Hi, Jana. How are you doing today? I'm 

 

really good, Mark. So good to be here with you. I'm excited about this chat. 

 

I know. So excited to have you. Thank you for joining. You are into training women over 40, training women over 40 who are already have been on a fitness journey but are now having trouble due to injuries or due to hormonal imbalances.

 

Tell me a little bit more about this. So I fell into this quite accidentally. I started as a coach in a gym doing normal weightlifting. And then I went myself on a bit of a journey of discovery because I realized that the hardcore weightlifting didn't really ultimately suit my body and my lifestyle. I was always had a lot of tension.

 

I had aches, I had pains, and I sometimes felt so exhausted after my sessions, yet sometimes I felt really good and I couldn't quite understand it. And so I went really deep and researched. how we train and how we train men, how we train women, and then realize that there is this massive gap in the fitness industry where most coaches really do not understand how to train the female body with the, unique hormonal profile or cycles that women experience.

 

And I was guilty of it too. I literally didn't learn this till I was in my mid forties that I was actually training my body on men's hormonal cycle, not women's. And so then I started talking about it in social media, and then I've been attracting a lot of women that are really interested in rather than matching the strength of men in the gym, exercising in their own unique way and tapping into our own female strength and working with our body rather than trying to push it into training styles that really don't suit us.

 

And yeah, so I attract a lot of women who. Are very active. So most of the women that I trained are very active. Some of them are semi professional and professional athletes, and they hit those late 40s, mid 40s, late 40s, 50s, and realize that their bodies just cannot handle the training they used to do in their 20s and 30s.

 

And some of the women I attract are women that have perhaps forgotten themselves in the mix of life. And stopped exercising because they were busy, having babies, raising families, working, looking after their elderly parents and anyone in between really. So yeah, it was a bit of an accident I fell into, but I'm very passionate about helping women live in vibrant health and look forward to the second half of their lives rather than dreading the aging process.

 

Nothing wrong with accidentally discovering something, that's how gravity was discovered when an apple fell on Newton's house. Wonderful things, a lot of accidental stuff. So questions, number one, you mentioned there was a point when you started to feeling, started feeling exhausted, started feeling tired.

 

You weren't recovering. Was this. After your forties, when you were in your forties, when you hit that? No, there was well before that. There was well before that. Yeah, I just, and now looking back at it, I realized that I was training in the same kind of intensity most of the time. So I had, I used to have a coach and I was running either on six or 12 week cycles.

 

So there was a little bit of peak. There was a little bit of tapering, but now looking at it, I needed to a monthly cycle or maybe a three month cycle, but with within the each month allowing for that special hormonal phase in women's life called the luteal phase, which is post ovulation, just before we get our menstrual cycle, which is a very sensitive week in women's training and in women's life.

 

And that is the component that I didn't understand and neither did my coach. And I think I would take a guess that neither probably 80 percent of all coaches, fitness coaches don't understand that is the time every single month where you really need to taper down the intensity, the volume, possibly even the frequency of.

 

You're training sessions and allow for other activities just to maintain the, all the games that you've created in the first kind of three weeks of the cycle. Focus more on yoga and mobility and maybe move more walking. So these activities and letting women know you're not going to lose your gains.

 

If you just taper off for this one week, because you've worked pretty hard the first three weeks, you will be okay. In a way, on the monthly cycle, we need to train differently than men. Men peak, and then, they can go again and again, because men's hormonal window is 24 hours. Ours is 28 to 31.

 

Four days. So understanding that just gives you such an amazing power to get incredible results, but without the injuries, without the fatigue, without the exhaustion and without upsetting your hormones and then suffering with bad PMS or for perimenopausal symptoms, heavy bleeding, all these kinds of horrible mood swings, horrible things that women suffer from, and they just take it as a normal part of life.

 

It's not. It is how you treat your body and how much you understand the inner workings of your hormones and your body and being able to train with compassion and respect for your unique physiology. Love it. Tell us a little bit more about the hormonal window you mentioned. You mentioned men have a hormonal window of 24 hours.

 

Women have a hormonal window of 28 hours to up to four days. What does that mean? So women have a hormonal window, hormonal cycle of a month. So that's our menstrual cycle. So that's, we were designed essentially for, to have babies to keep the human race going. So everything goes back to that.

