Behind the Bluff
Uncover best practices to participate in life on your terms. Every week, hosts Jeff Ford and Kendra Till guide listeners with short conversations on trending wellness topics and share interviews with passionate wellness professionals, our private club leaders, and additional subject matter experts offering valuable tips. Each episode conclusion includes Healthy Momentum, five minutes of inspiration to help you reflect and live differently. Subscribe now and discover the keys to living your greatest active lifestyle.
Behind the Bluff
Train the Bluff Way: Fitness Trainer Series | Gemilee Marquez
Gemilee Marquez, Personal Training Supervisor at Palmetto Bluff, shares her unique approach to fitness that focuses on core stability first and reveals how her journey from aspiring physical therapist to passionate personal trainer shapes her training philosophy.
• Started with a biology degree before switching to exercise sport science with plans to become a physical therapist
• Found personal training while taking a gap year and discovered the same rewards she sought in physical therapy
• Believes core stability and strength should be the primary focus of fitness training, not an afterthought
• Starts training sessions with core activation before moving to extremities, emphasizing the posterior chain first
• Creates personalized circuit-based workouts with slow, controlled movements for maximum effectiveness
• Views nutrition as 80% of fitness success, with protein intake being particularly crucial
• Most clients seek strength and pain-free movement rather than weight loss
• Loves the growing focus on recovery in the fitness industry
• Cautions against over-reliance on wearable fitness technology and tracking metrics
• Defines wellness as finding balance between mental and physical health
Join us next month as we continue our fitness trainer series with Nader Mirtolooi, who will share his perspective on training and wellness.
Are you ready to live an active lifestyle? Welcome to Behind the Bluff, where we believe every moment of your life is an opportunity to pursue wellness on your terms. I'm your host, jeff Ford, and I am joined today with a very special guest, gemli Marquez, the personal training supervisor for our wellness team here at Pulmonary Bluff. Gemli is an ACE certified personal trainer, nasm corrective exercise specialist, schwinn certified cycling instructor, and she holds her bachelor's degree in exercise, sport and science from the University of Georgia. Gemily, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me, Jeff. I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 1:It is long overdue. We have been talking about getting you on here for at least a couple months Before we allow listeners to learn a bit more about you. I want to set the stage for this podcast series because I'm super excited about it. Our goal is to share our training philosophies and for each of our training staff to guide listeners on how they can approach fitness differently. And there's no one better to start with than you, gemli. So can you begin by telling us a little bit about yourself and how you got started in the fitness industry?
Speaker 2:Yes. So when I went into UGA I actually was a biology degree and I didn't know what career I wanted to get into. So I started to take the core classes and I was very hesitant as I was taking the core classes because they were pretty difficult. And as I was taking the core classes I had this moment where I was thinking I don't know if I'm going to continue pursuing this major. So I really questioned myself.
Speaker 2:So sophomore year I started to think about another degree to go into and my sister brought up the exercise and sports science degree, so basically in the realm of kinesiology, and she said why don't you go into pre-physical therapy? So a lot of people that go into that degree typically go into a physical therapy career after college. So I thought, okay, why not? I didn't really know what the job duties, what it was like to be a physical therapist, so I thought, okay, why not? I didn't really know what the job duties, what it was like to be a physical therapist, so I thought I'd give it a go. Then I started to shadow outpatient clinics and I fell in love with it. I loved the relationship you would build with patients, but also the reward that you would get to see patients graduate, be successful through their exercises, through the rehabilitation programming, and just get stronger and healthier. So loved it. Started to apply for PT programs and as I was in the application process, I actually couldn't get an interview.
Speaker 1:For physical therapy yes, school.
Speaker 2:Yes, so it was a struggle, it was very difficult.
Speaker 2:It was very discouraging because I was in the major. I had all my friends, colleagues, getting into interviews and getting acceptance letters and I was still waiting for that interview. So I felt like I went back to the drawing board. So I decided to take a gap year after I graduated and use that time to work as a PT tech in that, in a local clinic, and then also start to decide what I want to do as my next step. So I was researching one day of jobs I could do with my degree and one of the first things that came to mind was personal training and, to be quite honest, I saw I was doing research with personal training and I really thought of it as an interim job. So I would just get certified, work as a trainer for a couple years and then the goal was to go back, reapply, take the standardized testing again and see if I could get accepted into programs.
