Perfectly Unfinished Conversations | It's Good Enough, Let's Go!

 In this episode, Coach Jo and Coach Kim delve into the metabolic health crisis, emphasizing its roots in diet and lifestyle factors affecting both adults and children. They highlight the critical role social support plays in maintaining a health and fitness journey and underscore the importance of muscle mass for both metabolic and mental health. They stress that strength training is particularly essential for aging adults and share personal experiences of making time for exercise despite busy schedules, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing fitness for long-term health goals. 

Coach Jo and Coach Kim explore the connection between metabolic dysfunction and chronic diseases, revealing how metabolic syndrome can begin in youth. The discussion also covers the significant role of muscles as metabolic organs that burn calories and improve mental health. They honestly address the common excuses for not exercising, such as feeling too weak or intimidated, and advocate for overcoming these barriers by valuing health and making time for self-care. The episode concludes with actionable tips for improving metabolic health through exercise, sleep, and nutrition, and highlights the importance of community and support in achieving fitness goals.

Resources

--

Contact Joely Churchill and Kim Berube | Iron Lab: 
--

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 Kim 01:10

Alright, we're back. This is episode four of perfectly unfinished conversations. And this week we're on the metabolic money soapbox, preaching the need for humans to move. Walking more and yes, physical exercise or training. But in particular, strength building, we want to set up this podcast episode to come back to this scenario right here. Let's talk about your 75-year-old self. Say the heavens opened up the clouds parted, and your 75-year-old self floated down like Zeus and wanted to give you some feedback towards your current health and strength journey. What advice would they give you?

 

Coach Kim 01:56

So first, let's start with a bird's eye view on metabolic health, obesity, and mental health because there is no disputing that as an overall population. We are more unhealthy than we've ever been before. 


Coach Jo 02:15

The condition of being overweight or obese and you know, also sedentary. This is not personal judgment or cognitive bias statement like this is a concern for the actual welfare of people and our health collectively. I mean, yes, it can be a burden on the health care system, but also just the burden of metabolic health on the happiness and longevity of human beings in general. 


Coach Kim 02:40

Metabolic health is a root cause of almost every chronic disease that is currently killing North Americans, 9 out of 10 of the leading causes of death in the US and we all know that Canada and US share way more in common than Canadians would like to think they do. But 9 out of 10 of the leading causes of death in North America, I would say are fundamentally related to or directly rooted in metabolic dysfunction. Yeah, Alzheimer's disease, type two diabetes, chronic kidney disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease, not to mention the link to infertility. Right. So what is metabolic syndrome or metabolic dysfunction? It's primarily a cellular energy problem. But we see it manifest with five typical symptoms, obesity, or a large abdominal measurement, high blood pressure or blood pressure that trends high high blood fat, low HDL or good cholesterol and insulin resistance, which is probably the most common thing that we are seeing, culturally societally, which would be classified as pre-diabetes. 


Coach Jo 03:59

Yeah, you'll hear threads of this subject in future podcasts because it's the largest health problem facing people, adults, aging adults and children, children today. In addition to the development of all the chronic diseases, you know, that Kim just talked about high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, or you know, kidney disease, there are links to poor and declining metabolic health and brain health like Alzheimer's dementia, as as well as one's own mental health. 


Coach Kim 04:29

Yeah. So Alzheimer's and dementia are now being commonly referred to as type three diabeetus. So you have type one, which is is you know, from birth or you know, yeah, type 1.5 which they consider autoimmune. And then you've got type two, which is diet and lifestyle and now type three is the classification of Alzheimer's and dementia. You know, PCOS is leading to infertility among women, and it's essentially diabetes of the ovaries. This is not an aged person problem. And something you only have to worry about as you're getting older. It's it's a condition that we're seeing in, you know, we have people who we know, in this community whose children as young as 10 are battling with this metabolic dysfunction. And so we're going to come back to it stay with us, because we're coming back to the topic of this podcast, which is ”Bitch Gotta Move”, yeah, but we want to really underline that metabolic syndrome creates these serious chronic health conditions, and it begins when you're young. It's not happening, because you're old. It's happening energetically in our cells right now. And the proof is that our children are also developing chronic health conditions that used to be only primarily seen in older or, you know…


Coach Jo 05:56

…retirement age. 


Coach Kim 05:58

Yeah, yes, exactly. So anyhow, and we need to admit that so much of the metabolic syndrome crisis has to be a food discussion. So in a, you know, in addition to the strength part of it, which we're going to talk about movement, you know, we've got sleep and light exposure and vitamin D deficiency and food hands down is the biggest factor in metabolic syndrome. 


Coach Jo 06:24

Yeah, 100%. But that's not what we're talking about today. Today, we're on the soapbox preaching muscle mass and why you have got to move. Bitch Gotta Move. You got to move regularly, you got to move intentionally, you got to move purposefully, and you got to move forever love to move forever. 


Coach Kim 06:42

And how that exactly what you just said, relates to and is the solution to metabolic syndrome. 


Coach Jo 06:57
Exactly. Skeletal muscle mass that we wear and carry is a metabolically active organ that interacts with other organs. A lack of healthy muscle mass means your body is going to struggle metabolically. It's going to have a harder time regulating your metabolism, it's going to be less efficient as an engine for your body. Another really important thing to talk about, you know, when we talk about metabolism aside, is we can bring up myokines, and we can briefly touch on them what they are and how they help. They're special proteins that your muscles make and release. When you exercise or you move around, you dance, you know you high five your friends 1000 times. I don't know like when you're having fun and you're moving your body. These proteins, they act like these tiny messengers, they travel through your bloodstream. They send important signals to different parts of your body. When you move whether you're running, dancing, playing sports, your muscles release myokines that tell your body to do a variety of helpful things. They can signal your body to burn fat for energy, which helps keep you fit and healthy. They can also help make your bones stronger, reducing the risk of any fractures injuries as you age. But, you know, lastly, the big one myokines can influence your brain. They boost the production of neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, which are important for feeling so happy and relaxed. Higher levels of those chemicals that can improve your mood. And truly, they can help reduce all the feelings of anxiety and depression. 


Coach Kim 08:29
This is the perfect place to talk about Dr. Chris Palmer's work. He is a psychiatrist, a Harvard-trained psychiatrist who wrote the book Brain Energy, and more and more they are recognizing, just like Alzheimer's and dementia are a metabolic diabetes type three, which is a you know, metabolic problem. They're also realizing the link between mental health problems like bipolar, even schizophrenia, depression, definitely anxiety and how that is so directly related to metabolic health. And what I find so fascinating about that, is it kind of all lines up on the spectru. Do you know? Like, we're seeing this explosion in depression and anxiety while we see the explosion of screen use, Vitamin D deficiency while we see the explosion of mental health crisis, metabolic syndrome, you know.