 

That is the main cycle. function nature gave us. So our cycle hormonal cycle is, anywhere between 28 days to 34 days, and then varies from woman to woman. It varies from month to month, depending on our stress levels or whatever's going on in our lives and in our bodies. So the first kind of two, two and a half weeks is we are in what's called a follicular phase, and this is the power phase.

 

So day one is the day one of a woman's bleed. Then for kind of two, two and a half weeks, we are on top. Like we can train hard and you can train hard pretty much the whole time. You don't really need to have three days a week and then you know, some rest. You can actually really push and train hard.

 

And this is where often women have lot of energy. They have lots of motivation. They're like. ready to go and train hard. Then we ovulate where, the egg is released from the ovary and travels down ready for possible, conception and, pregnancy. So that's when we feel really good.

 

And then we entering that last week before our period, which is called the luteal phase. And when you think about it from kind of nature and reproduction, that is a possibility that there is an embryo nestling into your uterus. So your mother nature Wants you to take it easy to increase the chances of that pregnancy becoming viable and then baby being born.

 

So in this phase, we need to make a hormone called progesterone. That's our dominant hormone. That is the one that kind of makes everything happen. And there's also our chill hormone and it's very protective for our mental health prevents depression anxieties, it's a really crucial hormone for women.

 

But this hormone is incredibly sensitive to stress and stress could be any kind of stress. It could be physical stress, exercise, physical stress, fasting, not having enough food on board and carbohydrates, progesterone really needs glucose. So you really need to be eating your carbohydrates in this phase. Stress could be emotional, it could be work, it could be mental stress, any kind of stress, and then cortisol goes up and progesterone goes down. So when that happens, women experience disruptions to their cycle, fertility issues, really bad PMS, heavy bleeds bad perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms, because there's just not enough progesterone on board.

 

To balance us out also means that estrogen is not coming down because they work on a kind of see saw see saw in a see saw way. So they all kind of balance each other out. And, we all know that hormones are very delicate. Balance is very delicate. So if you are doing hardcore workouts in the luteal phase, which is the last week before your period comes where women often don't have a lot of energy, don't have a lot of motivation because our bodies are telling us You need to chill.

 

There is a potential that you have a baby on board. So I want you to just take it easy. And this is where often women force it and they go no, you got to go because you've got your training plan and there's a lot of guilt as well. Like when they really don't feel like it, or often women experience, if they do work out, they just not, it's feeling difficult.

 

It's challenging, even though they might have done that work out. a week before and cruised through it. Like women, once they learn this, they're like, Oh my gosh, it makes so much sense. Yeah. So these are the kind of big aha moments. And then your period comes and then women can, some women can train through it.

 

Some women usually take one or two days off because it's a bit uncomfortable for a lot of women. And then the whole cycle kind of repeats. During that phase, Working out, obviously it's more exhausting, like you said, you're not able to push as hard, weights or circuits you have done before all of a sudden seem very hard, other than the lack of or reduced performance that is affecting them.

 

Is there any other harm that is happening when they're putting themselves to go to a workout like that? I think it will eventually cause kind of fatigue, injuries, hormonal imbalances, and they just don't feel good. And then they will suffer for, suffer through their periods because they're going to be quite bad.

 

And then often if you start getting into estrogen dominance, you might actually be gaining weight. Like I know personally, when I push too hard, I'm actually gaining weight rather than losing weight. Or if I don't eat enough in the luteal phase, I will, my weight will start coming up rather than even though I'm working out, the same way.

 

So often weight gain could be one of the symptoms, which seems so It's entirely crazy, right? Like why are you putting on weight when you're actually not eating enough? We've always been told exercise more, eat less, right? Yeah. It's so wrong. And yeah, so it's just your hormones will become unbalanced, weight gain, and a whole bunch of other symptoms and injuries.

 

Not only that injury, all those things, but also it has a huge psychological impact. If you're already sensitive at the time of the month and now you're eating less, so you're suffering a little bit more, but you're also gaining weight and now there's more psychological stress associated with that.

 

It's just making people more vulnerable. During that period. Yeah, totally. And it's I think what we really need to mention is the depression, anxiety, that often is quite high already in women over 40, women these days are balancing and, I'm not saying that men don't, I know that men have their plates full as well and balancing a lot of stresses in their lives as well, but just focusing on women, women in their forties, there's children, there's work, As parents, relatives, community work, modern woman is a very busy woman.