Speaker 2:So I got certified. I decided to go there. So I just got certified through ACE in 2017. And I actually started working in group fitness. So that's when I started working for Orange Theory Pooler, might I add. So very local.
Speaker 1:Was that the orange siri in this general vicinity of the low country?
Speaker 2:no, savannah is the first one and they have like over a thousand members wow, it's huge.
Speaker 2:That is huge to think of that area. It is a great. Savannah is pretty big and the greater savannah too, but I mean everyone in the city. In the downtown savannah there's a lot. So they were thinking about building pooler across costco and I actually applied as a sales associate because my my job in savannah when I moved here was actually a caretaker for a grad student with a disability and her mom went to orange theory and then that's how the connection was created.
Speaker 2:Yes. So I I found Orange Theory through my job at the time and I decided to. I was also studying to get my cert at the time. Okay. So I decided oh, let me apply for this job. This looks great and the coach, I mean, it looks fun. So then I applied for a sales associate. They told me Pooler was opening. So then I started as a sales associate in that tent outside by Publix. Getting people into Orange Theory Selling people into Orange Theory and it worked.
Speaker 1:I really you had to be a great salesperson.
Speaker 2:You really did, but honestly I did not know how to sell. It was really a skill set. I had to work and practice on, especially phone calls, that first phone call was so embarrassing. Oh my gosh, yeah, Like especially because we didn't have anything to show them. So you had to call. You had leads, so that's how I got my sales skills and been able to sell, you know here in Fullmetal Bluff You're a good seller for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, especially with physical therapy I'm all skills and been able to sell. You know, here in Palmetto Bluff You're a good seller.
Speaker 2:Yeah, especially with physical therapy. I'm all about physical therapy, as you can see. So, yeah, I got certified. Then I got my job at Orange Theory and that's how I really started in fitness, and I had a personal training client at the time. So I was working both Orange Theory and then training as well, so I had two jobs at the time. So I was working both Orange Theory and then training as well, so I had two jobs at the time and that's really what got me into the fitness industry. So, from Orange Theory then I decided to pursue more with private training because I was only in group classes. So then that's when I moved here, moved to Bluffton, got my position at Hampson Lake as a fitness director.
Speaker 1:Yeah, former director of Hanson Lake, former director.
Speaker 2:I know what it's like to be in Jeff's position, and it's a lot, but it is very rewarding as well. And then from Hanson Lake I moved here to Palmetto Bluff Club. And you've been at Palmetto Bluff now almost five years Almost five years this December is my fifth year anniversary, and I won't be here, though, because I'll be gone Because you have a big occasion coming up. I have a very big occasion.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, we're excited for you.
Speaker 2:Should we share?
Speaker 1:Yes, we should. I'm getting married.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but we're very excited.
Speaker 1:I think a few of our listeners have heard about it, but we're so glad that you're able to take that time off and really enjoy that moment of your life.
Speaker 2:Yes, I wish I was here during my fifth. My fifth year, cause this is my longest work and I felt like I was bouncing between jobs, trying to find something and really wanting to stick with it.
Speaker 1:And this job, this, this community, has really allowed me to expand in my skill sets and really be a better trainer and instructor so yeah, it sounds like you've found your passion here early early roots, from being a physical therapy assistant to now working with people one-on-one tech that the same uh reward that you see that progress in people year over year, I mean it has to be crazy, rewarding Very, very much so and that's why I love it so much.
Speaker 2:So I actually, from when I started getting in more into training and really after I, as I was working in orange theory, I didn't look back on going back into physical therapy. So there was a. There was times where my parents would ask me oh like, what about applying again Seeing? But I realized that the reward that I got in personal training and group fitness was very similar, if not the same reward that I would get with seeing patients improve and get stronger in the PT environment.
Speaker 1:So that's a great reflection. Yeah yeah, they're physical therapists and a personal trainer. It's almost side by side. Yeah so the reality is it's we're depending on where we are on the spectrum of fitness. Both roles are so important to the ultimate goal of that person being capable and living the life they want to live.
Speaker 2:And they work well hand in hand together. So I have a lot of clients that I have sold and promoted and encouraged to go to physical therapy and they do, and then I work with the physical therapist here and make sure that we're on the same page and helping them essentially get stronger and healthier.
