Celebrity Fitness Trainer Jenny Pacey of Pace & Go #Podcastepisode43

This episode is brought to you by Somavedic. Somavedic frequency therapy devices reliably mitigate the unwanted influences of EMF radiation from Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cell phones in our homes, schools, and workplaces. The technology creates a 360-degree protection field of 100 feet in all directions by administering controlled release of energy from precious and semi-precious stones. The devices also support the body's natural regeneration processes, allowing for better sleep, energy levels, and hydration while reducing stress and anxiety. So check out somavedic.com and start feeling the benefits today. Hello there, health optimization friends. I'm your host Claudia von Boeselager, and welcome to the Longevity and Lifestyle Podcast., where I invite pioneers and thought leaders on all things longevity and lifestyle to give you the strategies, tools, and practices to live better and help you reach your highest potential. My guest today is fitness celebrity, former Olympic athlete, and entrepreneur Jenny Pacey. Jenny's colorful career spans being Gladiator star Enigma, an industry-leading fitness consultant, a retired Olympic bobsledder, an international pentathlete, as well as a long jumper for Great Britain. Jenny has a Bachelor of Science Honors degree in Sports and Exercise Science from Lockborough University, and she runs her own business, Pace and Go, with her partner and fellow Gladiator Wayne Gordon. In this episode, we dig into being a multi-talented professional athlete and Olympian, building a successful fitness business, mindset and motivation for continued peak fitness, practical fitness and lifestyle advice, key learnings that have been a game changer, fitness's role in longevity, meditation, and much more. More. Before we begin, please hit subscribe to the podcast to get your weekly dose of longevity and lifestyle inspiration and share this episode with those you love. I'd also love to hear from you, dear audience, so please leave a comment to let me know what you think or reach out on Instagram @longevityandlifestyle.

Please enjoy. Jenny, welcome to the Longevity and Lifestyle podcast today. I'm so excited to have you on.

Thank you, Claudia. I'm super excited to be on with you finally. We've been trying for some time, haven't we?

We've been back and forth a few times, so really excited that we could get in the calendar for today. And I'd love to start with your journey and your beginning with the passion for sports and exercise from childhood. You know, where did it come from and how did it lead you to where you are today?

So as a little girl, I grew up in Lincoln, which is a farming town in the north of England. And it was really boring. There wasn't very much to do. And I remember winning on sports day in a race against the boys and the girls when I was about maybe 8 years old and being like, oh my gosh, this is the best feeling I've ever had. Like the experience of movement as in within the race, finding that little flow state as a tiny me and then winning on top. I was like, 'Oh, this is good.' And then from there, really, my granddad really encouraged me and my dad to do lots of different sports. So every night of the week, my parents were taking me to a different club, from swimming to gymnastics to dance to horse riding. And I just loved it. I love the feeling competition gave me. And growth mindset came into my life. By growth mindset, I mean nothing's fixed. Your ability is dependent on how much effort you put in. And I really felt that in my childhood years. I went on to be an international athlete at around 11 years old. I realized I can't be the best at 10 different sports, so I stopped doing the swimming and gymnastics. I just did horse riding for fun and started training as an athlete 6 days a week and went on to be an international athlete for Great Britain. And then that took me on to be an international athlete in bobsleigh. So I represented my country in 2 sports. And that was really the foundation to lots of other amazing opportunities that came into my life, from becoming Gladiator Enigma to being an Amazon in both of the Wonder Woman films and training the cast, so the Amazons and also Kristen Wiig, who starred as Cheetah in the last Wonder Woman film.

So exciting. I love the combination also of bobsleigh and horse riding. Can you just explain where those two came from?

So they're— are they related? I think horse riding is where I find my happy place. So it's almost like movement meditation and freedom for me. And I've always felt that. I started riding when I was 5. My dad used to have racehorses. I always dreamed of being a jockey, and I think at 11 I hit the height of 5'11", so it was like, that's not gonna work. So I've continued to ride and I became a stunt horse rider when I first moved to London. I just love the feeling. They're the most beautiful animals, and from galloping along the beach in South Africa to show jumping to wielding a sword in stunt riding, it's just a real thrill, and I feel very much like me when I'm doing it. And then bobsledding— as an athlete, I was a long jumper and a heptathlete, so I had speed, strength, power, and like multi-movement skill. And the bobsleigh team were looking for some new female recruits, and I ended up going to the World Championships in Canada, and I raced off against all the other girls. I went down the mile of ice at 90 miles an hour for the first time, survived, kind of loved it, also kind of prayed every time I went down that we didn't crash, and then ended up doing really well in the trials. And the World Championships was my first race in bobsleigh. Wow. Which was insane. And the skills more from like horse riding but from long jump transferred really well into bobsleigh because you hit the bobsled. Most people have seen Cool Runnings, you know, with the Jamaican bobsledding. So, you know, at the top of the track when they, they all start— feel the rhythm, feel the ride. You know it well. So I had my lucky egg. In my pocket.

