In our latest podcast episode, we delve into the transformative power of physical fitness with Pastor Sarah and personal trainer Cara Foote. This engaging conversation explores the myriad benefits of incorporating exercise into your daily routine, not just for physical health but for mental and spiritual well-being as well.

 

Pastor Sarah, with her extensive background in biblical studies and professional counseling, shares her personal journey from hating workouts to finding joy and mental clarity through physical activity. She highlights how exercise has been a crucial tool in managing her anxiety and depression, emphasizing that physical activity is one of the quickest ways to increase dopamine levels in the body. This boost in dopamine, along with the release of endorphins, helps decrease cortisol levels, leading to a more balanced and joyful life.

Cara Foote, a seasoned personal trainer, brings her expertise to the table, discussing her own experiences with fitness and how it helped her overcome intense feelings of rage and pain from fibromyalgia. She shares valuable insights on the importance of finding the right exercise routine that suits your body and preferences. Whether it’s running, rock climbing, or yoga, Kara emphasizes the need to engage in physical activities that you genuinely enjoy to sustain a healthy lifestyle.

The duo also touches on the significance of proper form and posture during workouts to prevent injury and maximize benefits. They stress the importance of starting with small, achievable goals and gradually building up your fitness routine. Whether you’re a beginner or someone looking to rekindle your love for exercise, this episode offers practical tips and encouragement to help you on your fitness journey.

One of the standout moments in the episode is Pastor Sarah’s discussion on the 40 Day Sugar Fast, a book that played a pivotal role in her weight loss journey. By eliminating high-sugar foods and gradually making healthier choices, she was able to lose weight and find a new appreciation for exercise.

Moreover, the conversation extends beyond physical fitness to include spiritual and emotional well-being. Both Sarah and Cara share how their fitness routines have positively impacted their spiritual lives, bringing them closer to God and enhancing their overall sense of satisfaction and contentment.

If you’re looking for inspiration and practical advice on integrating physical fitness into your life, this episode is a must-listen. Tune in to discover how you can transform your body, mind, and spirit through the power of exercise and find a more satisfied soul in your everyday life.

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Keep scrolling to read the full transcript.

>> Pastor Sarah: Hey, listeners, this is Pastor Sarah joining you again for our physical health fitness, podcast series with my friend Cara Foote. She is a personal trainer, and I brought her on for these segments because we just are like minded. We have a lot going on in our personal lives, but also, just our desire to grow spiritually and physically. And so we have worked on our physical health, on our eating habits, m just choices that we’ve made to better our health with vitamins, with the kinds of nutrients that we have, but also just our desire to have a full, encompassing health. So not just physical, but mental, spiritual, emotional. And so it’s been a huge blessing to be able to talk to her these past three weeks, and we’ve been talking about this for a long time.

And actually, as you learned from the last podcast, this is round two of recording this episode just like it was around two recording the last one because we had technical difficulties. but, you know, we’re talking about physical fitness and today about the benefits that you get from it. my biggest benefit, and then I want you to tell me your biggest benefit, okay, is just how I feel after working out.

Now, I used to hate, hate working out. I went regularly at the old job I had in Arizona. I actually had a membership per my job. And so it was like $10 a month at, ah, this very huge, it was called la fitness at this very huge fitness place. And it was beautiful. They had pools, racquetball courts. They had everything you could think of. And it was like I never had to fight over equipment. I just loved it. It was a great gym, but I hated working out, and I hated working out because I would have people tell me to do things, but they wouldn’t tell me how to do it correctly. or I didn’t know, like, you know, sets versus reps for my body. And so I just was in pain all the time, and it was just uncomfortable. Mind you, my husband was certified as a personal trainer, and, I’m gonna say he attempted to tell me things, but he did it in a way that was felt condescending. So I stopped getting his advice back then, because I was so, I guess, down on myself, or I didn’t feel confident in my own skin. And so it felt very condescending, the things that he said. And I don’t believe that was his intent. I don’t believe he was being condescending. That’s just how it felt, because I lacked self worth. And so, I hated going to the gym, but I made a change a couple of years ago.