Speaker 1:It's great you mentioned that, because that communication and that relationship just leads to greater results for that person. Yes, so I appreciate you sharing more about your background. It sounds like orange series sparked things. You never looked back and you know you found your found your world here with the amazing members we have, of course, in our team. Let's dive into getting to know more about your training philosophy. So how would you describe the high level outlook you have on fitness training?
Speaker 2:So I, when it comes to fitness training, my biggest focus and what I believe is important is the core stability and strength, because sometimes it's the area that we lack and don't acknowledge as much. Now it is most people. When they think core, they want to focus on planks, crunches, bicycle crunches, all the basic movements that we're familiar with. But there's so much more to it, and I love being able to take a client and educate them on the abundance of core exercises that you can do outside of your planks, bicycles and crunches. So, with my philosophy, it's being able to focus on core stability and strength and to help them improve functional movement for our delay activities. So being able to improve and strengthen the core what holds us together? And, while it doesn't completely relieve our back pain, it just helps us be able to move through life and feel better too, and through my experience, that's what helps.
Speaker 2:So I experienced low back pain, probably post-college, and it was just through exercise, and it was when I went to a doctor and he, while I was thinking I was going to go into physical therapy, cause I thought that's the route typically. Thankfully, my injury wasn't as severe and he said I could fix things mechanically, so really fixing my posture and then focusing on core exercises. So that's really what got me into this. Focus on this area of expertise was the pain, and then it sounds like your approach has been geared towards training people to create that midline stability, that core stability as you've described, so that pain goes away to a degree, depending on the level of care that person needs.
Speaker 1:But what you're mentioning is taking that full approach. So it's not just about the planks, it's not just about getting a six pack.
Speaker 2:It is about putting exercises into a program so that they can feel better feel better, move better and that's what's important too and just being able to focus on things, especially that's catered to them. So they're going to come in, they have certain goals and we all have different bodies. So being able to figure out how they move, how they can move better from there, and then integrate my expertise with core strength and stability, into that program and make it fun yeah, because that's crucial. That's the fun part.
Speaker 1:Yes, Because then they keep coming back and they get consistent, exactly.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, let's go into training programs and how you go about developing them. You personalize and individualize your plans for everyone. We know your tablet well around the premises here and I think that's what's cool about all of our trainers is there is that touch and that thought process. So, I'd love to dig into your thought process behind creating a strength training session. How do you go about that, and what factors do you always include with each person like no matter what? What's the process? Walk us through that.
Speaker 2:So I actually just had a new client today. So when I was making that program, the first thing I think about is, of course, what's their goal? And then what are the orthopedic issues that they're going through if they have any and how I can integrate my exercises into that. So the first thing I think about is actually the core stability. So a lot of people when they typically do group fitness in a personal training session, they typically do core at the end. My goal is to be able to engage and activate their core through different exercises in the beginning, get them to stabilize.
Speaker 2:Then from there we move to the extremities, so the arms or the legs oh interesting so I'm typically a circuit gal and that comes from the orange theory background I just love a circuit. I also love working out in a circuit, training or superset, and I'll do a circuit three exercises and we go through core stability. So we do balance, we do the lovely paloff press.
Speaker 1:As a core exercise as a core exercise Very functional too.
Speaker 2:People don't realize how important it is, especially in golf.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And we'll work through core stability and balance. Then from there then we move to either the upper extremity, so upper body I'll do a pull, push, superset, that Great or I'll start with a lower body, so I usually will focus being able to work on the posterior chain of the body. So if I do lower body or if I do upper body next as the circuit, then I'll make sure I do the backside of the body first, so me being able to wake up the glutes, the hamstrings of the lower body, and then, when it comes to upper body or waking up your back, activating those back muscles, then we focus on being able to work on the anterior, so the front side yeah so it just depends too, because sometimes I'll integrate of course we are doing foundational movements your basics of pull down, pull up assisted machine, your squats, leg press, all.
Speaker 2:And then I will change it up with some core exercises of balance single leg deadlift or a bozu halo I love the bozu ball A bozu halo. Bozu halo. So, depending on the person, typically I have them kneeling and that's a good stability one. But sometimes you can integrate that with a good upper body, so maybe a pull down, and then you superset that with a bozu halo. So you're focusing on stability after.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So you're kneeling, knees on the ball, facing up so the dome part, and you have the kettlebell or the weight in front and then, just like a halo, you wrap around the head. You know, but a lot of people go really crazy whether their arms go up or they sway.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But the bozu challenges you to stabilize.
