Ep. 68 Get Strong: Fiona Ross Empowers Midlife Women with Exercise Wisdom

Meegan Care: Hey, welcome to the podcast Fiona Ross. Thank you so much for joining me. Tell me all about you and the people you help.

[00:00:08] Fiona Ross: Thank you, Meegan so yes, I’ve been involved with fitness for about 32, 33 years. I was a midwife.

Got involved with fitness when I was a midwife, but that kind of took my interest And, yeah, I’ve just kind of taught classes, do a lot of rehabilitation, anybody that’s got any injuries, whether they’re younger, older, just people that are looking for, you know an introduction to the gym. I like sort of helping people to develop their confidence and that kind of relates to our sort of midlife years as we speak.

I, yeah, taught many different kind of classes and then I’ve kind of branched out in that sort of holistic health approach because I realized that Sometimes I’d help people in the gym and realized that actually, it seemed like I was doing all the right things and things weren’t still not getting better and that’s where I kind of explored craniosacral therapy, color therapy yeah, lots of yoga, you name it.

[00:01:07] Meegan Care: You’re the whole package, Fee. Well. If you don’t know, Fee, she is the whole package.

[00:01:15] Fiona Ross: Thank you.

[00:01:17] Meegan Care: So tell us about how you help midlife women. And I know you help them in many, many ways, because like you say, you also work as a craniosacral therapist and with sound healing. But in terms of our physicality.

Because we were just chatting before about, you don’t know till you actually go through perimenopause, the changes that actually happen in your body. Like prior to that, it’s kind of like you hear about it. You might hear about hot flushes and insomnia, but you don’t really know it from a lived experience, of course, until you go through it.

So what’s been your journey? with, you know, your physical health and wellbeing, your strength and your fitness going through perimenopause and menopause. Can we start there?

[00:02:03] Fiona Ross: So interestingly, I’m not saying I thought I was okay as in, oh, well, you know, I’m in this health industry and I keep myself fit and do a bit of running strength training, you name it, I’ll be fine.

And a really weird thing happened or not a weird thing, but I I remember my sister in law always saying to me, How come you’ve got a flat stomach after having two children? And And when I, what I first noticed was my midsection started not being flat, if you like. That sounds very vain, but it was, it was kind of like, I’m doing all the same things.

I am, I eat well. I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 19. I’m 59 now. And you know, I, I regularly exercise, you know, nearly every day and doing something. And I just thought, Oh, it’s just what happens. And I started waiting and I noticed that midlife women wore baggier tops and I thought, Oh well, I’ll just wear slightly baggier tops.

And that’s just what it is. And it wasn’t really until I discovered Dr. Stacey Sims I started reading up a little bit about sort of perimenopause and menopause. Probably the main sort of two things I was also experiencing was kind of sort of hot flushes and a little bit of insomnia or not sleeping as well.

And. Yeah, so I had started doing a bit of reading, a bit of research, started playing around with a few things, even stopped drinking coffee. I don’t drink a lot of alcohol, but I kind of really cut back on that as well and started playing around with a little bit of heavier weights, and didn’t do any running, did mainly walking.

And things did start to shift, and I realised that, You know, I might not have the flat stomach that I had when I was pre menopause, but I just felt like I had a little bit more power around what was actually happening for me and the no coffee and the no, you know, reduced alcohol made a big difference as well in my sleep.

So it was a, it was a, and it still is an experiment even though I’m 59 and I still have. Hot moments. I definitely sleep better. And my training does look a bit different. I still do weight training three times a week. I still do a bit of walking and I do intermittent bursts of cardio, which I think is, which I read is much better for our age group.

So, yeah, I’ve had to kind of experiment and work out what works best for me, but and it still is an experiment.

[00:04:35] Meegan Care: Yeah, it’s ongoing, isn’t it? And do you think that self experiment, because, you know, we’ve known each other a long time and I’ve seen how fit you are and how strong you are.

And then, you know, hearing from you, your experience going through menopause and the changes in your body. So what sort of difference did those subtle kind of tweaks? make for you overall? Like, has it been a big change? Has it been significant?

[00:05:07] Fiona Ross: I would say it, it felt like I was getting my power back in the sense of, prior to that, I was like, well, what am I doing wrong?