I went on a sugar fast with my baby sister. A book that I read was called The 40 Day Sugar Fast. It was very informative. And you can start off by taking all sugar out, or you could do like my sister and I did, where we took out the most sugar, packed versions of meals that we eat. So, like, we took out, I took out candy, and I took out desserts, stuff like that. And at the time, I took out coffee with creamer because it was usually like a little shot of coffee and like, a gallon of creamer in my coffee. And so I took out the big things, and we did that for 40 days. And after the 40 days, I just added more to it. Like, what else can I take out? What else can I substitute? What else can I change? And so I had lost a ton of weight, and because I lost a ton of weight. I was able to exercise and enjoy it. but I had to learn some things first. So I started reading fitness books and creating a routine per what these fitness coaches were explaining to me. I also talked to you a bunch and you gave me some ideas. And so then I started really enjoying it. And now it’s like the highlight of my day, every day. Because not only do I feel good, But I’m realizing that the fitness itself, and I am, as a therapist, I tell my clients this all the time. Physical activity is the quickest way to increase your dopamine in your body. Hm. Because it gives you endorphins and all the positive happy hormones in your brain fire up, to decrease your cortisol levels. And so it was doing that for me, and I have, and I won’t talk about this now. I can talk about a different episode, but I have had issues with some mental health things going on. And so my anxiety and depression were skyrocketed, so my cortisol was high. And so physical fitness was what helped. And so for me, the biggest benefit was the mental health for, just the mental health reason aspect of working out. So what was yours?

>> Cara: Yeah, for me, I really actually started, I mean, I wouldn’t say I really worked out. I worked out as a teenager with, a boyfriend I had in high school, and I just followed him around the gym, kind of doing all the little things that he did. and so I didn’t understand until I was a little bit older some of the benefits. so I started, so first off, probably good 15 to 20 years ago, not including little pilates videos and things like that, that I would do here and there. I had gone through a dv situation where I had a lot of anger and I found that I wanted to like punch the walls, things like that, which isn’t helpful.

>> Pastor Sarah: I fully understand what rage feels like.

>> Cara: Yeah. So that’s actually how I started running. I was not a runner. I did not like running, hated running. I loathed cross country when I did it. but I did like physical activity when I was a teenager and tried to do all the things because I just basically grew up outside. And so, this is as an adult, you know, when I was late twenties. And so I started running, still wasn’t working out, but, I loved how it made me feel. And then eventually, started finding little things like rock climbing, stuff like that. And then when I actually went into doing rock climbing, I, right around that time, I was struggling to. I felt like I needed to lose weight, but I wanted to be strong, to be a rock climber. So I went and hired, the first time in my life ever hired a personal trainer who also worked with me on nutrition and was like, you’re not eating enough, number one. So I went to him, and I didn’t say I wanted to lose weight. I said, I want to be stronger. So I changed my mental way of thinking, and it, by me telling myself that it changed, I think, my perspective on it. And he started working with me on, more lifting, things like that, that I’ve never really done before. And he’s actually the reason why I became a trainer, because after that, and that was back when I lost a ton of weight, and I lost this weight. Even though my goal was not to lose weight, my goal was to be strong. I would not check myself on the, on the scale or anything like that. He would check it for me. And my BMI, went down. I felt better. but right around that time, I had also found out that I had fibromyalgia. They suspected it. at one point, I didn’t know what was going on with me. I hurt so bad that I just wanted to lay in my bed naked all the time with the softest blanket I could. Not even my sheets, no clothes touching my body because it hurts so bad. And the doctors prescribed, hydrocodone because they didn’t really know what was going on. And to make it through a shift, like, at my job, it would only last me for a few hours. And so somebody suggested trying yoga. So I had never really done yoga in my life, and I did, like, a beach body yoga program or something like that.

And physical fitness in general changes our hormones in our brain.

And I don’t remember what it’s called. This was a combination type thing. I think it was, like, Julianne Michaels or something, which is surprising she even did that back then. But I started following that, and just doing yoga before I would go to work would give me more pain relief in my whole entire shift than the hydrocodone did for a few hours. And I. So I wouldn’t take the hydrocodone because it also made me feel like I wasn’t all there, and I didn’t like that feeling. I’m such a control freak, that, which I’m grateful for. I’ve never been one to be, like, addicted to anything, and so I was like, I’d rather do the physical activity. And so that taught me that it’s a huge, like, pain relief for me. And so, I just had to learn not to overdo it with running. Once I had fibromyalgia, but, like, running and then lifting and doing things like that, it was. It was more the pain relief. And then also, like I said, that mental de stressing that I felt like I got. So that’s.

>> Pastor Sarah: Yeah, I would have to agree with de stressing. You know, like I was saying, I went through some hard, traumatizing feelings, which, you know, it could be a podcast later on, but, the rage was there. I had never in my entire life, I am 46 years old, and I’ve never felt rage ever. I am generally a happy person, generally a joy filled person. Now, I will say I do have the Rbs that people talk about. I don’t mean to, I just, like, it’s a stone cold face sometimes, when I’m intently listening, it’s not. I don’t give that face because of something somebody’s done. It’s because I’m intently listening, and so my face just sits. but I am generally a joyful person, and I went through some very traumatic things that caused me to have rage and working out. I mean, I was outside in my. So I have a. You and I both have actually, an in home garage gym, and I would be outside in my gym crying my eyes out. Working out.

>> Cara: Yeah.

