Tracy Byrne 0:00
Everybody is struggling with that work life balance, and they've forgotten to prioritize. So if you're just working the whole time and you are not taking time out to be physically active, your stress levels are going to be impacted. Your sleep is going to be impacted. Your hormones are going to be impacted. You're not going to be operating at optimal efficiency.
Finola Howard 0:18
That's Tracy Byrne, fitness and life coach from the wellbeing edge. This is episode three of our three part series that's all about enshrining your health and wellbeing into your success journey. And this is the how we move episode, because that directly affects our productivity. And I love Tracy's tagline, move more, laugh more and live more that just perfectly sums up how we need to view that physical side of ourselves on our success journey. Let's dive in.
I'm Finola Howard, Business Growth strategist with a joyful heart and your host of the your truth shared podcast, I believe that every business has a story to tell, because that's how the market decides whether to buy or not, and your story has to resonate with who you are and with the people you want to serve. And this podcast is about helping you reach the market in a way that feels right to you. So if you're an entrepreneur with a dream you want to make real, then this is the podcast for you, because great marketing is your truth shared.
My big push at the moment is all about growth, and your growth, the growth of your business, and in a way that is balanced and is the type of business that you want it to be. And part of that, and I suppose we call that success, you know, we're calling that our success in life, success in business. And we talk a lot about, you know, the marketing sides of things, the mental side of things. But there's also another really key component in terms of life success and business success. And I kind of want to explore this, and we've done a couple of episodes around this about being fit for business, you know, and fit for success and fit for life. And of course, that's going to make us think about our physical fitness and our physical well being, and I think always in the context though, of our mental well being and how they're both quite linked in a way you know, you can't really have one without the other. And so I carefully hand picked a lovely, lovely person to speak to us today about this whole area, and she is this interesting combination of NLP, coach, live coach, and the physical trainer, and really combine both of these things together. So today I want to introduce you to Tracy. Byrne. Tracy, welcome.
Tracy Byrne 2:44
Thank you so much, Finola, I'm thrilled to be here today. Oh,
Finola Howard 2:50
well, you're very welcome to be here, because I know how much value you can bring. So I know that you started off your career. Let's do a quick kind of whistle stop tour of how you came to like NLP and physical trainer. How did we get here, like so and I also know that you worked in corporate for a while, and you've had your own story around here. Take us on that whistle stop tour, please.
Tracy Byrne 3:13
Okay, well, the whistle stop tour really starts. And around the time I did my leaving cert, and I had thought at that time that I wanted to be a doctor, so I had medicine as my number one choice and number two. And just before kind of July time, I had a bit of a a bit of a wobble, and I thought to myself, hang on a second. Medicine is a vocation. It's a true vocation. Do I have that? Do I really have what it takes? I'm just not sure. So back in the day, which was quite some time ago, and the next step, if you were vaguely academic, was what's next on your Cao form, what's next on the list? And I had law, so I sent it a change of mind slip, and ended up studying law in UCD, and as chance would have it, I got the points for medicine. You know, I could have done medicine, but my pathway took me down into law, and I knew on the very first day in UCD in the law department that I had chosen the wrong course. But back then, you know, there wasn't really, I certainly didn't have an option of saying to my dad at the time, I think I made a mistake here, Dad, can I change? And so I progressed through three years of law and knew I was never going to be a barrister. I was never going to be a solicitor. So I had to have a kind of a really hard conversation my dad, but Christmas before I sat my finals, and his answer, as was, his won't was, well, you're going to have to get a job. And I said, that's perfect. I'll get a job. I'll get a job. So he handed me a banker's Almanac, which went from A to Z of all the banks in Ireland, the very first bank. Bank was Bank of America. I put together a CV, put together a covering letter, and I sent it out to a whole load of banks. And Bank of America called me. I had zero connection, 00 background at all, and they brought me in for an interview. And
Finola Howard 5:17
sorry, just to you know, did you do your finals like or did you just go, oh no,
Tracy Byrne 5:23
no, no, no, no. Oh, gosh, there was, there was no question of not doing my finals. But this was, this was six months prior. This was around the time when people were signing up to go to black hole place, or go to Kings in or or go down another trajectory. So, you know, I have to do something. And I went in and met the managing director of Bank of America at the time in Dublin, and he was very, very nice to me, and said, Love your CV. Really interesting, and we're actually downsizing so I don't have a job for you. I said, Okay, great, fair enough. And he said, but you know, keep on this pathway. By two weeks later, the phone rang. It was Bank of America saying, Actually, we've had a rethink, and we'd like to send you to London to meet with few people there. We think we might have a position for you. So I went to London, met with some incredibly high pair of people in Bank of America and London. Don't know why. To this day, it was