Speaker 1: Hi everyone.
Speaker 2: I'm Holly Robinson, pete actor, author, advocate, do it all mom,
Speaker 2: and I'm also a caregiver. And this is care Walks,
Speaker 2: a podcast from iHeartRadio and Voltaian Arthritis Pain Gel. It's
Speaker 2: a show for family caregivers who give everything to everyone
Speaker 2: and need to make time for themselves through movement. Every
Speaker 2: episode is designed for you to walk as you listen,
Speaker 2: so just think of me and my guests as your
Speaker 2: weekly walking buddies. We'll hear stories from caregivers and gain
Speaker 2: tips and insights from health experts and advocates who know
Speaker 2: how important it is to take care of yourself and
Speaker 2: manage joint pain due to arthritis that often a companies
Speaker 2: being a caregiver. We'll discover a community ourselves and maybe
Speaker 2: even alleviate some joint pain due to arthritis in the
Speaker 2: process as we walk together and connect to the best
Speaker 2: parts of.
Speaker 1: Being a caregiver.
Speaker 2: Hey, there, so glad you could join us for another
Speaker 2: episode of care Walks. I cannot believe this is already
Speaker 2: our sixth episode. I hope you've learned as much as
Speaker 2: I have so far and are finding new ways to
Speaker 2: take care of yourself and refill that cup as you
Speaker 2: care for others. All right now, just a reminder. Right
Speaker 2: now you're listening to the full version of this episode,
Speaker 2: but if you don't have time for a full walk today,
Speaker 2: then go check out our bridged version of this same episode.
Speaker 1: It's like cliff Notes for podcasts. Now.
Speaker 2: Today's episode is all about building strength and strengthening our
Speaker 2: mobility in ways that will help us combat joint pain
Speaker 2: due to osteo arthritis and maybe give us a leg
Speaker 2: up as caregivers too. I've invited personal trainer Pete McCall
Speaker 2: to join our walk today. Pete has twenty years of
Speaker 2: experience teaching personal trainers all over the world to design
Speaker 2: workouts for their clients. He knows the importance of strength
Speaker 2: and mobility training for safe and smart practice. We've learned
Speaker 2: a lot about how just walking can be a really
Speaker 2: important practice to treating joint pain, but I'm curious about
Speaker 2: how strength conditioning can also play a role. I'm looking
Speaker 2: forward to hearing how Pete approaches training through this lens.
Speaker 2: But before we get to our conversation with Pete, let's
Speaker 2: get moving and start our walk with intention. Find a
Speaker 2: pace that feels good to you, ground yourself more with
Speaker 2: each step. Notice how each part of your body moves
Speaker 2: as you walk along your path. Where do you feel
Speaker 2: tightness in your body as you move? How can you
Speaker 2: actively release those areas of pressure and tension. Let's take
Speaker 2: a deep breath, slowly inhale through your nose, and now
Speaker 2: slowly exhale out of your mouth. How are your knees moving?
Speaker 2: What about your arms from your elbow down to your
Speaker 2: wrists as we walk, Consider those sensations and allow these
Speaker 2: feelings to keep you present in the moment, in this
Speaker 2: time you have set aside for yourself. Take another deep breath,
Speaker 2: in through your nose and out through your mouth. Bring
Speaker 2: those shoulders down, Let your arms sway from front to back.
Speaker 1: That's great.
Speaker 2: Keep moving at a relaxed pace, and I'm going to
Speaker 2: share my conversation with personal trainer, fitness educator, and author
Speaker 2: Pete McCall. Pete, thank you so much for joining us
Speaker 2: on Cara Walks.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you, Holly. It really is an honor to
Speaker 3: be here and to be having this conversation with you.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to speak with you.
Speaker 2: So, first of all, can you tell us what first
Speaker 2: sparked your interests in fitness and ultimately led to your
Speaker 2: great career in personal fitness and education.
Speaker 3: I'm a product of my generation, Holly. I am a
Speaker 3: diehard gen x er eighties kid, and I grew up
Speaker 3: and this is how I got into fitness, right. I
Speaker 3: grew up on eighties movies Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, John
Speaker 3: cli Von dom and all those movies. The guy with
Speaker 3: the biggest muscles always won and always got the girl right.