 

We have a lot on our plates, massive to do lists and an exercise can sometimes become that, extra stressor as well on our families. on ourselves and our bodies and our hormones. So I think knowing that in that week, in that luteal phase, you need to rest more. You need to, have less stress in your life, even though I know it's easy to say and really hard to do, but if you're not making enough progesterone, you are putting yourself at risk of anxieties and depression and poor sleep.

 

And we already are seeing such a massive increase. Of a lot of people struggling with mental health and mental wellbeing. And if you don't know how to look after hormones and tap into that protective progesterone properties that it can give you, then it's just, you're just going to spiral deeper and deeper into, poor mental, not only physical, but poor mental and emotional health as well. This information is blowing my mind because I am a professional bodybuilder and I work out with a lot of women who are also professional bodybuilders who compete. My wife trains a lot. I have a lot of female friends who train a lot. They all have coaches. Nobody talks about this stuff.

 

So it's interesting when you said 80 percent of the coaches don't know this. So therefore I can't even imagine how many. Female students are out there who are just simply unaware of it and struggling on a day to day basis, month to month basis, when they really don't have to, because they don't understand the science of what is happening.

 

Absolutely. And I think that we've also so became used to feeling poorly. We are so used to having painful periods, long periods, bad PMS, hormonal imbalances, and there's so many, so many issues. That we don't actually realize that you're not supposed to have any of that, that your periods should actually come and go with very mild discomfort rather than having to take painkillers because you're in so much pain.

 

And we've forgotten what it feels like to just feel good and just go with the monthly flow. It is okay. We're just, and like it, it doesn't help that the whole world is not really set up for this. You can't just tell your boss, Hey, I'm going to work really hard for three weeks, and then I'm going to take a week off and then I'll see you back.

 

I'll be back. You can't just turn up and say that, but that is how women should really be working. Like work long hours and work really hard for Not Monday to Friday, but for two, two and a half weeks really work hard out and I'm lucky I own my own business. So I structure everything on that, my launches, my clients, my, everything, my training, I schedule on that.

 

So I'm lucky, but most women are not lucky. But most women also don't understand how their bodies work to no, no one taught them. No one taught them at school. Their moms didn't teach them. No one knows. So I just love talking about this because it blows not only men's minds, but women's as well. And you as a husband, it will be really good for you to check your wife's cycle and to know where she's at because you can give her, what she needs.

 

You probably know sometimes you touch her bum and she's Ooh, and sometimes you do the same. And she's Get off me, and it's what is the difference? 

 

The first time you touched her, lovingly, caressed her bottom, 

 

she was probably in the follicular face. But the second time you did it, she was probably in the luteal face.

 

If you knew that, you would not do it the second time and maybe you would just bring home a tub of ice cream and tell her to go and rest on the couch. And the first instance could have led to other fun things, I was going to say, there must be a camera in my house because you're watching me because you're describing exactly what's happening.

 

Yeah. And 

 

most men struggle with it. And they think we are. Emotional and hysterical and unpredictable, man. We are incredibly predictable month to month, like clockwork. Oh my God. It's so funny. It's so true. It's so true. You not only focus on this aspect of the timing and optimization of training and rest based on the cycle, You also focus on utilizing other methods of training that are not just dumbbells and barbells.

 

It talks a little bit more about that and why you do that. So I started with the traditional kind of weightlifting bodybuilding style of training because that's what I was coached by my personal trainer, by my coach. And also that's what I was taught when I did my personal training qualification. But I it never really spoke to me.

 

I enjoyed it. I got strong. I was hanging out with the gym guys and all my male colleagues and it was fun. It was fun to deadlift, two times your body weight to make me feel good. And, I was strong, but as I said, I had constant tension in the body. I had stiffness, I had frequent aches.

 

I would get injured fairly regularly, pull something somewhere. And I didn't feel like I moved particularly well. And I started surfing. I started to learn how to surf. When I turned 40, and then I realized all the massive gaps in my conditioning, the poor mobility, not that great agility, my kind of ability to generate power on the wife, on the board and jump up and serve.

 

Was suddenly, it was not that good. And I was like hang on a minute, what's missing here. And then I was working with someone who was certified in tech fit, technical fitness, which is an amazing fitness system. That's come from the USA. And he was doing this mobility and these gorgeous mobility flows.

 

And he was moving like water. It was like, he was moving like ninja and he was older than me. And then he was swinging club bells and steel maze and doing these kettlebell flows, and I was just absolutely mesmerized by the way he moved. It was the grace. It was the flow he was in just beautifully transitioning from movement to movement.

