Speaker 1: Oh, hello, welcome to the Body and Soul podcast Got
Speaker 1: Healthy Ish I and Felicity Halle I hope you are
Speaker 1: indeed feeling healthy ish. Joining me today is former Australian
Speaker 1: pol vater and exercise physiologist Amanda bisk Now. She is
Speaker 1: one of the original fitness influencers, and today she's discussing
Speaker 1: the importance of flexibility and shares easy ways to increase
Speaker 1: yours every day. If you like what you hear from
Speaker 1: Amanda listening to Extra Healthy Ish, where she shares her
Speaker 1: biggest fitness learnings over her well history in the social
Speaker 1: media space, you can grab our sister podcast, Extra HEALTHI
Speaker 1: Ish wherever you get your podcasts. Amanda, nice to have
Speaker 1: you on the podcast. How are you, Oh, I'm good.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me. You know, we
Speaker 2: know each other from way back.
Speaker 3: We were just talking about that and I was actually
Speaker 3: so excited to wake up and talk to you this night.
Speaker 1: Well likewise, I know listeners, we well we were just
Speaker 1: working out maybe eight years a decade when Amanda appeared
Speaker 1: on the cover of Women's Health when I was editing that.
Speaker 1: So it's nice to have you back on and talking
Speaker 1: about well, your jam which is really flexibility. Why is
Speaker 1: this so important? I mean, this is this is your
Speaker 1: life in many ways, this is what you sell and
Speaker 1: this is what you do. Why is it important? Well,
Speaker 1: not just for you, but for the rest of us.
Speaker 3: I think if you think about, you know, babies and
Speaker 3: little kids, how mobile and flexible they are. You know,
Speaker 3: we are born flexible, and I think it is so
Speaker 3: important to try and maintain that flexibility throughout life because
Speaker 3: it does give us youth and longevity, It keeps us
Speaker 3: injury free, it helps us feel good. I mean, there's
Speaker 3: so many benefits, and I think it's just, you know,
Speaker 3: so important, you know, to maintain that through our whole
Speaker 3: entire life moving into later life.
Speaker 2: Because you know, we all just want to feel good.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I know I do. Look at well, my
Speaker 1: kids and my six year old who loves gymnastics, and
Speaker 1: she can just go into the splits in a second,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh my goodness, I'm so envious. But
Speaker 1: adults some seem more flexible than others, especially when I
Speaker 1: go to yoga, and you, of course you are the
Speaker 1: most flexible of us all. Is it? Some of our
Speaker 1: bodies the physiology just more flexible than others.
Speaker 3: That definitely does play a factor, not only things like
Speaker 3: what your tendons and ligaments are consisting of, but also
Speaker 3: the shape of your joints as well. That place a factor.
Speaker 3: But I think in general everybody can achieve better flexibility
Speaker 3: and mobility. It's just about really exposing yourself to that
Speaker 3: as often as possible.
Speaker 1: So how do we do that? What should we do?
Speaker 1: Give us some tips because I feel like it's a
Speaker 1: hot topic, especially mobility flexibility. It's such a hot topic
Speaker 1: right now, So how can we increase our flexibility?
Speaker 3: So flexibility is a funny one, the mobility as well.
Speaker 3: The more you visit different positions and stretches, the more
Speaker 3: your body is going to be used to that. So
Speaker 3: I think the key to achieving better mobility and better
Speaker 3: flexibility is just exposing your body more regularly to different movements.
Speaker 3: You know, where creatures of habit.
Speaker 2: We love to.
Speaker 3: Do things that we're really comfortable with, and I think
Speaker 3: with flexibility and mobility, it really forces us to kind
Speaker 3: of explore the edges of our movement, which sometimes can
Speaker 3: be uncomfortable, can be painful, can be scary, but I
Speaker 3: think it's really important. It's also like you know, in life,
Speaker 3: it's important we test our edges, so the more you
Speaker 3: can visit different positions and including it in your warm
Speaker 3: up if you're going to the gym, like that is
Speaker 3: the most perfect time.
Speaker 2: Like that is something I have.
Speaker 3: Incorporated into my life is you know, I'm going to
Speaker 3: be working out anyway, and I need to do a
Speaker 3: warm up before I work out, So why not incorporate
Speaker 3: some mobility and flexibility before I do?
Speaker 1: Now, how long do you spend doing that and what
Speaker 1: sort of moves do you do?
Speaker 3: So I would say my warm up would be about
Speaker 3: ten to fifteen minutes, just depending and this is probably
Speaker 3: before something like a weight session or a running session
Speaker 3: at the track. And I would definitely try and do
Speaker 3: a lot of hip mobility. The hips can be very
Speaker 3: very tight. It's also if anyone here is done yoga before,
Speaker 3: it's where we store a lot of emotional energy as well.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, yeah, I've done that, have had after classes.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3: Yes, So I think the hips are a really important area.
Speaker 3: So you know things like hamstring stretches, hip flexus stretches,
Speaker 3: glut stretches, and doing mobility exercises as well, so you know,
Speaker 3: like leg swings and hamstring scoops and all the things
Speaker 3: that really helped to open.
Speaker 2: Up and mobilize the hips.
Speaker 3: And I also love doing any sort of mobility for
Speaker 3: the shoulders. I feel like that's really important as well,
Speaker 3: because you know, we're all used to sitting down at
Speaker 3: a desk or sitting on the.