Speaker 3: And so as a fourteen, fifteen, sixteen year old, you
Speaker 3: see that, and you know Arnold was everywhere, but in
Speaker 3: all seriousness, That's what got me into exercise in terms
Speaker 3: of changing physical appearance. But over the years, what I've
Speaker 3: really learned to love about exercise and what it can
Speaker 3: do for the body isn't just how you look, but
Speaker 3: it's how you feel. So that's really what I try
Speaker 3: to focus on when I do education for personal trainers,
Speaker 3: is it's really getting to understand that the biggest benefits
Speaker 3: come from how you feel and just the overall health
Speaker 3: benefits for your body.
Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, I want to dig into the physical benefits
Speaker 2: of movement. How can strength training help those who struggle
Speaker 2: with joint pain due to arthritis?
Speaker 3: Now, this is something it's kind of like I played
Speaker 3: rugby for years. I played like competitive club rugby for years,
Speaker 3: and to somebody who's lifted ways for years. Two, I
Speaker 3: deal with arthritis right, and arthritis is inflammation of the
Speaker 3: joint structure. Osteoarthritis is you're wearing down the tissues, the
Speaker 3: protective tissues that help protect the joints the bones themselves.
Speaker 3: So when you look at this, when you look at movement,
Speaker 3: anytime you move, actually what you're doing is you're stimulating
Speaker 3: production of new cells in the body. So strength training,
Speaker 3: more than other types of exercise, stimulates production of new
Speaker 3: muscle cells of fibroblasts, and fibroblasts become new tissues in
Speaker 3: the cells. So that's one of the big benefits of
Speaker 3: strength training is you're building more tissue that can either
Speaker 3: protect the joints, meaning muscles help protec I can stabilize
Speaker 3: the joints, or that ultimately become the connective tissue that
Speaker 3: tendons and what's called the fascia which surrounds each layer
Speaker 3: of muscle. So when you exercise, what you're doing you're
Speaker 3: stimulating production of new cells, which can ultimately help your
Speaker 3: body become stronger and more resilient against whatever you might
Speaker 3: be feeling.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And what's interesting is, you know, we know that
Speaker 2: the movement is helpful, but it's hard to get that
Speaker 2: motivation right. We know that moving better is so important,
Speaker 2: but sometimes it can be very difficult. Which is more
Speaker 2: important to moving better? Strength training or cardio which does
Speaker 2: more for joint pain?
Speaker 1: Are they both beneficial?
Speaker 3: I would say yes, but I mean, and that's the
Speaker 3: thing with exercise. The hard part is with exercise, there
Speaker 3: really is no one right way to do it, and
Speaker 3: everybody's going to enjoy their favorite thing. And what's pretty
Speaker 3: consistent this point is a lack of regular exercise. Meaning
Speaker 3: if you're not moving and I'm going to qualify a
Speaker 3: little bit a lack of regular movement, not just exercise,
Speaker 3: but if you're not moving your body and you're not
Speaker 3: getting your heart rate up a couple times a week,
Speaker 3: you can take years off your life. And I'll say
Speaker 3: that because I mean, I just I wrote a book
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty about high intensity exercise and how high
Speaker 3: intensity exercise slows down the aging process. So when you
Speaker 3: look at strength training, strength training provides a much greater
Speaker 3: benefit because you're producing new muscle you're producing new tissue. However,
Speaker 3: when you look at cardio, cardio is very important because
Speaker 3: you're moving the joints, you're moving the muscles. And the
Speaker 3: challenging thing about arthritis, and I'm speaking about this from
Speaker 3: two points, one from the technical standpoint of having done
Speaker 3: the research, and two from a user standpoint of knowing
Speaker 3: what a body feels like with arthritis, is that first
Speaker 3: few minutes of exercise can be somewhat uncomfortable, like my
Speaker 3: knee will be yelling at me saying, don't do this,
Speaker 3: don't do this. But what happens after the first like
Speaker 3: eight to ten minutes, is your body will produce its
Speaker 3: own internal kind of painkillers, and your heart rate comes
Speaker 3: up and on all of a sudden, you feel great.
