In this week’s episode of Real Talk, I have the great pleasure and privilege of speaking with health coach Chris Cave from the UK.  Chris has a free event called the ‘Fit and Energised Parent’ which has become an annual event and I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak at his event.  This recording is from that event where we answer some of his audience members’ most burning questions.  What I love about this episode is that the questions we were asked as so very real and relatable from “How do you stay motivated to eat healthy and clean past Wednesday?” to “How do you lose the kilograms gained after Thanksgiving” we really had such a great spread of questions and topics which I know so many of you listening will be able to connect with and some of my answers may just surprise you for all of this behavioural change rarely has anything to do with your actions but much more so to do with how you see yourself. I won’t give too much away, you will have to listen to this killer episode and thank you again to Christ for having me.  Please connect with him using the following links provided and enjoy.

@chriscavehealthcoach

https://www.instagram.com/chriscavehealthcoach/

https://www.facebook.com/chris.cave.524/

In this week’s episode of Real Talk, I speak with my gal pal and fellow female PT Jade Andin to discuss, well, we discuss a lot!  I really wanted to get Jade’s insights on the industry given she has recently joined as a female trainer.  Having been on both sides of the industry - both as a client and now trainer, I thought it would make for a valuable conversation.  The topic I really wanted to cover was with regards to the role that personal trainers have in relation to their clients’ mental health especially when it comes to self esteem and body image. As the fitness scene becomes more robust in parts of the world such as Singapore, we start to identify what areas in which we can better serve our clients and collaborate with others to ensure our clients’ longevity in their training.  Unfortunately, we are not left from our PT certifications and degrees in exercise physiology with an understanding of nutrition and psychology too and our clients often turn to us for guidance on navigating body acceptance, embracing our appearance at all shapes and sizes, developing self appreciation amongst many other items.  How is it that a good PT can help you in all of this?  Jade and I strike up a conversation in how our approaches address the emotional needs of our clients by sharing the common and very real conversations we have with our clients.  I truly believe that the more you listen to a person, the more you can help them, not just through your listening but also by that person seeing and feeling heard.  In this industry, I cannot help but feel that all too often the approach is very ‘top down’ and paternalistic.  When you work with people and make it your priority to lead them towards making the best decision for themselves by empowering them to do so, you provide them with life long skills.  Sure, it can be nice to know that you need 90g of protein a day but HOW does someone do that when they operate on 5 hours of sleep, often have 10 back to back meetings a day, have a horrible boss and on top of clocking 60 hour work weeks, they keep a 3 year old alive and fed?  People need help developing skills rather than being told what to do.  In this day and age, information is not scare and thus is rarely the stumbling block.  People want and often need someone to be shown how to believe in themselves so that they can create that from an intrinsic place rather than trying to force themselves to appreciate their body and all that it can do.  As always, please be sure to connect with Jade on the following platforms and enjoy the pisode!

In this week’s podcast, I speak with my good friend and gal pal Sam Armstrong who is a dietician from my home town of Brisbane.  This episode feels way overdue.  The number of times I hear people complain that their metabolism has slowed down after turning 40 or after the birth of their second child, let’s just say if I had a dollar… Like with most aspects of life, it can be easy to outsource and shit the blame often without knowing or realising how much influence we can have on something.  I wanted to empower people and remind them that age impacts metabolism far less than they realise and that they do in fact have the power to influence their metabolism far more than they know.  Without giving away too much, there a several lifestyle factors that can influence and positive contribute to your metabolism irrespective of your age.  Think of metabolism like a muscle or any other bodily function or feature - you lose it if you don’t use it yeah.  Because mean people do not understand what metabolism is or how it works, they do not know how they can influence it; what can be helpful to know is that there is plenty that can be done to increase the rate of it though many people without realising are slowing down their metabolism.  As always, please connect with Sam using the social links provided and leet us know what your main takeaways are in the comments.