Speaker 1:So the goal is to be a little bit more stable in it, because it's both sides off the ground, yeah, and it's almost like when they slow that halo down that's where they can create more of that stability and that's what's important too, I think with my philosophy is slow and controlled.
Speaker 2:A lot of people rush through movement. They're not getting as much bang for your buck there and it's not as efficient if you until you slow it down more time under tension and really control your movement, cause that's where the core comes in. The core activates more when we control the movement and focus on that stability too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's interesting to hear that you start off with more of a core focus because, you're right, it is less of a focus for many trainers. It's typically those throw-ins at the end of a session. So it just seems to me like that first circuit that's focused primarily on the midline probably goes a long way as you start to challenge the different areas of the body posterior or anterior. Yes, so the approach is unique.
Speaker 2:Thank you, yeah, it's cool to hear more about. You start to challenge the different areas of the body posterior or anterior Um. So the, the approach is unique. Thank you, yeah, cool to hear more about. I love it. Yeah, it's fun.
Speaker 1:It's always fun when you get a client who's training with you for the first time, or someone who's hasn't done X exercise with the trainer and I'm like oh yeah, I got this.
Speaker 2:Let's start with the pallet press, or something like that.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love that. It's great to introduce exercises that are challenging but put them in a really safe position to start things off so they start to cue the motor control of their body.
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly.
Speaker 1:Cool. Well, we're going to come back to fitness. Let's take a turn here. As a fitness trainer, you get a lot of questions about nutrition as a fitness trainer, you get a lot of questions about nutrition and it's hard for members clients to be successful if all they're doing is exercise. So from your perspective, how important is nutrition?
Speaker 2:I think of wellness, fitness and nutrition. Let's just say it's those two things as a circle graph and 80% of it is nutrition, 20% of it is fitness when it comes to reaching your fitness goals. So nutrition is everything almost every so important, if not more important, when it comes to reaching your fitness goals. I think of it as fuel. So when we're working out especially people that love our programming and work out every day come in, just love the camaraderie and all that and they are getting the exercise or getting their physical activity in. But that phrase abs are made in the kitchen it really holds true, because we have to fuel ourselves properly and make better choices in the kitchen and be able to focus on protein intake, which is important in order for us to build muscle and see results, whatever goal we have. So when, even from experience, the best results I get reaching my fitness goals is when I'm more mindful with what I intake and how I feel my body and especially how much protein I'm taking in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so. So for you personally, protein is a big thing that you focus on. Protein's huge, and you're huge on the fact that nutrition is more important than fitness.
Speaker 2:I think it's a big part For the fitness goals it's important to make sure you're mindful about. And then the fitness. Doing your exercise, whether that's two, three, five times a week, that's what's going to get you to seeing those results. So it's nutrition is driving it, and then fitness takes it from there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, fitness, almost supporting what you're putting into your body.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Good way of putting it.
Speaker 2:So I think nutrition, I guess, is more of the foundation and it's what helps us get us started to reaching our fitness goals. So I see more success with people that are mindful, tracking their nutrition, tracking their protein intake and then doing even if they just work out twice a week and be consistent in that programming. They're seeing their results and it's incredible to see how much nutrition plays a role in reaching those fitness goals.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now you've worked with many members on property. Here you have a roster of a ton of people who see you regularly. Now I mentioned that because I'm interested. What are the goals that you typically receive from most of the people you work with? Like do people come to you mostly for balance? Is it muscle building? What have you been seeing, even even over the last few years?
Speaker 2:I see a lot of I wanted to work on my core. I need to work on my core because I've had low back pain, I've had hip issues, things like that. That's actually what I see. More so, and then I think, oh, if I have availability, I'd love to squeeze you into my schedule because that's my focus. I don't see as much weight loss. I see more so people just wanting to get stronger. I think that's the most common one I see is that they just want to get stronger, they want to build muscle. Common one I see is that they just want to get stronger, they want to build muscle and at this time this is a great time for them to do so and they're enjoying all the activities they have outside of fitness golf, pickleball and they just want to be able to continue those things and be able to enjoy it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's pain free. Pain free, you know. Yeah, yeah, it seems to be what you started with in your general philosophy A lot of people coming to fitness so that they can live the life they want to live on this amazing property.
Speaker 2:Yes, amazing property Beautiful.
Speaker 1:Let's go ahead and talk about trends. So fitness there's always trends in fitness.