>> Pastor Sarah: And it was like I was getting a double whammy. Because crying actually decreases your cortisol level, but also working out increases dopamine to decrease your cortisol level. So it was feeling so good. And, you know, there’s a reason why therapists recommend it to clients more so for men, because weightlifting tends to improve their mental health more. So if there’s any men listening, I would recommend, if you’re not at a gym or not regularly working out, you should be doing some physical things.

>> Cara: Actually helps to increase their testosterone naturally.

>> Pastor Sarah: Yes. And it decreases your stress level. And so I, would recommend that. That was my big take. the thing that I think helped me now, physical fitness in general changes our hormones in our brain. Like we talked about, it drops cortisol level. That’s because you get endorphin heights. There’s, like, runners that when they hit, their wall of running, they can push past the wall and they’ll get an endorphin high. That’s a good chemical. It’s an actual, like, you have the same effect of being high on drugs for having endorphin in your system. Dopamine is a, joy chemical. in your brain. And so those are the good things that you want to have. And physical fitness increases that probability in your body.

>> Cara: Yeah.

>> Pastor Sarah: Yeah. So you get an increase of joy and happiness and feeling satisfied and content.

>> Cara: Right.

>> Pastor Sarah: When you have those two hormones brought up into a higher level. Right. because it also causes your cortisol levels to drop. So, some other things that I think, are benefits for physical fitness is just your body changes.

I recently got certified as a holy yoga instructor

And so, you were talking about yoga. I recently got certified as a holy yoga instructor. And I remember when I first started. Now, I used to do yoga like, you know, I’ll try something different. So I’ll do a little yoga video or I’ll go to a yoga class, because, you know, I just want to try something different for my workout routine today. But I never truly knew how to do the poses well.

>> Cara: Yeah.

>> Pastor Sarah: And so when I started the holy yoga training, I mean, I can tell you I was hurting because what I thought were the correct poses, I quickly learned were not.

>> Cara: They’re much harder.

>> Pastor Sarah: They’re much harder. Your body gets put a lot of strength. And so I did not have it perseverance. One of the hardest poses to do is a chaturanga. Men think they do it, but they actually do a push up. There is a huge difference. Push ups are from knows how to.

>> Cara: Do it, and he has the control.

>> Pastor Sarah: To be, does he do it? Oh, good.

>> Cara: It takes a lot of.

>> Pastor Sarah: I’m gonna have to challenge him. Next time I see him, I’m gonna be like, let’s do a chatter on.

>> Cara: Challenge me. I’m like, oh, I feel like my, feel like my elbows are dying.

>> Pastor Sarah: Next time he comes over that 208 pound man, I’m gonna challenge him to.

>> Cara: He’s even done hot yoga.

>> Pastor Sarah: Yes. Oh, hot yoke. I hate hot yoga. Yeah, hate it. I’ve never done it, so don’t do it. You’ll pass out. so I. A, chataranga is not a push up. A push up is arm strength. You’re dropping your body via the muscles in your arms. My husband has ginormous biceps. your husband has ginormous biceps, right. They are very nice to hold on to. It takes two hands to hold on to the biceps. And so a push up for them is like second nature. They don’t even bat an eyelash. It’s super simple. Doesn’t phase them whatsoever. So when I have him do a chaturanga, he’s down without a problem. But a chaturanga is actually your muscles in your abdomen is what’s causing you to go down. The idea is you start to lower yourself on your arms, but your. Your ab muscles have to stay engaged so that your chest, belly, hips, arms all come down at the same time. Most people, yes. Completely engaged. Most people, when they go down to a push up, one part of their body comes down first. But this is completely level all at the same time. Your core has got to be engaged to make that happen. And it is one of the hardest poses in yoga. And I can now do it. Now, when I first started, I had to do the girl form, and I hate when people use that. But the girl form of push ups. It’s actually not a girl. That’s such a rude thing to say and such a bad way to classify push ups. It’s an assisted push up. Yes. When you bend your knees and you do push ups on your knees, it’s an assisted pushup. It’s not girl versus guy. But I had to.

>> Cara: Snarky, right?

>> Pastor Sarah: I had to start with the, assisted chaturanga because I did not have the core strength. And so now I have the core strength and I can chataranga with the best of them. But, it took a while. This was nine weeks of training, intense yoga training. And cool thing is, last night I actually got to lead a class of, I think there were 30 people.

>> Cara: And I’m so bummed that I missed.

>> Pastor Sarah: It was awesome.

>> Cara: I would have been trying somebody awesome.

>> Pastor Sarah: I had the coolest compliments afterwards. And I told you there was three girls that want to join us for our faith and fitness group. I’m so excited for them, but proud of you. I know. It was great. It was so great.

When you start any kind of workout, you do start with little teeny things.

But when you start doing any kind of workout, you do start with little teeny things. Like I was telling you the first time we recorded this, I started bench pressing, Three months ago, and I could only bench press the bar.

