0:01

Hey , my friend , more often than not

0:03

, are you feeling tired , worn

0:05

out , maybe even bored . Well

0:07

, these could be signs of burnout . And

0:10

let me tell you something burnout is real

0:12

. Today you're going to hear a recording

0:14

from a recent Instagram live as

0:17

I sit down with Fitz Kohler from

0:19

Fitzness , and she talks

0:21

about ways that you can prevent burnout

0:23

and , in addition to that

0:25

, it can also help you stay

0:28

injury free as a runner . Hope

0:30

you enjoy .

0:32

Welcome to Inspire to Run Podcast

0:34

. Here you will find inspiration

0:36

, Whether you are looking to take control of

0:38

your health and fitness or you are a seasoned

0:41

runner looking for community and

0:43

some extra motivation . You will

0:45

hear inspiring stories from amazing

0:47

runners , along with helpful tips from

0:49

fitness experts . And now here's

0:51

your host , Richard Connor . We

0:54

have Fitz

0:56

.

0:56

Kohler , I'm so excited to have you , fitz

0:59

, you know so Fitz was on the

1:01

show episode 36 , so

1:03

it's been quite some time and I've been meaning to

1:05

get you back on the show and I think

1:07

it's just an opportunity to have you live here

1:09

to talk about such an important topic around

1:12

burnout . And you know , fitz

1:15

runs her own company , president

1:17

of Fitzness and a race announcer

1:19

, has just an amazing story

1:21

around her journey battling cancer .

1:23

So go back to episode 36

1:25

and hear all about Fitz . But , fitz , if you want to just

1:28

take a moment and introduce yourself and share

1:30

a little bit of your story . So I'm the noisy

1:32

girl most of you here at Start

1:34

and Finish Lines around the country I think

1:36

my races are the best races , so if

1:39

you're registering for the Good Ones , you'll

1:41

often find me there . I'm

1:43

obsessed with our running community because

1:45

it's made of the best people always working on

1:47

their own health , great causes

1:49

taking good care of their communities

1:52

. I mean , it's just the best of

1:54

the best . I also happen to be a highly

1:56

credentialed fitness expert , with a master's in

1:58

exercise and sports sciences . I'm

2:00

the author of four books and I do

2:02

a bunch of corporate speaking and what else

2:04

. I don't know what I run . I'm

2:06

an athlete . I'm a fitness

2:09

fanatic . Personally , I

2:11

really respect my body and take good

2:13

care of it . And oh , by the

2:15

way , I also happen to have cancer a few

2:17

years ago and that was a hell of a wild

2:19

ride , and I can tell you that you look a heck

2:22

of a lot better bald than I . Did

2:24

you

2:27

rocket . I

2:29

did my best with it but

2:31

, yeah , cancer did that and it's

2:33

gone , thankfully . So I'm back to living completely

2:37

fully again . Right

2:39

, I'm there , I'm 100%

2:41

. Ish , love it . Yeah

2:45

, and I shared your story not

2:47

only on the podcast but with friends

2:49

and family , and you sent your book

2:52

to somebody who is diagnosed , I think

2:54

, maybe going back about a year or so ago to

2:56

share your story .

2:57

So you have a wonderful story and

2:59

really great to see You're

3:01

100% again . You got through that journey

3:03

but also great to see you sharing that story with others

3:06

. You might be going through the same thing .

3:07

Well , you know what , and I appreciate that

3:09

and thank you so much for getting my noisy cancer

3:12

comeback for your friend . But the one I'm really excited about now

3:14

is your healthy cancer comeback . It's

3:16

the guidebook , the blueprint to help

3:18

cancer patients and survivors go from sick

3:21

to strong . Because you know the research

3:23

. Endless research proves

3:25

that exercising quality and nutrition

3:27

will make a cancer patient more likely

3:29

to hit remission and less likely

3:31

to have a recurrence . And almost all of the

3:34

medical providers will tell a patient you

3:36

should exercise , you should eat right

3:38

, but none of them tell the patients how . And

3:40

so when I hit rock bottom

3:42

, I decided someone's got to do this , someone's

3:45

got to teach them how , and so that's why I wrote your healthy

3:47

cancer comeback , so that my

3:49

noisy cancer comeback is a great story and there's

3:51

certainly some lessons to be

3:54

learned in there . But I think this one

3:56

, the new one , is the one I want in every cancer

3:58

patient's hands . Okay , so we're going

4:00

to have to promote that as well , so I'll

4:03

get that in the stories and show notes here for folks

4:05

. So , all right , thanks for sharing that

4:07

fit and let's you know . Get into the topic around

4:09

burnout .

