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#154: The Biggest Myths Women Are Taught About Pain, Exercise, and Injury - Physio Nouran Khaled Explains
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In this episode of The Kate Hamilton Health Podcast, I sit down with Chartered Physiotherapist Nouran Khaled to discuss one of the biggest barriers holding women back from exercise: fear of pain, injury, and “doing it wrong.” If you’ve ever felt scared to lift weights, worried that exercise will make your back pain worse, or unsure how to start after time off, this conversation will change how you think about movement.
Nouran explains why strong, well-taught movement is one of the most powerful tools we have for injury prevention, pain relief, and long-term independence - especially for busy women navigating work, family, stress, and aging.
We also chat about:
- Why so many women feel fragile in their bodies
- How to rebuild confidence after injury or setbacks
- Why strength training matters more than ever as we get older
- How to train smart even when trends like Hyrox, marathons, and high-intensity workouts are everywhere
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
00:00: Introduction to the podcast and Nouran Khaled
01:50: Nouran’s mission to empower confident movement
02:40: Fear, injury myths, and why people avoid exercise
04:12: What really helps back pain
06:37: Understanding the hinge movement
12:43: Why strength training becomes more important as you age
14:42: Fitting exercise into a busy life
17:27: Mental health and movement
20:06: How to start small and stay consistent
25:10: Muscle soreness vs injury
33:27: Why commitment matters in physiotherapy
34:05: Breaking cycles with Nourish Her coaching
37:55: Self-care, burnout and balance
42:06: Impatience and progress
48:53: Hyrox marathons & fitness trends
56:11: Quick fire questions
57:57: Final thoughts & where to find Nouran
Links & Resources:
- Connect with me on Instagram here
- Learn more about KHH coaching here
- Connect with Nour on Instagram here
- Visit the Belvedere Clinic website here
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with friends who might benefit. For more health and fitness tips, follow me on Instagram and TikTok @katehamiltonhealth.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:00:09
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Kate Hamilton Health Podcast. In today's episode, I chat with Nooran Khaled. She is a chartered physiotherapist with a strong foundation in movement science and exercise-based rehabilitation.
00:00:24
Speaker
She holds a bachelor's degree in kinesiology and a master's degree in physiotherapy. With over six years immersed in understanding how movement empowers the body, Nouran's work centres on helping people feel stronger, move better and regain independence in their daily lives.
00:00:41
Speaker
Her approach is energetic, motivating and practical, focused not just on treating the injury, but on educating clients so they understand their bodies and feel confident managing them long term.
00:00:52
Speaker
She has particular expertise in injury rehabilitation, strength and conditioning, injury prevention and supporting people living with persistent or long term pain. Nooran currently practices at Belvedere Clinic in Greystones County, Wicklow, where she works with a broad range of clients from those recovering after injury to people wanting to move more freely day to day to athletes aiming to improve performance safely.
Empowering Movement and Overcoming Fear
00:01:16
Speaker
She is also co-creator of the Stronger Together program, which is small group personal training to help people get stronger and move better and be more confident with their strength training.
00:01:30
Speaker
We covered everything from movement, confidence, strength training, injury, pain, movement through different life phases, everything we've got to covered in this conversation. It was really, really inspiring. And I just know that you will enjoy it as much as I did.
00:01:49
Speaker
Nooran, welcome to the podcast. Thank you very much for having What is your mission with your work? Well, that's a great question. I kind of spent some time thinking about it before the podcast, obviously, and I have to kind of renew it every every while to see if I'm kind of like focusing on it or if I need to shift it a little bit. But mainly it's about empowerment, empowering women.
00:02:12
Speaker
and the general population, but specifically women, to be confident in their body, to not be fearful with their movement and to feel like they could live their day-to-day life with with happiness and the freedom of being able to do the things that they love and not be inhibited by, like, fears or worries that they can't do it because of an injury or because of pain. So it's it's all centered around empowerment, really.
00:02:40
Speaker
That's so good because like there really is that fear, like it's getting better, I think, in society, but there's still a lot of fear lot of women will have a lot of fear about starting to lift weights, starting to, you know, use their bodies in ways they haven't, that there's actually that fear of injury when actually the strength training or, you know, the the exercises that, you know, you might be recommending or I might be recommending is actually going to to benefit and enhance their lives. But that fear really does get in the way, particularly, I think, for women as they get older as well.
00:03:10
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah, no, definitely. And I think the funny thing is there's like that little bit of a paradox. Like, I don't know if you know a whole lot about back pain, but back pain in general, when it comes on, people become extremely fearful of moving because they're worried about, oh, my back's going to give up. Something's going to happen. I just feel like something's out of place. And the funny thing is exercise, it might be the reason that caused the injury in the first place or you were lifting something and that happened. is
00:03:42
Speaker
The exercise is the thing that will fix it as well. Okay, yeah. and And people kind of start thinking like, well, I don't want to exercise again. Like I hurt my back exercising or I hurt my back lifting something. But that's the same thing that's going to fix your problem. So it is um a catch 22 or a paradox in that way. So I think people exactly are fearful of strength training or of lifting weights because they think it'll hurt them. But if they don't do it, it'll also hurt them.
Approaches to Pain Management and Injury Prevention
00:04:09
Speaker
Yeah. So that is it is a real kind of catch 22. But if we were to take we'll use that example. Someone comes to you. and maybe hasn't really gotten into lifting weights. They've hurt their back maybe by starting lifting weights or by just like lifting the shopping or something like that. They've hurt their back. They come to you.
00:04:28
Speaker
And I know it's a really really general question and your your practice is going to be very much individual to individual. But what's the method that you would use to to get this person on a healing path?
00:04:40
Speaker
Yeah, that's a great question. And like a lot of the time when you come, when someone presents to you with back pain, especially if it's like an ongoing thing, you need to be very multimodal. You can't just be like, do your exercises and that's it. And I can't just be like, you're OK, don't worry about it. and Again, just kind of reassure them and leave them go on their way. So I think it's using tools like advice and education. So kind of dispelling like...
00:05:08
Speaker
myths or fact things that aren't true about the back that your back isn't sturdy enough or it's not capable of handling weights or things like that. You have to kind of go back to their day-to-day and be like, okay, what do you do in your day-to-day? Some people might be like, oh, I like to garden. Okay, well, you lift this or you're lifting that pot. Do you know how much that weighs? That's around like 10 kg and you're worried about like lifting 2 kg to exercise. Like, you have to kind of relate it back to their day to day and what they're doing and let them know that they're actually much stronger than they feel like they are because sometimes they just feel like, oh, I can't do this. Like I i haven't lifted weights in so long, but you're lifting your shopping every day. Do you know how much that weighs? You're lifting like your kid every day or your, you know, your grandkid or whatever it is. Do you know how much he weighs? So I think relating it back to that and then obviously just kind of giving them the reassurance, the advice, the education. And it's small steps, small things, small goals that you could set with them so you're not overwhelming them. So if someone's coming in and they're super fearful, the first thing I'll start with is giving very basic exercises and very basic movements just so that they can regain their trust and their confidence in their back and their body. Yeah.
