In this episode of the Iron Lab Podcast, Coaches Jo and Kim explore the profound impacts of wine, stress, and soft tissue injuries on fitness goals, especially for women aged 35-55. They explain how chronic stress raises cortisol levels, leading to fat storage and muscle breakdown, while alcohol worsens this effect by disrupting deep sleep and fat metabolism. Jo and Kim highlight how hormonal changes in this demographic contribute to soft tissue injuries like tendonitis and bursitis, emphasizing the importance of self-care and adjusting lifestyle habits to support long-term health and fitness.

Our coaches also share practical strategies for managing stress and recovery, such as prioritizing sleep, incorporating sauna sessions, and reducing alcohol intake. Jo and Kim encourage intentional self-care practices, including regular massages and strength training, to support injury prevention and muscle gains. They remind listeners that lasting fitness success goes beyond workouts, requiring intentional lifestyle choices that foster overall health and resilience. 

The main takeaway is that if you’re not seeing the results you want, it’s time to take a closer look at your lifestyle, not just your workouts. This episode offers a wealth of actionable advice for anyone looking to balance the demands of fitness with life’s challenges.

--

--

Transcript

Coach Jo 00:09

Welcome to Perfectly Unfinished Conversations, the Iron Lab podcast with Coach Jo…

 

Coach Kim 00:14

…and Coach Kim…

 

Coach Jo 00:15

Where you ride shotgun with us as we have raw, real, unfiltered, and unfinished conversations about trying to eat, sleep, train, and live with some integrity in a messy, imperfect life.

 

Coach Kim 00:27

We're all about creating a strong support system, taking radical personal responsibility, having fun, and being authentic. And one of the most common themes you're going to find in this podcast is the idea that we create positive momentum in our life, by doing what we call b-minus work.

 

Coach Jo 00:45

We’re making gains and getting ahead and loving life without self-sabotaging our goals by striving for perfection. We get it done by moving ahead…

 

Coach Kim 00:55

…before we're ready…

 

Coach Jo 00:56

…when we aren't feeling like it…

 

 Coach Kim 00:58

…and without hesitation.

 

Coach Jo 1:00

Be sure to subscribe now on Apple or Spotify, so you don't miss a single episode. It’s good enough. Let's go.

Coach Jo 1:10

Welcome back to the show, friends. It's me, Joe, and we are gonna be chatting all about the real reasons you're not seeing any results. So, we're gonna deep dive and talk about wine, we're going to talk about stress, and we're going to talk about some soft tissue injuries and what they have to do with your results specifically. Currently, I have two young boys running me ragged most days. The gym is my Saviour. It's my peace zone. And believe me, when that stress hits, I can hear the cookies calling me from the pantry: Jolie, Jolie, just one bite, babe.

 

Coach Kim 01:45

And for those of you who are new, thanks for joining us. I'm Coach Kim, and I am 54 and am just embarking on this menopause journey. So, forget stress. Stress isn't my real issue right now. I'm not suffering with any of the like conventional menopause symptoms, yet like hot flashes or insomnia, but I do feel like a bit of a stranger in my body right now, like I wish I could resort to drinking as a solution for this, but if I'm gonna have a hot flash, alcohol will totally be the thing that brings it on, alcohol and sugar.

 

Coach Jo 02:20

Yeah, for sure. So today we're going to talk about something that many people deal with. You know, they train regularly, or they walk regularly, or they run regularly, but they are not seeing any real results. So, we want to chat about the sneaky ways that wine stress and soft tissue injuries are affecting our fitness gains.

 

Coach Kim 02:40

Yeah, and they sort of go hand in hand, actually, and that's what we kind of want to highlight. So, like I've said numerous times, our demographic here are super pro at eating less and exercising harder. Like we are products of diet culture, where it was, like, you know, if you just eat little less calories or limit your calories and you work out harder, you're going to get all the gains. You're going to see all the results. You'll have this tone, sleek, lean body and you know, our clients, they're doing all the things, they're hitting the weights, they're sweating it out, but the body fat is not budging, or the muscle mass is just not showing up. And on top of that, then you've got these nagging injuries that keep coming back and we see inflammatory type conditions like tendonitis, bursitis and planter fasciitis that linger on. So does any of that sound familiar?

