BeMobile Podcast Bed and Breakfast Academy with intro/outro
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[00:00:00] Hi, it's Karen here. I'm the owner and founder of bed and breakfast academy. I provide training and ongoing support to aspiring and existing bed and breakfast saunas, helping you create a B and B lifestyle. You're gonna love living. With guests who become repeat fans. This week's podcast episodes is a bit of a step away from talking about BMBs, but it really is relevant for Ben breakfast owners, especially those of us who are over 55, even if you're not a B and B owner and never intend to be one, I believe this episode will be of interest.
In the B B course, I go through all of the skills experience and attributes that you need as a B and B owner.
And one of the most important of those is being physically fit and strong and maintaining that fitness and strength as we get older can be a real challenge. So this week I'm joined by a guest Oll holiday from B mobile [00:01:00] physiotherapy, which provides online exercise programs for the over 55. I've been a member of B mobile myself for near a year.
And I'm a huge fan. As I've seen great benefits, you can find B mobile, B mobile physio.com do AU. And they're also on Instagram and Facebook where they share lots of useful tips daily. I really hope you enjoy this week's podcast. I am really excited today to be joined on the podcast by a very special guest.
I'm excited for several reasons. First of all, it's my first guest from overseas. And you're speaking to us from Sydney Australia. Is that right? From Sydney, Australia. That's correct. Wow. And you're the first man on my podcast as well. So congratulations. thank you very much. I feel like there's a lot of pressure on me now.
I'm the first. Yeah. There is a lot of pressure on it. There's a lot of pressure on you and now yeah. [00:02:00] um, and the other way, the reason I'm really excited today is I feel like, you know, you're very well, even though this is the first time you've met me. So I spend three or four times a week with OIE, which is all a bit odd since he's, he's never met before.
So that's why I'm very excited today. So without further ado, I'd like to welcome my very special guest OIE to the podcast. Welcome. Thank you very much, Karen. It's a pleasure to be here. And this is, I'm very excited also because not only is it my first time meeting you, but it's my first time on a podcast.
Wow. So looking forward to it. Hopefully it's a, a good discussion. We can give all your listeners lots of good information. I'm really pleased you joining Mr. Daily and grateful you've found the time. I know you're very busy at the moment. And it's not easy arranging this with the time difference between the UK and Australia.
So it's great to have you here. It's it's seven o'clock in the morning here in the UK and we're at four o'clock in the afternoon over there. That's right. Yeah. [00:03:00] Yep. Brilliant. So, okay. So could you just start by briefly introducing yourselves and tell listeners who you are and where you're. Absolutely. So, as you mentioned, my name is Ollie.
I'm a physio here in Sydney, Australia, and I work with a company called BeMobile physiotherapy mm-hmm . We have been around since 2014, when our founder Mitch started seeing some of his older clients in their own homes and providing them with exercise programs to help them keep living in their own homes and doing the things that, that they love and that are meaningful to.
In 2018, few years after we opened where I'm sitting right now, our studio gym here on the Northern beaches of Sydney and our goal with opening that was to help a slightly younger age group than those who Mitch had been seeing in their own homes. So we're [00:04:00] focusing on people over 50. And we're helping provi by providing exercise and lots of education.
Part of the reason why I'm on the podcast here today. Now big change for us, Karen, as you would be well aware was in the year 2020 when the world changed. And we were forced to go online. We started doing online exercise programs and we've been overwhelmed with the amount of people that have joined us.
In our exercise programs and have benefited and we are, are privileged, I think, to be able to help so many people, not only here in Australia, but in other parts of the world, like the, the United Kingdom. So yeah, that's, that's a bit of, a bit of a synopsis of where we've come to since 2014. Yeah. Of course our, our, we have, we have quite a lofty goal.
Karen, our vision is to change the community's approach to [00:05:00] aging mm-hmm and not only our local community, but in fact, the, the entire global community and all the little C communities around the world, we want to empower people over 50 fives to keep living the lives that they want by getting them moving, getting them exercising, getting them underst.
What's important when it comes to their health. That's that's, that is a fantastic goal to have. And how's that going so far? Well, it's it, it is, it is an uphill battle. I think people as, as, as I'm sure you're aware, have a, a negative view of aging and, and what they're capable of as they, as they get into their later years.
But I think we've, we've demonstrated that it is possible. We. An online community of, I think over 1200 members now who are engaging in regular strength, training and cardiovascular training, which I'm sure we'll get to. But [00:06:00] yeah, I think we're, we're making lots of steps in, in the right, in the right direction, which is great.
It's certainly been my experience of B mobile is I think I'm gonna talk a bit how I came to find you in a minute, but it. I'm I'm I'm 56. So one of the younger members in the group, but there's still that I was starting to find that I was having trouble getting off the floor, went to a dog training lesson and the, the trainers she's over 17, she was jumping up and down and I get down to do it.
And I was like, can't get up. Can't get up. and I think you, you have that worry that when things start to, to go wrong and slow down, that, that. And you can't improve it. And I think the amazing thing that I found in Bmobile is that you, you can, you can, you can turn it around and you can get fitter. And I think whatever age, I think I saw someone ask the other day who was 88, was asking about joining the wow.