What’s, what’s happened? And it, it did knock, you know, my self esteem. And I also was very conscious of working with my clients and If I can’t, excuse my language, sort my shit out, then how am I supposed to help these people that are looking for advice? And and, and, yeah, it does, it’s a bit of a mental game as well, as in, you know, I’m not saying confidence hasn’t, even though I’m in a, I’m teaching classes, I’m in front of people, and I might look confident.

That confidence has come from self development and understanding, but when I was noticing these changes in my body, my confidence went down a little bit, so I think I noticed more my confidence was coming back because I felt like I knew what to do.

[00:06:09] Meegan Care: Yeah, you knew what tools to use or how to change your approach and then you started seeing results for yourself and how you felt.

So extracting from that, your understanding is that we should or it’s good for us to approach exercise differently in midlife?

[00:06:33] Fiona Ross: Yes, definitely. And I’m seeing that I still think. I can only lead or, you know, give advice around my own experience. I don’t know what it’s like to be in somebody else’s body.

I still think exercise in general, doing something is, is important to move the body. And you know, what I do might not be right for the next person. So but if you’re, if you’ve always been a regular exerciser, you’ve always lifted weights, you’ve maybe done classes and things are changing and you’re not sure.

What’s, you know, why are things changing? Then you need to think, well, maybe I need to change. And, and I, and change is a funny thing. Not, we don’t like to change. We want to keep doing the same thing.

[00:07:21] Meegan Care: That’s right. Even if we have, like, even if we have the thought, I want this change, our brain, we’ve got these pathways already set up, right?

So that’s why change is so difficult initially, because our body and brain will stay with the status quo, will stay with what’s safe. And then you add to the mix the fatigue or insomnia or hot flushes or whatever’s going on for a woman in perimenopause. And for my experience, anyway, it sort of made it harder To get moving and create change and, and I’m not saying I’m 100 percent there yet because there are times where I’m like freaking out, you know, I need to get back up and feel like I’m kind of starting again.

I guess what ticks me off, cause we were talking about having a really honest, transparent conversation about this time of life and what really goes on for us. And from your perspective, but what, what I see so much is you know, we can sell you this, this fad diet, this fad exercise plan, and you’re going to get rid of your meno-belly in 30 days or whatever it is.

What are your, what are your thoughts on that?

[00:08:29] Fiona Ross: Sad, sad, but true, you know. We’re like a target market for a fad, the fad diets, the quick, and it’s all about the quick results. And I honestly don’t think that is a thing. I think we get hooked in it because we’re not confident and we really are desperate as opposed to going, okay, what can I do to make some changes and, and can they be consistent?

And I often talk about this with my clients that if they come in with this idea of I want to do six days a week, I’ll see. You know what, I would rather you came in twice or three times a week and that was doable and you didn’t beat yourself up trying to do six days a week and then after two weeks that doesn’t happen and then you don’t.

So, I think we are a target, and also because people, we like quick results, and so. Often the marketing has done so well that sometimes when we’re in that low, you know, that low confidence place, we grab on to whatever we see and just, you know, get hooked, hooked in. And I, I just think, yeah, either do some reading and find out and talk to other women or yeah, just question your, your reason for reaching out to try and get this quick fix.

Because I don’t think the quick fixes. Is that a real thing?

[00:09:56] Meegan Care: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And it’s natural, isn’t it, for us to at all stages of life, to want the quick fix to reach for what’s, what’s gonna fix us. And we think, well, if I can fix this, Get the weight gain, which is really normal at this time of life, get that under control, then I’ll feel better in myself.

But as we both know, it’s a much more holistic approach is required because there’s so many levels that are changing and altering in midlife and and perimenopause. Yeah. So you, you’ve been really helpful for me personally personally in helping me to understand the importance of lifting heavier at this age and, you know, what happens to to our muscles, to our strength and how we can create a change around that.

Can you talk briefly? I know it’s a massive subject, but is it possible, like, to sort of sum up what happens for a woman, say in perimenopause or early menopause, in terms of our, our Muscle mass in terms of our strength, and then we’ll go on to, you know, what can we actually do about it?

[00:11:07] Fiona Ross: You’re right, and it is a big subject. Sorry to hit you

[00:11:11] Meegan Care: with it.