00:06:22
Speaker
I think... as well, like as you start, like you that's it, like starting small and putting like, you know, basic exercises in place and building like the confidence. Obviously, you're not going to go from, you know, be injured to lifting barbells. And, you know, there's very much a step by step process in healing. But also, I think as you start to kind of connect with your body and use your muscles and that mind muscle connection, you start to realize, oh, I'm not actually supposed to lift with my back.
00:06:51
Speaker
You know, I'm not supposed to hunch over like that and lift the shopping that way. i'm supposed to bend my knees, keep my back straight and learning learning to hinge. Like for me, when I used to teach classes, one thing that really struck me was how difficult it is for a lot of women to understand the hinge pattern.
00:07:05
Speaker
Oh, yeah yeah. That can be huge. Will we talk a little bit more about hinging and maybe like define what that is rather than... so Even some people listening might I don't even know what you're talking about when say a hinge. So generally speaking, a lot of women, as you said, especially if they're not used to that kind of movement,
00:07:22
Speaker
from the gym or they haven't been exposed to a work environment where they've had to lift heavy and had to take like a course on how to lift properly you never really learn how to hinge and you constantly kind of go for it whatever the natural movement feels like which is just bending over and grabbing something or when you're bending over you're not really aware of your back and where it sits kind of in space so the hinging movement all really happens from the hip As you probably know. Yeah. You're very well aware. Exactly. So as you are coming down, you're meant to keep your your chest nice and open, your back flat, as if you're balancing something on your back, whether it's like a pencil or a water bottle. And you're trying to really use your leg muscles to to drive most of the lifting, as opposed to depending on your back doing the lifting. Yeah. And I think that like that can be an absolute game changer. like And that's a very simple thing to to learn. Like when you start thinking about, you know, keeping your back straight, that involves having to engage your core a little bit and keeping your chest up so you're not rounding at the shoulders. Your shoulders are suddenly back. And i think, you know, what like when I learned how to deadlift, which is just one hinge pattern, which isn't necessarily what we'd be starting with with someone. But what really stuck with me and the way want you, always gave like, you know, when I was coaching people in person was
00:08:40
Speaker
you're pushing the floor away with your legs. Like this is a leg movement that your upper body is just basically the crane that's lifting this weight off the off the floor. But it's your legs and your core that are really doing the work here.
00:08:52
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah, no, I i agree with you 100%. And I think it's really important to teach people, like especially those coming in with back pain and back injuries, movements like that, that can make them feel more confident with their back and can also make them rely on other body parts that they usually don't rely on and feel like, you know what, no, I'm actually doing the movement all from my back. No, you're not. You're actually doing a lot of it from your leg. This actually reminds me of recently. So we run the Stronger Together program that you're very well aware of for older adults in the community to kind of get stronger and get confident lifting weights. And it was one of the the clients that we have. He brought in his partner just to kind of check out the class and stuff. And we were doing the kettlebell swings and she was just...
00:09:39
Speaker
She looked at it and she was extremely fearful and she was like, I can't do this. Like, my back's going to give up. But as you know, yeah kettlebell swings don't really depend on your back. yeah Like, you're you're doing really the whole movement from your hip and from your legs. So it was just very shocking for her. And I think it takes time for people to trust you to even do these movements. yeah because to them they're still like, no, like that movement looks wrong to me. like If I do that, something's going to happen to my back. but you Yeah, and I think it's hugely important when people are starting out too to invest the money in a program like yours, you know, like where... You know, like I work as an online coach now, but like for a long time I did work with people in person.
00:10:19
Speaker
And I think if you're new to lifting weights, whether it's a personal trainer or working with a physio like yourself or whether it's a like small group personal training, because I know personal training can be very expensive, but there's so many options out there now for in-person classes where you will learn the movement patterns properly. You'll learn how to lift weights starting small, but that you don't have to fear a deadlift.
Strength Training and Health Benefits
00:10:40
Speaker
You don't have to fear a kettlebell swing because you do hear the horror stories in the gym and someone does something to their back. dead lifting or kettlebell swing, you know, oh, i injured myself doing a kettlebell swing, but it's because you were doing it wrong.
00:10:51
Speaker
Likely. And you can also injure yourself by doing absolutely nothing. Like you can injure yourself just reaching down and tying your shoelaces. I injured myself in the sea one time. So then James did a huge amount of work. James, and your colleague, did a huge amount of work on my shoulder. It took me a good two years to recover. But I was in the sea and I got knocked over by a wave and I fell down. Like I got a bit of a fright, actually, like my dad, like I was in with my dad. He just like lifted me up or whatever. But I don't know with to this day still whether it was the actual impact of the wave or whether it was the way I like tensed or with the way I fell because I was on the soft sand. Like I didn't feel it at the time. It was that night it started getting really sore. And then like I couldn't train. I couldn't do anything with my shoulder for a long time. but
00:11:31
Speaker
had a lot of physio work to do and it was just... like I just yeah like the muscles were all just like there was there was no damage to the joint then it was all muscular. It took a really, really long time to heal. And even to that point, like, you know, I was I was doing pull ups and everything before that. And like it took me a really long time to be able to even let say it took two years to be able to do a pull up again after it. Like it really was a slow because I think when when you're talking about the shoulder, there's such small little muscle. like it is just It's just so much more complicated, isn't it? It's very intricate, exactly. Yeah. But my point there was I wasn't doing anything. I wasn't flinging a dumbbell over my shoulder. I wasn't doing pull ups or I was, you know, it was I just fell over in the sea.
00:12:10
Speaker
Exactly. It can happen any anywhere. kind of Injuries can happen from anything, really. Exactly, 100%. I agree with you. So that's why like there's no point in attributing injury to exercise because exercise is actually one of the most reliable preventative measures for injuries. And look, you can go about your life not doing any exercise, you could still injure yourself. So there's no increase in likelihood of you injuring yourself if you exercise. In fact, to you you're probably decreasing the likelihood because you are getting stronger and you're likely going to prevent that injury from happening. Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about that preventative side of things, because, you know, like a really, really strong why for me for, you know, lifting weights is to be stronger as I age, to prevent injuries, to, you know, increase my not just my muscle mass, but my bone density. As I get older, you know, I'll be 40 my next birthday. So all of this stuff, you know, is ah is just so important. And that independence as we age so that like when my kids are raised and I act like in 20 years time and I want have loads of adventures that physically I'm able to do so and I can go travel and do whatever I want to do. and And like that's a really, really strong driving factor for me. And I think sometimes we can find it difficult to look that far ahead. Like we look at our future selves and they don't feel like us. But we're still going to feel like us inside.