>> Cara: This is insane, right?

>> Pastor Sarah: The bar is 45 pounds.

>> Cara: Yeah.

>> Pastor Sarah: And I could only bench press the bar. And with my husband’s help. This is the one thing I’m so grateful for him because I needed a spotter with things and I needed him to encourage me. Yeah.

>> Cara: Always use a spotter.

>> Pastor Sarah: Ladies especially.

>> Cara: Well, and men too.

>> Pastor Sarah: Especially when you’re bench pressing. Yeah.

>> Cara: When you’re bench pressing with a bar. Oh, my goodness. Because my husband almost, seriously, he could have almost killed himself because he was bench pressing by himself one time.

>> Pastor Sarah: Yeah.

>> Cara: And thought he had racked it and he missed one of the hooks and it came down and he caught it right as it.

>> Pastor Sarah: Oh, my gosh.

>> Cara: And I was so mad at him. I was like, you are never allowed to bench. He will not bench press anymore that I know of. If he does, I will flip out on him. Cause.

>> Pastor Sarah: Yeah. Good.

>> Cara: So just had to throw that in there.

>> Pastor Sarah: Yeah. So, you know, I started three months ago, and just this last Sunday, I was able to bench press 110 pounds.

>> Cara: Amazing.

>> Pastor Sarah: Five sets of five.

>> Cara: It’s awesome. That’s huge. That’s huge.

>> Pastor Sarah: That’s amazing. Yes.

>> Cara: Not just beginning.

>> Pastor Sarah: I can’t do a pull up yet. Yeah, I can do five.

>> Cara: Work on that.

>> Pastor Sarah: Assisted pull ups.

>> Cara: We’re gonna work on that.

>> Pastor Sarah: But just to pull up in general, I can’t. So I need your help with that.

>> Cara: So, see, so one of the benefits, obviously, of fitness and having, you know, doing physical activity is to increase your strength. And it helps you feel good about yourself to make those accomplishments. And if you have a goal and, make it a small goal, I always tell people, start with something small. Don’t you know, if you completely shoot for the moon and then you miss the mark, you’re gonna be disappointing yourself and you’re more likely to give up. And there’s a lot of people that will go all in. They’re like, I’m gonna do all of the things, and they get overly excited. And the only problem with that is they’re not making lifestyle changes, they’re not making small goals to their work, to where they can build up and know that they can do things. So anyway, yeah, so, I mean, it’s the go.

>> Pastor Sarah: The goal is to get better and better. You don’t want to push yourself to where you are. You know, like, my father in law actually just recently came to visit and, he had a bloodshot eye.

>> Cara: Hm.

>> Pastor Sarah: Now he is in his late sixties, I believe. And he still bench presses. He’s still weightless. I love that he does that. My husband’s gonna continue into his sixties and seventies. He’s not gonna care.

>> Cara: But my husband will probably definitely.

>> Pastor Sarah: My father in law pushed himself and he did tell me. He’s like, I went too far with my. And so it burst a blood vessel.

>> Cara: Oh, my goodness.

>> Pastor Sarah: And so you, you do want to get better and better, but you also want to listen to your body. When I’m doing, when I’m talking to people about yoga, I like last night, I told everybody before we even started, I said, this is a hard workout. Make no mistake, this is not an easy work minute. 100 or it was 100. it, was 75 minutes.

>> Cara: Oh, my goodness.

>> Pastor Sarah: An hour and 15 minutes.

>> Cara: I thought I was dying when I did a 45 minutes one with you.

>> Pastor Sarah: An hour and 15 minutes. That’s. That’s her class. And so I.

>> Cara: Maybe I’m glad I didn’t take it.

>> Pastor Sarah: No, it was good, but I just. I warned them ahead of time. I’m like, you probably have been told by people that yoga is easy. It’s not easy. If you do it correctly, it’s not easy.

>> Cara: Yeah.

>> Pastor Sarah: It’ll push your body to limits that you didn’t think were possible. With all. With God, all things are possible. However, you also have to listen to your body, and your body is God’s way. He’s going to tell you, hey, that’s too far. Yeah, lessen up.

Working out creates a different kind of strength in you because the more

So I’m going to teach you things that you can do. They’re less than what I’m doing. I’m going to teach you things that I can sort of do, but it would be a little farther than what I can do. So that if you can go farther, you can. And so you have to be able to know your body to know that.

>> Cara: Yeah.

>> Pastor Sarah: you know, it. It creates a different kind of strength in you because the more you’re working out, you’re physically building your muscles so you can go a little further. But your confidence level also increases.

>> Cara: Yeah, exactly.

>> Pastor Sarah: And you feel better about yourself mentally because your confidence level increases.