You would thank a coffee, right?

Exactly. And there's still people that sell like Rastafarian hats at the bobsleigh tracks. It's still like massive in the sport. So you hit the bobsleigh like you're weightlifting, like you're Olympic weightlifting, and you sprint behind it, which I have done for years, like sprinting out the blocks, pushing the sled, and then you long jump into the sled. So the skills transferred really easily for me, and then I bobsledded for 3, 4 years for Great Britain and went from being what's called a brake woman, which is the sprinter or the pusher, and your job is to accelerate the sled, sprint behind it for, say, 30 meters, long jump in, sit super still, you count the bends as you go down the mile of ice, pray you don't crash all the way, and then you pull the brakes on at the end of the race. To stock sled. So I did that for a year, and then I learned how to drive, which is a totally different experience and skill set. You have to learn all the corners of the tracks. You have to learn how to steer, but not oversteer, because the less you steer, the faster you go. And you obviously have someone behind you who's your brake woman. There's only 2 in a sled for ladies, but 2 and 4 for men, and that's really in your care. Because they're praying that they don't crash and you don't crash. So I learned to drive, which was also an amazing experience and a little safer than being a brake woman, because as I mentioned, 90 miles an hour, you sit in the back of the sled with your head between your legs, holding on for dear life, and you have more than 6 G-forces in the back of the sled. So more than Formula 1. Like, can you think of the most amazing roller coaster you've ever been on? And like that feeling in your tummy. Yeah. So with that and the compression, the 6 Gs and the 90 miles an hour and the no seatbelt, some people actually wet themselves in the back of the bobsleigh. So I was like, right, I'm hopping in the front seat where it's a lot drier and a lot safer.

I can only imagine. And also the mental strength and stamina and all the different intricacies that go for it. I mean, these are skills that must transfer so beautifully into kind of normal life, if you will, thereafter. What were some of the key skills that you find most valuable to your life, sort of status quo?

So as an elite athlete, you're in this bubble with loads of other elite athletes, and you think the way that you think and the way you approach sport or life or competition or, you know, the way you eat breakfast, anything is just normal and the way things are. And then I retired from competitive I retired from competitive sport at 30 and really reflected, like, for the last 8 years on the way that I am and what I've brought from sports into, like, my daily life. And there's some amazing things that athletes do, like, we only replay the good stuff. So I think a lot of people in life, like, something shit happens to them and they go over and over and over and over it again and again, and it's almost like on repeat in someone's brain. Whereas an athlete, you're like, okay, that sprint didn't go very well. I may have lost that one. I'm gonna figure out why. Okay, I didn't do enough knee drive or claw back, and that's it. I'm never gonna think of it again because if I ingrain it in my brain, I'm much more likely to repeat the bad performance. Whereas when we do something good, like we won the 100-meter sprint in training and we glided out the box with immense power and came up at the right time and we had really good kickback and arm positioning, for instance, you'd be like, oh my God, I was so good. I'm gonna replay this a million times. I'm gonna hold onto the feeling, the feeling of the process, but also the feeling of how good it felt afterwards. And we replay those moments. We replay from the outside in and from the inside out. So I feel like in life now, when the shit things happen, which they do, I stop myself replaying them. I refuse to get into that cycle. And when the great things happen, I try and figure out why. Because I think often when you win or good things occur as an athlete, you just ride the wave. You're like, oh my God, this is amazing. I suppose not being an athlete, I've learned more by my failures. So I try and work out the reasons why it went great, maybe the reasons why it didn't go to plan. And then push forward to continually be better. But I did notice after I retired, I realized I always— and many athletes like this— think they're better than they are. So I always, always thought I was far, far better than I was in most things. You would always set your goals much higher than maybe you could achieve when it came to like weightlifting personal bests or sprinting or performances. So that's another thing I think I carry on. Like when I look back on my New Year's goals in my diaries, I'm like, okay, I maybe achieved like 2 out of 20, but I'm getting closer to these other ones that are like pretty massive and I'll progress towards them. And it's not disheartening. They weren't ticked off. It's like, okay, what can I do next to get closer to them?

