Ep 13: In conversation with Georgie Spurling

Foreign. Welcome to the All Is Wellness Podcast with me, Emma Naylor. Join us in open and honest conversations with wellness professionals and industry experts. Welcome back to the All Is Wellness Podcast. This week's guest is my wonderful friend, Georgie Sperling. Georgie is the founder of the GS Method, a platform that holistically supports your well being. From exercise to food to wellness coaching. The workout method is unique. Low impact, low stress, but a very high burn. Having fought hard to be in the position that Georgie's in now, she wants to give other people strength and power. Because of what she went through. She's created something amazing that gets her clients results while helping them with their energy levels. She is all about helping others find their inner strength. Georgie, I'm so excited to have you on the podcast this week.

Thank you for having me. Very, very excited.

Thank you so much for being here. I know we've been trying to record this for a while and it's been a little bit hectic with our schedules, but I'm so glad that we found some time to record this.

I know. Well, I'm buzzing to be chatting. We haven't seen each other for too long, so I'm excited.

It's been forever. Exactly. Well, look, first of all, I know I spoke and introduced the GS Method, which, as you know, I am obsessed with. We were talking about this before and I remember when you said it was kind of like a low impact, low stress, I thought, how is that going to be difficult? And now that I've done it, I can confirm there is sweat and shaking after the workout. So it would be great to hear a little bit about how you got into the wellness and fitness world.

Yeah. Gosh. Well, where do I start? The GS Method was actually quite late in my sort of fitness journey and it's something that, you know, I've almost been on this path to find a way that suits me workout style. Because I, long story short, when I was younger was told I could never exercise and I come from a very, very sporty family, so it was really difficult. Exactly. As silly as that sounds, being left out of school, sports and stuff like that, just because I had a heart operation, it was, it was quite rare. So I've always just been fighting to try and find a way that I can use movement. I've always knew that my body wanted to move, but have always been told, nope, not allowed. And then I sort of shoved two fingers. Don't advise this. Shoved two fingers up at the doctors in six forms. Please don't take my advice. And I Was like, no, I just really want to go dance, I want to learn ballet. And I. So, you know, I did dance at A level. Then I went on to drama school to dance and they were all pretty shocked because I was dancing sort of four or five hours a day, which is a lot for someone who was not really meant to exercise at all. So yeah, and then I just found the love of movement through dance. I'd say I just love how it made me feel mentally, physically. It made me feel powerful and strong and I've always been this sort of. Well, I think people looked at me as the weak link, but maybe I, you know, I just thought that in my head. But yeah, made me feel amazing. So I did that and then I became a pt. Much to all the doctors, shock and worry. They were like, what are you doing? And I just thought, no, I can do this. And this is what I love. And I love looking at other people's bodies and how they move individually. We're all so different, it fascinates me. And so became a PT and became a coach at a boutique gym in Chelsea where I trained a lot of functional fitness which was great to learn, learn off the back of that. And then I got into corporate well being and just sorry, I'm talking so fast and discovered how stressed people were and myself at that time. I went through a bit of a difficult time, this is maybe six years ago, and was also very, very stressed. And I realized very quickly the sort of link between stress levels and exercise and how you can balance, how you can balance the stress levels out using a certain type of movement. Because I used to do hits like six times a week, which is no problem with that. Like everyone has their own thing. But it just wasn't helping my cortisol and my stress and sort of tired levels. So I started to sort of like find a way to move that was low impact. I then taught all these corporates and I realized how beneficial it was to them. Like their whole lives were changed through it. And the way that they view exercise instead of like rushing to a gym and going to a spin class for an hour at lunchtime and running back to their desks really, really stressed out. They would do 30 minutes with me or even 20 if they didn't have the time and just feel really, really great and strong. Hence the GS method was born from all of that. And I thought, okay, how can I contact people, more people because I can only be in one place at one time. So then it, yeah, I put it online and it's sort of gone from there. Really. Yeah.

