Speaker 1: Hi, and welcome back to Bounce Forward with me, tiff Haul.
Speaker 1: I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
Speaker 1: on which I'm recording this podcast, the wrendry people of
Speaker 1: the cooler Nation. I pay my respects for elders past
Speaker 1: and present. Nicole reached out. I have an eight month
Speaker 1: old and she's in a sleep regression as well as
Speaker 1: teething like crazy. I haven't slept properly in months, and
Speaker 1: it's starting to take its toll. I know it's just
Speaker 1: a season, and soon she will be older and sleeping
Speaker 1: better and I can get back to lifestyle that I love.
Speaker 1: But for now, what is the most important aspects? I
Speaker 1: should be focusing on clean eating, just reaching my water,
Speaker 1: golf for the day at least, something like getting a
Speaker 1: walk in. Sometimes even these are a challenge. What are
Speaker 1: the best exercises to stick to when you're feeling sleep deprived?
Speaker 2: Oh, Nicole, I feel you.
Speaker 1: Every mom out there is feeling you right now, you know,
Speaker 1: And I've been through horrendous moments with my key.
Speaker 2: It's teething sicknesses.
Speaker 1: Just blatantly I'm not going to sleep, mum and standing
Speaker 1: up in my cot you know, and you're watching them
Speaker 1: on the monosor going, oh my goodness, go to sleep,
Speaker 1: and they just won't. It's highly frustrating and it's very fatiguing.
Speaker 1: Now I'm a big believer. My personal motto is something
Speaker 1: comes from something, but nothing comes from nothing. So I
Speaker 1: really like to rely on exercise snacking rather than doing
Speaker 1: structured exercise when I'm fatigued. And this is really really
Speaker 1: important when you sleep deprived. It's important to lower the
Speaker 1: intensity so you don't want to be at risk of
Speaker 1: injury or overstressing your body which is already under so
Speaker 1: much strain from sleep deprivation. So best types of exercise
Speaker 1: when you're sleep deprived really it's whatever you can do,
Speaker 1: whatever you feel like you have the energy to cope with.
Speaker 1: I like to keep it light, light, aerobic activity, walking
Speaker 1: really slow, jog really cycling, it in easy pace, or
Speaker 1: swimming because it boost circulation, releases those endorphins, which boosts
Speaker 1: mood when you're sleep deprived, and it improves energy and
Speaker 1: mood without overtaxing your body. Right stretching or yoga. Big
Speaker 1: fan of this as an exercise snack. Child's pose cat
Speaker 1: cow forward folds feel beautiful when you're sleep deprived, and
Speaker 1: it reduces that muscle tension, promotes relaxation, and it helps
Speaker 1: you reset your nervous system. So I always like to
Speaker 1: think about exercise when I'm sleep deprived, and it still
Speaker 1: happens at minus seven and two as not exercise but
Speaker 1: regulating nervous system. I'm not burning calories, I'm regulating my
Speaker 1: nervous system. And the more you regulate your nervous system,
Speaker 1: the more that you're able to then get a good
Speaker 1: night's sleep when you can.
Speaker 2: Okay. So then you've got body.
Speaker 1: Weight exercises like push up, squats, lunges in the lounge room,
Speaker 1: train with my TXO, select a ten minute express workout
Speaker 1: and just do ten minute and it's press play. Let
Speaker 1: the trainer tell you what you need to do and
Speaker 1: take your mind off what am I going to do?
Speaker 2: How many push ups, how many reps? How many sets?
Speaker 1: Take that stress out of it and do a home
Speaker 1: workout maintains that activity level without the heavy weights, okay,
Speaker 1: and then low intensity strength training. If you want to
Speaker 1: get out of the house because you've had a bad night,
Speaker 1: just go and do some light weights that aren't going
Speaker 1: to stress your nervous system. You want to avoid high
Speaker 1: intensity workouts you hit training, for example, because they're going
Speaker 1: to increase your cortersole levels and strain your body further.
Speaker 1: You want to really reduce your loads with heavy lifting
Speaker 1: because again poor focus, lack of coordination, because you haven't slept,
Speaker 1: you're likely to injure yourself.
Speaker 2: And I've injured myself multiple times.
Speaker 1: I fell over doing a step up holding some weights
Speaker 1: when I was sleep deprived and I had to have
Speaker 1: a risk reconstruction, and I just fell backwards.
Speaker 2: It was just a wobble in coordination.
