Fit Strong Women Over 50

In episode 154, Jill and Chris speak with Maddy Dychtwald, an internationally acclaimed author, public speaker, and thought leader on longevity, aging, the new retirement, and the ascent of women.

She co-founded Age Wave, the world’s leader in understanding and addressing the far-reaching impacts of our aging population.

She is the author of "Ageless Aging: A Woman’s Guide to Increasing Healthspan, Brainspan, and Lifespan" published by the Mayo Clinic Press.

Maddy has been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes, Newsweek, Time, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Fox Business News, CNBC, and NPR, and others.

Maddy is the author of two previous books: Influence: How Women’s Soaring Economic Power Will Transform Our World for the Better and Cycles: How We Will Live, Work, and Buy.

For more information, see our website: BecomingElli.com

In episode 153, we feature an encore presentation of one of the inspiring stories of Fit Strong Women Over 50.

This episode was first released five years ago as episode 31. We wanted to revisit this episode for our listeners who may not have had the opportunity to hear the story of this inspiring woman.

Enjoy!

More details at our website: BecomingElli.com

In episode 152 of the Fit Strong women Over 50 Podcast, Jill and Chris speak with Becoming Elli member, Maria Molvin about how she finds strategies to stay healthy and fit as she ages.

Balancing work, family obligations, focusing on healthy eating, prioritizing sleep, and finding time to be active can be challenging. Maria lives in Northeast Ohio with her husband. She takes advantage of all the great local metro parks and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to walk and hike.

We discussed:

• How Maria relies on habits over willpower and discipline
• How she uses her home gym. She has an elliptical. treadmill, stationery bike, and a weight bench.
• Why she gets on her stationary bike for 10 minutes each morning
• Her full workout routines and how they help her reduce stress after from working from home all day
• Strength training with bicep curls and skull crushers
• Overcoming a sleep disorder by prioritizing sleep. Maria makes sure she sleeps in a dark room, puts away her phone before bed, listens to yoga Nidra recordings, takes CBD and goes to sleep at about the same time each night.
• What she does to offset her joint hyper mobility. Although she became a Yoga Instructor, now she does not work out for flexibility. Instead she focuses on functional movements, like standing on one foot to increase her balance.
• How she considers herself an "all-weather walker" and dresses for the conditions.
• Why taking belly dancing lessons was such a fun way to exercise
• Looking into the FODMAPS diet - the elimination diet where she found out about sensitivities to onions, garlic, beans and legumes
• Big salads at lunch, chicken breasts in the air fryer and grilled chicken/shrimp with seamed or roasted vegges for dinner
• Her advice for women who want start adapting for health: pick one thing you want to change and get good at adding that habit (or eliminating that bad habit.)

For more information visit our website at BecomingElli.com

Episode #151 Get More Fit with Kathy Murray

Kathy Murray is a certified personal trainer with over thirty years’ experience in the fitness industry.

She is a graduate of The Ohio State University where she was a member of the 1983 National Cheerleading Championship Team. After college she competed in and won the United States Aerobic Championship in 1986 and spent the year traveling the world as a Fitness Ambassador.

Kathy worked as a free-lance educator to teach fitness to European Instructors. While in Munich, she coached the Munich Cowboys (American Football) Cheerleaders to six national titles in cheerleading and was head trainer/translator for the German Gladiators during a pilot TV show for the International Gladiators. I was in Germany where she started Fit Bodies

Always an avid cyclist, Kathy dipped her toe into the world of multi-sport in 2000, first competing in duathlons then eventually moving to triathlons. Kathy has owned her personal training business Fit Bodies for 25 years and in 2022 co-authored the Audible book, The Munich Cowboy Cheerleaders based on her time coaching the squad.

She lives in Atlanta with her husband Lutalo, dog Mingus and cat Sassy.

We discussed:

• Coaching teens in Germany for the Munich Cowboys Cheerleaders
• Preparing for a hip replacement and setting goals
• Her active online fitness coaching at Fit Bodies
• How she helps her clients get more fit at any age

Learn more at our website: Becoming Elli

In episode 150, Jill McCauslin and Chris Brown interview Chris Freytag, the founder of Get Healthy U and Get Healthy U TV.