some strange, strange intervention. And basically the Bank of America Dublin office employed me in their trading room. So I knew I had a job before I sat my finals. I did sit my finals, my started work, then in the trading room the following August. So I worked in trading and and did that for a number of years, and then worked with them in London, and then they sent me to San Francisco to train as a relationship manager. And this is a very long winded way of saying that I think I finally found my niche when I worked in relationship management, because it was me using my strengths, which are communication, ability to connect people and organization, all those things that really weren't my forte, in terms of they were my forte, they didn't come to fruition in the trading side of things. And I worked really happily. I was very, very lucky. It coincided with a time when American companies were investing big time in Ireland. They were setting up their European headquarters here, and I was basically the conduit between headquarters in the states and their European operations and making sure everything worked for them in terms of whatever their banking requirements were. So I had to liaise with people back in the States. All the European offices do a great load of travel, and I loved it. I really loved what I was doing. And at the same time met, I was going to call it my current hobby. Met my hobby. Sorry, Ed, if you're listening. 26 years later, I met my hobby, and we got married. And when I was pregnant with number one, I, you know, obviously had every intention of going back to work and picking up. I was now Vice President. I had made my way up through the ranks, and, you know, I had a lot of responsibility, and I loved what I was doing. I felt incredibly fulfilled. And I had Sam, he was born quite early, and I was very sick after he was born, and I ended up taking an extended period of leave, which ultimately I did go back to work, but my confidence was shot. I'll be completely honest. I you know, I didn't connect the dots back then, but my confidence, my confidence in my own ability to do my job, to do to do so many things, was really affected by the illness that I had after Sammy and and
Finola Howard 8:38
and sorry, just to it's interesting that you say I connect to the dots afterwards, that it was your confidence that was shot. Did you not think it was your confidence at the time? No,
Tracy Byrne 8:49
I thought that my you know, I won't go into all the details about what happened, but it was out of my control. It was not a situation that I was in control of. There was a lot of mismanagement. And I think because I had to take extended leave, by the time I came back and went to work again and was told this is going to be your travel schedule, this is your target for the year, things seemed quite, quite unachievable. It seemed quite hard to balance that with everything else that was going on. And no, I think at the time, I think I just, I was hard on myself, and I just thought that I was, I was failing at the career now, and I was failing, if, you know, at motherhood. And I couldn't, I couldn't do it all and and if I'd known, then what a huge, heavy dose of self compassion could have done. And, you know, maybe, maybe things would have turned out very differently. As it happens, I resigned from work after being back about six months, and and then, to be honest, before I knew it, there was Baba number two, then there was Baba number three. So it was three under four. And then we moved to the States, and with my husband's job, and this is really where things take off, in terms of where. I am today. We, you know, massive transatlantic move, three very young children assimilating in a new environment. And that, that was the zenith in terms of confidence. Because, you know, I went from having a support system here, the kids in preschool, the older two, to finding myself pretty much, you know, lovely people all around me, but no real, true connections and and I was at sea. I was completely and utterly at sea. And some, you know, people, some people know this story, but a very kind local lady threw a coffee a morning for me, and another woman attended, and she asked me, was I into fitness? Had I, you know, did I work out and and I said, Yeah, I had in the past, haven't done anything for a while. And she basically said to me, you need to join this gym. They have free babysitting. You need, you need somebody to take the kids off your hand for a period of time. I'm
Finola Howard 10:55
laughing now because I remember one of our conversations previously, and it was actually the free babysitting that was, that was the clincher. That was
Tracy Byrne 11:03
the clincher. That was the clincher. And, but for me, you know, that's what, that's what started off being the clincher. But when I arrived into that environment, I used to work out for a short period of time and then sit with a cup of tea for the other period of time. I had one hour. That's my that was my time limit. And and I started to realize that I was I was taking that really crucial time for me to feel not just physically strong again, but to be kind. I was actually prioritizing myself when I had not done that for quite some time. And and over time, that morphed into me becoming a little bit more serious on my training. I worked out with a trainer, another fabulous woman, and then I learned how to really do it properly. And for me, it was that this is where the intertwining of the physical fitness and the mental well being came about. I realized that the more time I put an effort, I put into my physical fitness, the stronger I felt, the improvement in my mood, those endorphins, that is really true, those feel Gordon feel good endorphins, they exist, and my sleep improved, you know, my general confidence, my general air of, you know, self containment, everything improved for me when I started really seriously prioritizing myself and my physical fitness.