Speaker 3: So that's one of the biggest benefits about exercise, is
Speaker 3: like cardio going out for a walk or riding a bike,
Speaker 3: is once you work through that initial discomfort, your body
Speaker 3: will feel amazing and you'll be thinking like, man, I
Speaker 3: got to be doing this all the time because of
Speaker 3: the way you feel. So if it comes to strength
Speaker 3: and cardio, the answer is yes, do both, but alternate
Speaker 3: days that maybe one day you're doing a total body
Speaker 3: strength workout using all of your muscles together so you
Speaker 3: move more effectively, and then the next day would be
Speaker 3: like go for a walk, go for a bike ride,
Speaker 3: or go for a swim. That way, you're using your
Speaker 3: muscles differently, and you allow that they're recovering from strength
Speaker 3: training while you're doing cardio, and then they're recovering from
Speaker 3: cardio while you do strength training. That way, there's a
Speaker 3: good balance of different forces going into the body.
Speaker 1: Yes. Absolutely.
Speaker 2: On care walks, we talk a lot about finding movement
Speaker 2: that fits into a busy schedule, because Pete, we're all
Speaker 2: busy and we can always find some excuse not to
Speaker 2: not to get moving. So what are some of your
Speaker 2: favorite ways to add fitness into a very busy routine.
Speaker 3: I'd love this question because, again, Holly, I've been working
Speaker 3: the fitness industry for more than twe years. I got
Speaker 3: certified back in the late nineteen nineties, and the one
Speaker 3: thing is just being consistent. Is we want to be consistent,
Speaker 3: and for care walks, the main thing is finding an
Speaker 3: activity that you enjoy. And one of my favorite it's
Speaker 3: so funny to say this now, one of my favorite
Speaker 3: workouts is honestly going for a long walk because I
Speaker 3: can do that with my kids, I can do it
Speaker 3: with my parents. My parents are in their late seventies
Speaker 3: and so walking is one of those things that I
Speaker 3: can do with all generations of my family. And here's
Speaker 3: the deal. I'd love strength training, but if I'm a
Speaker 3: little sore the day after a hard strength training workout
Speaker 3: or maybe something happened, you know, I've got something happen
Speaker 3: going on. I didn't sleep well at night, because we
Speaker 3: can't really work out that great if we don't get
Speaker 3: a good night's sleep. But if I'm sore from working out,
Speaker 3: if I didn't get a good night's sleep, a three
Speaker 3: to five mile walk is one of my favorite go
Speaker 3: to is because you feel so good just moving your
Speaker 3: body on a consistent basis. So I really want to
Speaker 3: give people, you know, for any advice. If you're just
Speaker 3: looking at starting a workout program, just start with what
Speaker 3: you've got. You know what I mean, Because anybody can
Speaker 3: put on a pair of shoes and go for a
Speaker 3: walk around your neighborhood and you get to see things
Speaker 3: that you might not have seen.
Speaker 1: It's so true.
Speaker 2: We love walking on care walks. That's our thing, and
Speaker 2: hopefully our listeners are on a walk right now with us,
Speaker 2: But what are the best types of strength building exercises
Speaker 2: for alleviating some of their symptoms? Is there one that
Speaker 2: you might be able to walk us through right now
Speaker 2: on the podcast.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great question because when you look at
Speaker 3: some strength training exercises, and we look at some things
Speaker 3: like arthritis, where oftentimes we can experience arthritis is in
Speaker 3: our feet and our knees, right, and so one of
Speaker 3: my favorite exercises to recommend for almost everybody is something
Speaker 3: called the glute bridge. And the glut bridge is when
Speaker 3: you lay down on the ground, your feet are flat
Speaker 3: on the floor, your knees are pointing up toward the ceiling,
Speaker 3: so you're flat on your back, feed are flat on
Speaker 3: the floor, knees are pointing up to the ceiling, and
Speaker 3: you lift your hips up towards the ceiling. And you
Speaker 3: do that by pushing your heels down. So if you
Speaker 3: push your heels down while squeezing your glutes your butt muscles,
Speaker 3: and pushing your hips off, what you're going to do
Speaker 3: is activate those glute muscles, and the glutes protect your knees,
Speaker 3: the glutes protect your ankles, and the glutes protect your
Speaker 3: low back. So with the glute bridge I'm describing, if
Speaker 3: you do fifteen to twenty repetitions of that, meaning move up, pause,
Speaker 3: and lower yourself down slowly. If you do that fifteen
Speaker 3: to twenty times, the major benefits are you're strengthening the
Speaker 3: glute muscles, which really help stabilize your body while you're walking.