Coach Jo 09:30

Like, and sedentary it's and we don't move, we talk, we don't move. And you wonder why people are.


Coach Kim 09:38

I think it's just so interesting that they're starting to put all of this together, it actually makes me feel really hopeful, even when it makes other people feel overwhelmed with the information. 


Coach Jo 09:50

It's a lot of information but I think the beauty of our culture is that science is science and we're always learning and we're always studying and we're always applying the things that we learned moving forward. There's so much information out there now guys for you know what muscles and how what they can do. So another important reason why you gotta move your body is because your muscles are metabolic money. And what do we say by metabolic money, it means that, like they're a burning furnace, the more muscle you have on your body, the more calories you're going to burn naturally at rest, and the more calories you're burning at rest means your metabolism is this fired up engine, if you don't have any muscle mass, it's not going to really help benefit towards your metabolism. you're going to be slower and sluggish. So when you start, you know, changing your diet,diet can only take you so far, but then you need to start kicking it up, that's where plateaus usually happen, right? And people's training programs is, or if they're just walking and they're eating healthy, but you know, I'm still at this plateau stage, you got to incorporate some strength training in there, because the release of those myokines, the release of all those neurotransmitters, I mean, even just growing, your muscle mass is going to burn more calories, versus just going to help you reach further past any of those plateaus. 


Coach Kim 11:04

When they talk about muscles as as metabolic money. And they you know, there's the analogy of like, that it's burning hot, that it's, that it's a furnace, essentially, you know, muscle mass is good for a couple of reasons. And, and the primary reason is, is that it is a sponge for blood fuel, like glucose energy that's floating through the blood. So the more the more glucose that is present in your body, the more insulin that is required to shuttle that away and store it as energy for use in the future. And we are fat storing masters and nutrient storing masters. But when you have a higher degree of muscle mass, your muscles actually suck up, as they're being used, they are actually sucking up the glucose that is in the muscle that then doesn't need to be stored as body fat. Yeah, because it’s like…


Coach Jo 11:55

… like I did my job but nothing's here. 


Coach Kim 11:59

That's exactly it. And so muscle is super important for your metabolism. Because it acts as this transfer station of food you eat energy you eat and then putting it to use.

 

Coach Jo 12:11

Another good reason is it's it acts as an armor, you know, as we age and bone density decreases, and we become you know, more dependent on handles and railings and sitting down and put on our socks and shoes, and all those ADLs activities of daily living, you want to have that protective armor on your body to support that. I don't want to call it aging, you know, skeletal structure, but it really is. Truly it's truly an aging skeletal like a bone skeleton starts to age, you got to have muscles that will support the joints that will support your activities of daily living and help you live a more independent and free life. 


Coach Kim 12:46

Yeah, some of the statistics and I might not get them exactly right. And you can find them anywhere, you know, where they're talking about the degree of muscle mass that if you are not active, once you hit I want to say like the age of 35, you start to lose 1% a year, which doesn't seem like a big deal. But you know, by the time you're 50 years old, you know, this goes back to some of what you've already heard us say in the podcast, which is there's this window between 45 and 55, that if you don't figure out how to incorporate some of these healthy living practices, you're gonna struggle as you get older. Yeah, and the protective armor part of muscle mass is that if you get struck by a chronic condition, cancer cancer treatment, or something like COVID, right where you are hit really hard by a flu or an infection, and your body requires, it's going to draw on its own resources to be able to heal itself. It's pulling from your muscle mass. And if you don't have muscle mass in place, your body is pulling from empty resources, it can pull from the from nothing. And so the armor part of it also exists. You know, not only as an insurance policy, so to speak, but also protective as in when you fall and land on your butt cheek. If you don't have any muscle mass there, you've got skin fat bone, that's the impact part. Whereas muscle is actually a cushion.

 

Coach Jo 14:22

And I believe there's this statistic that goes with if an elderly person falls and they have a fall right they know that falls are super dangerous people as they get older because they don't have the muscle mass required to heal out of that in general. But the statistic is is that it's less than two years, an elderly person will pass because they had, their life will have gone downhill and downhill and they didn't have the resources, the strength, the energy, or you know, they probably had the time obviously but they weren't able to heal themselves and do their rehab and come out of that because it just goes downhill the quality of life. Yeah, totally.

 

Coach Kim 15:00

Yeah, totally. And you know, it's funny because when I hear Jo talk about, you know, classifying that age demographic as elderly, I also, I will tell you, like, the older I get, the closer I get now that I'm 54, 75 is not that far away, you know, like, it doesn't feel it's more of a reality, I'm closer to 74 than I am 24 Like, and so, I've always maintained that fear is not a good motivator, you you can't, people don't really give a shit, they can't think that far ahead to be able to go Yeah, yeah, you know, 25 years from now, or 45 years from now, that's so long away. And it's just that it becomes so hard to get back what you've lost, you not only lose the capacity, the strength, the actual physical muscle mass, but you also lose the motivation, energy, inspiration, passion, enthusiasm, capacity to chase, physical strength and health. 


Coach Jo 16:03

So we want to go over some excuses that you know, we think keep you from getting stronger. And we just kind of made a list off the top of our heads of different excuses. Number one being that, in no particular order, obviously, I need to be stronger so that I can go to the gym. 


Coach Kim 16:18

Yeah, we've literally, we've had this one where, where people are like, Oh, I really want to come train with you guys, it looks so fun. But I'm so weak that I need to do some exercises.


Coach Jo 16:26

I need to go first or another gym before I can come by. But this is what we do here. We get you strong. 


Coach Kim 16:37

Well, and and a great training facility, a great coach, a great physical fitness trainer is going to be able to assess your current capacity, and then provide you with all of the tools and modifications to bring you up to speed appropriately over time. And so a lot of times probably our social media looks a bit intimidating. But I think people fail to understand that babe, that's the whole point is that you need to come to the gym to get stronger. And any gym will do. You know what I mean? Like, hopefully that is, like, that's just an excuse keeping you from getting there. 


Coach Jo 17:14

Yeah, it's a limiting belief. Another one is, I don't have time to go to the gym. 


Coach Kim 17:18

Bitch, you're running out of time to go to the gym.


Coach Jo 17:22

My day gets away on me, I got too busy. And I'll what Kim and I have really noticed being in the fitness industry for over the last decade is that a lot of our clientele who we have had, you know, stick around, or we've been coaching for over a decade. They're like the busiest people we know. They are Type A personalities or they might not be type A but they are busy. But they make this a priority. And they fit it into their schedule, whether it's 6am, or they carve out a time at that 4pm slot, but they are busy all over the planet, and they're still finding time to come in. 