[00:11:12] Fiona Ross: Thank you. There is a lot of information. There is a lot of information, and I think I’ve shared this with you, Dr. Stacy Sims book Next Level, which is all about menopausal women, and her book prior to that is Roar. And I think The most important thing is understanding.

For me, it’s understanding what’s happening in my body and then it makes sense as in our hormones, estrogen and progesterone are, you know, lower, lower than they were before menopause. And if we find out what those hormones did for us. And then that helps us understand why we’re experiencing what we’re experiencing.

I think the big, biggest thing that I would share is that When people realize that when we become insulin resistant and, and the, the short sharp exercise is, is going to do the job of what the estrogen and progesterone were doing. So it’s actually basically helping our bodies to use, yeah, rather than the insulin.

 It’s helping the glucose go into our muscles, into our liver, instead of having the estrogen and progesterone doing that, so that we and therefore, yeah, sorry, and that’s why the body

oh my goodness, my great Maybe we’ll ask some other questions and then I’ll come back

[00:12:39] Meegan Care: to it. Yeah, because I can always chunk things around and I don’t think you need to explain what insulin resistance is. We just say that because of the hormone shifts you come into insulin resistance and then it’s we have this maybe tendency to put on more weight and then muscle mass goes down and then, but I love that bit about the exercise, the short, sharp thing.

So we’ll come to that and just we can weave it in or not. We’ll just let it flow. Oh yeah, no worries. God, so good. Alright, so, yes,

alright, so I’m going to ask you this curly question, alright? So, I’m going through perimenopause, my energy is down, I’ve got insomnia I just feel so bloody tired all the time, and then, I’m told that I need to exercise, right?

But when I exercise, I end up getting really tired. So if I was your client Fee, what would you say to me?

[00:13:33] Fiona Ross: A few things I would check around your, your nutrition, around your actual, actual exercise, i. e. how are you feeling yourself before your exercise and after, again, because in, and including myself, I would often.

Get up in the morning and when I did a bit of running I’d be out out running on an empty stomach and And at our age at our age The body doesn’t want to do that anymore because it our cortisol, our stress hormone is increased if we go out on an empty stomach. And so the body thinks it’s being attacked and, and so we’ll, we’ll hold on to weight and we’re going to feel tired and it’s just not going to help.

 But also if we come back and then think I’m not going to eat because that’s going to help me lose weight, then we can definitely sort of flatline with our energy and so

it’s really important how we fuel ourself before exercise and after exercise.

[00:14:34] Meegan Care: Fi you were really helpful for me in that regard because I was that person that was really tired and I was like look I can manage a walk you know, I think I should be lifting weights because I’ve read that that’s really good for women of our age but when I started to do that, I was so freaking tired afterwards, and we were just having a little chat about it.

And you said, well, make sure you eat before. And I was doing that. And you said, well, maybe you need to have some good nutrition straight away afterwards. That’s going to help your recovery. And honestly, that’s been so helpful for me. Like it really did help the recovery happen sooner.

And then because that happened, that helped me get into momentum.

[00:15:14] Fiona Ross: Yeah.

You’re right. As I was saying that. You know, including myself, that, that old relief around, I need to starve myself to lose weight definitely doesn’t work for us now. And so nutrition done well can help us fuel our exercise, but it can also help with our weight loss as well.

[00:15:36] Meegan Care: Right. So we should like, and I’ve heard that from another guest, she was saying where a lot of women actually don’t eat enough to nourish their body. Yeah. Yeah. Did you find that for yourself as well, that you had to change how you were fueling your body? Because I know that you’re like, from my understanding anyway, you’re very nutritionally sound as a person.

[00:15:58] Fiona Ross: Yeah, I think the only difference was that non fasting. So if I’m going to exercise in the morning, I’ll always have something just maybe little and especially if I’m doing weights or heavier weights and unless I’m just going out for a walk. And if I’m doing any of this, the sort of sprint interval training that sort of short and sharp stuff.

And then I, then I’ll fuel myself before that as well. So, and then make sure I eat afterwards.

[00:16:29] Meegan Care: And so in terms of. You know, I’m, I’m that person that was, you know, very fatigued and perimenopause, and had I come to see you as a client, you know, help me fee you know, I was a lot, very fatigued all the time, but I did understand that I wanted to be, I needed to be stronger in my body.

What would you have me start with? What sort of things, like weights? yoga, what, what would you recommend?