Speaker 3: The other thing, too, is you're stretching your hip muscles,
Speaker 3: the hip muscles along the front of your thighs, is
Speaker 3: you're getting good stretch there. The combination of the two
Speaker 3: can really reduce stress on the low back, and strengthening
Speaker 3: the glutes is one way protect the knees. And again,
Speaker 3: as somebody that's dealing with some pretty wicked arthritis on
Speaker 3: my right knee, one of the things I make sure
Speaker 3: I do, especially my lower body workouts, is keep the
Speaker 3: glute trending up because I know, I mean just from
Speaker 3: studying it, that the stronger my glutes are, the better
Speaker 3: protection I have for my knees. Strong glutes really allows
Speaker 3: you to be more active.
Speaker 2: Okay, I just learned that I always think about when
Speaker 2: I'm taking care of my body or looking to strengthen something.
Speaker 2: I'm always focusing on the core because I feel like
Speaker 2: the core, you know, obviously has a lot of benefits,
Speaker 2: but I did not know about the glute bridge. So
Speaker 2: I am putting that on my to do list. And
Speaker 2: I really didn't even realize that the glute bridge helped
Speaker 2: you with knees. My husband's had knee replacement surgery, and
Speaker 2: I'm sure he knows this as a former athlete, but
Speaker 2: I did not know. So I've written that down and
Speaker 2: I'm gonna get my glute bridge in. And if you're
Speaker 2: listening right now on care walks, maybe this is something
Speaker 2: you would you say to do this before you start
Speaker 2: walking or after.
Speaker 3: Actually it's a good question. I would do it before
Speaker 3: because if you're warming up and you're going to go
Speaker 3: out for a walk, then firing up your glutes will
Speaker 3: help you protect your knee. So every time your foot
Speaker 3: hits the ground, theoretically your glutes should fire to help
Speaker 3: stabilize the knee. And so if you don't do glute
Speaker 3: bridges before you warm up, they're not gonna be as effective.
Speaker 3: You think about football players, right, I mean, your husband
Speaker 3: was a football player. When he was playing, he was
Speaker 3: out there doing mobility drills, and those drills activate the muscles.
Speaker 3: So that way, if he plans to make a sudden
Speaker 3: cut of direction or change the direction, the glute is
Speaker 3: going to fire to stabilize the knee. Now, somebody walking
Speaker 3: for exercise is not going to need to make a
Speaker 3: rapid change of direction.
Speaker 2: To well, well maybe never know, Pete, never know if
Speaker 2: that cars come in the wrong direction, somebody's coming down
Speaker 2: with one of those scooters, you got to get out
Speaker 2: of the way.
Speaker 3: No, you know what, I'll back it up because you're
Speaker 3: one hundred percent right. Because you might not think you
Speaker 3: might have to change the direction, but if somebody's flying
Speaker 3: down the sidewalk on an electric scooter, or somebody's dog
Speaker 3: gets out of control and you don't want to get you, yeah,
Speaker 3: you might have to make a change of direction. But
Speaker 3: having stronger glues, but in all serious is having stronger
Speaker 3: glutes will protect that. Well, if you have to make
Speaker 3: a sudden lateral change or sideways change and you're putting
Speaker 3: your foot down, your glutes will fire to stabilize your knee.