4:10

So this is a highly requested

4:12

topic and burnout is real , I think

4:14

, not only just in fitness , but just everything

4:17

that's been going on for the last two or three years

4:19

. This , this is probably more common

4:21

problem , I assume you know these days

4:23

, so let's talk a little bit about it

4:25

, and you know , one of the questions that I have

4:27

, and I've been thinking about a lot just in my own personal

4:30

and fitness journey is like what

4:32

are the ?

4:32

signs of burnout Like how does

4:35

someone know that they're

4:37

kind of on that course to burnout ? Pain

4:40

and suffering . And

4:42

so pain , physical suffering

4:44

could be physical or mental . You

4:46

know you don't want to do it . You're finding every

4:48

excuse not to exercise

4:51

should be something we look forward to because it

4:53

makes our body feel good . If we , if we , are

4:55

doing the same thing over and over

4:57

and over again , it becomes monotonous , we lose

4:59

the pleasure and certainly our body

5:01

starts having that wear and

5:04

tear that just doesn't feel good anymore . So

5:06

, yeah , pain and suffering , yeah , yeah , for sure

5:08

. And it's interesting

5:10

that you mentioned about exercise

5:12

, because you can probably do

5:14

the same thing in exercise and get burned out from

5:17

that .

5:17

but exercise could be a way

5:19

to prevent burnout , so it's interesting

5:21

how it kind of goes both

5:23

ways there .

5:25

Well , it depends what you're burning out from

5:27

. So if we're talking about work , right

5:29

, all we do is work , work , work then the exercise

5:31

is a diversion . But if you're training

5:33

for a marathon , for example , and all

5:35

you do is run , you

5:38

start to burn out , you start to , your body starts

5:40

to revolt physically and your mind starts to

5:43

revolt . So it becomes an unfun

5:45

experience and you need distractions

5:48

and that actually will make you

5:50

a better athlete . It'll make you a better runner

5:52

if you lean towards the distractions

5:55

. Yeah , I love that , and

5:57

you know , I'm just thinking about my own journey . Like a year

5:59

ago I was trying to do a lot of different

6:02

things .

6:02

I felt like I was always running or training

6:04

but I never really felt like I achieved

6:07

all of my goals in the way that I wanted

6:09

to and by the end of the year I was

6:11

just dying . I was like I can't do

6:13

that anymore and I really had to get specific

6:16

about . Here are the things I really want to achieve

6:18

and kind of cut back on , you know , some of

6:20

the other things that just weren't a priority for me . So

6:23

I'm wondering , you know , is that we can talk about

6:25

maybe some of the ways of preventing burnout

6:27

once you acknowledge or see that you're on

6:29

that , on down that road , but what are some

6:31

of the ways that you can prevent it ?

6:35

Well , you know , the ugly

6:37

truth in the running community is runners tend

6:39

to only run . And we got to run

6:41

, run , run . I'm doing training for a marathon , I got to

6:43

run five , six , seven days a week . That's

6:45

just simply not true , and it's

6:47

amazing how many runners or how many

6:49

marathon runners , people who run multiple

6:52

marathons a year don't even qualify

6:55

as fits . And so I think , if you understand

6:57

the definition of fit and what the requirements are

6:59

, you may start thinking , huh , I

7:02

should be diversifying

7:04

my workouts . And so

7:06

, in order , well before I go to

7:09

the actual pillars of fitness

7:11

, if you're a marathon runner but you can't do

7:13

five pushups , do you qualify as

7:15

fit ? Do

7:17

you think that's a question ? Do you think Probably

7:20

not ? Okay , I

7:23

mean , five pushups is not a lot of pushups . Okay

7:26

, if you're a yoga instructor who can do all

7:28

sorts of fancy bendy poses on one

7:30

foot but you can't walk up two

7:32

flights of stairs without huffing and puffing , are you fit

7:34

? No , no . So

7:39

I could give a few more examples . I'm not going to drone

7:41

on in that , but in order to be

7:44

fit , in order to qualify as fit

7:46

, you need to be proficient

7:48

in four pillars of fitness . That's what I call

7:50

them . They're strength . Physical

7:52

strength , it's all your body , your muscles

7:54

, your ability to push , pull , lift and

7:56

press against resistance . Your

7:58

cardiorespiratory fitness , right , it's your huffing

8:01

and puffing , your ability to go

8:03

, your stamina , your flexibility

8:05

. It's your body , your muscles , ability

8:07

to reach and go through their full

8:09

range of motion . If you're a little stiff

8:12

person who runs and hunches over , you're not

8:14

fit . And then , of course , the last

8:16

pillar of fitness is balance . And

8:18

why is balance training important ?