Yeah. I think it was in the [00:07:00] Instagram story. She said, I'm 88. Am I too old to join? He said, no, , you know, it's never to me. No, totally. So yeah, definitely. And I think your experience not being able to get up from the floor or perhaps have trouble with that is not uncommon. It's the, you know, things that you, you do a lot when you're younger and then you perhaps don't do them as much.
And one day you realize, well, I probably need to start doing a little bit of work on this, but yeah. And certainly, I think you get to a, a point where when, when your kids are grown up, it doesn't matter so much. And then suddenly I'm gonna be a grandmother for the first time in November and it's, isn't it.
Oh, wow. , I'm gonna have to start picking children up and getting down on the floor again. And, you know, it's, it's, it's I a renewed reason I think, to, to, to work on the strength and, and my health. So, so absolutely thank you for everything you do in B mobile. Our pleasure. We're we're, as I say, we're privileged to be able to [00:08:00] help people like yourself.
Karen lovely. So just before we talk a lot more about Bmobile and actually, I guess some people might say this is a, B and B podcast. Why we talking about. Strength training and, and, and fitness. And one of the reasons is, is, is that it's really be having, being strong and, and being fit physically is really, really important as a B, B owner.
You know, you can, you can have all the fantastic skills, like, you know, good customer service, being able to cook, being good with guests. But a huge element of the role is, is, is making beds and getting down on the floor to clean and getting up. So being physically fit is really important as being honest.
So that is one of the main reasons I've, I've asked you to join me today because I think it's really important to get that message out to people that if they wanted to continue a lot of people come on my courses saying [00:09:00] we want to run a, B and B when we retire. So a lot of people now are, you know, I think, you know, my grandparents' age, you you'd get to 16.
That was it. You were too old. You'd just sit in your chair all day. But I think things are very different these days. People looking at second careers, and if you want to do that second career, then you need to be fit. So that is, is the reason why I think this fits perfectly on the B and B academy podcast.
So I'm just gonna talk a bit, if you don't mind about how I found B mobile. Sure. So I said, when I was running my own B and B, which I ran for 17 years, I actually closed it last July. I was very active. You. I was doing, I think I could easily do 10,000 steps of, of, of housework a day without trying too hard.
And then there's walking the dogs on top of that. And in terms of, you know, strength of flexibility, there's a lot of bending getting down on the floor to Hoover, under stuff. [00:10:00] As I said, lifting, carrying guest suitcases, I used to dread it. Sometimes you, you get some of the older people from the states coming over and they be coming for a big tour.
And they'd have these huge suitcases about my height. And I'd say, would you like some help me suitcases, please say no, please say no, please. Don't well, yes, please. And I've been dragging this suitcase up the stairs, so it's really important. To be strong for that reason. And then as you said, you know, 20, 20 hit.
And of course, all of the lockdowns meant that BMBs were shut. And for me, that meant months of no housework, no lifting and really not much exercise at all. And I started developing my online training courses. So I'm, I'm on this computer all the time now. So I've gone from what was actually a very physically active job to a very sedentary.
And during this time I developed a very painful frozen shoulder, which was getting progressively [00:11:00] worse and it was making it very difficult to do everyday tasks. It's not until you get a bad shoulder that you start to realize how much you use it. And it's, it's my right arm. Things like reaching to shut the car door.
Getting dressed. when my daughter got married last year, suddenly I was having all these dresses sent to me in the post and I used to dread it when they arrived. Cause the thought of getting dressed and undressed again was just, and so it's silly little things like that. You don't really realize. So there's the shoulder, not being able to get off the floor of the dog training, which is particularly embarrassing.
And also, I think I've been looking at strength training for a while. I'd, I'd seen some of the benefits talked about online, but I must submit. Um, I've always been one of those. I was always one of those kids who hated PE. And I would do anything to avoid any sport, you know, sort of one of those, I dunno what, what you do in Australia, but you would, over, over here, you would volunteer for cross [00:12:00] country and then you'd hit head for your nearest mate's house.
And I'd be doing my maths homework instead, you know? oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. So you, you really hated it is what you said. I read, he really, I was, I tried to do a forward role when I was about four and I could never do a forward role. And that was it. put you off a lot. yeah. But in actually in my thirties, I became a bit of a, a, a gym addict.
In fact, I was so much of a gym addict that I belonged to two gyms. I had one at my, I worked at British airway, so I had one at the head office where I worked and actually one near home and I was going five or six times a week. And that was good. I, you know, I was getting pretty, pretty fit at that point, but then we moved to S and we live in the middle of the countryside, sunny countryside, but we're 11 miles from the nearest gym and actually running a, B, and B means you're tied to the house.
You're waiting for guests to leave and then arrive and guests are really unpredictable and you think you've got some time and then a guest will suddenly turn up [00:13:00] early and then you've got five hours of cleaning to do, and you've got shopping. And by the time you finish for the day, the last thing you need is a 22 mile round trip in the dock to the gym.
I bet. Yeah. So I'd read about some of the benefits of strength training, and I really needed something. , but then you look on YouTube and you find something that's saying it's, it's aimed at middle-aged people. And then there'd be like this 25 year old doing burpees and Maning climbers. And I'll be like, do you know, I'm a 55 year old with a painful shoulder.
And I was really worried about injuring myself, doing something online with someone who didn't really look like they knew what they were talking about. So I'd sort of just dismiss that. But then one day last summer, I was scrolling through Instagram as I spent far too much time doing. And I was targeted by an ad with this, with this Australian guy advertising a program specifically aimed at 55 year olds.