Finola Howard 12:23
It's kind of the two things. It's the one this inadvertent self prioritization and gift to yourself. Because sometimes I think we end up falling into that, not realizing that's what we're doing, and only afterwards realizing that's what I did there. That's actually very good for me. And then the other side of it, which is the whole physical side of it, yeah, 100% it
Tracy Byrne 12:48
really interesting. You say that I had class this morning, and I was looking around the room, and I said to the girls, like, I'm under no illusions that most of you don't want to be here. You know, there was a lot of laughter, but actually that the overriding sentiment was, yeah, maybe starting off, but we always leave here feeling better. And I remember thinking, Oh, my God, that's exactly how I felt all those years ago. That was exactly when I started connecting the dots and and realizing that wool plus one really did equal to, you know, if I take care of myself, there will be a positive impact down the line, and it's got a real kind of circular effect on
Finola Howard 13:29
people. I remember someone when, when I started, so I'm going into my fifth year of sea swimming, all year round. And I remember starting out, and everyone always asked this, how's the water? How was your swim, hasn't, you know? And I remember someone getting out one day, and it was very early on, because I never realized this. And I said, was good, like, how did how was the water, or whatever? And she said, but there's never a bad day to swim Finola. There's never, it's always good. And we say this every morning when I meet loads of people who swim here in Dunmore east, and it's, there's never a bad swim. Well, it would be if you don't come out of the water, you know what I mean. But there is never a bad day to swim. There is never a bad day to push ourselves physically. I agree.
Tracy Byrne 14:14
Yeah, 100 100% it is, literally, it's, it's taking that first step. It's that first brave step. You know, when you're when you'd I swam yesterday, it's when you're dipping your toe in the water first. You're like, oh, really, am I here? Really, really, it's nine degrees outside. What am I doing? But you're right, you come out and you feel alive. That's a very, I think that's a very visceral feeling. You can get around the sea swimming piece, but even going to the gym, the girls this morning, like even leaving after class, the muscles, you know, quivering. You know, there is a real physical reward system, you know, a good, sentient reward system that comes about when you're physically active. And so that that's what happened me, that it really was fairly seismic. I mean, you know, the background, and I will go to all. That, but I was incredibly sporty as a kid. I grew up in a sports mad household, and not playing sports was not an option like you know, and I played, I played a lot of different sports. I swam competitively. But it was really funny again, the reflection piece when I look back on playing in a team sport, that's when I really, really enjoyed myself, really thoroughly enjoyed myself, because for me, there was that connection. It wasn't just a physical outlet. I was connecting with like minded people, even as a young kid, you know, even when I went back to hockey, when I was working, you know, all those things, it was the community piece for me, and that sense of not being alone, you know, I'm not somebody who, you know, I'm not going to be a solitary sports person. I gave up swimming. It was not my, you know, competitive swimming season is totally different. But when we, you know, when I do what I did in the States, it transformed my experience over there. It gave me, it just gave me back my sense of self. And when we moved back after almost 10 years, we were very, very fortunate. After year of rent and we ended up ended up living in the house that I'm recording this from, and it has a studio on site. And it was, it was meant to be. I went back and I trained. I did the University of Limerick certification in Exercise and Health Fitness, and I loved every second of the course. I was the complete nerd up front hands, asking all the questions, because I really, really wanted to be there. I wanted to be in a position to not, not in a really completely altruistic way, but I wanted more women to benefit, as I had done, from the gift of physical fitness and physical exercise and being in a group environment and everything that goes with that. And initially, when I started the business here, I thought it would be for local, community based, you know, mums who were able to drop the kids off to school and then come straight around the corner to me, which is, which is exactly how it evolved initially and but it's over time. It has been really interesting, how it has morphed into many more professional women who are really struggling with that life. And I know it's such a cliche, but, but everybody is struggling with that work life balance, and they've forgotten to prioritize.
Finola Howard 17:14
Well, let's segue really quickly before we talk about them. Let's segue into, why the NLP, why? So you're, you know, you could do more and different types of physical fitness training and loads of areas of specialty and but you chose to go into life coaching and NLP, certification. Why that?