Speaker 3: So it all comes in.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: The funny thing is one of the best core exercises
Speaker 3: that we could do, Holly is actually walking, because when
Speaker 3: we look at how all the muscles in our body
Speaker 3: are aligned. Walking is like our basic movement pattern that
Speaker 3: we can all do. So the more walk that we
Speaker 3: can do, the more that we use all the muscles
Speaker 3: in our body, because when you look at how we
Speaker 3: move when we walk, our shoulders move, our hips move,
Speaker 3: our arms move, and that can really be one of
Speaker 3: the most beneficial things of a long walk is you're
Speaker 3: just automatically tying all those muscles together. You know now
Speaker 3: is actually I'll show this because I go to my
Speaker 3: I'll see my chiropractor a little bit later today, and
Speaker 3: that's always as recommendation as you start the morning with
Speaker 3: a five to ten minute walk or I do a
Speaker 3: ten minute walk after every adjustment, because your body is
Speaker 3: just going back into its normal movement patterns.
Speaker 2: This is great information, Pete, thank you so much. We'll
Speaker 2: be right back with more from Pete McCall. Welcome back
Speaker 2: to care walks and now back to my conversation with
Speaker 2: Pete McCall. Okay, so let's talk about discomfort, something we
Speaker 2: all have experienced. But because discomfort can be so prevalent
Speaker 2: for specifically caregivers with joint pain, how can you tell
Speaker 2: if aches and pains after a workout are good or bad?
Speaker 3: That I love that question. If you feel something sharp
Speaker 3: that's really that sharp, it's like, oh my goodness, where
Speaker 3: did this come from. That's pain that should be avoided.
Speaker 3: That's a signal from your muscles or a joint saying hey,
Speaker 3: this didn't feel good, don't do this again, all right.
Speaker 3: We don't want to feel pain. That said, however, a
Speaker 3: little bit of discomfort. We want to feel a little
Speaker 3: bit of discomfort because that means our body has done
Speaker 3: more than it's used to doing, and that's how we
Speaker 3: stimulate growth. So at the end of a workout, you
Speaker 3: want to be feeling a little bit of discomfort, meaning
Speaker 3: you want to feel like I just did something and
Speaker 3: my muscles have worked harder than they're used to. That's good,
Speaker 3: that's what we want. However, we don't want to feel pain.
Speaker 3: And what I always tell clients is like, if clients
Speaker 3: are a complaining about something, I'll say pause time out.
Speaker 3: Does that hurt because if it hurts, we're going to stop.
Speaker 3: But if it's uncomfortable, that's what you're paying me for,
Speaker 3: right That's because discomfort is where we get growth. We
Speaker 3: want to be able to manage discomfort with arthritis with
Speaker 3: my right knee. When my right knee is a little uncomfortable,
Speaker 3: I'll slather on Voltaire before I go for a walk
Speaker 3: or before I do any type of hard workout that
Speaker 3: I know is going to beat up my knee. But
Speaker 3: I know that moving my knee through the discomfort makes
Speaker 3: my knee stronger in the long run. Because here's the thing, Holly,
Speaker 3: when it comes to arthritis and with joint discomfort, is
Speaker 3: I look at it personally, I'm willing to put up
Speaker 3: with a few minutes of discomfort so that my joint
Speaker 3: remains functional and I continue to move my joint through
Speaker 3: its full range of motion. Because here's what I fear,
Speaker 3: knowing what I know about the body is if I
Speaker 3: don't move my joints, if I don't move my knee,
Speaker 3: if I don't move my hips, if I don't move
Speaker 3: my elbows, if I don't move my joints, then they're
Speaker 3: going to lose their range of motion.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just a side note.
Speaker 2: Rodney had so much discomfort that he pushed through because
Speaker 2: of his training as an athlete, and you need to learn
Speaker 2: to play with pain, and it was like chasing him
Speaker 2: for years is trying to get him to treat this knee.
Speaker 2: But listen, our walking routine is we slather on the
Speaker 2: voltairean for each other.
Speaker 1: So I put a.
Speaker 2: Little on his knee, you puts a little on mine
Speaker 2: because mine are starting to act up as well to
Speaker 2: just a little bit of pain. Especially I notice going downstairs,
Speaker 2: I notice like a little tweak of pain in my knee.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh my goodness.
Speaker 2: So thinking about more safe fitness practice, what are the
Speaker 2: best ways that you have to.