Website: www.peak-potential-nutrition.com.au

LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/in/sam-armstrong-dietitian

Instagram: Peak_Potential_Nutrition

Facebook: Peak Potential Nutrition - Sam Armstrong

Twitter: @teen_dietitian

Clubhouse: @saarmstrong

In this week’s episode of Real Talk, I have the great honour and privilege of speaking with Paralympic Gold Medalist Rowan Crothers.  My goodness, this was such a ‘pinch me’ moment!!! Without giving away too much (many golden gems in this episode), I have known Rowan for over 10 years now having had the pleasure of evening training him back in my home town Brisbane many moons ago.  Want to talk about inspiration and resilience?  You absolutely NEED to hear this episode.  There are so many amazing take aways about how you can turn pain into power through this conversation with Rowan and serves as a great reminder of what we are truly capable of when we apply ourselves at applying ourselves. To have been able to see Rowan reach the heights of his career even from a far has been completely amazing to say the least though to have insights on how he has got himself to where he is now is invaluable.  Please be inspired by just some of what he shares - there is plenty to learn about his journey to the gold medal he received, earned and won in Tokyo.  Connect and learn more about Rowan using the following links provided.

https://www.instagram.com/rowan.crothers/?hl=en

https://twitter.com/rowancrothers?lang=en

In this week’s episode of Real Talk, I have the great privilege of speaking with Subconscious Success Coach, Helena Day who helps busy corporates up level their lives by teaching them to tap into their power.

Choose, challenge, change and create - the 4Cs that I’m going to take away from this conversation and a powerful reminder of the responsibility you have to creating a better life for yourself, a life that you want to live and a life that gets you excited to wake up each day.  They say comparison is the thief of joy and I have found that it is possible to feel joyous in many more moments where my focus is acceptance and as Helena points out, a contributing factor of this is leaning into gratitude.  Gratitude towards ourselves and for ourselves not just in our best moments, not just when we are receiving accolades and praise but during our worst moments too - ‘Warts and all’ as she says.  How can you see yourself as being perfectly imperfect in as many moments as possible?  I truly belief that this is key in creating happiness and moving the needle on health and fitness goals which currently sees people get ‘stuck’ time and time again.  It’s easy to default to comparison - what you once weighed, what you once lifted, how you once looked.  Chances are, that focus of the past is keeping you from creating progress right here and now and thus, creating a stressful picture for your future.

https://helenaday.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenaday

In this week’s episode with coach and personal trainer Evan Button whom I recorded the first ever episode of this podcast with (check out episode 1 on Epic Goal Setting).  With the ever changing social distancing landscape here in Singapore, I was inspired to reach out to him after seeing a post he created on Instagram mentioning that now is the perfect time to start working towards your health and fitness goals, or for those who have already begun, it’s a great time to continue.  Through this episode, we highlight the importance of perspective and how different perspectives allow for different behaviours to follow.  We often fail to realise that our behaviours map to our beliefs (by and large about ourselves) and those beliefs map to our self identity - something we can be resistant to working on and unpacking.  Though one of the most important aspects of my health I have worked on - my belief system and self identity, it can be incredibly challenging to do alone not to mention confronting and, at times, painful.  We give power to what we believe in and if we believe such statements at: “I’m lazy; I’ll always be overweight, I have no work ethic or discipline” etc then we will act accordingly.  How to change?  Start by CHALLENGING those statements.  If you find yourself constantly saying that you’re short on time, ask yourself “Why am I always short on time; what beliefs do I hold about time?”   It’s one thing to hold a belief, it’s another to question it.  When we question our beliefs, we invite room for shifts to occur surrounding those beliefs.  That’s where a tonne of power lies and the potential to shift our own self identity and perception. I so admire how Evan works with his clients in challenging their perspectives and by offering them alternative perspectives.  That acts as a portal not only to reaching new heights in heath and fitness but to life in general and that is why wee exist - to help people level up in more ways than one.  When our belief systems change, we achieve things we never knew or thought to be possible. Please connect with Evan using the following links and let us know what your main take away from the episode was: https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/epic-goal-setting-with-evan-button/id1552691534?i=1000508175869

In this episode of Real Talk, I speak with evidence based weight loss specialist Ruby Cherie who helps women become strong, sculpted and confident being in the skin that they are in. It seemed inevitable that Ruby and I would connect for a podcast recording having been following each other for some time, I noticed that we have very similar ethos and approach to our work. What I love about Ruby and the way she works with her clients is the fact that she delves deep to understand the core of each goal of every client.  She really goes above and beyond to understand what makes her clients tick and the WHY behind the reason for setting the goal in the first place.  it can be easy to have a goal of getting ‘Fit and toned’ but what the fuck does that actually mean?  It is easy to want to be 10kg lighter without putting any thought into WHY that carries any significance.  What exactly will losing 10kg allow you to do that you currently are not able to do?  What will losing 10kg mean for your life?  What impact will being 10kg less have on your quality of life, life expectancy and current day to day?  Chances are, the better you are able to answer those questions and connect with the reasons why you set your goals, the greater chance you stand at seeing them come to fruition. Something that really stood out to me and will stick with me for a while longer is that Ruby pointed out how in getting caught up in setting goals and being on a constant push for more, we often overlook how important and significant maintenance is - a thought I keep revisiting.  How many of us take the time to celebrate or appreciate what we are able to do day in and day out for ourselves?  How many of us have been drinking 3 litres of water a day and getting at least 6 hours of sleep and taken the time to thank ourselves for that?  It highlights to me how much more there is to celebrate and appreciate.  It can be easy for us to beat ourselves up for not having lost 10kg yesterday whilst overlooking all that we are doing will form the building blocks of seeing those 10kg eventually be lost.  So many powerful moments from this conversation and great reiterations to myself and those listening.  Super grateful to Ruby for her time and sharing her observations.  No doubt the first of many to follow.  Please be sure to connect with Ruby using the following and leave your comments below.