Tracy Byrne 17:32
Okay? Well, it was the, it was the beauty of a podcast, Finola. Um, my, yeah, my brother recommended that I listened to a podcast called starting from scratch, which was with two of his friends, Dave McKechnie and Stephen, whose name, sir. Name is now, forgive me, I've forgotten it, but Dave is an NLP practitioner and coach, and Dave was launching his very first NLP training course. I relished it. I loved the group that was there, the the knowledge that we were, we were, you know, given in terms of, you know, using your senses, using your senses to really help people to to discover their own path. And I think a huge, a huge amount of it, you know, boils down to compassion and being empathetic and being authentic all of you know, all traits that I think are really, you know, lacking in in some kind of like sterile gym, gym environments, I have the capacity and the privilege in a small gym like mine, or a small studio like mine to really explore things with people way beyond just physical fitness. Say
Finola Howard 18:43
more about exploring that you could explore more. Say more about that. Okay,
Tracy Byrne 18:49
so, so for me, you know, I'm very lucky that a lot of the clients I've had I work with, I've been working with it for a number of years, and the changes I have seen in them, and I don't mean physical changes, I mean, you know, overall changes in them over a period of time, having prioritized themselves by being free to come in to, you know, I think I've said this to you before. I could tell, by the way somebody opens the handle of the door coming into the studio. And I know I've used this before. I've spoke to somebody else about this before, but it's so true, I could tell what the energy levels are. I could tell whether we're going to have, like, a full on session, or whether this is a session where we're actually going to take it a little bit easier and they're just going to talk. And, you know, my job, my job is to listen. It's not to give them the answers. It's actually to listen to see, you know what, okay, what's their headspace right now? And to let them talk around things and and that's why, you know, it's not just, you're not just paying for a PT session to go and, you know, do a head to toe workout. You're paying to come and listen to somebody, or, I beg your pardon, you're coming to talk to somebody who actually understands where you've been. And I think that's the really key point. I don't know, I don't know everybody's into. Into a situation. But I've gone from a situation of being, you know, in a fairly high powered job, to being literally in the playground three times a day with three young children under the age of four, not knowing where I'm going. Like, what am I doing in my life? Or, like, what, you know, where's that law degree going to use? Where all these you know, the 12 years I spent in the bank like, what? What am I actually doing here? What is my purpose? And I think that's really key for me. I often look back on this and my purpose, I discovered over the last number of years, my purpose is to be of service to others, and that's why me doing the NLP, doing the life coaching, and allying that with everything else I do, I get to be of service
Finola Howard 20:43
to others. Talk to me about you conjured up something in my own mind. I remember going to yoga class one day, and I must have been low or something, because you know, when you're doing yoga some forms of sometimes when you go to the gym or you go and do yoga class, it can trigger an emotional response. And I remember, because you're you're making me think about what must be like to be in your studio with this consciousness that you have of of the state of being that someone could be in as they walk in your door. And I remember walking in the door of this yoga class because, you know, I was kind of wanting to make progress at my own physical fitness and all of that. But I remember going in and it was pitched above my physical fitness levels. And I remember, I kind of remember, like being on the edge of tears the whole way during that class, and I never ever went back, because it was triggering so much emotional response in me, like it set me back. And it was because it was mindless, you know, it was a space that I was going in that wasn't cognizant of the human at the other end who was so that just struck me that there is a partly, I want to say, there's a responsibility for physical fitness trainers to be aware of what's the state of Being of the person who walks in the door. Tell me what you feel about the connection between mental and physical well being. What's the why? Because very often, when we're talking about growth business, growth and growing a business, you know, we talk a lot about marketing, which is my area of expertise. We talk about mindset, which is why I did NLP coaching. Also studied it to help my clients. But you will often see the physical piece arriving later in a later in someone's approach to their own success. Talk to me about mental the importance of mental and physical wellness or dedication or commitment. What are your thoughts on that? Well,
Tracy Byrne 23:13
first of all, I just want to go back a tiny bit just to what you said about walking the yoga studio. I just think it's really important. And actually, it goes to the mental state of a client walking in the door as well. I cannot tell you how many times I have had people come in, you know, for a personal training session, where they've come in the door and I've known that there's something, it's kind of clear, that there's something wrong. You can tell immediately off somebody. And and I've had two or three occasions where I've said to the person, okay, you know what? Put your you know might be a bright, sunny day, put your sunglasses back on. We're going for a walk. We're actually not going to do a BT session right now. You are not in the headspace to do a PT session or, or there'll be another situation where I'll just go and give the person a big hug, because it's so clear that that's what they need. And so I'm so sorry that you had the experience that you had, because I've seen other people being impacted in a similar way in other in other environments. And I just, I think that there, we, as personal trainers or coaches and have a massive responsibility. So I just, I'm sorry to go back, but I just had to go back on that, because I do think I genuinely believe I feel a personal responsibility each person who walks through that door or picks up a film to talk to me about their physical wellness, and to be a listening ear to them, and to know and to identify what what headspace they're in when they Come into my environment. I think it's really important.
Finola Howard 24:43
Well, it's interesting, because I'll tell you, I've had countless experiences like that where there is this makes me ask the question, is there a disconnect between physical Is there a disconnect? I
Tracy Byrne 24:58
100% think there is. Yes, I really, genuinely think there's why is that? Because I think I, well, my own personal experience of it has been in a, you know, a larger commercial gym where, you know, the trainers are in a room with 20 people or 15 people, or whatever it is. They can't possibly, they can't possibly pick up on the vibe from every single one those people, but they should be walking around. They should be taking the time to walk around and identify who's who's feeling confident in this room, who knows how to use a bike in a spin studio, who doesn't, you know, I've seen people you know not be taken care of in a very good way in those environments. And I think, I think that the people themselves may not be trained sufficiently. And, you know, it's really hard, it's really hard to take care of large number of people, and that's why I chose
Finola Howard 25:52
but even 101, I'll give you a horrific story of me gearing myself up to to commit to, you know, getting fitter, getting healthier, and, uh, signing up for a one to one Pilates session with someone and leaving that person bawling my eyes out. And I might have told you this story, bawling my eyes out because she said, because when she put me on the machines, I couldn't quite do everything she wanted me to do, and she basically said I was too fat for Pilates, yeah, so I left having so you, you you gather your strength, your inner strength, to Take a chance, to try something, to consciously change your own life, to bring your own sense of agency back into your life, and commit to working with someone one to one, to help you yourself in your own life, and then to be told something like that was as I can as you can imagine, hard To recover from. I
Tracy Byrne 27:00
think most people in that situation, Finola may not recover from that, and may never, ever.
