Strength Training changes more than Expected

Sheree
Hi, Elisa. Hello. How are you doing? I'm good. It's great to have you with us today.

Elisa
So thanks for having been.

Sheree
I just want to hear a bit about your story. So can you tell us a little bit about you?

Elisa
Yeah, absolutely. So I have Italian background, and I am married. Married for, well, it'll be 20 years this year, which is pretty cool. It is a feat in itself. I have two children that are now really young people. So I've got a daughter who's going to be 17 soon and learning to drive, which is quite stressful, I have to say. It is scary. It is scary. So I send my husband with her, but she's doing well. And I have a son who is 19 this year and he's just started full-time work. So that's a nice thing to see them grow. And two dogs.

Sheree
I was going to say you got some dogs.

Elisa
I love dogs. Have had dogs. Gosh, ever since we've had the kids, really. And they're gorgeous. And I love hanging with them, playing with them. And of course, And part of the story is wanting to walk with them a lot more than I have been.

Sheree
So you weren't able to do that?

Elisa
Not at all. So I couldn't do it because I was having so much pain in my knees. So it was my knees that were constantly aching. And to the point where I would take paracetamol before I would go for a walk, and I would only be able to walk them maybe once every three days. And once I'd gone for a walk, and I'd always take them on their own because I can't take both of them. I didn't have the strength to take both. And so once I'd do that, and I'd feel much happier that I'd done it with them. But a couple of days, I wouldn't be able to walk. It'd be so painful and a lot of swelling in my knees. So it was really hard. And I also had some breathing issues as well. And I think that those two things were It was really upsetting me because I really wanted to get active. I really wanted to also lose a little bit of weight, too, because I knew that that was playing a part somehow with my knees. Well, I thought was the main issue, but realized that there were times when they weren't as sore and my weight hadn't changed.

Elisa
So I started to rethink that and go, Okay, so what's going on here? Got you. Yeah.

Sheree
How cool. So can I ask you, when you take the dogs out for a walk, you take one, come home, and then take the other?

Elisa
Take the other. Yeah. Wow.

Sheree
That would be hard.

Elisa
It did. It was hard. I found quite stressful. But I do it because I love them to bits. And, of course, dogs need exercise. They do. And they're big dogs, aren't they? One of them is. I have a little Beagle. He's four. He's gorgeous. And also Golden Retriever. But we've had three Goldies at one stage, and then they all We would have passed on in their later years. And then we had Kiko, our Beagle, and then now we've got Marcello, our, of course, good Italian names.

Sheree
I love the Italian names.

Elisa
Absolutely.

Sheree
We know that you've been doing strength training. How long What are you doing doing it for now?

Elisa
Well, you could probably tell me that. I don't know.

Sheree
Is it too- The time passes so quickly. It does.

Elisa
Six months? I reckon it's probably more than six months. I reckon it's more than six months. But because, of course, my daughter started. And that's That's the story. That's the story, yes.

Sheree
I was about to say, why did you decide to start strength training? Because it's a very interesting thing, because Elisa here, I was training her daughter, so she wanted to get strong. And then every time you'd come in to pick up your daughter, She would try and convince you to start. You go, No, it's not for me, at least not right now. I don't know, what was going through your head at that time?

Elisa
I kept saying, No, I'm not ready. I'll do it when I'm ready. You used to say, So what will cause you to feel that you're ready? And I said, Oh, I don't know. So it was really that I was just avoiding because, well, one, because my knees were so sore, I honestly didn't know if I'd be able to get off the ground. If I had to get on the ground, I didn't know if I'd be able to get up. I didn't know if I'd be able to do the things that you guys were doing with the weights and stuff. So that was one thing, but also pain and my breathing. And so in my head, I'm thinking, Right, I've got to go to the doctor. I'll get X-rays, I'll get my lungs checked to get all those things checked first. So I did. I went and got a lung check. Everything was fine. And with my knees, I think I just had a moment. I went, Okay, Well, I had my heart checked as well. And I thought, Okay, I've got no more excuses, really. I should just do it. So I think one day I just said, Okay, I'm going to do it.

