The Livy Method Podcast - Maintenance & Mindfulness Live with Andrew Blakey - October 21, 2024

Episode Date: October 21, 2024

In this special edition of Maintenance and Mindfulness Live Gina Livy talks with fitness coach and podcaster Andrew Blakey. This is the live recording from October 21st, 2024. You can find the full video hosted at https://www.facebook.com/groups/ginalivymaintenanceandmindfulnessTopics covered:Introducing Andrew BlakeyAndrew tells his story about when he fell in love with fitness.Why does Andrew enjoy working with people over 40?When it comes to fitness, find what works for you, no one thing works for everyone.Don’t overthink it, start with what feels good for you – there is a learning curve.Andrew lists his favourite exercises.How do you know where to start?How do you find motivation to exercise?How to reframe your mindset – invest your time into yourself.How important is it to exercise now? – it’s never too late.Andrew’s favourite things to hear from clients.How do we approach movement and exercise with physical limitations? – never push through pain.What is Andrew looking forward to talking about? – there are no silly questions.Where to find Andrew?  Facebook,  Instagram, and Podcast.Facebook: Andrew Blakey ✓Instagram: @iamandrewblakeyPodcast: The Aging Grace with Andrew BlakeyTo learn more about The Livy Method, visit www.ginalivy.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm Gina Livy and welcome to the Livy Method podcast. This is where you'll have access to all of the live streams from my 91 day weight loss program. With a combination of daily lives, guest expert interviews and member stories, there is something new almost every day. Miss the morning live? Want to re-listen to one of our amazing guest experts? Well, this is the place. This podcast is hosted on Acast, but it's available on all podcast platforms, including the one you're listening to right now, Spotify, Apple,

and Amazon Music. Dive into Peloton workouts that work with you. From meditating at your kid's game to mastering a strength program, they've got everything you need to keep knocking down your goals. No pressure to be who you're not. Just workouts and classes to strengthen who you are. So no matter your era, make it your best with Peloton. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton.

Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. Maintenance and Mindfulness Monday. Today I'm introducing a brand new guest expert. We are super excited about this. Andrew Blakey is joining me today. He has a background in kinesiology. He's a certified personal trainer. He is passionate about helping people see exercise and movement as a way to improve themselves and prepare for a healthier future. I mean, right up our alley. No, he wants exercise and movement to be simplified, accessible, and realistic. And his passion for helping and educating has brought him here today.

Hello. Hi, welcome. Hey, good to be here. I'm looking forward to this. I feel like we've got a lot to talk about today. You know, we do have a lot. I've been following you on Instagram for a while now. We take a lot of care in choosing our guest experts. We want them to really respect how hard our members are working towards their weight loss goals or here in our maintenance and mindfulness group have worked so hard to achieve their goals. and now they're working through maintenance because once you lose your weight the work isn't done in fact it can be a whole other can of worms now with

the living method in general people don't have to exercise to lose weight hugely massively beneficial so i'm going to start my first question today is, is why a love of exercise? When did it start? Tell me your story. We want to know. Yeah. So, I mean, long story short, I mean, I've always, I've always been around, around, uh, sports and, you know, my mom, she got me into it when I was, you know, young, young, young. Um, but there was a point where, you know, in, in, in college, you know, as, as long ago as that was, um, where that, that fitness part and that, that sport part kind of got put on the back burner a little bit. So there was a point while I was in school where I

eventually got to being, you know, 40 pounds overweight. And that's when I was kind of like, okay, you know what, something needs to needs to change here. And before that, I mean, I was a little bit overweight going into going into to university, but I didn't really know what to do about it. I mean, I feel like there's so much confusion and so much information out there. Right. We kind of talk about it all the time, about how there's, you know, everybody is saying something different. And so, I mean, the route that I took was I went to school and I studied, you know, kinesiology. But I don't think everybody should have to go take a university degree in order to, you know, focus on their health and to know what to do about their health. Right.