[00:17:00] Fiona Ross: Obviously I would check with your history as in, have you done any weights before? And even though we’ve spoken about lifting heavy weights, it’s all relative to you. So I would just start you where I knew that when you were safe and that you could manage and literally just build up a foundation of good technique and You feel empowered by it and then get you to start to increase the weight as you feel it’s becoming easy.

So but I would also start with some of those just sort of mobility, stability exercises.

[00:17:37] Meegan Care: Yeah,

[00:17:38] Fiona Ross: as much as we’re talking about weights, body weight is a good place to start if you’ve never done anything.

[00:17:45] Meegan Care: So even if I say started on some, say for example, if I started on some leg strengthening exercises at home and I felt that I could really only manage 10 or 15 minutes, should I even bother?

[00:18:02] Fiona Ross: Definitely. Again, Lots of information out there and there’s lots of You know, you must do this and you have to exercise for this amount of time. And I often say to clients a little bit, like I’ve said before, they’ll come in. I want to do six days a week and I’ll see, right. If you can do two or three days, I’d much rather you just did that.

And it’s the same with, if you said to me, I’ve only got 20 minutes or 40 minutes or half an hour or 15 minutes, I’d say, right, just do it. Just start because I can almost guarantee soon as you start doing that and you feel better about yourself, you’ll. automatically start adding another five minutes or you’ll maybe do half an hour when you said you’ve only got 15 minutes.

So it’s all about empowering the client, you know, getting them to feel better, making them kind of in charge and, and not making it too hard. So if you said to me, I’ve only got 15 minutes, I’ll say, right, here’s three exercises. I just want you to do this. And then I can guarantee you’ll come back to me and say, actually, I’m really enjoying this.

Can I get some more? .

[00:19:04] Meegan Care: Yeah. Because it’s the, the psychologically it’s important that we have some wins and feel like we are succeeding no matter where we start, so that we have the, you know, that supports the wanting to continue and Hmm. You know, otherwise it just gets dumped in the two hard basket. And a wait for the next quick fix though.

Yeah,

[00:19:25] Fiona Ross: absolutely. Yeah.

[00:19:26] Meegan Care: So in lay women’s terms so that I can understand it, why, why all this thing about lifting heavy weights? Why is it important for me to build up muscle?

[00:19:36] Fiona Ross: Lifting heavy weights,

again, it helps with that lack of estrogen and progesterone. You know, lots of other things including bone health, including our muscle is our, is our engine, if you like. So we lose muscle mass every decade. And. If I’ve got lean muscle mass, and I don’t mean big, huge muscles, but if I’ve got lean body mass, my body’s metabolism will be faster than if I’ve just got, if I’m skinny fat.

Yeah, so if I’m, you know, not very muscly or not very toned. And I can still be the same weight. But I, my, and that’s where people speak about, I’m putting on weight, I’m doing the same thing. And I’m, you know, why, what’s happening? It’s because we are losing muscle mass, our engines not, not going as well.

It means our metabolism drops. And so I’m eating the same thing and our body’s holding, you know, putting on weight. So we want to lift weights. To keep that engine going, to help protect our bones. And generally it just makes us feel stronger and able to do things without having to ask for help, you know?

Asking for help, there’s nothing wrong with asking for help but, you know, there’s There’s lots of jobs that we take for granted when we’re younger. And then suddenly as we get a little bit older, lifting the heavy garden stuff or, you know, Three

[00:21:07] Meegan Care: bags of groceries in from the car, right?

[00:21:10] Fiona Ross: Absolutely. It becomes functional. I really do think it becomes functional. Getting out of your, your chair, you know, getting off the floor. And, it’s not about what you look like. It’s actually what you can do with strong body, you know.

[00:21:24] Meegan Care: It’s exactly what I was going to just say.

It’s not about what we look like. It becomes about what we do and, and to be, you know, of course, it shouldn’t ever have been what we look like, but that’s the culture we live in. That’s how it is. But I love that in midlife. We get to really turn our focus into function and, you know, like when I came into my 50s, I, prior to that, I was just like, eh, whatever, you know, I’ll do a bit of yoga and do a bit of this and do a bit of that.

Then I started to see, oh, fuck, just what, what were the things like standing on one foot and tying my shoelace? I’m like wobbling around the place. Doing a hike and having lots of stairs. I’m like, Oh, that was a bit killer. You know, it’s just those simple things. And thankfully I clocked on, I was like, Oh, actually this is going to be about function.

