Far 2 Fabulous

From ME To Mighty: How Jo Mayes Rebuilt Energy, Confidence, And Community Through Strongman Training

• Julie Clark & Catherine Chapman • Episode 94

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Episode 94. From ME To Mighty: How Jo Mayes Rebuilt Energy, Confidence, And Community Through Strongman Training

A decade ago, Jo Mayes rationed every ounce of energy just to manage the school run. Today, she’s stepping onto an invite‑only stone lifting field and carrying a 103‑kilogram rock for 36 metres—proof that small, repeatable steps can build a life you want to live.

We unpack the full arc of Jo’s transformation: pacing during COVID, daily walks that slowly grew, and the first gentle strength sessions that left her wiped out yet hopeful. She shares how a quiet garage gym became a bridge to the weights floor, why strongman felt both functional and empowering, and how a welcoming community turned training days into a source of energy rather than a drain. We talk candidly about imposter syndrome, competing alongside world‑class athletes, and embracing the event you can nail even when others don’t go to plan.

Nutrition takes centre stage too. Jo explains how tracking food supports her training, why she targets substantial protein to build and recover, and how simple carbs like oats and rice keep her sessions productive. We bust the “eat less, move more” myth for active women, dig into protein targets that actually sustain progress, and explore how strength training protects bone density, hormones, and long‑term vitality—especially in your 40s.

You’ll leave with practical takeaways: start with one step, choose training you enjoy so you can repeat it, fuel like it matters, and lean on community. If you’ve felt stuck, burned out, or unsure where to begin, Jo’s story is a reminder that consistency beats intensity and courage beats perfection. Enjoy the conversation, share it with a friend who needs a nudge, and if it helps, leave a quick review and subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next.

Come into the Far to Fabulous Facebook group to see Jo's legendary video.

Got a question or comment? Send us a text message here!

Thank you for listening.

You can continue the conversation with us in the Far 2 Fabulous Facebook group. Come and connect with other women on a journey to empowered health.

For more information about Julie Clark Nutrition, click HERE
For more information about Catherine Chapman, click HERE

We look forward to you joining us on the next episode.

SPEAKER_02:

Welcome to Far Too Fabulous and Catherine. Join us on a mission to create your fabulousness and redefund wellness. Get ready for some fightiness, inspiration, and chat, and humour as we journey together towards empowered wellbeing.

SPEAKER_03:

Let's dive in! Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Far Too Fabulous podcast. And Catherine and I we're back together. Woo! After a couple of solo episodes, which neither of us particularly like doing, do we?

SPEAKER_02:

No, it's so boring. I did I joked actually with a friend of mine yesterday that I'd spent the day under a blanket, but not the way you'd like to. Not like literally on the sofa watching Netflix. I was I was under my blanket with my microphone.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, the sound that we won't bore you listeners, but trying to sort out the sound on a podcast is sometimes very challenging, isn't it? It really is. It's the hardest bit of the whole thing. Anyway, it's not just us two today. No. We are joined by our completely fabulous guest that we've had to really talk, talk this person into coming on. You've got to come on. So we are joined today by Jo Mays. And the reason why we've got her to come on is that, well, I think that she's very inspiring. She will be cringing at any of these things we say about her, and she'll be struggling to deal with some of this conversation. But honestly, when you hear about what she's been doing and what she's recently achieved, you will also find her really inspiring. So we had to invite her on, didn't we?

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely. We were just talking before this how it's made us now think outside the box about other guests as well that have just been they're I mean they're quote unquote normal people, I mean whatever one of those is, but just really inspiring. So I'm excited. The unnormal people, I think.

SPEAKER_03:

Unnormal. The unnormal people. Yeah, yeah, the different people. I think there's nothing better than being called inspirational. Like anytime in my work, if somebody says that's really inspired me, I think that's it, I'm winning. That's the entire point. That is the entire point, and I know you feel the same way. So, welcome, Joe. Thanks for coming on because we know that you are really out of your comfort zone.

SPEAKER_01:

Well and truly.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, but we mega appreciate it. So I wanted to start by talking about what you've done recently, because obviously people don't necessarily know anything about you, yeah. Except we will talk about your Instagram account in a minute. But you took part in an event in the Lake District, which I mean, I think I I used some swear words on your Instagram post when I asked the weight of this stone that you've lifted. So, first of all, tell us what the event was in the late district and what this stone was.