Speaker 1: But because I was sleep deprived and I just had VADA,
Speaker 1: that led to another surgery. And then you want to
Speaker 1: really minimize prolonged and very intense cardio because this leads
Speaker 1: to just over exhaustion and already fatigued system like nervous system,
Speaker 1: it's just going to great. So you really want to
Speaker 1: listen to your body at this time. If you're feeling
Speaker 1: dizzy mentally foggy, it's also okay to wave the white flag.
Speaker 2: And do nothing, have a rest day. You don't need
Speaker 2: to exercise.
Speaker 1: Sleep deprivation is clinically proven to dehydrate you, so you
Speaker 1: want to make sure that you're drinking a lot of
Speaker 1: water before and after exercise, and even on those days
Speaker 1: when you don't do any exercise but you are sleep deprived,
Speaker 1: keep the session short, twenty minutes max right, and then
Speaker 1: just focus on movement quality over the quantities. So make
Speaker 1: sure that your form is good, that you're doing something
Speaker 1: that is not intense, and that you're feeling really good
Speaker 1: about the technique so there's no injury. I'm a big
Speaker 1: believer in exercise snack, So ten minutes, twenty minutes, it
Speaker 1: all counts to really boost your endorphins. It's so important,
Speaker 1: and you can then feel more resilient to deal with
Speaker 1: the next night that's going to come up, because there
Speaker 1: are no days off as a parent, and I think
Speaker 1: that realization hit me like a ton of bricks when
Speaker 1: I had arnold. There are no days off, there are
Speaker 1: no recovery days, there are no reset days, there's no
Speaker 1: sleeping in, there's no catching up, and so you have
Speaker 1: to then make your schedule have what I call green
Speaker 1: time where there is recovery and relaxation time built in
Speaker 1: around the red time, which is the stress time, and
Speaker 1: that stress time at nights, if you're having a red
Speaker 1: night where there's no sleep and you're highly stressed from work,
Speaker 1: then you need to make sure that your morning isn't
Speaker 1: having a red training session that's intense. You need something green,
Speaker 1: like a yoga session or stretching session, or just nothing
Speaker 1: at all.
Speaker 2: Nicole, It's really, really, really tough.
Speaker 1: But the good thing is as they get older, it
Speaker 1: does get easier. The sleepless nights do happen, but they
Speaker 1: only happen on occasion when they're sick or when they
Speaker 1: have a bad dream. And you know, it does get easier,
Speaker 1: but you're in the trenches at the moment, and you
Speaker 1: really need to have self acceptance and compassion for yourself
Speaker 1: at the moment and make sure that even if you're
Speaker 1: getting your walk in, even if you're hitting a water
Speaker 1: golf for the day, that is something and something comes
Speaker 1: from something, but nothing comes from nothing. Becky contacted me
Speaker 1: with a great question tip help. I've jumped on the
Speaker 1: smart watch bandwagon and with all the data, this thing
Speaker 1: says my VEO two is poor and I'm twelve years
Speaker 1: older than my actual age.
Speaker 2: How do I fix this?
Speaker 1: Do I just run every day until my cardiovascular system
Speaker 1: is better? Is this just a theoretical number? Surely watch
Speaker 1: on my risk can't measure this accurately? Such a good question, Becky,
Speaker 1: Oh yes, okay, So for everyone listening out there, let's
Speaker 1: start with what is a votwo max?
Speaker 2: Okay?
Speaker 1: So, votwo max, or maximum oxygen uptake, is the maximum
Speaker 1: amount of oxygen your body can utilize during intense exercise.
Speaker 1: So it's considered a key indicator of cardiovascular fitness and
Speaker 1: aerobic endurance. So votwo max is typically measured in milli
Speaker 1: liters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute.
Speaker 1: The higher your VO two max, the more oxygen your
Speaker 1: body can use, and the better your physical fitness level.
Speaker 1: And it depends on a few factors. So you've got
Speaker 1: your heart and lung function. How efficiently your heart pumps
Speaker 1: blood and your lungs transfer oxygen, so that's like one factor.
Speaker 1: You've got muscle efficiency, how well can muscles use that oxygen?
Speaker 2: And then you've got your age in genetics.
Speaker 1: Okay, because your votwo max will generally decline as you
Speaker 1: get older. So how do you improve your VO two
Speaker 1: max and your training? Such a cool question. So there's
Speaker 1: about three or four ways you can do this. Number
Speaker 1: one and the biggest bang for your buck. And my
Speaker 1: favorite is high intensity interval training, so short bursts of
Speaker 1: high intensity effort followed by recovery periods. Example, thirty seconds
Speaker 1: of a run followed by one minute recovery repeat, you know,
Speaker 1: for twenty minutes. That's an example of high intensity interval training.
