00:00:03:07 - 00:00:16:23
Chris
Hello and welcome to the ending Body Burn Out Show. We are your host, Chris and Filly co-founders of a multi-award-winning winning functional medicine practice, serving busy people with energy, mood and gut issues.
00:00:17:00 - 00:00:21:20
Filly
While busyness, addictive doing, people pleasing and perfectionism might be the norm, it's.
00:00:21:20 - 00:00:22:15
Lizzie
Not normal.
00:00:22:15 - 00:00:24:21
Filly
And it's a major contributor to health issues.
00:00:25:00 - 00:00:38:05
Chris
Our goal with this show is to give you a holistic root, root cause approach to healing your body so that you don't have to continue doctor or diet hopping or popping a gazillion supplements hoping something might stick.
00:00:38:05 - 00:00:39:23
Lizzie
Sorry, get ready to heal.
00:00:39:23 - 00:00:46:07
Filly
Your body, get your spark back deeply, connect with yourself and step into the life of your dreams.
00:00:46:10 - 00:00:57:21
Chris
Let's dive in.
00:00:57:23 - 00:01:25:06
Filly
Hello. Welcome to the potty. I am so excited for this very energising podcast episode today. So today I'm interviewing the amazing Lizzie Williamson, who is the new author of the book The Active Work Day Advantage. And this is going to be a great episode for so many reasons. First of all, I just love Lizzie. She is an Energiser bunny.
00:01:25:06 - 00:01:59:15
Filly
We connected first on Instagram and every time I see her come off in my feed with her bright yellow clothes and a killer smile, I smile too, and we're going to really talk about exercise and movement, and it's not going to be the type of conversation that you think when you think about exercise. Sorry, we all know I feel like most of us know that exercise and movement is essential, foundational for optimal health, and also from recovery for healing and recovery from body burn out.
00:01:59:15 - 00:02:36:04
Filly
When you're using movement mindfully, it can help you to heal and to become more energised and to help with your mental health. But even though we know this, it's kind of the same with food and other things. Why do so many people struggle to implement daily movement into their schedule? Especially if you're someone who works at a desk or maybe or even chronically ill and exhausted and sorry, tired, and your body is so inflamed the thought of exercising.
00:02:36:06 - 00:03:05:20
Filly
It's not top of the priority list. What I love about Lizzie is that she makes moving and exercise so easy and achievable, even for those who are stuck at the desk all day and also for those who are really low in capacity and vitality. So it officially official stuff about Lizzie. So Lizzie is dubbed by the US media as the excuse Buster from Down Under.
00:03:05:22 - 00:03:33:16
Filly
Lizzie Williamson is the founder and author of Two Minute Moves, a TEDx speaker, keynote speaker, fitness presenter and certified personal trainer. She is a regular on morning television and in global news publications with her work featured on Good Morning America Studio ten, The Today Show, Women's Health and Prevention Magazine. And we actually recorded this episode just after she was on the Today Show this morning.
00:03:33:18 - 00:04:05:23
Filly
So three Have fun, interactive keynotes, workshops and videos. Lizzie motivates work forces around the world to integrate Micro movement breaks into their day so that they can be the most energised, engaged and happiest selves. She has got hundreds of thousands of attendees around the world stretching, moving and dancing at conferences featuring President Barack Obama. Michelle Obama, Arianna Huffington and the Dalai Lama.
00:04:06:01 - 00:04:46:19
Filly
Pretty impressive, though. Nothing beats dancing around the kitchen to Taylor Swift with her two teenage girls. Sorry, Stay tuned for this energising conversation with Lizzie. Hello beautiful people. I'm so excited for this podcast episode. Lizzie Williamson. She's a little bit of a famous person on the Today Show this morning, actually, so I'm so excited to have Lizzie on our podcast and she's the brand new author of the Active Work Day Advantage, which if you're watching on YouTube, I have in my hands and you can see it behind Lizzie as well.
00:04:46:21 - 00:05:11:09
Filly
So we love to just get really personal with our guests and a lot of people who end up in this kind of natural, holistic health space often have come from a place of either like body burn out or some sort of health mental health issues that got you into what you do today. So are you happy to to chat about how this all started?
00:05:11:11 - 00:05:47:14
Lizzie
Of course. You know, I used to think that what made me someone that people would want to listen to or make me and an expert in something was was that I had always had it all together. And that it was I was good. I knew exactly what I was doing all the time. But a long time ago, actually, I started sharing a bit of my story and I realised that that was one of the most powerful ways that I could help people feel less alone.
00:05:47:16 - 00:06:26:21
Lizzie
Feel like, okay, this actually is achievable, This works in the real world. So my story started about 15 years ago and I had a gorgeous little toddler and this little baby and what should have been the most happiest time in my life actually became one of the darkest I felt. my goodness. So dark, so stuck, so overwhelmed, so exhausted, really capable of taking much action.
