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From a childhood spent avoiding sports to becoming a powerhouse in competitive powerlifting and weightlifting, Erica Koo's journey is nothing short of inspiring. Known as "Stretch," Erica shares her story of transformation, including her fascinating work as a fascia stretch therapist. Discover how she switched from aerial hoop and powerlifting to mastering weightlifting and sprinting, all while championing a holistic approach to addressing pain and imbalance through fascia stretch therapy.
Get ready to be inspired as we explore the profound mental and physical benefits of strength training. Erica and I dive into overcoming personal hurdles, building mental resilience, and the journey from focusing on weight loss to celebrating strength and capability. With personal anecdotes and professional insights, we discuss the psychological aspects of athletic performance, emphasising the importance of mental toughness and confidence in weightlifting competitions. Learn how these principles of empowerment and body positivity can transform your mindset and performance.
We also uncover the powerful synergy between psychotherapy and personal training, highlighting Erica's innovative approach to holistic wellness. Hear how understanding a client's history and creating a safe, relaxing environment can optimise therapeutic outcomes. Erica shares her vision for blending psychology, personal training, and fascia stretch therapy, providing comprehensive care that boosts overall well-being.
This episode is a treasure trove of insights for anyone looking to elevate their fitness journey and mental health. Join us and take a step towards unlocking your full potential!
You can find Stretch's full profile in our Guest Directory https://lifehealththeuniverse.podcastpage.io/person/stretch-erica
Speaker 1: Today I'm chatting with Erica Koo, also known as
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Stretch, and my plan is that throughout this episode, that's
00:00:12
what I'm going to refer to you as Stretch.
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So welcome to the podcast.
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It's really great to have you here.
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We just had a tiny chat before we hit record, um, and stretch
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doesn't really know what she's in for because, basically, I
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someone who I train.
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One of my personal training clients recommended you as a
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guest, um, because her partners worked with you, um, and so I
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just basically emailed you and said do you want to be a guest?
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And you said, yes, so here we are, but you don't know anything
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about me and I only know a little bit about you, so we're
00:00:56
gonna get to know each other.
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But obviously you know you came with a recommendation, so
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you're doing some really interesting work, based in
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sydney, and you are essentially a personal trainer and a fascia
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stretch therapist, hence the name.
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No, yeah, yeah.
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And you're also, um, an athlete , um, so you work in the air
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with some aerial hoop, which is also known as Lyra, and you're
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also a powerlifter and you hold Do you still hold?
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The record?
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Speaker 2: I'm not quite sure.
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So those two are sports I used to do like I was quite
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passionate about a couple of years ago and then when COVID
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hit and the lockdowns hit, it made it very difficult to
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practice Lyra, so that became phased out, I think.
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Um, I did do it for about, I think, close to four years and I
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did maybe three performances at that time.
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So I was pretty big into that and I really really enjoyed it.
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Um, the powerlifting record, I'm not sure I think it.
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I think I held it for maybe two years and now they've changed
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federations.
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So, okay, I'm pretty sure there's.
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You know, I think I held it for maybe two years and now they've
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changed Federation.
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So I'm pretty sure there's.
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You know, there's new records being set all the time.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I'm going to declare your amazing record
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anyway, because you weighed in when you were doing your, when
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you were competing in was it 2019?
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Um, weighing in at 57 kilo body weight 57 kilo body weight yeah
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, bench pressed 82 and a half kilos.
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That is solid.
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That's amazing.
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Like kudos, thank you, look at it like.
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So my background is as a personal trainer, which you've
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probably um gathered for because of who referred us um, and I
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have a background in competitive crossfit um, amazing yeah, yeah
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so a few years ago now, like I've, I'm retired and I just
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kind of dabble with a little bit of crossfit for um, you know my
00:03:01
health and well-being and you know to challenge my body, but
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yeah, so like, obviously there's a connection there with that,
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in that competitive space, which I would be really keen to talk
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to you about.
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I feel like I've done a whole bunch of talking so far, so can
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you kind of give us a bit of a know, an intro of yourself, what
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you're doing right now and your work and that sort of thing?
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Speaker 2: yeah, um, I always find it very difficult to talk
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about myself, actually, that's okay hard on.
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However, I will try my best um.
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So I used to be a competitive powerlifter, used to do a lot of
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lira.
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Most recently, I've been actually training and
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weightlifting.
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So because of your crossfit um, you'd probably understand it's
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like the snatch and clean and jerk um, so that's kind of been
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my new love, and I've also been learning how to sprint.
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So I've been doing a lot of sprinting in the past since
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maybe January.
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So I've been working with a coach to see how far I can push
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myself In terms of my work.
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I've been like a strength coach for probably like reaching eight
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or nine years now.
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I've been now running my own business in fascia stretch
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therapy and personal training for probably about four years.
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So the fascia stretch therapy is now probably what is primarily,
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uh, most of my work, um, and it's this amazing form of, like
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athletic manual bodywork therapy uh, that works very
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holistically, looks at the body in a very integrative manner, um
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, and, unlike you know, massage, which is more about isolated
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muscles.
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So if someone comes in and says my shoulder is really painful,
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um, the therapist might look at, let's say, their shoulder joint
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itself, uh, biceps, triceps, neck, anything else that's
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related to it.
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But I look at more.
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What other areas is that joint connected to and that can go as
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deep as things like the lower back and the hip on the opposite
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side of the body, and then you know, working from there to see
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whereabouts the body needs the most work and then creating
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balance across the body from that, yeah, yeah, cool, it
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sounds like really great work, and obviously you're working
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with a whole bunch of different people and I definitely want to
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delve into that because that's yeah, we, we want to like let
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people know about that.
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Speaker 1: Um, but what I'm really keen to start with,
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because I feel like, look, it sounds like you're doing a whole
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bunch of really cool things in terms of challenging your own
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athletic potential and I wanna chat with you a little bit about
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that, because you didn't have a background in that kind of
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stuff when you were a kid, right , you weren't a competitive
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athlete, you weren't into sports or anything like that.
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Speaker 2: No, quite the opposite.
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Yeah me too, no, no, quite the opposite.
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No me too, no, no, quite the opposite.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, me too, and what I you know.
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I guess it's really easy for someone who isn't maybe isn't
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even exercising yet, it's really easy to put someone like you or
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me on a pedestal and think that we're special, yeah, or that
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you know, um, that we're the lucky ones or I don't know um,
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but actually no, I.
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I really think it's important for people to know that that,
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yeah, the human potential is for anyone.
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So what, um?
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What was your kind of childhood like?
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Oh look.
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I don't want to go into it, like we don't have to go into any
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like deep stuff, but like in terms of your, when you said
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quite the opposite to to you know being a sports.
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Speaker 2: So when I was a child , I was not very athletic.
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So, aside from you know things like climbing trees and you know
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playing on the playground, things like that, and I was very
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much into art.
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Like my parents used to say, I knew I learned how to draw
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before I learned how to walk, so that was really my thing.
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So creating things, reading, that's how I grew up.
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And then when I got into school , you know kids kind of get
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grouped into things that they're good at.
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So if someone's naturally athletic or if someone's
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naturally artistic or you know great at things like public
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speaking, that's how they get categorized and grouped in.
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And I went through a public school system.
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So I think I'm not sure about private school systems, but I
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know in public school systems, basically, you know you get put
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into PE classes, art classes, and if you're good at it,
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awesome.
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But there's not much room for nurturing the students who they
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either might not be interested and or they might have potential
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, but they haven't quite had the opportunity for that to show
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through yet.
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So you're kind of thrown in and it's like these people are
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really bad so we're not going to pick them as part of the team.