 

Coach Jo 03:36

Yeah, so stick with us. We're going to dive into how alcohol, stress and injury recovery, they're really all connected, and we've got some science, we've got some personal stories that we're going to share, and, yes, we're going to give you some strategies turn this around. So let's kick things off with stress. Whether you've got a like, little ones like I do that are pulling at your leg or, well, they're not that little anymore. They're getting a lot bigger, but they do like to pull…

 

Coach Kim 03:58

They're pulling at your schedule.

 

Coach Jo 04:01

They're, they're pulling on me. They're pulling on something.

 

Coach Kim 04:03

Duke, hey, just, you just said, for like, you know, to put it in perspective, Duke was on Jo's office floor yesterday, all day well, and maybe the day before too, for a half a day sick with the stomach flu. That's the stage of life you're at.

 

Coach Jo 04:15

Yeah, I got no work done. But whether you've got, you know, like that, or you're navigating menopause like it's no secret that stress can be absolutely relentless on you.

 

Coach Kim 04:27

Yeah, absolutely and, and as women in this you know 35 to 55 year old age bracket, so perimenopausal to through menopause, to even post-menopausal, we're juggling a lot like families, kids, relationships. We've got businesses and careers, and we've got maybe aging parents. We've got our own health challenges, maybe financial stress, like it's complex and messy, and that stress messes With our body more than we think.

 

Coach Jo 04:56

Totally you know, it's not just making a. Us mentally tired, but stress cranks up your cortisol, which is our fight or flight hormone, and it activates our sympathetic nervous system, the you know, I see a bear response with your body, and when we say that, I mean, like, you look out the window and there's literally a grizzly bear walking in front of your car in the parking lot, you're gonna go like, you're gonna have a moment like this. That is what we're talking about. And people are seeing bears all day long, it's actually going to increase our fat storage, and especially in our midsection.

 

Coach Kim 05:27

Yeah, cortisol loves belly fat, and when you have consistently high cortisol pumping through your system day after day, it also actually eats away at your muscle gains it breaks down muscle tissue to provide energy during times of stress. And you know, truthfully, kind of like you said, most people don't see themselves as stressed, even though we have that running from a bear hormonal response happening all the time. Our people would probably defend their lifestyle and say, no, no, no, we like our life. We like the pace, I I've heard so many times, I thrive on stress, right? I perform better when…

 

Coach Jo 06:09

I'm better when I'm busy.

 

Coach Kim 06:10

Yeah, I do better when I'm busy. We've created the life that we have for a reason, so we don't see it as stress. But that is the thing about body chemistry, your body recognizes hormonal signals, not your fucking mindset about whether you like your stress or not. And so chronic stress, ongoing for months or years, leads to specific challenges in changing body composition.

 

Coach Jo 06:32

Yeah, like, what ends up happening is that your body will end up burning the muscle that you've worked so darn hard for and for us busy moms and women in menopause, like, stress is basically a constant, which means fat retention and muscle mass will act like this huge uphill battle for you.

 

Coach Kim 06:51

Yeah, so let's throw in a little scientific support here. So this is not just shit we're making up. Like chronic stress leads to consistently elevated cortisol levels, which can promote fat storage and create a muscle breakdown. It increases or increased cortisol levels disrupt your sleep, which also further impairs muscle recovery and growth, and it screws with the hormones that regulate things like hunger and fullness and your willpower and all that other kind of stuff. Estrogen also, estrogen loss. As you go through perimenopause and into menopause, it leads to decreased physical activity, and this is both for physiological and psychological reasons. Not only do you have decreased muscle mass, you also have mood changes, you have less energy, you've got joint and bone health decline and increased body weight and belly fat. Specifically, accumulation between estrogen and cortisol it’s like this double hit. So during perimenopause and menopause, changes in hormone levels, particularly the decline in estrogen can also contribute to insulin resistance. We've talked about this before in our metabolic episode. I think it was episode, I don't know, Bitch Gotta Move. I think is maybe episode two. So again, like less muscle mass, more inflammation, decreased insulin sensitivity, plus cravings and appetite changes. Like, you got a lot going on?