>> Cara: Yeah. And then. Yeah, because you’re stronger and, you know, I mean, things can happen, like, you know, your love handles maybe going away or certain things like that. Like just. Yeah, just little. Little changes in our bodies and stuff like that can help us, feel better about ourselves in general. And like you said, the dopamine, you know, that that goes hand in hand. And then, I know that we’ve talked about that before because you’re, you know, counselor how your neural pathways, you know, it’ll create new neural pathways when you start having healthier habits.

>> Pastor Sarah: Right?

>> Cara: So, you know, when you replace maybe a negative habit, maybe when you come home from work, your habit is to go right to the pantry and eat something. And instead of doing that, what you can do to start changing that habit is to go for a walk. And it could be a 15 minutes walk, and you think, oh, well, maybe you were on your feet all day, but your body’s used to that, number one. Number two, doing something like that, it’ll also help you increase your dopamine level. And if you do or you do a quick little workout or, like, yoga for 15 minutes, something like that that will help release those chemicals in your brain. And now you’re also creating new habits and new neural pathways for you to form a new habit. So instead of going to the cupboard when you’re feeling a certain way and you’re. You’ve been stressed because you’re at work all day now you’re doing something that rewards your body in a way that maybe you wouldn’t have naturally done, but it’s healthier for you in the end.

>> Pastor Sarah: Right.

>> Cara: So that’s really good for us, as well, to build those healthier habits, and a benefit that can serve you in the long run.

>> Pastor Sarah: Yeah. So I traditionally do walking in the morning, like, first thing to start my day, to get my blood pumping and oxygen in my lungs and all that kind of stuff. But I actually do my workout part when my work is done. And the reason is, and I do this. Tell this to my clients, too, my patients. the reason is, is because your body is so filled with cortisol because of work duties that if you come home and work out right when you get home, you’re actually, decompressing the day. M so you’re helping relieve all that cortisol level, but you’re also getting a good transition to. Now I’m in wife and mom mode.

>> Cara: Yeah.

>> Pastor Sarah: Now I’m in household lifestyle as opposed to work lifestyle. And so it’s a good transition. I would say, I would caution everybody who has maybe never worked out or even maybe has worked out, and they just. They don’t like it. Like, I didn’t like it at first is that’s probably because you’re doing it wrong. And so I said during the last episode, to find a personal trainer. One of the things you and I have talked about is it’s very important to have the correct posture and the correct, positioning of how you’re lifting weights.

>> Cara: It should be comfortable for you.

>> Pastor Sarah: Yes.

>> Cara: it should be. I mean, what you’re doing shouldn’t be hurting you.

>> Pastor Sarah: Right.

>> Cara: Like, you. I mean, there’s a difference between feeling sore because you work your muscle, which technically breaks down your muscle, and then don’t back up stronger, versus hurting yourself or being overly sore because you did something wrong or tweaked your neck or tweaked your back, or.

>> Pastor Sarah: Well, it has to do with form.

>> Cara: Yeah.

>> Pastor Sarah: Like, that’s one of the biggest things you and I have talked about, is form causes pain if it’s done, incorrectly. And so, even with yoga, I was telling people last night, your spine should be straight when you’re in this pose. And so I’ll tell them, lengthen your spine. And that’s because if they didn’t, if they just hunched over and they’re in the pose, they’re actually creating, kind of like a compressed feeling, on their vertebrae. And so they’re not going to feel good and you’re going to have spasms in your back and you’re going to have pain in your back and you’re going to be nursing the icy hot or the, you know, cold compresses or heat compresses.

>> Cara: And me over here also make sure you, you, if there’s something. This just came up in the last week and a half. and so Sarah knows about that, but I found out I have scoliosis and it’s from me having my hip out for so long, and I didn’t go get it checked when I should have. And so who knows how long I’ve struggled with it for like a good seven or so years. I’m, constantly going out and because I just try to muscle through it because, you know, I’m strong and I was pain tolerance and didn’t get it checked out, you know.

>> Pastor Sarah: Yeah.

>> Cara: When you have something that’s out, you know, out of alignment, whether you see a chiropractor or a physical therapist or whoever, doctor or somebody, it starts to create a, ripple, ah, effect where everything else goes out. And so they basically said that’s what caused this giant s in my back. And so when I did yoga with you, you know, and I was saying how certain things, especially with my hip and my back really hurt, that’s probably why I didn’t know that, because we, you know, when you did that beforehand, and now I feel so stupid because I’m like, if I would have just gone and got it checked, who knows? Maybe six months ago, maybe even a year ago when it first and started having a maintenance program like my husband does.

>> Pastor Sarah: Hm.