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Um, school carnival cool, you don't know how to swim awesome,
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well, you can just wait in the kids pool over there.
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So there was a lot about it where I identified with.
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I am not a very active person, I'm not an athletic person.
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This will not be for me.
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So as a result of it, I never tried, because you try a couple
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of times and then you get told that you're not good at it or
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you realize that you're not good at it and you can't compete
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against all these other children who either are naturally gifted
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and or they do all these extracurricular activities
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outside that's helped them nurture this skill.
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So I stopped, you know, enjoying PE, did what I could to
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get out of it and tried to nurture the things that I
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thought I was good at, which was the creative arts and the um
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like the linguistics.
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So you know things like reading and learning different
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languages and things like that um.
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And then there was a point in my I would say maybe university
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studies where I started really getting into weight training and
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sort of like weight lifting and becoming a little bit fitter.
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It didn't start off with the best intentions, because I
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actually initially started off with the intent to lose weight
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and I identified that as now, having been problematic because
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I was never fat or chubby.
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It was the sort of messaging I received socially and culturally
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which led me to be like, oh well, wait, maybe if I do a lot
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of cardio and eat less, I'll lose weight.
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So I hit a point where I was about 50 kilos and jumping on
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the scale and wondering how do I get down to even lower?
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Wow, yeah, and this was also back when social media was
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starting to come up, so things like Instagram and Facebook and
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there were more women who were starting to get into strength
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training and promote it as a thing that can be done by, you
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know, all genders, all types of people.
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So I started following these women who were incredibly strong
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, had these really I wouldn't say muscular, but just fit
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physiques, and I thought, oh, and they also had this messaging
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that was like you can't, it's not healthy to starve yourself
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to get down to a weight that you're then continuing to do
00:10:04
that for, and something about that really resonated with me.
00:10:07
So I started lifting weights and then, ever since then I think,
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I've sort of made my way into lots of different strength
00:10:13
training programs and really started enjoying the fact that,
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oh, this is something I could be good at.
00:10:20
I don't need to be perfect at it , but it's good for me, I enjoy
00:10:24
it.
00:10:24
I can see a progression, um, and I also really felt very
00:10:29
empowered in my body for the first time.
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So, instead of trying to criticize it and feeling, you
00:10:35
know, small and wanting to get smaller in, I would argue, ways
00:10:38
that were not very good for me, I started feeling more empowered
00:10:42
to be the way I was, and if this is the way my body looks
00:10:46
because I'm performing and because I'm fueling um, then
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this is good.
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So, um, I think from then on, you know, I went on to, uh, you
00:10:59
know, work through like an eating disorder and work through
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quite a few things, to come to here now, where a lot of it's
00:11:05
very performance-based, like I love being able to challenge my
00:11:08
body but also my mind.
00:11:10
Um, I think you would understand from CrossFit,
00:11:13
weightlifting and training is very much about the mind than it
00:11:16
is just about the physical body .
00:11:18
So that is now, I think, one of the reasons why I continue to
00:11:21
train.
00:11:21
It's the being able to observe what sort of thoughts and
00:11:25
feelings come to mind when I am challenged and when there is a
00:11:28
bit of self-doubt, and then being able to train that as well
00:11:32
, as you know, trying to get stronger physically wow, that's
00:11:36
so cool.
00:11:37
Speaker 1: What a what a journey .
00:11:39
Um, a couple of things came up then and, oh gosh, yeah, it was
00:11:46
really funny, like it really resonated for me because when I
00:11:50
went to school I was also creative, but I was into drama,
00:11:57
yeah, and I never got put on the team right.
00:12:00
So I would try and never got, yeah, never got nurtured in
00:12:05
sport, loved it, but I think it's such a fine line, isn't it
00:12:09
like if you're not encouraged to do it, you just think you're
00:12:12
not good enough, and I guess the teachers are not.
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They don't have the capacity to nurture.
00:12:18
Um, and let's face it, teachers have favorites too.
00:12:22
Yeah, I think that was my experience.
00:12:25
Um, yeah, so I, I didn't get into it until I was in my late
00:12:32
20s and I think I actually did it for the same reason.
00:12:35
I came to Australia and I dabbled here and there with a
00:12:38
bit of aerobics and a little bit of strength training and I, um,
00:12:42
came, came to Australia for a year and I went back to the UK
00:12:46
and I'd put on some weight, yeah , and so I joined the gym to to
00:12:53
lose weight.
00:12:53
Same thing, but, yeah, and so it's kind of I fluctuated, I
00:13:00
don't know.
00:13:01
Oh, and then it wasn't until I was actually.
00:13:03
So I kind of went, you know, in and out of doing exercise and
00:13:07
it wasn't until I was 30 and I was working in a cafe and it was
00:13:10
next door to a gym, yeah, and I was always kind of like, what
00:13:14
can I do?
00:13:14
Like, what can I do?
00:13:16
Because working in the arts you don't get much work, you work
00:13:19
in cafes, and I was like I could be a personal trainer, and
00:13:25
that's really when it started.
00:13:27
And then once, once I'd qualified as a personal trainer,
00:13:29
I found CrossFit, um, but yeah, the.
00:13:33
So it's really interesting what you said about the body image
00:13:36
stuff, because obviously that was what.
00:13:38
That was how I got into it, when I was trying to lose weight
00:13:41
and it, it and I didn't.
00:13:44
I mean, yeah, social media wasn't around, so it wasn't such
00:13:50
a thing.
00:13:50
I've actually found that more challenging in the last 10 years
00:13:53
than previous.
00:13:56
Previously and even at the beginning of CrossFit, there
00:13:59
wasn't really that much social media.
00:14:02
But it's interesting once you get more focused on performance
00:14:06
and what your body is capable of in the gym and you know the
00:14:09
numbers in terms of your strength and like what you're
00:14:12
going to do when you're in the gym your body.
00:14:15
Um, you're not focused on what your body looks like, but your
00:14:20
body actually adapts and looks pretty good anyway.
00:14:24
Yeah, yeah, Like you look athletic you look strong, you
00:14:28
look healthy, you know all of those things that you're
00:14:30
probably aspiring to.
00:14:31
You know.
00:14:33
But it doesn't really like I never go into the gym thinking
00:14:40
I'm doing it because I want to look good necessarily um mind
00:14:48
and body.
00:14:50
So I I thought that was really interesting as well, when you
00:14:54
were talking about, like challenging your body, but also
00:14:57
what's going on in your mind when you're training and how you
00:15:00
overcome those things.
00:15:01
And I think that that was probably the biggest thing for
00:15:02
me when I was doing CrossFit, as it got more and more
00:15:05
competitive because we were kind of early adopters.
00:15:09
So I went to the CrossFit Games in 2009,.
00:15:12
So it was really quite small and it just grew after that and
00:15:19
continues to do so, but it was my mind.
00:15:22
It was the mind thing that got me in the end.
00:15:25
It was like actually being competitive, felt quite lonely
00:15:33
because you're out there to do as best as you can regardless of
00:15:36
the other people around you, which didn't really sit with me
00:15:41
very well but also the amount of self-doubt, like as other
00:15:46
people start more and more people start doing it, and you
00:15:50
know you start wondering whether you're actually good enough.
00:15:53
And, yeah, that got me in the end.
00:15:56
I have to say yeah, that was the stuff that got me.
00:16:00
What have been some of your challenges and how have you
00:16:05
overcome them when it's come to that sort of the mental game?
00:16:10
Speaker 2: so I think I also forgot to mention this at the
00:16:12
beginning.
00:16:13
I'm actually uh training to become a sports psychologist,
00:16:16
like a registered sports psychologist.