00:13:27
Speaker
But our bodies, if we don't look after them now and we don't really kind of strengthen ourselves now, might start letting us down a little bit and we'll still feel the same inside and it will be really frustrating. So I think let's talk a little bit about strength training for, you know, preventing injury, for preventing, not preventing ageing. We can't prevent ageing, but, you know, for... For complementing our aging, should we say, what you would recommend, like being realistic, like, you know, busy mom, and three kids, full time job. What do we realistically need to be doing to to prevent, you know, to really kind of have a strong body, prevent injury free and complement our aging?
00:14:02
Speaker
Well, in terms of what the research that's out there and the physical activity guidelines, the recommendation is 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity um in terms of aerobic exercise. So that's all your walking, your cycling, your tennis, anything that really kind of gets your heart rate going. And in terms of strength training, we're talking about two to three times a week.
00:14:25
Speaker
yeah And we're talking include all the major body parts and balance. But the reality is sometimes that's just not doable for a lot of people to put in the time for you know two one-hour sessions a week. yeah okay And especially, as you said, when you are a mom, when you have kids, when you're busy, and with societal expectations that are placed in women to kind of be the caregiver of everyone in the household and to kind of put everyone else before herself. it can get really difficult to make time for yourself to like, okay, now I need to make this time to exercise. It's like, no, I need to prioritize taking my son to, you know, his GA practice, or I need to prioritize getting the groceries so I can cook the dinner tonight. But I think it's really important for women to also, like, remember that this is an investment in themselves.
00:15:20
Speaker
for their future selves and for their current selves because you need the strength for your grocery shopping and you need the do You need to be present with your kids and in order to be present, you need to be taking care of yourself. Right. Yeah. And then also you're kind of setting setting an example like, you know, kids are watching. Like, so when I was small, like when I was
Exercise and Mental Health Benefits
00:15:40
Speaker
small, when my kids were small, when my kids were small, and I used to just work out at home. I had dumbbells. I did what I could at home at the kitchen floor. They used to crawl all over me. They used to join in like, you know, and it wasn't wasn't the most ideal. Sometimes it wasn't the most fun because I was like, oh, you know, you're trying to make it fun with them. and You're like, oh, this would be so much better if I was by myself in a gym. But, you know, like you make the most of it and it becomes normal for them to see you exercise. And then, like, you know, my oldest is now 15 and, you know, he's been and doing a bit of work with a personal trainer in the gym and, you know, and he's into it now. And it's I just think like kids do what they see. Well, sometimes those parents can actually put them off things as well, you know, But I think that it's really like I and I have two sons and I have a daughter, but it's really important to me that my daughter sees me prioritize myself so she doesn't learn that she has to put everyone else first before herself, that it's OK to stand up for herself, prioritize herself, create a little bit of space in her week for herself as she gets older. Because I think when I think about who I am as a woman,
00:16:46
Speaker
A lot of it is to do with the way my mother raised me. And I think you know if we all think about it, we what our automatic behaviours do tend to come from our mothers. And I think that we have a responsibility as women that, you know, what we to do for us what we would want for our daughters, because at the end of the day, they're going to more than likely mimic it anyway. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I 100% agree. I do think it comes from obviously your family, so your mother, and then it comes from your culture as well yeah and the expectations that are placed upon you. So like you said, you're setting a good example. You're setting a good example for all your kids, your daughters, your sons, yeah being able to prioritize yourself, your your your physical health, your mental health. um And a lot of people should know that exercise is one of the best things
00:17:33
Speaker
medicines for mental health. Like there's loads of studies out there to show that um for individuals who have anxiety or depression or just low mood, the exercise can really benefit in that. So it's a really beautiful pill, if you think of about it, for you to kind of take day to day as opposed to seek out actual medicine for your pain. Like it is the medicine for your pain. If there is a magic pill out there that was called exercise that people could take, I'm sure they could take they would take it every day. But it's just hard. It's a funny one, isn't it Because when you're in pain, whether it's emotionally, physically, mentally,
00:18:09
Speaker
the last thing you want to do is move. But it's about pushing through that, isn't it? It's like just like we call it the five minute action where it's like and we do this with our clients where it's like just commit to five minutes. Just, you know, get out the door, go for your walk. You only need to do five minutes after five minutes. You have guilt free permission to stop.
00:18:27
Speaker
But what happens most of the time? You continue. Motivation comes after action. Yeah. And you feel better for it. But you're never putting more than five minute expectation on yourself. Because sometimes I think it's like, an hour long workout. Oh, my God, I have to walk for five kilometres or you know whatever it is, yeah like the thoughts of it would...
00:18:44
Speaker
it puts you off and then you still don't feel any better. Whereas if you just commit to five minutes and I used to do this like when I was a teacher and I used to go to the CrossFit class um am at like 7 p.m. and I'd be so tired after the day, you know, id have like, you know, I've been teaching kids all day home to my own small kids, rushing around to get dinner cooked and like I'd be so, so tired. But it was a a lot of it was mental exhaustion and just stress.
00:19:06
Speaker
So I used to always just say, I'll go down, I'll drive down and I will just do the warm up. If I don't feel good after the warm up, I'll stop. I never went home after the warm up. Once I did the warm up, I was there and I felt better already. So I think what you're saying there is so important in relation to met like your mental health but yeah like pain but but I know like we're we'll talk a bit about physical pain now but even just emotional pain and it can be the last thing that you want to do and sometimes if I'm having a really really tough week I can't face going into the gym sometimes I'm just and not that that I just the the effort of lifting weights I'm like I just don't want to I just don't want to and I don't want to
00:19:44
Speaker
talk to anyone and sometimes i I will choose then if I have a day like that and it can just be hormonal sometimes or you know there could just be like real stuff going on in our lives I'll just take my dog for a walk and I don't have to talk to anyone and then I still feel better but I'll do something yeah and I think if we can stop putting so much pressure on ourselves and realise that we just need to move our bodies for a little bit every day in what way feels right for us Absolutely. Like you said, a bunch of really brilliant points that I want to like circle back to. First of all, the five minutes that you spoke about. yeah like Just kind of setting things into action by having a small little habit, which is like, I'm going to start it and I'm going to give five minutes to it. If it works out for me, I'll continue. If it doesn't, I'll stop. um It's a really great way to get you started, exactly. So don't make it into such a big deal.
00:20:29
Speaker
Don't make it into like, okay, I need to get ready. I need to go out. I need to face people. I need to talk to individuals, et cetera. And then you're like really put off by the whole thing and you're like, I'd rather do nothing. You're absolutely right. So if someone is finding it really difficult to get into the gym, the gym isn't for everyone. Like it's not an environment where everyone feels like they're thriving or they're having a good time. Some people go to the gym and feel incredibly stressed out and feel like, I don't know what's going on. i don't understand the machines. Everyone seems to know what they're doing. i don't really know what to do. So it's a great place to start by just kind of being at home and working with what you have. If you have a few weights, work with them. If you don't have any weights at all, you can work with your own body weight. Like you could just do, you know, a few squats, a few jumping jacks, a few lunges, and you got yourself a little workout there. And let me remind you of COVID times when we didn't have access to our gyms, right? I was just thinking about that actually as you were saying. saying And I think i I gained so much strength during COVID. I used to do a lot of like reverse push ups, like starting at the you know the top of a push up position and slowly release down and hold at the bottom. I got so, so strong in my push ups through that or like even, you know, like squat holds and things like that. I'm really working on just slowing things right down, holding at the bottom like, you know, anyone tries that. Like no one wants to do that anymore because we have access to the weights again.