Elisa
And I was really pleasantly surprised. I think I didn't really know what to expect as well, because I used to be a gym junkie for many years before I got married. Then, of course, when kids came along and life gets in the way and you have other priorities, which some people are able to juggle those really well altogether. I just wasn't able to do that. I put my kids first. I did everything for the kids, everything for everyone else. I was a dental nurse for many years. I just was so stuffed. I'd think, Oh, that's it.

Sheree
Isn't it so true that as mums, we often put our families totally to the front? We forget that we as the carers and the main people around the house also need to look after ourselves, but we don't. You'd be amazed at how many ladies come to see me who have let themselves go over the year because they work, they come home, they cook for the family, they do this, they do that, and there's no time left for them. No, that's exactly right.

Elisa
Sounds like you had just put yourself because I know you met with quite a few people who had some things going on and you sit with them and counsel them through things.

Sheree
So you put everyone else first but yourself. Why do we do that? I don't know. It seems to be an inbuilt thing. It is.

Elisa
Well, when you have a servant's heart, you just want to please others. And then by the time you get to you, you think, I'm just too stuffed. I'm just going to go sit on the couch, have dinner, put my feet up and watch a good movie, which is nothing wrong with that. But it just got to a point where I think, No, I've got to do something. And so back to the knees and the pain. So you know, when I first started, I can remember you giving me... We were doing some weights, so lying down doing the weights. And you'd say, You gave me a bar, and I'm sure we'll show you that. But you gave me this bar. I said, I'll just get you to try this. It didn't have any weights on. I'm thinking, Oh, yeah. She said, It probably weighs about 25 kilos in itself. I'm going, That's not much. She put it down, and I remember it just going sinking. I'm like, Oh, my goodness. I can't lift I'm sorry. I literally could not lift it. And now, so cool, we're able to lift-With weights on the end. With weights on the end.

Elisa
And the point is, it's not how much weight I'm lifting. It's got nothing to do with that, really. But what it is, is the fact that I just feel so much better in myself. And I can walk the dogs now. I've got more strength and muscle that I'm building. And in my core, I had nothing. I literally had nothing. Many of us don't. It's just made a huge difference. I can walk up and down the stairs really well now. It doesn't hurt. I don't have to do it sideways. For a while, I was hanging onto the rails, literally doing it sideways

Sheree
Because they were bad, weren't they?

Elisa
Your knees were incredibly painful. They were really painful. My mom's had knee replacements. I just wonder in my head, I'm thinking, is it arthritis? Is it no cartilage? I just thought, far out. I don't want to be My husband and I want to travel. I'm only 54. Too damn close to 55, remember. And we want to travel. And the kids are getting to that age, another year or two, where we really do want to get out and explore. And I was really quite nervous and worried about the whole thing because I just didn't know whether I'd be able to get up and down the stairs up into the plane, let alone travel and do things.

Sheree
It's quite a frightening thing, I think, when you know that your body is not working for you like you thought it would at your age, we always think we'll go into our 50s, 60s, and 70s, and our body will be wonderful. But as a nurse, I can see that people go through functional decline. So if we're not working on it, we go down. And I think it's important for anyone out there that's listening to this to know that you didn't go straight into big weights. We did what? So every time that you came along, we worked with what you could.

Elisa
That's right.

Sheree
So the idea about when you get stronger is you progress along. If I can see that you've got to wait, and she's going to go, Yeah, this is easy. I go, Is that too easy? She went, Well, it is a little bit. And so then you go up a weight. So you didn't come into the gym that first day going big, heavy. It was small, light. And we played around with your knees to see what they couldn't do. And some of the things we did were basic just wall squats so that we were in your quadriceps had to work for a period of time under tension. So time under tension was a bit longer, but we weren't doing all these reps. So we weren't going up, down, up, down, up, down. And that seemed to help. Totally. Did you find after your first session, you thought, it wasn't so bad?

