Please note this transcription is generated by software. There may be some errors. I hope you find it useful.
Dr Orlena: Hello, Coach Cailah. Thank you so much for being with us here today,
Cailah: Dr. Orlena, I'm glad to be here. Thanks for having me.
Dr Orlena: My absolute pleasure. Now, do you want to just dive right in and tell people a little bit about yourself and what you do?
Cailah: Sure let's jump right in. Well, my name is coach Cailah. I am an online health health and fitness and nutrition strategists.
Cailah: So what my company does is we help people all around the United States, as well as the world to design the body of their dreams via strategy that is specifically created for them.
Dr Orlena: So how did you come to be a health and fitness coach? Tell us a little bit about your story.
Cailah: Sure. Well, when I was a kid, I was a little fat kid.
Cailah: I was always athletic. I was always active, but I was always one of the bigger kids and I didn't like it. You know, I had some self-esteem issues. It was, it was bad. You know, my, as a young girl, like my brother. My stomach will stick out further than my boobs, you know? And so, again, as a young woman, I didn't like that.
Cailah: And so I started to started to study. I started to learn I started running track and basket played basketball in high school. And from there it really took off. I started studying against my, you know, with my coaches and understanding what they did. And then I got my undergrad in college for exercise science and fitness management, and then went onto grad school and got my masters in coaching education.
Cailah: Concentrated exercise physiology. So what I do for people is what I did for myself. You know, helping me to Lilly design the body that I want to live in health, fitness, and nutrition.
Dr Orlena: And today we're going to talk about fitness because, well, I think you're really keen about fitness. So tell us a little bit about why I can see your eyes lighting up.
Dr Orlena: I know if you're listening on the podcast, you can't see. I just see this big smile on your face when I say the word fitness. So tell me a little bit about exercise and movement and what it means to you.
Cailah: Exercise is life, you know, being able to move his life for me, you know? And the biggest issue was people usually take health as one aspect.
Cailah: They'll take it as only nutrition and just overall movement instead of actually putting your body in a position where your body can overcome some form of resistance, whether that's on a mountain. Or whether it one, a body weight plank, you know, so exercise is pretty much almost a cure all in terms of health and disease.
Cailah: So it's so important for our bodies to be able to move the way they were intended to move, as well as of course nutrition, everything else that comes around. So fitness wise, yes, it is super important and I like creating it fun and also the strategy around it for people.
Dr Orlena: You are talking my talk! and I also really love what you just said.
Dr Orlena: Movement is life. And I think that is worth repeating because it's something that we just take. So for granted, but it is something that really distinguishes us from things that are obviously inanimate, inanimate, but you know, that movement piece really resonates with me. And I'm not the world's greatest runner, but I do run a little bit and I really enjoy that sensation of running down step.
Dr Orlena: And think, oh, I haven't done this. Well, obviously I've done it more times now, but since I was a little girl, you know, that was the kind of thing you do when you're young and jump around you bounce. And then as adults we're more sensible and you know, the kind of movements. Exactly. It's more kind of movement is more walking and just like not really enjoying our bodies and that freedom to express ourselves through movement.
Dr Orlena: If you're starting with somebody and you know, they come to you and say, you know, I want to get healthy this whole movement piece. I think a lot of people are really scared of it, of this idea of getting fit. And I know that I've spoken to people who know that they need to be doing more exercise, but there's that pain that they have to go through.
Dr Orlena: What do you say to those people?
Cailah: We've got a way, the outcomes, you know, a lot of people are facing health issues, you know, so it's what happens if you do. You know, especially for those that are facing health issues. And so I'm, I've got a, got a client now who he did not take care of himself, you know, kind of growing up growing up, they didn't take care of himself in his adult life, you know, did it didn't do anything for himself.
Cailah: He started exercising, but he wanted to get strong and not necessarily, but was white. He was about 250 pounds, which is maybe, I don't know. 180 kilos. I don't know. I'm just making it up. But the issue was is that he was unhealthy point blank and period. And a few years ago he had a massive heart attack, had suffered a massive heart attack and he had to have four states.