>> Cara: He does things that prevent him from having that because he knows he’s going hard and heavy. And you, this is like the last thing you want to have when you’re doing that. So. So make sure if you, that you’re aware of your body and anything that would be out of the ordinary and do things like that to prevent it, whether you check in with a physical therapist or chiropractor or something like that. And can I m add one more thing too? so also, you know, we want to exercise because you love your body, not because you hate it right. And that being said, you also want to find things that you like to do. So sometimes, you know, exercising, we start, we do it for kind of the wrong reasons. We do it because we hate our body. And so we’re trying to, like, beat it into submission and just, you know, beat it up so that we can lose weight. And so we want to look at that differently. Like, we’re doing it because we love our body and.

>> Pastor Sarah: Right.

>> Cara: Want to treat it right and we want it. We want longevity and we want a good, healthy lifestyle. And so when you start changing that, you can start hopefully finding things that you realize you like to do. So if you’re going into the gym, which you don’t necessarily need to do, but if you are going to go into a gym, you know, cling to those things, at least to get started that you do seem to enjoy more. And, yeah, work with a personal trainer because, like I said, they will help you find things and they’ll, honestly, I think it’s so much more fun if you, if everybody could afford to work with a personal trainer, honestly, you have somebody there. If you have a good trainer that is getting to know you, it should be, and not every gym is the same, so not every trainer is the same, but a good personal trainer is getting to know you. That’s why it’s called personal training. They are going to make it personal for you, and they should be getting to know you and chitchat with them. And it goes by. It’s like having an automatic buddy.

If you can’t afford a personal trainer, find a friend.

And if you can’t have a personal trainer, the next best thing is find a friend, find somebody that can keep you accountable, that will go to the gym with you and make it more fun. And then on the days where you don’t feel like going, you’re going. And if nothing else, you’re doing out of discipline. But when you have somebody else, as long as they’re not like, oh, we don’t really need to go to the gym, and then you don’t either. As long as you don’t go down that path, you want to find somebody that’s willing to kind of help pull you forward and, you know, empathize with you.

>> Pastor Sarah: Right.

>> Cara: As well.

>> Pastor Sarah: Right, right. And, you know, don’t, don’t just get on the treadmill and run because you see 30 other people on treadmills running. Go on the bikes if you prefer bikes. Go on the, if you want to read a lip, if you like reading.

>> Cara: A book, I find it so much easier to go on either an elliptical or a bike versus the treadmill or like a stairstepper.

>> Pastor Sarah: Yeah.

>> Cara: And I personally hate cardio. unless I’m, you know, if I’m walking outside, I would prefer that. so I listen to audiobooks or podcast and read.

>> Pastor Sarah: You actually told me that. I’m like, that is killing my time. I love that.

>> Cara: I love that. I know. And you were kind of balking at that.

>> Pastor Sarah: I know. But I’m glad you learn a lot.

>> Cara: Yeah.

>> Pastor Sarah: So, I mean, I think the big takeaways is that you should do what’s best for your body. again, find a personal trainer that can help you, know that everybody is different, bodies are different. What, your body needs is different. but it is a good way to help your mental health, give you strength and. Yeah, fill you with joy, really. So I would say one thing I want to caution everybody with, actually, if you are somebody that’s going to the gym, please have good gym etiquette. Please, please, please. I hate those people that are at the gym. M and they’ll put all of their random stuff, towel, water bottle, whatever they brought with them on different machines. Like they’re saving it so they could circuit train. And so don’t touch my stuff. Use the equipment that you’re using, then move on to the next equipment.

>> Cara: Yeah, use them one thing at a time. Or if you’re super setting, just be cognizant of the people that are around you, because sometimes somebody else is waiting to use that. And it depends on how big your gym is.

>> Pastor Sarah: Right. And, you know, if you see somebody working out and they seem like they’re struggling, go over and ask if they need a spotter, if they need help. If you see somebody and you know that they are putting themselves in a position that is not good, and you have the knowledge to say, hey, you might want to lift it this way. It’ll probably help your endurance. It’ll probably help your body feel better. Do that.

>> Cara: And, the worst that can happen in that situation is they curse you out.

>> Pastor Sarah: Right.

>> Cara: You never talk to them again, but.

>> Pastor Sarah: Right. But at least you’re making an effort to be kind and supportive in their efforts because you never know what they’re trying to improve.

>> Cara: Right.

>> Pastor Sarah: I would also say, you know, there are specific gym type people that need to get control of themselves. Those are the ones that stare at themselves in the mirror the entire time. there is really no reason for.

>> Cara: That body twist where they’re trying to look at their booty.

>> Pastor Sarah: Right. There’s really no reason for that, I understand. Standing by a mirror so you can make sure your form is well. But if you’ve been doing that same exercise for the last, you know, 21 days, your form is, well, you don’t need to stare at yourself in the mirror anymore. The other thing is you need to make sure that, it is an environment where we are trying to improve our health. So it’s not the place to pick up guys. It’s not the place to come in your teeny, tiny, I don’t even. Cheerleading shorts. A little sport with your teeny, tiny sports bra that barely covers anything, with shorts that barely.