Coach Kim 17:58

True. And you know, you're like you are the perfect, perfect example of that, which is, you know, you've got two kids, one's not yet in school. One is, you know, they're both in sports, you run a business, you've got a team of nine people, you've got chickens and a farm. And you know what I mean? Like you're doing it, you're like, You are the prime example of that. And this is where values come into play, because we make time for the things that we value. And so for you and I, I always feel so grateful that I have just made such a powerful link between how I feel physically and mentally my mental health, that it is such value to me to train and eat smart and sleep smart and all that stuff, that it is my top priority. Because the way I look at it is I schedule. The first thing I do when I lay out my calendar for the week is, I put in when I'm going to train. And it's not as much as people think. But if I don't make me the priority, I'm not going to get to it. Something is always going to eat up my time. I can always find a reason not to train Exactly. And and this is pouring back into yourself. I tell my clients all the time, like you got to fill your own cup first. Because if you don't fill your cup first, you're gonna run out of tea, you're gonna run out of energy, you're gonna run out of day time, and everybody else gets their needs met, and you don't. 


Coach Jo 19:26

And the world feels a lot easier when your cup is full. 


Coach Kim 19:30

Absolutely. 


Coach Jo 19:32

It's too hard to do the work and I'm exhausted, that excuse. 


Coach Kim 19:37

Yeah, it is. Well, and this is like what comes first the chicken or the egg like it's too hard to do the work. I'm too tired. But you'd actually find that if you did the work, you'd have more energy. And this is just the law of physics, right like this is physics at work, is in order to receive something you have to give something away and in this case, we're talking about energy, right? Like, when I use my muscles, I am tired, but then I gained so much energy, you know, like, it's kind of backwards. It's just something that's getting in your way. 


Coach Jo 20:14

Exactly. Another excuse is that it's too expensive to train. And, you know, there are times in my life where that was my excuse is that I didn't have time for me, because I thought it was too expensive. But the other thing is, is that I know I deserve that time. I know, when I have that time, like Kim says, my cup becomes full. And I always like to break it into, you know, I'll break it into weekly. Whatever the cost is, whatever the weekly thing is, I can figure that out. And what else am I spending my money on? You know, like, I could be spending my money on Starbucks every single morning. And I know that adds up. I think when you start comparing what is expensive and what isn't expensive, in accordance to what you value. For me, and Kim, we value our health. And we will like ask him how much she spends when she goes to the health food store. She comes back, right? Like we value what it is.


Coach Kim 21:04

It is value system. And this a lot of this could sound like judgment. And you know, like I started out my young adulthood as a single mom of two kids under the age of two, I lived on welfare at that time. It was, I know what it's like to struggle. And so it also could sound like I'm at this place where I'm like, Oh, just throw your money into the gym. Like that is not it. I think that the bigger part of it is, is that everything has a cost. Everything has a cost associated with it, whether you're buying a gym membership, or whether it is the cost of not taking care of your health, because at some point that bill is going to become due.


Coach Jo 21:49

Exactly, exactly. Perfectionism is a huge area of self sabotage, you can say to yourself such as I don't know what exercises to do in order to get me stronger or I don't have the right clothes or the right shoes to wear or I don't even look the part when I show up at the gym, right? It's your… it's your own limits that you're putting in your brain of the expectation of what you feel a regular workout or what you feel a gym session should appear or what you feel the exercises you should be doing if they're correct or not it really if you're moving your body is a lot happier. It doesn't have to be perfect as long as you move in one way or the other. 


Coach Kim 22:27

Yeah, well and I think this is one of the ways that you know gym culture probably has you know, because we've even had that comment here to where people are like what was the comment we got about spandex warriors or I don't want to go to a place with spandex warriors. 


Coach Jo 22:41

Yea, cause some people wear leggings to work out Yeah. 


Coach Kim 22:44

You know and like it is there is a whole culture around like looking the part of this precise you know, matching tops and bottoms and the thick…  half the time we're training barefoot. We're wearing, I'm wearing leggings that I've had for eight years. Yep. You know, like, nobody gives a shit about what you're wearing. Definitely not the coaches. We've had people and I fucking love this. The other day somebody showed up and she had come from work, Candice babe, this is for you. She had come straight from work and she had forgotten her gym bag at home and she had a choice in the car. She could have said fuck it and gone home and miss the workout. And instead she came to the gym and she wore the Capri pants, the stretchy Capri pants that she had worn to school and, and came and did the workout anyways, feeling completely insecure because she was wearing these stretchy Capri pants and they weren't leggings. I was like girlfriend, Rock on. 


Coach Jo 23:51

Yeah, get her done!


Coach Kim 23:53

High five for you. We've had Bernadette, God bless her heart, showing up in blue jeans one day, and she could have made the choice to say, You know what, I screw it, I missed it. I missed the opportunity. And instead she came here and she was like, Okay, here we go, in blue jeans. And it's not super functional. It doesn't make it comfortable. But who fucking cares? 


Coach Jo 24:11

Just move your body. That's just an excuse. You’re here.


Coach Kim 24:16

And any gym culture that is making you feel like you don't fit the part and that you don't look right or aren't the right shape or that is why we're here. That is what you're supposed to be doing. I don't care what you're wearing. Let's go. 


Coach Jo 24:35

Another excuse is I'm afraid of getting hurt. And you know, I completely understand as someone who's gone through multiple injuries and rehabilitations across my body, I understand the fear of being in that position again because you know how low of a point that is, how immobile you are and how scary it is to reinjure a certain part of your body again, especially if you're having issues like acute issues that are happening.


Coach Kim 24:58

Or chronic. If you're somebody who struggles like every once in a while your back slips out, and I can see where it would be really intimidating. But again, if you hunt out the right environment and the right coaches, your coaches, anybody, anybody, oh, Martin Rooney, anybody can slay you. Anybody can crush you. Yep, you any coach can give you a workout that knocks you on your ass. But a great coach will make you better. 


Coach Jo 25:32

Yeah, exactly. And I think the fear of getting hurt is almost back to one of our first excuses, I need to be stronger to go to the gym, is that your body needs to be stronger so that those issues, those injuries become well protected by the armor on your body. You know, people saying like my knees hurt, or oh, my knees hurt. When I walk up the stairs, we'll forget your quad stronger, and we work around, you know, your tibialis anterior muscle and the lower part of your knee, like I'm just shouting out some anatomy. But if we work those regions, now your knee is in a protective bubble, top and bottom. Right, and then now your knees don't hurt no more. So I don't think people need to be too worried about getting hurt. It's a normal feeling to feel that way. But it can't be the main driver for the reason for you not to get healthy and better. 