 

Coach Jo 08:23

Yeah, a lot going on. Okay, Kim, let's share with the listeners, how does stress show up for you, especially now that you're feeling the menopausal symptoms show up?

 

Coach Kim 08:33

Well, so far, like, so stress, stress is going to happen. Stress is part of life, and so I don't actually, day to day experience a lot of stress, but I have periods of stress, you know, like I said a few episodes ago, when my girls are struggling, my stress levels up as well. But here's some really interesting stuff that I have discovered, and I'll get to that a little further in right now, I don't feel too many stress or menopause symptoms, like so far, it's kind of just feels like I'm carrying around an extra layer of fluff. I call it, like my body isn't bouncing back like it used to. I don't feel as strong, I don't feel as motivated, and in the last month or so, I'm not wide awake at night, but I awake a lot at night, like, I get up to pee more. I'm kind of hovering under this.

 

Coach Jo 09:25

Which is not like you, because you have you sleep like the dead for as long as I've known you.

 

Coach Kim 09:30

Yes, and I would brag, like, 10 hours is like that sweet.

 

Coach Jo 09:33

I close my eyes and I just wake up. But I'm like, how? How?

 

Coach Kim 09:37

So I am. I'm really like, I've for a long time said, Oh, I feel so bad for the women who struggle so hard with insomnia, because I just don't have anything to compare it to. I'm not there, but my sleep is disrupted. I'm not getting good quality sleep, which then impacts recovery so and I notice that that combined with if I'm not managing my stress well, if I'm not looking after. Myself, then my recovery time gets longer, and I can feel more sore and more tired for days.

 

Coach Jo 10:06

It's so interesting. You know, the difference? Because being a busy ass, I call myself a busy ass hockey Mama, I feel this, and I'm not even in menopause, yeah, especially last year, as the season wore on, you know, come April, that's where I felt the most stressed, and all these type of symptoms that you're exactly talking about. So when I bounce between kids, coaching on the floor, or running my kids around to extracurriculars, or my husband's away at work, I can tell you, it feels like my body holds on to fat for dear life, like it like Kim wants to talk about, like fluff. It's just a difference in our body. And people may might look at us and be like, What are you talking about and whatnot, but you know your body. You know what it's capable of. You know how it feels. Everybody is exactly the same in that regard, right? And we're no different, but, like, the same. I sleep like crap when I'm stressed out. I, it takes me a few days to recover, and when you're tired, you definitely don't have them in your workouts and your recovery time takes days like when you're tired, it all goes downhill, 100%, so what about strategies? Kim, what has been working for you?

 

Coah Kim 11:14

Okay, well I’m trying to be super intentional about my downtime. I’m like, again, my life isn’t day to day stress, but it doesn’t mean that I’m not like, my brain is always on the go. I'm always thinking, worrying, planning, creating, coaching, like all the things you are too, right? So I love sauna, and I think everyone should do it. It just feels so good. If you love going to Mexico, if you love winter in Arizona, or hot holidays, sauna is an awesome addition to a dark season for us, which we're entering, right? It's a natural detox through sweat, through the skin, but it's also really cardio protective. So I do that. I walk a lot without an agenda. I'm not fucking power walking. I'm walking. I'm walking the dogs. I smile like a friggin lunatic because I love it so much, like I know you do too. Hey, when you're out in the bush, it's like, you happy place, yeah, like I do. I just, it's just it really, being in nature, being in the trees, really makes me happy. I've kind of relegated myself right now to heavy lifts more than intense cardio right now, just because A, I'm not feeling like it. And so some is better than none truly like strategically. And then almost three years ago now, I changed my training time of day based on studies that I'd read around circadian rhythm and optimizing muscle gains for women specifically. And so instead of training 5:30-6:30 in the morning, when cortisol is rising to its highest, and then extra spiking that cortisol, or, you know, having it be more of an acute stress. I try to train between one and 5pm sometimes I'll do nine in the morning. Sometimes I'll do noon. But generally speaking, I'm training between one and five and like I have to work pretty hard at settling my nervous system. I can be a warrior. I've had a lifetime of stress, mostly about things that I have no control over, of course, but it's like, I have to be conscious about it.