https://linktr.ee/rubycherie.coachingspecialist

Oh my goodness this was such a fun podcast to record.  In this episode, I am with my gal pal and Superstar Laura Holmes who has transformed beyond belief.  Now, we could get into the physical side of her transformation but I really want to hold off on that and take the time to highlight her mental and emotional transformation because that is the part that is truly inspiring and for me, the most impressive.  

This gal came to me barely 14 weeks prior to this recording and my goodness, what an evolved version of herself she has become.  I can recall how shy and nervous she looked when I first met her in the gym - so much so that I gave her a hug.  Today, she walks in like she owns the place (and she totally does!) There has been such a leap in her self-belief and attitude towards life that she almost seems like a new person entirely.  In fact, thinking back to who she was when I first met her, she hardly seems recognizable in her energy and approach to life. Today, not only is she 10kg lighter but also lighter in her energy and headspace - that is what I wanted to capture in this episode and in this podcast.  All too often I feel we pursue the physical transformation whilst completely overlooking what we need to unlock mentally.  When we have mental breakthroughs, our relationship with ourselves changes and that allows us to do a better job at looking after ourselves.  What a privilege and pleasure to be training Laura and to know her in the first place.  For sure this is only just the beginning of a very special bond and a small chapter in a very long road ahead.  What an amazing gal and I am ever so proud!

In this episode of Real Talk, I have the great pleasure of speaking with subconscious success coach Helena Day who specializes in helping busy working professionals to unapologetically pursue the life of their dreams by identifying the blockages that stand in their way of seeing that life come to fruition.  I was initially connected to Helena by Superstar ✨ Lauren Gibson who appears in another episode of Real Talk.  The work that Lauren has done with Helena is transformational to say the least and I loved hearing about how great an impact that Helena had had on Lauren that it was inevitable we would have to meet in person and that we did. Though the recent emergence of Covid has seen the world change drastically, we often overlook our internal world and the impact that plays on how we respond to external events and experiences.  I truly believe that having a strong and clear headspace allows us to handle life challenges with a far greater sense of ease and inner peace.  In this episode, we discuss some of the changes busy working professionals are experiencing as a result of the pandemic and how we can navigate the myriad situations and circumstances that presents. I truly believe that your mind and body are the two things you have with you from your first breath until your last and you owe it to yourself to cherish and continue to work on both.  The work that Helena does cannot be appreciated enough and I know this is the first of many conversations to follow.  Please be sure to connect with her with the following:

https://helenaday.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenaday

This was in fact recorded some time ago - during the OG circuit breaker of Singapore.  That was a fun time wasn’t it?!  At least we survived. One of the ways I kept myself occupied during this time was to start podcasting - many of those episodes are yet to be released. Super awesome speaking with Jade which could have in fact been the first of many Zoom calls during circuit breaker.  It was extremely revealing to unpack her goals and the reason why she set the goals that she had set in the first place - such a common occurrence and a great reminder for us all to re-assess and re-evaluate our reasons for setting out goals in the first place. It is easy to get caught up in life and to keep chasing the same old goals we set 6-24 months ago, actually, even 5+ years ago and we feel that we need to keep on chasing and chasing so that we can get the ‘satisfaction’ of achieving that goal without realising how much we punish ourselves for not having reached that goal when we first set it.  How often do we stop to ask ourselves ‘WHY’ did we set that goal in the first place?  For what purpose, for what reason, for what motivation and for so much unhappiness in return?  Makes little to no sense does it?  Super grateful for Jade for sharing her personal insights and for being vulnerable.  So much we can all learn and take-away from her goal assessing and insights. Please be sure to check out her meal prep company Feast with JJ too: https://www.feastwithjj.com.sg nstagram: feast_with_jj