 

And then I was looking at the weights area and I'm like that looks way more interesting. And then I could really see how that would really help me with my surfing. So I booked a session with him. And after one session, I was like, I'm never, I'm not going back to the weights. That's it now. That's it for me.

 

That's what I want. And I started training with him. And then I think within six months, I traveled to the USA and qualified as a TechFit field instructor and then never looked back. Yeah. So I'm all about the functional tools now. Kettlebells, Clubbells, Steel Mace. Specifically, that is my absolute favorite because I think that the workouts you can produce with steel mace and these functional tools, it's a lot more potent, takes less time.

 

And what I love about it, that it has the mobility really baked into it as well. And it's more functional in the way that you are able to String together very complex movements, which you just cannot do with barbells and dumbbells. Beautiful transitions and moving in all different directions while being loaded with the steel maze, being able to swing it around your body using traction.

 

So it's built strength in your joints. And in your connective tissue as well. Whereas traditional weightlifting is quite compressive on the joint and on the spine. Whereas the, when you're swinging a club bell, using the traction, it's putting so much pressure on your tendons, ligaments, and joints that they will naturally become incredibly strong.

 

So then, like I don't really get aches anymore. I don't get any tension stiffness. And I can surf so well now, and I have access to the full range of motion in my body and the movement that my body is actually capable of producing. And the human body is phenomenally designed. And I think that most people are just not tapping into the full potential of what their body is.

 

can do. And the thing is that, you can do this functional training alongside weightlifting because I know people love weightlifting, people compete, like you're a bodybuilder. So you need to do the weights because you need to target individual muscles. So for someone like you introducing just a little bit of functional training two times a week for 20 minutes could give you actually more strength.

 

Because I actually coach a lot of powerlifters and bodybuilders and weightlifters, because they do become quite locked up and they will improve, like I get a lot of bodybuilders and weightlifters who come to me for grip strength, because when you're working with the clubbells and you're just holding them in your hands, it creates phenomenal strength.

 

So now suddenly they can lift more without using. straps and other, things that they have to use. And it unlocks their joints and just keeps their joints a lot healthier and keeps them more mobile so they don't become so muscle bound and locked up from their normal training. Before we move from this topic, just real quick, for those who don't know about TacFit, what is TacFit?

 

So TechFit is a fitness system developed in the nineties by Scott Sonnen, who has an incredibly smart person in terms of human optimization. And. It was originally developed for the tactical community. So it's called tech fit, tactical fitness. So it was really designed for the firemen, the policemen, the soldiers, special forces, because they, he realized that they don't perform physically very well because they are under a lot of stress. And so he is introducing a lot of recovery techniques mobility, And always exercising within safe intensity zones. You can sometimes push above it just to test things out, but generally just choosing the intensity you're going to stick to and sticking to it. So you will have moderate workouts.

 

You have high intensity workouts and you're always measuring your heart rate. So his motto essentially is it's not the fittest who survive because obviously he's talking about the tactical community. So for them being physically fit, it's sometimes life and death. Situation, right? So his motto is that it's not the fittest who survived, but it's the one that recovers the fastest.

 

So being able to push towards the edge towards your maximum heart rate, maximum performance, but know how to come back. And how I call it in normal terms is to keep a lid on it. So not go into the overtraining zones where you're starting to lose peripheral vision and, find motor skills, but no using breath, how to come back.

 

And so it's functional training at its best, really. It's 20 minute workouts, interval training, six different timers to hit different metabolic windows. And it's, but it was always really into, for the hardcore guys, the, the special forces. And so when I qualified, my aim was like, I'm going to get the qualification, the certification.

 

But I'm going to coach it to normal people, the everyday mom and dad who just want to keep fit so they can age well and keep up with their kids. And so that's what I did. And now TechFit has come that way as well, just to be a little bit more. Attracting, I don't want to say normal people, but like everyday people, not the kind of the big performers, the special forces, the technical community, and then the, the athletes, but just everyday people who are busy.

 

Everyday people who just want potent. Effective workouts they can do from anywhere if they can just using a few tools that they can have in their garage or in their, home gym or in their garden. So that's what tech fit is. It's just really smart. It's a really smart way to get fit and to exercise because, 20 minutes is nothing.

 

Anybody can fit in 20 minutes, three times a week to feel good and be strong and age like a fine wine. Love it. So in America now, especially what is very popular is CrossFit, which is so high intensity trainings, 20 to 30 minutes long, incorporate some of the tools you're talking about, like kettlebells focuses on hitting a certain heart rate.