00:06:26:21 - 00:07:00:01
Lizzie
I had no idea what had happened to this positive person that I once had been. I'd been a dancer of dancing around the world, and I'd love to move. And that's what I used to do to bring myself joy and couldn't get myself to do any of those things anymore. And I finally got myself to my doctor, which actually actually took me quite a few months to do because I felt really ashamed, actually, that I was not coping as a mum.
00:07:00:03 - 00:07:20:21
Lizzie
I felt like, you know, what is wrong with you? You've got these two healthy babies, you've got all everything, a roof over your head, a loving family. Get on with it. Get over it. Let's just Come on. There's so many people far worse off than you. And I thought my doctor would actually say something like that to me.
00:07:20:21 - 00:07:47:15
Lizzie
That's how warped my headspace was. But of course she didn't. And she said to me, What your experience is, is postnatal depression, which I hadn't actually heard of back then. And she talked to me about my treatment options. But there was something about seeing her, you know, alleging that something was wrong that made me think, okay, I've got to do something here.
00:07:47:17 - 00:08:08:13
Lizzie
And my something I thought was going to be I'm going to start doing some home workouts. And so I remember the next day that I went down to my kitchen bench and I had a little show on for my girls and I thought, Right, I'm going to need to do something here, because I used to be a dancer.
00:08:08:13 - 00:08:44:09
Lizzie
I spent my life on a ballet bar and I thought this kitchen bench could be my ballet bar, but it's never that easy to just get into something when it's been quite a while since you've done anything. And when you're feeling absolutely exhausted, burnt out, hopeless. But somehow I managed to get myself to do just this one cliche, which is a leg bent at my kitchen bench and this whole 30 minutes home work out I thought I was going to do actually was just a couple of minutes.
00:08:44:09 - 00:09:15:08
Lizzie
That's all I could get myself to do this little place. And it was looking back such a turning point in my life because that was the beginning of this whole change of mindset for me when it comes to exercise, that if it doesn't look like what we think, exercise has to look like this, our certain location, a certain intensity, then so many of us just don't do it.
00:09:15:08 - 00:09:35:15
Lizzie
That day. It just feels too hard. And that was me. But I started taking these little two minute moments. I said to myself, like, tomorrow all you have to do is 2 minutes. I said to you that the next day and the next and the next. And that led me to having this change in mindset to realising that I could actually make this a bit easier for myself.
00:09:35:20 - 00:09:57:19
Lizzie
Maybe I could help others make it easier for them too, because I heard of all these other people that were struggling to exercise because of how they were feeling. And maybe this could be a little piece in the pie of what they needed to help them. So I started sharing it. It grew and grew, wrote the book, did the TV to do the things, built this business around this moment.
00:09:57:19 - 00:10:05:08
Lizzie
And if you had told me then and there that I would be here speaking to you, there is no way I would have believed you.
00:10:05:10 - 00:10:43:18
Filly
I love it. I love it. Before we hit record, we said we were talking to each other and we're like, We're so aligned. And it's like, Yeah, we have kind of similar stories too. And I remember when I was at my darkest far out, if I could go back now and tell that young lady where she would be at almost 40 years old, feeling like probably the youngest I ever have in my life, then like, it's it's really it's actually quite emotional that you can come from such a state of despair to inspiring people all over the world.
00:10:43:20 - 00:11:04:14
Lizzie
And what got us here, Filly, this small step that you talk about in your book, I talk about in my book, we think these little small things that we do. What's the few push ups that your kitchen bench going to do? But those little small steps, you know, they help you do the next one and the next they start to add up.
00:11:04:14 - 00:11:10:20
Lizzie
And here you are journeying towards this place that you never thought that you were ever going to get to.
00:11:10:22 - 00:11:39:01
Filly
I love it. Now I so want to dig into all of that before we do. If we backtrack a little bit, because we on our show, in our practice, we're always like, what's the deepest root cause here? What's what's going on? So you had post-natal depression, which is a thing, but what do you feel like in hindsight? Was the deeper root cause that kind of led you to that state in the first place?
00:11:39:03 - 00:12:13:04
Lizzie
I feel like I had this idea of the mother that I was supposed to be and that mother was selfless. She was this earth mother making beautiful organic pumpkin puree for her children, teaching them the ABC, making muffins, doing everything for everybody else, so, so happy and joyful at every moment of of motherhood. And that's who I thought I was supposed to be.
00:12:13:05 - 00:12:49:07
Lizzie
And I wasn't. And that made me feel so bad about myself. So that was a part of it. The other part of it was that I was absolutely exhausted and I was getting up every hour to feed my beautiful little baby who wasn't sleeping. And rather than saying to myself, Gosh, this is a lot, and no wonder you're not coping, I just thought, get on with it.
00:12:49:07 - 00:13:07:15
Lizzie
Keep going. You've got to be this good. Mum, look around you in the playgroup. Everyone else is coping. Everyone else is having a great time. Keep going. Go, go, go. And so I feel like because I didn't stop, because I didn't ask for help, I spiralled and spiralled and spiralled.