Speaker 1: Cool down after a walk or work out?
Speaker 2: Any favorite stretches other than the glute bridge, which is
Speaker 2: going to.
Speaker 3: Be my new go to well, and this is where, honestly,
Speaker 3: and this is where like technology comes in handy, right,
Speaker 3: And that's where a percussion gun, like those little percussion
Speaker 3: guns to handheld massage guns, those can be a very
Speaker 3: effective way for after being active because what it's doing
Speaker 3: is that pressure can help desensitize, meaning reduced tightness in
Speaker 3: muscle tissue. However, and I'll say this, that's not going
Speaker 3: to be appropriate for everybody experiencing joint pain, right, So
Speaker 3: that's been one of my goats use. But when I
Speaker 3: look at post workout, it's honestly just slower movement right,
Speaker 3: if I'm going for a long walk, what I do
Speaker 3: when I get back and I'm pointing over my shoulder
Speaker 3: for listeners, I'm pointing over my shoulder like you guys
Speaker 3: know what I'm talking about. But outside my door, Holly,
Speaker 3: there's a system about a quarter mile away, there's like
Speaker 3: a ten mile network of trails that either go mountain
Speaker 3: biking on or riding or hiking on one or two
Speaker 3: times a week. But that's why I'm living where I live,
Speaker 3: because I have access to that. However, so when I
Speaker 3: come back from a long hike, what I'll do is
Speaker 3: I don't sit down right away. I just stay on
Speaker 3: my feet for another fifteen to twenty minutes and slow
Speaker 3: down my pace, right because hiking or walking or hiking
Speaker 3: is not super strenuous. All you need to do is
Speaker 3: kind of slowly gradually, don't sit down yet. You want
Speaker 3: to take about fifteen to twenty minutes of just standing
Speaker 3: after you get done a long walk or a long hike,
Speaker 3: you is one to take about fifteen to twenty minutes
Speaker 3: of continue to stand before sitting down. That way, what
Speaker 3: you're doing is allowing your circulation, You're allowing your heart
Speaker 3: rate to come down. A little bit, You're allowing your
Speaker 3: circulation to come down a little bit. That way, when
Speaker 3: you do sit down, you're muscles won't be as warm
Speaker 3: and won't get stuck in the position of where you
Speaker 3: sit at. Because that's the challenge, right If you come
Speaker 3: back from a walk and all of a sudden you
Speaker 3: sit down for another two hours, your muscles can kind
Speaker 3: of become locked into that position. Whereas if you do
Speaker 3: a long walk and you spend some time just moving
Speaker 3: around standing for a little bit, what's going to happen
Speaker 3: is your temperature, your tissue temperature is going to come down.
Speaker 3: So yeah, after a long walk, it's just some low
Speaker 3: intensity movement. And because I don't think there's really personally
Speaker 3: I wouldn't, there's not much need to stretch really after
Speaker 3: a long walk. But a harder workout, like if you
Speaker 3: did a hard strength training workout, that's where you might
Speaker 3: want to stretch the quater steps, the hamstrings, the larger
Speaker 3: muscles involved, just so you maintain joint motion as those
Speaker 3: tissues kind of cool as a tissue temperature comes back down.
Speaker 2: Yeah, don't skip the cool down. I've done that before. Pete, Like,
Speaker 2: I just wow, I'm done. I'm just going to get
Speaker 2: off the treadmill and don't skip that cool down. Is
Speaker 2: the reason why it's always in your program on your treadmill,
Speaker 2: you got to slow it down and ease yourself out
Speaker 2: of working out kind of movement. For those just starting
Speaker 2: a movement journey, and we talked earlier about how hard
Speaker 2: it is to just kick started, how do you stay
Speaker 2: consistent with a new workout routine and how can caregivers
Speaker 2: set themselves up for success when making new self care habits.