This has to be about function now. Like it’s so important. And, and cause I’m I, what I want to say to people, I guess, is that it doesn’t matter where you start from. It’s like, you can always make these micro improvements add up to being a lot. over time and give you that confidence. And I don’t know if I’ve told you this yet, but Fi I’ve done a couple of strong sessions for women in New Plymouth where Fi guides them through exercise that’s appropriate for women in midlife.

And I tag in with some beautiful meditation at the end. And there have been such great events have been community events, but how many women that have come to those events that have taken what you’ve taught them. I’ve taken that home and done that at home with one set of weights and maybe nothing else, that’s all, and them saying to me, like, I can feel that I’m getting stronger.

I feel so much better for doing this at home. I mean, it’s such a testament to what you’re talking about.

[00:23:21] Fiona Ross: Yeah, I think. I’m speaking about a client I’ve, I’ve had for a little while now, but she really wasn’t a gym goer. She was a bit scared about coming to the gym. She actually had an injury, which the reason she came to me and, She’s only been coming once a week, but her strength has increased so much and she’s not doing anything other than seeing me for once a week for half an hour.

And so that’s why I often say to women, even if you’ve got half an hour once a week, that’s going to make a massive difference and you’re going to feel so much better. And she’s really loving it. And actually look I don’t mean looks like a gym bunny, but she just looks like somebody that’s always coming to the gym and she’s, you know, she never, ever had stepped foot inside a gym and.

Yeah, she’s really, she really looks forward to it and I think it, it gives, it, it, you know, increases your confidence. It just makes you feel better. And yeah, she, she does a bit of walking and some other bits and bobs which has become easier just simply because she’s brought that into her.

[00:24:22] Meegan Care: Yes, yes. So key, isn’t it?

And I think it’s the slow kind of crawl that I became a bit of a victim of, of a sedentary job, I’m sitting down all of the time, I’m into walking, but not a lot else. And then is that becoming less because we’ve got that muscle loss each decade that you talked about And so then it kind of started to hit me.

I was like, oh shit I actually have to do something about this and because I hadn’t really exercised was You know, enjoyable with the dog, but I hadn’t really thought about lifting weights or anything like that since I was, you know, a young, young woman and then understanding, like, why it’s so, why it’s so important for our function has become so, so helpful.

 Fi what about the woman that I talked to in Newwood as well, that they’ve got more of the sort of more of the strain injuries that happen in menopause. So the frozen shoulder is a real typical one, right? And then, so then there’s quite a bit of pain happening. What would your just off the cuff advice be for someone like that is like, actually, it really hurts me to exercise.

I’m finding this really hard and something like frozen shoulder can take quite a while to heal in my understanding. But while that’s all going on, we still want to be, you know, strengthening our body somehow. What on earth do you do if you’re in that position?

[00:25:52] Fiona Ross: Yep, so definitely have worked with lots of women with frozen shoulders or shoulder injuries or shoulder surgery and in this age group.

And interestingly enough, because we’ve got lack of progesterone progesterone helped protect and stabilize our joints. So somehow. I mean, obviously you’ve got other parts of your body, your legs, your glutes or there’s, there’s a lot there that could be worked with, but at the end of the day we use our arms a lot.

So I think finding somebody who knows and understands injury. And finding some exercises because you can use bands, even though I’m speaking about heavy weights, you can use rubber bands, you can go through the motion of a weighted exercise, but with just a band and start to develop a bit of strength and those stabilizing muscles around your shoulders.

I mean, we use our shoulders for everything, you know. That I. Again, if it’s that old thing around, if you don’t use it, you lose it. So unless it’s in a sling, unless it’s in a cast, you want to be using it somehow. There, there’s always a way. Yeah.

[00:27:02] Meegan Care: So getting that expert support.

[00:27:04] Fiona Ross: Oh, definitely.

[00:27:05] Meegan Care: Yes. To help you find workarounds.

Yeah. Definitely. Yep. And so what about what about for women who are like, they’re really fatigued, you know? So I had chronic fatigue when I had Crohn’s disease and I sort of had a similar pattern when I went through perimenopause for a little while. And so I was like, Oh no, I just need to rest. I just need to rest.

