Elizabeth Wipff is on a mission to demystify strength training for women who want to get in the gym but just don’t know where to start. As a Gen X woman, she sees strength and conditioning as the perfect way to deal with stress and anxiety, stave off aging, and gain confidence & power. She loves working with her peers to help them realize their strength potential. As a coach and teacher, Elizabeth is known for her keen eye and her ability to make complicated concepts simple and clear.
An internationally ranked masters Olympic Weightlifter and National Champion, her athletic endeavors started early with soccer, dance, Iyengar yoga, and therapeutic movement modalities. Elizabeth’s lifelong passion for movement, years of theater studies, enthusiasm for fostering healthy functional movement in her clients, and knack for communicating information concisely and convincingly, make her a sought after teacher and coach. She has been coaching and teaching nationally since 1999.
Find out more about Elizabeth’s work at elizabethwipff.com, follow her on Instagram @elizabethwipff, and be sure to check out her upcoming Intro to Strength Training Masterclass and Strength Training 101: 3-week Mini-Course here: https://elizabethwipff.com/work-with-me/
What’s covered in this episode?
- What are some good ways for gen-xers to get stronger?
- How does showing up for myself benefit strength training?
- How can having a foundation of activity help navigate life crises?
- Is there an age limit to begin strength training?
- What are the pros and cons of CrossFit?
- Where can I find strength training geared to women ages 45-65?
- How to start strength training safely?
- Is there room for collaboration between different modalities?
- How are different modalities able to collaborate with each other?
Episode Transcript
Caitlin: Welcome back to the podcast everyone. Uh, I wanted to share with you a theme that has been coming up a lot for me over the last couple of weeks, and that is investing in yourself. Uh, this has become incredibly important to me, uh, as I’ve started my own business, uh, in. February to March, uh, opened up my own brick and mortar PT practice here in New York City.
And I, uh, the, these thoughts kind of got rolling for me and I’ve really been chewing on them since I took the Instagram intensive course with the movement maestro. And one of the things that the maestro emphasized that struck me, something that I’ve known, but it just kind of gelled a little more during this course than, than at other times, is that value.
Is determined entirely by the consumer. Right. Whatever value a person derives from some sort of service, particularly in a service-based, uh, industry like I work in with, uh, teaching classes and education and physical therapy, um, the value is determined by the client and it’s, uh, just kind of as like subtitle value determined by client.
Uh, the next piece that I think is really important to understand is that. Value comes from how much a person sees that their investment is benefiting themselves, that they are, uh, finding that a worthy way of investing in themselves, their own progress, their own learning, education and understanding.
And, um, it’s something that I’ve been thinking about a lot. I’m thinking about it in particular now that I am owning my own out of network physical therapy practice. So when people are seeking physical therapy, they are committing time and energy and financial resources. I. As a commitment to themselves really to invest in themselves.
And being in an outer network practice does demand a little bit more commitment on the part of the patient. Um, it’s one of the reasons that I feel really honored and privileged to work with patients in the outer network setting. Um, but it is, But, and it is, um, it is something that, that someone has to see as an investment in themselves, like an important step forward for their health, longevity, remaining injury, feeling free, feeling good in their body, all of all of those things.
Um, and then a third way that this has come to light over the last couple weeks was sort of a serendipitous moment. I was leaving my apartment and I bumped into my neighbor who lives on the same floor. And he told me that he had just left his job of eight years to start his own interior design company.
And um, and I told him about, uh, starting my own PT practice and we congratulated each other and he said, you know, it’s just such a different mindset now that everything I put into it, I’m investing in myself. I almost couldn’t believe that those words came out of his mouth because it just keeps showing up for me.
In so many ways. Um, but I think the last time I put out a podcast episode, I wasn’t open yet in my new practice. So I’m really excited to, um, announce that I am open. Um, my practice is on West 27th Street in Manhattan, and I’ve started seeing, um, patients. I do accept Medicare, so I’ve been seeing patients under Medicare.
I’m also seeing patients how to network and some patients were just coming to me, um, for self-pay. I’m teaching some small, small in-person classes in the space, which has been really fun. I just started that in March and it was pretty wild to step into teaching in person again when I hadn’t done so since well before the pandemic.
Um, and I am also starting up. Uh, an online class membership again toward the end of April, beginning of May. So since I, um, left my work with the teachers cooperative, the connective, I haven’t taught regular online classes since August. I. And getting all of that going again. So if you wanna invest in yourself by getting some consistency and accountability with live online classes, um, you can check out my new membership that’s starting at the end of April, beginning of May.
Uh, if you go to practice human.com, look under the services tab and you’ll see online membership and you can read all about it there. I am really passionate about teaching live and synchronously in the online space, so this is not a big library. Of old classes, I myself get totally lost and overwhelmed in a big library of classes.
The feedback I get most of the time from students is that they don’t know what to do when, how to stay consistent, how to progress, how to improve, how to receive maximum benefits from the classes that they take when they’re just kind of dabbling in a sea of random, um, online classes from a library. So, I am committed to building on material week by week.
So while my classes are offered live online, you do have the option to watch replays, which are available for one month, but they do expire. So it does hold you accountable to keeping up with the class material so that we’re all on the same page, so that we’re all moving along and learning together. And I can provide you really, uh, in the moment education that is the most beneficial work possible.
And also going to, you’re gonna see results and progress from it. And it’s gonna be hopefully a little bit more interesting to be on a path of learning where we build on material week by week. I can say it is a hundred percent. More interesting for me as a teacher to teach. That way I can present what is at the top of my mind in terms of work that I’m doing as a clinician, uh, in my physical therapy practice.
I do bring a lot of that into the classes, um, and just things that I’m really in, into, and jiving on in my movement practice. Uh, I’m gonna have two classes a week. So one is a, a strength class and one is a little bit more of a down-regulating, calming, uh, roll on the floor. Self-massage, active recovery type class.
So again, go to practice human.com. You can click on the tab for services, there’s a dropdown, and find online membership and read more about it. Um, and if you have any questions for me, always, you can reach out to me at hello@practicehuman.com. Speaking of investing in yourself, I am excited to present my interview today with Elizabeth Whip.
I am just honored and delighted that I was able to get Elizabeth on the podcast and even more honored that she’s gonna be teaching in my space in New York City. In May and June. So if you are interested in getting started with strength training from the absolute beginning, definitely check out what Elizabeth is offering.
We talk about a little bit more at the end of our conversation, which she’s doing an intro to Strength training masterclass on May 7th. It’s a two hour masterclass, and then she’s also offering string training 1 0 1 a three week mini course. In June. So it’s three weekends in June for an hour and 45 minutes.
So these are kind of long sessions that provide a lot of education and background about strength training. And then you can kind of get started with, um, with strength training with Elizabeth and I. I mean, those of you who have been listening to my podcast and working with me for, for a period of time know that I treat.
Primarily with exercise, and I am incredibly passionate about educating folks on the benefits of strength training. I think there is no better way to invest in yourself than beginning a strength training program, um, just for your health, your longevity, feeling good in your body, feeling strong, feeling confident.
The list goes on and on and on. And Elizabeth has a lot to share, um, in our interview about the benefits of strength training. So, You can find, um, we, again, we’ll, we’ll do a recap at the end of the interview, but you can find Elizabeth’s, um, course listings, uh, at elizabeth whip.com. That’s elizabethwipff.com.
Check out her intro to Strength Training Masterclass, coming up May 7th, and strength training 1 0 1 3 week mini course in June. And I am just so, so excited to have Elizabeth’s energy and brilliance. And teaching the, just the incredible education and teaching that she brings at Practice Human at my studio, in person in New York City.