So for me, you know, I had the knowledge, I had the skills to make a change. And I just think that that good quality, credible information needs to be needs to be out there, which is why, you know, I got on social media and I started talking about all this stuff was because I want, I want good information to be out there and I want to make things a little bit less confusing for everybody, no matter kind of where they're at in their journey. So I do have to say you're a handsome, I would say somewhat young man. I know there are a lot of people who are listening and they can't see you. So I'm describing you. You're a young, handsome man. What is your interest in us older generation? So you love working with people over 40. Why? What's that all about? Yeah, good question. Great question. There was a time where I was working with, you know, elite level athletes,

some of the best in the province. And for me, I mean, when I look at fitness and my love for fitness, I want to have a big impact. And of course, I can have a big impact with working with lead level athletes. But for the most part, they're already in in, you know, good slash great shape. And I feel Oh, dude, no, okay. No, I'm agreeing with you. I'm like, Yeah, that's okay. All right. Gotcha. And I feel like, like the impact that I can have is is greater um with people who are you know over 40 you know i love working with that age group um i love the the conversation even the things that i can learn from them right because i mean they as much as you know i might be where they you know want to

be fitness wise in terms of in shape or whatever um and again everybody's got different goals with their fitness um so i say that very lightly um but I feel like the impact that can have in terms of, you know, getting people going with exercise and fitness. And I feel like by the age of 40, people have either had a great experience with fitness in the past, or maybe they've had a really bad experience with in the past, either with a gym that didn't resonate with them, a coach that didn't resonate with them, or whatever it may be. And for me, I feel like I, I love to change the way people think about fitness, because I think that, you know, in the 80s and 90s, there was a certain way that we thought about exercise with the, you know, tight and bright aerobics and all of that, which was great. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about, which was great, you know, and and for some people that may not have resonated with them. And and to this day, they may still think of fitness and, and strength training as, you know,

tight and bright and, you know, the hoo-hoo rah-rah, right. That we see, you know, probably on social media and stuff. Um, but I want to kind of bring fitness to people in a way that is resonates with them, with where they're at. Yeah. I think there's not enough people doing that. I'm a, I'm the eighties and nineties girl. I was a hardcore aerobic instructor. I was even on stage doing the whole aerobics thing. I had all the leotards with the thongs up the butt, the aerobic running shoes. I mean, it was my life. But my philosophy was if you came to my class and you didn't leave feeling like you were going to vomit, then I did not do my job. It was very much go hard, go home type of mentality. Also, I find that it's not, not much has changed in terms of the presentation of what we're seeing out there. It's a lot of young buff fitness people, you know, trying to tell us people, you know, who, you know, whether we've got tons of kids or we've got high stress jobs, or we just, we're looking after aging parents. We've got a lot of things going on, you know, just go to the gym, just do this, do that. And it's a it's a lot easier

said than done. So I really appreciate and love your realistic approach. So a couple of things I want to get into, I saw that you were in our comment section, which I love that getting a sense of what our members want to talk about. But before I get into specifically talking about our members, if there was one thing you could get across to people in terms of fitness, health, wellness, like this is your one chance to say something and put it out in the world, what would that be? As cliche as it is, I would say don't overthink it. You know, I think that sometimes, you know, you've heard about, you know, the all or nothing mindset, right? We talk about it a lot because a lot of people fall into that pattern. And I think that when it comes to fitness, especially as a beginner, beginners are going to respond really, really well to all sorts of different modalities, all sorts of different

types of training. And one thing I like to say to people is that if the mindset of I don't like working out is there, then that probably just means that you haven't found the type of exercise or the type of training that resonates with you where you're at. Yeah. Yeah. I truly do believe that there's a type of, of working out or a type of resistance training for everybody. And it, sometimes it takes trying a couple of different types of training before you find the one that's really going to sit well with you. Well, what you mentioned before, it could be your association to exercise. When I, when I'm working with my personal clients, you you mentioned before, it could be your association to exercise. When I, when I'm working with my personal clients, you know, I see people who are older who,