SPEAKER_01:

It was a stone lifting competition called King of the Stines. They've been running it for a few years, but this is the first year they've invited the ladies along. Oh, King of the Stines. Yes! It's an invite-only competition. So I put my name in the hat and didn't expect to hear anything, but then I did, and I got my invite. And uh and then I saw the other women who have been invited, and they have all got national titles to their names. Two of them are in their own categories, the fourth strongest women in the world. So I thought, okay, that'll be that's a bit scary.

SPEAKER_03:

But but what an experience to go and see how those women are doing what they're doing. Absolutely, but yeah, terrifying.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, completely terrifying.

SPEAKER_03:

Did you have full-on imposter syndrome?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, absolutely, and until six days before the competition, I didn't know what the events were or how heavy the weights were going to be. So I'd been training to, I don't know, because we had no idea. Then they released the weights, and I looked at them and went, oh dear, okay, maybe I can do two or three of those events, but it's yeah, it's not gonna be easy. Then we went up there and um we went and visited the stones the day before the competition, and I came away feeling even less like I was gonna be able to do anything the next day. I bet. And then well, my thoughts were right, really. I I didn't do very well in four of the five events. I didn't score any points at all. But then that that one event, the one that you want to talk to me about. Yeah, yeah, that one went okay.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, but actually, the it doesn't even matter that the other events you didn't score points in, because this is a big step up for you. Oh, yeah, right? And like you said, to be in amongst that with those types of people must have been inspiring to you as well.

SPEAKER_01:

It was, it was to watch them and the support around us for the whole competition, it was fantastic. It made me have a go at every single event and put gave it everything I could see.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, you could see that from the videos on your on your Instagram. So tell us about this particular stone that you lifted because you just posted a video up and I looked at it and thought that stone looks heavy. And then I just said, How heavy is this stone? Was it 105 kilograms?

SPEAKER_01:

103. I was home and very required.

SPEAKER_03:

This stone on the floor, she had to pick it up from the floor, it was 103 kilograms. Okay, how do you even I just I'm trying how do you train for this?

SPEAKER_01:

How do you even we have a few ways to train for it? I mean, we have a few rocks in our uh gym now, but nothing I haven't walked with anything more than about 60 kilograms. But we've got strongman implements so big shields and stuff that you can load up to that weight. Yeah, so I've done, I think I trained once with the shield before the event.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, but you lifted 103 kilograms off the floor. It was off the floor, it was off a stump, which makes a huge difference. Okay, but it was very low down, you had to lift it up from low down, and then they made you walk with it. Yeah, and you walked so far, and then you had to get back as well, and you didn't make it all the way back, did you?

SPEAKER_01:

The event was for max distance, so it was as far as you could walk. Yeah, uh the track was 20 metres to make it easier to measure. Uh, I did 36 metres with with that rock. I didn't win the event, I came third. So there were two other women who did. I think Andrea did 39 metres, and Beth, oh my god, she did 86 metres. Wow my god. Wow, she was absolutely amazing. So, yeah, it it's a feat.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it's so cool. But to put this into context for people listening, 10 years ago when I met you, you were struggling to take your kids to school because you had ME.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

And you were you had Emmy, a really bad case of ME.

SPEAKER_01:

I did. I had a a really bad relapse, um, yeah, just over 10 years ago, just before I met you. And it took because the kids were so young, it took a long time to get better from that. And yeah, when I met you, I could get the kids to school most days, but that was all I could do. Yeah, that that was everything.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, and this is why I think this story is inspiring, other than the fact that any female of a I mean, how old are you? 40. Right, so you're 40 years old, and you went and lifted a friggin' stone that weighed 103 kilograms, and you walked how many metres? 36. 36 metres, and 10 years ago you couldn't even walk 36 metres on your zone. Yeah, so this is this is where it it's just I think it's incredible, and I think it could really be inspiring for other people with chronic illness to know that you can turn things around, and we like to empower people, don't we? Yeah, and there is so many things you can do for yourself. So, what what happened? When how did you decide right? I'm just gonna go to the gym now.

SPEAKER_01:

To be honest, actually, COVID played a massive part in my recovery uh because I know I had that year or so where I didn't have a school run I had to do, I didn't have to go to sports days and parents' evenings and all of the things that schools yeah make you leave the house to go and do. I could actually pace my energy and do what I needed to do at my pace to get better. Um, I made sure the kids went out for a walk every day, so we did that every day, and we gradually increased the walks and yeah, it was a couple of years of just that, just increasing walks, just increasing what I did slowly every day.

