#23 - Nanci Ickes

Nanci Ickes is owner of Bare 5 LLC, a Personal Training at Home business, focused on the comfort and convenience of training clients in their own homes while using a variety of strength training to improve clients physically, as well as build self-efficacy, for sustainable healthy living. Nanci’s methods have produced numerous improvements in overall quality of life. Nanci’s objective is to build individuals up, from the inside out - physically and mentally - to ultimately create healthier communities and world as a whole. Nanci Ickes is the catalyst for positive growth you’ve been waiting for. 

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Transcript

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This is Angela Grayson from the Loving Life Fitness Podcast. To help others in their fitness journey. It's all possible! It’s time to wake up. Here we go. Hello, everybody. This is Angela Grayson from the Loving Life Fitness Podcast. Today we have Nancy Ickes with us, who is a personal trainer and so much more. Hi, Nancy. Hi, Angela. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, it's exciting. I know that people are going to be listening and they're going to be gaining so much value from all the things that you have to share with them. So let's take it back to the beginning where you started with your career and what brought you to this direction and maybe inspirations. Go ahead. Well, I really think that it started when I was a child. My mom had us in all kinds of sports and athletics. And I mean, we started gymnastics as a young age just to kind of help my mom throw to help us develop coordination. And then in school, you know, athletics there. So join cross-country team and softball and basketball and all those sports. And then when I go to college, I had this, like, pivotal moment. And I'll never forget it was my sophomore year. And it's kind of the time when you need to declare a major. And, you know, I can't tell you how many people asked, you know, what do you want to be? What do you want to do when you grow up? And that question always stumps me. I'm like, I don't know. How do you know you want to be a dentist star? You know, how do you know you want to be a teacher? And I just couldn't figure out what it was that I wanted to do. And there was this one moment I'll never forget. And I just felt like everything in my life was balanced. My social life, my physical health, my education. I just felt such peace. And I thought everybody should feel this, at least for a moment in their life. This is one of the best feelings I've ever had. And so I thought, you know, how can I do that? And to me, it was I knew it had a lot to do with my physical health because a lot of times I know from working with older adults, there are a lot of aches and pains as we age and if we've had injuries and they may never go away, but it's learning how to manage that pain and there are lots of things that we can do. So I thought, okay, that is exactly where I want to go. And when it comes to physical, I'm sure you know, Angela, it's not just about the physical. As a trainer, we sometimes deal with a lot of emotional and mental things that our clients are going through. So I continued my education and finished college with a degree in education, but my specialty was health promotion. And I loved it because we had to learn about all those different aspects of wellness, which has come into play as I kind of refined my specialty into personal training. So that's kind of where it all started, and I just didn't feel like I knew enough after undergraduate school. So I was like, No, I'm going to grad school. I feel like I need to learn a little bit more. But I love the broadness of health. Like, I just I just am a sponge and I consider myself a student for life. I will learn until the day I die because there's so much and and I thought, well, how could I be? How can I be the best resource for the people I work with, whether it be clients or coworkers? And I knew that had to be with education and learning, you know, as much as I could about as much as I could. So that kind of takes you to care. I just kept kept going and I got my personal training certification because I, I did start with my group exercise certification in college, and I did enjoy that, but I just felt so disconnected with being able to help people. And I don't know if you've ever had this feeling, Angela, but you know, when you take a group class, even as a participant and you've done classes before and as an instructor, I just, I just want to help everyone like, oh, I want to help you with your form and trying to think of 50 million different ways to say the same thing, to make it connects in their mind and their mind and their mind. But sometimes participants don't hear us trainers because of the filters, or they're not thinking and paying attention to their form. So I decided, no, I, I want to do personal training. I want that one on one. And what I've been asked to do group training. I say no, because to me that's not personal training any more, because now my attention is divided and I do best when I can give you my undivided attention. I am focused on the person on you and