Chris Freytag has been teaching, training, writing books, creating DVD’s, and speaking on the subject of health and fitness for the last 30 years.

Get Healthy U TV is a streaming website with workouts for midlife women. They have over 700 workouts for all levels and ages. You can access the workouts on your computer, smart phone, Roku, Fire TV and the Get Healthy U app.

Get Healthy U is the sister fitness hub that educates and inspires women to make healthy lifestyle choices as they age. Get Healthy U provides trustworthy information about health, fitness, wellbeing, nutrition, and recipes.

Get Healthy U TV and Get Healthy U reach over 1 million women a month through their website, newsletters, social media and workouts.

Chris lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her husband where they raised their three now-grown kids.

More info at our website: BecomingElli.com

In episode 149, Jill and Chris talk with Emily and Mitchell Clionsky, the authors of Dementia Prevention: Using Your Head to Save Your Brain. Their book is the culmination of 45 years of extensive clinical evaluation and treatment.

A husband-and-wife team, they have a combined 70 years of professional and clinical experience in medicine and neuropsychology and have treated 20,000 patients.

Emily Clionsky, MD, completed residencies in internal medicine and in psychiatry, and is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Mitchell Clionsky, PhD, is a board-certified neuropsychologist who specializes in evaluating and treating patients with cognitive impairment, dementia, ADHD, and traumatic brain injury.

They partner at a private practice, Clionsky Neuro Systems, Inc., based in Springfield, Massachusetts.

See more information at our website: BecomingElli.com

Amy Wilson is a Board-Certified Geriatric Pharmacist, a certified fitness professional, and a certified nutrition coach. She helps people prevent and reverse diseases with nutrition and fitness.

Amy believes diet and exercise can change a person’s life, and how the right nutritional program can be the key to improving health and fitness. She has seen her clients reverse their pre-diabetes, diabetes, high cholesterol, and more.

Amy uses a holistic approach to health to help her clients feel in control of their bodies and minds, while no longer feeling enslaved by their scale.

For more information see our website: Becoming Elli.

Kim Rahir is a 60-year-old mother of three who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) 10 years ago. She decided to ignore her then doctor's advice... muscle her way back to a happy life... and in 2023, become the European Champion in Masters Weightlifting in her age and weight category.

Her journey inspired her to leave her career in journalism in her 50s and become a health coach for middle aged women - with a big focus on reactivating and rebuilding muscle.

Today, Kim helps women tap into an abundant source of vitality by reactivating and maintaining their muscles, while ditching diet culture conditioning to actually eat to nourish and flourish.

For details see our website: Becoming Elli.

In episode 146, Jill and Chris talk with Heike Yates, a Midlife Mindset and Fitness Coach, a powerhouse in fitness, nutrition, and mindset with over 35 years of expertise. She breaks down the complexities of midlife wellness into simple, actionable steps you can start taking action today. But don’t mistake her for someone helping you get by in midlife—Heike’s all about helping you thrive.

She’s transforming not just bodies but lives with her unique approach to getting active, eating right, and boosting energy. When she’s not coaching or behind the mic, catch her outdoors, pushing her limits as a triathlete or embarking on a new adventure.

Heike's podcast, Pursue Your Spark, has over 200 episodes and is a wealth of resources and inspiration for mid-life women. Heike also has two other podcasts, one about intermittent fasting and one about Pilates.

We interviewed Heike in November of 2020 episode #71 and reconnected with her in August of 2023 at a podcast conference in Boulder Colorado. we knew we had to ask Heike to return to the podcast.

For more information and links, visit our website at BecomingElli,com.

In episode 145, the hosts of Fit Strong Women Over 50 podcast talk about the lessons they've learned for healthy living over the past six years. Chris and Jill also launch the 2024 Eating the Rainbow Challenge, while reflecting on 2023 and look forward to 2024.

In this episode we discuss:

• Setting goals, milestones, changing focus, having a theme for the year, three words
• Highlights from 2023 episodes and some of the things that the guests said that really resonated with us.
• Six lessons learned during the 6 years of developing our Becoming Elli website, Facebook Group and Fit Strong Women Over 50 podcast
• Our 2024 challenge: Eating the Rainbow. What it is and tracking your results
• What we like to throw together for dinner when running short of time.

Go to our website BecomingElli.com for links discussed in this episode.