00:16:17
Speaker 1: I saw that on your website.
00:16:18
Yeah, yeah.
00:16:19
Speaker 2: I'm in my masters at the moment and even since
00:16:22
starting my studies, it's been a bit of a well-worn, well wound
00:16:26
of a journey in terms of what sort of techniques I can use on
00:16:29
myself so that you know if I'm going to be working with people
00:16:33
who are going to go through the same process of, you know,
00:16:35
having imposter syndrome.
00:16:36
You know, um, meeting self-doubt, um, you know they
00:16:41
could be training for something for years and then the pressure
00:16:46
of competition is what gets them , and I think it's been a really
00:16:51
interesting process because I feel as if I've I challenged
00:16:55
myself mentally in many different ways since starting
00:16:58
this.
00:16:58
You know level of study as well , um, and I used to be a very I
00:17:05
still am a very anxious person, um, but performance anxiety used
00:17:09
to be a really big thing for me when I was competing in
00:17:13
powerlifting.
00:17:13
Competitions really were very challenging, um, but most of it
00:17:20
I was able to like.
00:17:21
In particular, if you look at my, the day that I did my bench
00:17:24
press record, I managed to overcome it and actually, you
00:17:26
know, achieve what I set out to do.
00:17:28
Um.
00:17:29
You know, one of my mantras was trust my training, because
00:17:32
whenever I would train, all these thoughts would come up and
00:17:34
I would get very intrusive, negative visualizations of me
00:17:38
failing away, because we all understand what that feels like.
00:17:42
We understand what it feels like when you you know unwrap
00:17:44
for a back squat, unwrap for a bench press, or you know, if
00:17:47
you're going in for a snatch and you're anticipating the weight
00:17:50
of what that's going to feel like in your hand.
00:17:52
Sometimes that can work against you because in your mind you're
00:17:55
thinking, what if it feels like the time I failed it?
00:17:58
What if it makes me feel like I'm not going to be able to make
00:18:01
it?
00:18:01
So I do remember the one comp that did break me actually was
00:18:06
there was.
00:18:07
That was a competition at a state level where I was going to
00:18:09
try and break my own bench press record and at the time,
00:18:14
the under 57 category, um, some of the women who were competing
00:18:17
in it really strong women, but basically people were saying, oh
00:18:21
, erica, you're going to take first place because, like your
00:18:23
opener, which is the first attempt for a squat, is heavier
00:18:26
than all the other girls, you know third attempts, and that
00:18:29
somehow placed more pressure on me.
00:18:31
I think I let it get to me a little bit.
00:18:32
Um, so I walked into that competition having done a lot of
00:18:37
mental work.
00:18:38
You, you know, I wrote down all my thoughts, wrote down all the
00:18:40
reasons why this competition was going to go well for me,
00:18:42
like how I was going to perform.
00:18:44
There were a couple of training sessions leading into that
00:18:47
competition where I failed quite a few of the top set weights
00:18:50
and that impacted my confidence.
00:18:52
And you know, unfortunately our brains are set up to look for
00:18:56
threats.
00:18:57
You know it's a protective mechanism for ourselves.
00:19:00
If you have an anxious brain, unfortunately your threat center
00:19:04
of your brain is even more sensitive to those things.
00:19:06
So for me, whenever something like that used to happen, it
00:19:09
provided more evidence for me to be like oh, this shows me that
00:19:13
comp is not going to go well.
00:19:14
So I remember, despite the fact that I try to tried to, you
00:19:19
know, do quite a lot of mental work around it and look for all
00:19:22
these signs and, um, be like no, look at the number of times you
00:19:25
failed a weight but still managed to do really well.
00:19:27
Look at the comps you managed to do really well.
00:19:30
But I did go into that competition placing a lot of
00:19:32
pressure on myself to perform really, really well.
00:19:35
Um, I ended up bombing out and not making any of my squat
00:19:40
attempts.
00:19:41
So I actually failed all my squats.
00:19:43
Um, yeah, so I, whatever bench press attempt I made on that day
00:19:49
would not count.
00:19:50
Um, and I remember coming off that third squat which I failed
00:19:55
at the bottom, not able to come up, be like, oh, that's it, that
00:20:00
, that's actually it.
00:20:00
I have, I have nothing left.
00:20:01
Um, but I did go on to still bench press 85, which was an
00:20:07
unofficial record, yeah, which was, which was great.
00:20:09
But I did walk away from that comp feeling as if I had failed
00:20:14
myself but also failed my coach, that my mind had failed me,
00:20:18
because it was almost as if all the negative visualizations of
00:20:21
these intrusive thoughts I had had leading into the competition
00:20:24
had somehow come true.
00:20:25
Um, and that stayed with me for a long time.
00:20:29
And then, I think most recently, I did a novice weightlifting
00:20:32
comp and it's been maybe like four years since that.
00:20:36
Um, poor competition performance.
00:20:39
There was a lot to learn from that and one of the biggest
00:20:43
things that has changed is my understanding of anxiety, my
00:20:46
acceptance of it and, through its acceptance, my reframing of
00:20:51
what it is.
00:20:52
So, in the past, if I'd be anxious and nervous and I'd get
00:20:56
all these negative visualizations and people who've
00:20:58
been through it know how uncontrollable that is.
00:21:02
You know you can't really tell yourself no, no, no, don't think
00:21:05
about that, because then it actually makes it worse.
00:21:07
Yeah, um, but anxiety and excitement, that level of
00:21:12
arousal the main difference is the meaning that you attribute
00:21:16
to that feeling in your body.
00:21:18
So whereas previously it was I'm nervous, I'm gonna fail,
00:21:23
this means I'm not gonna perform well, now it's oh, my body's
00:21:27
actually getting me ready to do this really big thing.
00:21:29
That's a heavy weight weight out there.
00:21:32
I need this.
00:21:33
So the most recent novice weightlifting comp I did, I
00:21:36
actually lent into that a lot more and I was like, no, this is
00:21:39
me getting excited, my body is, is ready, it's good, I just
00:21:43
need to ride this out.
00:21:44
I think that's one of the biggest things that has changed
00:21:46
is my relationship with anxiety and just understanding and not
00:21:50
trying to fight it so much, but leaning into it a lot more.
00:21:55
And this is one of the things I've been trying to get my
00:21:58
clients to do a lot, because even when I do fascia stretch
00:22:01
therapy, if I work with like some of the athletes I work with
00:22:04
a lot of it is around.
00:22:05
They're carrying all their anxiety in their body because
00:22:07
they've got a comp next week and part of it is going.
00:22:10
This is your body gearing you up.
00:22:11
Might be a little bit early, but it's not a bad thing to have
00:22:15
this, you know.
00:22:16
It shows that you care.
00:22:17
It means your body's trying starting to produce this energy
00:22:21
that you're going to need for the day to do this really big
00:22:23
thing.
00:22:23
That's clearly important to you .
00:22:25
You've worked really hard for um and you kind of need this
00:22:30
system so that you can perform really well.
00:22:32
Otherwise the heavy weight's probably not going to come up in
00:22:35
the same way.
00:22:36
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, wow, yeah, that's, yeah, it's a great
00:22:38
going to come up in the same way .
00:22:39
Yeah, yeah, wow, yeah, that's, yeah, it's a great way to shift
00:22:42
your perspective.
00:22:43
The thing that one of the things that is quite challenging
00:22:47
about competition, especially when you're doing weightlifting,
00:22:51
is you have to kind of, so you have to anticipate what you want
00:22:57
the outcome to be.