8:21

Do you know ? I assume if

8:23

you don't have balance , it probably could lead to

8:25

injury and leg for your legs , one leg

8:28

versus another as an example .

8:31

Well , if you're not proficient with balance , you're likely

8:33

to fall down . So it's strength

8:36

, cardio , respiratory fitness , flexibility

8:38

and balance , and those four pillars of fitness

8:40

are necessary to qualify as fit . So

8:43

, before we're athletes , before we're

8:45

runners , we're run races , we're

8:48

people , and so the

8:50

most important thing we focus on is how

8:52

to create a fit body , a healthy

8:55

body that will withstand the test

8:57

of time , keep us going , keep us not

8:59

only alive , but having fun and active

9:01

, performing the way we want and feeling the

9:03

way we want . And so , in order

9:05

to be a fit person , it's strength , flexibility

9:08

, cardio and balance . Those four things are essential

9:10

, and so what runners tend to do is

9:12

cardio , cardio , cardio , cardio , cardio , cardio

9:15

and they're just , they're not even diversifying . It's

9:17

not that they're only doing cardio , but they're swimming

9:19

and biking and dancing and doing karate

9:21

. They're just running and the

9:23

pounding my my

9:26

, you've got to have mercy on those joints

9:28

, right , it's ? It's not beneficial

9:30

. Over time , in fact , it becomes counterproductive

9:33

. And so , to prevent burnout

9:35

, if you start taking those four

9:37

pillars of fitness seriously , all

9:39

of a sudden you start diversifying

9:41

your workouts and you find you're not lacing

9:44

up your running shoes and hitting the pavement every

9:46

single day . Your strength training might

9:48

be Pilates , it might be cables

9:51

and dumbbells at the gym . That's different

9:53

. That's not only different for your body

9:55

, but it's different for your mind . The same thing goes

9:57

when you're stretching , and so I really

9:59

believe that's not only the way to promote

10:01

actual fitness and increased performance

10:04

, but it's how you prevent burnout

10:06

. I love that .

10:08

Well , I learned something new today , already

10:11

just in the first few minutes , about the four pillars

10:13

and and yeah , you're absolutely

10:15

right about the diversification . You know , I've

10:17

been only thinking about it in a way of , just as you

10:20

said , it'll help me in the performance of

10:22

what I do , which is running . So of course

10:24

the strength training and some of the other activities

10:26

will help me there , but but

10:29

I hadn't thought about it in terms of diversification

10:31

and preventing burnout , you know , in

10:33

terms of for your , for yourself , mentally .

10:36

Yeah , mental and physical , I

10:38

mean it . Just , you know you do too

10:40

much . Yeah , your feet , your hips , your knees , you know the , the , the , the

10:42

, the , the , the , the , the , the knees . You know there's a couple of words

10:44

uh , planiferschitis , IT

10:47

, leotirocid , you know , it

10:49

, band syndrome , piriformis syndrome those

10:51

are words that normal people

10:53

don't know Right . So

10:56

if you walked into a crowded

10:58

mall and you said , hey , blah , blah , blah , who's

11:00

got piriformis serum , piriformis

11:02

syndrome , most people would look at

11:04

you like you were crazy because they don't know that word

11:06

. Runners know that word because

11:09

they're experiencing piriformis

11:11

syndrome . That's because they're weak and

11:13

they're tight , and so all

11:16

of these weird little injuries most

11:18

common injuries that runners experience

11:20

are overuse injuries

11:23

and under training in the other pillars

11:25

.

11:26

Okay , so , so let's talk about

11:28

examples of where , how you could train

11:30

in some of those other pillars , and we

11:32

talked about maybe strength training as one of them

11:34

. So you know , maybe within strength training

11:36

or maybe the other pillars , if you can give some examples

11:38

of things that you know runners and athletes should

11:40

consider incorporating .