Coach Kim 26:14

Yeah, because again, if you're afraid of getting hurt, that already means you see yourself as weak. And babe, you're not going to get any stronger by protecting yourself from the possibility of getting hurt. Yeah, the last couple ones are you know, I don't have any support. And that's and that's again, the last ones, these are fair, because there has been, there are people who are struggling out there. 


Coach Kim 26:40

And the whole support part, you know, we've, we've even talked about this, ourself where it can be a fairly lonely journey to to be someone in a circle of people who decides they're going to do it different. And what I mean by that is eat different. Stop drinking alcohol, stop smoking weed, go to the gym, walk more, drop 60lbs. 


Coach Jo 27:03

Say ‘no’ to the snacks.


Coach Kim 27:05

Oh, for sure. And you know, this is that meme that says, Bring McDonald's, bring it bring a dozen doughnuts to the staff rooms and everybody's your friend, but sit down with chicken and broccoli at the staff meeting. And all of a sudden, everyone's a nutrition expert, you know, like, we are totally in an environment culturally, where we do not have support in our own social networks to make these kinds of changes, because you're seen as a freak, if you want to get fit. 


Coach Jo 27:35

And like when we say I don't have any support. Like what we're trying to say is, yes, it's valid. Yes, it's fair. But ultimately, you and you alone are the only motherfucking person who's going to walk in the arena and lock that motherfucking door behind you. It’s you and a lot of us like Kim on her journey, she had to go in the arena and lock the door behind her me on my journey. I've had to go in the arena lock the door behind me. No one else came in that door following behind me to do the whole journey from A to Z.


Coach Kim 28:10

I can remember, you know, in the first first few years where I fell into this, and I was in love with the process, and I was in love with how the results were coming in my life. And I remember going to an event and a couple of females sitting across from me. And I began to speak about my experience with food or training or something. I was giving my two cents at some point. And literally they looked at each other and rolled their eyes like Oh, here she goes again. Yeah, and that's the kind of support that we don't have. And you got to be brave enough to go solo. You got to be brave enough to say fuck it. It doesn't matter that I don't have support. Because, again, in an environment like ours, you get the coaches, you get the people who are working out beside you. We've said before some of the dearest sweetest friends I've made. I do not see anywhere but in the gym. Yeah. And they are the people that are like, yeah, you go girl.


Coach Jo 28:59

Yeah, they just support you, everyone's working on their own shit in the gym. Yeah, ain’t that the truth. And you know, the last one would be, I have a medical condition. Yeah. Which again, is these last couple ones. They're fair. But when we talk about specifically metabolic syndrome, or polycystic ovarian syndrome, or type two diabetes. Yeah, like a lot of those type of conditions are why you need to come to the gym. The gym is your answer to help support and hopefully down the line, eliminate. 


Coach Kim 29:33

Yeah, so even some of the when we look at you know, I've seen recently, you know, where people in podcasts, you know, there's those who are advocating for this specific topic. It muscle mass, health, longevity, lifespan, quality of life, metabolic health. They're all saying the same thing which even like the biggest dial movers, you would be shocked at how even adding regular walking into your life will extend your lifespan. Cardio metabolic health, like so much simple, it doesn't have to be hard. People want complicated, you know, like, I have to fix my gut health first before I can fix my metabolic health or, you know, I've got all these hormonal problems or I have to, you know, I have to do it all perfectly somehow. And so I can't possibly get started. People want to think it's complicated. When really truly, if you sister or brother just focused on the basics, I lift heavy things a few times a week, I sleep like the dead and I work at that, I walk more often, I choose whole food over, you know, processed food as often as possible. I drink a little bit more water over drinking something that has calories in it or high fructose corn syrup, or alcohol, and I was consistent at those things, your life would fucking change.

 

Coach Jo 30:52

Yeah, it would completely change. 


Coach Kim 30:59

So as we wrap up this episode of Perfectly Unfinished Conversations, let's go back to that idea about your 75 year old self giving you advice today, if your 75 year old self could make an appearance here, what would they say to you, Jo? 


Coach Jo 31:21

My 75-year-old self would say to me that girlfriend, you need to do some more Yoga. You need to calm the fuck down. And you need and yoga was so hard for me to mentally stay in it. That's why I was trying to do meditation over the last year. But it is a tough thing to be still to breathe and be one with my thoughts because my thoughts are racing 24/7 and I know I need to slow that down and quit being busy at all the little things. I don't need to pace around my house and move this item because it belongs there and pace and that item goes here and just be busy for the wrong reasons. I need to just chill out. 


Coach Kim 31:58

And you know, back to the you need to do some yoga. It's not only about your because you've said this to me before I laugh because we've had this conversation. And you are already an athlete, you've got great cardio health, you've got great strength, you've got great consistency built up in your training. But this is where, like, that Triple Threat idea where what you really need is to stretch it out and to allow your body to decompress. 


Coach Jo 32:27

Yeah, exactly. And what would you say your Sophie Kim? 


Coach Kim 32:32

Well, probably my 75-year-old self and her wisdom and her compassion would probably say, Sister, why don't you just relax a little bit? She'd probably say, she'd probably say, well, she'd say a couple of things. She'd say maybe you should just relax a little bit, but I think she'd also say thank you. Like I think she's out there calling me on saying yes, we made you change your hooking me up. 


Coach Jo 33:01

Yeah, totally. Yeah, hype girl. Yeah, don't let excuses hold you back guys. You got to do the work and you got to think of your muscles as metabolic money. Investing in them. Now today pays off with a healthier, happy future. 


Coach Kim 33:20

And the basics are simple. They're not easy, but they're simple. lift something heavy. get good sleep, walk regularly, eat whole foods, stay hydrated, and be consistent. And by keeping it simple and doing the work you're investing in your future self. If everything we've done up to today has built who you are right now in this moment. Everything that you do from this day forward creates you three months from now. A year from now. A decade down the road. It is baby steps. There is no six weeks to better metabolic health. I mean there is, but…


Coach Jo 33:56

At six weeks, you’d just be getting started. 


Coach Kim 33:01

Yeah, there's no six weeks to six-pack abs, right? Like you're being consistent because everything that you do, aka right or well or consistently, is building you in the future. 


Coach Jo 34:13

So don't forget to subscribe to Perfectly Unfinished Conversations on Spotify or Apple podcasts to stay connected and continually inspired.


Coach Kim 34:20
Yeah and for for personalized guidance. Remember that we do remote work. We coach virtually with individuals like you every day, helping to improve your metabolic health and your strength and your quality of life. So visit our website at ironlablacombe.com/metabolic-blueprint  to learn more about how we can support you on the path to a stronger, healthier future you. Thanks for being here. Bye. 