Jenny, I think what you just said is just absolutely so profound in terms of mindset and What a beautiful training that you were able to have. Obviously, you put in the blood, sweat, and tears to get there. But I think that for so many people, and actually for me, one of my New Year's resolutions is mindset rewiring, right? And so one of the things I need to learn is the celebrating the wins, big and small, especially the little ones, because of my perfectionistic nature. If I achieve a goal, it's like, okay, what's the next one? Forget to celebrate. I'm always like feeling behind. I need to challenge myself more and more and more. And I think what you said was key. Key is that you really celebrate the wins, you tie in that emotion to it. So, I think from a psychological perspective, like having that emotion, that feeling, and that replay that you can do it, it builds the confidence, you go for it. And then I also love that you set your goals really, really high because if you set it to something that's so achievable, you're not growing, you're not pushing yourself far enough. So, that was just really, really fundamental, Jane, and I feel like you've totally figured out human psychology and what people need to do to—

Honestly, when I train people, when we finish like a really tough workout, when we finish any workout, I'm always like, you tend to reach to the sky for the last shoulder stretch and then give yourself a massive hug and tell yourself something nice. Because I think the people that tell themselves horrible things all the time, and people rarely give themselves great feedback or lovely feedback, and I try to neurologically stack, you know, that epic feeling of endorphins post-workout, and then the feeling of self-care, the self-accomplishment. So every workout I finish, even myself, like, I'll give myself a hug or get my clients to give themselves a hug. I love that.

That's really beautiful as well. There's a really cool expression that neurons that fire together wire together. It's just that ingraining and entraining that neural pathway that you find the good in things, that optimistic nature, and you just go for it as well. Because how many people are self-criticizing themselves all the time? I mean, as you're saying as well with your clients. So from the age of 30, when you decided to officially retire from professional sports, you went on to the next phase of your career. Can you share with my audience what that entailed?

Yeah. So in my twenties, we set up our fitness business, which is called Pace and Go. I'm Jenny Pacey, and then my partner, who's also my fiancé, is Wayne Gordon. So we created this fitness business. Where we are consultants to Andre Agassi and some of the leading brands in the industry. We travel the world delivering education or creating a link between a product and the press or a product in the industry. We also offer personal training. We train royalty, Hollywood stars, politicians, people all around the world. We have an incredible, interesting, and amazing client base, kind of from Jewish housewives, and, you know, A-listers. So it's a really amazing interaction every day— most days, I would say— with the people that we work with. And then as I retired, we did our first fitness DVD, and that then led us to creating over 100 workouts online for a company called Grokka. So we have a huge online presence and workouts from teaching people to squat to training like an athlete. And there's workouts to reduce back pain to doing high-intensity kettlebell training. So there's a real spectrum for everybody. So with this background and also having been a gladiator on TV, doing some presenting and some modeling and some acting, I ended up being called by an agent to audition for a major Hollywood film. And at the beginning I thought it was a joke, but 4 auditions later, I got a part in the first Wonder Woman film. I was in an 8-month boot camp. We went to Warner Brothers every day. I learned to fight with swords and shields and lances. We did a huge amount of hypertrophy training, which means muscle bulking. So we all looked like strong, badass Amazons. And then Italy and filmed for 4 weeks for all the opening Amazon scenes for the first movie. So that kind of took up a whole year of my life in my early 30s. Film came out, was a massive success, and they commissioned Wonder Woman 84, which is the sequel. And I was asked to then audition or to have an interview to potentially be the female trainer. So I ended up getting the job and I trained the 40 Amazons that you see opening the new movie. And then I also transformed Kristen Wiig, who people know often from Bridesmaids. She's amazing. She's hilarious. And I took her from being like the skinny, funny girl to the badass cheetah for her role as the baddie in Wonder Woman 84. And I also got to star again as an Amazon running up a giant waterfall in the opening scenes. So that took another year in my 30s. So I worked on the film. We went to Washington, Fort Aventura, London. I filmed in 3 different countries and I transformed the Amazons over about 4 or 5 months. And then I worked with Kristen over the whole year. So that was pretty amazing. And I'm the first woman in the world to train the female army for a movie. Wow. Which is quite cool too.

Go you, Jenny. So many accomplishments to be proud of. Really, really incredible. And so you obviously have dealt with all these amazing sort of stars and things as well, but, you know, thinking of someone who's health interested and doesn't know where to start, how do you typically support clients? Obviously not film specific, but just how do you get to a level of that motivation and consistency? And maybe you can talk a little bit around why maintaining strength and fitness is so critical for not only mental health but physical health over the long term?

