Speaker 1: Welcome to Healthy Ish. Yes, you have tuned into the
Speaker 1: almost daily podcast from Body and Soul. I'm your host
Speaker 1: of Felicity Halle now model Laura Dundavic. Well, she's been
Speaker 1: around for a while. Gosh, that makes her sound old.
Speaker 1: She is not. But you've probably come across her and
Speaker 1: perhaps you follow her on social media and damn that
Speaker 1: girl is strong. So I thought we needed to get
Speaker 1: her on the podcast to well pick up brains about
Speaker 1: how she approaches fitness and her strength training. Laura is,
Speaker 1: of course a certified personal trainer, nutrition coach, and she
Speaker 1: has studied a Bachelor of Science in psychology. She knows
Speaker 1: her stuff. She joins us today to share how she
Speaker 1: approaches fitness and strength. Now make sure you're listening to
Speaker 1: extra Healthyish as well, because she talks about how Hashimoto's
Speaker 1: disease has upended her life in the past couple of years.
Speaker 1: You can catch that reveget your podcasts. Laurah. Nice to
Speaker 1: have you back on the podcast. Nice to be back
Speaker 1: here a while. Do you know we did the last
Speaker 1: one when when we were in COVID Wow. Yes, So
Speaker 1: it's nice to have you in the studio.
Speaker 2: Yes, to be face to face finally.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we have known each other for a few years,
Speaker 1: but we so it's nice to see you again too.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about your fitness. I mean, you are one
Speaker 1: of the strongest people on my Instagram feet. I like
Speaker 1: to hear that, and perhaps I am a bit envious.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about how you approach well, not
Speaker 1: just fitness but strength training.
Speaker 2: So for me, it's never about I don't train for esthetics.
Speaker 2: I trained for longevity, and so I think I was
Speaker 2: quite blessed growing up to have two very fit parents.
Speaker 2: They're in their sixties now and they run seven kilometers
Speaker 2: every day. You'll see them going through Sydney Harbor.
Speaker 1: Amazing.
Speaker 2: They're amazing. And I also had a next door neighbor
Speaker 2: growing up, and he was probably in his late seventies
Speaker 2: and he still used to sail and get out on
Speaker 2: his boat. And I realized that during that period of
Speaker 2: probably your late fifties onwards, there's a big difference in
Speaker 2: the activity that people can do. And there's people who
Speaker 2: I know will say I'm getting married overseas, but my
Speaker 2: grandparents can't come. Then there's other people whose grandparents are going.
Speaker 2: And I always I'm such a go getter if you
Speaker 2: know me, I get the biggest fomo. I want to
Speaker 2: be doing everything and I want to do as much
Speaker 2: as I can for as long as I can. So
Speaker 2: I think earlier on I never had any upper body strength,
Speaker 2: and I sort of used to let that define me.
Speaker 2: I'd be like, I can't do push ups, I don't
Speaker 2: have upper body strength, and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: one day I thought, why do I not have upper
Speaker 2: body strength? And I started training that. And so for me,
Speaker 2: it's about things like being able to carry heavy groceries,
Speaker 2: being able to, you know, walk all day while I'm
Speaker 2: overseas and not get tired, and that's kind of what
Speaker 2: I do. And I think the aesthetic part obviously comes
Speaker 2: with that, but it's about just having my whole body
Speaker 2: being strong, not just one area.
Speaker 1: Do you feel strong?
Speaker 2: I do feel strong, yeah, And I'm doing things that
Speaker 2: I could never do. Like years ago, my train array,
Speaker 2: I was like, I can't do a pull up and
Speaker 2: he's like, oh well, why don't we work on that?
Speaker 2: And things like that I never thought i'd be able to.
Speaker 2: And then even doing boxing and just having that full
Speaker 2: body workout, I just feel a lot more, I guess
Speaker 2: balanced than I was before.
Speaker 1: This a new approach for you, the longevity thing.
Speaker 2: I've actually been like.
Speaker 1: This for a long time.
Speaker 2: I really treat.
Speaker 1: My body like a temple.
Speaker 2: And then, as I said, just seeing people around me
Speaker 2: and the difference in what they can do with their bodies,
Speaker 2: I was like, there's no reason if you start young
Speaker 2: and you look after yourself that you can't end up
Speaker 2: that way. So that's what I aim for now.