Speaker 1 27:07
Yeah, I know. I know you have Bravo, as you would say.
Tracy Byrne 27:13
I know you have what I'm saying, and you have the strength of will to recognize that the issue was not with you, was with that other person, and however you alluded that once before me, and I think, like I told you, I got, I actually got incredibly emotional when you told me that story, because I cannot imagine, I cannot imagine How you were left feeling, and I can't imagine the disconnect that that person must have with any degree of empathy in their own life to say that to somebody I you know, and you know, even with the best will in the world, everybody has a Bad day. We all say things we regret. But my, my own view is that, yeah, I have a massive sense of responsibility to my clients, massive and even to the extent that I may have somebody come to my class initially. Do you know in an introductory session who, who may not, in the long term, be best suited, because at the end of the day. And this is a really important message, I'm not for everybody. You know, I I love my clients, and I feel so grateful to the people who trust me with their with their fitness every single week. And I think that over time, you know, you attract the right people. You do. You attract your crowd. It's as simple as that. You know, the like minded people attract like minded people, and I have a phenomenal community that I work with. But, but I know that I've had I met a lady the other day I deleted the other day I met her up the hills, and she had come for a couple of sessions. She was a little bit older than the normal profile, not normal that the usual profile. There's nothing normal about it, and and I knew when she came that she was going to push herself too hard. She's very, very competitive. And I had said to her, my one golden rule is you work at your own pace. There are modifications for every single thing that I do. The class can be adapted to anybody, but you've got to work within your limits. And you know, don't be too proud to say, actually, you know what, I'm not doing push ups, up on my toes. I'm doing push ups on my knees. Never be too proud, because, you know it'll bite you in the end. And I could tell from her, her personality was very, very competitive, and she didn't want to, and I get it, I used to be like that, not anymore, and you know, she did, she didn't want to admit she couldn't do the full version of things that she potentially was able to do in the past. So I knew, I knew she would do her intro session so I wouldn't see her again. No hard feelings. But I bumped into her up the hills. It was so lovely. She came up and she said, You know what, I gave the classes a try, but I just I couldn't do that. I couldn't do that. And it wasn't for me to say, but of course, you could. Of course, you could come back. You could do it in your own version. I knew it just that the fit just wasn't there. And that's, that's, that's really, you know, it's, it's, it's the right way to approach things. There's no point me taking, you know, being sensitive about it.
Finola Howard 30:14
Do you think that there is a judgment of and this is why compassion is very interesting, either self judgment or societal judgment about what we can or can't do physically 100%
Tracy Byrne 30:30
Yeah. So, so the biggest thing I always find so whenever I have clients come, new clients come, they'll all say, and this is the one, just one very simple example, every single one, without exception, will come in and go, I can't do a push up. I can't do a push up. And they think that this is some really massive thing that they should be judged on from on high because they can't do a push up. And I just always say to them, so do you do push ups on a regular basis basis? And they're like, No, I said, Have you ever done push ups on a regular basis? No. Do you practice push ups No, and then it's really, well, how could you be good at them? Then how could you let's start from basics. I always start people from the very basics, and we take baseline assessments, but I mean baseline and I'm really, really clear with these people to say we're going to write down a few numbers here, but these numbers are not a judgment. They're not a judgment. They are literally a snapshot of where you are today, so that you can look at these figures in four to six weeks time and see the progression that you've made by practicing and now I have, I have lots of clients now who are banging out those push ups. They're doing their pull ups. They're doing stuff that they never thought that they were going to be able to do, because they've been free to practice somewhere at the nobody's going to look at them. They're not in the big, heavy weight room being judged. So yes, I think there's a massive judgment out there. I came back from the states Finola, and I was the fittest I've ever been like, genuinely the fittest I've ever been. And I was doing triathlons. I was in the gym all the time, and I came back and I joined a commercial gym near to where we live now, and I ran out of it, ran out of the place. It just wasn't for me. It was not for me. And I was somebody who knew what I was doing. I wasn't afraid of walking around a weight room. I knew what a squat rack was, you know, I knew. I knew my way around this place, but the environment did not speak to me. It did not feel inclusive, it did not feel warm, it didn't feel fun. You and I spoke about fun a lot. For me, fun is crucial. We have to be somewhere where, you know, we're able to have a laugh with each other and at ourselves, you know.