Speaker 1: Very simple example. And hit improves both your aerobic and
Speaker 1: your anaerobic energy system. So your VO two max is
Speaker 1: going to soar if you keep doing your HIT, then
Speaker 1: you've got long, steady state cardios. Some people are big
Speaker 1: fans of this. They love going for a long run.
Speaker 1: It's good, it's meditating for them, it's good for their
Speaker 1: mental health. You're outside, I totally get it, whether it's cycling, running, walking,
Speaker 1: going for a swim for third to ninety minutes. This
Speaker 1: strengthens your hardened lungs and it improves your overall oxygen delivery.
Speaker 1: Then you've got your threshold training, so exercising at or
Speaker 1: just below your lactate threshold, or the point where your
Speaker 1: body produces more lactic acid than it can clear. An
Speaker 1: example of this is like running at a really challenging
Speaker 1: pace for twenty to forty minutes, and this increases your
Speaker 1: ability to sustain higher intensities for longer. It's a really
Speaker 1: good way of training, but you do need to be
Speaker 1: very fit for it, so it's not something I would
Speaker 1: give a beginner, Okay, so you would need to be
Speaker 1: kind of have an established fitness level before you try
Speaker 1: some threshold training. Then other types of training you can
Speaker 1: do you cross training and fart lick training, which is
Speaker 1: a mix of steady state cardio and intervals.
Speaker 2: But also I have.
Speaker 1: To mention my favorite TODA strength training, which incorporates you know,
Speaker 1: all your big lips like dead lifts, squats, and it
Speaker 1: builds that muscular strength and endurance. And people don't know
Speaker 1: this about strength training, but the stronger your muscles, the
Speaker 1: more oxygen they can carry and the more efficiently they
Speaker 1: extract that oxygen and therefore your votwo max is going
Speaker 1: to go up. So strength training is really really good
Speaker 1: for you. Now, nutrition wise, you know, you need a
Speaker 1: balanced diet rich in whole foods that fuel your training
Speaker 1: and recovery. So that's a lifestyle factor that will support
Speaker 1: your votwo max improvement. Rest and recovery is really important
Speaker 1: as well, because the more your muscle rests, the more
Speaker 1: it can optimize performance of course, hydration is really important
Speaker 1: for cardiovascular function and sleep. High quality sleep critical for
Speaker 1: that adaptation of the muscles and to really recover. So
Speaker 1: you can regularly test your votwo max through using fitness apps.
Speaker 1: You know, wearable device is seeing a pt that can
Speaker 1: take you through a VO two max tests physical tests.
Speaker 1: But let's look at the smart watches and how they
Speaker 1: actually work. So smart watches use algorithms that rely on
Speaker 1: data that they collect from you, such as heart rate, speed,
Speaker 1: and distance which is tracked through GPS for outdoor activities
Speaker 1: like running or cycling, your activity type that you select
Speaker 1: like walking, running outdoors, cycling, indoors, strength training, hit, whatever
Speaker 1: you select, and then the inputs of age, weight, fitness
Speaker 1: level that you usually provide to your watch, and these
Speaker 1: metrics are combined with known physiological models to estimate VO
Speaker 1: two max without requiring direct oxygen consumption measurements. Okay, but
Speaker 1: there are certain factors that affect accuracy, so type of exercise.
Speaker 1: For example, your VO two max estimates are more most
Speaker 1: accurate for running and cycling because those activities match the
Speaker 1: models used in smart watch algorithms. Right for other activities
Speaker 1: like say you're on the elliptical machine at the gym,
Speaker 1: the data may be less reliable. There's not that much testing.
Speaker 1: Heart rate monitoring optical heart rate sensors. These are aleds
Speaker 1: to measure blood flow and may be less accurate during
Speaker 1: high intensity exercise or activities involving a lot of risk movement,
Speaker 1: and we are very active with our risks when we're moving.
Speaker 1: Chest straps when they're paired, are more accurate. Okay, so
Speaker 1: you know, you get the heart rate monitor that you
Speaker 1: put around your chest just under your bra line. They
Speaker 1: measure heart rates so much more accurately, and they will
Speaker 1: show you the VO two max estimates much more accurately.
Speaker 1: Then you've got environmental conditions that you really have to
Speaker 1: think about, heat, humidity, altitude. These can all skew results,
Speaker 1: and the quality of the algorithm varies by brand model
Speaker 1: as well. So premium devices like your garment, your apple,
Speaker 1: your tend to have more refined calculations. So you know,
Speaker 1: you pay the money to get the better estimates, and
Speaker 1: then regularly wearing your watch and performing VO two max
Speaker 1: specific activities will improve accuracy over time as your device
Speaker 1: collects more personalized data and is able to relate it
Speaker 1: to you, so how accurate are they compared to lab testing.