 

Coach Jo 13:11

Yeah, yeah. For me, it's different, you know, like with stress, I try to just ride the wave, like every day is going to provide me completely new challenges. And I just have to try to remember that it's okay to not have it all figured out, you know. And one of the things that I really love that I've worked on for, I would say, close to almost 10 years specifically, has been the 24 hour rule, yeah.

 

Coach Kim 13:36

And, you know, I will say you're really resilient that way, about riding the wave. And also, I fucking love that 24 hour rule, you know, like, you're not a hyper responder.

 

Coach Jo 13:45

And I used to be. The funny thing is, is when I was young, I used to be crazy hyper responder, hugely emotional, immediate reactor, like I was known as that, like my brother and I probably known as spastastic when we were younger. And I think that was like, okay, like, there's a pattern more than just one person's mentioned this. Maybe I need to look at this like I didn't have much self-awareness about that, but the 24 hour rule, I think, is huge, because things can go ah, in my body, and I need to just give my brain some time to process it. And I tell you, after 24 hours, I am so much more clear, and that shit does not bother me as much as it did. So when it comes to stress, specifically, 24 hour rule, I think is really important. And I just have to remember that it's like, it's okay if the laundry stays unfolded in the basket a little bit longer. It's okay that my car resembles the fucking Apocalypse during hockey season. And, you know, I only got one workout in the week, or maybe I didn't get any in the week, like grace, Jolie, give yourself some effing grace.

 

 

Coach Kim 14:41

Yeah, see those that those are the things that don't bother me. I have two large, you know, relatively large dogs, and the car that I've had has been the car that I transport them in when we hike. And so my car has always looked like the apocalypse. And I just keep going, okay, as long as I have dogs, it's gonna look like the apocalypse. And, you know, then I'll move out of. It at some point. All right, so wine stress, soft tissue injuries. Let's talk about alcohol, wine and alcohol specifically, I think every woman listening just perked up, because it's easy to feel judged in this discussion. And I will say that more than food, as a coach, I encounter more resistance from clients around giving up alcohol practice than I do food changes, right? So we've all kind of used a glass of wine or two to take the edge off after a long day, a stressful day. I'm not a wine drinker, but I do love Prosecco and I do love tequila, so I can relate it to mostly like that relaxing feeling after the first sip or two of tequila, of a tequila and soda, right? So, you know, I can get that. I'm not a wine drinker, though.

 

Coach Jo 15:55

Yeah, guilty. You know, I used to find I could only breathe once I had that relaxed feeling from alcohol, and I did that for a long time, but like, here's the thing, is that alcohol doesn't really truly relax us. You know, it takes off the edge temporarily. It relieves us emotionally in the moment. It's a coping mechanism, but it is actually messing with our hormones, our sleep, and, most importantly, our ability to burn our own fat.

 

Ach Kim Co16:22

Yeah, and I think that for women our age, it hits harder too, right? Like alcohol disrupts your sleep. Having a drink before bed, like you said, might make might help you fall asleep, but you won't be sleeping deeply, and you'll probably be more sleep interrupted. And again, there is a direct correlation between alcohol use and increased hot flashes for women who are struggling with hormones. So there's that.

 

Coach Kim 16:45

And like, when you're sleep-deprived, your body's stress response kicks in. That's more cortisol, that's more fat storage, that's less muscle mass recovery. Like sleep is queen, and when she goes to shit, usually everything else goes to hell in hand basket alongside her.