So I think your mind and your body are inherently connected, and the way we feel inside is often linked to the way that we are outside. And I think the stronger, especially women, feel within, you know, their physicality, the stronger we often feel in everyday aspects of life, you know, from how we deal with people at work to how we feel when we walk down the street, if we're in trainers or if we're in heels. So I think it's super intrinsically related. I find I help people transform their lives. They usually come to me because they want to make changes and be educated. And I'll have some people that need to lose maybe 30 kilograms, and I'll have some people that just want to get stronger and fitter. And I'll have often old people that want specific goals around like sport or performance. But what I do find is when people come to me, they have usually found their tipping point on their own terms. And by tipping point, I mean their perception of change is less pain than where they are at the present. So especially with people who have a lot of body fat to lose, or they've got some health issues, and it's because of a lifestyle that doesn't serve them. I find that they've just tipped and then they come and they want help from me or from somebody else, from a trainer. And the ways that I help support someone, the biggest thing is to change how they feel about themselves and to encourage them to put themselves first, especially women that are mothers that come to me. If they are obese and have lost their way within their lifestyle, is generally because they put their kids, their husband, their mother-in-law, everybody comes first, their dog, apart from them. And the kind of first part of the process of investing in themselves is one, say, booking a trainer or making that lifestyle change, maybe joining a gym or starting a class, doing an online program. That's the first trigger. And then it has this huge ripple effect. The more that they prioritize themselves, The more they become the best version of themselves, they feel stronger, more powerful, more connected, more present, more energized, like all of the things most of us want to feel most of the time. And we tend to lose when we're feeling the worst. It's like a little tornado that gets bigger and bigger. And if you couple that with the accomplishment of improved flexibility, improved movement patterns, starting to achieve different goals, maybe like you deadlift a bigger weight, or you're able to use a bigger kettlebell, or you're able to do your first chin-up, for instance, or you run a personal best in a 5K and you never thought you'd run a 5K. So you start to achieve these big goals that feel dopamine epic. You're like, oh yay me, on top of feeling like, oh yeah, I feel like a better me. It's amazing how people's life experience transforms. And then physiologically, so if you are in an obese category, you have less dopamine receptors in your brain, which means you are less able to feel the joy and the happiness of great experiences. But one of the other things, which is a behavioral trait of obesity, is that people tend to eat very, very quickly. And the reason they do so is to release dopamine in the brain. And they found scientifically it's a similar pathway to taking cocaine. So you take cocaine, you have that huge burst of dopamine, you feel amazing. And the same thing is true when eating very, very high fat and sugary foods. But the problem is when you're obese and you're very, very quickly— or piranha eating, I call it— high fat sugary foods, it takes much more to get the release in the brain than it would if maybe I had a yummy brownie on a Friday because I really fancied it. I'm like, oh, this tastes delicious. This is why people can eat, you know, the whole packet of biscuits and they can't stop because they're chasing the dopamine, as opposed to, you know, if you've got the receptors and they're firing, maybe one chocolate biscuit is enough and then you're satisfied.

This is so extraordinarily interesting, Jenny. I hadn't come across this information as well, and I think that it's such an important piece of the puzzle for people to understand as well, and as a motivational factor, because there's so many things physiologically going on. So thank you for sharing the dopamine. I think such important science there as well. Where I see a lot of people struggling is that, you know, they start something, but then it tails off, right? The typical January, new year, new gym membership, training really hard in January, and then come February, I'm not interested anymore. What happens there, and how do you encourage your clients to sustain over the long term a healthy fitness schedule?