So, um, thank you for sticking with me for this long intro. I know there’s a lot to catch you up on and, um, I, I really hope you enjoy my talk with Elizabeth. I certainly enjoyed finding out a little bit more about her background and her work.
I am excited today to introduce my guest, Elizabeth Whip. Elizabeth is on a mission to demystify strength training for women who want to get in the gym but don’t know where to start. As a Gen X woman, she sees strength and conditioning as the perfect way to deal with stress and anxiety, stave off aging and gain confidence and power.
She loves working with her peers to help them realize their strength potential. As a coach and teacher, Elizabeth is known for her keen eye and her ability to make complicated concepts simple and clear. An internationally ranked master’s, Olympic weightlifter and National champion, her athletic endeavor started early with soccer dance, Iyengar yoga and therapeutic movement modalities.
Elizabeth’s lifelong passion for movement, years of theater studies, enthusiasm for fostering healthy functional movement in her clients and knack for communicating information concisely and convincingly. Make her a sought after teacher and coach. She has been coaching and teaching nationally since 1999.
Elizabeth certifications include, uh, a number of CrossFit certifications. Um, USA weightlifting level one. She is a former yoga teacher. Or maybe, I don’t know, Elizabeth, you could say, if you still consider yourself a yoga teacher, longtime yoga teacher and yoga tuneup, teacher trainer. Um, and she holds a BFA in musical theater performance.
And just recently, congratulations. Elizabeth completed an MA in Applied Exercise physiology from Columbia University. So welcome, Elizabeth. I know we’ll get into a lot more about it. All of those transitions and how your background in theater performance and yoga and CrossFit and weight training all factor into what you do today.
Um, but I’m, I’m really excited to hear more about it. And thank you for joining me as a guest.
Elizabeth: Thank you. I’m listening to that bio going, holy crap, I did all that. Um, I guess that’s what 50 years on the planet will get you. Um, is a lot of, a lot of stuff. Um, I’m thrilled to be here. I listened to, uh, several of your most recent.
Interviews and I felt like I was hanging out with my friends because in fact I was, the people we’ve had on are some of my, my nearest and dearest, um, friends and colleagues. And so to hear them talk about their journeys and their points of view, I, I actually was, was walking in the park listening, um, and was wishing I could be on the call with them because I wanted to join in the conversation.
So, um, Aw. So thanks for having me.
Caitlin: Of course. Thank you. And I just, I wanna say too, in, in terms of all of your background and your, um, the, you defining yourself as a Gen Xer. I, so even though I’m like in the weird cusp generation between Gen X and millennials, and no one knows what to call it, I identify so much with Generation X.
And, um, and I, I’m excited to hear more about how that just kind of, I don’t know, the fire of being a part of that generation has fueled, um, some of your endeavors as well. I think that’s really interesting.
Elizabeth: Um, so I. I feel more a part of my generation as I get older. I think of course, you know, you start to go, oh wait, oh wait, you’re younger that you guys have a totally different experience like millennials and Gen Z and, um, but my, my point of view in the world is sort of through the Gen X lens, but also from the, and I don’t know if you wanna talk about this later, but.
Sort of the West coast upbringing and the East coast adulthood that have sort of shaped my view. But as far as being a Gen Xer, you know, gen X is the, the latchkey generation, the, the slacker generation. You know, we were all these epithets. Um, we’re sort of thrown at us, but I also think Gen Xers were the last, um, we straddled the divide between the analog and the digital world.
Um mm-hmm. All of my Gen X friends are very resilient. Mm-hmm. And resourceful and tough, dare I say. Yep. Um, Uh, we have rolled our eyes way more than anybody else in the world, uh, mostly at our parents, but also now at younger generations. Um, we are often forgotten in the fight between the, the, the. The, um, boomers and, um, and the, the Gen Zers.
Um, but I think why I’m identifying with my generation right now is this year I turned 50 and I. Feel young. I feel like I have a lot to do in the world and I feel like all of a sudden my age really matters in a way that it hasn’t before. Um, and I look around at people my age and a little older and a little younger, um, and.
Know that I have a skillset as a strength and conditioning coach, former yoga teacher, lifelong mover, um, that I can share to help them be more, And the word vibrant is coming to me. And this is sort of like bad yoga language in my mind, in my mind, but like, you know, strong and athletic and vibrant in the world doing the things we have to do.
Cuz quite frankly we still have shit to do. I mean, like, I woke up on my 50th birthday and I was like, wow, this is real. It’s real. But I have a lot left to do. Um, and in order to do that, I need to be in a healthy, strong, able, stable body. So, mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Caitlin: So agree with that. Yes. Um, I, I was thinking you could share a little bit cause I know it’s interesting to me and interesting to a lot of our listeners.
Um, we were just having a little side conversation before we hit record that so much of this podcast has been about, uh, being in transition between modalities and the way that we bring different. Uh, parts of ourselves or parts of our prior work into kind of the next realm of, exploring a change or a shift or, or moving in a different direction.
I know, Elizabeth, with your background coming from yoga and then moving into mm-hmm. CrossFit, and then your competitive training, um, for Olympic weightlifting and what you’re doing now, there’ve been some major transitions there. Um, could you share a little bit about how, how you’ve. Moved from one place to the next.
And why and, and what, what you’ve, uh, what you’ve learned from that.
Elizabeth: Yeah. Yeah. Um, I’ll go back and sort of seed this with the fact that I was raised by two people who were like, you wanna do that thing with your body? Go do it. You wanna go, you wanna climb that tree? Go do it. You wanna ride your bike that way?
You know, there were some bad things. I was a, a, a child who, um, loved Evel Knievel. So, um, oh, I decided to ride my bike, my bike down the back steps when I was a tiny child. Um, they weren’t in favor of that, but, you know, I was, I was very physical and given a lot of opportunities as a kid. Roller skating and dance and soccer and, um, like I said, climbing trees and running around in the backyard and, and my parents.
Supported that by and large. And so I have sought out living in the world through the physical, um, as just a sort of natural extension. I think that being in the theater, um, studying dance and voice was, was part of that. Um, following my curiosity as, as my friend, um, Ariel Kylie says, um, you know, following your enthusiasm, um, So I, that was sort of the, the, the, the seed of it.
When I was, um, 15, I, I had taken dance mostly like sort of tap and theater dance, and I had designs on coming to New York and, and going to musical theater school, which I eventually did. Um, but I knew I needed ballet. I had this whole plan. I knew I needed ballet, but I hadn’t taken ballet. So at 15 I went and took ballet with the little kids.
Little, like, like the seven year olds. Mm-hmm. Um, because I wanted that. I know, I know. And it was a really good ballet school. A lot of the kids from the school went to the San Francisco Ballet and did the Nutcracker sort of thing. Um, but I was more interested in learning movement and being good at movement than I was worried about sort of judgment and, you know, like I always had a plan.
Mm-hmm. So, um, so that’s, that helps all of these transitions I’ve made. Um, As an adult, I found yo, I, I found my way back to yoga. Yoga is something I’ve done all my life. I have a book that I got for my fourth birthday, a yoga book that I got for my fourth birthday. Um, and took Iyengar yoga classes when I was in my, um, teens with my mom.
Um, and then when I was in New York, in my twenties, it was sort of the era of Jiva Muti and power Vinyasa and all of that. And, um, crunch. Jim had these amazing classes and I went and I took the classes there and I was like, oh my God, I wanna do this. This makes me feel good. It makes me feel normal, healthy, strong, and sort of, I turned away from my plan to be an actor because being in yoga was more, was more fulfilling at the time.