I thought, oh, that's me. [00:14:00] So I investigated some more and I signed up for the free videos. And so that was Mitch. I think Mitch was doing the. And I thought, well, I'll just do the free videos. I don't have to buy the course. I can just do the free videos and that'll be fine. And then I saw in the course, it was a section of about painful shoulders, I thought.
Ah, so I took the plunge and I'm really glad I did. And so I did the, I think at the moment what you have is an eight week online course, so then it goes into a, an annual membership, correct? Yeah. Yeah. So I'm now in the annual membership. I am much stronger. I can get off the floor. Silly things. I, I was on a, a sun bench, a sunbed yesterday and I got up without hold.
I just, just got up without pressing down. I said to my husband look, no, well, I did. You said you stood up . I said yes, but I stood up without my hands. My, my first and shoulder is. 95% better and I can do things again. I was STR starting to struggle with, like I say, getting off [00:15:00] the floor, getting outta the bath.
I actually thought this time last year I was getting to a point where I wouldn't be outta the bath anymore. It wasn't helping with the shoulder cause it's really difficult. Lifting yourself out. My resting heart rate is reduced. It was 70 beats per minute, average in November, and it's now hovering around 57.
Wow. Very good. So sort of gone like that, but I'm hoping it's gonna stop at some point yeah, we don't wanna go indefinitely to zero. So that's me. So you can see, I'm really excited about B mobile. I think I'm, I'm a fan for life, but so that's my experience, but I guess, well, you've told us a bit about B mobile and what you do.
Is there anything else you wanted to add on top of what you've already said? No, I think if I can just come back to what you were saying, Karen, it is, it, it, it really, it sounds [00:16:00] cliche, but it really warms my heart to hear from someone in person, how big an impact what we're doing is having. And it, it is great to think that there's many other people like yourself who have had a similar experience.
Yeah. I mean that, of course I I'll recap what we do, but yeah, the, the exercise that we provide, it sounds like it's having a big impact, which, which of course we would expect. But yeah, I don't, I dunno how much more I have to, to add Karen. I think when, when we get into our discussion, it'll become really clear what we're about and exactly what we do.
Yeah. Excellent. And I think one thing to say is, is, is it's not always easy. When I first started off, I started off and I was quite enthusiastic and I went on holiday and then I took a couple of weeks break and then I had my COVID vaccine and then it was Christmas. And then I had COVID again. And, and I would say that in fact, my heart rate actually went up from starting.
In sort of [00:17:00] September time to November then, and then I started writing. You need to focus on this, but it's, it's not about being perfect all the time. I think it's about doing the best you can and I've got into the rhythm of it now, but it, you know, it's taken me a while to do that. So I think it's about, you know, just sticking with it and, and not, not giving up, I think is, is my experience.
Yeah, 100%. The consistency is key when it comes to the benefits of exercise. And it's something that we always talk about is even on those days where you don't feel like doing anything, just, just doing a small amount, keep the ball rolling. And it's, it's really in the long term where you start to realize some of those benefits that you've described, like lowering your heart rate and being strong enough to get up outta the bath, all those sorts of things.
Yeah. Yeah. And I found some of the, the, you did a challenge a few months ago, which I found incredibly useful. I'm not a competitive person. I'm not interested in competing with anyone else, but [00:18:00] I'm quite competitive with myself. And I found the challenge really useful. But one of the things I, I sort of worked out during the challenge.
And I think you, you, you talk a lot about Mo it's not motivation, but how to keep going. And one of the things we talked about in the challenge was, you know, if you fail one day, then the next day is a new. Yeah. And it's very easy, I think with goals. So, you know, like new year tradition, we have goals and we say, well, we're gonna do strength training three times a week, and we're gonna do cardio five times a week.
And, and, and you fail once and that's it. You think I've done it now? So no point carrying on it's that thing about each day is a new day. Yeah. And I actually have a screensaver on my phone, which is which one of the phrases that you use is, is do something rather than nothing. And I actually find that really motivating every time I pick up my phone, which is I do a lot, it's like get up if you gotta look at Instagram, then walk around the kitchen and look at Instagram, you know?
Yeah. I think that's a great idea. And. One thing [00:19:00] we, we often talk about is focusing on the process rather than the, the outcome. As you say, some of those long term goals, they can very easily get out of hand. You miss a few days, as you say, and then you feel like all is lost, but if you just focus on, you know, doing your, your workout's doing your exercise, then.
What you're ultimately aiming for, comes as a byproduct of, of what you're focusing on, as you say, each day and every day is a new day. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You did a little video the other day, but stone cutter analogy where you just keep chipping, chipping away and then suddenly you've got some beautiful statue underneath
Well, yeah, that was, that was one taken from the author, James clear who wrote the book atomic habits, which I highly recommend. Yeah. Excellent. Uh, yeah, he talks about the stone cutter that they don't see any, any changes to what they're doing. They're just constantly tapping away at the stone. [00:20:00] You know, you never know when, when the next tap is gonna be the one that breaks the cuts, the stone rather.
And it's similar to exercise. You just gotta keep tapping away day after day. And then one day you, you realize these big benefits. Yeah. And I think he talks an example of the Olympic cycling team and they, the, the coach actually just focus on 1% improvement today and that 1% adds up. It's a cumulative approach, isn't it?
