts. Go, go teach us fucking something else that's more important, like psychology and understanding people. Go to rehab, go to rehab specialists and myotherapists who do what you do, steph, and go talk to them and give them good exercises and good treatment patterns and like, oh, my brain's gonna explode.
Speaker 2:I think it really just comes down to. You know, the business models and the franchises are, at the end of the day, probably run by entrepreneurs that just are thinking about the business and making the money. But then when you break it down and you you get into the lower level of the staff that are in, they're the ones that are going to generate the income.
Speaker 2:But it comes from the client care yeah, that's a really good point because I, um, I know of a business structure, so they have a it's I guess it's a clinic slash gym setup and the owner is actually has actually got nothing to do with allied health like he's. He's not even a, he's not a coach, he's not an allied health um practitioner, he knows nothing about fitness. He's just a really good business owner.
Speaker 2:He invests so he opened up a space, hired coaches to come in and allied health to come in, and essentially they do all the running and he's just the business owner. He does the marketing, he does the leads, he does all the back-end stuff, but he doesn't know anything about client care or you know education or this and that. So his business model is very much I don't know what I'm doing, but I know how to make money, so I'm going to build a structure, I'm going to build a facility that does generate money, but I don't know anything about health and fitness, so I'm going to hire people to do that part it's interesting.
Speaker 1:I don't know if I completely agree with that, but I do see, like the valid skill level, like where that, where that can play into a business model. But I'm still fishy about those kind of businesses. Because I'm like skill level, like where that, where that can play into a business model, but I'm still fishy about those kinds of businesses, cause I'm like if the owner's heart is in this place, which is fine, it's good to, it's good to be in that place, but if you don't have that general interest of everybody else to create that community culture, I think I think a business can thrive when the community is at the heart as well.
Speaker 2:And that's what I, yeah, and that's what it comes down to having good coaches. Because, example, the members might not know the owner but they work with the coaches, so the coach in itself kind of becomes quote-unquote the owner, because they're the ones that their faces are in there 24-7. They're the ones building the community. So the client will just associate the business with those coaches, not really thinking about, you know, the actual business owner.
Speaker 1:Actually, yeah, you're very right. So, bringing it back maybe to this 2025, how to break out of these cookie-cutter habits I think there's so many juicy episodes that we've had about like habits and consistency, but I think where I, where I'm thinking this episode can go today, is like what is one thing that you can do today when you're listening to this episode whether you're in the car, at home, cooking, however you listen to it what is one thing you can do today that would make yourself, like, at the end of the day, be proud that you did it? Like not tomorrow, I don't think tomorrow like it doesn't matter right now what is one thing today that you can do that'll make yourself, at the end of the day, feel proud that you did it, and I think like little, little daily, just what you need rather than be like tomorrow I need to go for a walk, on Friday, I need to go see x person or I need to take dog tear like what do you need to do today?
Speaker 1:do you need to have a nap right now?
Speaker 1:do you need to go and eat. Do you want to go for a walk right now or would you like to wait when the weather maybe clears up in the afternoon? Or do you want to go in the morning? Should you have done it earlier and maybe you know? Think about reflecting on that. And if tomorrow looks warm as well, do you go in the morning tomorrow and wake up that a bit earlier? A little bit earlier to get the walks, the steps in the walk, the walk, enjoy the ambience without being too hot, right, I think? Um, it doesn't have to be complicated. I think if you can go more off enjoyment and what your future self in the, in the end of the day, would be proud of, it's a really easy thing and it kind of just puts it more in perspective. Like I'm not going to waste my whole day mulling over what I should have done. Like just go do something, go find a way to figure it out right now.
Speaker 2:I actually used this strategy with a client a couple of weeks ago. Oh cool it was. We wrote down what we call high priority tasks. So it was kind of like navigating the I don't have time to train excuse. And I want to say excuse, I said it lightly. It could be a reason because some people generally do not have time, or some people don't think they have time, or some people get so clouded in their head that consumes their time, so then they no longer have time. So we use the strategy of write down.
Speaker 2:When you wake up in the morning, get out your journal, get a piece of paper, write down three things daily tasks that you absolutely have to have to have to do today, that you just cannot do tomorrow, and that's just like life stuff. And I'm not just talking about the stuff you do every day. The stuff you do every day doesn't count. It's kind of like you're already going to do those things anyways. So it's not those, it's just extra stuff that you have to get done that day. Then write a list, two items or two dot points, of what you're going to do today for you. It's not again, it's not your daily stuff, it's not again. It's not your daily stuff. It's not going for a walk, because you know if you do that all the time, it's not that. It's what are two things that are going to make you happy, or what two things do you enjoy? Something that's going to be fun, something that allows you to just decompress, and it can be something as simple as sitting for 10 minutes enjoying a coffee, or simple reading two chapters of your book.