It's. It's so interesting to hear. I mean, first of all, congratulations. Sorry, that's my doorbell. Congratulations on all of the, all of the amazing things that you've achieved with the GS method. I think that from being told that you couldn't do, you know, that you couldn't ever exercise or you couldn't ever do anything, as I said, like that the normal kids were able to do to now running this amazing company. I mean, congratulations that you kind of carried fighting. But absolutely, as you said, probably wouldn't advise it to everyone to tell.

I have to say that, don't I? But I just knew, I just knew I needed to move. I knew I needed to. And I was seeing my, my fat, you know, my, my dad's an ex pro golfer. All my family, amazing sports.

Yeah.

And I just saw them getting so much joy from it and I wanted that.

Yeah. And I think, I think that's the thing is, you know, we have to. You kind of hit the nail on the head there with a lot of people think that they have to go and work out. You know, there's this whole punishment thing around working out. And I think that it's something that we're kind of moving away from. But a lot of people see it as, I've eaten something bad, I have to go and work out or I'm really stressed, I'm gonna go punch a boxing bag and my lunch break.

Yeah.

Whereas actually something that we've seen especially, you know, with the GS method and lots of other more holistic ways of working out is reducing the stress levels by actually working from inside out, not just kind of thinking that going on a running machine six times a week is going to make everything better.

I would say everyone is totally different. If that suits you, that suits you.

Yeah.

And there's nothing wrong. Like again, I have to be really careful what I say. There's nothing wrong with high intensity exercise. It's good for your heart, it's good for your lymphatic and circulation system, but it's about reading what your body needs and it's really hard. It took me years to figure out how to listen to my body. And it's about, you know, exercise is a stressor. It's a stressor on the body. So if you're particularly having a hard time at work or you're stressed or you're a bit under the weather and your body's stressed and inflamed, then listen to it and do something that's going to nourish your body rather than sort of try and pound it out of you, if you know what I mean.

Absolutely. And I think that, you know, from talking from my own experience when I was working in corporate, I was very much. I was actually in the city and I was going, you know, my office was in. Was in the city. It was near a lot of the, the boutique studios, the hit stages that had come up. And I had a very bad knee at one point and I went to physio and they said to me, you can't run for X amount of time. And for me I thought, but I love running, I love boxing, I love doing all these things. And they said, you can only do low impact. And that's when I found Reformer Pilates. And I thought, I'm not going to get the same results. And wow, my body looked way better.

Yeah.

From doing that than actually running and boxing. And as you said, it's not going to be for everyone. But I think we have to figure out physically, emotionally, mentally what works for us and what doesn't.

The whole package.

And not absolutely. And not allow what other people are doing. And it's so easy to do that. Compare and despair and go, well, they eat this amount of calories a day and they work out this many times a week. And therefore if I do that, I'll look like that.

Yeah.

And I think we've all. Yeah, I think we've all learned the hard way that that's not, that's not how it works. We all have to listen to our bodies and really understand what feels good and what doesn't. Yeah.

I mean, similar to you, when I first started my PT being a PT about nearly nine years ago now, I, like I said, was doing HIIT every day and I loved it at the time. Don't get me wrong, makes you feel great. But I did not look like I look now. And I don't mean that in a boastful way, but I just, you know, I couldn't believe. It's terrifying. It was terrifying for me, not gonna lie. I'll be totally honest. Having to sort of overnight take out my high intensity. Much like your knee, probably. You had to, you're terrified. Like, you know, this is what I'm used to, this is what keeps me going. What am I going to do if I have to only do low impact? I think a lot of people have a wrong opinion or a wrong sort of. They think low impact is something that it doesn't have to be. And yeah, I just think My body is stronger, more defined. I'm, you know, I don't look like I used to, basically, in a good way. And I was trying to get these results through hit after hit after hit, and I never got there until I stopped doing it.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly the same as me. You know, I think that a lot of people listening to this can probably relate, and I think that especially, look, now that we're coming out of the pandemic, you know, like I said to you before I went back to the gym on Monday, I was running, running on the treadmill for about six minutes, which felt at least half an hour. And I looked down, I thought, this cannot be six minutes. But I guess. I guess there's that part of me in my head that sort of thinks, try and dive straight back in to where I was a year ago. And I woke up on Tuesday morning and I thought that that's not, that's not what I can do. I have to go slow and steady and get myself back in to not injure myself.