>> Cara: That look like, yes, I’ll be underwear.

>> Pastor Sarah: Right. Please respect gym etiquette.

>> Cara: I know. And there’s a lot of people that.

>> Pastor Sarah: Are like, oh, well, it’s because they.

>> Cara: Feel good about their body. They should get to wear whatever they want.

>> Pastor Sarah: But, yes, it’s just, yes, respect the gym etiquette is all I’m saying.

>> Cara: Not necessarily. Not in my opinion. It’s not really necessary.

>> Pastor Sarah: Yes.

Every teenager now feels the need to wear headphones to tune out life

>> Cara: So.

>> Pastor Sarah: So, we’re gonna wrap this up with something fun. But first, let me tell you, we have to wrap it up because not only did my husband come home m and start making…making some little random noises, now I’ve got two teenagers that are in my house making more noise because they’re not paying attention. And so they’re just banging stuff around. So we’re gonna wrap it up for that reason. She’s seriously on the other side of the kitchen making a ton of noise because she has her headphones on. Every teenager now feels the need to wear headphones to tune out life, and so they make noise distracting. What’s going on? And that is what my teenager is currently doing.

But fun thing, we’re gonna do a little round robin. I like when I have guests, on to ask them questions about, like, their favorites. Okay, so would you choose a, ah, soda or a Kool Aid?

>> Cara: Probably. Kool Aid.

>> Pastor Sarah: Yeah. Why is that?

>> Cara: I don’t like fizz. Yeah, I, probably would choose neither if you gave me water or those as a. I would choose water.

>> Pastor Sarah: Yeah.

>>Cara: but I had good memories of Kool Aid when I was younger. I used to.

>> Pastor Sarah: Yeah, I think I used to.

>> Cara: Well, Kool Aid. I think we had to add sugar to it, though. But I know my mom used to put Kool Aid in yogurt because we had just plain yogurt growing up.

>> Pastor Sarah: Yeah.

>> Cara: So I just have better Kool Aid in yogurt. But I never liked soda growing up.

>> Pastor Sarah: I’m weird yeah. Okay. Indoor or outdoor person?

>> Cara: Outdoor. Hounds down.

>> Pastor Sarah: Yeah, I would prefer outdoor, too. Although I burn like a lobster, so if I do outdoor, it’s got to be worth my while. I got to be sunscreen. Sometimes they even need an umbrella.

>> Cara: I don’t. I’ll probably have skin cancer someday.

>> Pastor Sarah: No, don’t say that.

>> Cara: I cannot. Well, both my parents have had it. Yeah, to some degree. And I spent a lot more time. But I do have olive tone skin, so I’m, like, crossing my fingers. Oh, my sister also had skin cancer, but spot removed. And I’m like, I’ll be fine, and I would prefer being outside then, you know, a tiny bed.

>> Pastor Sarah: So. Yeah.

What, um, is your favorite exercise? Oh, man. You can ask what my favorite muscle is

What, is your favorite exercise?

>> Cara: Oh, man. You can’t just pop that on me.

>> Pastor Sarah: Why? You’re personal trainer. Your personal trainer.

>> Cara: You need to just pop one out. no, but I love everything a squat. A good squat, goodness, is. But I like. I like body weight squats. And honestly, as much as I loathe, like, frog type, if you’ve done frogs before, like, it’s like a jump squat, basically.

>> Pastor Sarah: Yeah.

>> Cara: I love them with, using a trx. I have a couple clients that call them T Rex. if you know what those are. I have. I’m gonna show you. I have. I have them at, ah, home, too. In my home gym, garage gym. And so you. It kind of helps you. And you jump up on your toes and you land back down. It’s just fun. It’s really. It’s really fun. I like it. But, yeah, if you don’t like squats, and maybe you wouldn’t, but.

>> Pastor Sarah: Well, I will say legs are typically my favorite days. I love legs. They’re not my husband’s favorite days.

>> Cara: You can ask what my favorite muscle.

>> Pastor Sarah: Well, okay, but I’m just saying, typically, legs are my favorite. My favorite workout, though, is yoga. It really is. It stretches my body.

>> Cara: I’m not to that point yet because it’s still difficult.

>> Pastor Sarah: It’s hard. Well, it’s still hard for me, but, I mean, it’s just my favorite. Would you rather play a board game or watch a movie?

>> Cara: Play a board game.

>> Pastor Sarah: What is your dream vacation.