00:22:58
And I kind of find that if I, if I you know go into a crossfit
00:23:03
workout, or if I've gone into a crossfit workout in the past
00:23:06
and someone say how many, how much, how long do you think it's
00:23:09
going to take, or how much, I'd always say I don't know, I
00:23:13
don't like to anticipate it, because if I judge too much and
00:23:16
then I don't make it, then that mental, mental thing, you know,
00:23:20
you're like, oh, I'm not keeping up with what I thought I was
00:23:24
capable of, and so you get that negative self-talk or you might
00:23:28
set the bar too low to keep you safe, because you know that's
00:23:32
something you can do.
00:23:33
So I used to try and keep it wide open.
00:23:35
But when you've done a workout before, but when you've done a
00:23:37
workout before, when you've done a lift before and you know what
00:23:41
your, what your potential is and you're trying to push it
00:23:47
even higher.
00:23:47
It's it's hard to to have that kind of like.
00:23:52
You have to have that goal in mind, but if you hang on to the,
00:23:57
the goal and it fucks with your head, then it can really hold
00:24:03
you back.
00:24:04
And weightlifting, especially like you've got to be able to go
00:24:07
out there and do something you've never done before.
00:24:08
Yeah, that's part of the, the psychology of it right is like,
00:24:14
yeah, you, you know, it's not just about your physical body,
00:24:18
it's about like I've never done this before and getting over
00:24:22
that hurdle.
00:24:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's intense.
00:24:28
Speaker 1: What are you?
00:24:29
What is your weightlifting like ?
00:24:31
Are you competing in weightlifting now?
00:24:34
Speaker 2: I would eventually like to do some sanctioned
00:24:37
competitions.
00:24:37
I've only ever done two novice ones, but yeah, I think once I
00:24:42
finish my master's I would actually like to compete in some
00:24:44
sanctioned ones and see how far I can take it.
00:24:47
Yeah, I do love the competing aspect.
00:24:50
What you said before really resonated with me about you
00:24:54
saying, with weightlifting you actually have to go out there
00:24:57
and do something you've never done before, and I agree with
00:24:59
this so much.
00:24:59
Um, because there's always uncertainty with competition.
00:25:03
You can train, like you know, just to use the example of the
00:25:05
olympics, you can train for four years for this really big goal
00:25:09
and have a very good measure, or baseline measure, of what
00:25:13
you're capable of, but then you show up at a competition and
00:25:16
you've got the pressure, you've got the fact that it's a
00:25:17
completely different environment .
00:25:19
You've got jet lag.
00:25:19
You've got the fact that it's a completely different
00:25:20
environment.
00:25:20
You've got jet lag.
00:25:21
You know there's all sorts of different things that make it
00:25:23
different from what your ideal training conditions were.
00:25:27
And I think you know in psychology they talk a lot about
00:25:31
, you know, sports confidence and what they call robust sports
00:25:34
confidence, and that's a sense of confidence an athlete can
00:25:37
have, that is controllable that will remain stable across
00:25:41
different environments.
00:25:42
Um, so you know, if you've got external, uncontrollable, uh,
00:25:46
sources of sports confidence it could be things like weather, um
00:25:49
, you know, like the platforms, um, the shape of the bar, like
00:25:52
the knurling on the bar, things like that and if that's your
00:25:54
only source, then you're less likely to feel confident in even
00:25:58
in your own abilities to perform if you're put into an
00:26:01
environment when that's all gone .
00:26:02
So we, we want to be able to build up more things that are,
00:26:08
you know, maybe a bit more internal, a bit more
00:26:10
controllable, that they can always rely on and also draw
00:26:13
from multiple sources of sports confidence as well.
00:26:15
Um, but I also think where what's fascinating about
00:26:19
weightlifting and what I love about it is you can miss your
00:26:22
opener that you could do with your eyes closed and then still
00:26:26
come back on your third one and do a pb lift, and I feel like
00:26:30
there is there's so much about weightlifting that is mental.
00:26:33
Speaker 1: You have to let go of what you just did, totally yeah
00:26:37
, and then you just have to what it what matters most is the bar
00:26:39
in front of you all the time yeah, I know, and when, the when
00:26:44
, when weightlifters, they go out they do their opening lift
00:26:48
and they miss it and then they go up in weight like yeah, how
00:26:54
is that even a thing I couldn't do it.
00:26:56
My husband has just been um doing some competitive
00:26:59
weightlifting in.
00:27:00
Um, he just got the masters in his age category.
00:27:06
Speaker 2: Um, yeah, he won for australia, australasia maybe
00:27:10
yeah, yeah, amazing yeah, and I watch and I'm like, how do you
00:27:14
even I'd be like going up by one kilo if that like competing is
00:27:24
a skill though that's what I've realized as well um, you could
00:27:27
have the perfect training sessions, but if you're not
00:27:31
accustomed to the competing environment and if you don't
00:27:33
know how you react under pressure in competing
00:27:36
environments, that will probably break you initially as well.
00:27:40
Yeah, um, there's an amazing weightlifter actually she's a
00:27:43
master's level weightlifter who comes in, uh, for fst and I
00:27:48
remember going to one of her comps and leading into it she
00:27:51
was like I'm so nervous you know it's I always get this way with
00:27:54
comps and then I watched her on the day.
00:27:56
She's like as cool as a cucumber.
00:27:58
I was like where did all the nerves go?
00:28:00
And I've realized it's because she's got I think she's done
00:28:03
like 20, 30 competitions under her belt, so it's like a
00:28:06
different switch flicks in her brain and she's like that's a
00:28:10
veteran right there, like watching her compete.
00:28:12
I was like, oh, my goodness, yeah, but I think that's what it
00:28:15
comes down to, it's's.
00:28:16
The more athletes compete you know athletes being at any level
00:28:20
the more you put yourselves in this situation where there's
00:28:24
high pressure, the more you understand how you react, the
00:28:28
more you become accepting of that reaction and then you work
00:28:31
to either do something slightly different or be like this is how
00:28:34
I'm going to react, but you become better at managing that.
00:28:38
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:28:40
Speaker 2: And I think the more I speak to you know more people
00:28:42
who've competed or, you know, encountered lots of challenges
00:28:45
in their life.
00:28:46
The more it becomes, or, like you know, the similar kinds of
00:28:48
challenges that used to break them, the more they go.
00:28:51
Oh, I just learned how to manage it.
00:28:52
I just know it's going to be that way.
00:28:54
I don't think too much about it , I don't give it too much
00:28:57
weight, um, and I just know I will get through, because I've
00:29:01
gotten through it so many times.
00:29:02
And it's that build-up of, I suppose, evidence, what I would
00:29:07
call evidence of even if I feel like crap, I will succeed.
00:29:11
I felt crap this time, but I still managed to do this and
00:29:15
it's that build-up of evidence of success over time.
00:29:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, that, I think, is what helps you manage those
00:29:20
sorts of situations yeah, yeah, yeah, it's, it's, uh, it's a
00:29:27
fascinating, it's definitely a fascinating thing psychology,
00:29:32
human behavior in general um yeah, I think, um, I would love
00:29:39
to talk about how, like, so you're a personal trainer and I
00:29:43
we are going to get on to the the fascia stuff.
00:29:46
Yeah, um, but you're a personal trainer and I'd love to know,
00:29:51
like, how you got into it.
00:29:53
Okay, so you, so you were in obviously, um, you know we've
00:29:58
heard about your personal journey and where that's taken
00:30:00
you and that's probably how you got into it.
00:30:03
But, like, what, what was the?
00:30:05
What were you doing?
00:30:05
What did you study at university and when did you
00:30:08
decide that you wanted to be a personal trainer?
00:30:09
Like, how has that all sort of shifted?
