Working Out Wrong?

Welcome to the Balanced Body Podcast, where Sherri Griggs, owner of Balanced Body Health and Wellness in Omaha, talks to us about health, wellness, and balancing hormones. We're going to talk through all sorts of really great stuff that I care about, and I think a lot of people care about, which is just health and wellness in general. But I mean, we were kind of talking about it before, and it really perked my ears up, which is, you know, are we working out the wrong way? Which I want to hear. Are we?

Well, you know, a lot of us grew up in that era where it was get on the treadmill or, you know, run and do 45 minutes of cardio every day and, and you'll be thin and the world will be great. You can eat whatever you want. But, you know, there are some things we have learned since then. You can't out-exercise a bad diet, number one.

Really?

So, it's not that, you know, I just did 45 minutes so I can eat a piece of cake, or I ate that piece of candy, so I'm just gonna work out 10 more minutes.

Yeah, yeah. Right?

So, that's not true. It doesn't necessarily work that way. Now, not to say it doesn't assist, especially if people are diabetic and have issues with that. Yes, it does keep your metabolism going, But muscle burns more calories than fat, right? We know this.

Yeah.

Muscle mass will burn more calories than fat mass. So you do not build muscle doing cardio. Okay, so interval training, doing resistance weights, and you can move fast enough. It's also, again, gone are the days of the heavy lifting, right? The bodybuilders that would, you know, do the deadlifts and grunt and, you know, hurt themselves throwing these weights on their back because you should— everybody thought you should lift as heavy as you can.

Mm-hmm.

So now it's more about resistance and more reps.

Mm-hmm.

Okay. And doing different exercises. So if you mix up your exercises and you move quickly through them, you will get a cardiovascular benefit.

Okay.

Okay. Interesting. And there's zones in your cardiovascular benefit.

So my watch has been showing me all sorts of zone information lately, and I accidentally came across it when I was like swimming, like a bead of water or something when I was swimming, like moved it. And then I stopped and was like looking to see if I got the distance down. And I was in like zone 2. I didn't understand what that was.

John, that is perfect. So zone 2 is the zone you want to be in to improve your cardiovascular health and burn fat. That is zone, right?

I was thinking like it goes up to like zone 5, so I thought I was like slacking or something.

It does. And the zones have different benefits. And I've actually been doing a lot of learning in that aspect because of this new machine that I have obtained that can measure your cardiovascular health, your metabolic health, and your lung capacity. And uses those numbers and talks about depending on what your goals are, whether your goal is weight loss, or maybe your goal is increased performance, and how well your body burns fat is the way you decide what the best zone is for you.

Oh, so the zone is like tailored for like, not just your workout style or whatever, but like for your own body type even?

Yep. Now everybody needs zone 2. Zone 2 is a great zone. Everybody should have that, right?

Okay.

Zone 5 is more like your anaerobic zone, right? That's that zone where you are— I think about it like my husband is a crew rower and they get to that anaerobic where they are at the end and there is so much lactic acid buildup and their body just cannot transfer enough oxygen and they get to the point that it's Anaerobic. Okay. It's no longer aerobic. And you can only do that for so long. So that's gonna be your, you know, you ever worked out or did so much cardiovascular exercise you thought you were going to vomit?

Yeah.

I only did that once.

Sorry, I talked over you, but I've only done that once because it seemed terrible.

And it is because unless you're planning to be an elite athlete, mm-hmm, a runner or a crew rower or something that requires you to do that, you don't need to do that to your body because you're really not benefiting it in any way. That's a performance-enhancing zone.

Got it. Okay. So this machine, it judges, it judges that, but how does it— do you just breathe into it? Like, is it a breathalyzer or something?

In a sense, it— yeah. Yeah. And it's not just breathe into it. You actually have to Um, sit there for a time period. There is a way that you sit there. You need to be relaxed. You need to not be, um, concentrating on your breath. You need to just be breathing normally.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, so there's all kinds of ways that, that this works. And then you're on this machine for about 15 minutes and through your exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide, It can tell us a lot about how your body is working.

Interesting. So there's this a little offshoot here, but this is— I used to do Animal Flow and my Animal Flow teacher one-to-one, and it's exactly what you're thinking in your head is probably what Animal Flow is in real life. You like are on the ground and you're doing all these movements and handstands and balancing, and it's like a combo of I've heard that it's like a combo of yoga, but a little bit more aggressive. So it's like a true ex— not that yoga is not a true exercise. I was about to get in trouble with everybody, but like, you know, you know, where yoga is more about working through the flexibility and like stretching, Animal Flow is about like building that, that muscle and that flexibility, but through like active, like pushing through, like you're tired from like breathing and moving. It's almost like you're running, but you're not. You're doing like— a ton of handstands and pushups and stuff. But either way, he was talking about how I needed to work on breathing through my nose a little bit more than breathing through my mouth because I'm putting too much air out. And like, I'm not— my balance internally is all weird. And I thought that was the strangest thing ever. So this machine almost sounds like what he was telling me.