SPEAKER_02:

But on your schedule.

SPEAKER_01:

On my schedule, yeah. Yeah, I mean the schools went back, but the need for parents to be in the schools didn't not for a long time. So um, no, that really helped.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, well, it's it. I mean, it's good in a way that you got such a positive out of such a dire situation, isn't it? You know, because it wasn't it wasn't always uh good for a lot of people. So, you like I said, I'd met you 10 years ago where you were in that position where you couldn't even, you know, manage to get the kids to school and back. How long had you had ME and how would that diagnosis come about?

SPEAKER_01:

I fell ill when I was 16 just after I left, just after I finished my GCSEs. Um, I had a really good doctor at the time who had known me my whole life, so she knew that me sitting around, not getting out of bed and going to college, that wasn't me. Um and she very quickly referred me to a specialist who uh was in Tilbury, which was quite a trek from here at the time. But he yeah, I got a diagnosis really quickly. Well, it has to be six months along, but it was as quick as it could be. I did not like going to see him at all, didn't like those sessions, but he knew what he was talking about. He gave me fantastic advice that I've lived by and I got got better then. I uh got back to work, had my kids, but then yeah, had my relapse again.

SPEAKER_03:

Do you know what caused the relapse?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, the specialist said the cause of ME to start with, it's um usually you're ill, you've got some sort of infection that requires antibiotics. Your body's struggling to fight that, you're going through something else really stressful at the time, and it just compounds and your body doesn't know how to recover from it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh so yeah, that's where I was 12 years ago.

SPEAKER_03:

Wow, so such a difference to now. So where are you wh where would you say you're at now with your ME?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know, because I don't know what normal looks like. I mean, could I go back and work full-time? Yes, but not while running a household and dogs and all the rest of it. So yeah, I think I'm I'm in a good place, but I treat it like uh like a temporary situation. I I don't know how long I'm going to be in this good place for. So I try and make the most of that and keep myself as healthy as I can to just keep it all at bay till the next time.

SPEAKER_03:

So, how did you go from doing the walks in COVID? Like, what was the journey from that to I've just gone to the late district and carried a 103 kilogram stone?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh I started to see a personal trainer who um I I was just doing some gentle weight work with. I really enjoyed it. I was seeing him to start with just once a week, and oh my god, that would floor me. Completely floor me. That was everything I had. This was just two and a half years ago.

SPEAKER_03:

Is that all it is? Two and a half years ago. Wow, two and a half years ago.

SPEAKER_01:

And then after about six months with him, I asked for recommendation for a gym, and I started going to the gym as well as seeing him, so that was two sessions a week, and I just built on that until I was doing three sessions a week in the gym, which is all I do now.

SPEAKER_03:

What impact does that add on your energy levels?

SPEAKER_01:

Massive impact. I've I've gone from that one session a week where I was hardly doing anything, completely flooring me, to three sessions a week. And occasionally I'll go a fourth or fifth time and do some add some cardio in. We don't do much cardio in the strong man world, but yeah, no, I'm full of energy. I still do walk my dogs every day. I take my kids whatever they want to do, and no, it's wonderful.

SPEAKER_02:

And that is a shining example of what we talk about a lot. Is that is the energy breeds energy, and yeah, and so the whole story would be like, Oh, I've gone to the gym, I'm I'm tired, I like I need to I need to stop, I need to rest.

SPEAKER_01:

And you're no, I go strongman training on Saturday. Um we train for about two and a half, three hours. I come home and eat my lunch, and then I take the dogs out for a walk, or I go to the shops and I just carry on. It's yeah, whereas before, that would have been a whole week gone from that sort of level of training. So no, it's it's really good.

SPEAKER_02:

That's really fantastic. What I also like about what you use that space that you got given in COVID to carve out how you need to live. And I love that. I don't and then and I don't think that that should be unique to you because you've got ME. I think that's how we should all work. I think that you've got it right, and actually the majority of society have got it the wrong way around that we're like hammering ourselves almost until we get chronic fatigue or em me or something like that. Let's not wait until we get to that point. Let's create lives that would suit us as human beings rather than like machines.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I mean, we spoke about burnout on an episode um a little while ago, and you saying, Oh, I don't know if I could, you know, I could probably do a full-time job, but then deal with the household and the dogs and everything else. This is just we've normalised it, haven't we? Back in the day, the the the woman didn't do all all of the things there they either were a housewife or they went to work, or you know, it's we're just expected to do everything, and I think that we without the ME side of things, I think we spoke about people walking around being vertically ill, didn't we? Yeah, being vertically ill because of all the overwhelm and the amount of things that that just have to juggle, and then of course you get into your 40s, and then your hormones start to go, Well, hello, you know. Oh goodbye. Oh goodbye, yes, yeah. You know me, I was helping you for a while, I've decided I'm checking out now hard enough. So, yeah, and but what you're doing with regards to strength training is really protecting your your changing hormones and your health going forward. So you're aware of that side of it as well.