what you. So that's kind of how I ended up as a personal trainer. Very good. Yeah. And there's different people, you know, like different things. Some of them really, really need and want that personal one on one attention and others thrive in the group fitness classes. They take me so many classes because they enjoy the stamina, they enjoy the energy, they enjoy being around their friends, meeting people, just the atmosphere 100%. And I have worked in so many different types of fitness environments. I mean, from, you know, YMCA to, you know, boutique fitness to very specific one on one personal training to typical personal training. And the thing that I find that never fails is it's about finding what works for you and what you feel is helping you grow. I'm never going to say that's not a good fitness thing because it may be good for you. It may not be good for me, but I'm not going to deter anybody from trying something until you find what it is that you love. And you try that. And going back to your love of education, we do basically the same thing every day, day in and day out. Right? Whether it's personal training, teaching classes, the same people, you know, the same thing every day, day in, day out, trying to help different people. And our minds want more. So getting that extra education is is a push. Sometimes we have to struggle with that because our lives are already so busy. But getting the different ideas, the newer science, different things to try with different people, especially if you work with a lot of older people with their injuries. Not necessarily always older people, younger people that have injuries to that they have to deal with, whether it's from sports or just life in general, bad backs, bad knees. So all that extra education is definitely something that you need to have in your back pocket. And sometimes it's it's a lot simpler. I feel like now on a day to day basis, because everybody has social media, I mean, even the big names in personal training, I mean, whether it's, you know, doesn't have to be personal training, but group fitness, like, you know, Ace and Nasm, they're all on social media. And so it's those great little doses in front of you every day. If you follow those organizations to kind of feed you some of those new exercises or tips. And, you know, I follow doctor physical therapy because I know that physical therapist is going to know more than I do. And when a client comes to me with, you know, this hurts or this isn't working, great, let me pull from the resources that I follow and see if we can figure it out. And if you do need to go see a specialist, but I'm going to stay and do what I can in my lane and we'll try and figure it out. But if not, I know that, you know, that's out of my scope. We need to find somebody who can help them, which is one of the reasons why I started my Health and Fitness podcast, because I don't know at all. Clients don't have enough time to learn it all. Don't have the time, really. So education about the body is so interesting to me. And I could learn, learn, learn. But when am I going to have the time to help others? So with these podcasts, I have other people talking about whatever their specialty is, and that is really helpful to the listeners. So what do you consider your specialty? Nancy So I consider my specialty strength training, and I'm going to kind of lean a little bit more towards beginners. I really enjoy beginners and I really love meeting people where they're at. And I think the majority of clients that I met, you know, I don't know anybody except for one that I've had to be honest with you, has come to personal training like super excited, ready to go. I always feel with new clients there is this hesitation, kind of this little bit of fear. And I get it. You don't know what to expect, especially if you've never done personal training before. And so it's important to me to really meet my clients where they're at. And and I have I mean, I've worked in a fitness facility where most of them knew each other, which, you know, so they would always, you know, kind of tease and say, don't give me that person's workout. And I go, well, I'm not going to because you are not that person. And to me, that's one of the most important things as a trainer is this is personal training because it's personal to you. And so if you're not getting that kind of training from your trainer, that to me says you need a new trainer because this is your time. It is your money and it is so valuable and you're supposed to get things out of it that you need. So to me, that's why I love New, new strength training clients, because I love to teach them and build that foundation and not just with their strength, but with their confidence, their self efficacy, and that they can do this on their own. Because, Angela, I'm probably the worst personal trainer because I don't want anybody to be dependent upon me for a life. I go, I am meant to be used and let go, but you can always come back and say, I need a refresher, or you know, I just need a little push. I never want anybody to feel like you can't do any of these exercises without me. Never, ever. You so can. And I'm going to teach you how to do that. So