Finola Howard 32:47
So the message I'm getting from you is we're all different. Find the spot and the place, whether it's the sea or a gym, but we might go back to the gyms question in a second that works for you, that makes you feel good, that makes you feel empowered, that makes you feel like you can be more, do more, you know, you know, yeah, be physically fitter,
Tracy Byrne 33:11
yeah. I always, I always speak about this if I if I'm doing like a if I was gonna do a workshop, or whatever my thing, I have a slide up that literally says, find what works for you, because this is not one size fits all. It never will be.
Finola Howard 33:25
Let's flip a little, because the other thing, there's another thing that you've said to me, two things that you said to me before, which is the physical stuff as a physical fitness stuff doesn't have to be competitive. Now, you kind of alluded to that earlier as well, and and in your own finding your own groove physically as well, that it's not about the competitive nature of it. And that kind of resonates with me, because I remember, because I'm going, as I said, I'm going into my fifth year, and I swim with the same group of people I had to make peace in that period of time with someone starting at the same level as me and actually progressing further than me, but we still found a groove and how to swim together. Because I know the things going on, or whatever reason it was, is that it actually doesn't matter where we are, as long as we're caring for ourselves, being compassionate for of ourselves and and doing that physical stuff every day.
Tracy Byrne 34:29
I Yeah, 100% I have, I have clients kind of varying ages, from like, just say 40 up to about 65 and I can have a class on a weekly basis, where you could have 45 year old, 50 year old, 55 year old, 63 year old, in the same class, right? All of varying different levels. And I always say to them, and to be honest, everybody's too interested in doing their getting through their own workout. They're, they're, they're not looking at anybody else, right? Right? That's where the lack of competition comes in. The only person you got to be competitive with is yourself. In terms of, okay, I've dedicated 45 minutes to myself. What's my choice here today? Is my choice to give it my all, or are my energy levels a bit low, and so I'll take it a little bit handy, or that's, that's the only element of competition that should be it present in my class anyway, right? But I see women there who there's one woman in particular. I just I take my hat after her every single time she comes to class, because she tries everything. And it's the joy that the other people in that class have where they see her acing something or achieving something that she hasn't been able to achieve before, and the sense of satisfaction and pride she has in herself because she is stuck with something. And more importantly, and this is the really important that she knows. Finola at 63 this is really fucking important for me. This is really, really important for me to be able to do these things so that I can live a vibrant, healthy
Finola Howard 36:00
life. You said that that when over the age of 35 we need to be investing in strength training. Oh, yeah. Tell us more about why, what that means yes, and what you'd recommend, because I'm I need to focus on this space next and know that I'm going to start looking at doing some one on one. PT work with somebody here locally, because I know it's important, the swimming is not enough now, can you tell enlighten us? Please? Sure,
Tracy Byrne 36:30
absolutely. Okay, so it's I'm going to keep it really straightforward. Our bone density. So when we're younger, our bones are growing, right? Growing as we're growing and up to about the age of about 25 is when your bones are building and strengthening. Right? Between 25 and approximately 40, maybe 45 the bone density levels stay pretty much the same. And then after that period of time, the density starts reducing. And in women, let's, let's focus on women here. The main causation factor is the fact that our estrogen levels are dropping so seismically, you know, once we had that perimenopause, menopause level, and once that happens, your bone density is reducing. Okay, so what we want to do, and let's keep it really simple, what we want to do is hold the decrease and maintain what we have, and we maintain it that. So our bone density and our muscle mass are very tightly intertwined. Okay, so we're if we're doing muscle like strength work, resistance work and building our muscles and maintaining our muscle mass that will also have a protective element with regard to our bone density. Okay, the two are. The two go hand in hand. I'm not going to focus on we can look a tiny bit about the nutrition and the supplementation that are required. But even in this, the basic exercise format that we need to be, you know, addressing and resistance work is, I'm sorry, it's a non negotiable. And I say to people, it's a non negotiable. Over the age of 40, we need to be doing some degree of weight bearing exercise. And what happens is, you know, weight bearing exercise. Some people think, you know, walking is a weight bearing exercise. Yes, it is. 100% it is. And that's fine. You know, when you're still within that kind of, you know, not to 40 period, but after that, you have to be adding resistance. Okay, so that is okay. What does that mean? What's what is resistance training? So resistance training, is it any form of exercise that's putting additional and resistance or stress on your muscles. Okay, so for me, it's strength and conditioning work that I do in the studio with the girls. It can be you could do body weight exercises like push ups, right squats, you know, all those kind of things that you could do that are putting additional work and additional effort onto your your muscles, but realistically, you need to be adding resistance bands, dumbbells, barbells, tear axes. There's a whole slew of ways we can add additional resistance work and to start having that seismic impact we want on our muscles and maintaining our mass as we age. But it doesn't have to be difficult. It really doesn't. It can sound very scary to people. They