00:13:07:17 - 00:13:30:08
Filly
Yeah, yeah. And it's just that cycle of stuckness to where the physiology is down. And then you've got these deeper unconscious core beliefs and expectations of yourself that kind of causes more stress hormones to excrete any body which is going to affect slate. Plus, you've got a baby that's waking up at night. It's yeah, it's, it's huge. Okay.
00:13:30:08 - 00:13:58:13
Filly
Sorry. Your way out of that was to start doing some ballet movements at the kitchen table, which I just love. It is so cool. So just and everyone knows I'm pretty sure everyone knows that exercise environment is good for us just in the same way that it's like McDonald's. Probably not so good for us. Let's eat healthy food so we all know we should be exercising and moving to better health.
00:13:58:13 - 00:14:26:12
Filly
But not a lot of people are, especially people who a desk, you know, desk workers, knowledge workers, business owners. If a lot of the stuff that you do is sitting down, whether it's coaching, consulting with people on the computer. So can you can you dig into some of the research around the impact that sedentary living really has on our health?
00:14:26:14 - 00:15:01:22
Filly
And in your book, there is something where you linked smoking, where it's like we all know how bad smoking is that. I think you're actually making a link or a metaphor around Will just in the same way that smoking can cause detriment to our health, so too can sedentary living. Smoking is kind of like demonised now and you can only do it in so many places and you get those packets of cigarettes with the the tumour is growing on people's faces that that's we don't see that around sedentary living.
00:15:01:22 - 00:15:04:20
Filly
So you can you talk into that.
00:15:04:21 - 00:15:28:13
Lizzie
Yeah. That the term sitting is a new smoking was coined by James Levine and he wrote this book called Get Up and he talked a lot about all the research. He was the director of the Mayo Clinic and it's pretty incredible when you dig into the research of this prolonged sitting and how it's been shown to take years off our life.
00:15:28:15 - 00:15:49:23
Lizzie
And even if you are going to the gym in the morning, say, or going for that walk at night, that you're still spending the majority of your day in this century stock position and not moving that gym, that walk, it's not enough to counteract the negative impact that comes from a lot of sitting that that's what a lot of research shows.
00:15:50:01 - 00:16:14:15
Lizzie
And it's quite fascinating because you think what's wrong with this whole sitting thing? I mean, surely it's okay to be the sitting. But the problem is that where we sit for these long periods of time and we don't get moving, we think about your heart and how it doesn't really have to work as hard. And that can lead to a build up of fatty acids that can clog out arteries.
00:16:14:15 - 00:16:46:08
Lizzie
Our metabolism slows down or this body gets tired, achy, stuck, and that makes us so much more susceptible to things like injuries. And there is some crazy research that that tells us that even just taking a little bit of time off your sitting, for example, one minute every 30 minutes, what that does to your mood, to your fatigue and even your longevity, it's just crazy.
00:16:46:13 - 00:17:08:00
Lizzie
Our bodies and our brains, as you would know, really are designed to move to function at their best. They're not designed to spend these hours and hours and hours and hours of sitting without moving. But we think that exercise has to be this this separate thing in our day that we've got to exercise and then we've got our work.
00:17:08:04 - 00:17:31:16
Lizzie
But the problem is that when we don't get to that exercise is when we don't do it or we are sedentary, then we miss out on all these incredible benefits and these amazing things that happen in our body when we get moving. And when you talk about the environment that about smoking and how they changed when it became harder to smoke.
00:17:31:16 - 00:17:55:04
Lizzie
And Wendy Wood talks about this in her book, Good Habits, Bad Habits, that the research that she's done on this, if you can change your environment, that's when you get the big benefits to your habits. That's when you get more success in that in that habit building. So you can look at your environment and how you're working. How do you make it so you can have a less of a sedentary day?
00:17:55:06 - 00:18:27:06
Filly
Yeah, actually a little on the word honesty piece here, when I was writing the book, I'm like, if I'm being really honest, I do say that way too much, way too much. And I'm not I don't intentionally add in little bursts of movement. So I have changed my environment since reading your book and just real simple stuff, like I used to kind of get annoyed if like, power out the pens over there or charges over in that room.
00:18:27:08 - 00:18:40:22
Filly
But now I'm like, No, this is great. Because then I get up and I move around and I get the thing. It's so good. So rather than it being annoying, it's actually really helpful.
00:18:40:23 - 00:19:08:23
Lizzie
Exactly. And those little moments that you stand up, you, you activate your muscles, you get your, your heart pumping a bit more. All those little moments really do start to add up. And what we know is that say we have to exercise for 150 minutes a week that moderate intensity exercise. It's absolutely fine and just as effective to break up those minutes, to break it down.
00:19:08:23 - 00:19:31:16
Lizzie
Even if you are doing a one minute walk every 30 minutes is a study by Columbia University shows how fantastic that is to help regulate your blood sugar levels, to help improve your mood. It makes you feel less fatigued. We think that the little things don't count, that we have to wait for the big things, and that's simply not true.