00:30:13
Speaker 2: So I was doing my undergraduate in psychology and
00:30:15
I had one year to go before I finished graduation, okay so
00:30:19
you've kind of gone back to the same yeah, yeah, I actually so,
00:30:24
right as I was finishing, or going to finish, my last unit
00:30:27
for my undergraduate, I was like I think I might want to start
00:30:31
working with people now.
00:30:32
Um so, and that was when I also started getting into lifting
00:30:36
and I was like, what if I combine the two and you know if
00:30:38
I become a getting into lifting?
00:30:39
And I was like what if I combine the two and you know if
00:30:41
I become a personal trainer?
00:30:42
It means I can start helping people now, as opposed to
00:30:44
waiting years, if I do get into honors, if I do get into a
00:30:48
master's, whatever.
00:30:50
So I also did a PT course while completing my final year of
00:30:53
university and I managed to land a position at a wonderful
00:30:59
personal training studio which really prioritized strength
00:31:03
training, because that's what I wanted to do, because that was
00:31:06
also when I started getting into powerlifting and squatting and
00:31:08
deadlifting and bench pressing heavy.
00:31:10
I really wanted to go to a place where that was supported.
00:31:15
So this personal training studio, you know, know the owner
00:31:18
, he understood the value of strength training and.
00:31:21
I learned so much from him, so I ended up staying there for
00:31:24
about six years before I went off and started doing my own
00:31:28
thing.
00:31:28
Um, but yeah, that's kind of how I started.
00:31:30
It was like it was almost like a switch, and I think, um, when
00:31:33
you said for you it was like what if I do personal training?
00:31:36
That was genuinely the question for me.
00:31:39
I was like, if I start personal training, then I can spend more
00:31:41
time in a gym.
00:31:42
You know I can, um, you know I can actually be in an
00:31:47
environment where I can help people physically and try to
00:31:49
help them foster good habits and whatever it was.
00:31:52
I just did not think it would leave me here, you know now like
00:31:56
several years later yeah yeah, wow.
00:31:59
Speaker 1: What um the types of people that you work with?
00:32:01
Do you work with mostly women?
00:32:02
Do you train um men like what's your ideal?
00:32:06
Do you?
00:32:06
Do you find that women are open to lifting?
00:32:10
Has it changed?
00:32:13
Speaker 2: like I definitely think it's changed a lot.
00:32:16
Um, I think I I train quite an number.
00:32:19
I have a very wide range of clients actually.
00:32:21
Like if I'm looking back on it now, you know very diverse.
00:32:25
I've like right at the moment, you know a lot of the strength
00:32:30
training clients I work with.
00:32:32
They're mainly gen pop, so the priority is to get them as
00:32:36
stable, as strong as they can be so that if they choose to stop,
00:32:40
you know, working with me, then they've got all the skills that
00:32:43
they need to still help themselves.
00:32:46
Now I think that's the one most important thing about coaching
00:32:50
is not just the I'm going to get you super strong, it's the what
00:32:54
are you going to be able to use if I stop or you stop?
00:32:58
Do you still have the skills that you need to carry you
00:33:01
through?
00:33:01
So that's kind of been my priority.
00:33:04
When it comes to my clients, um, I've got a very even number of
00:33:09
uh women and men, I would say.
00:33:10
Um, I've also got a couple of uh like adolescent clients as
00:33:17
well.
00:33:17
So some of them too not as many like.
00:33:20
I've only really worked with maybe three of them in my, in my
00:33:23
like own career um, yeah, I think.
00:33:29
I think the main concept remains the same, though.
00:33:31
It's about helping them build skills and also a bit of
00:33:34
self-confidence and this sense of what they call self-efficacy,
00:33:37
so this belief in themselves to be able to do what they're
00:33:40
doing now, but do it alone right , yeah, how?
00:33:44
Speaker 1: how does that go for you?
00:33:48
It's an ideal, isn't it?
00:33:50
And, like when I said at the beginning, like you and I have
00:33:54
both had a background where we didn't we weren't uh, into
00:33:58
health and fitness when we were growing up, we weren't sports
00:34:00
people and so like demons being able to demonstrate that
00:34:04
actually anyone can do it, um, but yeah, do people grasp that
00:34:13
or is it a bit of a mixture?
00:34:16
Speaker 2: I think it happens over time.
00:34:17
Yeah, so if I look at some of my clients now, because some of
00:34:21
them I've been working with for close to four years now, so you
00:34:24
know at the beginning of when I opened up my own business and
00:34:28
it's in the little things.
00:34:29
So, uh, you know one of my clients recently because I've
00:34:32
moved to this venue.
00:34:33
Uh, in January I opened up like this room and, um, couple of my
00:34:37
clients who are doing face-to-face with me, I
00:34:39
transitioned them to online so they only see me once a week,
00:34:41
but they still do online training.
00:34:44
And you know these clients are, you know, the ones who came in
00:34:47
with back pain, having had multiple surgeries in their
00:34:50
knees.
00:34:50
Um never lifted a weight before in their life and they started
00:34:54
not because they wanted to, but because their doctor said you
00:34:56
need to start training um.
00:34:59
They went from doing one session a week with me to doing
00:35:02
two sessions a week face to face and now that they've been left
00:35:06
to their own devices, even further.
00:35:07
So I've stepped back even more in the amount of um uh guidance
00:35:13
you know face-to-face guidance being provided.
00:35:14
They've gone from doing just two sessions a week to four
00:35:17
sessions a week by themselves and actually wanting to compete
00:35:20
in powerlifting comps and wow, I was like this is the.
00:35:23
Yeah, I'm just like this is the biggest kind of growth that you
00:35:26
could ever ask for in someone.
00:35:27
Um, and one of the things one of the clients said to me was he
00:35:31
said he now feels really confident in how he's able to go
00:35:35
into the gym and own his space.
00:35:37
Um, to give a bit of context, you know this client's um.
00:35:41
You know he was overweight when he first saw me.
00:35:44
Uh, he's um was quite not very mobile when he first started
00:35:49
with me, but now it's to a point where he goes I just go in,
00:35:52
take up a rack and I know it's mine in the time that.
00:35:55
Speaker 1: I'm using.
00:35:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's in small things like that, I think.
00:35:59
But also if a client goes, yeah , I felt really crap.
00:36:03
Today I've got a couple of clients who you know also
00:36:05
struggle a lot with mental health issues and it's even the
00:36:08
transition from I felt really, really bad.
00:36:10
You know, two years ago they would have stayed in bed the
00:36:13
whole day.
00:36:14
You know, um, and now with the right sort of you know
00:36:18
psychological help as well, obviously in that time, um,
00:36:21
because I think that's really important, like I'm not a
00:36:23
practicing psychologist yet, but I see I need to be able to
00:36:27
refer them out to people like that.
00:36:29
Um, but you know, when a client comes back and they go, now I
00:36:32
actually went in, went outside, when I went for a walk and I
00:36:34
feel tons better.
00:36:34
Or I didn't want to make this session today, but I came and I
00:36:37
feel tons better.
00:36:38
So it's the sessions that they used to miss that they now
00:36:41
actually make, and you know all the promises they make to
00:36:44
themselves that they keep.
00:36:45
I think those are the signs of progress that I know that you
00:36:47
know what we're doing is working .
00:36:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, great.
00:36:50
How much does your like background in psychology and
00:36:56
your own personal experience with, like the mindset stuff
00:36:59
that you've gone through?
00:37:00
How much of that do you use when you're face to face with a
00:37:07
client, like obviously it's not, um, as cut and dry as that, but
00:37:14
like does it play a big part for you because of your personal
00:37:19
interest in it?