I think what many people don't realize is 83% of dieters fail. So if you start a diet routine or a workout routine in January, it's completely different to your general behavior in life. You are more than likely to stop and fail at your goals unless you create behavior and lifestyle habits. So what a lot of people do is look at the outcome. You know, we were talking about earlier, you were trying to be more present in the moment and enjoy things as you go along. So a lot of people are like, right, I want to lose a stone in weight. And they look at the external long-term goal that's not controllable for them. Whereas if you're like, okay, I'm going to consistently for the entire year go to the gym 3 to 5 times a week and weight train. So I'm going to increase my muscle mass. And if I add 1 kilo of muscle mass, I burn an extra 70 calories a day. If I lose 1 kilo of muscle mass by crash dieting, I reduce my metabolism by 70 calories a day. So instead of thinking I'm going to crash diet, try and lose the weight, and then probably put more on afterwards, I'm going to do something that's sustainable and scientifically proven. So say I weight train 3 times a week. I improve my growth hormone. I improve my fat burning capability by increasing my muscle mass., and then my muscle mass will start to reduce. Say I plan to go 3 to 5 times a week. It probably means I'll get there 3 or 4, which is a dramatic difference to once a month or whatever I'm doing at the moment. And then on top of that, if I think about my mental health, so what makes me feel amazing? A good night's sleep. So maybe I'll turn my phone off at 8 o'clock and I won't look at the screen beyond that time. And if I bring in some meditation, and start to change the neurology and the structure of my brain so I can find that peace, tranquility much more easily. And then if I added that with a little breathwork, so I brought myself into my parasympathetic nervous system, I've started to change the structure of my body, my cells. I've started to increase my metabolism. Then maybe if I get out, walk in nature once a day, make it a priority. I brush my teeth every day because I don't want my teeth to fall out. That's a habit I have in the morning, in the evening. Maybe if I made a habit of walking every day, even if it was 10 minutes on your lunch break, it doesn't have to be an hour. It's just to get out in fresh air. It's shown that nature, the repetitive shape of leaves, is really calming on the brain. And then you really start to change how you feel and exist in your day. And then look at the barriers to what is stopping you achieve— that's 3 goals I've come up with— but say, look at the barriers that's stopping you achieve that. So if you know by 8 o'clock the kids are going to be like running around the house like crazy, then you've got to get it ready, you're stressed, you've got to go to school, then you kick into work, you know, maybe you have to get up a little bit early, do an online workout in your living room, invest that 30 minutes in yourself, and then go into your day. Or maybe if you're the person that's trying to please everybody in the office, gets wrapped up in emails and meetings and works through a lunch break and doesn't even take the time to sit and think about and chew their food, maybe you put some boundaries in and you're like, no, I take my lunch break when I want to. You go for a walk, you eat your lunch outside the office and get that chance to just have some time for you. A habit takes 21 days. And then it takes 90 days for a behavior to set in. So if you consistently work on your habit or the little things that add up to the stone weight loss, or the little things that add up to the big goal, it's the thousand tiny bits that you do consistently, I think, that add up to the long-term health, wellness, and often weight loss changes. And then you've got to stick with it. I've got quite a lot of financial people, and I'm like, if you only invested in a company like once a month or once a week, and you wouldn't expect to get a great return. And they're like, no. I'm like, but if you continually invest, just say like 10p constantly, that's your thousand little changes, then you end up getting a huge return because it's consistently. And they're like, oh yeah. So I'm like, in yourself, you know, every time you drink 3 liters of water a day instead of, you know, coming training completely dehydrated and wondering why you've got no energy. And on top of that, if your body's not hydrated, it can't mobilize fat from the cell. So a really simple hack for people is just drink 3 liters of water a day. Every time you do that, it's like a deposit into your bank of wellness, and it's the thousand deposits you continuously do and avoiding, you know, the withdrawing. So the withdrawing for me would be, you know, going to bed late sitting on your phone, like, swiping through Instagram until 10 o'clock at night and then wondering why you don't sleep very well. Um, not investing in healthy whole foods. So if my fridge isn't full of healthy whole foods on a Monday, which I get delivered, then I'm more likely to, like, nip to the shop, grab a sandwich, and eat crap. So I invest in my fridge, I invest in my week, I invest in my body, my energy. So it's working out, I suppose, as well what withdrawals in yourself bring you away from that health and wellness goal that you're working towards.

Such a brilliant summary as well, and analogies for people to understand. So thank you for sharing that. I'd love to ask you some rapid-fire questions, Jenny. Has there been a piece of advice or a quote that has been a real game changer for you?

If you give nothing less than your best, you'll be amazed with what you achieve. So I think everything I go into, I'm like excited and do the best that I can do, and it seems to bring amazing adventures into my life. That's really—

I love that. And thinking of the word successful, who's the first person that comes to mind and why?

My fiancé pops into my mind because he is someone I really admire. And he worked in a job for 18 years which he didn't really love and decided at the age of 45 that he was going to pursue acting. And his first job was Skyfall with James Bond. And he's since left the job he didn't like, has just done The Business with me. He's just got another commercial. He's living the dream, getting more and more acting roles and consistently progressing and progressing. Not against the odds, but he had like the bravery to be his own success.