00:19:31:16 - 00:19:42:15
Lizzie
And especially in our workdays, we can use as little moments of of getting off, of having a stretch, of taking a walk. We can use that to actually help us work better.
00:19:42:17 - 00:20:02:11
Filly
Yeah. And it's so simple. One minute every 30 minutes, pretty sure you can do something there. Something I do. And I think I just do it intuitively. But as I was really reading and digging more into the research, like, Yeah, this is good. And it's also why I feel good when I do it, but I just do like these weird kind of like dances.
00:20:02:13 - 00:20:25:09
Filly
It's kind of like invading my body and it just feels good and flowy and like, you know, my back might be a bit tight and it's like, a little. That's good. But it's kind of cool too, that if I do that something like that one minute every 30 minutes, my heart health is going to be also like, not only do I feel good in the moment, but I'm actually I'm preventing and supporting my future.
00:20:25:09 - 00:20:44:22
Lizzie
So it's just totally and how nice that is for your for your spine, for your mobility. I mean, I love to do those old school dance moves. So imagine that I've got a couple of heavy shopping bags and leaned over to one side and lift up the shopping bag. And then now the shopping bag will start a lawnmower up and down, stir the pot in front of me.
00:20:44:22 - 00:20:59:01
Lizzie
I do that with a lot of workplaces on there, eating videos. But then this fun moves that that doesn't feel like exercise, but you're getting your body out of that same stuck position that so many of us spend our days in.
00:20:59:03 - 00:21:07:23
Filly
Yeah, it's so good. So what would you what are the signs? Signs that someone might be being too sedentary for too long?
00:21:08:01 - 00:21:36:08
Lizzie
Well, your body starts out usually by whispering the signs. Doesn't whispers going feeling a little bit tight. My lower back they got my nicks, a little bit achy, feeling a bit, a little bit yawning, tired, can't quite focus and get that on that email to sound how I want it to sound. And then those whispers sometimes can turn into screaming at us, so we want to catch it at those whispers.
00:21:36:09 - 00:21:57:21
Lizzie
When you get that feeling in your your lower back, that's probably a sign that you need to move it because our spine can get so inflexible. When we do a lot of sitting in that same position without moving. That's your sign to imagine you've dropped a couple of pens on the ground and lean over down to pick one up and then lean over to the other side.
00:21:57:21 - 00:22:16:16
Lizzie
Imagine someone a call from behind you and you just look around and twist to one side and twist the the other way. If you've got that that sign, that little signal that you kind of come up with those good ideas, that's just signal that you probably need to get up, take a walk on the spot or walk outside.
00:22:16:17 - 00:22:42:01
Lizzie
There's a study by Stanford University that shows that compared to sitting, walking increases creative output by 60% and those creative juices continue to flow after you set back down a body. And our brains are constantly giving us cues. Sometimes it's that cue of I feel really stressed and you know, when you feel stressed, you can just feel it there in your body.
00:22:42:03 - 00:23:04:15
Lizzie
That's usually a sign get moving in some kind of way. If you in an office go to the bathroom, just punch it out in front of you, introduce some shadowboxing in the air or punch a pillow, move your body in some kind of way, roll your shoulders back, shake it off. It's it's so common that we hold so much in our bodies.
00:23:04:16 - 00:23:19:11
Lizzie
And don't you find that if you dance, you do your funny little dance, you feel a little, little bit better. All these little moves that we do can help us move through these these strong emotions that we're feeling.
00:23:19:12 - 00:23:32:07
Filly
I know. For me, a big sign will be my eyes will feel like they want to drop out of my head, which usually means I've also been maybe doing computer work for too long. But it's a pretty intense physical sensation that.
00:23:32:10 - 00:23:33:22
Lizzie
Yes, that is really.
00:23:34:02 - 00:23:56:06
Filly
That is so cool, though, because if we didn't get these these niggles, these signs, then like what if something sinister is actually happening inside of you and you just don't know? And so what a what a gift our body gives us to actually just say, Hey, something needs to change right now.
00:23:56:08 - 00:24:08:23
Lizzie
And how often do we reject the gift of that and think, No, no, no, I've just got to get this done because I've got to get this finished in time to go pick up my kids from school or put the washing on. I've got to get this project out. I just got to go, go, go, go, go, go, go.
00:24:09:01 - 00:24:36:15
Lizzie
And even though we're getting these signals, we think that we have to just power on through. And I love thinking about those Formula One drivers when I've been driving, looking at that Netflix show Drive to Survive and how they're there on the race track and and assured they don't want to stop and do their pit stops and but they've got to do it because they've caught a box and they have to change their tyres and fix the engine and get back on the road because that's how they can get to the finish line and win the race.