>> Cara: Going to? Well, I really want to go to Europe, any part of Europe. But we were supposed to go to London. My husband actually won a free trip or earned a free trip, I should say. because he was like, a sales leader in regards to insurance sales that he does. And we were supposed to leave is the end of March of 2020. And, yes, two weeks before everything closed down, we were told, actually, before everything closed down, they called us and told us they were going to have to cancel the trip. And literally, my husband and I cried. So now that’s all we can ever think of. And we get so butthurt when we see that people are going to England. And it was supposed to be, it was like a week and a half long, all expense paid trip. They had, us schedule all of our tours, and we were going to do, like, the double decker bus. And we, specifically, because we both like food, we scheduled it, like, all the tours options they gave us. There was one that you could tour, like, different, like, food, like, local food type places there in London, and it would take you to all these places. And that’s what we scheduled. And we were so bummed about. And we also had another one was, like, a biking tour and very active.

>> Pastor Sarah: Yeah.

>> Cara: So that would be my dream vacation.

>> Pastor Sarah: I don’t.

>> Cara: Even though I like tropical beaches and that type of thing, but I don’t.

>> Pastor Sarah: Know that I would say, have a dream vacation. I will one day, and it’s on my top of my bucket list. Go to Egypt. I’ve always wanted to see Egypt. I think egyptian art is just weird and bizarre and no desire to make sense. Oh, I will totally.

>> Cara: I’ve heard some scary things about I.

>> Pastor Sarah: Want to ride a camel. I want to. I want to climb a pyramid. Yeah. Oh, yeah. But I will say we live in.

>> Cara: The desert, so I’m.

>> Pastor Sarah: Well, that’s true.

>> Cara: Yeah, that’s true.

>> Pastor Sarah: We do live in the desert. I never even thought about that one goes into another funny fact. I found out that the reason movie, m the film industry comes to where we are for military movies is because our climate looks like Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. Isn’t that great? Great, yeah. So all those, all those movies that we see, that’s military movies. Most of them are made here in our state because we look like a third world country. I think, idealistically, my favorite vacations are anything I can do with my husband that I have his undivided attention. Truly. I mean, you haven’t taken enough vacations.

>> Cara: For me to be able to say.

>> Pastor Sarah: That, like, literally, I just like experiencing firsts with him. I like him and I experiencing it without everybody else being around because it’s like, it’s just a me and him thing. It’s something that I can say. This is a memory for me and him, so I agree with that. Yeah.

>> Cara: I love experiencing firsts, or even if I’m redoing something like, I was married before so, you know, going somewhere that maybe my first husband and I went to, that’s definitely, like, I like doing that. And he thinks it’s. I don’t want to do the same thing. And I’m like, no, I like it. Cause I’m, like, covering one memory with another.

>> Pastor Sarah: Yes, I get that. I get that.

>> Cara: So I like doing that because. Because now I associate it with him. I want to do everything with him.

>> Pastor Sarah: So, yeah. Yeah. My best friend, I would agree. Yeah.

So I’m going to wrap up because I’m still hearing, like, intense noise that’s telling me that we need to quit because there’s people in my house now. But I appreciate you, Cara, coming on and talking about fitness, and I love your expertise in the topic. I love picking your brain. and I just love the spiritual walk we’ve been on together as well. So thank, you again for helping. And it’ll be on my podcast eventually, too. Yes. So tell us again, where can they find you? What is the title of your podcast?

>> Cara: you can find it on just about every platform, including apple podcasts and whatever people use when they use an Alexa or whatever that’s called. Google, maybe. and it is grace and then the number two conqueror. So, grace, the number two, and then c o n q u e r. I think you can also search my name, Cara Foote, under the podcast category. And I think it comes up if everything’s going smoothly. Some times something goes wrong and I have to go in and update something. So, hopefully I haven’t been recording like I should be, but I am gonna get back into it. A lot of things are changing in my life, and I’m kind of pivoting a little bit. But since I love health and fitness, that’s mainly what it’s been.

>> Pastor Sarah: And so, yeah, so, thank you all for listening. Thank you for joining us on this journey of fitness. we hope you continue to listen in, and, please feel free to comment and tell us the things that you would like to hear next. Tell us if you have any comments about fitness and things that have been struggles. I mean, there’s been four weeks of this fitness, for moms, fitness over 40, fitness of different sexes, and fitness benefits. And there’s been amazing little nuggets of things that you, guys can glean information from. So, God bless you. Have a wonderful journey in your fitness, and know that you are loved and seen. Bye bye.

>> Pastor Sarah: Thank you so much for listening to today’s show. If you left a rating or review of my show on Apple, podcasts. Thank you so much. I read them all and it touches my heart that you took time out of your day to spend it with me and leave that feedback. Make sure you come say hi on Instagram. Ah, pastorsarajaneho. Because I love connecting with my listeners and meeting new people in the online world. If you’d like to give back, you can support the show by rating, reviewing, and sharing it with a friend, or you can donate on my website@pastorsarajane.com. until the next time you’re here, just remember that you are loved and seen.

 

Until next time!

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