Elisa
Absolutely. I really did. And I actually was looking forward to the next session. I'm not going to lie. I always say to you, I was so tired. I really didn't feel like coming today. But I know that Cherie's waiting for me and I need to go. I always feel better as I start and at the end feel so good about it. That's why I have you. That's the whole point. So many years, I tried. I mean, we've all done it, tried dieting, Weight Watches worked for a little bit, but as soon as I stopped monitoring food and counting, which used to annoy the heck out of me. It would need to. The weight came back on. I just found it really... I I'm not a person, personally, that can motivate myself enough. I need somebody to help me. And that's what you were there for. Yeah, you do an amazing job. Thank you. And it's great because there's something You'll hear me all the time in the gym say, Anna, I can't do that. Because you'll say, oh, why don't we just... This is the one that I really want to see you do. And it was apparently it's getting on the floor, knees on these little pads and doing commando I crawl up and down this mat.

Elisa
I'm going- Sliders, they were. Sliders, that's it. And initially, forget it. I think I put that one-off for a while. I cannot get down there. There's no way that's going to happen. But as time goes on and as I start to feel stronger and know what I can and can't do, but also having someone to say, Well, let's just try it. And then if we can't, that's fine. We'll give it another go in another month. And it's like, Oh, okay, I can do that. And then we'll try it, and I'll go, Oh, I can actually do that. So there are surprises, and it's just wonderful. And I don't have pain. I can honestly say I don't have pain. Shree also is very good. I'm a procrastinator. Probably maybe 60% of people out there might do the same thing in certain circumstances. But shoes, I didn't even have good shoes. And I know that if my podiatrist said, I go and get some good walking shoes. That'll help. And so I did. And that's been amazing as well. So combination. So your knees are so good now, aren't they?

Sheree
Because any time we have joint pain, to strengthen all the muscles around that joint becomes your split.

Elisa
That's right. So good.

Sheree
And in fact, you were telling me the other day because I can see that you're changing shape as well. Yes. Tell us a bit about that. You're not on a diet. You just tweaked a few things.

Elisa
No. Well, my doctor And the doctor said to me, just try and maybe have less sugar. So that's what I do. I don't change anything. I just think, oh, instead of having a chocolate bar, which I'll still have one every now and then, because I think it's really silly if you don't, because She'll end up wanting to and probably having 10. But yeah, so I might just have yogurt and honey instead of having a chocolate bar. But yeah, I've just cut down on my sugar and having more healthier stuff instead. So that's been really good. And it's great because I'm not thinking. I don't think about food. I just have what I have. But as time goes on, I'm not feeling as hungry anyway. So I'm just going, oh, well, I'll just have a bit less.

Sheree
That's so good. You were saying the other day you were able to fit into things that you haven't been able to fit into.

Elisa
Absolutely. I'm feeling a lot more confident to wear different outfits and things that I would never have worn before because I I just felt so... I just didn't feel good inside and out, really. It just affects everything.

Sheree
So just touching on that, you said a few days ago that sometimes bigger people don't want to start training because of the shame that they feel. How did I let myself get to this point? Is that a real... I know it's a real thing, but I guess as somebody that's never been... I've been bigger, too. It was not a good feeling. But just I can touch on that as well. Just that shame. I know that there's women out there that won't go into a gym, no way, because you know that everyone's in their tight Lycra and they're all buff. They're not, by the way. There's many people there that are beginners, but that's the concept that we feel. So can you just touch on that, just how you felt?

Elisa
Yeah, I did. I just felt a bit embarrassed. And especially, I think, too, there's no way that I would enter a gym then. No way. And even now, though, I probably with COVID and things, I probably wouldn't anyway. But that's why I love coming here, because it's one on one. And I am happy to invest in that because I think it's just going to make all the difference. But yeah, I did. I felt embarrassed. Because it's not everything. We are beautiful from the inside out, but also from the outside in. You don't have to be a certain genre or a certain size or whatever. I've always taught that to my kids as well, growing up. But it's more about health. I think I was feeling more ashamed about my health and that it was declining in such a way that I wasn't even sure how long I was going to be on this Earth, to be honest, because I was thinking, my gosh, it was only 50 and I couldn't walk very well. I just thought, no, this can't be happening. I did do a lot of... I went to I do sports physios as well.