00:21:53
Speaker
No, exactly, exactly. But if you're finding yourself that you're too busy and you can't get yourself to the gym or you just don't have the motivation yet, do a little exercise program for yourself at home. And if you're finding trouble with that, just go online and be like, I want a 10 or 15 minute full body workout or leg workout yeah using just my body weight. I mean, we have so many tools now, starting with like the AIs, the ChatGPT, et cetera, and all your other YouTube videos of So many people demonstrating just simple exercises for you just to get your foot in the door, nothing else. And then obviously it would be worthwhile reaching out to someone at some point if you want a little bit more guidance, like a trainer a physio or someone who can give you a little bit more pointers on how to do things properly. But if you just kind of organize yourself in that I'm going to set aside five or 10 minutes in the morning after breakfast, that's when I know I'm free to do my squats.
00:22:49
Speaker
You're doing something. it's It's better than doing nothing. Like, absolutely. So I think that's really, really important. And I think as well, i maybe this just works for me, but anyone who's a bit like me will be the same. You know, if you're like, OK, I'm going to do 10 squats every morning and that's how you're starting. If you actually Google, what do squats do for my body?
00:23:08
Speaker
And like if I understand why I'm doing something, I'm like, oh, OK, right. I'm working my quads, which are here in the front of my legs. And I'm also working my my glutes. And if I put my legs wider, I'm working my glutes more. And, you know, like and if they put them narrow and like, you know, and you're learning and you're like, actually, when I'm holding myself here and if I'm holding some weight, I'm actually using my core as well. And, you know, you can actually i think if you can you educate yourself and we're so lucky to have access to all of this information that, you know keeping it simple and why am I doing it?
00:23:34
Speaker
And what is it doing for my body can be a it actually, in my opinion, is a form of meditation because I'm like, you know, you're fully immersed in the process. You're like you're connecting with your body. You're getting out of your thoughts. It can be really, really therapeutic. And like that, like you said, starting at home, start small with no weight or with the weights you have. You can build up over time.
00:23:54
Speaker
build a little bit of collection of dumbbells when, you know, and when you build your confidence, you can reach out if you're like, oh I actually want to learn more about this. And that happens naturally. That's what happened to me. Like it happens to a lot of women. But then you might be someone who has the confidence but is worried about the injuries like we spoke about, like, you know, like the lady in your class who's like, I'm too afraid I'm going to hurt my back.
00:24:13
Speaker
Then go and go straight to the the physio or the PT and and dive straight in and learn these movement patterns. So it depends on the person. But I think the underlying messaging here is just start. Absolutely.
Understanding Pain and Soreness from Exercise
00:24:24
Speaker
Absolutely. And in just starting, like you said, you need to set some habits. So the five minute idea is brilliant. One thing that I got myself, like I do for myself to be motivated is I put out my like my exercise clothes like the night before. Yeah. I just set it out on my bed or in a chair or something. So when I wake up in the morning, I don't think too much. The first thing I do is I change and I just put it on. So that way I've just like, I invested in a small little bit where I don't have to think in the morning, where it becomes more automatic. And then I get to my little workout. It's taking away that decision fatigue, isn't it? Exactly. And like when I used to work out at home, I used to do like the kids still in I'd just get up, get into the workout clothes and straight down. And I'd be working out before I'd even have time to think about it because before I could talk myself out of it, that used to work really well as well. So little hacks like that are hugely important. Let's talk a little bit about pain then as well, because I know when I work with women and, you know, and we give a workout program online and, you know, we kind of do videos back and forth, you know, if they're struggling with movement patterns and a lot women
00:25:23
Speaker
are afraid of pain. So like, you know, I thought we could talk about the different types of pain in relation to like what we should be feeling in our workouts, what we shouldn't. So like when we're talking about strength training, like I'm always like, this is not about getting really hot and sweaty and get your heart rate up and flying through things. This is slow. This is controlled. And you should be feeling the burn in your muscles. The burn in your muscles are OK. That's what we want to feel. What we don't want to feel is pain in your joints even afterwards.
00:25:50
Speaker
pain like that those DOMS the delayed onset muscle soreness that people feel they sometimes they like our clients would be like oh god I was so sorry I couldn't work out for a week afterwards i was like no no like when you're sore you need like the that's make that better is more movement don't be afraid you might want to skip a day before you go to do your next workout but it's okay to like you need to keep moving and if anything go for a walk and then getting back to your next workout the following day after that is what you need to do and sorry I'm circling this back to question so in relation to yeah so muscle pain while we're training joint pain that we want to avoid the DOMS that we experience which are normal and we need to work through but differentiating the difference between I've pulled my hamstring rather than my hamstrings are sore because I worked them hard you know and I think some people get confused about what pain is okay to push through and what pain is it like shit I need to go to the physio and get this looked at
00:26:45
Speaker
Okay, let's dive into that. So i think it's our role and our duty to educate the people that we work with as much as we can on the difference between DOMS and the difference between you really hurt yourself and you should get that checked out. And a lot of people, especially if you haven't lifted weights before, they haven't experienced that type of muscle soreness before. So to them, it's very new. And, you know, when they experience it for the first time, they're thinking to themselves, oh, my God, I must have hurt myself really badly or i shouldn't be doing this anymore. So it is important.
00:27:20
Speaker
beforehand to kind of let them know and inform them that you will be sore after this workout. I expect you to be sore. And that's kind of like when when I did the Stronger Together when we were first starting out, I would let them know, expect to be sore in the next two days. If you're not, then maybe you're not working hard enough. yeah and And I want you to be working hard enough. But the other piece about the injury...
00:27:42
Speaker
I think, again, this goes to either us being aware of their previous injuries, so then we can tell them how to watch out for that and what to be aware of. And the second part is the level of pain that you're in.
00:28:00
Speaker
DOMS in general, you will feel sore, you will feel stiff, but it's not, it's a muscle soreness that should subside after two to three days. If you're someone who's just getting back into working out again, it might take five to seven days, yeah and that's okay.