when they go back to the gym, they're doing the same routines that they were doing. I'm like, you're not, you're not a football player anymore. Like you're, you're not, you're not the aerobic spin master queen anymore. Like this is not like they go back to the same things that they know. And I think, you know, it's also the way they view exercise as well. You just, you, um, Andrew compliments me on going for a walk. He saw my social media posts. I just got back from a walk, tried to fit it in. And it was interesting because I was on my walk and I just wear the same sweatshirt and the same jogging pants. Like I don't mess around. Like they're comfy, they're baggy. I don't have time to figure out what I'm going to wear and how I'm going to look when I go out on my walk.

So it occurred to me as I was taking another photo, hey, I'm working. Like people have probably seen me in the same sweatshirt. Five posts. When you say don't overthink it, what does that mean? Like what do you mean don't overthink it, what does that mean? Like, what do you mean don't overthink it? What do you mean? I would say that when people are first starting to go to the gym, a lot of times they think, okay, I need, what is the perfect routine for me to be doing?

You know, what exercises do I need to be doing? And I would say that for people who are starting out, just get in there. Just start doing a workout. Of course, we can refine things later on the, the, the route that somebody is going to take to, you know, being strong or, you know, I, I, you know, do air quotes fit, whatever that means, right. Is going to be different based on, on one person to another. Um, but as you go through your fitness journey, as you go through your relationship with exercise and resistance training, and when I say resistance training, I just mean, you know, working out that that's going to be refined over time. But the important thing is that you just start doing something.

And as you get more comfortable with it, as you learn more about it, because you will, you know, you might go to the gym, you might, you know, do three or four random exercises. And you get home and you're like, hmm, that exercise was interesting. Let me Google that. And then you end up finding a couple more that are similar, right? So everybody kind of goes through a learning curve when it comes to their working out. That's really interesting that you say that because I think a lot of people have – they envision that they have to know exactly what they need to do when they get to the gym. I took my daughter. She's 19 years old.

She's like, well, I don't know what to do. And I said, oh, we'll just, we'll figure it out when we get there. We'll just start on a treadmill or treadmills are busy. We'll start on a bike and then we'll walk around to the different machines. Sometimes my workout is solely based on what's available and where it's less crowded. And, you know, I kind of figure it out as we go, but I love that approach of not having it all figured out. Just start, I think, is probably the most important thing. What are your favorite exercises for people? Oh, that's a really big question.

I think that there's certain components. And when we bring this back to the over 40 part, there's certain components that I think that a lot of people neglect. And so for me, when it comes to favorite, I'm going to interpret that as what do I think are the components that a lot of people could really benefit from, right? And when we look at the over 40 category, of course, there's the strength that we need to optimize. You know, we want to get strong with it. But the other areas of like a very, you know, well-rounded, balanced program,

especially as people are starting to think more about longevity and, and being independent in their, not just in their forties, but in their, you know, sixties, seventies, eighties, it's things like balance and stability exercises, right? So getting people even just standing on one leg. And I know that for a lot of people, they're thinking, Oh, you know, that's super simple. I could, I could do that all day. Right. But there's all sorts of different ways to make it more challenging and to neglect that one specific part of, of a well-rounded program, I think is going to kind of do a disservice for you. Not, not now. Cause it, you know, everybody can kind of, you know, walk or balance or whatever it is now. But when you get into the later years, you're going to kind of get there and you're gonna be

like, Oh, I wish I had to focus a little bit more on on the balance and the stability part of it. Right. Yeah, because I think people think exercise, I got to go to the gym, I have to lift heavy weights, I have to start running or have to do whatever. And you know, there's there's strength, there's endurance, there's flexibility, you mentioned there's balance, there's stability. I mean, this all leads to better mobility, better mobility, there's stability. I mean, this all leads to better mobility, better mobility. There's some people who are going from living a completely sedentary lifestyle to all of a sudden go to the gym and someone doing some heavy, hardcore weightlifting program when that's not necessarily what people need. How does someone assess their needs? I mean, obviously it'd be great. They go see a personal trainer like yourself,