 

Coach Kim 17:00

Yeah, people don't understand that, just like protein and carbs and fat are sources of fuel or energy to the body, so is alcohol. But the problem with alcohol is that is it is a toxic fuel source, which means that the body has to burn it off preferentially before it can go back to actual digestive or metabolic processes. And so actually, alcohol prevents fat burn. So if you're drinking nightly, even one, or if you're over drinking on the weekends, it is completely getting in the way of your fat loss goals, and it's just hard on your liver. And this is part of the reason that young people can get away with it. And then as we age, and as our hormones become compromised, you there is a load on your body as you age, like just from life, accumulation of life. And so by the time you're my age, your liver is just not going to have any your bullshit. Like you're it's done trying to manage your alcohol use, right? And so your liver and kidneys are major players in healthy metabolism. And I've seen, I think, up to 20% or 25% it's a big number attributed to liver function, kidney function as it relates to a healthy metabolism, like in calorie burn. And so if you have a compromised detox pathway system, if you're fucking around with your liver all the time because you like to drink, you're gonna have a harder time achieving the goals that you want. You know?

 

Coach Jo 18:32

Yeah, so again, here's some more science. Alcohol disruption, deep sleep, leading to poor recovery, and it's gonna increase for higher cortisol levels. It's also going to interfere with fat metabolism. Alcohol is prioritized by the liver number one, slowing down the breakdown of fat or any other calories or food you want to put in your stomach. And then there's this whole estrogen thing, right? Like alcohol raises our estrogen levels, which is not truly ideal for women already going through perimenopause or menopause.

 

Coach Kim 19:04

Right. And that estrogen increase can also lead to more fat storage, especially around the hips and thighs. So alcohol is just straight up working against you in multiple ways, and preventing you from getting to the body composition goals that you'd like.

 

Coach Jo 19:24

So let's talk about all of these soft tissue injuries. I know I've had my share of them, especially now that I'm chasing my two young boys around while trying to stay fit. You know, my shoulder feels stiff after a floor wrestling match, and my knees ache after being on the trampoline or chasing them having races down the laneway like I ain't no young spring chicken anymore, and I'm starting to feel that, it's crazy.

 

Coach Kim 19:46

Oh, the injuries. So our clientele, like I said, is us 35 to 55 and soft tissue injuries fit that demographic of people we're talking about in this episode, and some older, you know, like, there's some aging-related soft tissue problems. But the soft tissue injuries that we've seen this year are off the fucking charts, like muscle strains, bursitis, tendonitis, plantar fasciitis, SI problems, back problems, you name it. And it's been very, very tough for Joel and I to watch in real-time. But I also just think it's representative of the way that we choose to live, the pace, the lack of true self-care, the active push, right, constant push, of the way that we're expecting ourselves to keep up on our life, to push harder, but not reducing stress and honoring the body, right? So if you're injured, you're not really to blame. You're not doing anything wrong, because this is just the way that societally. It's like, Yeah, this is just the way that it is. It's just the way that we live. It's just these are the habits that are acceptable, but it's creating problems for us, and that means that you might benefit from developing a new relationship with the body that you have now and adjusting your daily routines to make room for this version of you.

 

Coach Jo 21:05

Yeah, and it's not just age, loss of bone density, etc. We're also dealing with actual hormonal changes that make recovery a lot harder. Estrogen actually plays a major role in tissue repair, so when it starts declining, when you're in menopause, your healing is going to slow down. And if you're training like a beast, and you're not doing all the proper self-care alongside it, such as your mobility work, massage, physio,

 

Coach Kim 21:36

Post workout stretching.

 

Coach Jo 21:38

Taking and even taking the necessary breaks and restful days off when you're just not feeling it in your body, you know, then there's going to be a greater chance that you just may become injured. Yeah, so let's break it all down, because estrogen it's going to support collagen production, which helps maintain strong, flexible connective tissues. As estrogen levels drop, injuries can become more common as your recovery slows. So in perimenopausal and menopausal women, the risk of soft tissue injuries, it's going to increase, and the recovery can take longer due to these reduced hormone levels.

 

Coach Kim 22:10

Dr Vonda Wright, and I think she's out of Texas, but she is one of those highly respected and quite visible on social media leaders, physicians that are talking a lot about menopause.