Um, and so I just emer, I just found sort of an organic kind of, um, thread and I just, I just followed it. Um, So, I don’t know if that’s very helpful for people who are going through transition, but, but I followed my enthusiasm into yoga and then eventually teaching. And what happened about, um, about 10 years into teaching, so a good long time, you know, my body had made all the shapes.
Um, I had taught. At least 10,000 hours at that point, if that’s even the number that we were trying to hit for mastery anymore. Um, and I, I was in my mid thirties and I don’t know, for some reason I started thinking, is this all there is? You know, is this all my body is gonna do for the rest of my life?
And through various channels, CrossFit came, kept coming across my. Through my way, right? Like I, I saw a CrossFit class when I was walking down 38th street one day. It was in this storefront. And I was like, what the hell are they doing? That’s horrifying and I wanna do it right now, Uhhuh. And it took a couple years, uh, but eventually I found my way back and as I was beginning to kind of try it, And learn about it.
I was lucky enough to have a friend who was also a yoga teacher, Keith Wittstein, who was one of the first CrossFit coaches in New York, and also a movement sort of polymath. Um, and I had a copy with him and I said, I, I, I, I, I think I wanna do this. I think I need it. Um, and he said, just go, just get stronger.
You won’t regret it. Yeah. And. And I did and, and I fell in love with it. And I fell in love with the intensity and I fell in love with the community. And at the time, and I think we saw this in the yoga community, um, when I started teaching yoga, it was very like, under, it was, I mean, yoga wasn’t underground cuz yoga’s been around for a long, long time.
But in the iteration, in the early. Thoughts iteration. It was sort of underground and people were just sort of finding their way and it was kind of open source and CrossFit was the same. It was like, it wasn’t this sort of what we see on TV or what we sort of make of it. And, and we joke. Um, it was very much people sharing their experiences and sharing their thoughts.
There wasn’t equipment, there weren’t special shoes. There was, there weren’t any clothes. It was just. A group of people who are really excited about this new idea, uh, of fitness. Yeah. Um, And so I did that. And ps what has happened with all of these things is that my enthusiasm for doing it has turned into a job.
So, so, you know, lo and behold, after a couple years of doing CrossFit, um, my friend Keith owned a gym and, you know, was looking for coaches and was kind of like, Hey, you know how to lead a class, come do this. Um, and that sent me on a, a, a very different path. And it wasn’t a, it wasn’t a, a. Um, the transition physically, like as a, as a practitioner wasn’t 1, 2, 3, go.
There was a, there was, it was sort of woven in, you know, I still did yoga a little bit mm-hmm. And I still did CrossFit and then eventually CrossFit took over. Um, same thing with teaching. I was teaching yoga and coaching CrossFit at the same time. Um Okay. Which, It was a bizarre, interesting
Caitlin: situation.
Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. I was gonna ask, yeah, yeah. If there was some crossover, or I was gonna ask if you were still teaching yoga for a while, while you were practicing CrossFit and how that went for you. Yes. But if you were actually teaching both at the same time, that’s even more of like a double,
Elizabeth: lots of lots of things going on.
Lots of things. Like I would go to a, you know, some advanced Yenga class, and then the next day I’d go to CrossFit and mm-hmm. Um, Because I had a, um, a mentor and a friend. So Keith eventually became my boss and sort of coach taught me how to be a CrossFit coach. Um, he was also doing yoga at the gym a little bit, and he was still teaching while he, when he first opened his teaching yoga, when he first opened his gym.
So there was a precedent for it. Yeah. Um, but you know, it. I think it was more leaving teaching yoga was more about being done teaching yoga than it was about wanting to only coach CrossFit. Mm-hmm. Um, and I think I. I had sort of seen it to its natural end. Um, I think the, the, the restlessness, the, you and some of the people that were sort of coming up behind me were feeling, I was feeling already, you know, I was feeling sort of, you know, couple years ahead of, you know, the sustainability of it as a job.
Um, what the demographic was of the students was not as serious anymore, and I wasn’t interested in just giving people 500 cents and sending them home. Um, I was really invested in teaching. Um, it’s interesting though because I, I, I jumped into, I just realized this is a theme in my life. I jumped into a 500 hour teacher training course in an attempt to kind of reignite my enthusiasm for.
Teaching yoga and it was in that teacher training that I was like, I don’t wanna do this anymore. Yeah. And what was lucky, and I understand that, that you know, some people listen to this, that are, that are teaching, um, It’s really scary when you don’t have anything else. And I was really lucky that I had something else.
Mm-hmm. I had mm-hmm. Cultivated CrossFit coaching and, and in, in fact was able to very robustly jump in and, and make a full-time living at it. Um, but there were identity pieces too. There were, and, and, yeah. And in some ways other people had a harder time giving up my identity as a yoga teacher than I had.
You know, like years after I had quit, people were like, you know, well, how’s the yoga going? I’m like, well, I haven’t taught yoga in like five years. Yeah, I get that too. So, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally relate to that. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so there’s that transition. I’m gonna just take a breath here. Cause I realize I’ve been chatting with you.
I’ve been, I’ve been talking for a little bit, but, um, that was the transition. Mm-hmm. So it wasn’t, it wasn’t a cut, it wasn’t a line in the sand. It was, it was both and,
Caitlin: yeah. Yeah. And well, like you said, that is a, uh, probably a little bit more supportive feeling or firmer ground feeling way to do it, to have the other thing that you’re transitioning into.
I know when I had my. Reckoning with yoga, which was a little bit more of a reckoning than a fizzle of, uh, I don’t wanna be doing this anymore. I, um, yeah, I was about to enter into school for physical therapy. So for me, I was like, okay, well I have this next thing. And I felt really like, grateful and kind of privileged that I had this next thing to go into where so many of my peers and colleagues and other people are just kind of swimming in these very, uh, kind of murky waters of like, what’s coming next.
Uh, and this was like also getting very close to the pandemic. Um, which things got a little murky even before the pandemic really murky forced with the pandemic for yoga teachers, it was just a disaster. So, um, yeah. So it was, it was for me, I, I can really relate to that idea of like having some kind of, uh, clarity or firm ground of something to stand on as a next thing, um, being super helpful, um, in that process because it is, it’s hard to leave a community and a, a practice and discipline that you’re so enmeshed in.
And like you said, still like you Yeah. It’s about identity. Identify you that way. Uh, yeah. Yeah. And identity. It’s about, I mean,
Elizabeth: Yes, like after I had left, people still identified me, but as you’re talking, I’m thinking, you know, there is so much, especially with something like yoga with, with a sort of lifestyle identity.
Mm-hmm. That and an expectation of the people that walk in the room that, you know, my husband is in. Ad sales people don’t have a lifestyle identity. Associated, you know, they don’t expect him to, you know, be a vegan and, you know, and go on meditation retreats. You know, that stuff is not part of his profession.
Mm-hmm. But I think mm-hmm. In yoga, because it is a life lifestyle profession, um, that identity is really hard to shed both personally and then just sort of interpersonally. Yep. So, having another thing to call yourself is, is nice, I mean mm-hmm. You know, artificial, but nice. Yeah.
Caitlin: Right. Yes, exactly. It’s like a facade, but not a facade, but yes, yes.
It’s helpful. Um, I wanted to get, uh, A little more on your thoughts about your audience with your work and your teaching. Um, you mentioned to me mm-hmm. That is, you consider your target audience women between 45 and 65 years old. Um, especially those who’ve never done any strength training. There was a line that really.
Stand out to me on your website. I’m going to read it cuz I think it is so powerful. You said here you’ll find traditional no frill strength training that helps you realize your body’s potential and connect to the powerhouse that already lives inside you. Um, and I think that that really speaks to my experience with you, knowing you over the years.