SPEAKER_01:

I've done lots of research into it, and um I I want to help other people achieve the same thing. That's a goal I'm looking at in the near future, I hope.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah. So just again to just say to people listening, you were you hadn't done any exercise since you were like a child, really, I guess. Well, you've done dancing, you like dancing, don't you?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I did dance uh when I was recovering first time round from Emmy. I took up dancing, which I loved. Um, I just got back into that as well. Oh, that's cool every now and then, which is wonderful.

SPEAKER_02:

Is it a certain type of dance?

SPEAKER_01:

Ciroc. Oh, amazing! I'm pleased to find that they have freestyle events now, so I don't have to go and do the classes, I can just rock up, have a dance, and go home again.

SPEAKER_03:

We should do, we should go, we should and have a dance. You know how much we love to dance. I mean, we do. Do you mention the board's freestyle? Like I can freestyle anything, it's the only thing I can do.

SPEAKER_02:

That would be cool though, wouldn't it? Does it take coordination?

SPEAKER_01:

Not a lot of coordination, to be fair. I mean there. There's no footwork involved. You've just got to follow. Do you need a partner? It's a partner dance, but you don't take one to Syrok. Uh they're provided. Oh, I'm not sure. You just if you go to the lessons, they line all the men up and then the women move round every couple of moves as you're learning the moves. Yeah. So you get to meet everybody. It's a very social event. Where do you go for this? Um there's one in Faversham and there's one in Canterbury. But yeah, they're both nice, nice venues. This sounds like fun. I want to go. It does sound like fun.

SPEAKER_03:

We just we just get, I guess, and then we're gonna go with them.

SPEAKER_02:

You're gonna lift some rocks up as well.

SPEAKER_03:

No, I really am inspired to do it. Seriously. I mean, I'm not I'm not aiming for lifting a hundred and something kilograms.

SPEAKER_01:

They should come training with us.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, weren't they? Well, were you aiming to lift a hundred and something kilograms when you first started?

SPEAKER_01:

No, no, I hadn't even considered strongman as a a goal when I started lifting.

SPEAKER_02:

How did you find out about it? Like when did it kind of peak your I always watched Strongman growing up.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. It was on the telly over Christmas, always made a point to watch it. Uh the gym that I started training in had um a whole load of strongmen who trained there and they did Saturday sessions in that gym. So then I'd go in and I'd see all these people lifting logs and farmers' walks and sandbags, and think, oh well, these are like normal people doing this thing that I've always loved to watch. Yeah. So I thought, okay, I'll I'll have a go. And then I thought, well, it's it's functional fitness, it's gonna help with everyday life. Maybe I'll just do it every so often, and that became every week, and and here we are today.

SPEAKER_03:

And are you the only woman in your gym, or are there other ones that are doing this with you?

SPEAKER_01:

I'm usually the only one. Yeah, there are sometimes we get others who come in. There's some that that used to be regulars but now only come every so often. But no, it's usually just me.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, and did you find that initially intimidating, or was it okay?

SPEAKER_01:

No, it's okay because they're all so lovely, they're all really friendly and supportive. It's a great atmosphere.

SPEAKER_03:

I just I find it incredible when you go, but probably not this gym that you go to, but a lot of gyms, the commercial gyms we're talking about. Yeah, if you go in as a couple, it's like your husband will be shown the weights and you'll be shown the spin class.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's that seems to happen. I do train twice a week in the local commercial gym, and quite often there'll be just as many women on the weight floor as there are men, if not more.

SPEAKER_03:

I think it is changing.

SPEAKER_01:

It's definitely changing.