Elisa
And they're great. And they gave me all the things, exercises to do that I have to do on my own. And I just maybe did it for maybe one or two days. And then just thought, I can't do this on my own. I need someone to be accountable to. That's me. That's how I work. During the lockdown with COVID, we went and got a treadmill and Well, I had the treadmill for a while, but got a rower and a cross trainer and everything. And it's great. And we were using it. My daughter and I were using it every day. We do a little bit. But after a while, it, yeah, no, I can't be bothered. I'm too tired or whatever. And it's a vicious cycle because- Because your knees would probably feel a bit sore when you came off like a cross train or whatever. Absolutely. And the treadmill as well. It was like, They were so sore.

Sheree
So then you're not going to want to do it again. It is like this cycle. It's like you hurt, so you don't move so well. But then when you rest too long, it hurts more. And then what do you do?

Elisa
And you've got your doctor saying, you need to probably do a bit more exercise. And you're thinking, yeah, but I can't. It hurts so much to exercise. So okay, so I'll just take medication to take the pain away. But there's something going on. And obviously it was. I had no muscle tone, nothing. I mean, you There was nothing. It was really bare minimum.

Sheree
And that's okay. What I find sad is that some women tell me that they felt that they needed to get fitter before they started to train their body, to strengthen their body. And that is Would you agree that's so wrong? Totally. You just need to start where you're at. If you can barely walk, you start with the barely walk and move on from there. Exactly. You had sore knees. They didn't work for you. So we didn't work around your knees. And always play by ear. You always need to hear your body. If it's in pain, stop it or take that down again. That's where I think you've come so far because we're able to work with what you had.

Elisa
Exactly. And now- And just build on that.

Sheree
It's the same weight as me.

Elisa
It's pretty good. It's really good.

Sheree
What else haven't we So you decided that now was the right time just because you've already talked on that, just because you got to that point where there's no excuse. You already checked out your lungs, you checked out your heart. All good. What excuse have I got now?

Elisa
None. None. So that was it.

Sheree
And what are the main differences, Lisa, that you see and feel now? I think we've also touched on that, but more energy.

Elisa
You're feeling good? Yeah, absolutely.

Sheree
It's in a good place?

Elisa
Absolutely. All of those? Yeah, all of those. I just have a lot more energy to want to go out and do things. So good. Whereas before I didn't. Walking the dogs as well. I was going to ask about that.

Sheree
You take two out now at the time?

Elisa
Well, sometimes I do, but they are a bit naughty. So I'll do that and then we'll have our own space. But that's good for me because I can then go around twice and it gives me a bit more exercise. But yeah, I don't have pain with my knees doing that. No pain at all. No pain. Not even a twinge. No, not even a twinge. Honestly, nothing. And I can tell you I've got an X-ray form to go and get an X-ray to see what's wrong with them. And I haven't bothered because I'm going, Well, there's nothing wrong with them at the moment. So why No bother. I mean, okay, in the future, if something does feel again and twinge, I go, Okay, I'll go now just to see what it is.

Sheree
Because sometimes when you've had sore areas and you just turn a certain way, you can feel a twinge, but then hopefully that's all it is, a twinge, and you get back onto it again and keep training. Would you ever stop training now that you've started? Would you ever get to a point where you go, I'm there now, so I'm going to stop?

Elisa
No. Forever?

Sheree
No. I'm going to have a big rest now of a year.

Elisa
No.

Sheree
Because you feel so good?