But eventually I was like, Hmm, yeah, but I’m losing strength as we go here. Like how do you, I’m, I don’t know if there’s an easy answer for that, but what’s your take on it?

[00:27:38] Fiona Ross: I think there’s honestly a two pronged attack, but yeah, not where my craniosacral and you, you are a therapist as well with this Megan, but again, working with somebody that understands your body at this age, and I’ve worked with lots and lots of people. And I remember working with this particular lady who I remember thinking if somebody watched us doing what we were doing, they would think we were hardly doing anything, but it was all she could manage.

And at the same point, we were doing craniosacral as well to support her emotional, mental, you know, and nervous system. And so again, it’s finding somebody who understands and she always felt better. She never, ever regretted the session. And I often will say that to people, you might not want to step into the gym and you’re a bit scared about coming to the session, but you always leave feeling better.

So, and it, and it might not be coming to the gym. I’ve got people that come, I set them up with a program, I might video myself and they do it at home, and because that’s where they’re comfortable doing it. So, somehow, you need to find something that works for you whether it’s at home, whether it’s at the gym, whether it’s working with somebody or on your own, but it’s also that other part, that, that sort of mental emotional part as well.

And then other days that. Like you said, you do feel tired and actually you need to honor that and, and give yourself a rest, you know, so and maybe the walk in the park is, is the thing that you need or the walk down the beach.

[00:29:19] Meegan Care: Yeah, beautiful. On that day, and it’s a, it’s a sort of a case of start where you are.

Absolutely. Yeah. And like, like we know from many things in life. That comparison, the comparison with other people becomes problematic. So it’s starting where you are, if you’ve got some serious difficulties going on, then find someone that really understands what happens to the physical body in midlife, because that’s very specific, and then yeah, start there.

So good.

[00:29:56] Fiona Ross: Yeah, I mean that comparison thing, and I think that still, well not still, but it’s, it’s something that’s, we start to compare ourselves to younger women, or when we were that age. And so I think, forget, not forget that, but, and again, there’s that other part where we get pulled into really good marketing around it.

anti aging and, you know, you can still look youthful and actually, what about just embracing the fact that you’re in this age and actually all the wisdom that you’ve gained and, and, and where your life’s going to take you now. And, and, and so if we do find ourself comparing or struggling with where we’re at, we, that tells me we need support, you know, we need, and I, I’ve, I’ve had support.

So To help me understand where I’m at. So, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. That’s a, I feel like it’s, you know, you, you go and get support for whatever you’re accounting or you’re a lawyer or, so what about your own personal self? You know, where you’re at in your stage and age in life.

[00:31:05] Meegan Care: Yeah, beautiful.

I was just going to start asking a few questions around or talking about our mindset and our psychological approach, and you know, you really brought in around comparing ourselves to to other women younger than us or to our younger selves, and it’s really natural that we do it because we are bombarded with it all the time.

Or, Or, I’m seeing women that are my age that are very, very gym and, and nutrition focused that are looking like they’re ready to go into a, some kind of competition, right? Because that, that’s their entire focus. But what I really hear you saying is it’s like, it’s about finding functionality, like finding that good function with your physical body and your mental self and your emotional self as well.

At the end of it, that’s. You know, that’s what’s so key, that’s what’s so important. There’s no question there. I’m just kind of, I’m just kind of rounding up what I heard you saying,

[00:32:11] Fiona Ross: like, there’s an older lady that comes to the gym, she’s in her 80s, well into her 80s, and, and I, she just comes and does her own little thing, and it, you know, it’s quite gentle, but she does a little bit of weights and a little bit of walking and moving around, and I can guarantee that.

It’s, you know, it’s helping her stay young in the sense of her mobility and agility and she just moving her body and sort of reiterating what you’ve just said around the whole functionality at the end of the day, we want to age gracefully in the sense of being able to do all the things we want to do well unless you want to enter a competition or whatever, but yeah, I just think what is your, what is your aim?

You know, what is your goal? And just looking after yourself, your physical body is great, but it’s also so that you can, whatever, play with your grandchildren, take your dog for a walk, or

[00:33:10] Meegan Care: the why, feel good in your body when you’re doing the things that you’re doing. And I love that thing that I’ve been saying, and you just said it around removing anti aging, you know, because that, that really points us to this.