Speaker 3: Oh that's a huge question because you're looking at how
Speaker 3: does anybody create a habit? And one of my biggest,
Speaker 3: one of the biggest pieces of advice I have for people, Holly,
Speaker 3: is start with realistic expectations, start with realistic goals. Because
Speaker 3: what tends to happen is if we're starting, if we're
Speaker 3: recording this on a Monday, right if I say this week,
Speaker 3: I'm going to exercise every day of the week, and
Speaker 3: Monday I do great. Tuesday I go to the gym,
Speaker 3: but Wednesday I have to stay late at work or
Speaker 3: something happens. Now I feel like a failure because I
Speaker 3: didn't make it to the gym every day of the week. Therefore,
Speaker 3: I'm just going to throw it in because I can't
Speaker 3: do this. This is too hard. However, if you say
Speaker 3: to yourself, I'm only going to exercise two times during
Speaker 3: the week and one time on the weekend, that's my goal.
Speaker 3: My goal for the next couple weeks is I want
Speaker 3: to go out for a twenty minute walk two times
Speaker 3: during the week, and I'm going to try to do
Speaker 3: a forty minute walk on the weekend when I have
Speaker 3: a little bit more time. If you start small and
Speaker 3: you're able to do that twenty minutes here, twenty minutes there,
Speaker 3: you start building up success, you start layering success. So
Speaker 3: you go from doing it two times during the week
Speaker 3: and once on the weekend, now I feel pretty good.
Speaker 3: Let me do a third day during the week, let
Speaker 3: me do a little bit longer on the weekend. So
Speaker 3: it really is. My advice for listeners is when you
Speaker 3: start a program, when you start to move more regularly,
Speaker 3: just very simple, small goals. Do ten to twenty minutes
Speaker 3: at a time, because we know, I mean, evidence shows
Speaker 3: ten to twenty minutes of activity is better than no activity.
Speaker 3: You know, twenty minutes of something is better than zero
Speaker 3: minutes of nothing. So for listeners. If you're listening to
Speaker 3: you say I want to get moving, start small, and
Speaker 3: once you see some success, either add minutes. I'm gonna
Speaker 3: walk for five more minutes, or add another day and
Speaker 3: just begin with what you can do and just challenge
Speaker 3: yourself to do a little bit more than you think
Speaker 3: you can and just stay consistent with it and you
Speaker 3: feel better as a result.
Speaker 1: Yes, feeling better is the goal. Feeling better is the goal.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: It's really clear to me, Pete, how passionate you are
Speaker 2: about what you do. What is your favorite part about
Speaker 2: being a fitness instructor is.
Speaker 3: After a class is over, when somebody says that was
Speaker 3: the right workout for me today. Honestly, I mean it's
Speaker 3: like when somebody says that felt right today. I don't
Speaker 3: want to beat people up. My goal as a trainers
Speaker 3: and instructors. I don't want you to be sore. I
Speaker 3: don't want to be in pain because if I make you,
Speaker 3: if you're in pain from an exercise session, you can't
Speaker 3: move tomorrow. And that's not my goal. I want you
Speaker 3: to move every day. And for anybody out there, if
Speaker 3: you're listening and you take exercise classes on a regular basis,
Speaker 3: The best thing you can do for your instructor is
Speaker 3: at the end of class, give them a big smile
Speaker 3: and say thank you. That felt right today, because honestly, yes,
Speaker 3: we get paid by the gym to teach a class. However,
Speaker 3: anytime that somebody says that to me, that's worth more
Speaker 3: than the money going the bank. Because you know what
Speaker 3: I love about this industry and what I love about
Speaker 3: what I do is you know you're having a direct
Speaker 3: impact on helping somebody have a better day because of
Speaker 3: something of what it did in your workout.
Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, because physical and mental health are so intertwined.
Speaker 2: How can we make fitness a part of a mindfulness
Speaker 2: or meditation practice? My mindfulness me, Holly, My personal journey
Speaker 2: with mindfulness really helps me kickstart my day. So how
Speaker 2: can individuals use movement and fitness as part of strengthening
Speaker 2: mental health? And do you also do you have any
Speaker 2: favorite mantras or pieces of motivation that you use to
Speaker 2: inspire your clients.
Speaker 1: I know you have some peats.
Speaker 3: I love that question.
Speaker 1: I just met you, but I.
Speaker 2: Feel like you have some a whole peat lexicon that
Speaker 2: you can get people motivated.