Speaker 2: Couch or driving the car hunched over.
Speaker 3: So anything that can really open up the front of
Speaker 3: the body, I think is really important as well, and
Speaker 3: I like to include it in my warm up.
Speaker 1: What sort of moves do you do for that?
Speaker 3: So anything with like spinal rotation, so arm swings, armed circles,
Speaker 3: you know that good old doorway peck stretch. That's a
Speaker 3: great yeah, Reaching arms up and over the head, reaching
Speaker 3: side to side, anything where you're opening up.
Speaker 2: The front of the body.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: I also read a tip of yours that instead of
Speaker 1: just resting between sets if you're doing strength training at
Speaker 1: the gym or at home, instead of reaching for your phone,
Speaker 1: to actually do some stretching. I thought this was a
Speaker 1: brilliant tip because so many of us, Oh, you know,
Speaker 1: I just have to rest my body for an hour
Speaker 1: or two. Oh what's happening on Instagram? Blah blah blah,
Speaker 1: such a great tip.
Speaker 2: It actually is so good.
Speaker 3: And this is something that my partner incorporated into his
Speaker 3: workouts and he instantly was like, oh my gosh, I
Speaker 3: have the best session. Not only was I not on
Speaker 3: my phone and getting distracted, but I really felt that
Speaker 3: my exercises that I was doing were so much better
Speaker 3: because I was working on this mobility and I was
Speaker 3: feeling really free and.
Speaker 2: Open and energized.
Speaker 3: So yeah, definitely making the most of that time in
Speaker 3: between your exercises, is you know, like gold, what.
Speaker 1: Else do you do for flexibility aside from the warm
Speaker 1: ups at the gym? Because you are just extremely flexible,
Speaker 1: what else do you do to make sure you maintain this?
Speaker 3: So to be honest, apart from you know, trying to
Speaker 3: mold it into my life as much as I can
Speaker 3: around workouts, I probably have one session.
Speaker 2: In the week where I really really think.
Speaker 3: About pre and rehab exercises where I include mobility and
Speaker 3: flexibility as well, and I think this is kind of
Speaker 3: my check in for the week, so I can kind
Speaker 3: of be like, oh, where's my body at this week?
Speaker 3: What does my body need? Where do I need a stretch?
Speaker 3: And it's usually the time that I do those stretches that.
Speaker 2: I don't like.
Speaker 1: What are those?
Speaker 2: Oh I'm really inflexible. Could you imagine?
Speaker 1: No, I can't carry on in.
Speaker 2: My side bending.
Speaker 3: I remember I went to a yoga class in Bali
Speaker 3: and I was doing yoga the whole time and we
Speaker 3: got to.
Speaker 2: This side bending stretch and the teacher was like, oh, wow,
Speaker 2: can you not go any further? And I was like no,
Speaker 2: and she was like, that is a surprise. So side
Speaker 2: bending for me is tough. And I think that's because
Speaker 2: I have a tight lower backs.
Speaker 1: Okay, that you just made us all feel seen that
Speaker 1: you do struggle with some flexibility.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, just quickly before we go, I have to
Speaker 1: give a shout out to Xpro, a festival coming well
Speaker 1: near you in Perth and for the rest of us
Speaker 1: if you want to travel over. There's what's this all about?
Speaker 3: So Expro is a fitness festival and summit. There's two days.
Speaker 3: So the first day on the eighth is the summit,
Speaker 3: so we have fitness experts speaking and you can go
Speaker 3: and go to the summit and learn all the things.
Speaker 3: And then on the ninth it's actually the festival day,
Speaker 3: which is exactly what it.
Speaker 1: Kind of says on the tin.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3: It is a festival of fitness, which is so cool,
Speaker 3: and the fact that it's here in Scarborough Beach, it's
Speaker 3: my hometown.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited. It's going to be right on the beach.
Speaker 3: We have a beautiful amphitheater there with lots of different stages,
Speaker 3: so if you are into fitness and any type of fitness, it.
Speaker 2: Is the place to be.
Speaker 3: You know, we're going to have workouts, yoga, pilates, there's
Speaker 3: you know those trampoline jump things.
Speaker 1: Yes, there's bikes.
Speaker 3: There's everything. It's going to be so cool. I'm going
Speaker 3: to be running a mobility class and also hit workout
Speaker 3: on the main stage, so I'm really excited to be
Speaker 3: sharing that as well with everybody.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm loving that We're seeing so many fitness festivals
Speaker 1: popping up around a street and I think it's such
Speaker 1: a great thing. And this one especially I'm giving a
Speaker 1: shout out because it's got a very impressive list of
Speaker 1: all lineup of people who are like yourself taking classes.
Speaker 1: So thanks for coming on Healthyish and telling us all
Speaker 1: about it.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1: And folks. I will leave a link to that festival
Speaker 1: in Wa on the eighth and ninth of November. In
Speaker 1: the show notes, well, I hope you enjoyed the tips
Speaker 1: from Amanda, some great ones there. Just put your phone
Speaker 1: down and perhaps still a few stretches instead between your
Speaker 1: sets in the gym. If you did enjoy it, jump
Speaker 1: on rate and review this episode. Subscribe to this podcast
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Speaker 1: is out in your local Sunday paper, and until tomorrow,
Speaker 1: stay healthy ish