00:28:18
Speaker
But the pain that we're talking about that's like, okay, you need to go to a doctor or you should go to a physio to check that out is the type of pain that's excruciating or the type of pain that's keeping you up at night. That's alarming, that's red flag. In terms of knowing if you pulled something or not, I'd still say wait a week,
00:28:38
Speaker
before you rush into thinking this is something very serious. Because ah if it subsides within the few days or that week, then you can probably put it to muscle soreness or DOMS. yeah But if you are still getting this like niggle or this feeling of like something just isn't right and it's not with your movement anymore maybe it's like with just sitting down on the chair i just feel very uncomfortable sitting down i feel it in the back of you know my leg there and it's constant and you've changed something in your routine and you've added something new that you usually weren't doing and now it's like causing you pain and it's not going away that's when i would maybe reach out and ask someone if this is normal, if something is going on or if I should feel comfortable with something like that. So I think it is important to, I guess, not rush into catastrophizing and freaking out and thinking like, I hurt myself. This is just the most awful thing. And at the same time, knowing if something is a little bit too uncomfortable and it persists with you for a while, not to like kind of put it away, shove it in a corner there and you're like, I don't have time to deal with this right now. And I think what a lot of people do is they give up their exercise routine, especially if it happens early on in their strength training journey. They're like, oh, God, no. Yeah, I'm not going to do that again. I'm like that. I got a fright. I'm after hurting myself. I'm not doing it again, particularly if it is the back or something like that. But what I find really in what I have learned, like I, as you know, like I i go to James and quite regularly for a lot of preventative stuff now. But initially, like, you know,
00:30:12
Speaker
I learned so much by like I went to James because like I had a pain in my heel, my left heel. Right. And I was like, do I have like plantar fasciitis? Did I say that right? plant I was like, I thought thought I had that or I was like, it was I'd get up first thing in the morning and it would be particularly sore on my left heel.
00:30:30
Speaker
And it turned out it was like this whole alignment issue with me. Like it was actually to do it like tight hips and then my shoulder injury that I'd had a couple of years ago, like every it was all tied in together. Like so, you know, I was going for regular physio visits and, you know, like I don't have that issue at all anymore. But also what I had learned was like a lot about my alignment as like and I think a lot of females, and especially females who've had kids like myself, you know, might be experiencing and not even realise like my whole posterior chain was really weak. and still is weaker than my my front half of my body. So like for anyone who doesn't know what a posterior chain is, the whole back of my body is weaker than the front of my body. Now, apart that's partly to do with females being more front strong in general, isn't it? Like quad dominant. But I also did a lot of CrossFit.
00:31:16
Speaker
but which was a lot of lunches, a lot of front squats, a lot, you know, a lot of push ups, you know, so a lot of work on the front of my body and not as much work and on the back. And like, you know, even with my lifts, like my deadlift would be my weaker kind of like my hinge patterns would be weaker than my like squat patterns. and which I think is quite common in women. But what I didn't realise was, and it's a long time since I've really you know trained in a CrossFit manner. i i train quite very balanced now, but I was you know i was doing very like you know two upper, two lower days in the gym and I was working every body part. But what I didn't realise was that my programme needed to be adjusted to be more focused on the posterior chain. Like I don't do any chest exercises at all anymore yeah at the minute because what was happening to me was My shoulders are rolling forward and where my shoulders are rounding and my upper back is so tight. Like even like I go and I lie the physio bed and James tries to get a little crack in my T-spine, like a little can't like cannot because it's so fused. Now it's getting better with lots of, you know, pull aparts and face pulls and, you know, things like that. but it But it's been years like really like even now my shoulders are still not will still tend to roll forward a bit. Yeah. But it was all of this stuff that i was really not aware about my body and it fascinated me. And it doesn't mean that people need to spend hundreds and hundreds going to physio nonstop. But you can learn a lot. Absolutely. By just, you know, by going about the injury rather than brushing it under the rug and be like, OK, why does my hamstring hurt or why does my heel or my hip hurt? Go and get examined. And you might need a few sessions with the physio, but you'll but like any good physio is going to tell you to strength train, tell you what to focus on and
00:32:56
Speaker
Yeah. So that's a really long winded story, but I thought it was if just for a context of how much I have gotten from working with a physio in the understanding of
Commitment to Physiotherapy and Health
00:33:06
Speaker
how my body works. And at the minute, you know, I haven't been to James for a while now, but I'm working away on my posterior chain and I know that this stuff takes time. And I think like a lot of people give up on their physio exercise.
00:33:17
Speaker
Like my mother. Oh, my God, she's the worst. I've talked about her before. I don't think she listens to the podcast. I hope not. But she ah she injured her shoulder yeah years ago and she went to the physio afterwards because she ah she had to but had have an operation on it. Like she really hurt her shoulder. She fell and on it and broke it. And yeah, so she to have an operation and she went to the physio because the doctor sent her to the physio afterwards and she got the physio exercises and then just never did them.
00:33:43
Speaker
And even to this day, like she can't put her stretch her left arm like all the way up, like all the up. But she got it far enough that she could hang the washing on the washing line. And that's all that's important to her. But it's because she doesn't have attention span. She's like, this is boring. I don't like. But I think we need to.
00:34:01
Speaker
slow down and work on the boring stuff, don't we? Ladies, how many times have you restarted your fitness journey? You follow the plan, you cut out the foods that you love, push through workouts you don't even enjoy and somehow end up right back at square one.
00:34:17
Speaker
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00:34:29
Speaker
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00:34:44
Speaker
If you're ready to stop starting over, Tap the link in the show notes and see how women just like you have transformed with our Nourish Her coaching program. Oh, absolutely. But look, one thing about physio is that you learn early on in that career that it is very much a 60, 70 percent investment from your client and 30 percent from you. You can give the advice and education and all the exercises in the world. You can be perfect doing all of it. But if your client isn't there kind of like receptive to all of that and wanting to take that on board and do that, then they're likely just not going to improve. And you see that like often enough where someone will come back in and they're like, oh, I'm not getting better. Have you done your exercises? Well... Have you changed anything about your day to day since we last saw you? Well, not exactly. I just haven't had the time. Well, it's really hard for us then to gauge whether or not we're kind of giving you the right stuff or not if you're not doing it. And i get it and it for a lot of people, especially for older individuals, like for and someone like your mother, she was smart. She got her functional movement back. She got what she needed. And she's like, that's enough for me. But if we're talking, if you're someone a little bit younger as well, or like just at the age where you know you're working and you need that movement day to day, and it's a lot more important than just you know getting small functional movements back, you need to commit to your exercises. You need to commit to the advice. You need to really take it on board and try it out. Because like...
00:36:19
Speaker
What are you losing? If you try this out for four to six weeks and it's still not benefiting you, then you can go back to the, you know, to your physio and you could talk to them and you could be like, I tried, but it's not helping me. But a lot of people give up so easily.
00:36:33
Speaker
And then you would see that they're bouncing around from like physio to physio. And they're like oh, yeah, I went to this physio a while back for my shoulder problem. And they gave me a few exercises and I did them for like a week and it just didn't help me.
00:36:45
Speaker
You did them for a week. Like, what do you expect? But I think a part of it, too, is that you also have to gauge as a physio your client's willingness to do something. And if you feel like they may not be as motivated, don't overload them.