Speaker 1: Before we pressed play, you did tell me that your
Speaker 1: hit and that you should be doing lots of yoga.
Speaker 1: Talk to us about this whole conundrum.
Speaker 2: So I have an autoimmune disease and a genetic disorder,
Speaker 2: so high intensity is not supposedly my friend. I've also
Speaker 2: had I had glandela fever when I was sixteen and
Speaker 2: got chronic fatigue as a result of that. I personally
Speaker 2: feel better when I train Medically. I'm not supposed to
Speaker 2: train as probably as hard as to do, but I
Speaker 2: really enjoy and it's what gives me energy.
Speaker 1: What do you do? What's the hard? Look like?
Speaker 2: I love strength training like love love love, so heavyweights
Speaker 2: that's not too bad. But I also love my running.
Speaker 2: So I did half marathon a few months ago. I
Speaker 2: did one train full one last year and I broke
Speaker 2: my ankle.
Speaker 1: When you were training.
Speaker 2: Yes, so I likes I know, so that was the
Speaker 2: beginning of me finding out about my autoimmune But yeah,
Speaker 2: I broke my ankle. And then prior to that, I
Speaker 2: used to do marathons and triathlons and I'm sort of
Speaker 2: getting back into that. I just don't really have an
Speaker 2: off button. And then boxing is just to meet It
Speaker 2: doesn't even feel like training.
Speaker 1: I love it, So what is it like? What does
Speaker 1: your week look like?
Speaker 2: My big rule with training is that I don't train
Speaker 2: because I have to. I train because I can, and
Speaker 2: so it's never something.
Speaker 1: That I have to do.
Speaker 2: If I've got a really busy week and I can
Speaker 2: only make it to the gym two or three times,
Speaker 2: I don't feel bad about it. Just recently, I got
Speaker 2: knocked out with that stupid fl cold thing that everyone had, Yes,
Speaker 2: and I honestly had about four or five weeks off,
Speaker 2: And that's fine. You know, my body needed to recover.
Speaker 2: That was more important to me. But on an ideal
Speaker 2: week that I when I can. At the moment, my
Speaker 2: train array has a run program that I'm doing, and
Speaker 2: that's four runs a week and then I'm supplementing that
Speaker 2: with I use the base body Waves app and I'm
Speaker 2: doing three training days of that at the gym waits
Speaker 2: and then boxing whenever I can.
Speaker 1: So are you training for? Are you doing it aiming
Speaker 1: for another half marathon? Or are you just fine a marathon?
Speaker 1: Can we do a full?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Next? But again I just I enjoy it. It's
Speaker 2: a nice social thing. If my friends are doing something,
Speaker 2: I go, yeah, great, I'll do that.
Speaker 1: Now you are a certified PETE. Yes. When you got
Speaker 1: this qualification, I think it was a few years ago.
Speaker 1: Now was Yeah, did this change how you approached workouts
Speaker 1: or did it change your what you actually did?
Speaker 2: It changed my understanding of my body. So I started
Speaker 2: going to the gym when I was quite young. As
Speaker 2: I said, my mum was fit. I always looked up
Speaker 2: to her, and as soon as I was allowed in
Speaker 2: a gym, I was like, I'll do it with you.
Speaker 2: But as I once I got my qualification, I started
Speaker 2: learning about, you know, things like my mobility. I'm not
Speaker 2: very good at squatting. I have to raise my heels
Speaker 2: when I scored. I've got poor mobility. But then working
Speaker 2: out ways that I can strength that or other exercises
Speaker 2: that I can supplement, and so if I do, I
Speaker 2: like to work off a program just because it's easier
Speaker 2: for me and don't think about it. If I've got
Speaker 2: a program, I know how to make the changes that
Speaker 2: I need to make. If I turn up at a
Speaker 2: hotel and they've got three or four weights, I know
Speaker 2: how to do a full body workout off that and
Speaker 2: just having that understandings being great.
Speaker 1: So for people listening who aren't pts, how do you
Speaker 1: what do you recommend? Like if we do turn up
Speaker 1: to a hotel, I mean I'm probably that person where
Speaker 1: I'm like, Okay, what am I going to do? Where
Speaker 1: do I start? What's some give us some tips here?