SPEAKER_03:

The the more information that comes out about the, you know, you we've moved away from the 80s, you know, aerobics in our leotards. Well, obviously, I still wear a leotard on a regular basis, but um, yeah, we can't we have been moving away from that and and the strength side of it is becoming really I think there's quite a focus on it at the moment, isn't there? Yeah, which is which is good. So, what did you start off doing? Because you you like I'm saying you hadn't really done any exercise, a bit of dance, but you were completely a complete beginner going into a gym to do weights, and and also I hope you don't mind me saying, but you your weight was very different as well. You've lost a lot of weight. I've lost four stone.

SPEAKER_01:

Four stone two and a half years, yeah. Yeah. What did you actually do initially? Well, with my with the PT that I was working with, he worked out of his garage, so that was nice. I didn't have anyone else looking looking at me while I was training. He had a mirror on one wall and I refused to look at it. I had to look the other way when I was doing my exercises, and he just gave me gentle exercises to start with, just using dumbbells, um, body weight squats, just yeah, everyday things, really. Uh it was quite a while before we progressed onto the compound stuff, the squatting with barbells and deadlifts and the kind of more normal gym things. But yeah, just stuff you could do at home with um a couple of dumbbells and some rubber bands. Yeah, resistant bands are good, aren't they?

SPEAKER_02:

I'm assuming then, because it would it's a it's a big confidence leap, isn't it, to go from doing it and s with somebody right next to you in the garage to then walking out onto a weights floor in the gym and doing it yourself.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, the gym that I was going to, it's closed down now, but um that was often pretty quiet during the week, so there'd only be one or two people in there. Uh, and then they became familiar faces, so then that was okay. But yeah, when I then started being programmed, what I had to do, and I'd look at this and think, I don't really know how to do that, and I'd walk into the gym and I'd be just as nervous as if it were my first day back in the gym because I had to do something different, yeah. Um, but everyone, even in all the gyms, they're all so accommodating, and you ask, you can ask for help, and they're they'll always come and help you.

SPEAKER_03:

So nice, it's really it's so cool. So, apart from energy, what other benefits have you noticed yourself, especially when we refer to that 10 years ago Joe to now strong and and badass Joe?

SPEAKER_01:

I feel like I'm living a life again. Yeah, I feel like I've regained a life. Um, like for the 10 years that I was just functioning, just surviving. Um and now I'm I'm living again. I can go out and do things and see my friends and socialise and and exercise, and yeah, it's just it's completely different. It's uh it's wonderful.

SPEAKER_03:

No, it's it's really, really good. You said that you want to help others and you've been doing some research. So, what specifically are you what wanting to do? Are you gonna train to be a trainer yourself, or what are you thinking?

SPEAKER_01:

I am working very slowly through my course to become a personal trainer, but I'm not entirely sure that is the direction I want to go in. I want to help people kind of be accountable, which is something I learned from you, Julie, over the years. Yeah. I think it's important to have someone to be accountable to. In terms of getting life in order and figuring out what's important and how to work out routines and things and get food in order, though I might look into the nutritionist route at some point, but I know that's a complicated one. But yeah, I just I just want to help people. I want to help people get from somewhere like where I was to where I am now. Yeah, I want to be useful.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, and that's why we invited you on the podcast because there might well be someone listening who is thinking, Oh, I just couldn't, I can't do it, or I don't know where to start. And and then just hearing that that you went from I can't walk my kids to school to you know, I'll just I'll just carry this stone, you know, a few metres. It it's quite it's quite an amazing feat that you've done. So yeah, what what would you say to someone who is listening and and they just don't know how to get started?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, it's just about finding the right steps, the first steps, and not looking at the whole staircase.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, such a good one.

SPEAKER_01:

They're small steps, just tiny, tiny changes can make such a massive difference, and they just start you off. That's yeah, that's all you need to get moving again.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah was there an inspiration for you as you were taking those steps that were a few steps or a leap in front?

SPEAKER_01:

No, just the thought that oh my god, this feels good, can it feel better? Yeah, yeah, that that was it really. Just oh yeah, this is yeah, this is good. Let's let's keep going.

SPEAKER_02:

Had you done any competitions locally? Was that your first competition?

SPEAKER_01:

No, stone lifting competition was my second competition. I did one back in April. Uh Paddy Haynes, who's since yeah, now fifth strongest man in the world. Um, he runs a competition off of his farm. And I went and did that back in April, which was great fun, so much fun. Very different to the stone lifting competition.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh being my first competition. I knew I could do all the weights in this one. I knew I could do all of the events, and I was really nervous about people watching me do the events. There was quite a crowd, and yeah, yeah, that was really nerve-wracking. Whereas going into the stone competition, yeah, there was a crowd, but I was more concerned about the fact that I couldn't lift what I was supposed to be lifting.