Coach Jo 34:23
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 34:38
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 34:46
The first is the Metabolic Blueprint, personalized coaching program, which is customized for your life and your body. 


Coach Kim 34:53
We work together very closely either in person or remotely to help you conquer old diet drama and to get lasting results. 


Coach Jo 35:03 
Ideally, we'd love to teach you how to never buy a quick-fix diet program or app again. 


Coach Kim 35:09
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 35:27
Find out more on our website: ironlablacombe.com/metabolic-blueprint



 

What is Perfectly Unfinished Conversations | It's Good Enough, Let's Go!?

The Iron Lab Podcast: raw, real, unfiltered, unfinished conversations about trying to EAT, SLEEP, TRAIN and LIVE a messy, imperfect life. Support, accountability, fun and authenticity.

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 Kim 01:10
Alright, we're back. This is episode four of perfectly unfinished conversations. And this week we're on the metabolic money soapbox, preaching the need for humans to move. Walking more and yes, physical exercise or training. But in particular, strength building, we want to set up this podcast episode to come back to this scenario right here. Let's talk about your 75-year-old self. Say the heavens opened up the clouds parted, and your 75-year-old self floated down like Zeus and wanted to give you some feedback towards your current health and strength journey. What advice would they give you?

Coach Kim 01:56
So first, let's start with a bird's eye view on metabolic health, obesity, and mental health because there is no disputing that as an overall population. We are more unhealthy than we've ever been before.

Coach Jo 02:15
The condition of being overweight or obese and you know, also sedentary. This is not personal judgment or cognitive bias statement like this is a concern for the actual welfare of people and our health collectively. I mean, yes, it can be a burden on the health care system, but also just the burden of metabolic health on the happiness and longevity of human beings in general.

Coach Kim 02:40
Metabolic health is a root cause of almost every chronic disease that is currently killing North Americans, 9 out of 10 of the leading causes of death in the US and we all know that Canada and US share way more in common than Canadians would like to think they do. But 9 out of 10 of the leading causes of death in North America, I would say are fundamentally related to or directly rooted in metabolic dysfunction. Yeah, Alzheimer's disease, type two diabetes, chronic kidney disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease, not to mention the link to infertility. Right. So what is metabolic syndrome or metabolic dysfunction? It's primarily a cellular energy problem. But we see it manifest with five typical symptoms, obesity, or a large abdominal measurement, high blood pressure or blood pressure that trends high high blood fat, low HDL or good cholesterol and insulin resistance, which is probably the most common thing that we are seeing, culturally societally, which would be classified as pre-diabetes.

Coach Jo 03:59
Yeah, you'll hear threads of this subject in future podcasts because it's the largest health problem facing people, adults, aging adults and children, children today. In addition to the development of all the chronic diseases, you know, that Kim just talked about high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, or you know, kidney disease, there are links to poor and declining metabolic health and brain health like Alzheimer's dementia, as as well as one's own mental health.

Coach Kim 04:29
Yeah. So Alzheimer's and dementia are now being commonly referred to as type three diabeetus. So you have type one, which is is you know, from birth or you know, yeah, type 1.5 which they consider autoimmune. And then you've got type two, which is diet and lifestyle and now type three is the classification of Alzheimer's and dementia. You know, PCOS is leading to infertility among women, and it's essentially diabetes of the ovaries. This is not an aged person problem. And something you only have to worry about as you're getting older. It's it's a condition that we're seeing in, you know, we have people who we know, in this community whose children as young as 10 are battling with this metabolic dysfunction. And so we're going to come back to it stay with us, because we're coming back to the topic of this podcast, which is ”Bitch Gotta Move”, yeah, but we want to really underline that metabolic syndrome creates these serious chronic health conditions, and it begins when you're young. It's not happening, because you're old. It's happening energetically in our cells right now. And the proof is that our children are also developing chronic health conditions that used to be only primarily seen in older or, you know…

Coach Jo 05:56
…retirement age.

Coach Kim 05:58
Yeah, yes, exactly. So anyhow, and we need to admit that so much of the metabolic syndrome crisis has to be a food discussion. So in a, you know, in addition to the strength part of it, which we're going to talk about movement, you know, we've got sleep and light exposure and vitamin D deficiency and food hands down is the biggest factor in metabolic syndrome.

Coach Jo 06:24
Yeah, 100%. But that's not what we're talking about today. Today, we're on the soapbox preaching muscle mass and why you have got to move. Bitch Gotta Move. You got to move regularly, you got to move intentionally, you got to move purposefully, and you got to move forever love to move forever.

Coach Kim 06:42
And how that exactly what you just said, relates to and is the solution to metabolic syndrome.

Coach Jo 06:57
Exactly. Skeletal muscle mass that we wear and carry is a metabolically active organ that interacts with other organs. A lack of healthy muscle mass means your body is going to struggle metabolically. It's going to have a harder time regulating your metabolism, it's going to be less efficient as an engine for your body. Another really important thing to talk about, you know, when we talk about metabolism aside, is we can bring up myokines, and we can briefly touch on them what they are and how they help. They're special proteins that your muscles make and release. When you exercise or you move around, you dance, you know you high five your friends 1000 times. I don't know like when you're having fun and you're moving your body. These proteins, they act like these tiny messengers, they travel through your bloodstream. They send important signals to different parts of your body. When you move whether you're running, dancing, playing sports, your muscles release myokines that tell your body to do a variety of helpful things. They can signal your body to burn fat for energy, which helps keep you fit and healthy. They can also help make your bones stronger, reducing the risk of any fractures injuries as you age. But, you know, lastly, the big one myokines can influence your brain. They boost the production of neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, which are important for feeling so happy and relaxed. Higher levels of those chemicals that can improve your mood. And truly, they can help reduce all the feelings of anxiety and depression.

Coach Kim 08:29
This is the perfect place to talk about Dr. Chris Palmer's work. He is a psychiatrist, a Harvard-trained psychiatrist who wrote the book Brain Energy, and more and more they are recognizing, just like Alzheimer's and dementia are a metabolic diabetes type three, which is a you know, metabolic problem. They're also realizing the link between mental health problems like bipolar, even schizophrenia, depression, definitely anxiety and how that is so directly related to metabolic health. And what I find so fascinating about that, is it kind of all lines up on the spectru. Do you know? Like, we're seeing this explosion in depression and anxiety while we see the explosion of screen use, Vitamin D deficiency while we see the explosion of mental health crisis, metabolic syndrome, you know.