I was like, yes, that is Elizabeth. Um, but also, um, I think that’s a powerful statement in light of this audience of women between 45 and 65 years old.
Elizabeth: Yeah. Um, yeah. Um, so I think the way to transition into this and talk about this is to complete, is to talk about the next transition I made. Yeah.
Um, and to just very, very briefly, I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna over, over talk this, but, um, to address CrossFit, because I think CrossFit gets a bad wrap. I think there’s a lot of problems with CrossFit and there’s a lot of problems with yoga. I think there’s a lot of problems with Zumba. Um, you know, like every, every movement modality has.
Mm-hmm. Um, It’s, it’s it’s balanced sheet of pluses and minuses. Um, but what I got from CrossFit as a woman was the ability to do things in with my body that I’d never done before, to lift heavy weight, to move, flip tires and whack things with sledgehammers and carry things and push my body to some pretty intense limits in a community that was like, That saw me as an equal.
Hmm. And, and I am not gonna say that there’s no sort of, you know, um, uh, gender double standard in CrossFit. Of course there is, and especially as, as it becomes more of a kind of a lifestyle thing, but, You know, in the beginning we all had long knee socks and converse and, and we’re trying to figure out how to better, how to deadlift more and how to do a better, you know, uh, handstand pushups and nobody’s, nobody’s effort was seen as less than because they were bigger, smaller.
Female, um, anything. It was, we were all in it together. Um, and that by and large translated into coaching ish, um, where I would get where, where that wouldn’t translate, would be like people coming in from the outside. But so, so trans translate, um, transferring into my first strength, real deep strength training experience being CrossFit.
Um, It was when I would lift my head and look out into the world and people were like, oh, that’s not my experience. It was like, what? What? Well, it doesn’t have to be that way. Mm-hmm. Um, and when I, so, and I firmly believe that the other piece of it is just being exposed to so many different kinds of movement.
I think I said that a few moments ago. Just the things that women aren’t normally exposed to in the gym. Um, really, really helped me with my confidence and, um, made me want to bring this out into the world more. Um, and so as when I left CrossFit, cuz it was just time, um, I. And it’s been a long transition.
And when I went back to school to get my master’s, I was like, all right, what is this? What am I doing? And the more I thought about it, the more I looked up, the more I sort of realized, holy crap, my peers need help. There are people out in the world who need help. Um hmm. That aren’t getting it. And that can really, really benefit from it.
And I have a. Decade of experience, both as a coach, as a, as a teacher, and as a competitor that, um, that can really contribute to, to making a change, um, in people’s experience of strength training. So, um, yeah. And I believe that they can, I believe that they can do it. I believe that every, I mean that, that quote that you read, I believe that.
Yeah. I believe that if you get fundamentals and you’re taught how to train yourself mm-hmm. The most important thing that you get is confidence. Confidence in the fact that you are a powerful person, whatever that means to you. Quiet power, loud power, you know, passive, pow, whatever it is. Um, so that’s sort of framing that.
Did I, did I finally get to the answer to the question?
Caitlin: Yeah. Yeah. And I think that brings me to my next question or what I, I, what I wanted to talk to you about in terms of your, your work now specifically is that you Yeah. Are. All about education, like teaching people how to do for themselves, right?
So, yeah. Yeah. You mentioned that you don’t consider yourself a personal trainer. You’re not showing up to, to, for the accountability piece, just to take somebody through the motions. I don’t mean just like in any kind of demeaning way or anything like, like, right. Um, that’s important. Like, yes. Doing the thing and the accountability to show up and do the thing is super important.
I’m not taking away from that. But you consider yourself more of a teacher as opposed to someone who’s there for the accountability to take somebody through the exercises. You wanna teach people to do for themselves and have the confidence to, to train themselves really with the education you provide.
Is that right? Yeah. Yes,
Elizabeth: yes. That is the plan. Um, you know, in, in, um, So I’m a competitive Olympic weightlifter. Um, people don’t actually know what that is. Olympic weightlifting or weightlifting, one word, capital W is the only barbell sport that is contested in the Olympics. It consists of two movements, the snatch and the clean and jerk.
The snatch starts with the bar on the floor and ends with the bar over your head. The cleaning jerk goes from the bar, from the floor to your shoulders, and then from your shoulders to overhead. I will send some links so that people can go, can look at it. It’s a very specific sport, but what I, but what I’ve learned from that, and this, this will tie back to the education piece.
Um, I largely train alone, um, and I train, I have a coach, um, and I also coach a weightlifting group, a team or a class, however you wanna define it. And in both of those situations, my own personal and in the situation with the people I coach in a, in a group, they have their own, they have a program of things to do.
And they do it without my prompting. Mm-hmm. And I’m there to ask and answer questions. So I’m there to coach, to teach, to observe, to give feedback. And what I, what I observed in that setting, both with my own training, solo training, and with coaching, uh, weightlifting team, is that the progress. That people make, have, have.
Taking their own, taking ownership of their training is far greater than being put through their paces. By, by a, a trainer. Mm-hmm. Um, and so that I have that to stand on and I firmly believe And the data, the data. Here we go back, I’m gonna go back to grad school please. The data Brexit, right. Um, right in the study of motor and the study of motor learning, one of the things that contributes to better performance is autonomy.
Yep. And failure. And failure.
Caitlin: Yep. Trial and error, self-efficacy, all of those things. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,
Elizabeth: yes. So, so what what I sort of came to and what I’m working on right now and I’m working on with, with you essentially, cuz, cuz I’m gonna be teaching, um, at your, um, I keep want calling it a studio, but you can, I dunno how we define it.
Studio, um, is to give people. Really foundational skills so they can get in the gym and start training and maybe fail, but fail in a way that is safe. Um, mm-hmm. I spoke to a lot of women, uh, last summer when I was sort of conceiving this and. You know, people were saying things like, I don’t know what any, any of the equipment is.
I don’t know how to pick it up. I don’t know how to put it down. Mm-hmm. I don’t know where my lots are. I don’t know what a kettlebell does. And so the education that I wanna kind of, that, that, that I’m talking about is very basic. These are the things that mm-hmm. That these are the stations in the gym.
This is what the equipment does. And then here’s four or five. Basic kind of groups of movements, squatting, hinging, pushing, pulling, and if you take this and you know how to use all the equipment and you have these four foundational movements to begin, I’m not talking about forever. Mm-hmm. You can get a pretty good strength workout and if and for the rest of your life.
Yeah. So my, my goal in, in anything I’m offering now that is not my weightlifting team is, To give people the skills they need, the movements they need, the knowledge of, of the equipment, the knowledge of things like sets and reps, like how many of these do I do? Mm-hmm. In really basic terms so that they can go in the gym and go, okay, I got 30 minutes, which by the way is plenty.
Yep. 30 minutes I’m gonna do, I’m gonna do squats and presses, and I know that I can do squats and presses with a kettlebell and two dumbbells. And I’m gonna do three sets of five and three sets of eight, and I’m gonna be done.
Elizabeth: Yeah. And, and, and that, and or I’m gonna go in, I’m gonna use a kettlebell in two dumbbells. Oh, the kettlebell I wanted to use is being, is being used by somebody else, or it’s not here. Or I’m in a hotel gym and I’ve got, you know, all this weird equipment I’ve never seen before, but I know I need to squat and I know I need to press.
How can I make this work? Mm-hmm. That’s how you get people to train. Because if I say you have to use a 16 k kettlebell in two 10 pound dumbbells, and you don’t have that available, or there’s no bench, so you can’t sit, well, maybe you stand or mm-hmm. You, you know, or, or you know, your knee hurts, but you still need to squat.