Speaker 2:Always.
Speaker 1:Could you share with us one trend that you love and then, on the flip side, provide us with one that you feel is overrated?
Speaker 2:One trend I love is recovery. Hashtag PB recover. We miss it. Now it's stretch and recover. Pb stretch and recover yes, yes, and I love how we started integrating that into programming, because recovery is really making its way through the fitness industry. Hyperice, therabody, theragun Therabody, the Restore have you heard that business?
Speaker 1:The franchise Restore. Yes, yes With red light therapy, cryo it's a combination of things.
Speaker 2:I haven't been there yet, but it's a goal of mine to be able to. But I've started hearing that members are starting to go to these recovery places all of this stretch franchises too Like stretch zone. Yep Stretch zone stretch lab Stretch zone. Yep stretch zone stretch lab stretch. This that I think it's amazing to be able to incorporate the aspect of fitness that has not really been talked about in the beginning.
Speaker 2:And the research is slowly getting out there how important the recovery is. And I tell people too especially people that really work out and they don't see as much results maybe's the balance, finding the balance in your recovery, so resting and in that rest, being able to use percussion tools hyper ice, they're a gun and being able to take the time to recover, because it helps grow the muscle and helps us get stronger. So yeah I just love the implementation of the recovery industry, if you will, and I.
Speaker 1:That's definitely. That's definitely a trend we've seen growing and it's tough to get the buy-in with folks. It's great to see that we're trending in that way of focusing on it way more than we ever have. There's only so much time in a training session or even a group fitness class, so your warmup and your cool down, it doesn't necessarily give you the recovery needed to be at your best. So I'm glad you mentioned that one, because the yeah, this is, this is happening.
Speaker 2:And and I agree, like the buy-in is hard, but I also think that the the background that they grew into with the fitness industry it was all about no pain, no gain, or we are also in a hustle culture, so it's all about the hustle. It's all about how many times can I get into an Orange Theory class this week and go as hard as I can, and then at some point, we all experience different symptoms of burnout.
Speaker 2:but being able to understand that there's a balance and finding that recovery and taking the time to take care of yourself is what's important in order to reach your fitness goals.
Speaker 1:Well said, Well said. Heard Now anything overrated out there?
Speaker 2:So I'm going to, even if it's specific to you and your training. Not even training. So I'm going gonna say the general term of wearable technology. That includes our apple watch, the whoop, but specifically I'm gonna go with the aura ring. Now, listen, I have an apple watch as we speak and I love it and I do think it's great to track the things that we need to track, but I feel like the aura ring has been really big in the influencer industry.
Speaker 2:On social media so I am someone who I try not to follow, like I try to go against the curb, I try not to be a bandwagon person try not to get sucked in with the latest and greatest yeah, like, for example, yes, I have an awala, but I don't have a stanley cup. So I just try not to be that person. I don't know why it's so funny.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna give you my stanley cup, because I don't use it yeah, where is it at home? It's missing right now. Yeah, but it's yours if you want. It okay, but you're not a bandwagon person, I'm not a bandwagoner, but anyways the ordering.
Speaker 2:I feel like some people buy it just to buy it. Like just to be part of the trend.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So that's the reason why it's pricey. But there's also people that have the Oura Ring, and they also have the Apple Watch, and they also have the whoop Whoop.
Speaker 1:Whoop, I know a few people like that. They're wearing everything on every wrist possible and every finger.
Speaker 2:So finger. So now, while I said that I think recovery is a fitness trend I love, I feel like those wearable technology pieces that are in the in the industry right now. People can get really over the edge with it. So then they're like oh, I had my sleep, was I?
Speaker 1:have to do this. Yeah, what? What's the matter with me?
Speaker 2:or whoop, like am I pronouncing it right? You're saying whoop, right, like am I pronouncing it right?
Speaker 1:You're saying whoop right? I hope so yeah.
Speaker 2:But they it doesn't. Now I'm not too familiar with it, but I just know it's about your recovery.
Speaker 1:Heart rate variability. Oh, so that's the big thing with whoop, which heart rate variability is a measure of our recovery. It's probably the best measure we can get really quickly of whether we're rested or not.
Speaker 2:And then people. I just noticed people be like I'm at 89%, I maybe I can go back into it. You know, I feel like people can get really fixated.