00:37:21
Speaker 2: I think so, but I also think, having done the body
00:37:23
of work, like when I started doing fst and really working
00:37:26
with people's bodies that's when I really understood you can't
00:37:29
separate the mind from that, like, health is body and mind.
00:37:35
And when you start doing body work, you realize it's a way of
00:37:40
building trust and wonderful things actually happen when a
00:37:46
trust is formed between you and the client.
00:37:48
And this goes across all sorts of, you know, professional
00:37:52
relationships and I think you'd find that with yourself as well.
00:37:55
It's like a lot of the best PTs , best therapists.
00:37:59
They draw upon every skill that they have and that's the reason
00:38:04
why their clients come to them.
00:38:05
When I started, you know delving into my honours and then
00:38:11
into my masters, and you know picking up more of the
00:38:14
counselling skills.
00:38:15
A lot of them are things that good PTs already do, but
00:38:20
learning more about it helps me be a little bit more intentional
00:38:22
, so, and ask different sorts of questions during assessments
00:38:26
and if a client seems off, then actually being like why, um?
00:38:31
But also knowing when to set boundaries, being like there's a
00:38:34
point where you you know you can't delving in further into
00:38:39
them.
00:38:39
Feeling bad is actually not helpful so what sort of
00:38:42
practical things can we do together to help them leave the
00:38:46
session feeling better than when they came in?
00:38:48
Um.
00:38:49
So, you know, specific skills that's been really helpful for
00:38:51
me have been things like active listening.
00:38:53
So understanding active listening you know the value of
00:38:57
silence when a client is talking , because most of the time when
00:39:01
we listen to people, we listen with the intent to respond, not
00:39:05
listening to actually hear what the other person is saying.
00:39:10
And you know, I think learning how to understand and implement
00:39:13
some of those basic counselling techniques has made it even
00:39:17
easier when it comes to working with people, particularly those
00:39:20
who take a little bit more time to come out of their shell.
00:39:22
And I think another thing has been being able to provide like
00:39:26
a safe space, so not only only physical, but like a
00:39:29
psychologically safe space.
00:39:31
And what I mean by that is if a person comes to me with a
00:39:34
concern or, um, if they have like a belief or they're
00:39:40
carrying something in their body like they've got an injury on
00:39:42
their shoulder, um them feeling safe enough to voice that and
00:39:48
not, you know, and to be expect to be met with understanding and
00:39:51
compassion rather than judgment and criticism.
00:39:54
Um, I think creating that sort of space is really important,
00:39:58
and that's what I try to prioritize in all my
00:40:00
face-to-face sessions yeah, cool .
00:40:03
Speaker 1: Now you've talked about um we're kind of leaving
00:40:06
the big bit till last.
00:40:08
So you've just talked about health is body and mind, and
00:40:12
you've talked about trust, creating a safe space and how
00:40:19
you work with your clients, both from a mental and emotional
00:40:23
perspective, as well as their physicality.
00:40:26
Now the one thing that we haven't spoken about yet is your
00:40:31
fascia stretch therapy, and I feel like that's what we need to
00:40:41
talk about next.
00:40:42
I was just thinking about it, like because I've spoken to a
00:40:47
couple of different guests about somatics and about how we like
00:40:54
the stuff we hold in our body, and I know that you're from what
00:40:58
we've spoken about already.
00:40:59
Like you're obviously well-educated in, you know the
00:41:04
science behind human behavior, the science behind our anatomy,
00:41:12
physiology, and you kind of touched on that idea that when
00:41:16
someone's coming up to competition, if you treat them,
00:41:19
that they hold some kind of tension or energy in the fascia.
00:41:25
So I feel like there's some kind of connection with that
00:41:28
body-mind thing.
00:41:29
Can you tell us a little bit about the work that you're doing
00:41:33
, what it is?
00:41:34
I think you did mention like you kind of went over it a bit
00:41:38
at the beginning what it is, who you're working with and how it
00:41:44
kind of ties in with what you're doing both from a physical and
00:41:56
a mental perspective body and mind, yeah, um, so faster.
00:41:57
Speaker 2: Stretch therapy, also known as fst, was created by um
00:42:00
ann frederick, who's in arizona , and then, um her and her
00:42:04
husband chris, who's a physio.
00:42:06
They've continued to create this amazing, beautiful
00:42:09
technique and continue to um, you know, teach it to people all
00:42:12
across the world.
00:42:13
Um, and fascia is this fibrous connective tissue that runs
00:42:19
across our entire body, um, so it goes into joints, organs.
00:42:23
We've got it just under our skin, but we've also got deeper
00:42:25
layers, um, deep within our muscle tissue as well, and you
00:42:28
want to think of it as this glue that holds our body together in
00:42:31
this fine state of balance between enough mobility in some
00:42:36
areas and enough stability or strength or tension in other
00:42:39
areas, and that's what holds our body together.
00:42:41
It also helps us generate and absorb force.
00:42:44
It's what coordinates multiple muscle groups together when we
00:42:49
move or if someone moves it passively.
00:42:51
So it allows us to stretch across different, what they call
00:42:57
fascial nets, so different ways .
00:42:59
The fascia connects different muscle groups together across
00:43:02
the body.
00:43:02
We stretch along that and create movement, thereby
00:43:07
improving mobility and improving how the fascia is balanced
00:43:09
across the body.
00:43:12
Sue Ellen, the lady who referred me to you her husband is.
00:43:18
He suffered a stroke, I think four or five years ago, so quite
00:43:22
some time ago, and that's the main reason why he came to see
00:43:25
me, because the occupational therapist he wanted to see down
00:43:28
in Sydney.
00:43:29
She said it'd be great if we get some fascia work done.
00:43:31
So that's how we started working together for a couple of
00:43:35
sessions, and one of the things I find really beneficial, and
00:43:40
what makes FST so magical, is it allows us to improve mobility
00:43:46
and create change in the tissue without putting the person
00:43:50
through more pain.
00:43:51
And I think one of the things that we societally, you know,
00:43:57
have this belief in is for things to change and to be
00:44:01
successful, there has to be pain .
00:44:03
You even see it in like massage or you know.
00:44:06
I've had clients come in and go .
00:44:07
Well, I don't think it works if it's not painful.
00:44:10
Um you know, and I challenge that quite a bit.
00:44:14
Actually, I go.
00:44:15
Actually, if it's painful, especially in the initial
00:44:17
session, it's not really going to work.
00:44:19
It's not a therapy that works because we're forcing, we're
00:44:23
actually allowing your body to open up and yield.
00:44:26
We're almost, you know, dancing with it and whispering and
00:44:29
trying to listen to what it's trying to say, and that's one of
00:44:32
the reasons why it works.
00:44:35
That's one of the reasons why I was drawn to this modality of
00:44:38
treatment, because when I was a PT, I thought I really love to
00:44:41
get into body work.
00:44:42
I want to, you know, upgrade my skill set and see if I can
00:44:45
provide a bit more to my clients .
00:44:46
And there's so many massage therapists out there already
00:44:49
amazing, you know, body workers out there.
00:44:51
But FST was something that was quite new at the time.
00:44:53
When I looked a little bit more into it, I was like this is, I
00:44:57
think this is what I want to do.
00:44:59
So I booked tickets to Canada, did my level one and it just,
00:45:02
you know, yeah, completely, completely opened up a new world
00:45:06
, yeah.
00:45:07
Speaker 1: Have you had to do all of your accreditations?
00:45:09
Speaker 2: uh, overseas yep, so level one and level two I did
00:45:13
over in canada, and then level three, I went to arizona.