Okay, well, maybe you squat to a bench or maybe you don’t squat below parallel. Maybe don’t squat at all. Maybe use the leg press machine, but to be able to kind of adapt. Mm-hmm. Um, that’s, that’s my goal. Awesome. Eventually. Yeah.
Caitlin: Yeah, yeah. That’s so great. And it’s so great, um, to help people understand that they can have a simple plan, right?
Like to go into the gym with a simple program that they can execute and feel confident with. And I think that’s, I don’t know. In my experience, I think that’s really important for. Those times when you just don’t feel like it, like that is not the time to go into the gym and be like, eh, what am I gonna do today?
It’s like, no. Just like, it’s easy. Do you don’t have to overthink it. Yep. Just go in and do the program. Yep. And you’ll walk out of there feeling a million times better and you’ll be like, okay, done. I did it. It took me 25 minutes. I did it in and out. Um, I feel like that kind of clarity too is so important to just, just set people up with a simple, repeatable program.
Um, that then they can like, you know, have fun improvising, change it up based on how they feel day-to-day with their knowledge of how to change it up based on how they feel day-to-day. But just foundational programs like that to start with, that just, you don’t have to overthink it and you can have it in your back pocket to just go in and do it anytime.
Especially those times when it feels like it’s hard to do.
Elizabeth: And I think in, yeah, I mean, I think that’s, I, I think in, in. This phase of life that I’m in, physiologically, physically, you know, I have, I’m, I’m a little beat up from mostly, I would say from trying to put my leg behind my head and yoga for, for all those years.
But, um, um, I’m a little beat up. I, I have stuff going on in my life, you know, um, I, I, I can’t. I do train hard and, and, and I actually, we can talk about that in a minute cause I think women do need to really kind of go after it. But there are days when I, when I, like you said, I just, I’ve gotta get in and get out.
I don’t feel like it, and I’ve gotta squat and press or I’ve gotta, I’ve gotta hinge and pull and, um, and nine times out of 10 what happens is, When I don’t feel like it, if I’m there for five minutes, all of a sudden I’m like, oh my God, why didn’t I do this earlier? Why didn’t I get her? Yeah. Like, I feel like a million dollars.
So, yeah. Um, um, you know,
Caitlin: you just start and then it’s, yeah. And then you got, you’re off and running.
Elizabeth: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I had an acting teacher who, um, I can’t remember the specific thing, but the essential sentiment was like, Instead of making a dramatic entrance, start the scene off stage. And that is not to say like in the, in the sort of context of theater, it was like, not as to say your line’s off stage, but like be in the scene, off stage.
Start slowly, start gently, start gradually, walk into the gym, get on the treadmill, get like, you know, don’t, don’t. It’s, it doesn’t even, even, honestly, even on the days when I know I’ve got to, you know, go hard, I always kind of ease into it. Yeah. I always ease into it. Um, unless I’ve got 30 minutes to do an hour’s worth of work, but I always ease into it.
Um, and, and that ends up being the right choice all the time. So nice. Nice. Yeah.
Caitlin: Going back to, uh, Elizabeth, what you mentioned is your target audience, women between ages 45 and 65. I’m curious to hear what some of the barriers are there and some of the reasons why for you this is the. Important demographic to focus on.
Um, I think things have shifted a little bit over recent years in terms of how strength training is perceived. Um, but maybe you can also talk a little bit about, from your experience, dating back to when you transitioned into CrossFit and then into Olympic weightlifting. Um, how, or if you’ve seen that things have shifted in terms of just kind of the, uh, I don’t know, gen, general societal perception of women and heavy strength training, if that makes sense.
Elizabeth: Yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah, totally. Um, well, I think. Well, I wanna, I wanna talk about kind of why strength training matters first. Um mm-hmm. And then I think that’ll be helpful for us to talk about the objections, strength training. And you and I both know that exercise science, Data on women, female humans is mm-hmm.
Really lacking, um, as is progress with women in sport. Um, title ix, you know, one of the foundational things of, of, of my life is that I was born post Title ix, which is the, the, um, government law that says that, um, both. Male and female sport, women’s and men’s sport. I know we’re going through a real transition, but with this right now.
Mm-hmm. But, uh, men and women deserve equal funding and, and opportunity in sport, in educational institutions that get government funding. So that’s what that’s all about. Um, but women didn’t run, oh God. I mean, I don’t think that they ran in the first Boston Marathon. Until like the seventies or eighties, the, the first women’s Olympic weightlifting contest wasn’t until 2000 in Australia.
So Wow. Women in sport and women in strength. Yeah. It’s, it’s, it’s bananas. Mm-hmm. Um, and then as far as science goes, we know that, you know, most, most exercise physiology studies have been on young men because those are the people that were in the, um, programs and they used people in the programs to do the studies, so, so, Um, strength science is, is as particularly evolving, especially as it applies to middle-aged people and, uh, middle-aged women.
The big objections that I hear and I still hear are I’m worried about getting bulky and I’m worried about getting hurt. Mm-hmm. And to this, I will say, To this, I will say, why do you think that? And who taught you that? Right? And who cares? Why do you think that, you know, like, and who cares, right? Like, why do you think that, why do you think you’ll get bulky?
Well, because some women in the eighties who probably took performance enhancing drugs who were bodybuilders created this kind of image of what it was like to be a woman with, and I’m not, that’s not pejorative. It’s, it is pretty certain that most female bodybuilders in the eighties, in fact, that the sport has changed and women that, that physique is, is sort of outta favor in the sport of bodybuilding.
Um, It’s, it’s pretty, the, the, the data is that they, that they were taking testosterone or, or some performance enhancing drugs. So you’re not gonna look like that unless you take performance enhancing drugs. Mm-hmm. Or maybe you will because your body is predisposed to that. But who the hell cares what you look like is about you and your relationship with yourself?
So there’s a beauty thing here that’s sort of like, And PS those people work really, really, really, really, really hard. Right. And if you’re doing two, if you’re doing two 30 minute strength workouts a week for your health, yeah. For your bones, for your cardiovascular health, for your mental health to, to combat heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, et cetera, you’re not gonna become this sort of Amazon.
Right. Yeah. And,
Caitlin: um, Spending any time around people who intentionally bulk up, you’ll see how much they have to eat and train. Just like, it’s like [00:09:00] so much work goes into that. Like people are just gonna casually be like, Looking bulky, like, yeah. Yeah. Correct.
Elizabeth: Yes. Yeah. Yes. I’ll say, I will say that there is sort of this aesthetic that comes and goes of like being really scrawny for women, which, uh, listen, you can look however you want, but I, I don’t want people to confuse visible muscle.
With bulk. Mm-hmm. Because if you start strength training, you may develop visible muscle and I Right. However you, that is your personal choice, but, so there’s that objection. The will I get hurt. Objection is you’re more likely to get hurt if you don’t strength train. Right. You know, like mm-hmm. The, the concern that picking up, up something heavy off the floor is gonna wreck your back.
I mean, if you try to lift more than you need to, if you do it too fast, if you do it when you’re, you know, not paying attention, I mean, all the reasons why you would get hurt doing anything else. Mm-hmm. Um, there is a, a, you do need to pay attention. Um, your body needs time to adapt. The tissues need time to, to develop not just your muscles, but your connective tissue needs time to adapt.
Um, and if you start slowly and you do it with knowledge and, and some kind of supervision or just education, um, The, the, the hurt that people are concerned about. I, I, I think that risk is mitigated significantly, and I think that the benefits outweigh the risks. Absolutely. Um, you may have some commentary on that, just from, from your end, from your therapeutic end of things.