11:42

Yeah . So first of all , every one of your

11:44

muscles matter . So it's not just lower

11:46

body , it's shoulders and lats and biceps

11:49

in your forearms , all of your muscles matter

11:51

. So I want people to you know , ingrain

11:53

that in their head . They all count , not just

11:55

the ones we see in the mirror . But

11:58

when we talk about sport , performance training

12:00

, we , we can target specific

12:02

muscles for runners and

12:04

I would say the most essential muscle to target

12:07

right off the bat is your glutes . That's

12:10

your , your , your , your

12:12

squats , your lunges

12:14

, and then of course , those that lateral

12:16

gait . So your glute medius is the muscle

12:18

that runs along kind of the side of your

12:20

hip . It's part touch , part

12:22

hit and that muscle holds

12:24

your femurs in place . Your femurs

12:27

are the longest bone in your body . It goes from your head

12:29

to your knee and they're big right

12:31

. And if you're running around in those

12:33

, if you're running and those femurs

12:35

aren't kept in place , all of a sudden they start wiggling

12:38

back and forth . Right , they're , they're loosey-goosey . If

12:40

you've got loosey-goosey femurs , your

12:42

hips hurt , your knees hurt

12:44

, and so so many runners

12:47

complain about knee pain and

12:49

then they think , oh , I got to go to my doctor and

12:51

the doctor says you don't , I

12:53

we're . We're going to take an expensive MRI

12:56

and we've seen you don't have an actual

12:58

knee injury unless you've had that twist

13:00

or a fall . The odds are

13:02

you don't . Actually , you haven't injured

13:04

your knee . What your knee is doing is paying

13:07

the price for your lack of strength

13:09

at your hips . And so

13:11

most runners have these , this hard

13:16

to describe knee pain . That's

13:18

weakness , it's tightness and weakness

13:20

. And so if you do your squats , if you do your

13:22

single leg squats and your

13:25

and your lunges , we perform on

13:27

one leg . You know , runners never hop

13:29

down the race course like bunny foo-foo

13:31

. We don't ever do boing , boing

13:33

, boing , right . So we perform on

13:35

one leg as we run . So

13:37

we should train on one leg , we should prepare

13:40

our , our legs to be sufficient

13:42

and strong individually . And

13:44

so when you do squats , do a single

13:46

leg squat , do it on one foot . Lunges

13:49

are a great choice . And then , for that glute medius

13:51

, hold your femur in place and take

13:53

one of those bands , those evil

13:55

bands . They're cheap , they're they're

13:57

lightweight , they're portable . You can take them with you

13:59

everywhere you go , but you wrap them around your ankles

14:01

and you just step to the side and

14:03

that helps build up that glute medius that

14:05

, along with oyster shells or clam

14:08

shells or chicken wings , whatever you want to call them . In

14:10

fact , on the cover of fitnesscom there's

14:12

a block that says strength training for runners

14:14

. There's a 12 minute video workout

14:17

. It's me and you , and I lead

14:19

you through targeting all the muscles

14:21

. But yeah , it's

14:23

, it's . I mean , it

14:26

would have devastating effects on

14:28

a runner who did not train

14:30

for strength or flexibility

14:32

. It's all so essential and if

14:35

I could sit every distance runner down

14:37

and give them the conversation and maybe a

14:39

little smack on the tudge , I

14:41

would do it because it's that important .

14:43

Yeah , for sure it's important . And then you

14:45

know if you're for those who are listening

14:48

in , if you're doing like a cox of 5k

14:50

program or you have some other program training for

14:52

your distance . You're going to have days

14:54

that have rest and you're going to have days that are

14:56

in the rest or cross training . So

14:58

for those cross training days , here are some

15:01

of the things that you should be doing

15:03

, which is the strength training .

15:05

Yeah , and you can really make progress

15:07

. So I train for Boston Marathon . I ran

15:09

three days a week . Three days a week , that

15:12

was it . I did two 30-minute runs and then I would

15:14

do a long run on Friday

15:16

or whatever day it was . So you don't have

15:18

to run every single day . In fact , most of

15:20

the running coaches will tell you not

15:23

to run every single day . But can

15:25

you still increase your

15:28

lower body's ability to perform by

15:30

using the elliptical trainer or a stepper

15:33

, which are zero impact exercises

15:35

that aren't going to wreak havoc on your feet

15:37

and your knees and your hips , yet they're going to help you build

15:40

strength throughout your quads and your

15:42

hamstrings and your glutes and etc

15:44

. So you know you can still

15:46

do cardio on the other days

15:48

, just do something different . Can you

15:50

increase your respiratory fitness by swimming

15:52

or cycling ? You certainly

15:55

can . And then the strength training

15:57

I recommend every other

15:59

day . So they say strength training

16:02

once a week . That means targeting

16:04

each muscle group once a week is

16:06

for muscle maintenance . If you like to make

16:08

progress , do it twice a week

16:10

and then , if you really want to make progress

16:13

, it's every other day or three times a week

16:15

. And I'm an every other day girl , because muscles are

16:17

very high on my list

16:19

of importance . So I hit

16:21

it hard multiple days a week . You have to leave

16:23

48 hours of rest in between

16:25

training each muscle group . But yeah , every

16:27

other day is ideal for performance

16:30

.

16:31

That's awesome . And what do you do ? Because if you're

16:33

doing that every other day , well , I guess

16:35

are you running on those days too . Are you running on

16:37

the off days ?