yeah, that's when it boils down to personality, though. When you take a look at the psychology of working out so many different personalities out there, especially with new people, yes, there could be intimidation and, you know, never having walked into a facility before to do strength training on their own. Yeah. Which is a lot why a lot of people like to go with a friend, but sometimes that falls off and you're left again alone. So, yeah, the psychology is a is a big part of strength training, especially when you're when you're brand new. So more there are those who I've trained in the past that do actually go off on their own. And then there are those that I feel like I will have for life. Sure. The buzz of the accountability and that's totally understandable. Like to me, those are kind of two different lanes. Like, yes, you need that. Great. That's why we're here, right? Like, we are definitely going to hold you accountable to your workouts, to showing up, to committing to what you said. And then some people are just really good about doing that on their own once they've had the skills and the tools and the training, they they carry on themselves. So yeah, I definitely am not negating us as professionals or what we do, but there's definitely, you're right, different personalities. Do you usually work with younger people or older people or does it matter? I worked with a variety of different ages and I'll be honest, the majority of individuals I worked with are older. My very first personal training job is, I think, the majority of people I worked with were between the ages of 60 and 90. I mean, I worked with a lot of retired individuals, a lot of knee replacements, hip replacements, and it was such a specialized type of training. It really taught me a lot of how to strengthen muscles with not necessarily moving joints, which I don't think I ever would have learned had I not been in that employment atmosphere. So that really helped me. And then most recently, my clients have been, I'm going to say, just older type of professionals. I really have not worked with, you know, many children or young adults, but mostly, you know, active or looking to be healthier working adults. I found that the older adults are my most reliable clients. They are? Yeah. They don't like younger people. Unfortunately, it's life, right? They're working. They have children, they have families, they have a lot of going on and there is always excuses why they can't make it. And older people, they're always they're always there. No matter what. I have gotten a note from their doctor saying, you need to start doing something or you're going to die. The light goes on. Whoa. Okay, I better do something. I've known it long enough, but now my doctor's telling me, do it or die, you know? So you've got that, too. Their life is getting shorter. They're at the other end of the spectrum in their life, and they want to be able to live a healthy life until we go over to the other side. We don't want to be overweight. We don't want to be not be able to walk. We don't want to not be able to do the things that we love. So it's a little different. The mentality is a little different with the older generation. Definitely. See that? Yeah. And they want they want to be there. And because of my silversneakers as a recent Silversneakers program experience, like, I found so much reward and value in that because they wanted to be there, like it was so much easier to show up teaching those types of classes because if anything, I felt like they held me accountable because I knew they were counting on me more so than I was counting on them. And I don't know about you, Angela, but some of their stories to actually hear that, I mean, you know, coming in saying that the doctor did tell me I need to lose this weight or I am going to die. And just watching the transformation, even in, you know, retired, active older adults, just to see that and see how much light and, you know, vibrancy their life has gained because of that. And I don't know about you, but that's kind of one of the reasons I went into it, is just to see people just come alive and have those moments. Mm hmm. Yeah. Not everybody gets to hear the story of the group fitness instructor or the personal trainer, how we feel. Yeah. And it's a good feeling to see others doing really well, getting better and having so much more energy to to live a great life. Some of that you said earlier is, you know, like we don't have time to work out. And and I heard this and I said, this is just brilliant. Like, nope, nobody does. Nobody has time to work out. That's why we make the time. And I mean, you could say that with a lot of things, but I know one of the struggles is a lot of people say that about working out. And so with the older adults, you really see that because now they're making the time for that and you don't have to wait till you're retired. Or the doctor says something like, You can make time right now. Yeah, not faking it. Make it something you love to do, Right. Well, and even if you don't know. So this is another reason I love working with beginners is I like to ask the question, well, what can you do? Because oftentimes I think we have this