 

How would TACFIT be different than CrossFit? I get this question all the time. I'm glad you asked. Yeah. So I think what, and I get a lot of people from CrossFit what, and I've tried CrossFit classes, so I understand what it feels like and what it's like. And obviously also I have to realize that the CrossFit boxes are of varied quality as well.

 

Some are really good and have mobility and individual training, but a lot of them, I think the bulk of them is they have a very high injury rate. So you probably know if your friend is doing CrossFit he's getting injured reasonably frequently, right? So that's either because they're doing too much or because they're not doing enough mobility and preparing their bodies.

 

And I think that what deters me about CrossFit is that the intensity is usually hard out all the time. So yet again, we've talked about the female body, right? I would love to see some coaches who would say, All the ladies in the class, in the loo to your face. this is your workout. All the ladies in the follicular face, this is your workout.

 

All the ladies in the perimenopause and menopause, this is your workout, I think and I love the CrossFit, I love the atmosphere too, I used to do boxing too, so I get swept in it, and I think people often get swept in the, oh my gosh, we're doing 100 burpees, and 100 cleans, and 100 overhead presses, and they can only do 20.

 

with good form. I think that what I struggle with CrossFit is that there needs to be some allowance for people who are not at that level. CrossFit was originally designed for incredibly fit people already, right? It's not your average 45 year old dad, who's maybe seven kilos, a little bit too heavy.

 

Who sits in the office for eight hours and then has kids and everything else, right? Those are two different people. And I think there is just not enough allowance for the individualization of the You only do Okay, so we're doing 50 burpees, people. But if you feel like your form is starting to deteriorate, this is your version of the burpee.

 

If your form deteriorates from here, this is your version of the burpee. And if it's still, you can't handle that, then you need to regress more and more. There is just not enough levels. to allow for everyone's fitness level, because I've seen it in these classes, right? 50 burpees, burpee number 20, half the class has poor form.

 

Burpee number 30, it's sad to watch. I can literally hear their lower backs going, no! So that's my issue with CrossFit. It's all hard out all the time and Their injury rate speaks volumes to me. I couldn't agree with you more. 100%. Is that your experience? Have you done CrossFit math? Absolutely.

 

Absolutely. Absolutely. 

 

And how did you feel in the class? 

 

It's extremely highly injury prone because there is no focus on form. It's just running around, keeping your heart rate high, and incorporating weights when you're exhausted, Puffing and puffing. How is it, are you how can you keep form, proper form when you are exhausted and you're running around and you're doing all these reps, that's why you're getting injured.

 

There is no chance of progressive overload training because you're just going from one thing to the next thing and the next thing to the next thing. I think people don't understand that there's a difference between being exhausted and having worked out well. And a lot of times when people walk out of a CrossFit gym, they feel good about themselves because they're exhausted and they thought they think they've got a great workout, but sadly they did not, no.

 

And this is exactly the difference between TechFit and CrossFit. So in TechFit is that when you reach those zones. Where your form starts falling apart, you have a plan, you have a plan what to do to recover. Because once you start going over the 80 percent of maximum heart rate, your form falls apart.

 

And that happens to everyone. The fittest person on earth, their form will fall apart at some point as they are going over the 80 percent of their maximum heart rate, right? So then you need to know, what am I going to do at that point? My form is going. That means that I'm setting myself up for injuries.

 

It's not an option. I can't keep going this way anymore. So what am I going to do? Am I going to slow down? Am I going to downshift? So maybe I was doing cleans. Okay. I can't maintain the cleans for another 30 seconds. So I'm going to go to deadlift. Yeah. Same pattern. I'm not going to give up and start resting because I've got 30 seconds of work left.

 

Yeah. So how am I going to manage myself within the workout? I'm going to downshift to deadlift, I'm going to recover my heart rate. I'm going to use some breath recovery techniques. I'm going to go for five deadlifts and then I'm going to suss it out how I'm going to go. Okay, I'm still, my heart rate is still high.

 

Okay, I'm going to do five more deadlifts. Hey, I'm feeling pretty good now. I've got, the lid is back on. I'm in control. Then I'm going to upshift back to the cleans. See how I go. In that power movement, it's a lot more difficult. It's a lot more demanding. Hey, it's not still falling apart.