Exactly. And actually, and I do not remember the statistic, it was in— they're making me do a bunch of testing to certify me, but there is a statistic that a large number of people actually hyperventilate. Hyperventilation is how they breathe, and hyperventilation is, is too much oxygen. So exactly what your guy was telling you is you're taking too much oxygen in, you're not breathing enough carbon dioxide out, and so you're off balance. And so a lot of people naturally breathe that way and don't even realize it.

Mm-hmm.

And this machine will tell us if you're doing that because That doesn't help your body to work efficiently.

Interesting. Yeah, I just thought he was full of it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, and do you know why? So do you know why they tell people to breathe into a paper bag when they're hyperventilating?

No.

Because one, you've got too much oxygen. So you need to get some of that carbon dioxide back into your body. Because the way our body works is our body tells us to breathe by the amount of carbon dioxide in our system. So if you are over-oxygenated, your body doesn't tell you— respiratory doesn't tell you to breathe. And that's why people will pass out.

Interesting. So, I mean, it's just— this is like opening up a whole world, but it's all connected because it's just like bringing it back to exercising and everything. You have this thought of what has been told to you? Because, I mean, you know, we grew, we grew up where it was like, go outside and run a mile or something. And then that's what we did at school. So just go, go, go, go, go. And then that's how we kind of learned to work out. But that plus the oxygen together in combo makes it seem that we are working out wrong.

And I would not say necessarily wrong, but I would say not working out in the best way that benefits your body.

You have a very— you have a really great way of saying how that is. And I'm— it just in my own mind, I'm like, well, all that, all that time that I wasn't running, right? I could have been, but I would have been doing it wrong.

Well, and again, it's all— all these things are new. We find out new things all the time because I worked out with a trainer And it wasn't— it was probably— I have to think about how long ago, maybe 15, 20 years ago with these people. And they would make me go run on the treadmill for 20 minutes before we started lifting.

Yeah.

And we did exactly run on the treadmill, do the cardio, do weightlifting as heavy as you could, and then go back and do some more cardio.

Yeah.

So, it hasn't been that many years. that we have learned as science progresses, that there are different ways to do things and, and better things that are better for the body that we didn't even realize. Like going to the gym doesn't have to hurt and doesn't have to make you feel sick to actually benefit you.

It almost seems like that's like the medicine that you have to take though, right? Like you have to take this medicine, which is working out and it's gonna suck. So that's why you gotta do it. But you feel better because it does. And that's kind of like the, the cycle, right? We get into this cycle.

The no pain, no gain.

Yeah. Yeah.

Right? But it's not like that. So, I started going to this gym. I guess I've been there 8 years now. But I can remember, and anytime I take a guest, I tell them, you are going to feel like you didn't work out. You are going to think this was nothing. You must be kidding me. This is a joke. But you're going to feel it the next day.

Okay.

Even though you didn't feel it at the moment. And you're like, this is easy. This is fun. This can't be doing anything for me. Yeah, it is. You'll know it. Yeah.

So to bring this around to you, because ideally, yeah, we want to learn how to work out a little bit better and we want to find the information that helps our body type figure what zone we need to be in and for how long. Is that, is that what this machine does? Is this what you can do for me if I come in and use this machine?

Yeah, this is what I can do for you. I can also help you with What food should you be putting in your body? Right?

Okay.

Again, everybody's different. Now, before I— and I have, in addition to my specialized training with metabolic balance, hormonal balance, I have had health coach training. I did that about, well, it's almost 6 years ago now. And we know that different people react differently to different foods, right? Gone again are the days of calorie counting, because if I could show you a picture, I could show you a cup of, say, I always show people this picture of, you know, maybe about a grapefruit size of ice cream and say, here's 100 calories. And then I pull out this watermelon size of broccoli and say, here's 100 calories. Okay?

Yeah.

So, no more calorie counting because calories are not equal. And no more low fat, because we need some good fat for our body and our brain to work. And there are different protein sources. And so there's all these things I can help you with. Now, this machine can also give us a specific plan for you, down to a food plan, if we go that direction.

So it's almost like a nutrition list in your hand, huh?

Right, right. Now, the company I'm working with, they will actually— their nutritionist will go over that with you if we choose to do that. But that's something that, you know, obviously with extra stuff, there's always a little extra expense with it.

Sure.

But, but I feel that, you know, between knowing what our resting caloric the machine, the InBody machine, which also looks at your fat and your muscle percentage, can also give us our resting calories, right?

Yeah.

For some reason the word is slipping my brain. But what your resting calories are, what your body burns, whether you're doing anything or not. This machine also does that. I'm very interested to compare what the difference is, but we set it on what you want. If you want To lose weight, it will give us what your intake needs to be for you to lose weight, where if you're inactive, if you're active, what type of activity you should be doing, what type is best for your body. And then it's— I don't want to say it's common knowledge, but in healthy eating, it's real food. Okay?

Mm-hmm.

Food doesn't come in a box. Frozen food is okay. Sometimes frozen vegetables can be better than fresh.