but how would someone even assess sort of where to start? Is there like a scale for that? Um, yes and no. I mean, yes and no. I think probably the best approach would be to, you know, find a good quality, credible personal trainer, um, go to your doctor and get, get an assessment done in terms of, you know, like the different metrics for, you know, um, blood tests, things like that. But in terms of the physical part itself, I would say, you know, a good personal trainer is going to be able to take you through even the 20 or 30 minute assessment. And it's going to be able to see where there's imbalances, where there's a lack of strength, where there may be different deficiencies, right? So I'd say it's really hard for me to kind of be like, okay, do this exercise, do this exercise and do this exercise. And then we're going to,

we're going to know where you're at. Um, but if you find even, even if it's something like going to a personal trainer one time and just being like, tell me where you're at. Um, then that's going to be a really big insight for you to modify your training, to incorporate different, what I kind of call accessory exercises, things that are going to, um, help you again later again later in life. So that would, I would say that would probably be a really good starting point. It's just to go, even like I said, like one session to go just see where you're at with somebody. Yeah. Cause a lot of people, I think, look at a personal trainer. It's someone that's going to stand there and count and maybe be your accountability person. I mean, people still cancel on their personal trainers. Trust me. I know when I was a personal trainer, people canceled on me all the time. And personal trainers

do a lot more than just sit there and count. They make sure you're using proper technique. They create personalized programs for you. I love this idea of investing in time. If you're really unsure, invest in some time, talk to a personal trainer. They're an expert in their field. They can take into account any health issues you have, limitations, you know, even finances. If you can't really afford to go to a gym, what can you do at home and whatnot? I love the idea of investing, even in that,

just there's a lot of pressure though, that when people go to gyms to sign up and buy like a year's worth of, you know, I know Tony went and bought a whole year's worth when we were getting married, a personal, he still has like, I don't know, 500 sessions left. It's insane. Um, but, uh, it doesn't have to be all or nothing and you can definitely create something that, you know, really fits and meets your needs. Okay. Um, let's talk about motivation. People are listening. They're like, I like this Andrew guy. He makes sense. What is the, how do we get people to take action?

That motivation piece. People are tired. They don't have a lot of time. They're stressed out. But at the same time, they've worked really hard to achieve these weight loss goals. Should they start with figuring out why they want an exercise? Like whether it's endurance or it's strength or whatever it is, or where do people start in terms of like, okay, I need to exercise. Where do I start with this mentally, physically,

whole thing. Right. I think that that's a very, um, there's a lot of different ways we can go with this because, and again, I'm, of course I'm biased. I'm a, I do personal training or whatever, but I, I think that it's not a matter of, of if people should be working out, I think everybody should be working out. Again, because of how many benefits there are, not just again, with strength, that's a massive, massive component of it, right? You know, if you increase your strength, that's going to help you in all sorts of different aspects in your life. But I think it's, again, kind of everybody should be doing it. I don't normally like to say everybody or always or never. But this is something that I

can kind of stand behind when I say this. And, but that's, this is something that I can kind of stand behind when I say this. And I think that everybody should be doing some sort of resistance training. You know, my mom, um, she does all of her walking, which is amazing. Um, she does all of her walking and she's like, ah, I've been wanting to start a resistance training program or a workout program. It's like, mom, okay, then then get going, get doing it. Right. And it's, I don't know, I don't know how you feel about it, but I find it really hard working with family when it comes to doing personal training and stuff. I hired my mom a personal trainer. So my mom, and I'm so grateful that I'm blessed to be able to afford to do that for her. It's probably my single most important investment