SPEAKER_03:

One of those events was well, I don't know what the other four were, but one of them was you had to lift the stone up onto something. The loading at the end. And it was high, like you're how tall are you? You're only small like me, aren't you?

SPEAKER_01:

Five foot three.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, so just a little bit taller than me. But it was the being able to lift that weight up above you to get on the the shelf or whatever it was.

SPEAKER_01:

That was one of the events I was fairly confident about going in because I'd seen the videos from the year before, and I thought the platform was just above waist height. I thought, yeah, I can do that. I know I can load to that height. I've done it quite a lot. And then when we arrived the day before the competition, they built a new platform because last year was wasn't very sturdy, it was being held up by a digger. And the new platform was shoulder height. And I looked at it and went, such a big difference. Oh dear, I've never loaded anything that high before, never trained it. No, don't know how that's gonna go. Has it given you a fire in your belly to go back and two training sessions since the competition, and I've been loading specifically to that height with sandbags, not rocks, and yeah, I can get that first one over. I could get the second one over it now. It's just the fact that I hadn't trained it. It's technically out of my league.

SPEAKER_02:

And I suppose there is like technically the way to like there is a best way to do it as well, isn't there?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, there is, but then you come to stones and they're all different shapes and sizes, and that that first stone they gave us to load was really flat and really long. Whereas the second stone was a nice little cube. I think I probably could have got the second stone up there, but the first one, yeah, wasn't gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh my god. Have you got any more competitions?

SPEAKER_01:

I've got my eye out, but I haven't seen one that's really taken my interest yet.

SPEAKER_02:

It's so inspiring. Like you said, coming and doing a podcast is out of your comfort zone. Yes. So going and doing those competitions are really you're like you're really pushing your boundaries. Yeah. And I think that's really it's really brave.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, it helps that we we went up to Cumbria as part of a team. Two of the guys that I trained with were also in the competition, along with a whole other load of others that I've met at other competitions this year. So it's like you're going up there with family. It's wonderful. They all we all look after each other and root for each other. Well, you can hear it in the video.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, you can. I think the support was really really lovely to see. And I get the same with the gymnastics. Yeah, you know, we we might be competing against each other, but there's no real competitiveness. Everybody just wants everyone to do really well, and it is like that. You you feel like it's like you you go to do these things and it's a family, it's a family thing.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and even aside from the the people that we go with, at all of the strong man competitions, you chat with the other competitors and you're talking about the best way to do the thing you're about to do. Yeah. Because you want everyone to do their best. Yeah, you don't want to say, well, no, I'm not going to tell you the secret. You you all want to share and see each other do well.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it's so similar to the to the gymnastics world, so it's it's lovely. We must just talk about your your Instagram video because this this stone that you lifted went absolutely viral, didn't it?

SPEAKER_01:

It has, yeah. I think it's been seen by about five and a half million people now. Oh wow across platforms.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah, that's absolutely amazing. And I keep seeing it pop up because it's funny because I don't I guess how the algorithms work because I'm I already follow you, you follow me, I follow you, we see your post. But now I'm seeing other people that have done videos about your post coming up, so it has gone absolutely crazy.

SPEAKER_01:

But the the amazing thing when I look at the comments is just the the support has been unreal on um my one on Instagram, and uh someone stole it and put it on TikTok. The stolen one on TikTok's had two and a half million views, and there's about 3,000 comments on that one and 2,000 on my Instagram one, and they are overwhelmingly positive. The inspiration, the I've never been called so many different positive names before in my life. But reading people say they cried watching it or they've gone to the gym today because they saw this.

SPEAKER_03:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it has been amazing to read through all. Yeah, it's a bit overwhelming.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm sure very overwhelming, especially when you try and reply to all the comments initially and then you've got to be able to do that. You just have to kind of stop.

SPEAKER_01:

I had to stop even reading them at one point because it was too many.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. I had one of my not not anywhere near yours, but one of my gymnastics videos has been seen by over 80,000 people, and I I do reply to the comments as much as I can because of that inspiring aspect to it, it might just help someone to go and do something like that. It's yeah, it's it's pretty incredible. But I don't understand how the algorithms work because I the video that's gone like that. I'm like, why is it that one? Why is it not that one? That one's better.