 

Downshift back to the deadlift. I'm going to finish my set on the deadlift. I'm going to then use my recovery and then see how I go into the second round. So in tech fit, you using your brain all the time and you're assessing, okay, am I coping with this? Is my form good? Is my form falling apart? Am I starting to guess out, getting into that massive oxygen debt, but I know I'm only halfway through the workout.

 

I need a plan for the second half of the workout. I can't get sad now and start going in and out of that kind of. ugly zone, right? So that's what I love about TechFit, that it's smart. You're using your brain. Hey, my form is falling apart. I can't keep doing this for another, even five seconds, let alone 20 minutes.

 

And so that's where I think that's what's missing from CrossFit, that people are not empowered with the skills to manage themselves. They are working out smartly in within the 45 or 30 minute window that they are working out in that intensity. Whereas when I was running TechFit classes, all my clients had a plan.

 

They had a plan A, they had a plan B, they had a plan C, they had a plan D. And they knew how to manage themselves within the 20 minute window. They knew how to downshift. They knew how to have a break within the workout without stopping the exercise. Cause that's what often in crossword happens, right?

 

People guess out to the point where they just need to take a breather. My clients were so in control of their workout because they knew exactly what to do, how to downshift, how to upshift again, how to downshift and how to just get the workout they wanted to. So then when they walk out of the door, they feel energized.

 

They feel amazing. They're not getting injured and they feel like they can slay their day without just going Oh my God, I need a nap and like third coffee, just to recover from that. Absolutely. And I love the fact that there is brain involved in this. You are making decisions for your body, for yourself based on where you are in your fitness journey.

 

As we all know, the best workout plan is the one that you can follow consistently. And if you are doing CrossFit or whatever, and you're getting injured quite frequently, you're not sticking to it consistently. So overall, you're not progressing at all. No, I call this the boom and bust, where they go hard out injury rehab for four to six weeks and they go again.

 

So it's boom and bust and you never really progressing because I would rather stay somewhere a lot lower, but keep going at a lower level rather than going hard out bust. Physio, acupuncture, osteo, chiropractor, and then go back, yep. Absolutely. So would TACFIT fall in the category of one, what one would call as resistance cardio?

 

Yeah. So TACFIT is basically interval training, 20 minute interval training, but there are six different timers targeting different metabolic windows. So there is, timer that is four minutes of one exercise. It's four different movements with a minute in between. So that's very much into endurance.

 

There's 90, 30 exercise for 90 seconds, have a 30 second break, it's 2010. The timers are very different. So you are hitting your endurance, your fast recovery, your fast Tabata somewhere in between. Yeah, it's It's cardio, it's strength training, it's recovery work, it's, and it's got a whole bunch of mobility baked in because you are doing very functional movements with the tools and it's, 20 minutes in and out, short and sharp, down, boom.

 

You can put in the proof is in the pudding because you're utilizing this type of training with female athletes who are switching over from traditional weightlifting to tag fit because of their injuries. So the fact that This is working for them proves itself that it is not as injury prone as CrossFit or some other modalities of training are.

 

No, it's not. And injuries happen inevitably, like everybody will get injured at some point because maybe you just get too fatigued or you got too tired or you picked up your child the wrong way or whatever, injuries happen. Having mobility at your fingertips to helps you rehab much faster.

 

If you've got healthy, strong joints and connective tissue, because you are committing, daily to your 10 minute mobility, then you will recover faster. It's and that's what I love about the tech fit is the mobility component too. So not only are you doing your 20 minute interval training workouts, you're also doing incredible amount of mobility, which is just 10 minutes.

 

So even for your weightlifting audience who are like, now I'm not interested in steel mace clubbers, whatever, introduce mobility into your training, have 10 minutes every day, have a really good mobility warmup before you go into your training too. And on your recovery days, Get in the joints, remove the tension, the stiffness, the, work on your range of motion.

 

So then you can turn up the next day in your gym, feeling real good. And your joints are ready to go. So think about mobility as the strength training for joints and connective tissue. Yeah. Ironically, right now I'm suffering from like crazy neck and shoulder pain because I had a competition on Saturday.

 

Where I had already a little bit injured and inflamed and I flexed way too hard on the most muscular pose and I pulled it on stage and literally it's because of lack of mobility. Yeah, sometimes it's bad luck and hydration and age or whatever, yeah, but yeah, probably 80%. And Tom is just a bit of mobility, too much tension, you did your Olympics last weekend essentially.

 

So yeah, sometimes, something's going to give and, we train for that performance and, sometimes you just have to pay for that peak performance. Yeah. 