So he's saying a massive, and that's how he, he turned, I think it was the, the British cycling team and that used to be a bit of a joke. And I think he completely turned it random and we sort of proved in the Olympics didn't we? That no longer a joke yeah, just those small changes. Add up over time and you'll have to, you'll have to get in touch with the British cycling team and the entire Commonwealth games team, because it seems like Australia has.
Swung it around and we're [00:21:00] now, now the best in the Commonwealth, but oh, wow. Congratulations.
I didn't, I actually, I'm not a great watch of sport on TV cuz of the whole sport thing when I was a kid, but I did actually turn the TV on just as the Simons were competing in the weight lifting. Huh. And they just did the snatch, which for people who don't know is that where we lift it up suddenly like that.
And I was, I've been really pleased about my eight kilo snatch that morning. And then they were doing 175 kilos of, there we go. it's mind blowing what some of these athletes are able to achieve. Isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. But we're not aiming for that in B mobile, are we. No. Well, I, I won't, I won't say you can't do that Karen, because who knows what you can achieve with yeah.
You put your mind to, but no, most people aren't aiming to lift weights, you know, over their head 160 kilos or whatever it is. We're just trying to. Have meaningful impact on, [00:22:00] on, on our lives and be able to handle all the things we need to do to enjoy our lives. Okay. So I did prepare some questions just to make sure I covered everything.
So I would just start with what is strength training. What's the difference between that? And, okay. So strength training is, as the name suggests any form. Exercise where the goal is to improve our strength or mm-hmm, our ability to produce force. So in the Olympics, the weight lifting, that's a classic case of strength.
We're opposing an external resistance and producing a massive amount of force that differs from cardiovascular training, which most people would be familiar. In, in examples, such as walking where you are sustaining a, an output or an energy output for a long period of time, you know, you might go for a walk for 30 minutes or an hour or, or [00:23:00] something like that.
Now. Unfortunately, most people, well. Not enough people know about the benefits of strength, training, lots of people. I think most people are familiar with the benefits of cardiovascular training. Mm-hmm in terms of improving your heart health things like lowering your resting heart rate, as you mentioned, Karen, you know, looking after your blood pressure and your cholesterol, those sorts of things, but strength training is not just something for young Jim junkies.
It's something that we all need to be doing to. Not only get stronger to make things like getting up out of a chair easier, but there's, there's a lot of research now showing that people who are stronger and who have more muscle mass tend to be healthier and they tend to have a, a greater life expectancy as well, and a, and a greater quality of life into their later years.
So that that's a, that's a, a summary. Quite a number of things really, but why strength [00:24:00] training is so important, not alongside cardiovascular exercise. So the example of the, of strength training, prolonging life is my, my dad had a heart. 70 years ago. And he, 70 years ago when he was 70 and he, as part of the, the rehabilitation program, they have a local gym at the hospital and you, you get 12 months of gym membership and he started doing that and he's, he's, he's a bit of a gym addict.
Now. He goes, he goes five times a week, but he actually volunteers there, but he's now he's 86. And he's, he's, he's stayed very fit and healthy and he's, he's going through a bit of a stressful time over my mum, and I really think that's helped. So he's a great example of, you know, of that keeping going, even after having had a very serious heart condition.
So, so yeah, serious benefits. definitely. So how much strength and cardio should we be doing? [00:25:00] So a good starting point is the national health guidelines for Australia, which are very similar to the, the guidelines in the UK and even the us as well, which are 150 minutes of moderate cardiovascular exercise each week or 75 minutes of vigorous cardiovascular exercise each week, or a combination of the two, which when you break down 150 minutes, The the classic recommendation of 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise per day, most days, rather less people realize that the guidelines also recommend a minimum of, of two resistance training or strength.
Based sessions each week to, for some of those reasons I've mentioned. And unfortunately, very few people are meeting the guidelines for both the cardiovascular and resistance training. So in Australia, only 15% of adults meet both [00:26:00] those recommendations. Mm-hmm so it's, it's alarming and. We, we can have a massive impact on the health of our societies by getting more people, just even just do a little bit more exercise, particularly resistance training mm-hmm so I guess one of the things, a lot of people probably don't understand.
I know I've Googled it in the past is, you know, what, what is moderate cardio? Do I need getting on a cross cross trainer to do it? Yeah. So moderate cardiovascular exercise is something that as the name suggests is moderately challenging. Now, how do you measure that? Well, there's a couple of ways you might score it out of 10.
10 was the hardest exercise you've ever done. Totally exhausting. Mm-hmm moderate act activity would be somewhere around a six out of 10. So something where you can still hold a [00:27:00] conversation with someone, but. You're not able to speak as fluently as we are. Now. You might be puffing a little bit, but you're still able to talk with someone next to you.
Vigorous on the other hand would be something where you're, you're only able to speak like this in, in really short couple of words at a time. And you're really hinging and puffing your heart rates right up. Be sweating. Most people would be familiar with vigorous exercise and that's closer to that.
Eight or nine out of 10. So I know what I do is so I'm, I'm, I'm not a big gym equipment person anymore, but I, I, I walk a lot and I aim for three miles an hour, I think. And I think, I know, certainly my watch is telling me that's getting my heart rate up to the, the right effort. Yeah. Lovely. And then I do.