Yeah. I think especially at a time like now when the gyms have just reopened. I've said this to all my clients. Unless you've been one of the very, very few people who have sort of started a fitness journey or ramped it up during lockdowns because you don't know what else to do with yourself. Majority of people have lost fitness and lost strength, and that's the norm. So don't think any less of yourself or think that you're steps and steps behind because you can get it back quickly. But don't overdo it. You're just going to cause yourself damage and injury. Otherwise, start slow, build up, see it as exciting. You're starting a new chapter, a new journey in your. In your well being, you know, or your body and fitness journey. It's a new chapter.

Yeah.

Get excited. Write your goals down, write what you want down. Write how you're going to do it, or, you know, seek professional advice from PT or whatever, um, and get excited about it rather than think, oh, I was like this and now I'm not as good. It's not, it's nothing to do with that. To see it as a new, A new start, you know?

Yeah, no, of course. And I think that. I think it's so important to hear that, especially hearing it come from a professional, because I think often, you know, as you said, there have been a lot of people who have done amazing things during lockdown in terms of fitness. You know, during the first lockdown, lots of people Took up running. Lots of people have been doing online workouts, but I think it's such a small percentage that we see, you know, we don't see that people have actually been struggling. People have actually been finding it hard in terms of staying motivated. You know, if I. If I wake up sometimes and it's a little like we were talking about before this, the recording of this. It's a little bit gray outside. I'm thinking, I'm taking the dog for five minutes and I'm coming back. There's no way I'm going. No, no, no, no.

I would never do that either.

And I think it's. So what would you say to someone, you know, coming out of lockdown, the gyms are opening back up? What would you say is your kind of key pieces of advice for anyone who's looking to get back on that fitness journey that kind of take it at a slow pace?

My one piece of advice, whether it's been a pandemic or not, is to find something that you enjoy doing. If you. If you're forcing yourself to do a workout that you hate and you're, you know, forcing your body to do it throughout, you're never going to stick to it. So, number one, you have to, like, dip your toes in a few things, try a few trainers, try a few online methods. Like, one will suit you. Even if it's just like playing tennis or going for a walk or, you know, it doesn't matter what it is, you have to enjoy it. It has to seamlessly slip into your life rather than be, oh, I need to work out today and I can't be bothered. But having said that, we could all use a bit more motivation at the moment. We're all a bit tired. We're emotionally drained. We're just completely shattered from the last year, all of us, whether you feel it or not, you know, And I would then say seek advice or do something with a friend like get other people involved that can make you accountable without pushing you too far. So accountability is a really important thing when you're trying to sort of get back on a schedule or a routine with movement. So either, you know, follow a program. You know, my GS method has a weekly schedule that you can follow. If you need some accountability. You tick it off each day and you're done. Or, you know, find a PT in your local area that you can do maybe one or two sessions with and they can point you in the right direction. Another thing is you have to look at the other pillars of wellness, and I'm sure Emma will know all about this, because it's not just about fitness. You can't just be like, okay, I'm going to do a workout every day and I'll be fine. You have to look at your mental health. You have to look at your sleep, your stress levels, your diet and your lifestyle. And also your genetics plays a part in it. And all those things are just as important as the other. It's not. You know, for me, I was completely pushing all the other pillars of wellness to one side six years ago, and I just focus on my fitness, thinking that would make me happy, healthy, energized, and it didn't until I start to work on my sleep, work on my stress, work on the way I'm living my life and the people that I surround myself with, because I. I really believe that it's all massively connected. So, yeah, they're my three. They're my three, three point. You can always ask me questions if you want to ask. You know, every. Or there's lots of amazing pts online that you can just write to on Instagram and they will, they'll point you in the right direction, I'm sure. So, yeah, they're my, they're my three pieces of advice, I think.