00:24:36:15 - 00:25:03:05
Lizzie
If they don't do that, they're going to slow right down, they're not going to get there and it's the same thing for us. We need to take these little pit stops for our own vehicle, which is our body, and we do actually get to the finish line quicker even though we think we won't and feeling better. And our vehicle is in much better condition if we take those little pit stops in our day.
00:25:03:07 - 00:25:17:00
Filly
Why do you think then, that people are rejecting these signals? Like it's just like just go to push? I mean, go to push through, just got to keep going. But what's kind of the what do you think is the deeper reason why people aren't listening to their body?
00:25:17:02 - 00:25:39:07
Lizzie
Well, I reject the signals. And I wrote the book. There's lots of times that I have to remind myself. I think that we feel like that we should just remember to do it. We don't think that we need to put any other things in place that that. Q should be enough. We feel a niggle. We should we should do something.
00:25:39:09 - 00:25:59:14
Lizzie
So let's look at how we can actually make it easier for ourselves to to make it a habit to not rely on just our memories or knowing that we we have to do it. And so what, what's some other cues that we can put in there? What's a bit of habit stacking we can do that? b.J Fogg habit stacking.
00:25:59:14 - 00:26:20:17
Lizzie
So it becomes a bit of a norm. Phone rings, stand up and just stand up or have a little walk on the spot and that becomes a little habit. After you take a sip of water, you stand up and have a quick little stretch. You press send on it and an email. You turn your head to side. It's inside to give your eyes a little break.
00:26:20:19 - 00:26:37:01
Lizzie
You have a little reward chart there or a little chart. So every time you do a little something after you do a stretch for your back or whatever it is you do, you take a little cross on that reward chart or put a sticker on it and have that feeling of celebration. Yes, I've done something for me. Set.
00:26:37:02 - 00:27:00:19
Lizzie
Do alarms to do it. And I said, set eyes on your phone. Don't have your phone sitting on your desk. Have it away from you or set the kitchen timer or like you do put things away from your desk that you have to get up and do it. That we try and make this easier for ourselves rather than just relying on our own motivation or the fact that we need to remember to do it.
00:27:00:21 - 00:27:20:16
Filly
I kind of think about sometimes we get clients with very dysfunctional breathing patterns and so when you're born, if you watch a little baby, they breathe with their belly. Their chest hardly moves that. Then as we become older and we are running around doing all the things that breathing instead of coming from the belly ends up chest breathing.
00:27:20:18 - 00:27:51:13
Filly
And so and that just becomes the autonomic response. It's not normal, but it becomes almost like second nature in the same way that sedentary living can become just the way that this is just how I live, this is how I move my body. And so if someone's retraining the way that they're breathing, like pretty intentionally, you have to think about actually moving your different body parts so that you stop breathing properly for maybe like a good month and have those reminders.
00:27:51:15 - 00:28:03:04
Filly
I feel like it's the same thing too. We just like adding in little, little bits of movement throughout your day. Over time, it's actually just going to become second nature again because that's that we were designed to move to.
00:28:03:06 - 00:28:28:17
Lizzie
Absolutely had those Post-it notes, those, those reminders. And also I would with that as well, rather than thinking that you have to do it all the time and do it, start off by doing it every half an hour or do it every hour, Maybe just choose one little thing in your day when you turn the kettle on for a cup of tea after, you know, when you get up from your workday to ten push ups and that's enough.
00:28:28:17 - 00:28:30:10
Lizzie
Start with that.
00:28:30:12 - 00:28:45:12
Filly
Something you say a lot is all or something mindset as opposed to all or nothing, which I feel like fits in with what you're talking about there. So what is oil or something being and why is that the better way of thinking?
00:28:45:14 - 00:29:06:01
Lizzie
Whenever I describe this mindset that I remember so clearly being in and I often have to fight against, I was in it when my girls were so little that it had to be this all too exercise, had to look this way. And if it wasn't like that, and if I didn't have the hour and all those things, then I just did nothing.
00:29:06:01 - 00:29:36:00
Lizzie
There's no point. And what I started to see was there's so many other people that were in that mindset as well. Every time I say all or nothing in the audience, I see heads nod, Yes, I get that. And if we switch that all or nothing into all or something, all of a sudden we have to break all these rules that we have around what exercise has to look like and think, okay, this little something is actually better than nothing.
00:29:36:00 - 00:29:54:12
Lizzie
It's okay. Our bodies, our brains are to care about all these rules we set up that I would exercise self care. All the stuff have to look like it just wants us to move. So let's find one little way that we can move. Do something rather than nothing. And 2 minutes better than no minutes. 10 seconds, better than no seconds.
00:29:54:12 - 00:30:05:04
Lizzie
Because what it does is get you taking a little bit of action. And as we know, action precedes motivation. And that's when we start to build the momentum.
00:30:05:06 - 00:30:31:02
Filly
Yeah, we have a few little sayings that I feel like align with that 1% better every day. 1%. That's not a lot like those tiny. But if you do that consistently, it builds up. And my husband used to own a gym and he would always say to his clients, do the minimum to get the maximum result. So rather than like lifting, doing ten reps and potentially breaking your back, let's just do eight.