Caitlin: Yeah. I completely agree. The net benefits outweigh the risks entirely mm-hmm. Of starting up any kind of exercise program.
Elizabeth: Yes. Yeah. And, and putting, I mean, you know, if you wanna get kind of scary, like it, sarcopenia is a real thing. Mm-hmm. And osteoporosis is a real thing. Sarcopenia is muscle wasting.
Um, they’re also is a new term called dynapenia, which is about muscle quality as opposed to muscle like loss of muscle. Um, And, and then osteoporosis are, are real, um, afflictions, and I’m sorry to tell you, but a lifetime of, you know, headstands and Shavasana is probably not gonna stave off those things, unfortunately.
Mm-hmm. Um, not that those things aren’t awesome and great and do really good things to you, but, but as you’ve been talking about, you need to, you need to jump, you need to load the bone, you need to, you need to, to. If you’re running all the time, you need to sprint a little bit. You need to challenge the body in ways.
Yeah. That is muscle building and bone building, especially if you’re a woman. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, falling, this is, it’s, it’s kind of an old, you know, an old saw in the, you know, in the clinical world and also I think in the exercise world, but it bears repeating, you know, people who fall and fracture their hip are more likely to die.
And that’s really dramatic, but it’s real. And the reason is muscle loss, loss of mobility, leads to muscle loss, which leads to just general lack of movement. And living a sedentary life is really, really bad for your health. It’s really dangerous. So, Strength training at at my age, at the 45 to 65. The reason why I think it’s important is you’re young enough to kind of.
You can still, you can still go ham in the gym. You can still, you can still do some pretty hard work in the gym. Listen to me sounding like a gym rat. Um, and you can still, you can still stave off those, those afflictions, you can still reverse those afflictions. Um, and you still have some time, um, Is it ideal?
No, I’d rather you started when you were 15, but if the best time to start, if not 15 is 52. So, um, and, and that is not to say that someone who is in their eighties can’t benefit from strength training, but I think that middle-aged women, um, also what I’ve seen from talking to women I’ve, I mentioned is, is you’re at a point in your life when you still, like I said, you still have stuff to do, but you may have.
Some issues, physical issues that, um, or, or you’re beginning to see the, a little bit of decline in health. Maybe your cholesterol high, maybe your bone density is low. I have a friend who has had crippling back pain, back injury, has had surgeries. Um, she’s very tall. Um, and I think that is, is part of her issue.
Um, and. She’s never strength trained. She’s very tall. She’s been a runner, um, and couldn’t get, couldn’t get a handle on the strength on the back pain, like in the hospital with, with back pain. Um, and she finally started strength training and all of a sudden she has her life back. Yeah. All of a sudden, at 51 years old, she can make plans for the rest of her life that don’t involve us. We went to Disney World.
And she got on Space Mountain and she was like, I don’t know if I can do this. And I was like, okay, well we can skip it. And she’s like, no, I’m gonna try. And she went on Space Mountain twice and she wouldn’t have done that with her [00:15:00] son and she would not have done that if she hadn’t. So that’s the kind of stuff I’m talking about.
So it makes, getting, the bulky thing is sort of minor when it’s like you get to live your life if you’re in a strong, stable body and you feel confident walking through the world. It doesn’t matter if you have to buy a bigger pair of pants, it really doesn’t. Yeah. We just have bigger at world Biggers.
Exactly.
Caitlin: Yeah. Yeah. Well, it’s so exciting too. I mean, I just wanna throw this in there as, as somebody who had started strength training when I was very, Detrained Undertrained, like hadn’t been lifting weights. It’s so exciting as beginner strength training. Mm-hmm. Because you make huge progress so fast.
Elizabeth: Yes. It’s like, wow. It is. Yeah. It’s
Caitlin: kinda awesome. Um, I mean, it’s not kinda awesome. It’s awesome. It feels so good. Um, I mean, if you’re somebody who likes to see progress, If you stick to strength training. Right, right. Exactly. And you’ll see progress if you’re, if you’re detrained and you start string training when you haven’t been string training.
Oh, it’s so fun to see how much progress you make.
Elizabeth: Nothing like the first six months of strength training. Oh yeah. Progress. It’s very exciting. It’s very exciting. And, and you know, as you progress, one of my, one of my greatest. Joys as a coach and a teacher is watching people do that. Watching people progress and do things they never thought they could do.
You know, like the girl who, yeah, I had a client who I worked with who was dealing with some, some trauma, you know, and, and, as young women do, and, and she, she did her first 200 pound deadlift. Mm-hmm. And oh my God, the confidence that she got, and I’m not, I’m like, not saying that we can heal all traumas with deadlifts, but Right.
There’s a certain shortcut to sort of self-efficacy and self-determination that happens when you pursue strength training. Um, that is like nothing else. Yeah. Um, and it’s fun. Mm-hmm. It’s really fun and it’s really freaking hard, but it’s really worth it.
Caitlin: Yeah, I totally agree. Uh, um, I wanted to finish up our talk with just a little bit.
Maybe we can just touch on this briefly, although this could be a whole other episode about collaboration and working across a variety of modalities, or if you wanna call it an interdisciplinary team, in working with folks across, um, strength training, other modalities, physical therapy. I know if you’re comfortable sharing a little bit about Elizabeth, I know you, you have recently.
Kinda work through an injury with an interdisciplinary team, um, of folks who helped you through that process. Uh, I, I’d love to hear your thoughts on that. I think you had mentioned something just in our pre-interview chat about collaboration versus competition and, um, how we kind of tread those waters as, uh, practitioners who have transitioned through multiple modalities and continue to work through multi with and through multiple
Elizabeth: modalities.
Yeah. Yeah. I think there’s two, and I agree this could be a whole podcast, um, conversation. And I think there’s two thoughts on this, and one is, one is not to do with my injury and my team, but one is to do with there’s enough as a professional. Like, um, it’s funny to see these, a lot of yoga teachers are now all of a sudden like, oh, I’m lifting weights now.
Mm-hmm. Is this, is the like, it’s like, like, like they’re the first people to ever do it, and it’s like, and, and some not. Some are like, oh my god. You’ve been doing it for years. Look at me. Um, but there’s enough, there’s enough to go around. Yeah. There’s enough to like, just in, in the movement space, there is enough to go around.
So, so relax. Yeah. What you, what I have to say, like you and I, how we have different, uh, higher education training, but you and I are sort of, In a similar space, um, in terms of like getting people stronger and healthier and I, but we, we, there’s enough to go around that you and I can exist in the same space.
Or another female strength coach can exist in the same space and collaborate and contribute to each other’s success and not pile, like, not push that person to the, to the side. I just think it makes for a better professional environment. Um, so that’s one piece of that. Um, The other piece is, yes, so I had, um, in the summer of 20 20, 20 20 or 21, I can’t even remember anymore.
2021. I had a really bad back spasm. Hmm. And. Usually I’ve had stuff before. I have a really hyper mobile body. Part of the reason why I started doing CrossFit was that I was too nly and I needed to kind of, I knew at 35 I was like, I gotta put some meat on my bones so I don’t, and some strength in my joints so I don’t fall down.
Um, so it’s something I’ve, I’ve worked with for years and years and years. Um, but. I can’t even remember the timeline. I think it was post covid. I had a back spasm and, um, it wouldn’t, I, I couldn’t. I couldn’t get rid of. I, you know, in the past I had been able to, okay, I’ll take a couple days off, you know, if I have to take a muscle relaxant, I will, you know, like, like all the things didn’t work.