I've ever made into my mom and probably the best gift she's ever received from me. So she started, it started because we were going on a trip and there was going to she's ever received from me. So she started, it started because we were going on a trip. And there was gonna be a lot of walking involved. Although my mom is probably in better shape than I am. And so I got her personal trainer to help kind of just motivate her like she's super active in her social life. She gets out there a lot, but we're talking like strength, bone density, like all of that. And so she started working with a personal trainer and it's been about a year. I, and I'm sure she would agree. She looks amazing because she feels amazing because she's no longer sitting on the couch thinking I should go do something. She's actually

doing it. She, I remember she talked about putting her tires in her car. She's like, I was able to put my winter tires in my car when you don't get them changed, like put them in to go take them to the place to get changed. I can carry a case of water bottles easily up the stairs and into my house. She's 72 years old. And I swear it has added years to her life. Like, because like, it's just the difference has been amazing. It's that resistance training. It's the flexibility. She's doing that thing where she's getting down on her knees and she's able to get up again. It's been a game. It's a game changer. Yeah. And I, you know, I, I'm glad that you mentioned that actually, cause that's, that's such a practical example

of, of how that strength is going to be incorporated into the rest of our life. Right. Um, it's not just, you know, going to the gym and being able to lift heavy, right? It's going to the gym to lift heavy so that you can, you know, insert whatever here, right? Whether it's loading your tires into the car, whether it's, you know, going out and being able to do the yard work, right? Whatever it is, there's going to the gym is going to help you in other areas of your life. And for me, I think that that's the biggest, the biggest benefit from it, right? It's how does this newfound strength or this newly created strength incorporate into other areas of your life?

New year, new me. Season is here. And honestly, we're already over it. Enter Felix, the healthcare company helping Canadians take a different approach to weight loss this year. Weight loss is more than just diet and exercise. It can be about tackling genetics, hormones, metabolism. Felix gets it. They connect you with licensed healthcare practitioners online who will create a personalized treatment plan that pairs your healthy lifestyle with a little help and a little extra support.

Start your visit today at felix.ca. That's F-E-L-I-X dot C-A. Whether you're in your running era, Pilates era, or yoga era, dive into Peloton workouts that work with you. From meditating at your kid's game to mastering a strength program, they've got everything you need to keep knocking down your goals. No pressure to be who you're not. Just workouts and classes to strengthen who you are. So no matter your era, make it your best with

Peloton. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. Yeah, so I have a comment here from Trudy. I know that you saw that. I'd like suggestions for how to get my ass off the couch and pick up the weights I have and use the treadmill and stationary bike I have. Hopefully you can touch on how to push yourself to get moving. And I think that it comes about reframing your mindset a little bit. A lot of times when we think of working out, a lot of people associate it as a chore, right? And I think that a better way of thinking about it is that working out, I mean, in my opinion, is one of the greatest forms of self-care that we can do, right? You know, going to the gym is going to help you mentally and all of that. But I think by thinking about it as something of of it, you investing not just your money into into working out with your gym membership or a trainer or whatever, but it's you investing your time into yourself. Right. I think it's really easy for us to focus on everything else in our life, whether it's work or, you know, making sure the kids are set up or, you know, investing time into our relationships, all of which are incredibly important.

But I think sometimes we feel guilty when we're focusing on ourselves, right? Because, like, why aren't I doing this instead? Why aren't I doing that instead? And I think that working out is one of those things where it's you're truly investing your time into yourself and you're doing something for you. So let me ask you then, how important is exercise now to set yourself up for later in life? And is there a point where, I mean, obviously with my mom, it wasn't, it's not far from too late. I'm like sticking around forever. So, um, but how important is it? Like, how important is it? Like, I think, you know, it's so hard, as you know, like, it's hard for people to prioritize. Obviously, people in this