may not know where to start, but I always take a really simple approach with new clients. And I think there's kind of, you know, and we won't go into all them now, and I will give you information after the fact, but you can do a top to toe workout, doing about 10 exercises in about 2025, minutes. That's how little time it can take for you to tackle all the major bones in your muscles, in your legs, your back, your chest and your arms. So don't I think a lot of people. Will get put off, and they think, oh my god, I got to go to gym. I got to spend an hour, and that's what I'm going to have to do. And that feeling of having to do something, and, you know, it's going to take a huge chunk of time, time is so off putting. But it doesn't have to be that the recommendations, if you look at the the kind of the basic guidelines out there, and for cardiovascular health, you should be doing, you know, 150 minutes of moderate exercise, 75 minutes of vigorous exercise. But in terms of resistance work, it's two, two strength workouts weekly. That's the that's the minimum, okay? And to a week two week minimum, more is obviously better. But let's, let's do the bite sized chunks here. Let's, let's, let's start off slowly and let's, you know, just introduce, you know, introduce something and then build upon it, you know. So, so twice a week is, is the is really what we should be aiming for? Yes, will we be able
Finola Howard 40:56
to include a link Tracy to a starting point for us that we can share with the listeners here. Yeah,
Tracy Byrne 41:03
absolutely, absolutely, I will. I'm going to do two. I think I'm gonna do two different videos for you. One will be with a very small little resistance band that you can pick up for two euros, you know, in your in your local fitness store. And then I'll do another one that is purely body weight, or one that you can, you know, I don't want people having to feel like they have to invest because you don't. A lot of this stuff can be done simply at home, as I learned over, you know, during the COVID time. So we had to go online. I had clients using, you know, tin cans, bottles of bottles of gin, as their, as their, as their weights. You know, there was a lot of inventiveness, a lot of inventiveness. It does not have to be difficult. A lot of it can be done on a body weight basis, but like using a chair or, you know, you know, various different things, and I would be more than happy. I'd love to do that. I'll put two separate videos of one that you can use as a resistance band and one that can be just done body weight or with something that's very easily accessible at home. Because I think a lot of people, again, not everybody, can afford gym membership. You know, there's that that,
Finola Howard 42:11
but also, I think it would, would take the the fear factor, Yeah, completely, you know, going and tackling this for our own health. Yeah, can we say a little bit more about because I know you work with corporates as well, and you do reset retreats to help people in their lives and stuff by introducing more physical stuff into their lives. But I am one of the things that you said to me was, if you're not physically active, then you feel that you're not productive. Because I want to tie this really clearly into because we know that we need to be physically active. We've learned now that it's really important for over 40 that we need to have strength training. But for your business success, or the success of you know, because many of the listeners are entrepreneurs, what do you think happens? How does that contribute to their business success? Being more physically fit?
Tracy Byrne 43:06
Okay, so, yeah, I think, I think it boils down to a couple of things. One is that that feeling of helplessness around your balance, your work life balance, if you're just working the whole time and you are not taking time out to either spend time with friends and friends and family or be physically active in any way, shape or form. And you know, your stress levels are going to be impacted. Your sleep is going to be impacted. Your hormones are going to be impacted. You're not, you're not going to be operating at optimal efficiency. If you are not, you know, adding that balance to your your work week. I look at the the age profile and the the profile of the women I work with now, Finola, so it started off, and it was the local mom, you know, dropping in her kids. Now, the majority of the people I work with are women in the, you know, professional workplace and and the majority number of people who have recognized the fact that if they do not do this, it impacts them day to day. So I have women who are setting up PTS for, you know, first thing on a Friday morning, because they can schedule that. I two women this morning who segue the nine o'clock on a Monday. That's it sacrosanct. They're coming to do their class because they know they're going to be energy levels going to be improved. You know, it improves your it has a massive impact on your energy levels. And it sounds counterproductive, because you I have people coming into class seven o'clock on a Tuesday night, and they're tired after a day's work, but they know that they're going to get through that 45 minutes, and ultimately it's going to benefit them, you know, because there's that release of endorphin is that they're just a feel good, you know, kind of, you know, factor to them, they feel that they are doing something for themselves. I think if you feel like you're always doing something for others, and you're always doing something, be it for in a work environment, or if you're an entrepreneur, that's work, but it's just you. You're on your own, you know that there's a huge focus on you, that. Whole time, you've got to start looking after yourself. And I think the other thing is, there's kind of a couple of things that happen when you're exercising and you're you're feeling the benefit of it, you tend to nourish yourself better. And you know, the nutrition becomes interlinked with your exercise, all of which contributes to the energy levels that you're going to have to get through the rest of your
Finola Howard 45:22
day. Do you think? Do you think it prevents burnout? Personally?