And the other thing I read was, is quite good to do interval training. What what's what's interval training. And how would you do [00:28:00] that walking? I guess. Yeah. So interval training is often called hit or high intensity mm-hmm interval training. And that's where you are doing short periods, generally short periods of vigorous physical activity or vigorous exercise, rather interspersed.
Intervals of rest mm-hmm . And what that allows you to do is accumulate more vigorous activity because, because you're not a often, you're not able to sustain really hard efforts for a long period of time. But if you break that with rest, you, you get your breath back and then you can go again. That's that's one way of.
Yeah. Of, of, of accumulating some, some time really working, working yourself hard. Yeah. So one of the ways I do that when I'm walking actually is I do three minutes of sort of, uh, stroll really? And then I speed it up to three minutes of that eight out of 10 intensity. And [00:29:00] that seems, yeah, so, so that's, that's a perfect way of doing it.
So I missed the second part of the. But you, you could cut it up. However you liked. You might do, you know, a really hard effort of walking for say 30 seconds. Mm-hmm and then. 30 seconds of a stroll, as you say, oh, you could do it more like you are doing Karen where you are going a little bit harder for three minutes and then having a, a, a break as much as you need.
But yeah, it's, it's a, it's a good form of exercise because it does allow you to get into those more vigorous zones. Yeah. So it's all stuff that you can do without, without needing gym equipment, without needing to put like leggings on and it's, you know, you can just get out and do it and that's. Now, when we talk about the benefits for those over 55, some of those benefits are, are quite unique to, to those over 55.
So one concept we often talk about is functional capacity. Mm-hmm functional capacity. [00:30:00] You can think of as your pool of energy that you have to give to each of your daily tasks. Now, if we take, for example, getting up from a chair, If getting up out of a chair is a maximum effort for me. That's gonna take a lot of energy mm-hmm and that's gonna mean that anything that I do later in the day is gonna have less energy to give towards it.
But if I'm stronger, let's say I can stand up from a chair holding 20 kilos, standing up from a chair without any weight is far easier for me. And therefore takes less energy, which means that I've got more energy for the rest of my. That's one thing. The second thing we often mention is physiological reserve.
Now, physiological reserve, you can think of as your physical superannuation. So most people are aware that they need to have a bit of a nest egg, uh, financial nest egg when they, when they reach their retirement years to, to sustain themselves. But less thought [00:31:00] is given to your physical nest egg. People who have more strength, more muscle mass, more cardiovascular fitness.
They have a much bigger buffer for their later years. Let's take, for example, if you had a, a fall or a serious injury or an illness and you go to. Okay. We know that when people bedridden and they're getting, you know, serious treatments, such as chemotherapy, for example, you rapidly deteriorate in your physical fitness.
So you lose your strength. You lose your muscle mass. If you've got a bigger buffer, you have more to turn through before you start to lose your ability to handle your daily tasks. Like getting up out of a chair mm-hmm . So if you've got a greater physiological reserve, If you do have the unfortunate event of being in hospital, you're much more likely to be discharged to [00:32:00] your own home.
You know, where, because you're still able to look after yourself versus someone who loses their independence and they're gonna be need to much more likely to be sent to somewhere like a nursing home where they can get the assistance to handle all their daily functions. So they're really two big concepts.
We often talk about. For, for those over 55 and strength training, but there there's so many different things. I won't mention them all today, but for example, another big one bone density mm-hmm unfortunately osteoporosis is a, is a massive problem and it's a silent condition. So people don't know that their bone health is deteriorating.
You know, they get into their sixties and seventies perhaps, and they only, they only realize that it's a problem when they trip and have a fall. Younger a younger person might have every day with no repercussions, but they trip and they fall and they've got a broken hip and all of a sudden their life expectancy is, is [00:33:00] dramatically lower.
Okay. So we know that from the evidence that resistance training, particularly of a high enough intensity is can have a, a significant impact on our bone health and maintaining, and even improving our bone health. So. There's there's three big reasons. Karen, why strength training is so important, especially for those over 55, but of course the earlier you start these things right down to, you know, the, the, the teenage years or perhaps even earlier, the, the better off we are as, as a society.
Mm-hmm excellent. So, Is strength, training, strength, training for over 50 fives, different to that, that you would do say when I was in my late thirties at the gym. Hmm. It's a good question. Fundamentally strength training for the health benefits is not gonna differ between someone who's 70 and someone who's.[00:34:00]
It will differ in the magnitude or the dosage of, of, of what you're doing in the same way that an elite athlete, as you mentioned at the Commonwealth games, they might be training twice a day, five days a week with massive weights, doing a lot of work. Whereas someone the same age, just starting. They might be able to tolerate just two sessions a week with really lightweight, so similar sort of thing.
If let's, let's take, for example, if I go and see one of my older clients in their homes, someone in their eighties, for example, they're gonna be doing the same sorts of exercises then I would be doing, they're gonna be squatting down. Are they gonna. Picking up objects off the floor. They're gonna be pressing things over their head, right?
The dosage is gonna be a lot different. Whereas someone, my age might be doing, you know, heavy weights, you know, 20 kilos. For example, [00:35:00] someone in the eighties might be starting with a can of baked beans or a water bottle. That might be enough resistance for them. But what they're actually gonna be doing is going to be very similar.
