The Vertue Podcast

I promise you will walk away from this episode feeling empowered to achieve your fitness goals, even while under financial pressure.

Gym memberships, expensive equipment and fitness subscriptions can make exercise feel financially out of reach. In this episode, we explore practical ways to build strength, improve fitness and stay consistent without spending a fortune.

"I don't have time to exercise."

It's one of the most common barriers to exercise, but is finding more time really the solution?

In the first episode of my Barriers to Exercise series, we explore the psychology of competing priorities, the gap between intentions and action, and what research on minimum effective doses of strength training tells us about doing less without giving up on progress.

Research referenced

Spiering, B. A., Mujika, I., Sharp, M. A., & Foulis, S. A. (2021). Maintaining physical performance: The minimal dose of exercise needed to preserve endurance and strength over time. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 35(5), 1449–1458.

https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000003964

Nuzzo, J. L., Pinto, M. D., Kirk, B. J. C., & Nosaka, K. (2024). Resistance exercise minimal dose strategies for increasing muscle strength in the general population: An overview. Sports Medicine, 54, 1139–1162.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-024-02009-0

We’re pretty good at deciding what we want. The harder part is working out why we want it, whether the goal actually belongs to us, and what we need to do today to move towards it.

In this episode, I break down my approach to values, goals, strategy and action, exploring the psychology of self-concordance, behavioural activation and motivation, and how I use this framework to create a realistic morning routine when life is already full.

I also introduce Weekly Friction, where this week I’m questioning when social media stops being work and starts becoming scrolling.

Research:

• Sheldon, K. M., & Elliot, A. J. (1999). Goal striving, need satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being: The Self-Concordance Model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(3), 482–497.
  DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.76.3.482
• Sezer, B., et al. (2025). Goal motives, goal-regulatory processes, psychological needs, and well-being: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Motivation Science, 11(3), 259–276.
  DOI: 10.1037/mot0000366

The reason misinformation, and disinformation (false information spread deliberately to deceive), travels so easily may be hiding in plain sight.

It hides in simplicity.

And it's amplified by the very algorithms that reward content that is easy to consume, easy to remember, and easy to share.

Yet despite how profoundly this shapes the way we think, most of us have never been taught the psychology behind it. Processing fluency is one of the most powerful cognitive phenomena you've probably never heard of, and given the speed at which information now spreads online, it's remarkable that it isn't common knowledge.

If you've ever wondered why misinformation spreads so easily, why simple answers are so seductive, or why the loudest voices often sound the most convincing, this episode is for you.

Because sometimes, the greatest trick our brain plays on us isn't believing a lie.

It's confusing easy to process with true.

This episode sits very close to my heart because I think most of us have an aunt, mum, uncle, friend, or someone we love who has been influenced by misinformation. Someone who has spent their hard-earned money, changed their health behaviours, or lived with unnecessary fear because something simply sounded convincing.

The truth is, none of us are immune to it. Understanding how our brains work isn't about becoming cynical. It's about becoming better equipped to recognise when we're mistaking something that feels easy to understand for something that's actually true.

Cardio has become unnecessarily confusing.

One expert tells you to walk. Another says Zone 2 is the key to longevity. Someone else insists HIIT is the fastest way to lose fat, while another warns it'll spike your cortisol and damage your hormones.

So... what should you actually do?

In this episode, we cut through the noise and build a simple framework for making better cardio decisions. Rather than asking, "Which type of cardio is best?" we explore a much more useful question: "What do I actually need cardio to do for me?"

We'll cover:

• Why walking, running, Zone 2 and HIIT aren't competing—they're different tools for different goals.
• The biggest myths surrounding fat loss, cortisol and the so-called "fat-burning zone."
• How cardiovascular training actually changes your body, and why becoming fitter is about building a more capable, efficient system, not just burning calories.
• How much cardio you really need for meaningful health benefits.
• Why consistency beats chasing the perfect workout every time.

If you've ever found yourself wondering whether you're doing the "right" type of cardio, this episode will help you stop second-guessing every workout and start making confident, evidence-based decisions.

If cardio has you in a chokehold because summer is around the corner, this episode is going to free you.

This episode was inspired by two DMs we receive constantly. The woman who’s already doing cardio most days and wondering if she should just do more. And the woman who’s been lifting consistently for months, getting stronger, but not feeling any leaner, and wondering if weights are actually overrated for fat loss.

If you’ve ever been either of those people, you’re in the right place.

We then unpack a 2026 study from Tel Aviv University published in Frontiers in Endocrinology (PMID: 41625248), 304 real people, real(ish) context, that makes the case for resistance training more clearly than almost anything else in the current literature. Including a finding about visceral fat that will completely reframe the way you think about belly fat.

The wellness industry doesn't need to make things up anymore.

They've got something more powerful, real studies, real journals, real credentials. And they know exactly how to use them to get you to open your wallet.