First of all, great advice, and I agree with all of those. And there's definitely things in that that I think actually I could do a little bit more.

Yeah.

But I think, as you said, you know, about the different pillars, you know, during lockdown, you know, during lockdown and, you know, before lockdown, I thought I had quite a healthy life. I thought I did lots of good things. I thought I had my pillars quite aligned. And I recently invested in a coach myself.

Amazing.

And the transformation that I've had In the last 12 weeks has been. Has been absolutely amazing. Whereas before I would have thought I go and do, you know, the gym six times a week, I run on a treadmill, I do boxing. I don't need to do all of those other things. And I think for a long time there was this, there was this view. And, you know, I'm not saying it's not true that fitness really helps with mental health. It does, absolutely, massively. And I think that it really, really helps. But there are other factors as well. It can't just be my mental health's not very strong, I'm in a bad place, I'm just gonna go to the gym and not do anything else. You have to align it with everything else. What you're eating, how often you're sleeping. And I think you really hit the nail on the head with the kind of people you're surrounding yourself with.

Massively. Massively. I've learned this hard way.

Yes. I think, yeah.

Without, you know, I don't know how this will come across, but without, you know, I think some people are energy boosters and some people energy drainers. Actually, my dad taught me that, you know, not in the wellness industry, put it that way. And it's so true. Until I completely understood that, I didn't really get it. And then one day I woke up. I think with age, it comes for sure. You're less, you know, likely to want to be liked by everyone when you get older and you just want to surround yourself with the people that boost you up rather than, you know, push you down or drain your energy. And it's so important. You only live once. Life is so short. Sorry to get deep with you already.

No, no, but I know. I completely agree. I think that we have to surround ourselves with people that make us feel good and that are kind of on the sidelines cheering us on. And, you know, there are lots that. There are lots of different people doing lots of amazing things and it may not necessarily be something that you're wildly interested in, but I'm always ready. And I know you are, too, and you've been such a great support for this and, you know, the charity that I run, but it's, you know, I think it's so nice to get to that point in your life where it's not about competition, it's about supporting each other and being around each other and actually lifting each other up. And I think that the pandemic, especially with small businesses and especially with, you know, you've probably seen it as well, there's lots of people who either out of choice or have been forced to start their own company or go self employed, there has been this whole feeling of, you know, everyone kind of supporting each other. And I really, really hope that when things go back to normal, you know, luckily things are opening up. You know, restaurants are open now, shops are open. Once things are fully opened up again, I hope that we don't all forget all of the great things that actually came out of this pandemic, alongside all of the hideous things that happened. But there were so many great things that came out and those feelings of we really all felt like we were in this together.

I think that what something else that this pandemic has taught us, because it's stripped back our lives in lockdown, you know, it's Completely sort of wiped the plate clean in terms of our lifestyles and how we used to live. I don't know about you, but when you live in London you're constantly on the go and it's not necessarily a good thing. And I just think we've learned how to be super grateful for the small things that we weren't grateful for necessarily before, like our health and our mental health and the people like we keep saying, the people you surround yourselves with. And it's ever more important to look after yourself. You know, first you have to be a happy, healthy person before you can make anyone else happy and healthy, to put it that way.

No, I absolutely, I absolutely agree with that. What do you think you know from yours? You've had an interesting lockdown because I know that obviously because of your, because of your heart condition, you were kind of very, very vulnerable and I know that it's been obviously really hard for you. You have been luckily been able to kind of isolate with family. How, how first of all did you find everything? And second of all, what do you think that you've learned the most from the pandemic that you know, that's now a non negotiable that you're going to take forward from now on?