Oh, right.

As far as nutrients are concerned, because they're flash frozen when they're at the peak of their nutritional value. Um, but if, if you can cook at home and you can make your own food and you— there's— I always used to jokingly call it the no white stuff diet for anybody who said, I don't have time to diet. This is too much work.

Yeah.

Okay. No white sugar, no white flour, no white pasta, no white bread. And, you know, it was a good start, right?

Yeah.

Well, and that's—

you said a couple of things all at once, but I kind of want to hone in on— you said what is common knowledge and then kind of backed off of it.

Yeah.

I think about this all the time because I am the type of person that does not count calories. I look at something and I'm like, oh yeah, this is healthy. And then I take a bite and it's like cake or something, you know, whatever. Right. It's a healthy amount of cake. Okay. I'm in denial. I'm in denial.

A little bit doesn't hurt. You do it.

No, of course not. But, but I'm also the type of personality that's like, you know, a little bit here and a little bit here. It's all a little bit, right? Like it's not necessarily just a little bit.

Yeah.

So trying to figure out at the end of what is, you know, good, what I should be looking for, how I can kind of go about it. I think all of those things are not necessarily common knowledge because it just seems like, I don't know, it seems like it would be, of course, when you, when you relate like ice cream to, to broccoli, like it seems like, of course, one is better than the other. But then when you are looking at things that are prepped or At the grocery store made, and then there's all these marketing terms in there too. Like, it becomes this thing of like, it's blurred. Made with real cheese is what sticks into my head, right? Because it's like, why would it be made with fake cheese? And what is fake cheese? And then it starts going, you know, but that's marketing terms.

Right.

But to, you know, to somebody who doesn't know that made with real cheese thing, That's probably not actually healthy cheese, you know.

Right. Or when I was in my 20s, low fat. If it was low fat, it was healthy, right?

Absolutely.

You know, 2,000 grams of sugar, not literally, but it could— I mean, one soda has 69 grams of sugar and your intake should be like, you know, 24 grams a day. So you not realizing Some of these things like sugar is more addictive than cocaine.

Well, and to your point there with sugar, this, this could be its own thing, honestly. But, you know, they don't have a percentage of daily amount of sugars, and that's due to the sugar corporations banding together to make sure that we as consumers don't actually understand that we are taking 2 days' worth of sugar in one little product. And then there's sugars in everything else that we're eating. So.

Right.

It can be difficult. That's crazy. Yeah, it's very hard. It's so very hard to be healthy, I think. It is.

And then that's one of the things I can help you with and make it really easy. I mean, it's just simple. It's once you get used to doing it, it's not as daunting as it can be. When I first went gluten-free, I was 3 hours in the grocery store reading labels. Because I had 3 pages of gluten, what was gluten under different names.

Yeah.

And now it's easy, right? Now I just walk in, I buy this, I buy that, I know what I need. Occasionally, okay, a treat. I love these like filled Bobo bars. They're gluten-free, but they got a lot of sugar in them. But also there's fiber and, you know, that fiber kind of cancels some of that sugar.

Right? Yeah.

So, you know, it's, it's, it's about, um, just about amounts and, and, you know, like you said, a little here, a little there ends up being a lot. But if it's a little, if it's a little bit today, this is my treat. I, you know, I haven't had a Bobo bar today, but I had one yesterday. Okay. But then I spent the rest of the day eating real food. Okay. So, you know, dinner with salad, cucumber, tomato. I use, you know, just to give you an example, there's a wonderful olive oil store here in Rockbrook where I'm at, and they have infused olive oils and infused balsamic vinegars. And there's every flavor under the moon.

Oh my God.

And you make your own. I just take some of the— I took a lemongrass balsamic with the Italian olive oil and it makes this amazing dressing. And it has absolutely no preservatives, no chemicals, no flavor enhancers. You know, it's all natural stuff. Had some mixed greens, had a black bean burger, and some mixed vegetables.

That sounds amazing. All of that sounds amazing, especially this store. That's all the store with the olive oils and the vinegars. I got to— where have I been living? I've been living under a rock. Oh my gosh.

Sadly, it's right next to the Dexter. the cookie store though. So you just have to make sure that you don't veer over there.

Which, you know, as we said earlier, a little bit of a treat now, a little bit of a treat later, all of those things.

Yeah, right.

Well, I mean, obviously we can keep going on and we will, we'll have multiple more. I almost started talking Italian, like molte bene. Uh, well, multiple more conversations, but, you know, Sherri, if If we wanted to get a hold of you to sit down and like look at our nutrition plan together, I mean, what's the best way to kind of do that?

Well, there are a few ways to get a hold of me. You can go to my website at www.balancedbodymedical.com, and on there you can schedule a free 15-minute discovery call, or you can email me info@balancedbodymedical.com. Or call 402-807-5333. You brought up a good subject about sugar, and that could be a whole nother, you know, podcast. So tune in next time for our next podcast, and we'll talk more about sugar. Yeah.