Speaker 1: They deliver like five to fifteen percent from lab measured
Speaker 1: VO two max values, so not that accurate. Okay for trends,
Speaker 1: While absolute accuracy may vary, smart watches are good at
Speaker 1: tracking trends over time. So trend tracking, yeah, I think
Speaker 1: they're pretty good. And I'm not an elite athlete. I'm
Speaker 1: a mom who likes to keep fit, so I don't
Speaker 1: really need an accurate VO two max. I look at
Speaker 1: my smart watch to see improvement. So it's like I
Speaker 1: was here, now I'm upper level. Oh great, you know
Speaker 1: that to me is valuable. So casual fitness tracking absolutely
Speaker 1: it works for athletes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you might.
Speaker 1: Want to get a really good smart watch, or you
Speaker 1: may want to do some lab testing or be with
Speaker 1: a personal trainer who can do fitness testing in person.
Speaker 1: You know, in terms of your biological age. Now you
Speaker 1: said you're bioage, you know, twelve years older. Yes, I
Speaker 1: don't think that a smart watch can really tell you
Speaker 1: this because it really has to take in a lot
Speaker 1: of factors. You know, it can look at your aerobic activity,
Speaker 1: it can look at your strength training, but it's not
Speaker 1: going to look at your flexibility and balance for example,
Speaker 1: which you know you can incorporate through pilates and yoga
Speaker 1: and stretching and mobility and things like that, which is
Speaker 1: a factor to bioage. So you know you've got to
Speaker 1: sort of take it with a pinch of salt. It
Speaker 1: can track your sleep, which is really good, so that
Speaker 1: can be linked to premature aging and health issues. And
Speaker 1: it will track a healthy weight range. You put on muscle,
Speaker 1: you may be getting heavier. Uh. It's not really tracking
Speaker 1: your body composition, so I wouldn't really take that on
Speaker 1: too much. I never really input my weight and worry
Speaker 1: about that. And it's not really tracking your nutritional habits,
Speaker 1: you know, emphasizing that you're eating fruits and vegetables and
Speaker 1: whole grains and whole foods and you're getting amiga three
Speaker 1: rich foods like fatty fish, flax, seas and walnuts and
Speaker 1: all the good stuff, or watching that you're limiting processed foods.
Speaker 1: You know, at the end of the day, I think
Speaker 1: track your metrics definitely, if that's something that's really important
Speaker 1: to you, look at your smart watch, track it, make
Speaker 1: sure that it's improving. You can go to see a
Speaker 1: doctor and get your blood pressure, your blood sugars, your
Speaker 1: cholesterol levels as well. They're always good to check in
Speaker 1: on and have that as a biomarker every six months.
Speaker 1: But really, you know, I wouldn't get too hung up
Speaker 1: on what your smart watch is telling you. In joy
Speaker 1: that you get two three hundred calories done in each session.
Speaker 2: That's good to know.
Speaker 1: You can push yourself there, watch your heart rate, make
Speaker 1: sure that you're in your heart rate zones. If that's
Speaker 1: the way that you're training, stay consistent. But really, in
Speaker 1: terms of biohacking, your by wage and you know, you
Speaker 1: can do your cold exposure, your sauna therapy, you can
Speaker 1: eat well, you can do all those things, but your
Speaker 1: smart watch's never going to know. So don't be a
Speaker 1: slave to the smart watch. That is the message of today.
Speaker 1: But just enjoy seeing those metrics improve over time. But
Speaker 1: don't worry or compare those metrics to anybody else. And
Speaker 1: if you don't want to trust what's happening on the
Speaker 1: smart watch, you can go to dexa scan clinics. They
Speaker 1: just scan your body, give you a body composition, talk
Speaker 1: you through your body composition, how much lean muscle mass
Speaker 1: you're carrying, And that's a great way, it's not a
Speaker 1: doctor's surgery, it's not you know, sterile and all you know,
Speaker 1: you don't need an appointment. You can just go in
Speaker 1: and and have a scan and know where you're at
Speaker 1: and you're not relying on the scales, and you're not
Speaker 1: relying on the smart watch, and you have some solid
Speaker 1: foundation data in which you can go about improving over
Speaker 1: the next three months. Thanks so much for listening to
Speaker 1: Bounce Forward. I love having your company, so please dm
Speaker 1: me on Instagram at tif Paul Underscore XO and let
Speaker 1: me know what topics you'd love me to cover. Don't
Speaker 1: forget to rate and review me on your podcast app
Speaker 1: speak soon.
Speaker 2: Happy Days,