I think starting with the. The hardest thing is I've never been. This is going to sound a bit silly, but I've never been fearful for my life before getting that first shielding letter. And you know, it's just a letter at the end of the day and it's very, it's automated and I know that they're doing their best to try and protect the vulner but I honestly like feared for my life because you know, catching a horrible virus like that could have really been devastating for me. And you know, it was low stats and stuff. Thank God I caught it already. I didn't even know that I had it back in March, but I, you know, I was really ill and they weren't sure because it was very early in March when, you know, things weren't so obvious and they didn't think I could possibly have had it that early. But then came the sort of first lockdown and we still weren't too sure that it was Covid that I had in hospital because they wouldn't test you unless you're in the ICU back then. And I wasn't, I was just in the hospital. So yeah, getting that first shielding letter was the hardest, the hardest part for me because I thought I was a strong person. I've always Always tried to fight against doctors, like, my whole life to say, no, I can do this. No, I'm fine. You know, and then to be told you're vulnerable is quite. Mentally, quite difficult for me. But I was with my parents, I was super grateful and spent the first two lockdowns with them. And yeah, to be honest with you, it's all a bit of a blur now, which is really sad. But I spend a lot of time with my family, which I'm really grateful for. It's made me realize that when we get out of this situation, we need to live our lives like, as simple as that, and stop worrying about others think, stop worrying about this and that. And, you know, life is for living. And I think I've had a big awakening, particularly over the last two years, and seeing how short life can be and how you need to enjoy every single day, live it to your fullest. That's what I would say. I can't wait to start sort of living more freely and spontaneously after. After we. When we can put it that way.

Yeah, I think. I think. I think exactly as you said. I think that it's that, you know, that. That letter that you got, and I remember when you. When you posted about saying that you were vulnerable and that, you know, I think you were very, very open. And I think that, you know, I. I'm very lucky that I was able, you know, to. To get the vaccine because I have asthma. You know, nothing obviously, compared to what a lot of people have gone through. I didn't. I wasn't told to shield. You know, my asthma's not that bad. But even for myself, there was a part of me that was going in my head thinking, you know, I've been. I've been quite ill the year before with a really awful flu. And they'd said to me, if your oxygen levels go any lower, you're going to have to go to hospital. And then a year later, this happens. And I just thought, I cannot. I cannot get that. Um, but I think that now coming out the other side and exactly as you said, I think, you know, there have been a lot of things that have happened over the last few years, and I think that, you know, situations that we've gone through together, you know, how we met, unfortunately, we realized that actually life is. Life is so, so short. And when I first met you, even though it was in such an awful circumstance, I was like, this girl has been put into my life because she's the person that I need to see that says life is so short. You know, even when my mum first met you, like, this girl is like sunshine. Walking into the room, going through a few of the hardest things in your life and you're still able to show up. You know, it's just. It's, you know, and you talk about that energy, you talk about your dad kind of talking about that. And by the way, I think that your dad's jokes should still be on Instagram, post pandemic, and we're going to do a petition for that. So I think that everyone loves them.

Bless him, he's a loony.

He is, yeah. He's great, though. And I think that's where you definitely get a lot of your energy. And I think that it's been. It's been so nice because so many people have moved home in such an awful situation, but we've almost been able to see, you know, into people's lives that we may have never seen before. People posting pictures of their family home where they grew up, reconnecting with friends from school. You know, I think it's been so. It's been so nice out of a really awful situation to see people with their families, with their friends, and also even connecting over Zoom, you know, something that we probably never really used enough before. And now, even coming out of this, I think there's a lot of business meetings, a lot of, like, family things. You know, a lot of my family live overseas and being able to use WhatsApp and Zoom, it's probably something we didn't really do enough. And now I'm wondering, why did we never use it?

I now talk to my granny every day and I used to talk. Talk to her about twice a week, but I will talk to her every day now. And I love that.

Yeah.

Yeah, I do. Like, I'm a big believer throughout my whole life when things have happened that are quite traumatic. And I think we've all been through trauma the last year. I think it's been traumatic for every single one of us. No matter if you're vulnerable or not, it doesn't matter. Through trauma, like, comes strength and comes a new sort of love of life, I'd say, you know. You know, well, you'll know, because we went through the same thing nearly two years ago, and I was in a bad place when that happened. And I just thought, oh, my God, does life get any better? I was in really bad, bad way. And it does. It gives you. I think that these things, although horrible at the time, give you a lot of inner strength and a lot of gratitude and, like, you said the sunshine and energy, I think that comes from having fallen down and getting back up again, which we've all done this, this last year. We're all getting back up, you know.