Tracy Byrne 45:25
Yeah, I really do. I had I the most amazing woman come work with me last March. She's still coming now, but she hadn't done anything for herself for a long period of time. She works in the entrepreneurs space herself, and she knew she had just parked everything so she felt her for her weight was it actually wasn't an issue, but she felt it was an issue. She felt her weight management wasn't under control. She definitely felt that her energy levels were sorely lacking, and she felt resentful of the fact that she just went from work to home, work to home, work to home, and she was heading for burnout, so she signed up to do 10 sessions. The 10 sessions morphed into 20 sessions, and by the end of those 20 sessions, she literally felt that there had been a transformation. Now I am really clear. The transformation is done by my client. I'm a facilitator, but the transformation is within them because they have taken the time, they have prioritized themselves. They are feeling a huge sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. They're feeling physically stronger. That's having a BiPAC and by, sorry, a by kind of effect of increasing their confidence level in all aspects of their lives. So it's like this. It's like this, yeah, I talked about earlier, the circular impact, you know, being physically active, yes, it increases your energy levels. Yes, it improves your mood. Yes, it has a massive improvement, you know, towards your sleep, all of those things you need to be working in motion together for you to be productive in your work. So it just has this knock on effect, like, almost like a wrinkle down effect. And I've seen it with, you know, with her in particular, she's now gone back, and she's, not only is she working, she's gone back and doing a PhD, and she said she would not have been able to do that if she had not taken the time out. I have another lady who works in professional services. She's just got a really big promotion. And I met an event that I had co hosted a couple of years ago, and she came up to me at the event and said, Look, I have not been looking after my exercise. I have not been, I just have not been doing this. And she is, you know, she was fast tracking up career wise, very busy with, you know, work, family, etc. And fast forward two years, work is still really busy, family life is still really busy, but she makes sure that she comes either to me or or we do other stuff at least twice a week minimum, but she will work out when she's on holiday. She will work out when she gets up early in the morning. It has become part and parcel of fabric of what she does, because she knows how beneficial it has been to her on an overall basis, and it has prevented that burnout.
Finola Howard 48:17
I love your tagline, and I know we worked on it together, but I still it kind of sums up this conversation, which is, move more, laugh more, live more. And I think you've kind of embodied that in this whole conversation now, that if we want to do more for for the world in our work, whether it's an entrepreneurship or working for somebody else. We've got to move more, laugh more, live more. We've got to give that to ourselves. To do all of these things. What would you like to finish with? I How would you like people? What would you like people to walk away with today?
Tracy Byrne 48:58
I want people to be brave. I want people not to be afraid of taking that first step, because, like, I promise you, there are way more trainers like me out there than the awful person you met. We just, you know, I just, I want more women to realize that they will feel empowered by taking that first step, and that it does not have to be scary. You are going to find somebody who's going to grab your hand when you reach it. They're going to grab that hand. They're going to bring you in for a hug and say, I'm here for you. What do you need? Let's work together,
Finola Howard 49:33
and we should look for that. That's a great look for that when we're doing Yeah. Okay, that's a criteria, not how shiny the machines are,
Tracy Byrne 49:44
but not No, no, for me, it's all about the personality. It 100% is about the personality. There has to be a fit. There has to be a fit. I mean, not, you know, either small in person studio. The maximum number of people I can have in that studio is. Eight people. It has to be the right eight people, you know. And I, I'm so blessed that I do have the right eight people and and the community that has built up there, find somewhere that spark. We've talked about this before, find somewhere that sparks the joy within you. Because I know I have that here. And I, I, I get up every morning thankful for what I do because, because I see the fundamental difference it makes in women's lives when they, when they really, truly take care of themselves. And I think, I think, you know, behooves us all. We have one life to live. Go and live it and live it to the full, and don't neglect your health. Just don't neglect it. It's not worth
Finola Howard 50:46
it. That's a really good way to end. Thank you so much, Tracy, it's been a complete pleasure, and I think that you will motivate people to take that one step, to find the right place for them so they can live stronger, more
Tracy Byrne 51:06
fun filled lives 100% thank you so much for your time. It's such an important subject. I really, really appreciate you giving us a platform,
Finola Howard 51:16
and that's it for this episode, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us. Make sure to connect with Tracy on Instagram and LinkedIn and tune into the other two episodes in this healthy Success Series. And thank you for listening to your truth shared. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to share it with your entrepreneurial friends and help them grow their business to even greater heights. And until next time, let's keep growing. You.