preconceived notion in our head that I have to work out for an hour in the gym, you know, with people who know what they're doing in the gym, you know, lifting the heavy weights or running on the treadmill. I can't like maybe it's I can't run or I have no idea how to use that. Yeah, that is scary, like you said earlier, but. Okay, but what doesn't sound scary to you? And so that's where I have people say, well, I can walk. Great. Excellent. Well, how long? Like, what length of time Sounds good to you. And if they're like, Oh, like, I don't know about you, but sometimes people are afraid to say a lesson out. They expect us to be like, No, you can't work out less than 60 minutes a day, five days a week, and that's not how I work. And I say, okay, well, how about one minute? And they're like, I could do a minute. I can't. Great. So then after a minute, if you still feel great, why don't you do another minute? And how about we just shoot for 5 minutes? And if you still feel great after 5 minutes, then go another minute and just do a minute from there on. Because to me, it's about building. Like I want people to have that super strong foundation is beginners and it doesn't start with 60 Minutes in the gym. It starts with something that makes you feel comfortable, gets you started, and just builds that confidence because you can't do it. Absolutely. Do you get involved with how people eat, changing their lifestyle habits or anything like that? Yes, especially with the ones who are open to that because I do believe it's important to meet people where they're at. And if they're not ready or willing to talk about their food, I'm not going to push it. But it is 100% plays a huge part in our overall health and wellbeing, and I'm not going to negate that. But again, if somebody is not willing to talk about it or, you know, do anything about it, okay, well, I'll meet you where you're willing to do things. And sometimes it's just about let's just talk about your water consumption. You know, how much water you drinking. So it's not necessarily something I avoid, but I just kind of, you know, ask some of those questions to see where they're at, because every week my clients, not where I left them. So I meet them in a new place every week. So how about you? So usually, always ask them to write down for me what they're consuming for a week, everything consuming, eating, drinking, snacking. And that's always the hardest one for people. They have so many excuses why they can't do that. I try to tell them it's not for me, it's for you, so that you can look at it after a week and say, Oh really? I consumed all that fruit juice, or I consumed, you know, that much snack foods. And I didn't think I was drinking that much coffee. Really. You know, and just looking at it and seeing what you can tweak here and there, a little tweaks to make it better so that you can feel better and maybe get a little more energy out of your day. Yeah, but and I got away from having them write it down because a lot of them kind of forgot. And I said, You know what? Just snap a picture of your plate before you eat it where I can really see what you're eating and kind of see some of the portion sizes. And also you don't have to do anything that takes up too much of your time. And I seem to get a lot more of a consistent week's worth of food when I set up a picture before you eat it or if you ate it now, I mean the wrapper or the box. So I could see a good idea. Yeah. Nobody writes anything down anymore, right? Nope. No. The difference between our ages that I still have right now. I do too. I'm such a paper person. You're no idea. Yeah. Lists. Susan. Yeah. Goal setting, journaling, all of that. I love to write. Right, Right. Yeah. That's very helpful. And you do what works for you. Snapping a picture is good for you. Great. If writing things down is good for you, great. You know, and that's another thing. Even journaling on a daily basis where if you feel like you know, you're feeling like you don't have energy and you take taken a look at what you ate the day before and sit there and journal about how you feel today, you know, maybe the next day you'll change things a little bit about what you're consuming or your amount of activity and how you're feeling. Again, when you sit there and journal and, you know, see how your day is going higher energy level is what you feel like doing and sleep is important. You know, we need to get the right amount of sleep. I don't always do that. I try to and I find that sleep is just so, so important for everything. Yeah. Yeah. So do you have a success story that you would like to share with us? People like to hear real life stories. I'm going to say there's two and they're two different ones. The first one I'm going to talk about is I was asked to train by my previous supervisor at the fitness center. Her neighbors daughter and her daughter is about two years younger than me, but she has the mentality of a fourth grader. So there are some mental disabilities there and then also some physical like her hips never fully formed. So we're like her femur doesn't fit completely in the hip socket and she's overweight. And, you know, her parents are getting older. So she