Fast forward to, uh, an MRI of my hip, which I’ve had surgery on, and my low back. And I had, uh, herniated discs, some, a couple of other discs that were threatening, herniation and some degeneration in my hip. And my, uh, physiatrist who I work with, Called me and she said, who’s an athlete? Um, and she said, you know, if you weren’t as strong as you are, you would not be mobile right now.
And so, that collaboration like her, her as a physician, Respecting what I do was really important to me. Mm-hmm. Um, and then she was able to guide me to some PTs who it took, it took a little trial and error. PS I continued to train around my injury. Mm-hmm. I continued to train, I continued to move, I continued to walk, I continued to work on my upper body.
Um, I continued to strengthen my legs as I could without stressing my injury. Um, and then I found, uh, a group of people who, um, I don’t know if we wanna shout out in the interest of collaboration. I don’t know if we wanna shout out that group of people, but, um, I found, um, A, a, a physical therapy, um, office.
That was sort of the exact thing I needed. They respected me as an athlete. They respected that I needed to get from acute pt cuz I had done some sort of acute rehab PT stuff through back into strength training. And so I worked with the guys over at Reload in New York City and they gave me a program.
And at no point did they tell me to sit down. At no point did they tell me to stop training. They were available to me via text. Mm-hmm. Um, but their work was very thorough. So I was able to do the work, I was able to do the training on my own. It was all very active. It was all exercise based. There was no stem, there was no massage.
I mean, I, I, I definitely get massages and I do that sort of thing, but, um, and because of my background, In, you know, I think being, having been a yogi and having, um, taught other sort of yoga like modalities, I had a lot of tools in the tool bag in terms of, uh, rehab. And I’ve done enough movement in my life that, the physical, the more physical therapy movements that they gave me, I was able to adapt to right away.
Um, and I was given a train, a training program, like a general physical preparedness training program, um, that I. Put that I worked in with my weightlifting program. Awesome. And so that was in December of 21 and in March of 22 I became the national, uh, the master’s national champion in my weight class in my age group.
Caitlin: So awesome. So great. And then went on.
Elizabeth: Yeah, last December to become, to get a, a bronze medal in the world championships. Yeah. So, And, and continue to, I continue to work with them. The other thing is I continue to work with them. I continue to work with my coach and they support what I’m doing. They serve, they support what I’m doing and will, if I have a problem, we will solve it.
They don’t tell me, they don’t say take a rest. They don’t say, go see a, I mean, if I need to see a doctor, I’d see a doctor, but it’s not. Mm-hmm. There’s no catastrophizing, there’s no, like, I had a weird kind of, not a relapse, but like a little kind of, Moment, like two months ago I was doing nothing and I had a little, little zinger in my back and I was like, oh.
And I texted, I texted my trainer and he was like, okay, yeah, we’re gonna change up your training a little bit and we’re gonna work around it until you feel stronger. And some of it has to do with them looking at the whole, I mean, definitely looking at the whole person, but also understanding.
In some, it’s like this sort of meta thing because it’s also a multimodal approach in terms of like, well, maybe you need to be more cardiovascularly fit. Maybe you need to be, your legs need to be stronger. Maybe you need, so that was the thing that I, I really appreciated. Um, I’d been doing all this strength training and, and when I first went to see them and, and the trainer, so I, I met with a physical therapist and a trainer, a strength training coach, and this, the trainer was like, You’re in terrible shape.
You need more general physical preparedness, meaning like just general fitness. I had focused so much on my sport conditioning. Yeah, yeah. My con, my conditioning and my, and my sort of like getting in all the corners, you know, it’s like mm-hmm. It’s like you’re cleaning your window, but you’re only cleaning the center of the window and it’s dingy and dirty in all the corners, so.
Right,
Caitlin: Right, right. That’s a good way of putting it. I like that. Right.
Elizabeth: Yeah. And so you still see out. You still see out, but it’s like, oh wait, the sun would shine if you wash this, this part. So, um, and I, I firmly believe, I have and I have over the years, I’ve gotten body work a lot over the years. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to both afford it and to have access to it.
And you know, I have a number of different people that I’ve seen over the years cuz not all body workers are the same. Mm-hmm. Not all body workers are for every issue. Yeah. Um, I, and so that is that I’m, I’m lucky enough to sort of have, have had that, um, lens to mm-hmm. To kind of look through as I’ve rehabbed my injury.
Um, and to continue to kind of maintain Yeah. Because it’s not gone, I didn’t have surgery, you know? Right. I still have that in my body. Yep. Yep.
Caitlin: Um, so yeah, so that’s a beautiful example of, of continuing. To train, train with it, around it, through it, um mm-hmm. Being in a place where your neck gains are, it’s, it’s better despite the fact that, you know, like you’ve, you’ve been walking through injury and through pain, but if you would’ve just taken a bunch of time off or been scared to move, or scared to train, or, you know, it would’ve been a.
10 times, you know, a disaster. Yeah. In terms of, uh, your, not just you, I mean, you just start to lose everything, right? It’s use it or lose it. Yes. You, you start to become detrained in, in all aspects of everything. And that touches your physical being, but also your emotional, behavioral, social, all of it.
Elizabeth: Yeah. And, and what you have probably seen and what you know, and I’m sure you’re, you’re sort of trying to get this through to your patients and clients is like actually sometimes when you’re in pain, the exact thing to make the pain, I mean pain, like again, we have a whole conversation about pain, but the dis the, the, the unpleasant sensation in your body actually.
Nine times outta 10 for me feels better when I move. Mm-hmm. Sometimes my knees feel a little achy if I sit too much, which, you know, in grad school you just sit, I mean, I’m sorry there’s not enough standing desks in the world. If you gotta write a 30 page paper, you’re gonna be sitting and Yeah. And you know, I would go through, I would, I would stand up from the desk after writing a midterm or something and be like, oh my God, my knees hurt, or My quads are killing me, or my hip, or whatever.
And the answer was to move. Yeah, the answer was to get moving. Um, and kind of going back to what you were saying before, like just, just start slow, right? Just like, like a low barrier to entry. Just start moving.
Caitlin: Yeah. Yeah. And then start to just build it. And build it and build it. And I think it’s, it’s really, I think it’s unintuitive to people who feel vulnerable in a certain area of the body that the way, the way.
Through that. The solution for that is to just put a little force through it and then test it out and put a little more force through it and mm-hmm. That’s, it’s not intuitive to people who are just kind of, mm-hmm. Alone and on their own and experiencing some kind of painful sensation, but yes, like move, move your body weight, move your body weight with some light resistance that you can feel safe with.
That you can control. Yep. And then start to move a little bit heavier load and just start to put a, apply a little more force through those areas and just build it back up. Yeah.
Elizabeth: But this is what we’re doing. This is what our job is now. Like you and I are both. Yeah. This is, I mean, this is sort of a good sort of full circle moment because this is exactly it.
This is what I’m like, my mission as a teacher. Is to teach people how to do that. To know that, like for themselves, walks in my way, how if somebody walks in and they’re like really in, in, in rough shape and they’re scared. I was talking about my friend with back pain mm-hmm. When she started she liked it. I think that her trainer had her literally walk into the gym, sit down on the bench and stand up.
I mean, I don’t think he had her do anything threatening because there was so much built up fear around the thing. So, mm-hmm. The approach that we take as educators, as clinicians is super important because, Nine times outta 10. That is not, that is not scientific data. That’s just ob observational data.
Nine times outta 10. Um, the, the, the pain will go away if you load it or if you move or if you challenge it. Yeah. You know, like that’s the so, but we’ve gotta get people there. We’ve got, and that’s, that’s my job. That’s my job. That’s your job. Awesome.