00:45:16
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, yeah yeah , it sounds, um, it's sound.
00:45:21
I think the fact that you call it body work like kind of
00:45:26
indicates that there's something a bit more than you like just a
00:45:29
hands-on massage Like there's.
00:45:32
You can correct me if I'm wrong , but it sounds like there's a
00:45:36
bit more of an interconnection of like energetics and um
00:45:41
feeling into what that that person on the on the table is um
00:45:46
experiencing, Um, would you, can you kind kind of, would you
00:45:53
say that that's kind of the?
00:45:54
That's what it is compared to.
00:45:57
I don't know, body work just sounds like it's a bit more.
00:46:01
Yeah, I can't put my finger on it I guess it's more of like
00:46:08
more intuitive.
00:46:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, um.
00:46:11
I think I started using that word because a lot of the uh,
00:46:16
fascial stretch therapists used it.
00:46:17
Um, I know Anne's used it herself and I just think it's
00:46:20
such a wonderful word to describe what any sort of manual
00:46:24
therapy is.
00:46:25
Um, so in America a lot of them would say you know, I'm an, I a
00:46:28
body worker, I do some sort of body work.
00:46:30
And this could be, you know, remedial massage as well.
00:46:32
I think anyone who delves into this sort of manual therapy is a
00:46:35
body worker.
00:46:36
I don't know if it's formally taught, but some of the best
00:46:40
massage therapists I've ever met , who also run like a really
00:46:43
beautiful integrative practice, and they are all aware of the
00:46:46
mind-body connection.
00:46:47
And I think this is the one common thing I've seen in both
00:46:50
you know good psychologists, good counselors, good you know
00:46:53
physical therapists is that they understand the mind-body
00:46:56
connection.
00:46:56
And I think I'm not an energy worker, so I don't do direct
00:47:02
energy work.
00:47:02
I know plenty of fascial stretch therapists actually do a
00:47:04
lot of Reiki and a lot of sort of like energy, energetic
00:47:07
healing work and I think it's beautiful and a lot of sort of
00:47:09
like energy, energetic healing work and I think it's beautiful,
00:47:11
um, but I am absolutely aware of the fact that when you break
00:47:14
someone's bubble, when they allow you into their space, you
00:47:17
are working with something that is more than just physical.
00:47:20
You can even feel it, um, when someone you know, when you walk
00:47:23
past someone on the street and you become quite wary of them
00:47:27
because of the way that they're carrying themselves or just
00:47:29
because of this feeling that comes across you.
00:47:32
I don't think those are just coincidences and I think you
00:47:36
definitely feel it even stronger when I'm sitting in the room
00:47:39
and a new client comes in, I can already feel something
00:47:43
different.
00:47:43
You know they're either nervous or you know they're anxious,
00:47:48
something you know and I think that changes across the session.
00:47:51
I can feel that physically as I'm working on someone and it
00:47:55
does require me to be very present because it's a form of
00:47:57
listening.
00:47:58
It's a form of listening to what their body is saying and
00:48:00
how it's responding to what it is I'm doing.
00:48:02
How is it responding when I approach them here?
00:48:06
So I think there's definitely a lot there.
00:48:08
You don't need to directly work with energy to influence it,
00:48:11
but I think you have to be very mindful of what it is you're
00:48:13
carrying and what it is you're imparting when you um, when you
00:48:19
do a session of um, the fascia stretch.
00:48:25
Speaker 1: What's it called therapy?
00:48:27
I keep looking at my notebook fst.
00:48:30
Um, what does that look like?
00:48:34
Is there conversation during it , or is it kind of like um, more
00:48:42
of a?
00:48:42
You know, often a massage is sort of laid down on a table
00:48:45
with music, and I know it's not massage but that that kind of
00:48:49
environment, or is it very like?
00:48:51
Does the person having the treatment have to be kind of
00:48:56
interactive with you physically, or do they kind of just you
00:49:01
want them to relax and and sort of let go?
00:49:06
Speaker 2: so it can be a combination of all those things.
00:49:08
Um, the most important thing is to help the client let go of it
00:49:12
, because the floppier they are, the easier.
00:49:14
My job is as well.
00:49:15
Um, but the person's nervous system and their body is going
00:49:19
to do what they want to do at their own pace.
00:49:21
Um, sometimes, regardless of how much I try to, you know,
00:49:26
make it feel safe, um, and I always tell clients this because
00:49:29
sometimes I'll be, you know, doing traction and circumduction
00:49:31
, and that's when I actually move the joint around gently
00:49:34
just to see how it responds um, that in itself can be very
00:49:37
therapeutic as well, but they go .
00:49:40
I didn't realize I was holding so much tension.
00:49:42
I'm not consciously tensing, but I can't let go, and it's
00:49:44
always a matter of you've just come into a new room with a
00:49:48
completely unfamiliar person who's getting in in your space.
00:49:52
Your body's going to take some time, and that's absolutely okay
00:49:56
, and I think it's also normalizing that response of you
00:49:59
know.
00:49:59
Uh, it's going to take some time to get used to this
00:50:02
environment, used to me.
00:50:04
Understand the fact that I'm, you know, there's no intent to
00:50:07
harm at all.
00:50:08
Um, and you know, if someone's body's been in a lot of pain,
00:50:11
their brain is always on the lookout for something that might
00:50:13
make it painful.
00:50:14
So it's even just that understanding.
00:50:17
There's a lot that your body's holding because your brain is
00:50:20
trying to protect you, trying to protect it from further pain
00:50:24
signals, things like that.
00:50:26
I probably talk most in my initial assessment because I try
00:50:30
to understand what brought them here, kind of like their you
00:50:34
know history, what they're presenting with other lifestyle
00:50:38
factors that might influence treatment outcomes outside the
00:50:41
session itself.
00:50:42
Whether they might need more strength or more stretching.
00:50:46
That also depends, like for, for example, I had a client
00:50:50
yesterday and when she was talking to me about her history
00:50:54
and some other things that she's presenting with, I was like, I
00:50:56
think you've got hypermobility and that's maybe the reason why
00:51:00
you're experiencing pain, um, not because you're too tight.
00:51:04
And she was like, oh yeah, I've been told that.
00:51:06
Um, I think I scored, like you know, like a seven or something
00:51:09
like that on the hypermobility scale.
00:51:10
So I said, okay, that's good, we'll just do a couple of more
00:51:14
things, but I think you're going to need more of a combination
00:51:17
of the strength work that I'm going to give you so it can
00:51:21
provide some of the joints that are crying for stability, some
00:51:25
strength, and that will actually help, rather than just lots of
00:51:30
traction and lots of stretching.
00:51:31
Yeah, um, but yeah, the more relaxed they are the better.
00:51:35
And I do have music as well.
00:51:36
I've kind of found a good jazz playlist that seems to be
00:51:39
appropriate for, yeah, the sessions yeah cool.
00:51:43
Speaker 1: Um, how do you see your?
00:51:48
Well, I mean, to me it's pretty obvious and it probably seems
00:51:52
like a pretty obvious question, but I guess it's more directed
00:51:56
at you from a like drawing on your passions and how you see
00:52:01
them coming together.
00:52:02
Like, because obviously you've, you're going through an
00:52:05
evolution, as we all are, and you sort of discover things as
00:52:10
you experience them and like this works, this doesn't work.
00:52:14
You're doing your psychology, you're integrating that.
00:52:18
What would your kind of ideal picture be of using those three
00:52:27
modalities the psychology, the personal training and the the um
00:52:31
fst?
00:52:33
I have to keep looking at my notes, sorry everyone, just
00:52:36
everyone just abbreviates it's all right, um yeah.