needs to be able to be better about moving and taking care of herself because her parents, of course, are not going to be able to do that the rest of her life. I had no idea what to do. And and I was, of course, scared. But also I loved it because it was forcing me to stretch as a professional because I had to learn how to train this very brand new person that I'd never, never experienced anything like before. And to me, she was the most rewarding because she taught me that fitness sometimes is just about fun. And I knew with her as a fourth grader mentality, I wanted her to enjoy coming to the fitness center, enjoy working out, and I knew that I just needed to make it about fun. And so we we had we had a wonderful time, of course, every week. And it was interesting to see how because of her dependance on her parents, that I really had to get her parents involved in her physical transformation journey that, you know, okay, she does live at home. It's about what she's eating. You're in charge of what she eats and what she drinks and what you bring into the house because she clearly cannot go shopping herself. But it was just wonderful to see her. She lost over £50 from the time that I started seeing her. And for somebody with such limited mobility in her walking and stuff like that, I mean, we focused a lot on strength training. And I mean, I'm a firm believer in that, you know, muscle does burn more calories than fat. So just to see that, really, really it was amazing to watch her transform and just grow a love for fitness. So that was that's what I'm very good at. So you're not training her anymore? She's not with I I'm not just because she was one of my ones. I just moved recently down to Florida. So yes, I'm from Ohio. She's the one that I did not feel comfortable doing virtual training because there did need to be some physical assisting of getting her in and out of equipment and, you know, in and out of things. So I felt better handing her off to a qualified trainer to continue her training. So she's still training, which makes me so happy. Yes. And that's to me what it's about. Yeah. She's continuing her journey. That is so awesome. Yeah, It'd be so nice to keep in touch with her. Oh, I do. Yes. Yes. Her mom sends me text messages every week. That's awesome. Yeah, it's wonderful. Yeah. That really makes you feel good inside to know that you've helped somebody like that. Yeah. Okay. You said you had another success story. Yes. This will be a little bit shorter. So I started working with a gentleman in his late fifties, and here he came to me, you know, pretty, pretty good physical fitness. And when we first started training, I had him do some bear crawls. And for those who maybe don't know what that is, it's basically just get down on your hands and your knees, but lift your knees like an inch off the ground and start walking on your hands and your toes, basically. And so he could barely go ten feet high. And so our last session we had together, he went over he went way over a hundred feet and he had a £36 sandbag on his back. So it was just amazing to see the strength transformation. And that was in a matter of like seven months. So to me, like that was just so rewarding to see his strength grow and that was so important to him. So there's a story. Excellent. Yeah. Yeah. We all need our strength to stay strong, keep the bone strong, keep the muscles healthy. This energized, keep us energized also to keep some metabolism burning that's so important. The more we move, the more we're going to keep that metabolism burning. Everybody wonders why their metabolism slows down. Well, take a look at what you're doing today compared to when maybe you think your metabolism was better. I mean, but look at our professions. You know, a lot of them are seated. You know, we said all day and it's hard and I totally understand. And I feel for know everybody in those professions where they're kind of stuck at a desk, you know, five days a week. So I'm happy. I'm happy to play with you. Get up and and, you know, yeah, I've never been that person to sit still. I would never put myself in that position where I'd be sitting behind a desk all day long, five days a week indoors. You know, I would go totally insane. So we don't have to do that sort of thing, you know, if we're finding that our our jobs are detrimental to our health, why not make changes? There's a lot of people who are scared to make a change in their life. Rob Ashley with your with your job, if that's if you're in a successful place, but if it's deteriorating your health, why not make a change? You know, figure it out. Yeah. Or or ask for support or help, because I know sometimes we do get stuck in things because sometimes we just need that little extra support. And I think Angela, sometimes we provide that at, at a different level. But you know, we kind of give you the permission. It's okay. Like it's okay to struggle through this. I mean, to me, exercise is practice for life. Life's hard. And if you do need to change jobs because it's affecting your health, okay, well, let's do something. But that change or that transformation or transition is going to be hard. So exercises practice to help you deal