Does does that answer the question, Karen? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. I, I did sort of wonder cuz as I said, I was watching the, uh, the Commonwealth games and Simons and thinking how much train do they actually do to get to that level and do the majority of this actually want to, to look like some of these late lifters.
So I think that's one of the worries people have, isn't it actually, when they start weight training, is it I gonna suddenly bulk up and, and look like that? Yeah, that that is a big concern. I think a bigger concern is the impact of not doing strength training, because it is people. If you think about body, body builders, well, perhaps not, that's not the best example because they do get very bulky, but.
People dedicate their [00:36:00] entire lives to getting more muscular. And it's a very, very slow process, especially for women. It's much harder for women to gain muscle mass in the same way that a, a male would because of the obvious hormonal differences. But we know that. After about the age of 30, there's a significant decline in your muscle mass.
And if you don't do anything about it, that can have some pretty serious health implications further down the line. Okay. So what a lot of people may say, and actually my, my husband says this quite a.is well, I'm doing awful. Lot of physical activity. My husband spends a lot of time in the garden. He, he does a lot of lifting of heavy things and stuff, and people will say, when they're running a, B and B, I'm doing a lot of physical activity, so I don't need to do separate strength, training or cardio.
So what would you say to them? I would say, first of all, that's great that you're doing so much physical activity. That is good for your health. Unfortunately. It doesn't, it's not [00:37:00] as beneficial as exercise. So the difference between physical activity and exercise is that exercise is a planned form of physical activity.
With the goal of improving your physical fitness attributes, like strength, cardiovascular fitness, or these types of things. There's a couple of reasons for that physical activity, such as you know, doing running your Airbnb business or working in the garden. Whilst you're moving and it's, it's good for you.
It, it typically isn't challenging enough. Okay. So it doesn't reach the, the level required to stimulate changes in the body. So for example, if we take lifting a heavy pot in the garden, If you're gardening at most, you might move that a few times. So it's, it's in most cases, it's not gonna be enough to actually cause our muscles and our bodies to get stronger.
Compare [00:38:00] that to a strength workout that you'd be familiar with. Karen, you might lift something the same weight as that pot, you know, 10 or 15 kilos. Let's say you do that in a, a structured fashion. You perform multiple repetitions to the point where you actually get fatigue. And your body adapts to that.
So being physically active is great. And of course, we all need to be more physically active with our modern lives, but having some structured exercise is the most optimal way to. Make improvements to our, our health and fitness. Okay. I would say, I guess, moving on. So thinking about my frozen shoulder, there were quite a few exercises I struggled with when we first started.
So I'm thinking about people do have sort of some physical limitations for some reason or other so frozen shoulder or a bad knee or a bad. [00:39:00] Might, you might think you can't exercise because of that, but can you still do strength training? Mm. Is a, is a great question because troublesome areas and, and painful areas is one of the biggest barriers.
I think that our community faces when it comes to exercise. So the answer is yes, because if we told people not to exercise, whenever they experience. Very few, probably you probably know people would be doing any exercise, so you absolutely can perform strength, training or any other form of exercise.
When you have an issue like a sore shoulder, the, the key is in modifying the exercise. So for example, if you were, we had some, some shoulder pain like yourself, Karen, and it was really painful for you to lift. Your arms up [00:40:00] over your head. What we might try is have you leaning back in a chair so that you're not lifting your arms over your head, you are lifting them more horizontally.
Now, if people can visualize that, hopefully that's clear, but there's always changes we can make to the exercise to allow you to continue doing that because we don't want to totally avoid exercise because that has the effect. We become more deconditioned. And as a result of that, probably more sensitive, which means that we probably end up with more symptoms in a lot of cases, but if we can keep some level of conditioning and hopefully desensitize the painful area over time, we'll be able to handle more and more and ultimately we'll have a reduction in the symptoms.
So that's that's great point. I think we talked, we talked a bit about. But I think one of the biggest blockers to actually doing exercise is having the motivation to do it. [00:41:00] And so how do you address this as, as physios? And I'm sure you see this all the time and in B mobile, the online program. Yes. Now , if whoever could come up with a perfect answer to this question, how to keep people exercising, they would be a billionaire many times over, I think, because that is one of the.
The, the golden questions of our time is how to keep people exercising. So sure motivation is great for getting started, but it, it tends to be transient. So we prefer to have a bigger focus on setting up habits. Now, habits of course, are, are hard to set in place because we always fall back to what we're used to, what we're comfortable.
So we talk about a, a, a useful analogy, which is the toothbrush analogy. Now, Karen, let me ask you, why do you brush your teeth every [00:42:00] morning? Presuming that is the case. I do brush my teeth every morning. Cause it's something I do every day. Yeah. So there's no other reason beyond that. It's just an automatic part of your day.
You probably can't leave the house without having done it. And you probably can't go to sleep without having done it. But you want exercise to be a similar thing when you're brushing your teeth. You're not thinking about, oh, I I'm really wanna improve my oral health and avoid cavities. We, we don't wanna be in a situation.
The only motivation you have to exercise is, oh, I really want to improve my heart health and my life expectancy. That's that's not a sustainable way of keeping up exercise. We prefer to make exercise automatic, like brushing your teeth and some ways to do that are to make exercise. First of all non-negotiable.