00:30:31:03 - 00:30:50:18
Filly
You still going to get you get the same results and it's safer. Yeah, and we apply that to weed so kids do the minimum to get the maximum results. Like if you progressing, if you moving, whether that's physically or physically, that's like, great, awesome. You're doing it perfectly the way you are at right now. Great.
00:30:50:20 - 00:31:21:14
Lizzie
We want the big things. We're looking for that big add to the big magic pill and and so easy to discount the small little things. I'm not quite sure why we're like that, but it's it's so many of us are, myself included. I had to really work hard in getting to trust in those little things. And I think what helps is that if you look at times in your life when something happened that you're really happy that it happened.
00:31:21:16 - 00:31:58:09
Lizzie
And if you look back and think, that's because I did that little thing, for me, it was those little two minute moments at my kitchen bench. And I remember that day that I had my little girls on either side of me up on my hips and and we started dancing. And I hadn't dealt with them the months and I looked at Stella on one side and I looked at Ruby on the other side, and I saw them and I sound so strange, but I felt like I hadn't actually really seen them so much.
00:31:58:09 - 00:32:29:06
Lizzie
My little baby, my little child. And yet here I was. I looked them in the eye, I saw them. I felt like I was back in the present moment with them. And that was because of those little small steps I was doing and the ripple effect from the small steps of getting more professional help and reaching out to more people and all of the things if you look back and you think, I feel so strong, I'm able to do these things I didn't think I was going to be able to do.
00:32:29:06 - 00:32:49:03
Lizzie
I can lift this, I can open up this can of this hard thing, pasta sauce, and no one else is here to help me. And that's because I did those ten push ups at my kitchen bench every day. And that ten push up became 50 each week. It became thousands of push ups. And here I am from that one little moment able to do this thing.
00:32:49:05 - 00:33:17:00
Filly
Yeah, it's so good. It's so good. It's not. Yeah, it's not just about movement and even physical health. It has this beautiful ripple effect in every area of your life. So if someone's sitting at the desk all day, that's kind of like what they do for their job or business. What, what would you say the three best to movements that someone could incorporate into their day?
00:33:17:01 - 00:33:40:03
Lizzie
Do something to get your body out of that stuck position. One of my favourite ones. And do it now. Let's do it together now. I just think you don't even have to get up off your chair, but you're all fit so well. But yeah, you can't. Or if you're walking along listening to this podcast, if you're driving, please keep one hand on the wheel and you going to lift up one arm and reaching up and just lean over a little bit if you can.
00:33:40:05 - 00:33:51:17
Lizzie
And how lovely does that feel to lengthen out the side of your body and then reach the other arm? And as you're doing this, you can also think about one thing that you want to reach for at the moment.
00:33:51:22 - 00:33:57:16
Filly
I like that. I got I actually got sleepy. It actually made me want to go to sleep, say.
00:33:57:18 - 00:34:19:07
Lizzie
beautiful, your body obviously needed that big stretch. So that's you that your back is getting a bit tired and achy. So what about if you are on a virtual meeting and your. I don't want to get moving in front of anybody. And this is the moment where you can do these really subtle little movements under your desk.
00:34:19:07 - 00:34:35:21
Lizzie
So think about your hips, your knees, your legs, your feet. You want to push one leg out and you can do this standing. Just push one leg out in front of you and push the other leg out there. And notice how that gets your hips moving. That starts to if you pick up the pace on that one, that starts to get a bit of circulation happening.
00:34:35:21 - 00:35:00:02
Lizzie
You start to get a little bit of energy from that and feel is doing her cool little dance moves and then nothing means I do. Exactly So, so so simple but there's so much she could do with that little move there. And then the other big thing that I would recommend to do is try and incorporate some little moments of walking in your work day.
00:35:00:04 - 00:35:22:09
Lizzie
If that phone rings and you can hop on up off your chair and take a walk outside if possible. But if not, don't let that stop. You have a little walk on the spot. If you're starting to feel it, it's safe. If you starting to go for that sugary snack or 10th cup of coffee because your energy is dropping, how that instead you get on up and pretend the ground's quite hot.
00:35:22:09 - 00:35:38:00
Lizzie
You can do it. Now he is sitting back down. But yes, so you just get a little quick, quick. You stank it. Walk on the spot there, little jog on the spot like it's a really hot ground and just put a timer on for 30 seconds. One minute, put on a song that's going to get you get your moving walking on.
00:35:38:00 - 00:35:54:11
Lizzie
Such as she's going so fast, she's inviting you at. Yes. That's just a beautiful moment to have a smile, have a laugh and get your heart pumping. That's so, so simple. But it's like so effective.
00:35:54:15 - 00:36:05:06
Filly
Yeah, I'm feeling happy. I'm excited. what about stand up tests, do you think? Good. Good. Not good. Overrated.