Speaker 1:They can get fixated. And then there's a lot of justification that I think stems from overtracking. So it's, it's a great angle to to be careful with and I think it is a little overrated that the fitness tracker is going to get us to our goals. There's no validity to prove that just tracking necessarily leads you to success.
Speaker 2:Totally, especially with calories. And I know listen been there, done that, but I don't think of the number like oh, I burned 571 calories in this workout session. I'm so proud when I see it and I try to recommend this to members when they think about calories and they all only think about calories, but I just try to guesstimate, so I I burned around 500 calories roughly yeah rough estimate, exactly so I try to get fixated on it.
Speaker 2:So that's where I feel like it can get overrated. Just the or ring for people just to buy it, to buy it because it's pricey.
Speaker 1:Yeah the takeaway here is don't just buy fitness tractors to buy them, because it's the, the, the thing that's on social media right now. Okay, cool. Well, let's go ahead, switch gears. We've heard a lot about training philosophy, how you set up your programs, your perspective on nutrition. I'd love to get into our rapid fire round. Let's go.
Speaker 1:This is the first time we've ever done this on Behind the Bluff, and it's to basically gain insight very quickly from experts like you. So definitely we want a little bit of that. Why, for sure I know our listeners will be interested. Let's kick things off. If you weren't a fitness trainer, what career would you have pursued?
Speaker 2:Two careers. First one mental health therapists. Boom, oh my gosh, If you don't ever. Everyone should go to therapy. Like I love therapy mental health advocate here.
Speaker 2:Yes, I advocate mental health all the way. And then, because I I've been through therapy too I am currently not, which I'm really sad, I don't make time for it but I, especially, if I were to specify, I'd do more of like relationship, love relationships, because, as you know, like I could get into that topic for hours and just talking about how to be a better partner and just all that. I love the topic of there. And then the second one, real big turn interior designer. What? Who am I? So I love this is creepy, but in like just on Instagram, just scrolling, but seeing how people design the inside of the houses and like their style, love it. So I'm trying to work on mine, taking a process. But yeah, isn't that did I say, say that those are great options?
Speaker 2:no, I have not heard the interior designer, one I have a love for that like going in, like when I, when we visited your house for the first time, I was like lindsey, oh my gosh, she is definitely the interior.
Speaker 1:Yeah, taking notes yeah, I just, I just, you know, ask her what I need to buy, and we go from there.
Speaker 2:That's right yeah it's cool.
Speaker 1:What's your go-to healthy meal?
Speaker 2:Is this cooking at home or not? Anything.
Speaker 1:Let's do cooking at home and out to eat.
Speaker 2:Okay, cool. So cooking at home. There's this one I saw on social media recently and I love it. So I feel like I'm Italian at heart, but I love a pasta. But think, okay, hear me out, bonsa pasta, whatever pasta style you wish. And then Adles I don't know how to pronounce it Italian chicken sausage. So good alternative.
Speaker 1:That's the brand.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, have you had it before?
Speaker 1:I've heard of the brand back in the day.
Speaker 2:I think delicious delicious and it's italian sausage, so cut that up, then cottage cheese, so about a cup of it? But you blend it, so season it however you wish, and then I do garlic, salt pepper and you blend it to where it's a ricotta texture, delicious. Pour that in, cook with the pasta, the chicken sausage and the red sauce of your choice. I do Little Italy, I'm going to influence so Little Italy brand the marinara San Marzano sauce, really good quality, so love that and I'll put that up. But but what I love about is the high protein that you get cottage cheese, the sausage, the bonza pasta it adds up quite a bit there and then my going out, which I'm actually having today with my best friend kava kava.
Speaker 2:I am a kava die hard I'm trying to think of something.
Speaker 1:And what is kava's cuisine?
Speaker 2:isn't it? It's I could describe it, I was just describing it to someone fast mediterranean food, so it actually bought out zo.
Speaker 2:I heard zoe's bought out zoe's kitchen okay, and my best friend who actually introduced me to kava I. I don't crave a salad, but I crave their bowl, so I'm really excited to have it tonight. But I usually do like the super green. So that's like a mix of kale, brussels sprouts, cabbage, basmati rice Got to add the rice, two dips of tzatziki sauce, chicken I do grilled chicken and then I top it off with all their different topping options. So there's like fire roasted corn, tomato, cucumber, cucumber, cabbage, slaw, pita crisp. All that spread a little love with feta cheese and then yogurt, dill Bam. I know I didn't have to go into the details.