SPEAKER_01:

I've done that in the past about my videos. The ones that's picked up before, I mean, not to this scale. Normally my videos get about a hundred views, and then occasionally one would get a thousand. I think what's special about that? There was nothing in it any different from anything else. But then when this one took off, it's like, oh, a thousand, two thousand, five thousand. Yeah, then it started getting scary.

SPEAKER_02:

Just that spark in there that just caught other people's interest. It's it is really inspirational, it's so fantastic. And what we were talking about with like the community around it, and it's two things, isn't it? It's that building that community for yourself, but then that greater community and that of people that you're inspiring is so important. I mean, these are things literally, these are things that we will bang on about we do all of the time, and you are just this shining example of that we're not lying to you all. It's really true, yeah, like doing things together, and then well, in nursing, we used to see one, do one, teach one, and it's that sort of thing, you're like, Oh, can I do that? And then you do it, and you're like, Is it possible? And then is it possible for me? And then can I show everybody else that it's possible for them as well?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah, it's really exciting, it is cool. I might just ask you about your protein intake because you're doing a strength training and you and you've done some research on this. Are you multiplying? Mindful of your protein intake.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm extremely mindful of my protein intake. I religiously track my food at the moment. I'm trying to uh increase my strength at the moment. So I'm on 200 grams of protein a day. Yeah. Which is incredibly hard to eat cleanly. I don't eat protein shakes or protein bars. It's all meat, dairy, eggs. And yeah, it's hard to eat as much as you need to eat.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But um, yeah, hopefully it will make me strong enough to go and lift all the rocks next year.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it makes it again, it makes a huge difference. And I think sometimes we forget that in a in a world of you know, women when they're trying to get healthy, eat less, exercise more. Uh-uh. No, you know, eat more. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. But when you start saying to somebody you need between one and two grams per kilogram of body weight for a relatively active person, you're gonna need more based on what you're doing, but even that blows people's minds. How much, what does it look like? How oh my goodness me, how can I eat that much?

SPEAKER_01:

I've helped friends um look at their diets over the last few months, and people who are extremely active do weight training, cardio three times a week as well, and they're hardly eating anything. I said, Well, how many meals do you have a day? One, yes. That's yeah, yeah. I said, Well, your body's just eating itself, you're not not gonna make any progress like that.

SPEAKER_03:

No, I think actually that's a really good point because I think people don't realise that in order for your body to be able to function, if it's got things missing, especially the amino acids which we get from protein, the only way it can do it is to break down its own, its own tissues to access the amino acids. Yeah. So yeah, you need to eat your protein. I'm really glad you're eating eating your protein.

SPEAKER_02:

So that's amazing though, isn't it? Especially cleanly as well. It's a real it's a real challenge. It is a challenge.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I do mad things now that I never thought I would do. Like my breakfast, my second breakfast I have. She's a hobbit! Yeah, it's a hobbit. Is uh chicken mints in with my scrambled eggs, just so that I'm getting enough protein to start my day with. Give us a typical day of what you're eating. So, typical day, I start the day with yogurt and seeds, uh, then I have my chicken mints with scrambled eggs and some fruit. Then I have some overnight oats.

SPEAKER_03:

Very nice.

SPEAKER_01:

Then lunch is usually steamed chicken with some vegetables, and dinner is regularly the same, but it's not always quite that boring. But there's a lot of steamed chicken involved.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, a lot of chicken. Yeah. And I know that you've got foods that you avoid because of allergies and intolerances and things as well. But I guess this way of eating actually helps with that, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_01:

It does because my food has to be boring anyway. I can't have spices, I can't have gluten, I can't have tomatoes or peppers or anything that tastes nice. So I may as well just eat the right fuel and think of it as fuel. It's not, it doesn't need to be exciting, it just needs to uh work for my goals.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and I mean at least it's it's simple, isn't it? I mean, there's a lot of it, but if you're gonna keep it simple without all the flamboyance around it and think of it as fuel, it's very straightforward, definitely. It's one less thing to worry about.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes. I don't think you can go wrong with. I know you're a vegetarian, so you won't agree with this, but you can't really go wrong with, you know, a chicken breast and some vegetables. No, perfect, it's all good.

SPEAKER_01:

It works.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. What carbs do you eat? You've got your oats in there.