16:39

When I was training for Boston , I did opposites

16:42

I did so . I would have a run , running

16:44

only , and then strength training in the other days

16:46

. I very

16:48

much believe in having a day off , you

16:51

know , which is a day where you're not going out and

16:53

doing something vigorous . So activity

16:55

is different than exercise . So

16:57

sometimes people , people , come

16:59

to me to lose weight right and I say well , I'm so active

17:01

I garden and I do housework , and okay

17:04

, that's being active . That's moving your body . That's

17:06

not exercise . Exercise is deliberate

17:08

. It's targeting one of those pillars of

17:11

fitness strength , cardio , flexibility , balance

17:13

with a vengeance to try

17:15

to make progress . Exercise

17:17

normally requires a sports bra

17:19

or a particular shoe or a mouthpiece

17:21

, or you know you're preparing to do exercise

17:24

right . Activity you know mowing

17:26

the lawn , it just doesn't count . It's good activity

17:29

and I give it thumbs up . But what

17:31

I'm saying is one day off from

17:33

the vigorous exercise get

17:36

. You can still be active on that day . You can still

17:38

walk with your dog and your kids

17:40

or wrestle with your husband or whatever

17:43

. You can still be active . But six

17:45

days a week for vigorous exercise , if you're

17:47

trying to make major progress , okay

17:49

, okay , that's super helpful . Well , I

17:52

have a long way to go .

17:53

I know I'm not getting into the gym as often as I

17:55

like , and trying to balance my runs with the

17:58

getting into the gym has been super hard

18:00

, but I got to do better than that myself .

18:03

Well , and here's the deal . If you can

18:05

get to the gym filled with all sorts of wonderful

18:07

equipment designed for someone to build strength

18:09

, then great . But if

18:11

you've only got 12 minutes and you have no equipment

18:14

, you get on fitnesscom and

18:16

you do my strength training for runners workout , which requires

18:18

a little to nine right . So lunges

18:21

don't require any , any equipment

18:23

. You can do squats , you can do squat jumps

18:25

, you can do pistol squats , you can do , you

18:28

know , lateral gait with just a teeny little band

18:31

. So you don't have to go to the gym and

18:33

love the gym . But if you can't make it , fine

18:35

, so be it . Get it done at home , no excuses

18:37

. Oh , it's just about to say that .

18:39

You just took away my excuse

18:41

, so okay

18:44

, so that was the one pillar around

18:46

strength .