Mm-hmm. Which is so formidable as well. I think so many people are scared to make the plunge or the change and they're not living on their true passion and purpose. And yes, it's scary, but as they say, that's your destiny's at the other side of uncomfortable action, right?

So, yeah, I think it's scarier to sit somewhere where you don't feel right. For me, I'm not very good at doing that. Like if something didn't feel challenging or magical or amazing. I'm like, no, no, that shouldn't be it. And it's the same with people, I think, in my life. I explained we've got this big spectrum of clients, but everyone we work with fills me with energy. So maybe my first session might be 6 AM in the morning, and maybe my last one sometimes 8. A few people have been like, how have you got so much energy? I'm like, it's because I don't have— you've seen Harry Potter, with the dementors, and they like suck the life out of people. No, I don't have anybody like that. I have people that like fill my cup up, and vice versa.

And I'd almost say, even push that further, that your cup is full and that you are just giving from the excess that you have as well, because you take care of yourself, right?

You have that self-care and that self-love and the awareness of when your cup's being drained. And what I've got to do to help fill it back up. And it comes down to the self-care, the horse riding, the meditation, the being kind, the great nutrition, the seeing people, friends, holidays. It's figuring out what fills your cup.

Exactly. And then I think also being very strict with yourself in terms of if something's draining your energy or is toxic to you, to try to resolve for that, i.e., cut it out, get rid of it. Etc., because it's so detrimental. And I've seen also cases of clients and people where it's just drained their energy. They've actually gotten physically ill from things as well. And it's just that psychosomatic connection there that people underestimate, I think. Jenny, you touched on a few, but I'd be curious to know your morning routines that you use to set yourself up for a successful day.

I often wake up earlier than I would like to, if I'm honest. I could sleep, I think, till 9 o'clock every day, but my life does not allow that to happen. So I usually wake up to an alarm, and I've trained myself, my first thought to be, today is going to be an amazing day. And at the end of our bed, we have this piece of art that says happy. It's by an artist called Romeo Britto, and it just makes me smile.

He's super fun and colorful and really cool stuff.

I have actually something I have love and laugh in the kitchen, so they're just little bits that make me smile. So I kind of wake up, my first thought is, today's going to be an amazing day. I have a little smile at my happy picture. I always have a shower. I shower so many times a day, it's ridiculous. But start with a shower, do my makeup, do my hair, have breakfast. Oh, and a cuddle of my new puppy. Congratulations! How sweet! So for breakfast, I normally start with lemon water They're my supplements. Then I usually have papaya, which is great for your microbiome and gut health. That's the first thing that I eat with some chia seeds on top. And then I usually have 4 scrambled eggs with some coconut oil and a cup of tea and then a cup of coffee. And then I'm still a bit like a schoolgirl as well. Part of my routine, but night routine, I put all my Lycra— I'm in Lycra Monday to Friday. I put that out the night before. So like everything's ready so I can hop out the shower, moisturize, get like all my clothing on, and then finish my breakfast. And then I'm either online to do training sessions or I'm out for a client or going to give a motivational speech or whatever it may be. So that tends to be my morning routine. And then at the weekend— so I, I kind of am disciplined and dedicated and on it Monday to Friday after noon, and then usually Friday afternoon and all weekend, just do a bit more as I wish. Like, I wake up at 9, I order croissants from the bakery around the corner, we sit and have coffee and cake in the morning, I'll go for a dog walk, go for lunch. So it's about balance for me, but I've got everything usually locked down in the week, and papaya and eggs are key to my morning.

It's so interesting with the papaya, so I really like that as well. What new belief, behavior, or habit would you say has most improved your life, Jenny? You've obviously been an athlete for so many years, but have you developed a new behavior or a belief over the last years that's really changed your mindset or the way of living?