Coach Jo 09:30
Like, and sedentary it's and we don't move, we talk, we don't move. And you wonder why people are.

Coach Kim 09:38
I think it's just so interesting that they're starting to put all of this together, it actually makes me feel really hopeful, even when it makes other people feel overwhelmed with the information.

Coach Jo 09:50
It's a lot of information but I think the beauty of our culture is that science is science and we're always learning and we're always studying and we're always applying the things that we learned moving forward. There's so much information out there now guys for you know what muscles and how what they can do. So another important reason why you gotta move your body is because your muscles are metabolic money. And what do we say by metabolic money, it means that, like they're a burning furnace, the more muscle you have on your body, the more calories you're going to burn naturally at rest, and the more calories you're burning at rest means your metabolism is this fired up engine, if you don't have any muscle mass, it's not going to really help benefit towards your metabolism. you're going to be slower and sluggish. So when you start, you know, changing your diet,diet can only take you so far, but then you need to start kicking it up, that's where plateaus usually happen, right? And people's training programs is, or if they're just walking and they're eating healthy, but you know, I'm still at this plateau stage, you got to incorporate some strength training in there, because the release of those myokines, the release of all those neurotransmitters, I mean, even just growing, your muscle mass is going to burn more calories, versus just going to help you reach further past any of those plateaus.

Coach Kim 11:04
When they talk about muscles as as metabolic money. And they you know, there's the analogy of like, that it's burning hot, that it's, that it's a furnace, essentially, you know, muscle mass is good for a couple of reasons. And, and the primary reason is, is that it is a sponge for blood fuel, like glucose energy that's floating through the blood. So the more the more glucose that is present in your body, the more insulin that is required to shuttle that away and store it as energy for use in the future. And we are fat storing masters and nutrient storing masters. But when you have a higher degree of muscle mass, your muscles actually suck up, as they're being used, they are actually sucking up the glucose that is in the muscle that then doesn't need to be stored as body fat. Yeah, because it’s like…

Coach Jo 11:55
… like I did my job but nothing's here.

Coach Kim 11:59
That's exactly it. And so muscle is super important for your metabolism. Because it acts as this transfer station of food you eat energy you eat and then putting it to use.

Coach Jo 12:11
Another good reason is it's it acts as an armor, you know, as we age and bone density decreases, and we become you know, more dependent on handles and railings and sitting down and put on our socks and shoes, and all those ADLs activities of daily living, you want to have that protective armor on your body to support that. I don't want to call it aging, you know, skeletal structure, but it really is. Truly it's truly an aging skeletal like a bone skeleton starts to age, you got to have muscles that will support the joints that will support your activities of daily living and help you live a more independent and free life.

Coach Kim 12:46
Yeah, some of the statistics and I might not get them exactly right. And you can find them anywhere, you know, where they're talking about the degree of muscle mass that if you are not active, once you hit I want to say like the age of 35, you start to lose 1% a year, which doesn't seem like a big deal. But you know, by the time you're 50 years old, you know, this goes back to some of what you've already heard us say in the podcast, which is there's this window between 45 and 55, that if you don't figure out how to incorporate some of these healthy living practices, you're gonna struggle as you get older. Yeah, and the protective armor part of muscle mass is that if you get struck by a chronic condition, cancer cancer treatment, or something like COVID, right where you are hit really hard by a flu or an infection, and your body requires, it's going to draw on its own resources to be able to heal itself. It's pulling from your muscle mass. And if you don't have muscle mass in place, your body is pulling from empty resources, it can pull from the from nothing. And so the armor part of it also exists. You know, not only as an insurance policy, so to speak, but also protective as in when you fall and land on your butt cheek. If you don't have any muscle mass there, you've got skin fat bone, that's the impact part. Whereas muscle is actually a cushion.

Coach Jo 14:22
And I believe there's this statistic that goes with if an elderly person falls and they have a fall right they know that falls are super dangerous people as they get older because they don't have the muscle mass required to heal out of that in general. But the statistic is is that it's less than two years, an elderly person will pass because they had, their life will have gone downhill and downhill and they didn't have the resources, the strength, the energy, or you know, they probably had the time obviously but they weren't able to heal themselves and do their rehab and come out of that because it just goes downhill the quality of life. Yeah, totally.

Coach Kim 15:00
Yeah, totally. And you know, it's funny because when I hear Jo talk about, you know, classifying that age demographic as elderly, I also, I will tell you, like, the older I get, the closer I get now that I'm 54, 75 is not that far away, you know, like, it doesn't feel it's more of a reality, I'm closer to 74 than I am 24 Like, and so, I've always maintained that fear is not a good motivator, you you can't, people don't really give a shit, they can't think that far ahead to be able to go Yeah, yeah, you know, 25 years from now, or 45 years from now, that's so long away. And it's just that it becomes so hard to get back what you've lost, you not only lose the capacity, the strength, the actual physical muscle mass, but you also lose the motivation, energy, inspiration, passion, enthusiasm, capacity to chase, physical strength and health.

Coach Jo 16:03
So we want to go over some excuses that you know, we think keep you from getting stronger. And we just kind of made a list off the top of our heads of different excuses. Number one being that, in no particular order, obviously, I need to be stronger so that I can go to the gym.

Coach Kim 16:18
Yeah, we've literally, we've had this one where, where people are like, Oh, I really want to come train with you guys, it looks so fun. But I'm so weak that I need to do some exercises.

Coach Jo 16:26
I need to go first or another gym before I can come by. But this is what we do here. We get you strong.

Coach Kim 16:37
Well, and and a great training facility, a great coach, a great physical fitness trainer is going to be able to assess your current capacity, and then provide you with all of the tools and modifications to bring you up to speed appropriately over time. And so a lot of times probably our social media looks a bit intimidating. But I think people fail to understand that babe, that's the whole point is that you need to come to the gym to get stronger. And any gym will do. You know what I mean? Like, hopefully that is, like, that's just an excuse keeping you from getting there.

Coach Jo 17:14
Yeah, it's a limiting belief. Another one is, I don't have time to go to the gym.

Coach Kim 17:18
Bitch, you're running out of time to go to the gym.

Coach Jo 17:22
My day gets away on me, I got too busy. And I'll what Kim and I have really noticed being in the fitness industry for over the last decade is that a lot of our clientele who we have had, you know, stick around, or we've been coaching for over a decade. They're like the busiest people we know. They are Type A personalities or they might not be type A but they are busy. But they make this a priority. And they fit it into their schedule, whether it's 6am, or they carve out a time at that 4pm slot, but they are busy all over the planet, and they're still finding time to come in.