Caitlin: Yep. Ugh. I love it. I love it. So great. Um, So important, so important for people to just know that they can, like, do, do a thing, take, take thing, take matters into their own hands, not feel paralyzed, not feel frozen from fear, and like just start to explore and move and mm-hmm.
And push things, push at the edges a little bit. And that’s mm-hmm. That’s gonna be better in the long run. Totally. Mm-hmm. I like to end every interview with something, uh, you sharing a little bit of something that you do just for you. Right. I know as practitioners and, and coaches and trainers and clinicians and all the types of people I have on this show, we can get very, especially those of us who’ve been in academia, get very wrapped up in all the things that we do for our studies and for our clients.
And I would love to hear, Elizabeth, what you feel like you do that is just for you. Um,
Elizabeth: What’s, what’s that? What is that? Um, I, um, I’m a, I’m a big reader. I love fiction and I love literary non-fiction. Um, so that’s like something, it’s just, I’m, I just love, love reading. Um, and I just took up knitting, um, which is a whole thing cuz I’m not, I’m actually not a crafty, arty person, so that’s a whole hard.
It’s very meditative, I guess it turns out that the whole me knitting as meditation thing is, is real. But I think that the biggest thing I do for myself is I walk and I live in the greatest city in the world, as do you. I know that you’re biased just as I am and walking, I mean like literally getting sort of choked up thinking about how much I love this city and how much I love to walk.
In New York. Mm-hmm. Um, during quarantine, we lived very close to Central Park and moved Right. Literally like the doors closed as soon as we moved into this new apartment, um, very close to the park. And I spent many, many, many days in Central Park, which I hadn’t really in, in years. I’ve been in New York for 30 years, um, and.
Got to see the seasons change and look at the birds and the flowers and, you know, know that, that this week it’s the, it’s yellow flower week and next week is purple flower. You know, it’s just, it was just like a next level of kind of, um, Life affirmation, especially during that time. Mm-hmm. But what’s funny is, I, I, I also missed the city.
I missed being out in traffic and running in the streets and kind of dodging people. Um, cuz that also kind of is life-affirming for me, um, in a, in a less peaceful way. But, um, I would say putting on a really comfortable pair of shoes and walking is my. One of my absolute favorite activities.
Caitlin: Yeah. I completely agree with you there, and I agree with you.
Like when the seas of peoples came back that felt mm-hmm. Super energizing and good in the city. Like that kinda rush of, of people in that flow of the city in Yeah. Yeah. All of its, I remember
Elizabeth: We had then we. Yes, a hundred percent. And, and how, what, what el what luck, I mean, during that terrible time.
Mm-hmm. What a unique ability, what a unique sort of experience to be like in an empty city. Um, but I remember, I remember early in quarantine, a couple of weeks into quarantine, really missing the city. It was a bizarre thing to realize, but I, like I missed a friend, missed the city. Um, even though I was here.
Yeah. Even though I was here. So,
Caitlin: Yeah, I totally feel that. You know, you know. Yes, yes. Well, I live not far from you. I was in Hell’s Kitchen, so I had daily walks up to the entrance of the park at Columbus Circle and back and, um, yeah. And, and a lot of my walks were straight down through Times Square and Harold Square, which were completely deserted.
Mm. Um, like misty spring days, in the spring of 2020, it was so eerie. And, um, and like, Yeah. Terrible and beautiful and yeah, really wonderful to have all that space in some ways. Yeah. Um, it’s very strange. Yes. Um, yeah. Elizabeth, you are, I’m so excited because you are going to be teaching at my studio, at Practice Human, um, here in Midtown Manhattan on West 27th Street on May 7th.
You’re teaching a two hour long masterclass, introduction to strength training, and then you’re also doing a series of classes in June. Are these for folks who are brand new to strength training, just dipping their toe in the water, wanting to learn?
Elizabeth: Yes, yes. So these are designed for brand new beginners.
The masterclass is really just like, it’s like. Not even dipping your toe, and it’s like walking to the water, right? Like for somebody who’s like, I don’t even know what this is. I’m afraid we’ll get your toe dipped in by the end of the two hours, but we in two hours. My goal is to address some misconceptions to talk about why strength training is important and then to, to spend about an hour and maybe, uh, an hour and 15 hour and a half depending on the question and answer kind of situation.
Um, just doing. Probably, um, we’ll squat and we’ll probably push or pull and then if we have time I’ll talk about hinging and, and, um, and another upper body movement. Um, but just to give people a taste of how simple movements that they’re probably already doing. If you’re getting up and down off a chair, you’re squatting.
So to kind of just give people like, like open the door and turn on the lights and be like, here’s strength training. Sweet. And then, and then the course, this is, this is, we sort of managed to find some dates to wedge it in before the summer kind of gets off to a roaring start. Um, it’s just three weeks, um, a little bit more in depth, much more movement focused, obviously.
We’ll focus on sort of four main movements because I think those are foundational. Um, squat hinge, which is also known as a deadlift, basically bending at the hips, um, pulling, which is like. Uh, uh, pu pull up or, or pulling something towards you and pushing like a pushup or a bench bench press pushing something away from you.
Um, and, and using these things in different ways. And then, um, there’ll probably be some homework, some fun homework, and, um, we’ll see what we get to in three weeks. N it will be just enough to kind of wet your appetite and then the hope is to come back with a much more robust program in the fall. Sweet.
Great. Yeah. And that starts, that starts June 11th. So May 7th is the masterclass. And June 11th is the little mini course. 11, 18, and 25th of June.
Caitlin: Yeah. Like three Sundays in June. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Um, and I know you’re gonna be, Or you have already, I think, posted the information, uh, at least about the masterclass on May 7th on your website.
So for everyone listening mm-hmm. You can find elizabeth elizabeth wip.com and that’s elizabeth w i pff.com. And that’s also your Instagram handle, Elizabeth Wip. And I will link, um, how folks can find you in the show notes. I’ll also, um, link the webpage for the masterclass coming up on May 7th there as well.
And if you are, um, popping onto, Practice humans website, practice human.com. I’m gonna put a little feature on there for Elizabeth’s work cuz I’m so excited to have you teaching here in the space.
Elizabeth: Please. Um, in your studio. I just have to say for anyone that hasn’t been there, it’s such a beautiful little space.
It’s such a sweet little space. Thank you. So, even if you don’t wanna do any strength training, come and take the class just so you can be in Caitlin’s. Lovely, lovely space.
Caitlin: Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. I know when you came to visit, we were talking about how it’s like, my, my goal was to make this feel un-intimidating in here, right?
Like just like welcoming, homey, and, um, yeah, just inviting.
Elizabeth: It’s the, yo it’s the yoga teacher in you. It’s the yoga teacher in you.
Caitlin: Maybe it’s the Nebraskan in Me Too, a little bit. And also Juniper, who works here is from Nebraska. So I think it’s, it’s a little bit of that like home, totally home mentality, um, coming into this space.
So, um, thank you so much, Elizabeth. This talk was, uh, Just, yeah, just so, so important and inspiring and so much good information, especially for people who are interested in strength training, um, to really go for it and dig in. And, um, if you’re feeling maybe a little apprehensive, hopefully this talk has encouraged you to go for it.
Elizabeth: Yes, yes, yes. Go for it. Thank you, Caitlin.
Caitlin: Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed my talk with Elizabeth as much as I did. I have a small favor to ask. If you learn something here listening to this episode, or if you generally enjoy using the Practice Human Podcast as a resource, please leave us a reading and a review.
It’ll help our conversations. Grow again. Uh, I’m so glad you’re here and looking forward to speaking with you next time.
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