Yeah, I think the behavior is meditation. So another part of my 30s I've got to mention, I went to Bali to do an intense yoga training course, and we were there for a month. I was in the jungle. We did 6, 7 hours of yoga every day and then 3 or 4 hours of meditation. And prior to that, I meditated, but kind of guided, before I went to sleep. And on the third day of— I called it Yoga Prison because there was only vegan food. We had to get up at 5:30 in the morning. You had to practice in silence until they banged a gong at about 12 o'clock. Um, you were in bed by 9 o'clock at night. There was no alcohol. There was— not that I was getting it in Bali— no sexual activity, even with yourself. And it just reminded me of Yoga Prince. It was good though. But on the third day, I was meditating after the morning session in silence, and I had an experience, what they call falling into the rabbit hole, which is when you go very, very deep into meditation and into yourself. And it was one of the most amazing experiences in my life, like up there with my greatest moments in sport, in love, in life. It was amazing. And it shifted something in me in a very, really hard to describe way, but I felt like I shared quite a lot and I understood me a bit more and I felt very connected with the universe and with many things around me. And since then, I have consistently tried to get back in the rabbit hole. I've got close, but meditation, I feel now, has changed my brain and the way my veneer looks at the world. So as an athlete, my body would itch, like, if I hadn't worked out for a few days. Now my brain itches if I haven't meditated for a few days. And I think as an athlete, you're constantly striving to, like, be the best, be the best you, beat other people. Like, there's a thousand ways to challenge yourself and see where your progress is. Whereas through meditation, I felt much more at peace and much more gentle and much more intuitive and much more, like, assured in the space I'm in. Like, I feel my mind into my body. I almost can fall in so easily. And it's just, it's a really lovely way to be, having pushed so hard for like almost 2 decades when I competed, to then feel just such loveliness and beauty every day, and to be able to give it to myself. I think that's the main thing, whereas in sport, like, it was always given because you beat someone or you were doing really well or you were striving, whereas I'm like, I can just sit down, shut my eyes Meditate for 10 minutes and I feel like it's the most amazing part of my day. And I feel like the most amazing me suddenly when I come out of it. So meditation, I would say.

That's so beautiful, Jenny. And, and I've very gratefully been able to access that as well. And I think I'm impressed you do that in 10 minutes because typically if I fall into that deeper state, it's when I do my 1 hour, which I try to manage a few times a week and it's typically only after the sort of 35-40 minute mark that you get into that really deep sort of state where the monkey mind has stopped and things like that as well. And I've tried lots of different types also, but getting that after 10 minutes, I'm really impressed.

I gotta— oh, I don't get quite that deep in 10 minutes. I can feel like lovely after 10 minutes, but it takes a good, you know, like 30 to get really in there. Sometimes I lie, sometimes I sit when I meditate. But you know, when you feel the shake side to side when you're sitting, the sway.

Yeah. Or the energy, I feel like pulsation or whatever, I guess for everybody it's a little.

So when I was in yoga prison, about a week in, the yoga guru was like, has everyone felt themselves waving in meditation? And literally the whole class put their hand up and he was like, oh, this means, you know, you're accessing a different part of your brain and you're falling into that parasympathetic. And I can feel the wave now very quickly, which is really nice. I'm suddenly like, oh, okay, my brain's happy.

And it's almost like that gentle rocking, right? Like a mother rocking a baby or something like that, or being on a boat. And what's really powerful when you get into deep meditation is actually it thickens the corpus callosum, which is the connectivity between the right and left brains, which actually means that at any given moment you can be more creative, you can access intuition. There's so many huge profound benefits as well. So obviously that's a whole topic in itself, but that's really, really wonderful. Jenny, again, you're a professional at many things, so I'd be curious to understand what have you gotten better at saying no to in order to free up time for the things that you want to do over the last, let's say, 5 years?

So I'm an extrovert and I have a great fear of missing out. I would say so.

I used to have that.

I know, I understand. I'm a bit like a puppy, like my puppy, like I want to do this, I want to do that, and I fit a million things in, blah blah blah blah blah. So I've got better at being like, you're not missing out, it's okay, like you'll have a better time at that. So sometimes I'll try and get to 3 parties in an evening, I'm like, right, okay, you need to maybe say no to 2 of them and not say yes for from the start. And I think I'm more trusting in the process of life. So instead of sometimes like grappling on and like forcing things to happen, which happened in my 20s a lot, I'm like, the right stuff comes to me. If it doesn't feel right, then it's probably not right. So let it go. Don't fear that you're losing something because you're probably gaining if it doesn't feel right. And I'm probably a little bit more careful about the people I bring in as well, cuz we have so many friends, which is amazing. But I'm very much like, do you inspire me? Like, do you want me to fly my wings as big as they are? And will you come flying with me? So it's just getting the right mix, I suppose, of souls and people and energies in your life. Mm-hmm. Because I help so many people. A lot of people come to me for help, and sometimes I'm aware of like situations now especially where I'm like, I don't know if I want to add your burden to my load. If I feel like someone's never gonna progress or evolve, like they've been stuck where they are and they're just, I don't know, finding someone else to not evolve with them, then I don't join them anymore. Whereas I probably did a bit more when I was younger.