Cailah: Put in him, right? So usually you might have one, maybe two, but he had four stents put in him at the age of 41 years old. So he's extremely blessed and able to be alive, but it had to look back at his life and say, wow, what could I have. You know, I, I could have paid more for healthy food. You know, I could have paid for a trainer.
Cailah: I could have paid to do this, that and the other, but now he's got a hundred thousand dollar medical bill because he had a heart attack, you know, and he had that, that procedure done. So for the people who are facing health issues for the people who are facing you know, just that, that health crisis look at the opposite, what's going to happen.
Cailah: If you don't. You know, how bad is that right now, for those of us who aren't facing those health issues. That's another issue. Okay. That's another focus we have to look at. How do we want to live? Do we want to have aches and pains as we age? Do we want to be in a position where we can't move or it's uncomfortable to move as we get older?
Cailah: Right? Do we want to just look good skin feel clear, healthy, and happy. So when it comes to exercise all around the board, it is 106. Necessary, not just something that you can do, but I believe everyone should do it. And for those of you who are new, starting off, start off with stretching and mobile.
Cailah: Allowing your body to work through the full range of motion, meaning okay. If your elbow was supposed to go straight and come back in, start moving that entire joint from start to finish, right. Then move your shoulders and move your hips and move your knees. Move your ankles. Allow your body to work through its full range of motion.
Cailah: Mobility stretching then started getting a little heart rate in there. Then we start walking. Then we start adding a little higher intensity once you've mastered each level. So it can be really simple. It can be really easy. It can be as complex as you want, or depending on where you are, as simple as wake up and stretch.
Dr Orlena: That's that's an amazing story that you told about your plan. With me as a British person, we don't get health bills in the same way as you do in the United States, but a hundred thousand dollars just like makes your drawer, want to drop. And even not so much the money, it's not the money. It's oh my goodness.
Dr Orlena: If you had just looked after you. You wouldn't be in that health situation and in a less dramatic way. I look at my mother-in-law and I haven't really shared this on the podcast, but my mother-in-law is not in hugely great health. And part of it is just lack of morbidity, just losing the habit of walking or rather.
Dr Orlena: Having the habit of being sedentary the whole day and her and her partner are actually younger than my mother and my mother's partner. But the difference is unbelievable. My mother cycles and she walks just because that's what she's used to. And I think, you know, coming back to your second point is it doesn't have to be complicated.
Dr Orlena: It can just be easy. And keep going. So I guess, you know, we've looked at the, oh my goodness. This is the bad side. What's the positive side. What's the good side of exercise.
Cailah: Oh, oh my gosh. The good side is you're able to use your body to its fullest capacity. You know, why, why have something half-full, you know, why have something that's not the best that they can be?
Cailah: I've always been taught and I was raised to go after the best, do your best, try your best, give your best. So why wouldn't I do the same for my body? You know? And that's what I teach. How, how, how much more can we do? You know, if we get up and we walk a mile in 10 minutes for those that made me begin it that's awesome.
Cailah: Now how fast can you get that mile? There's always another step. Be happy with where you are as you're growing and as you're, you're improving and then go further. Right? So from feeling better on the mental and also the social side, you have, of course, the amazing health benefits in terms of cardiovascular health, right?
Cailah: Pain is really huge. Again, especially as we age because we're fit and fat over 40. Right. So we want to make sure that. We are able to live long, healthy, and happy lives within our body. We don't want to go to an amusement park or go, you know, on an adventure and we can not participate with our family because I bought is unable to that's the worst feeling to have, whether it be weight or whether it be, oh, I can't walk down this hill or I can't go wherever because of my knees hurting.
Cailah: I'm afraid to fall. So if we can put our bodies in the position, That will help us live a better life. That's a no brainer. So health in terms of fitness is again it's it's I don't, I don't know another word beyond necessary, but it's, it's, it's a part of life. So if you're not healthy, you're not living.
Dr Orlena: And I would say it's energy as well. I think people always say to me, oh my goodness, I don't have energy to exercise. And I say, no, you're thinking about it the wrong way. Where do we get our energy from? We get our energy from exercising and I know that. On the days that I can't exercise, I feel like I'm dragging myself around.