18:46

Let's talk about one of the other pillars . Where should

18:48

we go next ? Let's go to flexibility

18:51

, so

18:53

valuable . So we talked about

18:55

going to the doctor because you're in pain

18:57

. It's either because of weakness , the other

18:59

thing it may be is because of tightness

19:02

. And and I assure you , runners , that

19:04

if you do not do strength training and flexibility

19:06

training , eventually you will have pain that

19:09

will lead to suffering , that will lead to that very

19:11

expensive doctor appointment and the very expensive

19:13

scans . And then they will send you to a , an

19:15

expensive physical therapist , who

19:17

will go , ah , you're really weak over

19:19

here . Or , oops , you're kind of tight . Okay

19:22

, you're not injured , you're tight and you're weak

19:24

. And so , where strength training does come

19:26

with some significant rules

19:29

and nuances . Flexibility training

19:31

does not . And you know , beyond making

19:33

you a better athlete , it allows you to stand

19:36

up straighter . You know your shoulder

19:38

girdle , for example . This joint

19:40

will take your arm 360

19:43

degrees . How many people actually go through

19:45

that motion every day ? Do you move your

19:47

arm in that way ? No , not

19:49

with a hand . No , you

19:51

should . Your hips will move your legs

19:54

in these big , ginormous circles . So

19:56

you know , mobility number one . We see

19:58

old people . They start to hunch that get

20:00

crooked they're . They haven't been working

20:02

on flexibility . So , first of

20:04

all , the way you look , the way you feel standing

20:07

up tall , flexibility matters

20:09

. But if your muscles are accustomed

20:11

to going through a full range of motion , if

20:14

, let's say , you , you

20:17

step off the sidewalk

20:19

while you're running or you're at Disney

20:21

because Disney's got a what do they call it ? Cobblestone

20:24

right and your leg extends

20:26

in a weird way , you're not going to tear your hamstring

20:28

because your hamstring is flexible and it's okay

20:30

going through that full range of motion . If

20:32

you're not , then you may have a sprained

20:34

strain or tear . So it's important to stretch all the

20:37

muscles , from your neck down to your toes , and

20:39

the way I do it is throughout

20:41

the day , every day . And so my I

20:44

have a little policy . When I let my dogs

20:46

out to go to the bathroom , which is frequently every

20:49

single time , I get down on the ground and I stretch

20:51

my hips every single time

20:53

, even at three o'clock in the morning , I've got a 14

20:55

year old dog . She's got to go potty all the time

20:58

. So at three AM she's out going potty . I'm

21:00

stretching my hips . When I walk through certain doorways

21:02

, I put my arms out and I stretch

21:04

that way and then , of course , at the end of my workouts

21:07

I go through , you know , five to 10

21:09

minutes of total body stretches . So

21:12

so with strength training , you know you

21:14

have to give that 48 hours in between

21:16

, skip workouts to allow

21:18

your body to repair , rebuild and respond

21:21

to the efforts you've made . Flexibility

21:23

training you can do all day , every day . There

21:26

is no limit , and you should

21:28

keep your body moving because

21:30

it'll feel better and it'll perform better .

21:33

That's awesome , all right , so something else

21:35

I need to add to my list . Yup around

21:38

flexibility and I'm wondering

21:40

. I started to . I don't know if this falls in a category

21:42

of flexibility , but I started to do foam

21:45

rolling within the last few months , something

21:47

I actually never did before . I can't believe I'm

21:49

admitting that on Instagram live here but

21:51

I never did foam rolling before and I feel

21:53

like it really helped me . So does that fall within

21:55

that flexibility pillar or would it fall somewhere

21:57

else ?