program, they found time to reach their weight loss goals. That's different when you have that motivational goal, and you're doing it for the sake of weight loss. But now when you got to do it just for the sake of like being healthy, it seems like it's probably last on the list when there's so many other things that we can do. So when it comes to prioritizing it, like how important is it? Yeah, well, you know what, there's actually a post that I saw. I actually I put it on my Instagram story, actually. And I'm going to mention it just because I love I love the message that it comes across. And it was that and I can't remember the exact specifics of it. So I'm probably going to butcher it. But it was that, you know, the arthritis or the osteoarthritis

actually started at 30. It was the, the diabetes at, at, you know, 50 started at, at 20. And there was a bunch of other ones like that, but it's truly, I think that that really makes the point really well in that these different chronic conditions that we get later in life, they didn't start later in life. They started, they started today. They started yesterday. Right. Um, and then there's that other quote, which again, that I love. And it's that, you know, of course, you know, the best, best time to plant a tree was yesterday, but the next best time is today. Right. So going off what you said, you know, it never is, it's never too late, right? We can always get different benefits from strength training and resistance training. Um, whether you started, you know, in your twenties and thirties, or whether you start in your forties and fifties, there's still so much that you can gain from

getting involved with, with working out. Right. And, and all these different chronic conditions that none of us want, um, those, those are best prevented by focusing on, on the things you can control today, which is, you know, your nutrition, right? Which all the people in here are doing right now. And it's also the resistance training and getting the strength with all the muscles in your body that are going to help to support you later in life. So I think to answer your question, you know, the longevity piece of it, it's incredibly important.

What are, obviously you probably see a lot of personal training clients. What's your favorite takeaway from clients. What's your favorite takeaway from clients? What's your favorite not like for me, I love when people are able to go to their doctors, they're able to get their blood work done and see like a noticeable difference beyond just what's happening on the scale. What is your favorite thing to hear from some of your clients? Well, there's two things that actually that come to mind right away. The first one is, of course, like a lot of a lot of the clients I work with, they go and do different body scans, whether it's, you know, Medcan or TELUS health or, um, or an in-body scan in their gym. Um, and just hearing how they

compare one year to another. And, and the, you know, they send me, usually they send me pictures of it, right. They send me pictures of it and they, they're like, take a look at this, you know, and they usually keep it short. They're like, what do you think of this? And I'm just like, most of them just like, wow, like good for at this you know and they usually keep it short they're like what do you think of this and i'm just like i most times i'm just like wow like good for you you know with the increase in muscle mass um the you know decrease in in weight or the change in body composition so that's one that really that really jumps out to me is just again because it's easy for people to say hey look you're getting stronger um but to actually see that on paper using a type of scan that is reliable, is it's

just a whole nother aspect of, hey, look, look, from the client's perspective, hey, look, that, you know, I'm working, and it's working for me, you know, and to kind of reiterate to them and just say, Hey, listen, I'm just telling you what to do. You're the one putting in the work, right? So I think that's one that really jumps out. And then there was another client. And this is, again, one of my favorite things to hear was there's somebody that I started working with probably about five years ago or probably about five years ago. Her name was Cindy. And she had tried all sorts of different things, different classes, different trainers. And in her words, you know, working with me was kind of like her last resort. It was kind of like one last chance to see where she can go go with it and this is kind of going back to the point

earlier about trying different things to see what works for you um you know i got her to make a little video at the end kind of like a testimonial type thing and the thing that she said was that that fitness is not at all what i thought it was you know, and seeing her being able to go off on her own after and continue succeeding after was, was very, I mean, inspirational isn't the right word for it, but very rewarding for me, because I know that at the end of the day, I'm not going to work with everybody forever. And that's okay, you know, but to teach them the things that they need to know, to go off and be okay, and to continue succeeding afterwards is there's nothing more rewarding for me than that. I love that.