 

Performance. Exactly. So let's talk about this. A lot of the women that you're training, they're already athletes. They have been doing it for a while.

 

They're switching over to this because to optimize their training to reduce fatigue, to reduce injuries to put in a new spark just for enjoyment, but also strength. What is something that you think the challenge, they are challenged with? What is something that is difficult for them when they actually switch into TACFET from traditional training?

 

It's a different tool. When you pick up the steel maze, it's nothing you have ever held in your hands before. Dumbbells and barbells are very predictable. You hold them close to your body. You know where the weight distribution is. It's reasonably predictable. You pick up a steel mace, which for your audience who doesn't know what a steel mace is.

 

It's a, about a meter, so there's about three feet long steel tube. that you can hold in your hand so it's not very thick and then at the end of it is a steel ball and the ball can be of different weights obviously you start usually about 10 pounds as a beginner weight and a lot of men go like what I'm not training with a 10 pound 

 

thing and then they swing it and they're like Oh, okay.

 

It's humbling. It's a really humbling experience when they go all Oh no, give me the 

 

six kilo mace. And I'm like, ah, you start on the little guy. And so when you think about grabbing the steel mace, so it's a meter long stick with a 10 pound steel ball at the end of it. and you swing it behind your head.

 

If you can imagine from physics kind of point of view, the forces that's going to put on your body it's not your tricep extension at all. This is something that's going to move a meter away from your hand, and it's going to travel around your whole body behind your back, which your brain at that point is freaking out because it can't see it, right?

 

So you're like, I have no idea what's going on behind my back. Whereas dumbbells, you can almost always predictably, you've got them in your hand, right? This is something you're releasing behind your head. And you need to bring it back and stabilize it again. So if you can imagine the, it's a tool that's really truly alive in your hand, it's a lot more organic.

 

It moves in very hopefully predictable if you've got a good coach ways, but sometimes in quite unpredictable ways to, I had, I have bad reps too, where I just like, Whoa, that's gone somewhere where I really didn't want it to go. And then there is the, also the multidimensional. You can do, lunges with a massive rotation where you're transitioning the mace from side to side from to back, but you're lunging at the same time.

 

You can do these mace flows where you literally, it's just like a yoga flow, but with the mace. So there is a massive brain component to where am I going next? Which move is next? So you have to check everything out of your head and really Focus. So it's the challenges in that the challenges in mastering an entirely unique tool and then having all the movement possibilities open, not just the lunch.

 

It's a lunch with a twist. It's a lunch with a press. It's a lunch with a movement that you can swing the mace behind your back while you're lunging. So suddenly there's this complexity that you can tap into that is really thrilling. And it's essentially a warrior weapon. It's, this is a warrior weapon that's been around for thousands of years.

 

So I think somehow speaks to our DNA it's wired into us. It's yeah. It's the ancestral DNA or we're like, yeah, we used to kill people with this thousands of years ago. Or, they used to train wrestlers in India and Pakistan with it. And warriors, ancient warriors, female and male in, in Persia.

 

So it's been around for a long time. And I think that especially women really respond to it. They feel like fierce warriors. strong, invincible, powerful, don't mess with me, because this is what I can do. So it's that confidence, massive confidence boost. I love watching my clients, get that look in their faces like, walk, a little bit witchy as well, like tapping into that feminine power and strength.

 

So it's like strength training for the feminine warrior. Yeah, it speaks to women more than dumbbells and barbells. Yeah. Dumbbells on barbells are never a weapon, but a steel mace is a weapon and yielding that, moving that around, it gives you a feeling of strength and power. Like you said most people the most experience they may have had swinging something could be a kettlebell, but the kettlebell is also very close to your body and always seen as steel mace is a very different tool, even than a kettlebell.

 

So yeah I've seen steel maces being used. Yeah. I have used it a little bit, I was afraid I was going to lose it. And I realized as opposed to a dumbbell or a barbell, one of the things that you realize when you use a steel miss is it also you need really good stabilizer muscles to be able to swing it.

 

I know those, sometimes when you're just doing regular powerlifting or classical weight training and you're, the movements are just vertical you don't develop those stabilizer muscles that you actually need to be able to control the weight of the mace that you're moving in a flow motion.

 

Yeah, it is very interesting for anybody who's listening, who wants to try it, you can buy one on Amazon and And I've got tons of free videos on YouTube, but there's a really interesting point you made with the stabilizing muscles, because, I'm a surfer and I need literally.