 

Coach Jo 22:24

Influencers.

 

Coach Kim 22:25

Yeah, influencers. That's the word I was looking for, anyways. And she was talking about how, you know, we all think that the symptoms, the primary symptoms of menopause, are hot flash, weight gain, loss of sex drive. Those are all true, true things. But really, in the top, like three symptoms that arise for women, like soft tissue injuries, things like frozen shoulder, things like tendonitis, tennis elbow, those are the things that are showing up more frequently, like with regularity. It's like way up there on the on the spectrum of symptoms. So it just comes with the territory and aging. Now, muscle mass goes down, fat goes up, tissue repair declines, and it can feel hopeless or like a fight. You just don't stand to chance against and yet you're always in charge of being able to do it a new way. You just have to be willing to do it differently than the norm, because, again, it's really tough when culturally, societally, socially it's acceptable to dive into ice cream at night, donuts, chocolate, wine as the most widely accepted way to manage our emotions and our stress, like people are ready to, like, sit down beside you and bring you a tray of cookies, but think that it's too much money or too much time in their day to go to a sauna or a massage, right? Like, culturally, you're kind of up against a wall of the ways that we think we are caring for ourselves that are not actually caring behaviors, right? So you're not actually managing your stress, you're stressed out, and you're pushing yourself harder in the gym, and you're over drinking wine regularly, which not only amplifies your problems, but also slows down that recovery even more. And so you know, what are the strategies look like for managing that balance, reducing alcohol, managing your stress, caring for your body? Granted, there are always going to be demands on our bodies, and especially us as coaches, but we're also still very normal humans, living just like everyone else. So what do your strategies look like for managing that?

 

Coach Jo 24:41

Totally, like, my main strategy is that I try to incorporate my regular strength training sessions for myself. I've been trying to do leg day. I'm trying to do upper body day, like I'm trying to hit those days no matter what, each week. But then I also have to be cognitive of my own coaching schedule. Like, do I have to be very physical that day? Is there a big demo? Do I gotta jump around for four classes in a row. Like, maybe that coaching block is enough for movement that day. So movement for me, is self-care. I got to move. I got to figure out how I'm going to move within that week. And once I have those sessions organized and they're like, prepped and planned, like, I make sure I prioritize my sleep. Like, when my kids go down, I go down. I feel at my best when I've slept eight and a half to nine hours, and as I've said before, like when I don't sleep like you, everything goes to hell in a hand basket. So sleep has to be a priority for me. That's how I can manage stress. So then I try to incorporate massages every four to six weeks in which I am definitely currently behind on. I'm really behind on my massages. I don't know my last massage, I got in my rhomboid, like she got my rhomboid, and I feel like I've been wrecked for like, three months. So I don't know. I just need to go back and get it worked out, maybe. But anyways, like phone-free weekends is another thing for me. I usually try to put my phone down. It's not immediacy. I don't have to go to this culture of immediacy if, if it's important, I need to grab my phone. I can grab it, but I definitely try to steer clear of social media on the weekends and getting outside as much as I can. We're so close to the snow falling in Canada, like you can smell it in the mornings. You can smell it in the air, yeah? Like it's, it's, it's fucking coming. And I'm just trying to eat up every ounce of being outside as I can. Yeah. So, I've also learned that I do not need to drink at every single event or dinner that I'm invited to, like.

 

Coach Kim 26:24

Which is really a big deal, actually.

 

Coach Jo 26:25

And I've been really good at that over the last 10 to, like, 10 years. I'd say 10 years for sure. It was hard at the start where people were really on me, like teasing me, bugging me, making, or are you pregnant? Like they were really on me. And I like, I almost caved to that, but I've been, I think people now understand, oh, Jo just doesn't drink. And I'm like, great. No one bothers me. No more over that. But like, truthfully, if I have, like, a night out with friends or family, like, I feel like a pile of dog crap for the whole next week, recovery sucks. Training sucks. I have zero business work drive, or work ethic drive here at Iron Lab, like, I'm always tired, my nutrition habit stinks, stress is back because alcohol creates this monster anxiety response in me for the next few days afterwards, like I question everything, like everything just sucks. So I feel like I've wasted a whole week of my own life.