with the hard things in life. I love to hear the stories of people who were working in a particular line of work and they thought they were going to be there forever. And something happens. Maybe the business gets closed down. Or recently I was talking to somebody who got fired and he was talking to his coach, his life coach, about, okay, so what do you want to do now? And he said, Well, I guess I'm going to have to go and apply for another job, you know, in my field. And the coach was like, Are you sure you want to do that? You are you really happy there? You know, you got fired. Why did you get fired? You know? Ah, well, you really happy there? Would you like to do something else? You know, sometimes we talk to others, find ourselves a life coach or a good friend to talk to, and we'll realize, you know, maybe we're not in a happy place, you know? And at a pivotal point like that, this is the time, you know, to make a change to where you can be happier, healthier and maybe really, really, really do something that you love. Yeah. And I love that. And I agree with all that, Angela, because to me, life is meant to be enjoyed. And you define what enjoy your life means because you're the one living it. And I love that that life coach asked that question like, are you sure? Because we we do you need those people to ask us those questions, you know, to kind of help us pivot and have that courage to pivot when we need to. And yeah, being stuck doesn't sound fun to me. So did you ever work for companies in the health and fitness industry? Yes. So besides some fitness centers, I did work for, I did work for corporate fitness companies, and I worked for a hospital system, Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. And I did work for some like esthetic doctors at one point. So I had held many different positions, kind of in different areas of health and wellness. Did you enjoy that or you wanted to get out of that arena to be more on your own? I definitely enjoyed certain aspects of it. How I mean, I when I went to school, I loved doing the program development and doing the needs assessment to see, you know, what needs need to be met in this work environment and how to put together programing that would help improve the health of, you know, the population of the company, the employees. And, you know, I ran a weight loss program at the Cleveland Clinic and managed wellness programs or employer benefit programs. So if you do these healthy activities, you get a reduction in your health insurance premium, which is great. It just comes back to I just felt so far removed and I couldn't really tell if I was helping people. And I kind of like to think of, you know, what we do in the health and wellness field is very different than, you know, construction workers. Like you go to work, you have your starting point and you can see your progress every day. You see like maybe you're building a house. Okay. Well, today, the foundations done, you can see that when you leave work. And as a health professional, I just felt like I didn't I didn't know. I couldn't see if I was actually doing anything, being so far away from the people I was trying to help in those companies. So that's where I decided. I'm like, now I need to be more one on one with people. And that really just shifted me into that. Like, maybe I'm ready for something else. Yeah, yeah. Those. I used to work for the post office for 30 years as a mail carrier. Wow. And so, yeah, they had all those programs, incentive programs, to try to stay healthy and get reductions on your health insurance. And even me, the kind of person who I always worked out all my life. You know, I just really log on and do what? And and adhere to this and and send in this and send in that to show what you did. And it's like, oh, my gosh, this is just too much. Yeah, I want to go the gym when you're out a bike ride or go for a walk or whatever. I guess for those who don't, you know, work out on their own, you know, having that little bit of an in Santa to do the right thing, it might be helpful for that population here. But with you not being able to see exactly what was going on and, you know, the gains that people were getting from it, it's I could see where you could lose interest in that because you want to see people doing better and if not make changes or help them, advise them in different ways to move on, because we all have to make changes. And what we do, it's good to do what you enjoy, maybe at first, but if we don't make changes in what we do, there's going to be parts of the body that are left behind. So variety is so important. Do you give your clients regimens for variety or do you just how do you work that? Yes, so depending on the client, but oftentimes, especially when I'm building strength to new clients, it's usually very consistent and usually the same types of exercises that we build upon. So like, for example, one of the newest clients I had, we started with ridges, so laying on the ground back flat, you know, knees bent, digging your heels into the ground and just raising your butt, squeezing your glutes when you're butt's in the air. And, you know, that's where we started because hers couldn't have her