SPEAKER_01:

I've got my oats in there. Uh, I usually have a slice of toast a day because gluten-free bread's expensive, and most of it's not very good. Uh, and lots of rice, have lots of rice. I was having quinoa when I was deliberately eating in a deficit because it's very filling, bit of extra protein, lower carbs. Yeah. But I've had to scrap that for rice because I wasn't getting enough carbs in.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, you do need to get enough carbs in as well, though. We've just gone on about the protein, you do need the carbs as well.

SPEAKER_02:

So you need all of it. Yeah. And are you how are you feeling about the balance of like like the weight loss? I'm assuming has has just naturally happened as you've been.

SPEAKER_01:

It has. It's was never one of my goals. People think that's crazy, but we love that, don't we? We do. We love that. It's been a fantastic side effect. Yay!

SPEAKER_02:

We didn't say that, Joe said that.

SPEAKER_01:

Um but yeah, people people it's the one thing people always say though, when oh, you've lost lots of weight. I think, well, yeah, I have, but that's not why I was doing it.

SPEAKER_03:

No.

SPEAKER_01:

And people think, oh, maybe you're you're just obsessive about your weight, but it's it's really not. It's yeah, that's that's just been a happy side effect. And it's wonderful. And I have got hung up a couple of times. So when I got to there's a weight that I remember weighing at when I was a teenager, and I felt like I stayed at that weight forever. So when I got just above that weight, it was a case of, oh, can I get below that weight? I wonder. And and then that that I got hung up on that was Christmas last year. Then I got stuck because it was Christmas and I was eating a little bit more and I couldn't get below the weight, and then yeah, it messes with your head a bit. Yeah, but then I got below the weight, and yeah, it's gone down a bit more since then. But yeah, it's been funny, it's been a funny journey.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, but I'm assuming as as you build muscle, the weight will the weight will go back up again.

SPEAKER_01:

That's the aim, but uh no, it just keeps going down. Need to live more rocks, yeah, uh or eat more food, but uh yeah, just finding the right balance at the moment.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, the more muscle you've got, the more efficient you are at burning calories anyway. Do you track um like Catherine and I have both got scales where it measures things like your body fat percentage and your bone density and muscle mass. Do you have you been on scales that will track that?

SPEAKER_01:

I did have a step on the scales at the gym because the gym has those quite a while ago now. But yeah, I did do that once. I think it said uh 16% body fat. I thought that'd be ridiculous. That can't be right. Never never seen those numbers. But I know I've I've not paid much attention to any of that.

SPEAKER_03:

No, well, just know that you by building muscle, you're making, especially with ME, you're making your mitochondria work better, as you probably know because you've probably looked into this. Your bone density is being protected by what you're doing, but all the other impacts, your brain, your mental health, all of that, it's it all ties in together, doesn't it? It's so huge.

SPEAKER_02:

Have you have you found specifically this has helped with mental health, like like how you've your outlook on everything as well?

SPEAKER_01:

I have quite a positive outlook anyway, even even when I was really sick. I would always look to the positive, or at least try to. There were days that that didn't happen. But I yeah, I always look positively at things. Uh this this all feels positive, so yes, I suppose it has helped, but I was always positive to start with so I just I love it, it's so exciting, yeah, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02:

Will you come back like next year and and give us an update? Yeah, maybe we're still not tired of that.

SPEAKER_03:

No, it's so cool. I I think we probably should wrap it up now. But is there anything that you want to say to kind of your your last words for anyone listening? Just to go, come on, you've got this, you can do it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, just get out there, just start, find that first step.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I think the the general theme that I've heard from what you've said, you've been very consistent, and that is so important. Consistency.

SPEAKER_01:

You've got to find something you enjoy so that you can keep doing it, because that's all that matters is that you keep doing it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, love it. Well, thank you ever so much for coming out of your comfort zone and coming to talk to us. We will post a link to your Instagram video up because I think people need to see you lifting this down because it is really you will watch this and just go, like I use the words holy, and then I did put asterisk in the middle of the of the words, but I just thought Yes, we don't want to get told off by Julie's mum. Yeah, she she tells us off if we see her on a podcast. So yeah, it's just it's absolutely mind-blowing when you understand, like especially if you if you're going to the gym yourself and you're lifting stuff and you're looking, going that that 30 kilos was really hard. Yeah, and then you look at your now, it's meant to be.

SPEAKER_02:

I've had to put my weights down. I got a bit, I've got a bit ambitious, and I think I was I jumped ahead a little bit. Yeah. So it is that it's that consistency, like keep building it up. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03:

Thank you so much, and yeah, we hope you enjoyed this episode.

SPEAKER_02:

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