“You are an athlete if you have a body.” Kaisa, the co-founder of Just Move, spills the truths about movement, recovery, and how it all relates to finding your truth and freedom within the body. Kaisa goes way back to middle school and high school, sharing her journey with navigating body confidence, fitting in, and athletic ability as an adolescent. She shares how she overcame obstacles with body image issues and how she currently strives to look beyond aesthetics and towards performance. She gets vulnerable, sharing her story with injuries, and how it helped her reconnect, respect her body, train smarter, and recover harder. Furthermore, Kaisa shares her perspective on the body positivity movement and how she manages the discrepancy between her athleticism and her approach to beginners as a coach. Kaisa shares her insights on truly coaching at a “starting level,” a concept lost in the world of fitness, how the fitness world needs to change its priorities, and what it means to “just move,” touching base on fun, inclusive, and variety in movement. Finally, she discusses the importance of recovery, how to understand what type of recovery you need, her interests in dance, and how she uses movement as a tool to show up for herself, stay consistent, be real with herself, and comprehend that work-fun balance we all strive for. Learn how just starting to move can change the game for you!

PaleoValley Discount:

As DocJen & Dr. Dom are on the move, exploring America, they turn to PalleoValley to satiate them with their nutritious 100% grass-fed beef jerky and protein bars. Free yourself from that sugar crash and feel safe knowing you have a snack you can trust, all with natural ingredients you know and understand, in your household. Get powerhouse ingredients and nutrients without the extra additives and preservatives. Get 15% OFF your next purchase with PalleoVallley at checkout, using ‘OPTIMAL’.

What You Will Learn in this Interview with Kaisa Keranen:

3:05 - How Kaisa found freedom in her body

10:08 - Kaisa’s post on Body Positivity vs Toxic Positivity

13:45 - How Kaisa’s injuries got her to look past the physical

17:23 - How does Kaisa approach beginners

24:04  - Defining ‘starting level’ & how the fitness world needs a new awakening

27:00 - Fun & inclusive movement, mobility, and meeting people where they’re at

29:34 - Variety in Kaisa’s program

30:45 - Kaisa’s recovery & mobility

33:50 - How do you know what type of recovery you need

38:44 - The importance of knowing who you are & setting yourself up for success

40:20 - Consistency & being real with yourself

42:42 - How Kaisa navigates work and fun

45:57 - How movement is a tool to reconnect

49:30 - Go check out “Just Move”

To learn more about Kaisa and view full show notes, please visit the full website here: https://jen.health/podcast/153

Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Optimal Body Podcast. If you haven’t done so already, please take a minute to subscribe and leave a quick rating and review of the show!