21:58

Well , it does fall somewhere else . It's it's

22:01

a massage , right , it's it's

22:03

pressure . So something like

22:05

your IT band , you cannot stretch

22:07

. It band is not a muscle

22:09

or a tendon or ligament . You cannot

22:11

stretch it . So if you've got a tight IT

22:14

band , what you can do is string , train and stretch

22:16

, Stretch and strengthen your hips

22:18

to get them level . But

22:20

the only thing you can really do to find

22:23

relief is pressure , pressure

22:25

on that Fast shout

22:27

. So IT foam

22:30

rollers are really good for providing

22:33

relief . They're a great tool for preventing pain

22:35

and responding to it . Well

22:50

, you know , with foam rollers , I mean there's , that's a whole

22:52

new bag of worms too , because there's the basic foam

22:55

roller , the you know circle shape

22:57

one . But then there's PVC

22:59

pipes . I've got some big old PVC pipe

23:01

which is just murder . I

23:04

mean it is horrific

23:06

, but it's also really effective

23:08

. And then I have one that I wish

23:10

I could remember the name it's

23:13

. It's foam balls that are all connected

23:15

, and so not only can you get that nice

23:18

relief of pressure , but it

23:20

serves to crack my back . It's almost like

23:22

when people put tennis balls together and roll

23:24

their spine between them . Wish

23:27

I could come up with the name , this guy , I

23:30

can't remember it . But but , yes , anyone needs

23:32

to know what the name of that foam roller is , let me

23:34

know and I'll . I'll send it to you . So fantastic

23:37

. So there's vibrating foam rollers . I mean they

23:39

really go in a bunch of directions

23:41

, but they're , they're certainly very helpful . Okay

23:45

, good , good , good , okay . So which pillar

23:47

is next balance

23:49

? Right

23:54

, so you don't fall over ? It could just start

23:56

with standing on one foot , holding on to the wall

23:58

. If you're unsure , I mean , godly , if my mom

24:00

were to do what I was saying mom , hold on to the counter

24:02

. But a strong young man like you can

24:04

certainly stand on one foot without much risk

24:06

, right ? And then , once you

24:09

feel really good standing on one foot and you're

24:11

no longer shifting around like that , you can

24:13

add elements to make it

24:15

trickier , to add , to make it more

24:17

advanced . So , closing your eyes a great choice . Flapping

24:19

your arms , playing catch with a friend . While standing

24:22

on one foot , you can move that other

24:24

leg up and down . Your limbs are really

24:26

Dumbbells . They

24:28

can be . The best tools you have

24:30

is just moving your other limbs around . So

24:32

balance training is really important . You can also

24:34

do that whenever you want to . There's no

24:36

limitation to it , and the more

24:38

you do it , the more you'll increase the thing called Proprioception

24:42

and that's a really big fitness

24:44

word , but what it really means is your body's ability

24:46

to respond to

24:49

an imbalance . And so if you're walking down

24:51

the sidewalk and One

24:53

of your feet , foot's feet

24:55

yeah , one of your feet falls off or

24:57

steps off the edge of the sidewalk and there's

24:59

a ditch , right it's , it goes down into

25:02

the sand or grass . If

25:04

you have not been balanced training and your

25:06

proprioception is not strong , that

25:08

outside of your foot hits the grass , your ankle

25:11

rolls . You go down , right down

25:13

goes Frazier . However , if you've

25:15

been practicing With proprioception

25:18

, with your balance training , you're walking , that

25:20

outside foot goes to step on off the

25:22

curb and instantly it

25:24

just recoils . You don't even have time for your brain

25:26

to say wait , ankle , you

25:29

know , straight up , don't

25:31

, don't roll down . If you're , if you practice

25:33

your balance , it's your body's natural

25:35

response is to keep you upright and

25:37

so when your balance training

25:40

you should be wobbling . So let's

25:42

say you take a yoga

25:44

or a Tai Chi class and they have you stand

25:47

on one foot and Do

25:49

some weird stretch . If your yoga

25:52

instructor is standing there motionless

25:54

like a tree and she

25:56

or she is so proud , that person's

25:59

not making any progress . If they can stay

26:01

perfectly still without any sort

26:03

of Obvious wobble

26:05

, they're not making progress . It's you

26:07

that's kind of wobbling in the back . You're

26:10

the one making progress because Fitness

26:12

training should challenge you , right

26:15

? So if you're doing cardio fitness , you should be huffing

26:17

and puffing . That's . That's the signal

26:19

that we're making our heart and lungs stronger . When you're

26:22

doing strength training , you know if you can

26:24

flail these three pound dumbbells around all

26:26

day , you're not make , you're not getting stronger . You're

26:28

getting stronger when you start to grunt , right , when

26:30

you move to failure , you can only do six

26:32

repetitions . Ah , right , there

26:34

, that means you've made yourself stronger . When

26:36

you stretch and you , right

26:39

here , I'm not making any progress , but here I kind of wince

26:41

a little bit . The wince Is

26:43

the telltale that you're making progress

26:46

with flexibility . And for balance , it's just

26:48

that that wobble if you wobble , even

26:50

just a little bit , you know you're getting better . And

26:52

so , um , strength , flexibility

26:55

, cardio , balance I stand till I'm blue in my

26:57

face , but they all really matter . Yeah

26:59

, well , I feel like I progressed a little bit here because

27:01

I was definitely wobbling . So , yeah

27:04

, and , and without the closing

27:06

your eyes part , I mean , if you're standing at the in

27:08

line at the grocery store , you could just

27:10

lift one foot off the ground , just

27:12

be on one foot . Nobody's going to think you're aware they're

27:14

not paying attention to your feet .

27:16

So balance training is something you can

27:18

and should do regularly , and I was just

27:20

about to ask you , that is , could you pair it with

27:22

the flexibility , like

27:24

if you're doing your balance and then stretching

27:27

? Is that is that good , to kind of pair those

27:29

together , or it really doesn't matter , just

27:31

do whatever you .

27:33

You know it's nice to have

27:35

this structured fitness routine and and

27:37

running really calls for

27:39

that , but the other elements

27:42

of fitness really don't . You could be at work

27:44

in address and heels and do some push-ups

27:46

, right ? if you can close an office door

27:48

, you can make some progress with strength

27:51

. If you want to stretch , I stretch

27:53

in air . Oh my gosh me . In the airports

27:55

, I travel a lot to go announce the races

27:57

and do keynotes . So , um , I

28:00

take the private space and whether I'm in the

28:02

large women's bathroom or I just

28:04

go into a stall and do stretches I

28:06

mean anywhere , anytime stretching

28:08

do it when you can , and I'm a big fan

28:11

of tall posture . I think it's very sexy

28:13

and it feels really good . So I will

28:15

do whatever it takes to Um

28:17

, to increase my range of motion and

28:19

and get me higher . And then

28:21

I stretch in the airplane bathrooms , which

28:23

is really awkward and weird , but I make it happen

28:26

. So , yeah , wherever , whenever

28:28

, for balance training , for flexibility and even

28:30

strength training , it's nice if you have 45

28:32

minutes to dedicate to a , to a rough

28:34

strength training workout , but if you

28:36

have 60 seconds to do

28:38

pushups or 60 seconds

28:41

to do burpees , I don't care who

28:43

you are , our 60 seconds is going to feel like

28:45

a really long time and you are going to make progress

28:47

For sure , for sure

28:49

.

28:50

So just to kind of recap so for

28:52

the folks here that are runners You're

28:54

training for that 5k half marathon

28:56

marathon . You're feeling like you're getting burnt

28:58

out . You know they just consider some

29:00

of these other pillars that we talked about . Right

29:03

, it's around strength , cardio

29:05

, no strength . Balance

29:07

, flexibility .

29:11

Yeah , and then diversify

29:13

your cardio . You can make a lot of progress as

29:15

a runner by doing a stepper or

29:18

an elliptical or riding a bike . For

29:21

sure , you don't have to exclusively run

29:23

. And if you , if you mix things up , boy

29:25

, you're gonna be a lot more entertained and I think

29:27

you're gonna feel a lot better and and probably

29:29

perform a lot better on race day .