00:37:02
Speaker
yeah Keep it simple. Keep it like really, really, really simple. Like I was recently having a chat with a client and he was telling me how he just could not for the life of him do any core ab exercises. He just couldn't find the motivation. He works out regularly and everything, but that's just something he doesn't like to do. Oh, sounds like me. So we started discussing, okay, well, how can we make a commitment to that? Like, what can we possibly do? What about chair exercises? Like, do exercises in your chair while you're doing kind of like your your admin work or while you're typing away something. You can, you know, engage your core a little bit. You can do something as you're just sitting down. Is that something you can commit to?
00:37:42
Speaker
Yeah, probably, more likely. So it is up to us in a way in that if we know that our client will not do something, then to modify as much as we can. But there's only so much we can do at the of the day, right? So there is definitely commitment from the client that needs to be. I think it comes back to the underlying issue. And like an i am always so like I will always take a very understanding, gentle, proactive approach. But when it comes to lifestyle change of any sort, whether we're talking nutrition, whether we're talking physio, the first thing is you have to create the space to focus on you a little bit. And if your your life is so hectic that you can't make the time to do your few physio exercises to prioritize that for your long term health or, you know, whatever, whatever it is, then something's got to change about the life, like the lifestyle. It doesn't mean, you know, leave your partner and quit your job or anything. But, you know, just being like, what am I doing? Like, what is my week actually filled with? And like I will often get clients to write out.
00:38:47
Speaker
everything they do in the week, which can be a really shocking thing for someone to see, like all the things that they're doing from the minor things. And it's just a huge long list. And then it's like, where get a pen. What can be gotten rid of right away? Like, what what are you doing that you you don't enjoy that probably could be given up? And then we kind of get rid of that. What can be delegated? Is there someone you can hire to help with? Can you get your kids or your partner or, you know, your friend or your like your sister or whatever to help with things? And then what are the non-negotiables that need to happen? And you need to put your your self-care.
00:39:20
Speaker
ah hate the word self-care because it's so gimmicky, but like, but it is. But that self care needs like that needs to be in with the non negotiables like that. Yeah. So we have to schedule these things in like appointments. You know, if you make an appointment to see your doctor or your physio or you make an appointment to get your hair done, you show up because you've made the commitment and you respect the person's time.
00:39:40
Speaker
The same needs to be true for your physio exercises or your workouts or your walks or like you have to make appointments with yourself. And it's you know, you can argue, oh, it's not so sad we have to make appointments with ourselves. Yes, schedule it in if we need to schedule it in, like schedule it. We do tend to slip further down the priority list. But, you know, taking the time to do the physio work, especially when physio work, you don't see that it's not as rewarding, isn't it? Not like ah initially because you feel like, oh, nothing's happening. I'm just doing these glute bridges and, you know, these like squeezes and I don't feel. Yeah. But it's setting the foundations for everything else and the time that you've allocated to to recover from your injury or to, you know, to build the foundations that you need to build.
00:40:20
Speaker
can then lead to that time that you put into lifting some weights to to get yourself stronger, prevent further injury and that you always have that time set aside for yourself. No, absolutely. you're you're You're absolutely right. Like it is very important to set aside that time, whether it's to schedule it to put it in your calendar, but to not let yourself, like you said, slip down that priority list, you know, and be like, oh, I'm last on my list. You shouldn't be last on your list. You should always be first on your list. And what ends up happening is when you don't address things like that and you leave them more long term,
00:40:56
Speaker
What are you setting yourself up for? Lots of doctor appointments, medication that isn't getting you anywhere, constant chronic pain that now you can't get rid of, stress that you're constantly in pain, lack of sleep because you're in pain. And then it's vicious cycle. It's a horrible vicious cycle. And that's because you could have invested maybe five, 10 minutes every day into your exercises or every other day. You've put it off.
00:41:22
Speaker
yeah And then long term, you're now spending hours and hours on appointments and seeing doctors and osteopaths and physios and this and that, and nothing is yielding any results anymore. So it can get quite complicated when something so small is left to kind of like fester in the side and it could turn into something really big. So yeah. I don't want to like discourage people or like make them feel fearful by like saying that. But what I am saying is invest in yourself early on or as soon as you get a chance. And keep it simple. And keep it very simple.
00:41:56
Speaker
One, two, three times a week, whatever you can manage, lifting some weights if you have been to the physio or you need to go and do your do your exercises for a few minutes every day. And it's just so worth it. Let's talk a little bit about impatience as well, because...
00:42:10
Speaker
This is something I struggle with a lot. save and very So like I'll give an example, and a different example of me. I feel like, you know, my whole life is seems revolve around physio. But i my youngest child is eight. So after I had him, I i was fine for like two weeks. Right. Now, I was probably overdoing it because I had two older kids at home. There was a lot going on kind of in our personal lives at that time as well. So I was kind of back on my feet fairly quickly afterwards. Two weeks in, I woke up one morning and I had I couldn't like move my legs even like a centimetre sideways without like excruciating pain in my pelvis. So basically, I obviously had to go to like I rang the the the public health nurse at the time who looks after you postnatally and she was like,
00:42:51
Speaker
which was really unhelpful, actually. but name Anyway, i i got in contact with, is it called Milltown? Milltown Physio. I think they focus on female. Is it Milltown? I think it's Milltown. So I went and to the physio because I was like, I don't know what the fuck is going on. I knew it was muscular because I was like, I can't actually move. But I had inflamed the joint in my pubic bone. I didn't even know there was a a joint in your pubic bone, but I had somehow I'd obviously I don't like obviously my nine pound six baby had damaged me, but it was like delayed. So obviously, i you know, I went to the physio a good few times. We had exercises like that postnatal exercises that need to be needed to be done. But I remember at that stage of my journey before I was pregnant with him, I had really started getting into my workouts and I i was dying to get back working out. So
00:43:42
Speaker
I pushed myself too soon after I kind of started to be able to, you know, move properly again. Yeah. I went from the physio exercises straight back into like, you know, and I was kind of doing kind of plyometric kind of stuff as well. You know, I was doing squats and lunges, but I was doing jumping squats and jumping lunges and, you know, like really just what this was before I joined a gym. But I was so eager to get back to my workouts. And I think I pushed myself too soon. Then I went, joined the gym soon after that, started lifting heavier weights. And I kind of masked that injury. And a lot of what, has any injuries I've had since has stemmed from that injury.
00:44:17
Speaker
Yeah. So interesting, isn't it? Because I did a little bit of physio, but then I was like, OK, I'm impatient now. I just want to get back into things. want to start doing exciting things. Yeah, no absolutely. patience is something that we probably all have to deal with in our day-to-day life. One way or the other. But I think for something like that, it is important to have a lot more guidance, especially for women who have just given birth and during your pregnancy as well. And there's just not enough of that right now. I think in Ireland, as far as I know, maybe even globally, like there's not enough support for women during their pregnancy and after surrounding exercise. no there's definitely not. Like you can go to it like, you know, I can think of a local gym now that's fantastic that does like that. They have like the baby and mom classes and there's more gyms like that that, you know, people can bring their babies and they do postnatal work and they start lifting weights again, which is great. But you have to go out and seek that like it you're not directed to that from. and i think And like that eight years ago, that didn't really exist as much as it does now.