squat. Her squats were very weak hips, knees caving in. And I was like, Nope, I need a little bit more of a stable surface so that way I can start working on her hip mobility. And so we didn't. Bridges for the longest time, you know, added a band around her thighs to bridge and kind of have her push against to kind of build that outer thigh strength as well. So for somebody like her that I really needed to focus on building the strength in very specific areas, it was pretty much repetitive with adding in some of those, I call them elements of fun. And my clients love when I say I'm adding in an element of fun. So like the band around the legs, this is what would be an example. But for some others, like the one success story I told, he wanted variety like no other. He never wanted to do the same thing twice, so he may have seen the same moves. But again, there is always a different, you know, twist to it. And so like the bear calls with a sandbag or he bear crawled, you know, pulling a dumbbell or adding a row in and things like that. So same things, but with a spin or a twist on my elements of time. Yeah. Oh yeah. I just and a lot of client really and truly. Yeah. And that's all pretty much functional training, everything that you're talking about right there. Do you ever use machines or do you try to stay to the with the functional side of it all? No, I definitely use machines. I had a client. We could not figure out why her knees were hurting her. I can't tell you how many different trainers I reached out to, you know, what else can I do? I have no idea what else to do with her. I've done all these different exercises to try and avoid her knees while the thing was avoiding her quads was the problem because her quads were weak and that was causing her kneecaps to move. And that's why she had pain. And I was so surprised cause she was 22 years old, so I would throw her on the leg extension Every workout we're starting on the leg extension or firing up those quads, and then we are going to go to the leg press. So we spend a lot of time in every session a recession. We started on that leg extension. But yes. And so sometimes I will throw in machines with the functional training, and sometimes I will do all machine work, and especially for new clients. I don't know about you, Angela, but I find machines are really in some ways safe. You know, if your trainer sets you up at the right seat setting and shows you how to properly move the machine, because I loved walking into a fitness center and people sometimes think that just because I use the machine, it's working the muscles I want. And that's not always the case. Like your form is important in the machines, but at least you don't have to worry so much about the stability because you're safe, you're secure in your stable in those machines. Yeah. And there's days that maybe you can't meet them at the gym or, you know, they only want to meet with you once or twice a week and they want to go and work out on their own. So, you know, the machines are good for people because they pretty much do. You hold you in the position that you need to be in as long as you have all the settings and the numbers correct and you follow that for your body tighten. Good place to go. Yeah, but I find that when I work with my clients, you know that I do like to do a lot of functional stuff, body movement in ways that we use it in everyday life. But Maybe with a little bit of weight, can weights, medicine, balls, just bending and twisting in different directions. Because in real life that's the way it is right now that. Yes. And when when I taught Silversneakers, I would always say this in my classes and I said, yes, I'm trying to be funny, but at the same time I'm very serious because we would just squat, get up and down out of the chair. And even if you can't get up and out of the out of the chair, you know, just squeezing your butt cheeks, digging your heels into the floor. And so I say, I would tell them all, I said, You are 95 years old. I said, I want you to be able to get off the toilet by yourself. Because I said, I feel I 100% do, too. So I said, I know it sounds funny, but I'm also very serious because once we lose that independence, like, I don't know how many people think now about, Oh my gosh, I never thought about not being able to get off the toilet by myself. And I mean, that is that is a possibility for everybody. So like I 100% agree with the functional because that is what keeps you moving and keeps you independent. And I don't want people to lose that. And even getting up off the floor, that's an issue for people who are younger or, you know, you start yourself grunt when you get up off the floor. That's a sign. That's a sign. Yeah. There should be no grunting when you're in your forties. No. Oh, no, no, no. I had a client whose son in law was a physical therapist, and she shared with me that he said he was having a hard time with individuals coming in for physical therapy who were much older adults. But he said they were having a hard time. They could not even turn themselves over in bed because their abdominals were so weak. And I and like that just makes my heart break because I don't know about you, but like, that's