 

Coach Kim 27:19

There's so much crossover between you and I that way, because that's also what I've noticed as I've aged a couple things. You remember those days when you could get like, wrecked drunk and then get up and go to work the next day?

 

Coach Jo 27:30

Yeah, like 6am and bus tables.

 

Coach Kim 27:33

Well, that like now, if I was to overdo it with drinking, I would pay for that for two or three days. And the last few times that I socially drank where I would have, you know, let's say 3, 4, 5, drinks feel pretty good, go to bed. Not only was I, no sleep was to be had, yeah, but I also would wake up in the middle of the night feeling anxious, like, embarrassed, ashamed, anxious, worried, worrying about all kinds of things like it. And Alcohol is a depressant. It is a you know. And so it not only was that night, but then it would take me two or three days to come out of that, to come back to the way I like to function.

 

Coach Jo 28:14

And feel clear, total clarity.

 

Coach Kim 28:15

So I've recently changed my strategies again to try to support myself as I move through these next couple years, and I had this whole like epiphany yesterday, and I shared it with four or five and 6pm classes last night during mindset time, where I basically said, like, I have to stop living for this person that I am today. Not stop living like I have to be really conscious. I could not train today. I could say, Fuck it. I could treat myself, poor me, poor me, Would it? Would he pull I'm like, feeling bad in my body. So I could just be like, Yeah, let's just have a drink and soothe myself and but logically, I know that doesn't make me feel better, and it lets me today off the hook, but it really sets me three months from now up for a struggle. Do you know what I mean? Like, I have to retain that where I'm trying the decisions I'm making today, I'm trying to set Kim up in three months, when I'm farther down this menopause road, the choices I've made today hopefully are going to support the way that I want to feel. You know, the body fat percentage that I want, the inflammation load that I am looking to kind of mitigate. So, you know, it's easy to say, No, I don't feel like working out today, but really, I'm not doing her any favors. So in the last few months, because I have been such an avid since January of this past year, I've been an avid blood sugar tracker, and I use a lumen device. I actually had tangible data to show me that the habits that I like, like coffee on an empty stomach, cold dips in my Polar pod in the summer waking up early to coach, although I don't always like that, it's just part of my lifestyle, right? They actually were driving my stress response higher, and I could see it reflected in my rising fasted rising over time, fasted blood glucose in the morning, and this is the default insulin resistance that we talk about in real-time. Not only am I stressed over the summer with different things going on, but my own body is changing hormonally, and some of the habits that I enjoy, actually, I could see in blood markers, like my blood sugar morning…

 

Coach Jo 30:34

Data. You had the data.

 

Coach Kim 30:35

Data saying, like, my fasting blood glucose was like 5.9, 6.41 morning, like, for the way that I choose to live my life, too fucking high, you know? So, so I could also see that simultaneously my belly was getting squishier, and I also had that about six to eight full weeks where I couldn't coach because my neck and my trap or couldn't work out, not coach. I was coaching and I was walking, but that was the extent of my training, because my body was so sore and exhausted, like I just physically couldn't. So I choose to, because of the way we choose to upkeep and care for ourselves as professionals, you know, like I routinely hit physio, I found a new massage therapist that I love, and I'm going for Active Release Technique tomorrow on this shoulder and trap. And so that's just part of my ongoing care, plus the sauna, plus red light therapy. I'm not a regular drinker anymore at all, so it's super not a struggle to not drink. It doesn't bother me at all. And I just gave up morning coffee, but I've had, I've started to have, like, a cup, a small cup. I allow myself a small cup around mid-morning, after I've had breakfast, yeah, not on an empty stomach, and after my cortisol peak. So cortisol peaks about 8:30am and today, I got a coffee around 9:30 10 o'clock, and I didn't even drink the whole thing. So I'm trying to allow myself some grace, because I love my coffee.

 

Coach Jo 32:01

I know they got decaf there.