Yeah, and I think it also comes down to that self-awareness and self-care as well, that you need to protect your energy so that you can show up as your best every single day. Whereas if someone's just draining that as well— and there's a term I came across a few years ago you might like. Instead of FOMO, fear of missing out, it's JOMO, the joy of missing out. Because especially with COVID and the recalibration I think a lot of people went through in terms of what is actually really important, you know, going to the 3 parties in a night or actually reprioritizing your own time and actually being happy and content with yourself. And I think, you know, same with me, through parties at night in my 20s and then being like, what am I doing? Everyone's annoyed at me because I'm at every party. I didn't have fun either. And it's that kind of recalibration as well. But really, really wonderful advice. Jenny, what has been the most exciting purchase you've made in the last 6 months?

Oh, I've got a really cool car. Oh, so my partner and I had two very nice cars, and then in lockdown we weren't using them so much, and we wanted to get like an electric or a hybrid because we live in London. And the one we really liked was a BMW i8, which is like— it's like the Batman car. And I really wanted one, and he really wanted one, and we're like, why don't we sell both our cars, buy an i8, and buy a Smart car? So this is what we've done. And we're both like, I know material things are not meant to bring you so much joy, but bloody hell, this car brings us both so much joy. And when I get in it, I'm so grateful and I'm like, I've worked really hard. My fiancé's worked really hard. We've got this really cool car. It's such a joy to drive. And then the Smart car, which is ridiculously practical, like you can do errands, you can whip around, you can park in tiny spaces in London. It fills me with no joy to drive it like it's a go-kart. But every time I park it in a space that I could have never gotten, which is several times a day, like my dopamine goes up. I'm like, now I love this car. So that would be my, I think, my purchase and my puppy. I'm not sure where she is. Unfortunately, I lost my grandparents earlier in the year. And I was super, super close to both of them. And I was like, oh, we need to bring some joy into the pain. And we got the puppy 3 days after my grandma passed, and she has just been a little bundle of ridiculousness and fluffiness and happiness. So I'm really glad I got her too.

So sweet. Jenny, if you could have a message that got out to, say, a billion people, metaphorically speaking, around the world, what would it be and why?

I would encourage everybody to be kind to themselves and prioritize themselves and their wellness, and to not always chase the things they're not in control of, but really understand what makes them very happy and what makes them feel the best version of themselves. And then focus and prioritize that.

Such wise words. Tell me about your upcoming projects and what you're up to next and all the amazing things that you're doing.

Uh, so I am continuing to train lots of my amazing clients. We are putting together a new program for two online workout programs with Rocca, and we should be filming that in the next few months. We're looking forward to going to South career to do some motivational speaking, which is a different adventure. We've never been that side of the world. I'm working on a treatment for a TV show, which is about weight transformations, wellness, and the behavioral changes, as opposed to the fast fix, get beasted in the gym and diet like crazy to really help, you know, 83% of dieters feed rather than fail, because obesity, you know, is a huge problem in this country and the Western world. And I think so many things need to change, otherwise it will get so much worse. And then also, we're starting to plan our wedding. We are getting married in Cape Town, hopefully next year, if COVID keeps itself in check. And so that's another big— a big project that we're starting plan.

Yes, especially a destination one where you can't just pop by and make a quick decision. Very exciting plans. Where can my listeners and my audience find out what you're up to, follow your courses? What's the best way to follow you, Jenny?

So I'm on Instagram, Jenny Pacey, and Twitter. If you go onto Grokka and Google Pace and Go, you'll find our 100 workout programs, and you can work out with us in your home. And then our website, www.paceandgo.com, is our business website which shows you everything that we do. Amazing.

Jenny, do you have any parting thoughts or message for my audience before we go?

It's been super amazing speaking to you, and I hope that your audience have enjoyed listening to me and that they're feeling inspired to really invest in themselves and to look after their own wellness.

Thank you so much, Jenny, for the inspiring words and for coming on today.

It's such a pleasure. Ah, thank you.

It's been amazing. Hey everyone, it's Claudia von Boeselager here. Before you take off, I hope you enjoyed the episode and learned as much as I did. If so, please hit subscribe so you don't miss out on our next episodes. I would also love to hear what you thought, be it your favorite part, quote, or other feedback from the episode. So please leave a written review on Apple Podcasts or on social media. And if you think this episode will help someone in your own life, share it with them. Together we can change our own lives and the lives around us for the better. Until next week, goodbye, farewell, and choose to live well.