I noticed in some of the questions that you were getting, I mean, people have limitations when it comes to working out back pain, joint pain, knee pain, all of that. How do people work through and overcome that to get to a point that they're able to exercise? Is this something that they need to look at what they got going on should they strengthen those areas first before starting or something to keep in mind when the kinds of exercise like how do they approach movement and exercise when they feel like they're just hobbling around half the time and you know either in pain or just like moving their body feels like the last thing. And I can attest to this because I've been dealing with a back injury for two years now, um, that started at my wedding, too much tequila, a lot of dancing, not really sure. Um, but it flares up every now and then. And I, of course I go see my chiropractor. I, you know, take anti-inflammatories or whatnot, but I'm actually, it's the, it's a sedentariness that is my problem, not actually

moving. But man, you know, my chiropractor will say, you got to go for a walk. You got to do whatever. And I look at him and I'm like, are you fucking kidding me? I can barely move right now. Like I'm in a lot of pain. Like this is not going to help me. So you can, can you speak to that? Cause it's, it's a lot easier said than done when people are actually in real pain for us to sit up here and say, well, you should exercise. It's good for you. Yeah. And, and going off that, it's very demotivating for people as well, right? Knowing that they're making all these big changes in one area of their life. They want to, they want to start incorporating more exercise, but, but they're literally, you know, in pain, right? So that's, that's a tricky one. That's a tricky one for sure.

Cause it really depends on what, on what the issue the issue is. The first thing I'll say is when it comes to exercise and working out, we never push through kind of funny about all of us. Cause we all do this where it's like, say we have, um, you know, an injury somewhere. We'll kind of, we'll kind of almost look for it where say I have a shoulder injury or something. I'll kind of like move my shoulder around and be like, Hmm, does that still hurt? Oh yeah, that does still hurt. And we'll kind of, we'll kind of agitate it a little bit and we'll just every day we'll kind of be like, okay, let me, let me try to see if this still hurts and it's like yep that still hurts but we're never really giving it a chance to to fully heal when we do that right and whether it's a surface level injury like a cut or a scrape i like to compare that to to things like back pain as well in that with our back you know we've got our vertebraes and we've got these nerve roots that kind of come out from from uh between these

vertebrae and when we kind of do these little movements to kind of shimmy and shake and see if it still hurts, it's kind of like you're you're kind of scraping that that scab, right? And we're never really giving it a chance to fully hear or heal, sorry. So sometimes it's about modifying what you're doing in your in the rest of your life, not in the gym, but the rest of your life, to see where whether or not we're giving that that injury or that condition a chance to heal right so it's like sometimes it might be as simple as adding a back support to your chair so that you're you're you're vertebrae in a better position where you're not constantly rubbing agitating agitating them right so sometimes it's all about just changing and modifying the things that you do for a couple of days or a week or whatever it may be or weeks to make sure that we're not going and kind of looking for that pain, which there is a really good friend of mine.

He's a photographer and videographer, and he he always carries all of his equipment, his equipment on on one shoulder. Right. And so he's always leaning to one side a little bit. And he was talking about all this back pain he had. And that's one of the questions I ask when somebody comes to me saying they've got back pain is, okay, well, what does the rest of your day look like? What are the extremely repetitive movements that you're doing to not give your body a chance to properly heal? And again, this is a big generalization because a lot of different mechanisms that go into back pain. But that's one

of the things I would say is what is, what are the extremely repetitive tasks that you do every single day? And are those supporting your healing journey or are they making it worse and agitating things? Okay. Love this conversation. I think we've had an opportunity to kind of get to know you and kind of get a sense of your perspective. So what conversations are you looking forward to having? Like if I could say, all right, let's come back three times, five times, like what are you itching to talk about? I would say the biggest thing that I like to do is, again, I like to teach, which is what all of this is, which is amazing, which is why I'm so looking forward to hearing all the different questions that people have. But I think it really

comes down to, again, I like answering basic questions where some people might think they're basic or might think that they're silly questions. But I, and same thing, I made a comment on, on the post last, you know, on Friday when we were kind of promoting this and it was, there's no silly questions when it comes to fitness, you know? I've been doing this a long time. I've heard every, what I think is probably every question in the book, but I'm sure there's still going to be lots of other ones. And I think if anything, it's just, I would say to the people that are listening, don't feel silly to ask a question because I genuinely want to hear what question do you have?