Speaker 3: H Maybe no, but in all seriously, That's such a
Speaker 3: great question, right because for years, for years we've always
Speaker 3: looked at meditation, or the perception with meditation has been
Speaker 3: is as some sort of like whatever mind body, it's
Speaker 3: not really connected. But what we're seeing is that your
Speaker 3: brain controls every aspect of your body. So taking a
Speaker 3: few minutes in the day and one of the things
Speaker 3: I go to I don't know about you, but I'll
Speaker 3: try to take a few minutes in the morning and
Speaker 3: when I meditate, I kind of do a little check
Speaker 3: in how's my body feeling. I'll take some deep breaths
Speaker 3: and I'll like, how are my hips feeling, how are
Speaker 3: my knees feeling, how's my shoulders feeling? And it's like
Speaker 3: what do I want out today? What do I want
Speaker 3: to be able to do today? What do I want
Speaker 3: my body to do for me today? So just taking
Speaker 3: a couple of minutes in the morning to kind of
Speaker 3: do a little that mental checklist, Hey, everybody, how you doing,
Speaker 3: what's going on? And then just sitting there and think
Speaker 3: how do I want to use my body today? And
Speaker 3: then for me, the final part of that is just
Speaker 3: I live in southern California and I try to be
Speaker 3: very grateful that I live in a very great area.
Speaker 3: I live near you know, my daughter's live pretty close
Speaker 3: to me. I just try to I try to start
Speaker 3: the day with a sense of gratitude for you know what,
Speaker 3: I get to move today, I get to be up,
Speaker 3: I get to be able to do what I want
Speaker 3: to do, and that also helps me kind of overcome
Speaker 3: anything that It's like, yeah, my knee might be bothered
Speaker 3: me a little bit, but you know what, I'm still
Speaker 3: so I still have the ability to get up and move.
Speaker 3: I still have the ability to go out and use
Speaker 3: this thing, and I'm gonna use it for as long
Speaker 3: as I can. I don't know if that's helpful for anybody,
Speaker 3: but I really try to start the day with just
Speaker 3: being thankful that I have the opportunity to get up
Speaker 3: and use this vehicle that we've been blessed with.
Speaker 2: Yeah, gratitude is everything. It can be so motivational in
Speaker 2: so many ways. Well, Pete, I have to tell you
Speaker 2: that felt right today. That felt right, and I really
Speaker 2: appreciate having this conversation with you on care Walks. Thank
Speaker 2: you so much for joining us and we'll see you soon.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you for the conversation and really thank you
Speaker 3: for inspiring people to be more active. And hey, the
Speaker 3: more active that you can be, the better you'll feel.
Speaker 3: You just got to get through that first few minutes,
Speaker 3: and the more active you are, the better you'll feel
Speaker 3: in the better off fee'll be in the long run.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, thank you so much. Thank you Pete for joining
Speaker 2: me on care Walks. This conversation has really opened my
Speaker 2: eyes to ways that exercise and strength training can improve
Speaker 2: not only joint pain caused by osteoarthritis, but also us
Speaker 2: the tools for better care for our bodies as caregivers.
Speaker 1: I don't have to tell you what a physical.
Speaker 2: Job caregiving can be, but I don't think that I
Speaker 2: ever really realized or thought about the best ways to
Speaker 2: get stronger for the work of being a caregiver. That's
Speaker 2: all for this episode of Carewalks. Don't forget to come
Speaker 2: back next week when we talk about the wonderful parts
Speaker 2: of being a caregiver with our guests, fellow caregiver Rob Phobion.
Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to that.
Speaker 2: Keep walking until then, and don't forget to take care
Speaker 2: of yourself too. Carewalks is produced by iHeartRadio in partnership
Speaker 2: with voltairean arthritis pain Gel and hosted by me Holly
Speaker 2: Robinson Pete. Our executive producer is Molly Sosha. Our head
Speaker 2: engineer is Matt Stillough. This episode was written and produced
Speaker 2: by Sierra Kaiser, with special thanks to our partners at
Speaker 2: GSK Platform, GSK, Weber Shandwick and Edel then
Speaker 3: M