Sparta Chicks Radio: Mindset | Confidence | Sport | Women

Sarah Davis is a professional risk manager with a passion for risk-taking.

And she’s back for her 4th visit to Sparta Chicks Radio!

In 2019, Sarah became the first woman to lead an expedition along the length of the Nile (and joined me on episodes 34 and 134 to share that story).

Then in February, 2021 (episode 155) she returned to share details of her next epic adventure, in which she planned to swap her paddles for pedals and ride (with her friend Tara Lal) 5,000km unsupported across Australia for charity.

She’s back today to share how the epic adventure unfolded!

This week on the podcast I am joined by Strongwoman competitor, Leigh Holland-Keen. 

As the name suggests, Leigh competes in what traditionally would be called Strongman competitions. 

How strong is Leigh? 

Well, in 2018 Leigh became the first woman in history to be awarded a clean lift of the Dinnie Stones.

They are two legendary stones located in Scotland that less than 100 men have lifted in history.

They weigh a combined total of (are you sitting down?) 332kg. That’s 733lbs!

Yes, you read that correctly —332kg 

Leigh was introduced to Strongman competitions by her step-father and was encouraged and inspired to compete by her mum. 

Leigh’s mum was a pioneer of the sport of Strongwoman in Australia and found her strength through the sport after an abusive relationship in her younger years left her with profound PTSD.

Leigh is one of four women featured in a documentary released in 2021 on ABC iView appropriately called “Strong Women”. You can find that series here. 

Kelli Jackson was first on the podcast in 2019. In that conversation, she shared how she transformed herself from (and I quote) an “unassuming middle age, overweight, unfit accountant who smoked” and who couldn’t ride a unicycle into an athlete and adventurer who planned to ride a unicycle around the world! 

This time, Kelli returned to share her most recent adventure - becoming the first Westerner to ride a unicycle inside North Korea!

I have never met or spoken with someone who has been to North Korea so I was very excited to hear about it. 

This week on Sparta Chicks Radio you’ll meet Ally Orr. 

Ally brings a unique perspective to the podcast; she is both a competitive Jiu-Jitsu player and an Exercise and Sports Scientist.

A talented musician growing up in regional NSW, Ally moved to Sydney at 16 to attend music school. 

Not long after, her then-boyfriend introduced her to strength training and weight lifting - and the rest, as they say, is history.

She then found the sport of Judo before moving onto Jiu-Jitsu and has won (amongst other things) the lightweight Pan Pacific Championship and in 2021, she became  Australian Champion in the 60kg division. 

At about the same time she discovered her love of combat sports, Ally transferred her studies from music to Exercise and Sports Science.

In this conversation Ally and I discuss:

* how she transitioned from studying music to exercise and sport science,

* where her love of exercise and movement came from (given that she wasn’t an active or sporty kid)

* what she loves about the sport of Jiu-Jitsu and the common misconceptions about it,

* the personal power that grows in women when they are physically strong,

* how she manages the fear of being physically hurt

* the female athlete triad and why it’s common in combat sports

* the impact of needing to ‘cut weight’ to compete in your weight division and the impact of that on body image and mental health,

* whether you can maintain a healthy body image in a sport that requires you to cut or reduce your weight,

* the 3 biggest misconceptions she hears that undermine women’s health and performance, and

* how to find ways to incorporate recovery into your busy life.

Kathryn Bertine is an author, athlete, activist and filmmaker and you’ll meet her on Sparta Chicks Radio this week. 

In 2006, Kathryn was a journalist who had been racing as a professional triathlete, when a journalism assignment with ESPN changed the trajectory of her life. 

The task: to be a guinea pig and see if she could qualify for the Olympic Games in a sport within 18 months. And she chose the sport of road cycling. 

Now, a spoiler alert: she didn’t make the team - but as she writes in Stand, “something wild happened”. She “almost” did. And the “almost” changed her.

“[I]t is not the victories or losses that define our paths in life but the Wonder and What Ifs that lie between”

Not only did she come to fall in love with road cycling during the ESPN assignment, but she also became aware and started to question the inequities she could see in the sport. 

So she set 3 goals - to become a professional cyclist, to get women into the Tour de France and to quiet the demons of worthlessness in her head.

She shares the stories of this — and much more in her compelling new memoir, Stand: A memoir on activism. A manual for progress. What really happens when we stand on the front lines of change. 

Josie Askin is a New Zealand based runner and Holistic Wellness Coach who grew up watching her Dad compete in running events.

As she tells the story in this conversation, she was a chubby kid who was teased about her weight so she started running during her teenage years to lose weight.