And I genuinely want to make sure that, that we can shed some light on those, shed some guidance on those and, and kind of give you the confidence to, to start doing the working out and start doing the resistance training and to start doing the working out and start doing the resistance training and to start getting that movement into your life. So to answer your question, all the questions, I want them all. Well, I'm here for this because this is really how my weight loss programs, my group format started really. The Livi Method, we do these large programs three times a year. That's how it started is that I knew that people would have questions and I wanted to provide, cause I knew what I was

offering was a little different than what was out there. And I wanted to provide a safe space where people felt like they could ask any and every question that they need. I probably heard it all too. Although I do say every now and then I get a new question. I'm like, Oh, that's new. And I love that. I love when I get a new question. And, you know, I answer the same question the thousandth time it's been asked just as enthusiastically because I tend not to try to say right from the gate, right from the jump, you know, there's no such thing as a silly question because we're talking about basics foundation for a lot of people, right? Like it's not usually the bodybuilders and the extreme athletes that necessarily are having a hard time getting to the gym who don't know what they need to do. And not that, that they don't deserve their own conversation for leveling up and all of that,

or they have their own issues as well. But I think for the most part, most of us are just trying to get out the door. Or they're trying to just do what they can if they can't get out the door and they're, you know, they're at home, you know. So I think this is, and yeah, and your answer, your answer was with grace. Yeah, right. And just to jump in one more time, and this is kind of a little bit, this is almost, I don't want to say selfish of me, but I'm just like, when people ask these questions, I enjoy answering them. So I get to feel good in knowing that I'm helping somebody

else. So as much as, as much as it's, Hey, I want, I want all your answers. I was like, I also get to feel good doing it too. So it goes both ways. They're doing me a favor by asking these questions. Well, my, my favorite saying is it feels good to feel good. It feels even better to help other people feel good. Andrew Blakey, thank you so much for your time. I'm already looking forward to our upcoming conversations. Where can people reach out to you, find you? I just was searching up your Instagram account for your quote that you're on. You're on Instagram. I am Andrew Blakey. So people can find you on Instagram. I have it on the screen here as well. Do you have a website?

You know, if people are reaching out, want to reach out to you, do you have any things going on that we need to know about? Yeah, I mean, I have a website. It's yourfuturefitness.com. But same thing. I want to talk to people. So and I'm going to get, I can't talk. I'm going to get these messages faster through Instagram or Facebook.

Whether it's somebody sending me a voice note, whether it's sending me a message, I'll get it a lot quicker on Facebook and Instagram. And I'm looking forward to hearing any questions that they have. So those would be my two kind of places would be Instagram and Facebook. And you have a podcast, The Aging Grace with Andrew. That's right. The Aging Grace. that's, that's all about, um, a lot of it is going into different like scientific studies and things like that. And I know that that's not a lot of people that can be, that can be like, oh, okay, that's just all this science talk or whatever. But I really like to relate it into ways that, that are practical and, and taking this scientific knowledge, this literature and interpreting it into a way that everyday people are going to,

are going to understand and know how to use it in their everyday life. Well, we love science around here. The Libby Method itself is based on science. We have what's called Science Saturdays, where we do science posts. Same thing. There's a lot of science behind. And then we tie it into where people are at in their journey. And we break it down in a way that can resonate with them.

I can truly help. I can truly tell we both, both need to go. That's right. But no, that was great. I love that. I love that.

I can truly tell that you're here to help. Thank you for joining me today. Thanks everyone who is joining us live. Thanks to everyone who has downloaded and listened to us by way of our podcast. After the fact, Andrew Blakey, thank you again.

I'm already looking forward to our next conversation. Me too, that was awesome. Whether you're in your running era, Pilates era, or yoga era, dive into Peloton workouts that work with you. From meditating at your kid's game to mastering a strength program, Thank you.