Speaker 2: I think that anyone that's not a PT the consistency
Speaker 2: is key. And so some people get really overwhelmed in
Speaker 2: being like I have to do this program and I
Speaker 2: have to do this, and I have to do that,
Speaker 2: and rather than thinking that just moving every day, whether
Speaker 2: it be just a walk, is all you can manage
Speaker 2: today or whatnot, is the most important thing. So I
Speaker 2: think consistency is my number one thing and to make
Speaker 2: it something you enjoy. So if my friend, like the
Speaker 2: other week, my cousin was in town and she wanted
Speaker 2: to go for a walk and we ended up walking
Speaker 2: twenty five thousand steps. We did die and went and
Speaker 2: got lunch, and I didn't train that day. You know,
Speaker 2: I was supposed to go to the gym, but I'm like, oh,
Speaker 2: I've done my walk, that's my exercise for the day.
Speaker 2: And so I think probably that And then the other
Speaker 2: thing is just realizing that we all have our first
Speaker 2: time in a gym. I have a lot of friends
Speaker 2: that asked to go to the gym with me, and
Speaker 2: it makes me sad because I did it when I
Speaker 2: was young, but because they're embarrassed of walking up to
Speaker 2: a weight on their own, and especially being a woman,
Speaker 2: And I think not.
Speaker 1: Knowing what to do machine, like how do I pull
Speaker 1: those like levers down on that machine? How do I
Speaker 1: lose the weights?
Speaker 2: And I mean that's what I was saying. I used
Speaker 2: the base Body app and on that they've actually got
Speaker 2: videos of how you know to use each piece of equipment.
Speaker 2: So if you're stuck, you know, everyone's on their phone
Speaker 2: at the gym, pop up an app. Well, even you
Speaker 2: can google a movement and I know all different I
Speaker 2: know every movement you can do at the gym, but
Speaker 2: I google things sometimes to check that my technique is right,
Speaker 2: and I think that's the one thing as well. I
Speaker 2: would always put a technique over a heavier weight, So
Speaker 2: even starting with body weight, getting that correct, you'll get
Speaker 2: much better results than lifting a really heavy weight with
Speaker 2: poor technique.
Speaker 1: Now, just quickly before we go, you're a health coach
Speaker 1: as well, Yes, talk to us about the importance of
Speaker 1: nutrition for your fitness.
Speaker 2: Food is fuel. You'll never get good results without training hard.
Speaker 2: I think as women, we probably don't need as much
Speaker 2: protein as we should. So that's the one thing that
Speaker 2: I really focus on. And I would always say to
Speaker 2: you like, oh, yeah, like you know, I get plenty
Speaker 2: of protein. And it wasn't until I started tracking it.
Speaker 2: I don't track it every day, but I did it
Speaker 2: to understand because one thing with having autoimmune is that
Speaker 2: your body doesn't absorb anything. And the doctor kept saying
Speaker 2: to me, don't have enough protein, and I was like, well,
Speaker 2: I'm eating plenty. And then I started tracking it and
Speaker 2: I realize that, hey, like you know, yes, a piece
Speaker 2: of chicken might have say, thirty grams of protein in it,
Speaker 2: but you're supposed to be having, say around, you know,
Speaker 2: double your body weight or whatnot. That's not a whole
Speaker 2: day's worth. So I think just making sure that you're
Speaker 2: having adequate fuel for your training is so important. And
Speaker 2: if you're not fueling your body, you're not going to
Speaker 2: train hard.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, Laura, great to have you back on healthy, Yeah,
Speaker 1: back on what's your fitness ethos? Do you see it
Speaker 1: through the lens of longevity as well, or perhaps you
Speaker 1: see it through a bit of both longevity and whatever
Speaker 1: you do helps you, well, just be a bit of
Speaker 1: human and be better at life today. That's how I
Speaker 1: view it. Anyway. If you did enjoy this chat with Laura,
Speaker 1: tell us rate and review this episode, or of course
Speaker 1: subscribe to this podcast. Anything else, head to body andsoul
Speaker 1: dot com dot you for loos and socials, or of
Speaker 1: our print edition which is our your local Sunday paper.
Speaker 1: And until tomorrow, of course, stay healthy, deep,