Speaker 1:I like it, though I feel like you should just stand at Kava and help people order now because that does sound extremely yummy.
Speaker 2:It's very filling but it's very good and those I actually crave that. So I'm not a big salad person.
Speaker 1:So yeah, so it helps out to get the nutrient density.
Speaker 2:Get the nutrient dense In that way Very much so Highly recommend kava.
Speaker 1:All right, let's shift off of meals. You're a foodie. I could tell we could do more questions.
Speaker 2:No doubt.
Speaker 1:What's what's your favorite cardio machine If you had to choose one, rower, rower.
Speaker 2:I love the water rower.
Speaker 1:Water rower. Does this come from my background?
Speaker 2:in Orange Theory. Yes, I love the smooth. It's so smooth.
Speaker 1:The sound of it, yeah.
Speaker 2:We used to have them here, oh we did, yeah. And then we had concept Concept's. Still good, though. I love a concept concept too, guy. So I love the. I love the rower full body.
Speaker 1:I just don't want to run. Personally, I'm not a runner anymore rower is a good alternative for sure. All right, let's let's dig deeper into fitness. Most beneficial strength exercise for the majority of people out there squat, squat, yep. And give us a why.
Speaker 2:So many. It's so functional. We do it every day. We just don't realize it, especially when we're doing it at the gym as someone demos. But being able to strengthen the legs, which are important for us, especially as we get older, and then also the core stability of it, so important and the beautiful thing about a squat is that you can.
Speaker 1:There's so many different variations to help each individual so, session to session, you can switch it up, even though it's still a squat, you do it different ways.
Speaker 2:Yep, love a squat, so highly recommend I love that answer.
Speaker 1:I think if I ever get interviewed on these topics, that would be up there for me. We can flip the table you might need to. Most beneficial mobility exercise for the majority of people.
Speaker 2:I do this one in my stretch class and I think if I didn't do it one day they'd freak the sideline, reach and rotate.
Speaker 1:Love it.
Speaker 2:I call it open, close book because that's literally what it looks like. But that thoracic rotation is very limited for us day to day because we only go into flexion extension, we only move in a frontal plane. But being able to open up, especially in our thoracic spine, is super key, especially for our daily activities, and that includes golf does?
Speaker 1:It does include golf, great choice. Okay, final, fun, rapid fire question here this, this is an important one, one piece of advice to help people stay motivated. What would it be Be?
Speaker 2:consistent, consistency wins it. Motivation is what gets us started. As we know, in the new year we have goals, it's a new chapter. We want to start hitting the gym but then, realistically, it's hard to keep those goals because we lose that motivation. We focus on other things, priorities get in the way, and that's OK. But if we make this a daily habit, if we put it into our daily routine and know that we not that we have to do it, but we get to do it it's the mindset being able to understand that we can integrate this and be consistent, just like we are in our morning and our night routine we're going to see results. So consistency wins.
Speaker 1:Well said, all right, gemma Lee. Well, I appreciate your ability to answer those quick questions and to give us the details. No, I think we'll have a lot of people into uh, getting into their cars and driving to Cabo. Yeah.
Speaker 2:You'll see them there Ordering the same thing.
Speaker 1:Um so, as you know, as our second uh biggest fan of the podcast, uh, I want to, I want to get get you to the final question here. Uh, what does wellness mean to you?
Speaker 2:Wellness means finding the balance and taking care of yourself mentally and physically.
Speaker 2:As you know, I'm an advocate for mental health and it starts there being able to work on taking care of ourself and having a good state of mind, and then also being able to physically take care of ourself. And I say balance because it's so important. We all we're all different. We all have different likes and what we liked, what we like to do, especially when it comes to fitness nutrition. So, being able to find the balance that works for you and being able to find how many times you want to exercise or if you don't like to go to the gym, what physical activity do you like to do. And then also, how are you taking your take care of yourself mentally? How are you working on yourself? How are you self-improving to be a better person, to work on the things that are emotion working on our emotional state is so important in order to be in a better physical state. It's so correlated and we forget to think about that, but being able to be mentally healthy and physically healthy is the goal, the end goal.
Speaker 1:It's the true essence of wellness.
Speaker 2:Yes, I saw this quote that I wrote on my phone a while back. Nothing looks as good as being healthy feels, and I think that's what wellness means to me.
Speaker 1:Wow, Gemily Powerful.