No, I think that's the thing. I think it is about all being able to get back up. But I think, as you said before, our own pace.

Yeah, yeah.

I think there's a lot. I think there's a lot of pressure at the moment. You know, we see it on Instagram, we see people talking about it, you know, going out every single night for dinner, for drinks, and I've been out for lunch.

Me too.

Lovely. It was really, really lovely. But, you know, I'm gonna go out a few times this weekend and, you know, probably will continue to, but I think that things will definitely change. And I've really enjoyed, you know, being in my home, making more of an effort in my home, cooking more, taking up all these new skills. And I think that a lot of people are gonna really, really miss being at home so much and kind of having, you know, protecting our space and actually being able to set those boundaries. So I think it's going to be an interesting rest of the year. I think this year is going to have lots of ups, downs, changes. But I think that now that we've been through it for a year and we're kind of coming out the other end, I think that we have all realized what's important, what's not important. And I'm really hoping that we can all take forward the great. The great things that we've learned, but.

Also the people that stuck like you as well. You can take, you know, lots of people.

Absolutely. And also to be able to reflect on the things that maybe weren't so good. We know that a lot of people have, you know, lost. Lost people in their family have lost friends, people have been very unwell, they've lost their jobs. But I'm hoping that we can not look back in vain and we can actually reflect and say, life is so short and precious, let's make the most every single day. And whatever's going to happen tomorrow will happen, but we have to just live for today because we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.

We don't know it could be taken away in an instant. So you need to, you know, I know there's still restrictions here and stuff, but it's not about what you can physically do mentally. Being free and living your life to the fullest and doing what you enjoy is so important.

I completely agree. Yeah. So just to finish off, I mean, I could talk. I know. We won't, we won't, we won't. What would be your one big piece of advice to anyone who's listening from you to them?

Oh, that's a difficult one. My one big piece of advice, make sure you are looking after yourself before you're looking after anybody else or worrying about anyone else. And that, that could be in the fitness sense, could be in life, could be in mental health. Do you know what I mean? It could be. Make sure you are happy because if you're not, then you need to change some things. And going. Going back to what we just said, I guess I spent years, like years and years and years feeling unhappy, not myself. And then certain things happened that were traumatic and that sort of woke me up and I sort of had a, you know, new lease of life since then. Although pandemic got in the way. But you just. How am I sorry, I'm not making any sense now. Make sure that you're happy first. Be selfish about it and do the things you want to do. Don't be influenced by other people online or your friends. Everyone's different. And make sure that you are looking after all your pillars of wellness, not just focusing on one because you want to look a certain way or you want to feel a certain way. A more holistic view on life. There we go. Summed it up.

I love that. I love that so much. Georgie, thank you so much for being our guest on this week's podcast. I've absolutely loved talking to you. I know that everyone is going to get so much from this. If you want to find out a little bit more about what Georgie does or how you can work with her, you can head over to her Instagram, which is at Georgie Sperling. Or if you want to find out more about the GS method, you can head over to her Instagram, which is at GS Method. Again, Georgie, thank you so much. You're going to come on my podcast. Yeah, I was just about to finish with that. I was just about to say Georgie has started a podcast with Jake, who is a friend of ours, and I absolutely love their podcast. It's so honest, so open, hilarious, sad, funny. Everything you can want out of a podcast, it's there. So I'm so excited for everyone to listen to that. And yes, I would absolutely love.

Yeah, you need a podcast. Great. So.

Exactly. Well, thank you so much again, Georgie. I hope everyone has enjoyed this week's episode and we will see you again next week. We hope you enjoyed this week's podcast, please leave us a review. If you did, head over to our Instagram page, alliswellnesspodcast, and let us know what you think. We look forward to welcoming you next week for more open and honest conversations.