Dr Orlena: And when I go swimming and cycling and then come back feeling invigorated, I think is the word and more productive because you're ready to do the thing. That you know, you perhaps don't want to do all that. Well, that's so easy. In my case, since social media, that's not my favorite thing in the world, but I'm much more able to do it when I've been exercising and feel like, oh, I've got some of that energy out of my.
Cailah: Yeah, I'm the same way. Like I will, if I'm not able to exercise, you know, my body does drag and it starts to hurt, you know especially when nutrition falls as well. So if you're not eating right and you're not moving your body, at least your body will deteriorate. You know, atrophy sets in within two days, if not less.
Cailah: So we've got to keep our bodies moving again, to stay healthy and to be in a position where we can get up, move a little harder, a little faster, you know, whether it be for cycling or swimming or anything like that as well.
Dr Orlena: Perfect. And I have looked at different places and different places have.
Dr Orlena: Recommendations for how much exercise you should do and what type of exercise you should do. So what is coach Keller's recommendations? What do you think people should do regularly to keep themselves fit and fabulous?
Cailah: I think that people should be active seven days a week. All right now activity is that's the word that people can debate on whether you're walking with the grandkids, whether you're playing with a dog, whether you are hiking with the family, right.
Cailah: Or actually like doing yoga or Zumba or weight training, it's about being active. So there should not be a day in your week where you are sitting all day long or laying all day long. Okay. So my recommendation is seven days. Take at least 20, 25 minutes to do something minimal. Now, if you're not able to do something on a day, that means let's take that twenty-five minutes from, let's say Sunday and switch that, you know, kind of spread that out throughout the week.
Cailah: So now we're looking at 30 minutes a day for six days. If we can't do something on Saturday or Sunday, now we take that 25 minutes and add it to the five days a week. Now we're looking at about, you know, 40, 45 minutes, Monday through Friday. So there's always a way. Okay. I always have my clients focus on getting at least 150 minutes of cardiovascular and right.
Cailah: Cardio activity, every single. In addition to three to four hours of some kind of vigorous exercise, whether it be weight training or, you know, rollerblading or things like that. So again, 150 minutes a week of cardio and try and get three to four hours of some type of physical resistance training. Again, bodyweight, yoga, or hiking or something.
Dr Orlena: And I, what I am hearing is words like Zumba and rollerskating and they sound fun and exciting. And I think one of the things that people get very stuck in is, oh, exercise. I have to go to the gym. I don't like doing this. And I think making it fun is half the battle. Isn't it. And finding something that you really love doing, what have your favorite sports coach Cailah?
Cailah: Oh, my favorite sports. I love basketball. I told you about, we have a basketball game later today. It's about two o'clock here in the United States. But yeah, we have a basketball game later today. So playing basketball, you know, whether it be racketball or something that gets your body up and moving.
Cailah: Now we have, there are also ways to trick ourselves into doing what we need. One of those ways is again, like you said, to have fun find activities that are really fun, find a group to do it with, but what if you're facing a situation where you have to reach a specific goal by a specific time? So you might need a little bit more strategy and coaching for that, right?
Cailah: So we're talking about running a 5k, you know, you might have a goal. I want to run this 5k and X amount of. Right. So now we have to transition a little bit from what's fun to what's going to get, put us in the best situation. So there are always levels to exercise fit. Isn't kind of the strategy and mindset around it.
Cailah: One is have fun. Find things that you can stay active with at least 150 minutes a week. Cool. Number two is if you have a solid goal, whether it be you want to lose a certain amount of. You want to be able to do a, a bikini athlete or a bodybuilder, or you want to run a 5k. If you have a competition goal, now we've got to not worry about what's fun.
Cailah: We've got to worry about how can I get to this goal? What's the best way about it. So now our mind focuses on, okay, let me go to work. Let me really focus on these muscles. Let me really change this. Let me really focus on my running form. Now it turns into work, right? In terms of how you can really approach your.
Cailah: By having, you know, a result that you're dedicated towards. So it depends on how you want to look at it. And it also depends on what works, you know, like my wife she's, she does not like exercise at all. So if I say, Hey, go do something. She's going to sit on the couch and watch TV because that's, what's fun to her, you know, dancing isn't really fun or rollerblading or walking.