Elisa
Absolutely. And I really wouldn't want to go back to how I was. No. So if you've got muscle, you've got to use it and you've got to build that, keep that strength. You do. Because if I feel if I don't do that, it's only going to go backwards. In my younger years, when I was a gym junkie, I can remember just before getting married, I felt the fittest that I've ever been. I used to have personal trainers, I'd swim, I'd run and all of that. And I I remember saying to myself, I never want to go back from this. I want to be like this. But of course, life gets in the way and stuff happens, and for whatever reason we're here, and you think you get to that point Now, as the kids are older, I have time. I have really no excuse. And why would I? Because it's really been amazing. And I just want to keep going with it.

Sheree
I think It's so good. I sometimes see people that want to aim to get good knees, and then they'll stop. And then you see them back again in a year or two's time with sore knees again. So you're right. Now that you're there, it's a good thing. So I guess we talked about how this has all changed your life because you can go overseas and fulfill those dreams that you still got to do because you know your knees are not going to give up. And what I love, too, did you find it hard to get up off the floor before?

Elisa
Yeah, I couldn't. You couldn't get up? Well, I didn't want to get down on the floor, remember? When we first started, she goes, So let's do some floor work. I went, No. I said, I haven't been on the floor for years. I can tell you about a year ago, I did a first aid course and we walked in and I remember saying, Oh, can I do the CPR with the model thing on the bench? And he goes, Look, you can't actually pass it. You have to do it on the floor. I'm thinking, Oh, my gosh. But I did it. I got down on the floor, but I had to roll in a really interesting way to get up off the floor. But I did it and it was hard. But yeah, no, there's no way. And so now we're doing a lot of floor work. I don't really like being on the floor, being honest, but I can do it. Yeah, you do well. And like I say to you, it's only because I haven't been on my knees or that for so many years that when we first started doing that, it felt really weird.

Elisa
But now it's great because I can get... I just get down, get up, don't we? And we just do our thing.

Sheree
And the other thing, I think, just for your knees, we stretch them as well. So I like to foam roll them if we can, getting a stretch. And if you Can't get on the floor to foam roll, it's as easy as getting one of those pastry roller things and sitting in the chair and rolling through because you're often going to be tight down around the end of the quadricep So I think I have to stretch them as well. I think it's good. What I would like to end with, if there's someone out there, Elisa, right now that's going, she sounds just like me. This is where I'm at right now. What would you say to someone out there right now that was like you were? Maybe they're in pain, maybe they have weight that they need to lose. What would you say both on the strengthening side? Because I think so many women We'll just go the dietary side. And we all know that we need to build up some muscle because that's our fat burn as well. And what would you say to them right now? If they're thinking, I need to get fit first, I need to lose weight first before I could even think of doing something like that.

Sheree
What would you say to someone like that? And talk straight to them.

Elisa
I would say just go and do it. Just don't wait for anything. You're never really going to be ready. That's what I would say. You're always waiting for a certain time. Do it now because now is time. Now is the time. I know that sounds really cliché, but it really is. It is. I think if I hadn't have probably waited so long, I probably would have been able to do more things over the last few years. But at the end of the day, you are who you are, and you've got to make those decisions, though, yourself. But definitely, it's just one little step at a time, because if you wait until Until you're fit enough or you've lost five kilos or whatever, it's going to be a long time before you get there. You may as well start now because the strength is what supports your body to do the things you want to do. So the losing weight and all of that will come. Like with us, it's like now I've started the weight. I have lost a bit of weight. I haven't really been trying to, except for less sugar. I haven't been thinking about it, but I feel so much more fitter and being able to do things that you want to do.

Elisa
So I would say just do it if you can, just do it. And if you need a friend to keep you going, find a friend and just do it. Just start now.

Sheree
I think that's great advice. Well, thank you so much for having sat with me today. That's all right. That's cool. I'm sure that there's someone out there right now that can really relate to your story. I hope so. Because we all have a story, don't we? We do.

Elisa
We all have a story.

Sheree
And you want that story to not end early because you've had to... As you said, you thought at times, you might not be on this Earth for long. So it's great that you've started and gotten to where you are. So thank you for sharing with us today.

Elisa
Pleasure. Pleasure. You have a great day. Bye.