00:45:17
Speaker
But like I would have loved like I would have really committed to that physio stuff if i'd if I if it had been like a gradual getting stronger. Now we're progressing to this. Now we're progressing to this. And I had some sort of guidance that was going to lead me to like the strongest version of myself. You know, like yeah you had a vision, like a path. And I think that's what I was missing. And I think that's hugely important, isn't it? That like, you know, if someone and I'm talking postnatally for me, but it we doesn't even need to be postnatal. Like if you're dealing with someone who who's had a really bad injury,
00:45:46
Speaker
and they really want to get back to strength, like and then maybe they were into exercise beforehand. It can be really, really disempowering to not be able to do anything. But like you need to you need the vision, don't you? Like, I think that's so important, although it may be a year, two, three years down the line, depending on the severity of the injury that we're talking about and whether whether it's postnatal or not.
00:46:06
Speaker
We need to kind of know where i I need to know where I'm going. I need to feel like I'm working towards something.
Setting Goals for Recovery and Progression
00:46:10
Speaker
Absolutely. And I think it is the physio's role to sit down and to explain to you as much as they can, you know, that these are the steps that we're going to take short term. This is what we're working towards long term. And it's not just them telling you, it's you deciding. That's one very important thing that needs to be included in the session. Like, what's your short term goal? Like, Kate, what do you want to get out of this? You know, and then long term, what are you hoping for? And I think that's really important.
00:46:35
Speaker
Other populations that can also be very impatient are sports people. Yeah, athletes. Athletes, yes. With their injuries and wanting to get back right away and pushing through the pain and going like, oh, I can't sit this match out. But then if you don't sit this match out, you're sitting 12 out yeah for the next 12 because you injured yourself really badly. So I think it is really important. That's a whole different dynamic. And the coaches and the people around you, especially in that environment, set up the the expectations for you so it can get really challenging and really hard to kind of make your own decisions because your coach needs you, you know, to play this game or whatnot. But overall, I think it is really, really important for you to also to do your own research and kind of like figure out if I...
00:47:21
Speaker
just gave birth two weeks ago and I want to get back into exercise. When can I safely get back into weight training? When can I do this? Right. So if you struggle a little bit with the inpatient support, seek out resources as much as you can. Okay. Whether you're Googling it, whether you're talking to your local physio, whether you're talking to individuals who've been through the same thing. So other moms who've given birth recently or people like mates who have gone through the same injury as you, your ACL tear or whatever it is, and really set yourself up for a realistic timeline. Not a timeline that's like, I need to get there now because that's exactly what I want. But then you're setting yourself up for more injuries in the future. But it's not easy. Like I say that and I'm the biggest hypocrite. And i remember when I sprained my ankle, was a horrible ankle sprain a while back. I didn't even wait a week before I went back into my boxing training. And yeah, and and now my ankle is really like,
00:48:16
Speaker
It's always just really hard to balance on my ankle. or It's your weak spot now. It is. it is yeah um So, yeah, exactly. i It is hard to balance that, isn't it, though, well? like when Especially for if we're talking about athletes or you know someone who is is quite active before the injury. So like we've kind of spoken about people that you know we're trying to to encourage to continue exercising, you know, but for someone who really relies on exercise for their mental health and for their feeling good, it can be such a blow and that can be really hard to to get
Trends in Exercise and Safe Participation
00:48:47
Speaker
that balance. And actually, that's kind of what I wanted. I wanted to talk a little bit about kind of, you know, the more
00:48:53
Speaker
trendy things these days, like high rocks and running marathons. Now everyone wants to run a marathon and, you know, like obviously running, you know, it's really good for your heart and, you know, managed properly is a really good form of exercise for your head and your body.
00:49:07
Speaker
But also there's a lot of people doing a hell of a lot of like pounding on pavements for hours on end, for months on end, that is doing a lot of damage. high rocks, a lot of, you know, that high intensity, you know, you're lifting weights and you're doing cardio and you're doing it as fast as you possibly can. A bit like CrossFit. yeah And and a CrossFit probably isn't as trendy as a high rocks or running is at the minute. But what are your thoughts on these kind of sports? As someone who does high rocks classes myself and who really does enjoy high rocks, I do think they're i think they're great, but I think what's important is not to jump on something because it's a trend. Again, you want your slow, nice, natural progression. If you're someone who has...
00:49:53
Speaker
not been lifting weights for a while or you lift weights but you're not very good at more like dynamic kind of powerful movements and you throw yourself into a CrossFit class and it's a class of 20-30 people you're not getting that individual one-on-one attention and you're kind of just left to your own devices to do anything you're likely going to injure yourself or you're likely going to hurt yourself somewhere down the line and you're doing it too soon, too quick.
00:50:22
Speaker
You go from not doing anything to like, okay, I'm training for a high rocks in April, let's say. yeah So I'm going to do four sessions of high rocks every week. and you're not really giving yourself enough rest and recovery time. You're not spacing things out and doing them naturally. You're not finding out what you're weaker at so you can progress normally with it. So say if you're weak with your lunges, do you want to start right away with your lunges with 10 kg sandbag? And do you want to be going like, you know, back and forth for 500 meters or however much it is absolutely not the first thing that you want to do is set up yourself so that you could do the movement properly without pain and then the next thing that you do you start adding weights gradually so I think that's the thing people jump head first yeah and they don't kind of set themselves up nicely for whatever it is that they're doing marathons as well as some people are like oh I'm doing a marathon like next month
00:51:16
Speaker
or they're training for a marathon and three months in training, they injure themselves and they're like, oh, but I really, really want to make it to the marathon. But the injury is really bad and you know that it's going to take like a month or two to recover from that injury. Do you push yourself and do the marathon anyway and suffer the consequences or do you just slow it down and then make a commitment for another marathon another time and just make sure that your training aligns with what you want to do and you're not overdoing it? And that's the question that everyone has to ask. Is it worthwhile getting really injured just so I can post on Instagram and say, I did a high rocks race? Or yeah is it worthwhile kind of like maybe not doing the thing that you want to do so soon and so giving yourself a more realistic timeline? I think the accessory work has to be done regardless. So if you want to do a compete in high rocks or you want to run a marathon or whatever, you still need to go into the gym and you still need to work your posterior chain and you still need to work your like you still have to do the foundations of building the strength in all your muscle groups. And like you said, if there are imbalances, like, you know, if I was to start training for a marathon, especially a few months ago, like I would have ended up with like injuries in my knees because my hamstrings weren't as strong as my quads and you know what mean like things like that and we see this all the time like and I i i support women to train for half marathons and marathons from a strength strength training and nutrition point of view but it can be really really challenging and a lot of people who who do marathons are are a lot of them now I'm very much generalizing are middle-aged people who are yeah busy with kids or teenagers or older parents or you know like there's a lot of other stuff going on so they only have time to fit in the running training Yeah. And they don't have time for the strength training. And the problem is then there's not the foundations there that if you're committing to something like like I think high rocks or CrossFit is a fantastic substitute for professional or semi-professional sport. You know what mean? particularly for, I was to particularly for men, but I do mean it particularly for men because it's that competitive aspect. It's the community aspect that men lose when they stop playing sport. So if you can't play team sports anymore, I think the likes of High Rocks, and but youre still but you're still taking your strength seriously on the side. yeahp
00:53:23
Speaker
Then it can be a fantastic way to channel that, can't it? And for women as well. Sorry, that like but I just mean, I feel like men miss it more because women are better at as building community in other ways. That's true. But for anyone who who has played sport, it can be a fantastic transition. But if you've played sport, you also know how to look after your body and your strength and your muscles. Well, more likely, more likely we that I just. Yeah. my My point with all of these things is I think they're great. They can be fantastic, but that you need to have the time to do the accessory work alongside it, which can also take quite a bit of time. Absolutely. And yeah, you you said a really strong word there, the foundation. You have to set up your set up yourself with a good foundation. You can't just jump headfirst into a bunch of, this is what everyone else is doing, so I'm going to be doing it as well, and not realize that your foundation is different from someone else's. And that's the thing with these competitions as well. Sometimes, especially around my age,
00:54:22
Speaker
we get into it with like, oh, the competitive time for, you know, a doubles race for High Rocks right now is like, maybe for women, it's like an hour and 20. And then for men, it's like under like sub one hour. But that's not the point. Have you done a High Rocks before? Have you done that race before? Have you trained for it properly? So why are you going in there with like sub...