So in the same way that you would book a doctor's appointment, you would book that at nine o'clock on a Wednesday [00:43:00] at a certain clinic with a certain doctor we'd wanna make specific. Planning arrangements with exercise as well. So you might say on Wednesday morning at 10:15 AM, I'm gonna do a 30 minute walk.
And, and that has the effect of making that time, that health appointment of exercise non-negotiable and it means that nothing else can get in the way of that. You're much more likely to stick with it. And if you schedule your exercise in the long term, what we find is. People are much more likely to stick with it.
You're very much focused on exercise rather than diet. But one of the things you talk about is, is protein. So I guess, can you explain, I, I know I, I've got one of the, I've got my fitness power on my phone and I track what I eat just to keep an eye on, on things like fiber and that sort of thing really.
But one of the things I was really aware of that I was just not eating enough protein and not realizing. [00:44:00] So why, why is it protein important, especially when your strength training? If your resistance training or you're doing strength training. To get the most benefit out of it. You need to be consuming adequate protein. Now, unfortunately, the guidelines in certainly here in Australia, the guidelines around protein intake are a little bit behind the times when it comes to the scientific evidence, especially when it comes to older adults.
So if you look at a nutrition label here in Australia, it says 50 grams of protein for the day. Now that's based on research around the minimum amount of protein needed for health it's based on 0.8 grams of protein per kilo of body weight per day. Now that's not enough protein to optimize strength, improvements, muscle mass improvements.
So [00:45:00] the research actually shows that it's you, you, you're probably looking at more around 1.5 grams. Of protein per kilo of body weight per day. So for someone that's 70 kilos, an average weight person, it's gonna be around the a hundred gram mark , that's quite a lot of protein, isn't it?
It's that. And certainly if you are used to doing something like you have toast for breakfast, with strawberry jam on top or something like that, it's, uh, there's not a lot of protein. In that piece of taste that's that's right. And the funny you mentioned that breakfast is actually a prime opportunity to make sure you're getting enough protein.
There, there is some research showing. Breakfast is the meal that's underrepresented. When it comes to protein intake, most people get, you know, they might have a, a source of meat in their lunch and dinner, but when it comes to breakfast, it's usually something like a slice of toast with TA and peanut butter or veggie like perhaps.
So if you can include a protein source at [00:46:00] breakfast, that's one good way of starting your day on the right track. Getting in some protein intake, it is hard. Oftentimes to achieve sufficient protein because it is one of the benefits of protein is that it's useful for managing your body weight because protein is so satiating.
So you feel a lot fuller when you have a, a high protein meal. So getting to, to overcome that, getting a good amount of protein at breakfast is a great way to start the day. I. Not being scared of protein supplements or protein powders as something that is reserved for body builders and the like, they're a fine way of getting in protein intake.
And of course, don't be afraid to substitute out other foods like your carbohydrates and, and your fats to get in enough protein as. Okay. That's great. And, and does it matter when you have the protein? So should, should you be having it [00:47:00] before you train or straight after? Or is it just the fact that you're getting enough for the day, at the end of the day?
It's it, it's a minute detail, the timing of your protein. So the, the major factor is just getting in enough throughout the day, and that can be any sources they've shown now. You know, vegetarian sources of protein can be just as effective as meat based options. So there there's a broad range of foods you can eat to get your protein.
Okay. So yeah, legumes, yeah. Chickpeas and dentals and all that sort of thing. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And your nuts and seeds and all those sorts of things too. Yeah. Okay. I should be having some great yogurt and nuts and fruit after we've finished talking since lovely time. Yeah. So one of the problems people might foresee when they're doing something online like this, rather than the gym is a lack of equipment.
So am I, the people need to go out and buy treadmills and a full set of weights and things to start with. No. So. Whenever we've done our online [00:48:00] programs. We're always aware that that is a problem for people now. Strength, equipment, or gym equipment is great in that it's designed to be used for strength training and it's ergonomic, you know, often like a Kele bell has a nice handle for you to hold onto, but there's nothing special about it.
The body doesn't doesn't care, whether it's a kettlebell or a barbell or just a bag filled. Some yellow page books or hardcover books. . So in our workouts, we always have both options. We've got gym equipment, or we've got people showing household equipment, like, you know, a milk bottle filled with water for an overhead press or a bicep curl.
Or as I said, a, a bag filled with heavy books or something like a deadlift or a squat. So you just need a little bit of creativity and take a look around your environment in your house to see. What, what are heavy items that I can, I can use in my exercise program? . Excellent. And you can get, if you do decide to go for equipment, there's quite a few adjustable dumbbells and things, [00:49:00] you can buy kettle bells isn't there.
So you don't need to be buying lots and lots of different types of weights, but yes. So milk bottles leaking, leaking milk bottles leaking. I don't leak. Yeah. I had a few accident with milk bottles. Yeah. They, uh, they seem to be very unreliable after a couple of uses. They, they tend to start leaking. Yeah.
uh, But, but they are handy. Yeah. Okay. So I'm coming out to the last question. Now you'll be pleased to hear or last two questions. So I wrote about B mobile strength training my newsletter a couple of months ago. And someone actually responded saying, they'd seen one of your ads on Facebook, but they were in Scotland and they didn't think it was applicable cuz you are based in Australia.