In this episode, I'm breaking down how it actually works. How a real study gets twisted into a claim it was never designed to support. How statistical significance gets mistaken for proof. How an animal study becomes "clinically backed." And why your doctor dismissing something that's genuinely helping people is its own kind of problem too.

I want to be clear, I'm not standing here as an authority. I'm in my honours year, learning how to read research properly in real time. But that's exactly why I made this episode. Because the more I learn, the more I see how easy it is to manipulate people who haven't been taught this stuff. And that's not your fault. Nobody teaches it.

By the end of this episode you'll know:

- Why "studies show" is one of the least meaningful phrases in wellness marketing.- The difference between a result that's statistically significant and one that actually matters.- What a control group is and why its absence should be a dealbreaker.- Five questions that will expose a bad claim in under two minutes.- Why academia is just as responsible for this mess as the people exploiting it.

Please send this on because this is a PROTECTIVE podcast, really important in this era of information AND manipulation.

You've packed your gym bag. You have every intention of going. And somehow ... you don't. Again.

If you've been blaming willpower or discipline, this episode is going to reframe that completely. Today I'm breaking down the science of why your feelings are running your training behaviour, and why that's actually good news.

We get into the Affect and Health Behavior Framework, a research model that maps out exactly how your emotional state influences whether you exercise or not, why the version of the gym session in your head is almost always worse than the reality, the genetic finding that explains why some people find movement easier than others; and it has nothing to do with character.

This one is for anyone who knows what they should be doing and can't figure out why they're not doing it.

Resources:

Stevens, C. J., Baldwin, A. S., Bryan, A. D., Conner, M., Rhodes, R. E., & Williams, D. M. (2020). Affective determinants of physical activity: A conceptual framework and narrative review. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 568331. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.568331

What should you actually do when you’re chronically sleep deprived?

If you’re a parent, shift worker, insomniac, or coach people who are, you’ve probably asked yourself whether training is helping or harming you.

In this episode, I dive into the research on acute and chronic sleep restriction and its effects on:

• Cognitive performance
• Strength and endurance
• Hormonal signalling (testosterone, AMPK, mTOR)
• Mood and perceived health
• Recovery and long-term adaptation

We examine a 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis of 45 experimental studies (from 18,127 initially identified papers) looking at sleep deprivation and performance. We unpack one of the longest chronic sleep restriction protocols to date (6 weeks of restricted weekday sleep with weekend “recovery”), and what that tells us about cumulative sleep debt.

We also explore:

• Why early waking may impair cognition differently than going to bed late
• Whether moderate aerobic exercise can offset some cognitive effects of sleep loss
• What experimental data show about testosterone under sleep restriction
• Why resistance training under chronic sleep deprivation may require adjustment
• The difference between narrative reviews and higher-quality meta-analytic evidence

Essentially, we look at how to train intelligently when sleep is broken, short, or unpredictable, and what the science can (and cannot) tell us right now.

Main Reference

Systematic Review & Performance Effects

• [2025 Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis on Sleep Deprivation and Performance – 45 Experimental Studies]

Chronic Sleep Restriction with Weekend Recovery

• Smith et al. (2021). Chronic sleep restriction during a 6-week protocol with weekend recovery and cumulative sleep debt analysis.

In this episode, I explore the bidirectional relationship between the pelvic floor and our psychological state. How stress, anxiety, grief, identity shifts, and prolonged effort can shape pelvic floor tone, and how pelvic floor tension can feed back into how safe and settled we feel in our bodies.

This is not an episode about blaming stress, over-psychologising symptoms, or replacing pelvic floor physiotherapy. It’s an invitation to widen the lens.

We’ll talk about:

• Why pelvic floor exercises don’t always “work”

• How anxiety and low mood can influence muscle tone and recovery (without pathologising)

• What research tells us about pelvic floor outcomes when psychological load is high

• My own postpartum experience of pelvic floor tension, sexual discomfort, constipation, and grief, and what I didn’t realise at the time

• A guided exercise for releasing tension and tightness in the PF.

  
  

If this episode resonates, let it be a prompt to think beyond physiology alone, to seek support, and to work with pelvic floor specialists who understand the whole picture, body, nervous system, and life context.

If you’re looking for a practical, anatomy-driven breakdown of the pelvic floor — without much psychology — this is an excellent companion episode to listen to alongside this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmlwtsJXrc0

A key paper discussed in this episode, exploring the relationship between pelvic floor dysfunction and symptoms of anxiety and depression, and how psychological state may shape response to pelvic floor physiotherapy:
https://doi.org/10.3109/01443615.2013.813913

Helen KeebleHelen’s work is thoughtful, evidence-based, and deeply respectful of the nervous system and lived experience.
https://helenkeeble.com/

Sydney Pelvic ClinicIf you’re based in Sydney, this team is exceptional. They are highly skilled, compassionate, and genuinely holistic in their approach.
https://www.sydneypelvicclinic.com.au/