Speaker 2:You know, just something little that allows you to take time out of your day, whether it's five minutes, whether it's an hour, depending on what you have the time for and the capacity for for you, and not scrolling and not scrolling, definitely not scrolling. It does not count. It has to be something. It has to be something healthy. It has to be something healthy, and she actually found that really, really effective because then she started looking forward to it. It was kind of like this thing where she woke up and she was like, oh, what am I going to do today? And it was, you know, at times it was five minutes doing something quick, and other times she had 30 minutes where she had an hour to spare. So it then became this habit of, oh, what am I going to do for myself today, what am I going to do for myself today? And she really, really started to enjoy it, and I think that's sometimes a really good strategy, because it just declutters all the stuff that goes on in your head and it just simplifies it.
Speaker 1:I think like when you write things down, you can see clear. It's like you know when you are thinking things in your head, then you say it out loud to someone. You're like that doesn't make any sense. Yes, it's like sometimes you just need to visualize it or verbalize it to go. Oh, I actually have a lot more time than I think. Definitely, so I think they're two really easy things to do. My phone is going off in this podcast today. Everyone my phone, my boyfriend almost walked in. What happened before?
Speaker 2:it's all that's your three done.
Speaker 1:It always happens in threes, and that's yours done okay, yeah, um, yeah, I think it always happens in threes and that's yours done Okay, yeah, yeah, I think. Is there anything else? Do we have any other points? Do you have any other tips? I'm trying to think if there's anything else that I've not really spoken much about on this podcast that could help in the new year.
Speaker 2:Sometimes it's just about doing the thing, hey, and taking it kind of one step at a time. Because that was me I'm I'm just thinking back into when I wasn't training for three weeks straight, because it was hard to get back into. Like that first day I was half excited because I was like, oh you know, I know it's gonna feel good, but then I was half dreading it because I'm like I know it's gonna feel average, but it was like, just just get there. If you get there, you've already won. It doesn't matter how good your session was, how crap your session was, but you showed up and you're there. So I think it's just more about just get there, do the thing, and then the next time you go it might be a little bit easier. And then it becomes a habit and then it it you know turns into your routine and then you're just back on track, being consistent. But if you don't, if you don't start, then you're always going to be delaying yourself yeah, that's such a good point too.
Speaker 1:There's no, there's no secret to this.
Speaker 2:There's no secret.
Speaker 1:You got to show up for yourself because if you don't know, no one one else is going to go for you.
Speaker 2:No, unfortunately no one else can lift for you or exercise for you. It doesn't work that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think if anyone is feeling the resistance, don't keep mulling over why, like you just kind of said, like just go and do it. I think also, the other thing is stop mulling over it and stop trying to like find the perfect chance, the perfect time, the perfect outfit, the perfect moment, the perfect person, the perfect meal, that that, that all these things. Just go and do it. Go and make it. You are the creator of your reality. No one else is. So if you want to enjoy your life a little bit more, going and working out definitely will make it a little bit more enjoyable, because you're going to build that resilience in your body, in your mind, and sweating out is good for you.
Speaker 1:Sweating it out is so good for us. It doesn't have to be some hit high-intensity workout. It doesn't have to be six sets of six squats. It doesn't have to be deadlifts. It doesn't have to be anything. It could just be a walk and a couple sit-ups, a couple bodyweight squats, a couple banded pull-aparts. It could be anything. It doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter. Trying to get it perfect is just also letting you down.
Speaker 2:And I think if you really struggle with that willpower, bring someone along with you. That's always kind of like. That's always my second tip. It's kind of like try to do it by yourself. If you can't and you strongly believe that there's just no way you're going to get up and get motivated, bring someone else with you, and if that still doesn't work, then you have to hire someone. You have to hire a coach.
Speaker 2:Yes, so they can kick you up someone to kick you up the butt. I love that. They're your three options do it on your own, do it with someone, and if those two fail, you just absolutely can't hire someone that's.
Speaker 1:They're freaking awesome tips, if I don't say so myself. They're simple, they're simple they're effective.
Speaker 2:They're all hard for different reasons, but it's not supposed to be easy, right choose your hard choose your hard choose your hard.
Speaker 1:Um, I think that's a wrap. What do you think? Yeah, cool, all right. Another short and sweet episode. Episode 85 is done. Um, if you have any questions, uh, or any comments that you'd like to leave us, or any sort of topics that you'd like us to talk about this new year, please let us know and we'll get to them whenever we can don't forget to tag us yes, thanks, guys, see you.