 

Coach Kim 32:02

I know that decaf is a better choice, it for sure, so, but you know, I'm just gonna take care of that. So anyways, and now that it's back to pitch black in the morning and cold out, I will limit my cold exposure to natural cold. Like how it feels to be out walking in the snow. Yeah, right. And yeah. Basically, sauna is my favorite, and Claude has promised me that we will get an infrared sauna at home. But you and I have talked about adding a sauna box here at the gym too, because I so strongly believe in it. And there is, there's nothing that feels as good as like that warm, deep warm, big sweat, you know, yeah.

 

Coach Jo 32:45

Like I real super, super hot bath, but instead of getting super soaked, you can just sit and melt yourself apart.

 

Coach Kim 32:49

Yeah, totally. So anyways, that's kind of what I'm working on.

 

Coach Jo 32:53

All right. Well, guys, we've covered a lot today. We talked about stress. We talked about, you know, alcohol, basically, and injuries. So here's the takeaway, if you're not seeing the results you want, it's time to take a closer look at your lifestyle, not just your workouts.

 

Coach Kim 33:07

Yeah, well, you can't out-train a bad recovery strategy or daily wine habit like it's really all connected, and we never want it to seem like finger-pointing, like it's really not personal. This is a broad sweep, like we literally could have been talking about anyone you know, like we just see it so frequently as a demographic. This is just the way that we, it's an acceptable lifestyle strategy. And so if you're taking it personally today, or you feel like we're calling you out specifically. Maybe it's time to self-assess and check in on what's not working. That's your intuition going, hmm, I think it's me.

 

Coach Jo 33:51

Yeah, and think about how incredible that you'll feel though once you start making small, intentional changes every day, they aren't just tasks that you have to check off like They're gifts that you're going to be giving yourself every time you choose rest or recovery over burnout, you're honouring your body and you're setting yourself up for the long term success. Or, as Kim says, the three months from now, Kim, the three months from now you, the three months from now me, your body works hard for you, so you got to give it the recovery it actually needs. So little by little, these small shifts, they can build up to something so fucking powerful.

 

Coach Kim 34:26

And you know, if you can't, because a lot of women that we know, they have a hard time prioritizing themself first and doing it for themselves. But if you can't do the honouring of your body or choosing rest and recovery over burnout for you, do it to teach the people who are coming behind you, because so many of us are moms to daughters and sons, and you know, children, young people who need somebody to show them how to do it, because culturally, societally, nobody's showing them how to do it. We're perpetuating the same thing over and over and over again, a state of unwellness, a state of disease in all the ways. And so it's not about being perfect. It's about finding what works for your body at this stage of life. And I don't know what anybody else wants, but I just want to feel fucking amazing as I get older, like I would way rather give up wine at night and feel like a mink than over drink and self sabotage and feel like trash, like it's just personal preference. So yeah, friends, be kind to yourselves.

 

Coach Jo 35:33

That's right. Thanks again, guys for listening to another episode, and don't forget to hit subscribe, so you don't miss a single episode. Bye, bye.

 

Coach Kim 35:38

Bye bye. 

Coach Jo 35:41

You probably got a sense of who we are by now and what our personal approach is to developing a lifestyle that creates really great health and strength. Using a relational common sense coaching approach that is backed by knowledge and personal experience

Coach Kim 35:56

There are a couple of ways that you can work with Jo or I, one on one, remote or you can actually train here at Iron Lab. 

Coach Jo 36:04

The first is the Metabolic Blueprint, personalized coaching program, which is customized for your life and your body. 

Coach Kim 36:11

We work together very closely either in person or remotely to help you conquer old diet drama and to get lasting results. 

Coach Jo 36:21

Ideally, we'd love to teach you how to never buy a quick-fix diet program or app again. 

Coach Kim 36:27

Next, there is the accelerator academy, which is up to 12 months of self-paced weekly bite-sized lessons and journaling exercises, that we’ve created to help you create the lifestyle habits that generate a true transformation. 

Coach Jo 36:45

Find out more on our website: ironlablacombe.com/metabolic-blueprint