29:32

Yeah , for sure . And then you know , go back to what

29:34

you said initially about having

29:36

this distraction or something else to work on

29:38

, right ? So if you're burnt out , it

29:40

depends on where you're burnt out is coming from , and I really love

29:42

the way you put that . So if it's coming from work , making

29:45

sure that you have other activities that are more

29:47

of a distraction , take you away from that . Work

29:49

, work , work . The many hours work to doing

29:51

something else can kind of also

29:53

help , you know , preventing burnout . So really

29:55

appreciate you sharing that as well .

29:58

And I just think you know , oh , when

30:01

we become grown-ups , sometimes we we

30:04

give up the fun things in our life you know , I

30:06

just decided I was gonna take guitar lessons

30:08

. I don't know why . I just decided

30:10

it would be fun and interesting and I'm really excited

30:13

about it . It will benefit my career

30:15

zero . It will benefit my family

30:17

zero , but it will be interesting

30:19

and fun for me and I'm gonna do

30:21

it . And there's also some great reward

30:24

and showing up and being a complete novice

30:26

at something . You're the worst

30:28

. Right , you show up in class or to

30:31

whatever event you're at and you're the worst

30:33

person . You've got no skills , no knowledge

30:36

and and then all of a sudden , you start learning and

30:38

you get better . And I really

30:40

value that experience

30:43

of making progress . And you

30:45

know , even if you never become the best and I

30:47

tell you what I do a lot of things and I'm

30:49

not the best at I feel great

30:52

about where I , where I was

30:54

and where I've come , and you know , hoping

30:56

to make progress from there on out . So so

30:58

do something interesting and especially

31:00

, do something outside of fitness . Get

31:02

a hobby . That's totally different . Whether

31:05

you paint or write poetry or play poker

31:07

, I don't care , just do something

31:10

that does nothing but make you happy

31:12

and Appeases your mental

31:14

fortitude .

31:26

I share so much information with our community

31:29

. So you know , just tell us a little bit again

31:31

about your book , about your website

31:33

and when folks can find you and follow

31:35

you .

31:36

Thanks . So fitness comm is my home base

31:39

and that's , I see , fitness . Look right there

31:41

. Fitness and Anybody

31:43

could go there to get a ton of free resources

31:45

to live better and longer and

31:48

earn a healthy body . And then also

31:51

I've got Some awesome

31:53

resources for cancer patients and

31:55

survivors . So I hope zero percent

31:57

of your viewers have cancer , but

32:00

I know every last one of them loves

32:02

someone with cancer and what I hope is

32:04

they will pick up your healthy cancer . Come back

32:06

sick to strong . Get this and

32:09

help your favorite cancer patient

32:11

and survivor recover fully , build

32:14

back their strength , their stamina , get back

32:16

to vibrancy . It was no fun . It

32:18

was no fun being in the depth

32:20

Despair

32:22

and sick . And so when I , when I

32:25

was there , I was fortunate enough to be

32:27

a fitness expert and I knew how to rebuild

32:29

my body . Lucky me . But

32:31

at the same time I felt so sad for

32:34

my peers , all those cancer

32:36

patients who were not fit Experts , that

32:38

had no idea how

32:40

to get back to any sense of normalcy

32:42

. So so that's the wish is that if anybody

32:45

loves a cancer patient , send them or go

32:47

to fitness comm . Then buy it for them

32:49

. You want to help that person anyway , so get

32:51

them your healthy cancer come back . There's a journal , there's

32:53

a memoir too , but that's

32:56

the one I really want people to see , and then of course , I'm

32:58

at fitness , right here on Instagram , and

33:01

I love it when people say hello

33:03

. So if you follow , that's great , but I'd rather

33:05

you reach out and say hi . All

33:08

right , sounds good , we'll definitely connect with

33:10

it . Reach out and say hi

33:13

. So you saw her here on Instagram

33:15

live . You heard her on the podcast . So

33:17

again , thank you so much for all

33:19

this great information and again , I'll

33:21

link to your platform

33:23

there . Have a great night

33:26

, thanks , and you need to come to

33:28

one of my races soon . I have another

33:30

finish line for you . Okay

33:32

, let's do it . Okay , all right , take care

33:34

Bye .

33:36

That's it for this episode of Inspire

33:38

to Run Podcast . We hope you are

33:40

inspired to take control of your health

33:42

and fitness and take it to the next level . Be

33:45

sure to click the subscribe button to join our community

33:47

and also please rate in review . Thanks

33:50

for listening .