Unfortunately, she soon found herself in a cycle of overtraining, under-recovery & under-eating for about 9 years which culminated in her experiencing the female athlete triad (as it was referred to then, which is a combination of disordered eating, amenorrhea and osteoporosis or low bone density) and ultimately a stress fracture in her hip.

These days, the concept of the female athlete triad has been replaced by RED-S (relative deficiency in sport) - Josie will explain the difference in this conversation.

In this conversation, she shares: 

* how she approached her running and recovery (and how the goal of wanting to lose weight influenced that)

* the symptoms and red flags of RED-S and the surprising statistics about how common RED-S is,

* the confronting reality of recovering from RED-S (especially when you’ve associated food with gaining weight)

* how she felt shame and regret about her story and what’s prompted her to speak openly about it now

* how she’s come to see her experience as a strength, not a weakness

* the similarities between RED-S and burnout, and

* her awareness of her tendency towards perfectionism and how it has impacted her life (including RED-S and burnout).

Neanne Alnafta doesn’t like labels. But it is hard to introduce someone without them. 

So for this moment, I will share that she is a proud Muslim woman, a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney, an ocean swimmer and a volunteer surf lifesaver.

She is also someone who is (and I quote) “freakishly scared” of the ocean.

I came across Neanne’s story after reading an article about an organisation called ‘Swim Sisters’, an all-female swimming squad that empowers women, especially those from Islamic backgrounds, to feel more confident and comfortable in the ocean.

You may know Swim Sisters by its former name - Burkini Babes, a group launched in France in 2016 by a group of women who were banned from wearing burkinis on the beach.

In this conversation, Neanne and I discuss:

- her love of soccer growing up,

- why she felt like swimming and beach life weren’t for her after she started wearing the hijab, 

- the power and importance of representation,

- what prompted her to become involved in ocean swimming and then surf lifesaving (despite being “freakishly” scared of the ocean), 

- the healing impact of ocean swimming on mental health,

- why fear is not a bad thing.

Growing up exercise was a source of shame and embarrassment for Brooke Nolan. 

It was only in her late 20s that she discovered a love of outdoor adventure.

Fast forward a few years and in March 2020, Brooke found herself on the first all-female team to cross the Finnmark Plateau, which is an ice plateau in Arctic Norway.

The crossing was a journey of 250km 14 days that required the team to drag sleds weighing up to 50kgs up to 20km each day in temperatures as cold as -30.

Oh, did I mention? Before committing to this expedition, Brooke had never seen snow before, and certainly didn’t know how to ski!

Now we could have spent the entire episode talking about the expedition, but as I said, this was March 2020 and Brooke and her team were off the grid for 14 days.

When they left, Covid-19 was a blip on the radar.

By the time they returned, it had become a pandemic, borders were closing and it was a race to the airport to try and get a flight home, which ultimately took her over 4 months. 

Jamie Mittelman is the host of my new favourite podcast - Flame Bearers: The Women Athletes Carrying Tokyo's Torch.  The podcast celebrates the journeys of unsung women Olympians & Paralympians.

And she joins me on Sparta Chicks Radio this week!

We discuss: 

- the role sport and outdoor activities played in her family growing up,

- sport as a mental health tool, 

- her struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) particularly during College and how it affected her love of soccer, 

- where the idea for the podcast came from and why it’s so important,

- the episodes that have left a lasting impression on her,

- some of the common lessons or themes her guests have shared, and

- why she feels “athletically unqualified” to host the podcast and her experience with the Imposter Complex.

Based in Boulder, Colorado Erin is the head coach for EC Fit. Her clients include the dynamic duo of Mirinda Carfrae (3 x Ironman World Champion) and  Tim O’Donnell (fastest American ever at Kona). Aside from the World Champions she coaches, Erin also coaches everyday people - like me! 

She’s a visionary who is changing what it means to be a strong athlete and the best strength training for endurance athletes. 

In this conversation we discuss:

* her career as a basketball player, including playing professionally in Europe, 

* how her love of strength training started from a need to become stronger for basketball,

* her transition into strength training endurance athletes,

* why addressing hormonal responses and creating more energy (rather than strength or speed) is at the heart of her philosophy, 

* why strength training for performance is about how well you can move, not how much you can lift,

* the importance of rest and recovery and the easiest way to incorporate it into your busy schedule (essentially, forget all the tech; just do things that you find relaxing or that calm you down - which is *not* spending time on social media),

* that she has the opposite of the Imposter Complex and why she’s thought that she’s “good enough” since the 5th grade,

* why you can come last and still be victorious, 

* how she came to meet Dr Stacy Sims and how they came to collaborate on a strength program for women,

* how her philosophy and approach to strength training has changed after learning from Dr Sims, and

* her experience through peri-menopause and menopause as an athlete in her 50s.