Speaker 2:Mic drop.
Speaker 1:You achieved it for sure. Just want to pause and thank you so much for taking the time to jump on the podcast today and, honestly, huge, immense amount of gratitude for you, everything you do for the members here, everything you do for me and the team. I couldn't thank you more for your contribution day after day at Palmetto Bluff.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me, Jeff.
Speaker 1:Listeners. That is a wrap on our main conversation today. Feel free to hang out with me for a few more minutes and get some healthy momentum for the rest of your week. Wow, that was some of the most fun I've ever had on the podcast, and I just think Gemily did such a great job of explaining that being well isn't just about the physical, and taking the moment here to ask ourselves how are we taking care of ourselves emotionally? Being mentally healthy and physically healthy is the end goal.
Speaker 1:I couldn't have said it better, and so for this week, I wanted to just bring up the fact that we all go through funks, and I'm wondering if you've ever had a week where you just don't feel like yourself. You're in a funk, you feel off, or maybe you just feel misaligned, maybe your schedule was turned upside down. I don't know about you, but schedules change on a dime, and I think we all have a few weeks each year where it's difficult to feel normal. It's difficult to feel in sync, and let's pause right there. Feeling in sync is something that we each deserve, and when we don't feel like we're rhythmically moving through our days in the way that we normally do, it's just not a feeling that we like to sit in too long. So for this momentum, this healthy boost to your mindset here, I want to share with you three simple steps to get back on track, because when you're in these moments it isn't as hard as you think. So the first one here is think about getting back to a consistent wake sleep schedule. When you're in a funk, when you're off, I bet your sleep schedule is just not going the way that it typically goes. We have to remember that sleep is our foundation, and it's easy to get sucked into a television show that you're psyched about. For example, lindsay and I just got hooked onto a new season of Top Chef and I stayed up a little bit later than I normally do last night, and I can just feel the difference in my energy levels. I can feel how I'm not as focused as I could be if I had gone to bed within that normal window, that time that I've set for myself. So, to stay in sync, rest is huge. We have to get rest, and so, if you feel like you're in a funk, ask yourself where is your wake-up time? At what time are you getting under the covers?
Speaker 1:Secondly, the next step is to minimize distractions. If you're anything like me, distractions completely plummet your productivity. So I am someone who's not a phone person and that means that when I'm on my phone extensively throughout the day or I'm constantly in response mode, I can feel it, and it's not just physically, it is emotionally and mentally and they all are tied together, as we've concluded here today. So be careful of digital clutter. It'll train your focus and I believe that our phones are always asking for our attention. So when you're in a funk, when you're feeling off, you're not in sync, go to the phone and ask some questions Are you on it too much? What's it look like? We've all seen those scary screens of usage time and that can definitely snap you out of it and say, hey, this isn't where you want to be spending your time, so let's not let it take over. It messes with our schedule. The phone is one of your biggest distractions.
Speaker 1:And then, finally, eliminate decision fatigue. Gosh, this is something I deal with just about every day. We've got a lot of decisions to make around here at Pomona Bluff, our program's expanding, and even in your life, with your kids, your families, what you're going to eat for dinner. There's always decisions that, when you leave them to chance, you leave them to kind of waiting around, well, it's going to cause you to have to passively decide in the moment versus intentionally understanding what you're going to do. So some simple ways to go about this is prep your clothes for the day, prep the to-dos on a planner, whether that's hard copy or in your phone. Plan your workouts, plan the meals in advance and think through do you have everything in the house that you need to execute on that day?
Speaker 1:I think when we can go from passively deciding in the moment what we're going to use our time for and live in a way that we're intentionally understanding what each block of time is going to be used for, that eliminates the fatigue that comes with having to make decisions. So if you're feeling in a funk this week or when you feel off and not in sync in the future, I want you to remember these three simple steps Get back to a consistent wake and sleep schedule, minimize distractions and eliminate decision fatigue. You deserve to feel aligned and in sync. That brings us to the end of this week's episode.
Speaker 1:I hope you enjoyed the first installment of our fitness trainer series. We're planning on bringing one of our trainers monthly to the podcast, so we'll knock this out all summer long. Next up is going to be Nader Bertouli. He's very well known here at Palmetto Bluff, leads a lot of classes and trains a lot of members, so I know many of you out there will be interested in his take on all things training in life. Until next week, remember to actively participate in life on your terms. Thanks for listening.