Coach Kim 17:58
True. And you know, you're like you are the perfect, perfect example of that, which is, you know, you've got two kids, one's not yet in school. One is, you know, they're both in sports, you run a business, you've got a team of nine people, you've got chickens and a farm. And you know what I mean? Like you're doing it, you're like, You are the prime example of that. And this is where values come into play, because we make time for the things that we value. And so for you and I, I always feel so grateful that I have just made such a powerful link between how I feel physically and mentally my mental health, that it is such value to me to train and eat smart and sleep smart and all that stuff, that it is my top priority. Because the way I look at it is I schedule. The first thing I do when I lay out my calendar for the week is, I put in when I'm going to train. And it's not as much as people think. But if I don't make me the priority, I'm not going to get to it. Something is always going to eat up my time. I can always find a reason not to train Exactly. And and this is pouring back into yourself. I tell my clients all the time, like you got to fill your own cup first. Because if you don't fill your cup first, you're gonna run out of tea, you're gonna run out of energy, you're gonna run out of day time, and everybody else gets their needs met, and you don't.

Coach Jo 19:26
And the world feels a lot easier when your cup is full.

Coach Kim 19:30
Absolutely.

Coach Jo 19:32
It's too hard to do the work and I'm exhausted, that excuse.

Coach Kim 19:37
Yeah, it is. Well, and this is like what comes first the chicken or the egg like it's too hard to do the work. I'm too tired. But you'd actually find that if you did the work, you'd have more energy. And this is just the law of physics, right like this is physics at work, is in order to receive something you have to give something away and in this case, we're talking about energy, right? Like, when I use my muscles, I am tired, but then I gained so much energy, you know, like, it's kind of backwards. It's just something that's getting in your way.

Coach Jo 20:14
Exactly. Another excuse is that it's too expensive to train. And, you know, there are times in my life where that was my excuse is that I didn't have time for me, because I thought it was too expensive. But the other thing is, is that I know I deserve that time. I know, when I have that time, like Kim says, my cup becomes full. And I always like to break it into, you know, I'll break it into weekly. Whatever the cost is, whatever the weekly thing is, I can figure that out. And what else am I spending my money on? You know, like, I could be spending my money on Starbucks every single morning. And I know that adds up. I think when you start comparing what is expensive and what isn't expensive, in accordance to what you value. For me, and Kim, we value our health. And we will like ask him how much she spends when she goes to the health food store. She comes back, right? Like we value what it is.

Coach Kim 21:04
It is value system. And this a lot of this could sound like judgment. And you know, like I started out my young adulthood as a single mom of two kids under the age of two, I lived on welfare at that time. It was, I know what it's like to struggle. And so it also could sound like I'm at this place where I'm like, Oh, just throw your money into the gym. Like that is not it. I think that the bigger part of it is, is that everything has a cost. Everything has a cost associated with it, whether you're buying a gym membership, or whether it is the cost of not taking care of your health, because at some point that bill is going to become due.

Coach Jo 21:49
Exactly, exactly. Perfectionism is a huge area of self sabotage, you can say to yourself such as I don't know what exercises to do in order to get me stronger or I don't have the right clothes or the right shoes to wear or I don't even look the part when I show up at the gym, right? It's your… it's your own limits that you're putting in your brain of the expectation of what you feel a regular workout or what you feel a gym session should appear or what you feel the exercises you should be doing if they're correct or not it really if you're moving your body is a lot happier. It doesn't have to be perfect as long as you move in one way or the other.

Coach Kim 22:27
Yeah, well and I think this is one of the ways that you know gym culture probably has you know, because we've even had that comment here to where people are like what was the comment we got about spandex warriors or I don't want to go to a place with spandex warriors.

Coach Jo 22:41
Yea, cause some people wear leggings to work out Yeah.

Coach Kim 22:44
You know and like it is there is a whole culture around like looking the part of this precise you know, matching tops and bottoms and the thick… half the time we're training barefoot. We're wearing, I'm wearing leggings that I've had for eight years. Yep. You know, like, nobody gives a shit about what you're wearing. Definitely not the coaches. We've had people and I fucking love this. The other day somebody showed up and she had come from work, Candice babe, this is for you. She had come straight from work and she had forgotten her gym bag at home and she had a choice in the car. She could have said fuck it and gone home and miss the workout. And instead she came to the gym and she wore the Capri pants, the stretchy Capri pants that she had worn to school and, and came and did the workout anyways, feeling completely insecure because she was wearing these stretchy Capri pants and they weren't leggings. I was like girlfriend, Rock on.

Coach Jo 23:51
Yeah, get her done!

Coach Kim 23:53
High five for you. We've had Bernadette, God bless her heart, showing up in blue jeans one day, and she could have made the choice to say, You know what, I screw it, I missed it. I missed the opportunity. And instead she came here and she was like, Okay, here we go, in blue jeans. And it's not super functional. It doesn't make it comfortable. But who fucking cares?

Coach Jo 24:11
Just move your body. That's just an excuse. You’re here.

Coach Kim 24:16
And any gym culture that is making you feel like you don't fit the part and that you don't look right or aren't the right shape or that is why we're here. That is what you're supposed to be doing. I don't care what you're wearing. Let's go.

Coach Jo 24:35
Another excuse is I'm afraid of getting hurt. And you know, I completely understand as someone who's gone through multiple injuries and rehabilitations across my body, I understand the fear of being in that position again because you know how low of a point that is, how immobile you are and how scary it is to reinjure a certain part of your body again, especially if you're having issues like acute issues that are happening.

Coach Kim 24:58
Or chronic. If you're somebody who struggles like every once in a while your back slips out, and I can see where it would be really intimidating. But again, if you hunt out the right environment and the right coaches, your coaches, anybody, anybody, oh, Martin Rooney, anybody can slay you. Anybody can crush you. Yep, you any coach can give you a workout that knocks you on your ass. But a great coach will make you better.

Coach Jo 25:32
Yeah, exactly. And I think the fear of getting hurt is almost back to one of our first excuses, I need to be stronger to go to the gym, is that your body needs to be stronger so that those issues, those injuries become well protected by the armor on your body. You know, people saying like my knees hurt, or oh, my knees hurt. When I walk up the stairs, we'll forget your quad stronger, and we work around, you know, your tibialis anterior muscle and the lower part of your knee, like I'm just shouting out some anatomy. But if we work those regions, now your knee is in a protective bubble, top and bottom. Right, and then now your knees don't hurt no more. So I don't think people need to be too worried about getting hurt. It's a normal feeling to feel that way. But it can't be the main driver for the reason for you not to get healthy and better.