So can you just explain a bit how it works? Yes. So as long as you have an internet connection yep. You can access the, the B [00:50:00] mobile workouts. The, the workouts aren't live. So they're, they're prerecorded workouts. And the purpose of that is that you can do them. At a time that suits you. So if you are in Scotland or if you're in Canada, no matter where you are in the world, you can access your workouts at a, at a time that suits you.
So it, yeah, as I say it, doesn't, it doesn't really matter where you are. As long as you can understand what we're saying through our broad Australian accents, then you're fine. you do have support as well. Haven't you? So people have got questions. They can. They can contact you. Yeah. I think one of the big benefits of our program is as you say, the, the, the support, we, we put a big emphasis on helping you to overcome any issues you have, you know, not just the, the classic, like technical problems you might experience with an online program, but the physical issues.
As you know, Karen, we do a once weekly live session. Mm-hmm, where we go [00:51:00] into our online member, Facebook group. And we, we do a live, we answer people's questions that they've, they've got, we do an education segment. All things that I think are really useful because understanding how to overcome any issues that you might have of course, is a massive part of your long term success.
So that's something that. Focus on a lot. Yeah. I, I think that's really important cuz you know, people might say, well, can I not just go on YouTube and watch a few videos? But I think that support side is a really important element of it as well. Excellent. My, my stomach has heard me talking about the Greek yogurt umbling away here.
So we're gonna come to the last question so I can go and eat. So how do people go about finding out more about B mobile and how do they, they sign up. Definitely. So we are quite active on social media, on Facebook and Instagram. We put out a lot of free content, [00:52:00] a lot of videos and such, but we have a website which is.
W dot B mobile physio.com.au. And if you go there, you can find out more about us. What we're all about. You can, as you did Karen, go and see our free workout mm-hmm and, and get a feel for what we do. And if you're interested, you can find out more about our eight week fit and strong program, which is the starting point for yeah.
Getting, getting involved with B mobile and becoming part of the B mobile C. Okay. That's excellent. Well, Ali, I think we've covered a lot there this morning or this evening for you. So thank you very much. Thank you very much for having me and I hope we were able to provide some useful information to all your listeners.
That was brilliant. I was bit disappointed. We didn't have any dad jokes though. Ah, well, yeah, I should have come pre-prepared with a couple, I think, but next time perhaps [00:53:00] oh, ex excellent. Well, that's great. Thank you very much, army. That was really, really. Thank you for having me, Karen. Well, I hope you enjoyed that podcast as much as I enjoyed recording it, even though I had to get it very early in the morning, uh, we got through a lot of information there, so I just thought I'd summarize some of the key points, uh, that Ali and I discussed.
So consistency is key. Just taking small actions every day will all add up and help improve your health. The guidelines of the guidelines in Australia and the UK and, and, uh, America, I believe say we should be doing at least two resistance or strength based training sessions per week. We should also be doing 150 minutes of moderate cardiovascular exercise a week or 75 minutes, a vigorous cardio a week.
Or you could be doing a combination of moderate and vigorous cardio. Moderate cardio is when you're working at an intense intensity of about six outta 10, [00:54:00] you can still hold a conversation with someone, but not as fluently as you could. If you were just sitting opposite them in a cafe, say a brisk walk for about three miles an hour.
For example, intense cardio is when you're really huffing and puffing and your heart rate is right up there. And it would be difficult to have a conversation difficult if not IM. The benefits of doing cardio and strength training over 55 include increasing your functional capacity. That's the pool of energy you have on a daily basis for doing normal day to day tasks, you know, like getting out of a chair or doing the housework, it increases your physiological reserve.
Which you can think of O described it as a physical nest egg, which you can draw upon. If you do become ill or have to be hospitalized for any amount of time. Osteoporosis is a big problem. As we get older and O described it as a silent, a silent problem, and [00:55:00] many people don't realize they have it until it's too late.
When they fallen over and they break a bone, uh, a hip or a leg, something similar resistance training with heavy weights has been shown to really help increase bone mass. doing any physical activity is good for your health, but, um, to stimulate the changes you need in your body, you need to be doing structured exercise with multiple rep repetitions of an exercise to the point of fatigue, such as lifting weights.
Even if you have physical limitations, such as, um, I talked about my frozen shoulder, you can adapt exercises to be more suitable for you, so you can still do something it's important for all of us to get enough protein as it's a primary building block of new mu muscle tissue. It's recommended you eat 1.5 grams of protein per kilo of body weight.
So for those of us who are still doing Imperial, if you [00:56:00] 11 stone you'd need to eat about a hundred grams of protein a day, uh, uh, that's 154 pounds. For those of you who, who talk in pounds and not stones, a breakfast is a meal of the day. That's most underrepresented when it comes to protein intake. So including a protein source at breakfast is a great start.
Well, you can do all of the resistance training exercises in the B mobile program using common household objects, such as bags or milk bottles, filtered water, or sand, and to find out more about B mobile, visit [email protected]. Uh, and they're also on Instagram and Facebook. Thank you very much for listening today.
If you want to know more about running your own bed and breakfast, please head over to B B academy.co.uk, or you'll find over 100 blog posts all about starting up running and marketing a BMB. And you'll also find details there about my complete [00:57:00] bed and breakfast course. Thank you. And see you soon.