00:54:43
Speaker
one hour or hour 20. Just go and compete at your pace.
Closing Remarks and Contact Information
00:54:46
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. So I think that's that's another thing that are setting people up for injuries and for feeling like they maybe they failed at something is not competing with yourself. You're competing with other people. Stop doing that. You know, like just...
00:55:00
Speaker
brush out all that noise, take it away. You're not competing with other people. This is a competition between you and yourself, always with your health. I feel like if you want to set yourself up for success, then see where you're at now and then have goals to kind of improve in the future. Yeah. And but always measure backwards on how far you've come and be proud of how far you've come. Absolutely. Absolutely.
00:55:20
Speaker
And in terms of marathon and and like you said, like the strength training, a lot of people don't do that. Absolutely. So a lot of people just get into the running and they set themselves up really nicely with the running. But then they start getting injured or feeling like a lot of tightness in their quads or their hamstrings or knees. Yeah, or their hip flexors. Exactly. And it's like, well, are you doing any strength training? Are you doing your stretching? Are you doing everything that you need to be doing aside from just the running? Are you drinking enough water? Some people are going on like 20 kilometer it like runs and no water, no electrolytes, nothing. And they're no cramping up. Yeah. Yeah. They're not eating enough. Like, you know, like to do a marathon successfully and to not get injured. The nutrition is so important as well. Absolutely. Yeah. Now I couldn't agree more. Thank you so much for your time. And can I just do can we do one more thing before we finish up? Absolutely. I just have 10 quickfire questions. OK, so just one word answers. OK. so And the whole point of this is just to show everyone that there's that there's no one size fits all when it comes to health and fitness and that everyone's different and it's OK to figure out what's right for us. OK.
00:56:26
Speaker
Favourite food.
00:56:29
Speaker
Steak. I love steak. Favourite exercise? At the moment, um deadlifts. What time do you get up at most mornings? At 7.30. Okay, good. You're not a 5am-er. I love it. How many hours do you sleep on average per night?
00:56:46
Speaker
ah Seven to eight hours. Your favourite pastime or hobby? a I'd say at the moment, it's either watching Netflix or painting. but Love it. And it's not exercise based. just It doesn't have to be. Do you drink alcohol? No.
00:57:02
Speaker
Do you meditate? um Occasionally. Do you have a morning routine? Yes. and What is it? Sorry, briefly, really briefly. Briefly. um i wake up, I do my skincare. I'm Muslim, so I pray and then I sit down and I read a little bit of ah the Quran and then I would do a little bit of stretches and I'd get started with my day.
00:57:30
Speaker
I love that. is' a little bit of really just, yeah, connecting before at the start. What annoys you?
00:57:37
Speaker
That's a triggering question for people. as well i know ah People who chew really loudly really bothers me. Last question, and you can answer this with more than one word. What does the word health mean to you?
00:57:50
Speaker
um Freedom in your own body. Freedom and movement. Love it. Love it. Thank you so much for coming and talking to me today. I think it's been so valuable. I think, you know, I've learned so much. I think everyone listening will learn so much. If people would like to reach out to you or to Belvedere Clinic or they're interested in your Stronger Together program, where is the best place for them to reach you or James?
00:58:15
Speaker
So in terms of myself, I have an Instagram page called Noor The Physio. So it's N-O-U-R The Physio. So you can find me there and you could reach out with any questions that you have from anything you heard on the podcast or just general questions. And for the clinic itself, it's Clinic Belvedere. So it's B-E-L-V-E-D-E-R-E. So I think we can link it. Yeah, we'll put all of this in the show notes, don't worry.
00:58:39
Speaker
Perfect. So yeah, so that's the best place to reach us. So either Instagram or um our website as well. So Belvedere Clinic has a website. So it's just belvedereclinic.ie if you want to book an appointment with myself or James. if yeah If you want a physio appointment for any type of injuries or you know any worries. But also you guys run a group strength training program. you're so you You run it, don't you? It's called Stronger Together. So if you're in the Greystones area in County Wicklow, When is your next group starting? is it do Do you do intakes or is it like can can people join any time or what way does work? um
00:59:11
Speaker
At the moment we are doing intakes, but it is on a rolling basis in the sense that if someone wants to join in from week two or week three, there's no harm in that because it is eight week program. But we are starting again in the new year. So January 5th, Monday, Wednesday, and then January 6th, Tuesday, Thursday classes are starting and they're going to go on for eight weeks. So into March. And you'll be doing it every eight weeks for the foreseeable future. Yeah, future, exactly. Just reach out to you on Instagram and you'll be able to answer any questions. Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. Thanks so much.
00:59:44
Speaker
I just want to say thank you so much for listening to the podcast. And if you haven't already, do go back and listen to some of our previous episodes. Stay tuned for future episodes. So the best thing to do here is to make sure that you are subscribed to the podcast. It also makes such a difference to me if you do. So if you haven't subscribed yet, please do. And if there's any episodes at all that you particularly enjoy, please Please do share it with your friends, share it in your WhatsApp groups, share it on your stories. Please do tag me. I always love to hear it.
01:00:16
Speaker
Follow us on social media. You'll find me at Kate Hamilton Health on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube. Until next time, thank you for listening.