Coach Kim 26:14
Yeah, because again, if you're afraid of getting hurt, that already means you see yourself as weak. And babe, you're not going to get any stronger by protecting yourself from the possibility of getting hurt. Yeah, the last couple ones are you know, I don't have any support. And that's and that's again, the last ones, these are fair, because there has been, there are people who are struggling out there.

Coach Kim 26:40
And the whole support part, you know, we've, we've even talked about this, ourself where it can be a fairly lonely journey to to be someone in a circle of people who decides they're going to do it different. And what I mean by that is eat different. Stop drinking alcohol, stop smoking weed, go to the gym, walk more, drop 60lbs.

Coach Jo 27:03
Say ‘no’ to the snacks.

Coach Kim 27:05
Oh, for sure. And you know, this is that meme that says, Bring McDonald's, bring it bring a dozen doughnuts to the staff rooms and everybody's your friend, but sit down with chicken and broccoli at the staff meeting. And all of a sudden, everyone's a nutrition expert, you know, like, we are totally in an environment culturally, where we do not have support in our own social networks to make these kinds of changes, because you're seen as a freak, if you want to get fit.

Coach Jo 27:35
And like when we say I don't have any support. Like what we're trying to say is, yes, it's valid. Yes, it's fair. But ultimately, you and you alone are the only motherfucking person who's going to walk in the arena and lock that motherfucking door behind you. It’s you and a lot of us like Kim on her journey, she had to go in the arena and lock the door behind her me on my journey. I've had to go in the arena lock the door behind me. No one else came in that door following behind me to do the whole journey from A to Z.

Coach Kim 28:10
I can remember, you know, in the first first few years where I fell into this, and I was in love with the process, and I was in love with how the results were coming in my life. And I remember going to an event and a couple of females sitting across from me. And I began to speak about my experience with food or training or something. I was giving my two cents at some point. And literally they looked at each other and rolled their eyes like Oh, here she goes again. Yeah, and that's the kind of support that we don't have. And you got to be brave enough to go solo. You got to be brave enough to say fuck it. It doesn't matter that I don't have support. Because, again, in an environment like ours, you get the coaches, you get the people who are working out beside you. We've said before some of the dearest sweetest friends I've made. I do not see anywhere but in the gym. Yeah. And they are the people that are like, yeah, you go girl.

Coach Jo 28:59
Yeah, they just support you, everyone's working on their own shit in the gym. Yeah, ain’t that the truth. And you know, the last one would be, I have a medical condition. Yeah. Which again, is these last couple ones. They're fair. But when we talk about specifically metabolic syndrome, or polycystic ovarian syndrome, or type two diabetes. Yeah, like a lot of those type of conditions are why you need to come to the gym. The gym is your answer to help support and hopefully down the line, eliminate.

Coach Kim 29:33
Yeah, so even some of the when we look at you know, I've seen recently, you know, where people in podcasts, you know, there's those who are advocating for this specific topic. It muscle mass, health, longevity, lifespan, quality of life, metabolic health. They're all saying the same thing which even like the biggest dial movers, you would be shocked at how even adding regular walking into your life will extend your lifespan. Cardio metabolic health, like so much simple, it doesn't have to be hard. People want complicated, you know, like, I have to fix my gut health first before I can fix my metabolic health or, you know, I've got all these hormonal problems or I have to, you know, I have to do it all perfectly somehow. And so I can't possibly get started. People want to think it's complicated. When really truly, if you sister or brother just focused on the basics, I lift heavy things a few times a week, I sleep like the dead and I work at that, I walk more often, I choose whole food over, you know, processed food as often as possible. I drink a little bit more water over drinking something that has calories in it or high fructose corn syrup, or alcohol, and I was consistent at those things, your life would fucking change.

Coach Jo 30:52
Yeah, it would completely change.

Coach Kim 30:59
So as we wrap up this episode of Perfectly Unfinished Conversations, let's go back to that idea about your 75 year old self giving you advice today, if your 75 year old self could make an appearance here, what would they say to you, Jo?

Coach Jo 31:21
My 75-year-old self would say to me that girlfriend, you need to do some more Yoga. You need to calm the fuck down. And you need and yoga was so hard for me to mentally stay in it. That's why I was trying to do meditation over the last year. But it is a tough thing to be still to breathe and be one with my thoughts because my thoughts are racing 24/7 and I know I need to slow that down and quit being busy at all the little things. I don't need to pace around my house and move this item because it belongs there and pace and that item goes here and just be busy for the wrong reasons. I need to just chill out.

Coach Kim 31:58
And you know, back to the you need to do some yoga. It's not only about your because you've said this to me before I laugh because we've had this conversation. And you are already an athlete, you've got great cardio health, you've got great strength, you've got great consistency built up in your training. But this is where, like, that Triple Threat idea where what you really need is to stretch it out and to allow your body to decompress.

Coach Jo 32:27
Yeah, exactly. And what would you say your Sophie Kim?

Coach Kim 32:32
Well, probably my 75-year-old self and her wisdom and her compassion would probably say, Sister, why don't you just relax a little bit? She'd probably say, she'd probably say, well, she'd say a couple of things. She'd say maybe you should just relax a little bit, but I think she'd also say thank you. Like I think she's out there calling me on saying yes, we made you change your hooking me up.

Coach Jo 33:01
Yeah, totally. Yeah, hype girl. Yeah, don't let excuses hold you back guys. You got to do the work and you got to think of your muscles as metabolic money. Investing in them. Now today pays off with a healthier, happy future.

Coach Kim 33:20
And the basics are simple. They're not easy, but they're simple. lift something heavy. get good sleep, walk regularly, eat whole foods, stay hydrated, and be consistent. And by keeping it simple and doing the work you're investing in your future self. If everything we've done up to today has built who you are right now in this moment. Everything that you do from this day forward creates you three months from now. A year from now. A decade down the road. It is baby steps. There is no six weeks to better metabolic health. I mean there is, but…

Coach Jo 33:56
At six weeks, you’d just be getting started.

Coach Kim 33:01
Yeah, there's no six weeks to six-pack abs, right? Like you're being consistent because everything that you do, aka right or well or consistently, is building you in the future.

Coach Jo 34:13
So don't forget to subscribe to Perfectly Unfinished Conversations on Spotify or Apple podcasts to stay connected and continually inspired.

Coach Kim 34:20
Yeah and for for personalized guidance. Remember that we do remote work. We coach virtually with individuals like you every day, helping to improve your metabolic health and your strength and your quality of life. So visit our website at ironlablacombe.com/metabolic-blueprint to learn more about how we can support you on the path to a stronger, healthier future you. Thanks for being here. Bye.

Coach Jo 34:23

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 34:38

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 34:46

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

Coach Kim 34:53

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

Coach Jo 35:03

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

Coach Kim 35:09

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 35:27

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