00:36:05:08 - 00:36:23:04
Lizzie
I think the to remember that it's not necessarily about the seating or the standing, but it's about movement. So if you were standing all day, which a lot of people do in their work days, but they don't get to move, that's not particularly great for your body either. And a lot of standing can also make you feel a bit tired, gets get feet, all those things.
00:36:23:04 - 00:36:42:11
Lizzie
So I love to have my standing desk because I feel like when I'm standing I do naturally move a bit more. I start to have a little wiggle of my hips, keep my legs out of sway with side to side, little sway. But I also have to wash. I don't stand too much and get some. I get some sitting in there as well.
00:36:42:11 - 00:36:56:12
Lizzie
And then when I'm sitting to break that up with a little bit of movement as well, I've got my stand up desk that for years I had a normal desk with some boxes and then I had a normal desk with one of those stand like contraptions that you put on there that helps you be able to stand out.
00:36:56:12 - 00:37:17:10
Lizzie
So if you've got something around that, at least you can pop up on your desk and go, Right, I'm going to take this meeting standing and have my laptop on my computer if you can, a little bit higher, then that's a great thing to do. As as well. A lot of people have stand up desks and don't use them and a lot of people have stand up desk and then still stay in that same stuck position.
00:37:17:12 - 00:37:24:02
Lizzie
The same principles apply. You want to find those little moments, help you remember to take these little bits of movement?
00:37:24:08 - 00:37:47:09
Filly
Yeah, I love it. I think I might know the answer to this question because I feel like we've been talking a lot about this. But if we're thinking more specifically about people who might be really burnt out to the point that their body is just feeling very exhausted, chronic fatigue, maybe fibromyalgia, these like it sounds like these principles will still apply.
00:37:47:09 - 00:38:13:14
Filly
So sometimes with clients like this, we will take them through graded exercise therapy, which in a way kind of sounds like what you did to get out of post-natal depression where you just starting off with like small, small things and over time increasing it. So do you have anything to say in terms of that, especially like some some people, even just a walk around the block donated to our nap afterwards.
00:38:13:15 - 00:38:25:05
Filly
So how, what would your advice be in terms of managing that and moving through that so that they can actually increase both movement to then increase energy?
00:38:25:07 - 00:39:07:12
Lizzie
First of all, I would say to be very kind to yourself and that realise that there's only certain things that you can do right now and that's okay rather than beating yourself up about the fact maybe you used to do all these things and now you can't. The second thing is that even the smallest little thing that you do, you want to celebrate that if you manage to reach your arms on up and have a nice big stretch and yawn and extend your body, then and then bring your arms back down, celebrate the fact that you have moved your body, given it this beautiful stretch and just taken that little moment, whatever that can be,
00:39:07:13 - 00:39:27:06
Lizzie
you know, the sort of movements that I would love for you to do if you are feeling like that. It just takes a little moment. If you're sitting at your desk to do some chair yoga. Think about if you were on your yoga mat and the things that you might like to do, but it's just too hard to even contemplate right now.
00:39:27:06 - 00:39:53:02
Lizzie
Something like a cat cow putting your hands on your knees and arching your back one way and then arching it the other way and moving through those two cat cow positions. A gentle little twist of your body to one side and a gentle twist to the other side. Little moments like that are still so important, so vital. They still do really count.
00:39:53:04 - 00:40:15:14
Lizzie
And so start super small. And if ten push-ups at your kitchen bench is too much, do one. And that's brilliant. And that's enough to say to yourself, Yes, good on me. Give yourself a high five in the reflection. Give yourself a fist pump because you've taken that little moment for you and your body.
00:40:15:16 - 00:40:38:04
Filly
I you this conversation about ten years ago, I used to be three kids. Kind of like an avid bell camper. And, you know, I could do, like, ten maybe. I don't even know how many. Ten pull ups. They apparently was good, but 100 push ups on my toes. And then after I had my first baby, Poppy, I.
00:40:38:06 - 00:41:08:03
Filly
I thought my body could still perform that way. And really enjoyed it at the gym, six months postpartum to the point where I had my back crack. They couldn't find anything there. And so I was just left with severe anxiety, pain and just so much inflammation in my body that wasn't healing. But I kind of went from this like super active gym junkie type chick to literally not even being able to do a pull a push up on my knees.
00:41:08:05 - 00:41:30:18
Filly
And that was like, I feel like that was more devastating mentally because I was trying to compare myself to what I could do and feeling really down and frustrated and angry. And I definitely wasn't celebrating the small things. I was kind of like, you know, I'd rock up to my husband's gym at the time and like watching everyone else do their CrossFit workouts.
00:41:30:18 - 00:41:53:09
Filly
And, you know, I would have all and then I'd be over in the corner doing my really simple things. And I hated it. I hated it because I felt crap. But I love how you've just spoken about that in terms of like it's to be celebrated any way that you move your body. And if this is all that you can manage at the moment, that's great.