what makes me just want to help as many people with their physical well-being because I don't want anybody to not be able to turn themselves over to get out of bed. I mean, that's what call us. You call us, we'll help you. Absolutely. Yeah. That'll definitely a sign. You can't roll over. How are you going to get up and get out of bed if she can't even roll over. Exactly. You know, whether it be because there's a tweak in your back or the abdominals or weak the core of the body, whether it's the front or the back of the body, it needs to be strengthened and kept strong. It doesn't have to be crunches on the floor either. There are so many to strengthen the core of the body so that we can do things like roll over in bed. I have a couple of clients that I've been working specifically with trying to get them to be able to get up off the floor in wonder, drop things on the floor. We have to bend down front of a cabinet and reach to the back of the cabinet and get something out of it. You need to be able to bend down, get on the floor and get back up again. And even if you have to do it in a different kind of way, so essential to everyday life. So what's in the future for Nancy? Anything different? Anything new? What's what's the latest here? That is a great question. Before I started doing my podcast, you met Jay Scheer at the radio station. Jay Junior was at the gym where I used to work, and he said to me it was the beginning of a new year. I think it was maybe 2021, and now this was before COVID, actually, Yeah. Angela, what's new for you this year? I don't know. Jay. I'm happy where I'm at. Well, the more Jay talked to me, it's like I realized there's so much more. How can we be happy where we're at when there's so much more? So what more is there for you? Well, with what's new and what's more is I've only been in Florida for not even a month, So this is so what's new for me? So 100% enjoying this process and, you know, finding my my groove, my flow and whatever that is down here. And then just what's more is, I mean, with meeting Jay at the radio station, you know, Flagler Broadcasting and and I'm going to say things to my uncle because it's his radio show on Friday, that host and Jay and the others with a lot of the Flagler theaters. And so I would not have met them had I not gone into it, just kind of, you know, see my uncle do a show. And so I've met a lot of, you know, different things at the radio, kind of seeing where things go that way, just kind of helping out with Flagler Broadcasting and doing some things there. And then with Daytona State College working their hopefully come January. So, I mean, there are so many different moving pieces right now. Like Angela, there's so much going on and it's why it is exciting and it is so new and all of these things that I'm just soaking it in and just enjoying where I'm at right now is really, really awesome. What will you be doing at Daytona State College? Is that in the health and fitness field? Unfortunately, no. I will be an academic advisor, but I am. To me, health and fitness and personal training is not something I plan to ever get rid of, and it's definitely ingrained in my bones and in my cells. So you won't see me leaving this profession for a long time ever. So just kind of note that if anybody out there is looking for a personal trainer, Nancy is looking for clients. People there. You got it. I'm here to help. Awesome. So one last question that I like to ask people. If you were to ask our our listeners to set a goal for the future in the health and fitness fields, what would you tell them to do and how would you advise them to get there? So if you are trying to do something new or reach a certain goal or just trying to figure out what that is. What I would definitely suggest with you is if you don't know where to start, talk to somebody that you know is either doing what you want to do or has done what your what you would like to do and then hold yourself accountable. I think the most important thing is we talk about what we want to do, but we don't actually follow through and do it whether it be setting a deadline and it doesn't have to be the whole thing. I mean, pick something kind of like I said in the beginning with, okay, well, what doesn't sound scary to you and ask yourself that question. Okay, well, that sounds super scary, but what part of it is something that I could do and could do today? Because ultimately you want to choose to do something today that is going to set you up for whatever it is you want to do. So break it into those little pieces. Talk to somebody who's done it or doing it. Hold yourself accountable. Give yourself a deadline and start small. Excellent. I love that. Hey, everybody. You heard it from Nancy. Get out there and take those small steps. Talk to people and you can do it, too. Well, Nancy, thank you so much for being on the show today. I really appreciate you and your knowledge and your sharing. Thank you, Angela. It's been a pleasure and I really appreciate you having me. Wonderful talking with you. This is Angela Grayson from the Loving Life Fitness Podcast. To help others in their fitness journey. It's all possible! It’s time to wake up. Here we go.