00:52:40
How do you see that evolving together?
00:52:43
Do you have an ideal or do you feel like you you'll you'll
00:52:48
start to head in one direction, or are you happy doing what
00:52:53
you're doing?
00:52:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I think I will.
00:52:56
My ideal would be, you know, being able to do some like psych
00:53:00
work part-time, while still having this business part-time
00:53:04
as well.
00:53:04
I've started now actioning, doing more like workshops.
00:53:08
I've actually got a performance anxiety workshop coming up in
00:53:11
two weeks that I'm currently preparing for.
00:53:13
So I'm starting to integrate a little bit more, trying to
00:53:17
introduce this concept into some of the populations and the
00:53:20
people that I'm working with.
00:53:21
So at the moment, I'm quite happy to continue doing what I'm
00:53:25
doing because I think it's just forming, it's kind of getting a
00:53:29
life of its own doing what I'm doing because I think it's just
00:53:30
forming, it's kind of getting a life of its own, yeah, and the
00:53:32
clients who will work with me because of what I provide will
00:53:35
continue to work with me or seek me out, and I think there's
00:53:37
always a reason why someone may choose to work with you over
00:53:40
someone else.
00:53:41
Um, and, yeah, I think that would be it for me.
00:53:45
Um, putting out more psych related content that can reach
00:53:49
more people without me having to work one-on-one, um, I think,
00:53:54
is my next goal.
00:53:55
I would like for that sort of mental health care,
00:53:58
psychological health care, to be more accessible, because I
00:54:01
think at the moment, um, we don't get a lot of funding for
00:54:06
that price and finance is a really big barrier to people
00:54:10
accessing these services, and I think, if I can provide it in a
00:54:15
space where people are already in a space where they've
00:54:17
encountered these aspects of themselves, that they go.
00:54:20
I wish I could work a little bit more on this, or if my mind
00:54:23
was functioning as well as my body, then I think I would
00:54:26
really be able to perform really well.
00:54:28
I think being able to provide those sorts of workshops in
00:54:32
these spaces at a price that's actually affordable, I think,
00:54:36
yeah, that's a way of making more of a difference there yeah,
00:54:39
cool.
00:54:39
Speaker 1: So sort of the more specifically for like
00:54:44
performance and like what might be holding people back in terms
00:54:47
of like stepping into doing more for themselves physically yeah
00:54:52
yeah, yeah, that's yeah cool, great um.
00:54:58
I think I had one more thing to ask.
00:54:59
I know I went onto your website and because we I'm conscious
00:55:04
that we've kind of um reached our hour, and I went onto your
00:55:08
website and I saw that you had some video testimonials and they
00:55:12
kind of demonstrate the FST.
00:55:16
I think that if I wish I lived in Sydney, because I would be
00:55:21
there trying it out.
00:55:22
Yeah, it seems like really it looks um.
00:55:27
Yeah, really sort of I don't looks good and you've got, yeah,
00:55:32
so you've got some video demonstrations of, um, like,
00:55:35
clients going through the, the treatment, um, but is there
00:55:39
somewhere else that people can like, go like, do you do those
00:55:43
videos from social media like, do you have a a bit of a
00:55:47
following?
00:55:48
Is that when, where you're kind of trying to get your message
00:55:50
out there about the things you do more?
00:55:53
Speaker 2: yeah, that was a bit of a long convoluted blah blah
00:55:56
that's okay.
00:55:57
Um, I do think the video testimonials on my website have
00:56:00
been a big help in terms of helping people understand what
00:56:04
it is.
00:56:05
Um, and I tried to pick out some of the clientele.
00:56:09
Um, like you know, one of them is a professional ufc fighter.
00:56:12
The other one of the other clients is a massage therapist,
00:56:16
um, and I think my final client was an was an artist.
00:56:19
So, yes, just a very wide range of showing that fst can
00:56:23
actually work for performance as well as rehab, but also general
00:56:26
well-being.
00:56:26
Um, but my instagram is probably where I'm the most
00:56:30
active as well as, like, a lot of people seem to be finding me
00:56:32
on google now, which is great, that's cool.
00:56:35
Um, the good news is recently, uh, ann and chris brought fst
00:56:41
level one to sydney, so it was just yesterday I actually went
00:56:43
and visited them great yeah, so there's now, I think, quite a
00:56:47
few active level one fst practitioners in Sydney.
00:56:50
So you know they may have their own website.
00:56:54
I think they probably have their own social media accounts
00:56:56
as well.
00:56:56
So I think there'll be a lot more access to this type of
00:56:59
treatment for people, even for people who don't live so close?
00:57:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, great, that's cool.
00:57:04
Um, so we're gonna um share if.
00:57:14
If you'd like share your website and your um insta links
00:57:16
on my website, so we'll put all of those in.
00:57:16
You'll have your own page in the guest directory there so
00:57:19
people can find you easily.
00:57:21
Um, is there anything that you want to say before we finish?
00:57:27
No pressure, um, like you know, any sort of closing things or
00:57:35
if you, if people do want to reach out, what's the best way
00:57:38
to do it?
00:57:38
Where do you want people to find you?
00:57:41
Speaker 2: yeah, um you know any is your website is your website
00:57:46
the best place, sorry website?
00:57:49
no, that's okay, our website, instagram, probably both are the
00:57:53
best ways, yeah, okay um, but I'm, I think, if I suppose, if
00:57:59
anyone listened to this and if any of the content or any of the
00:58:03
things I spoke about makes it feel like I would be the you
00:58:07
know person you would want to work with, whether it's with,
00:58:09
you know, strength training or FST or you know, that sort of
00:58:13
mental work um, and I guess I'm.
00:58:15
My doors are always open for inquiries.
00:58:18
Um, yeah, I, I really do stand by that, though people will come
00:58:22
and seek you out for what you offer.
00:58:24
Um, you know, you see, that in massage therapy with FST I think
00:58:27
it's I had I had a colleague ask me.
00:58:29
Actually, I had a colleague asked me do you feel threatened
00:58:32
by the fact that there's more people doing FST in Sydney?
00:58:34
And I said no because, firstly, there's plenty of space on this
00:58:38
earth in Sydney for all of us and, second, I have my own
00:58:42
client base and there are, in the same way that there's, many
00:58:45
amazing massage therapists in Sydney.
00:58:47
But clients pick the ones that they go to for their own reasons
00:58:51
yeah it's going to be exactly the same.
00:58:53
Um, I actually think it's amazing and so good that there's
00:58:56
going to be more access to FST, because that's been one of the
00:58:59
hardest things for people.
00:59:00
Um, you know, I've had clients come from like Penrith and
00:59:03
Albury and they're like I wish I had this there.
00:59:05
Yeah, it's like if you weren't so far away, I'd do this a lot
00:59:09
more often.
00:59:09
So, but if there's anyone who listened and, um, they think I
00:59:14
would be the right fit for them, then, yes, my doors are always
00:59:18
open for a bit of a chat, fabulous thank you.
00:59:19
Speaker 1: It's been really great conversation.
00:59:21
You've got got some really good insights and obviously, like
00:59:25
living the yeah, living by your, your values and what you
00:59:30
believe in, and and in passing that knowledge and those skills
00:59:34
on to others is a great contribution.
00:59:36
Thank you for joining me today.
00:59:39
Thank you so much.
00:59:41
Yeah, hopefully when I'm in sydney I'll be able to tap in
00:59:44
and and uh, get some treatment yeah, it'd be great to meet you
00:59:48
in person yeah, definitely.
00:59:50
Thank you so much for your time today, erica stretch.
00:59:53
Speaker 2: Thank you thank you, bye for now.