Cailah: None of those things are fun, you know, but for her, she will play basketball. So if I can get her out the house and get her plan, you know, a couple of full court games of basketball, that can be her exercise. So sometimes again, we have to look at alright, we can trick ourselves by putting ourselves in a challenge mindset, or if it's easy for you.
Dr Orlena: So just backtracking a little bit, you talked about running and I love running. And I think running is a really efficient way to exercise much more efficient than cycling for example. But a lot of people complain about knees that they get knee pain with running. So what advice do you have for people who are not professional runners, but they want to do a bit of running and they're worried about their knees or they get.
Cailah: Excellent question. The first thing, when it comes to knee pain is before you run, make sure you stretch, you focus on that lower body, particularly start with, you know, toes on up. So stress your feet. You know, whether you're laying on the ground, kind of pulling your toes towards your knees. Stretch your feet go the opposite way.
Cailah: Stretch your tibialis, anterior, right? Set your hamstring, stretch your quad, switch your it bit. So really focus on your entire lower body because there can be some muscles that are tight or some tendons that are tight, that are pulling on that knee. And that, in other words, that's how you can be in. So focus on stretching, particularly your quads, your hamstrings, and your it bands, and also your blues, just for fun to make sure that your knees won't really hurt that much as you start.
Cailah: Okay. Another thing to do is mobility exercises. So stretch first, number two, go through some mobility again, put your bike through a range of motion also while stress. So do static then do mobility and then start off walking, get your heart, rate up, get the blood pump and get the blood flowing. All right.
Cailah: And you can start to add a little jog in there and then pick it up and pick it up. Sometimes we need a longer warmup than what we used to. When we were younger, I had double knee surgery and I can no longer just jump up and go outside and go run. I have to prepare. And also, if you have to repair it, there's a way to do
Dr Orlena: Fabulous. And for anyone who hasn't started running, I started running. I am now. Oh my goodness. How old am I? 46, nearly 47. And I started like, whenever it was a year ago, coronavirus time. When my kids, I saw my kids being really sedentary. I was swimming lots, but they were doing essentially nothing. So we started doing the couch to 5k and now I just keep it up one once a week and I love it.
Dr Orlena: And yeah, I've done that pushing myself because you know, someone says, oh, do this and you get a little point for something. And I did a 15 K before Christmas last year. Oh my goodness. I felt like I was about to die, but it was the challenge. It was like, oh wow, I've done it. I don't think I could do that now because I haven't, I need to build up a little bit more, but it's impossible.
Dr Orlena: You can't do it like seriously, if I can do. You can do it. I always say, if you can walk, you can run. I know there are some exceptions, but mostly if you can walk, you can run. No, I
Cailah: agree with this. So I'm exceptions, but mostly if you can walk, you should run.
Dr Orlena: Fabulous. Thank you so much for your amazing time. Do you have any last words of wisdom for us?
Cailah: Get up, get out, be active, be consistent, set a goal, stick to it, try and reach it. And when you do set another goal, stick to it and try and reach it. And when you new set another goal and try and reach it, that sounds like me
Dr Orlena: the advice. So where can people find out more about you and yourself?
Cailah: You guys are getting, my name is coach Cailah. I'm the CEO and founder of a company called Design Your Body Academy an online health, fitness and nutrition coaching program where we help individuals are on a private coaching basis.
Cailah: A one-to-one coaching with our dieticians or coaches just like myself. So if you need a little help, holler at us at design, your body academy.com, Facebook, Instagram, all of that. So design your body academy. Happiness. Thank you so much. You're welcome.
Episode 145: One Simple Tip to Make Healthy Living Easy
Episode 98: How Alexis Transformed her Life to Fit and Fabulous
Episode 134: How to Make Weight Loss Easy After Menopause
Dr Orlena Kerek (MBChB from the University of Bristol, UK) trained as a pediatric doctor. She is now a family health coach. She helps busy mums who want to feel amazing by eating healthy food, enjoy a healthy life, get back into their honeymoon shorts and teach their kids healthy habits all without thinking about it.
Take the fun quiz to get clarity on why you overeat.
What's really going on for you?