00:41:53:13 - 00:41:55:13
Filly
That's awesome.
00:41:55:14 - 00:42:42:04
Lizzie
That's right. And even remembering that when you do something fit you, and even if you don't think it's a big deal, those people that are around you, maybe it's your kids, your family, and they see you doing that little something and they see you going, Yes, look what I just did. I just did that. You're role modelling the fact that even taking these little moments for yourself are worthwhile, that you are prioritising your own physical and mental health and that if they're ever in that situation, where they find they can't do very much that they've seen by your example that these small little things that that we do for ourselves actually really count.
00:42:42:06 - 00:42:50:03
Filly
I love it. It's so good. thank you so much for this awesome conversation.
00:42:50:05 - 00:42:52:03
Lizzie
And we engage in.
00:42:52:04 - 00:42:53:21
Filly
This. Well, if there's anything else.
00:42:54:00 - 00:42:58:12
Lizzie
We had to end this. I'll just talk to you forever.
00:42:58:14 - 00:43:21:01
Filly
Sorry. Good. I. I love it when you pop up in my Instagram feed because you just make me smile all the time. If someone if you haven't seen Lizzy before, she's always in yellow. Almost always. And it's just like her idea of sunshine and happiness and positivity. And I love it. I'm sorry. If anyone wants to find out more about you, especially they want to grab a copy of your book.
00:43:21:01 - 00:43:25:02
Filly
How? What's the best way that people can find you?
00:43:25:04 - 00:43:49:11
Lizzie
Yeah, you can just pop into Google. Lizzie Williamson, The active work day advantage if you're on Instagramer. I really I love insta so you can head over to @energizewithlizzie and energize with the Z. And if there's something that you find is getting in your way of exercise, for example, or maybe you have you think, gosh, I've got this is my workday, this is what it looks like.
00:43:49:11 - 00:44:16:20
Lizzie
There's no way I can exercise or some roadblock that you have. Let me know. Send me a message because I love creating little videos and helping make exercise easier. That is when I'm on a mission to do so, connect with me. Make sure you let me know that you've been listening to this podcast and yeah, and if you wanting read the first chapter of the book, if you head over to lizziewilliamson.com, you'll see a little pop up there and, and you can have a little read and and see if you want to read more.
00:44:16:22 - 00:44:26:04
Filly
Yeah. So good. All right. I'll be reaching out when I get a little block. I'm like, what fun, what fun video is Lizzie going to create for me?
00:44:26:06 - 00:44:32:01
Lizzie
Guess what? My most requested workout is? What, in the car?
00:44:32:03 - 00:44:36:22
Filly
yeah, right. Because you can't do a lot hours. Can you share?
00:44:37:03 - 00:44:39:12
Lizzie
Exactly. A little something?
00:44:39:12 - 00:44:40:16
Filly
A little something.
00:44:40:16 - 00:44:56:05
Lizzie
Is one of my most viewed workouts, I think, on YouTube. Yeah. Just, you know. gosh, it's so simple, but few little Pilates kind of circle ons when you start. Still little knee raise the shoulder back the neck things. Yeah.
00:44:56:05 - 00:44:59:08
Filly
So maybe not this one where you're looking side to side, but you can.
00:44:59:08 - 00:45:07:08
Lizzie
Do that in a red light car workout. And then the other most requested one is stand up, stand up, decide what can you do.
00:45:07:10 - 00:45:07:16
Filly
Or.
00:45:07:21 - 00:45:12:05
Lizzie
People want to know what to do in that way. So, yeah, super fun. I'm here for you. Let's go.
00:45:12:05 - 00:45:33:18
Filly
That's so good. That reminded me when I was at university this and ideally go but at the stoplight. So we'd be in the car with all my friends and we'd all have to jump out of the car and change. Yeah, like actually jumping out and it would change. So maybe do that, people, but that would get you moving.
00:45:33:20 - 00:45:40:10
Lizzie
look, we could come up with a whole bunch of creative ways that that one. That's good.
00:45:40:12 - 00:45:49:00
Filly
All right. Awesome. Thank you so much, Lizzie. And thank you for our beautiful listeners for tuning in, and we'll catch you on the next episode.
00:45:49:02 - 00:45:54:13
Lizzie
Thank you, Filly. And thank you so much for all the work that you do for all of us. So grateful. You're amazing.
00:45:54:15 - 00:46:04:17
Filly
Thank you. And thank you so much for listening. We so appreciate you. If you'd like to give us extra.
00:46:04:17 - 00:46:05:23
Lizzie
Smiles, drop us a.
00:46:05:23 - 00:46:09:13
Filly
Review and spread the love. By sharing this episode.
00:46:09:15 - 00:46:27:21
Chris
You can also write your own state of burnout and the root cause Contribute is by taking out ending body burnout assessment on our website. And if you're interested in learning about our group one on one ending Body burn out programs, shoot us a DM via Instagram or Facebook. The best day ever.