 

Bulletproof shoulders, right? For me, the shoulder is like the one that gets most injured and you probably know a lot of your friends or, your gym friends have issues with rotator cuff, right? How many people do tear either shoulder ligaments or rotator cuff? That is the stabilizing muscle you're referring to.

 

That is the one that, if you imagine swinging the mace behind your head, Imagine how strong your shoulders will become, not just the joint, not just the ligament, but the small muscles that often don't really get hit in the weightlifting. And that's why I get a lot of surfers and swimmers and weightlifters too, because they just don't want to have those issues with their joints, the hips, the wrists too, you can only lift as much weight as your wrist will allow you, right? Unless you use grip aids and stuff. But, we're in TechFit when we do strength and conditioning, we're not allowed to use grip aids. So you're only allowed to lift what you can lift naturally. But, using these functional tools will become, will give you such strong wrists and shoulders and and all your joints that is, phenomenal.

 

of it. So what's the vision, Yana? You're obviously doing phenomenal work here. You're an athlete. You have been in multiple disciplines. What is the vision that you have that you're carrying at this point of your career, running this business, teaching women about this alternative style of exercising, especially paying attention to the hormonal side?

 

So what I essentially want for all women, especially women after 50, is to live their lives to the fullest and to be able to do anything they desire to do. That is literally what I want for every single woman, and I believe that the training that I give women can give them that, can give them an incredible life, it can give them confidence that they can age without pain, without injuries, without losing their independence.

 

I want, basically, what I want for myself is to be 90 year old, wrinkly, grey grandma, surfing with my great grandkids somewhere. I don't want to be the grandma that people just knits in the corner or whatever. I want to be the grandma where people say, what the heck is she up to now? That's what I want.

 

And it's possible unless, you get mowed down by some disease that you can't prevent, exercise can prevent basically most diseases. dementia, Alzheimer's by 30%, heart disease massively, so choose an exercise style that will give you longevity, vibrate aging, and the ability to go on amazing adventures at any age.

 

The notion that you have to become decrepit, old, frail, achy person, just because you're aging is a real myth. And it's a really lame excuse in my eyes. It doesn't have to be that way. It doesn't have to be complicated. It can be just the 10 minutes of mobility every day and a little bit of functional strength training twice a week.

 

The time commitment is minimal, but it needs to be consistent. So yeah, that's what I want for women just to lift lives to the fullest. Yeah. What a great goal. It's true, if I myself have been on the other side of the coin, the other end of the spectrum where I had forgotten to take care of myself and having been there and having where I'm now.

 

I totally understand the price we pay when we're not taking care of ourselves. 20 minutes a day, 10 minutes a day, like you're saying to, we have lifelong youth strength. Even if someone is not looking to surf the ability to be able to just carry out day to day actions without pain, minimal pain feeling strong, feeling comfortable going on adventures, doing fun things.

 

We don't have to be restricted to a bed or a wheelchair, and the sooner we start making an investment in our own health and lives, the better off we are because the less painful the future is going to be. You hit it on the head there with the word investment. That's what I tell people, like with mobility, just like you're saving for retirement, you're putting little deposits into some bank account somewhere, right?

 

For your retirement. Think about mobility the same way you're making little deposits into your old age bank. So then you can withdraw once you're 60, 70, 80, 90, we're living longer and longer, but we living in poor health. Yeah, exactly. We're living longer, but we're living in poor health. The saying says, a healthy man has a thousand wishes, a sick person only has one, which is to be healthy again.

 

And mobility is one of those things, we don't appreciate it while we have it, when we don't have it, we yearn it. Like right now, I'm like, Oh, I should have done the stretches. 

 

Yeah. Getting there with a tennis ball or something. Rolling it 

 

up and down the wall. Yeah. Even the best of us, we make mistakes, but I think the idea is that we learn from our mistakes.

 

And if we can, we learn from others who are knowledgeable like yourself. To be able to not make those mistakes in the first place. So thank you so much for being on the show. I'm going to put all your links in the description of the podcast. Anybody who is hearing this I highly recommend you check out Yana.

 

She's got a YouTube channel where she shows all this stuff. So you can see a video of her doing stuff. She's got programs that will allow you to do this at home for the 10 to 20 minutes time investment. And that investment is nothing when you think about the life that we can live full of health and joy and purpose and adventures.

 

Thank you so much, Yana. Lovely. Oh, thank you so much for having me, Matt. It's been a pleasure