Cultural belief that aging is somehow not okay. Of course, we see that everywhere. It’s not new to any of us. But what about the, the aging well, aging strong, aging like excited about the next chapter of our life and that’s, That’s been a good why for me with my physical body is to be like, well, if I want to still be adventuring in another 10 years time, I’m going to prepare for that now so that it’s, that it’s easier for me to do.

[00:34:01] Fiona Ross: Definitely.

[00:34:02] Meegan Care: So Fi is there anything else that, you know, if you were sitting down, well, you are sitting down with a midlife woman right now, I’ve always admired you, Fi because you are a strong woman inside and out. Like physically, mentally, emotionally, but you’re also not afraid to let yourself be transparent and vulnerable.

And I really appreciate that about you. But what, like if I was asking you for advice around what can I do for you to sort of lift, lift myself up a little bit to give myself a little bit of strength and whether that’s physical, mental or emotional what’s, what’s your a little bit of advice for me as we come to a conclusion?

[00:34:42] Fiona Ross: I think around.

Well it could be looking at and what you kind of just said earlier around, I don’t mean your future self but in 10 years time do you want to be, what do you want to be doing? You know, do you want to be out walking, hiking with your husband or partner or friends? Do you see yourself travelling?

And so do you want to be physically well and so that, so that’s one part, but the other part, I think, which again, we’ve spoken about is, are you happy, really happy with yourself where you’re at, you know, and if you’re not happy and yes, physical is one part of it, but the mental emotional part, you know, if you’re still having, still being triggered by young people and wishing that you were still 30, or if you were.

Wanting to have, and I I’m saying this in a nonjudgmental way, but if you wanna have Botox or any of those parts, what, what is it that you are not happy with being who you are right now? And, and look, the, look the way, the, the, the way you look it tells me something internal is not, is not completely at peace.

And I, and I think I’ve spent a lot of years trying to understand myself. A really deep level so that I can be at peace with myself. And so I think, find out, ask yourself, am I really happy both in my physical self and in my internal world, whatever that looks like for you. And if I’m not, then get, you know, ask, ask somebody for some support just so that you can age, yes, gracefully and strongly into.

Even, you know, 60, 70, 80, whatever, however long you’re going to be living, but also that you can be happy with yourself and that you’re, because I, I remember when I worked as a nurse and I looked after sort of elderly people and I always used to make me laugh that, that I used to think, well, when you’re at that age, you must be really happy with life because you’ve lived a big long life and you’re, you know, you’re, you’re coming to near the end of your life, but you’d still see, see childlike behavior or spiteful behavior or women that would show me their body and go, Oh, I’m really fat.

And I used to think, Oh, but surely you must be happy because you’re now 80 or whatever. So I think it’s quite funny. Looking at older people and seeing their personality and, and their beliefs in themselves still quite strong because they’ve maybe not had the support or help to really understand who they are and be happy with themselves and be at peace with themselves.

So it’s a bit of a long winded answer, but it’s a, it’s a, it’s quite a deep question. Really?

[00:37:36] Meegan Care: It is. And I love that you’ve sometimes the best answers open the doorway for us to think more deeply for ourselves. And I just super appreciate that. And like, you’ve really helped me to connect to my why, as to why, you know, I do what I do.

in terms of my physicality. And I think that it’s going to be really supportive for other women that are listening as well. So I thank you so, so much for your time and your wisdom today. If women want to be around some of your wisdom some more in different ways, maybe they want to work with you or, follow you on socials or something like that.

What’s the best way to sort of be in, in Fi’s world in that way.

[00:38:24] Fiona Ross: Can contact me through Rampage Fitness

[00:38:26] Meegan Care: in Right, that’s in, yeah.

[00:38:29] Fiona Ross: Or maybe would you just put the link to my Instagram or Facebook? Yes. Yeah. Because Fiona Ross is my Facebook, but my Instagram, I think it’s Fit fee 17, but I’ve actually.

It’s, thank you. . Yes.

[00:38:45] Meegan Care: Moment. I think there’s an underscore in there somewhere. I don’t know. I think there’s an underscore here. I’ll, I’ll link it into the show notes.

[00:38:52] Fiona Ross: That would be awesome. Thank you so much, Megan. Appreciate your friendship and your support.

[00:38:58] Meegan Care: I appreciate you and thank you so much for your time today.