Author: Chris Brown (Page 4 of 41)

Party and Diet with Kerstin Schulze

February 25, 2025 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

#173 Party and Diet with Kerstin Schulze

In episode #173, Jill and Chris talk with Kerstin Schulze, a powerhouse in both entertainment and wellness.

Originally from Germany, Kerstin’s journey began with a silver medal at the Junior Olympics in Berlin. From there, she pursued her love for performance with formal theater training and a business degree before making her way to Los Angeles.

Kerstin’s acting career is extensive. She’s worked with many well-known actors and directors. To check out her acting life, click the link to find her IMDb page.

She founded Party and Diet 24 years ago. It’s an innovative fitness company that specializes in providing tailored nutritional and exercise programs, now designed specifically for individuals aged 40-75.

We discuss:

The challenges of maintaining vitality, strength, and balance during perimenopause and menopause
Why her website is named Party and Diet
Her suggestions for different types of exercises for women over 50 who are just starting out
Work out with weights two days a week, one day heavy and the other day lighter weights with higher volume
Cross training with yoga, group walks, balance, flexibility, stretching on days you don’t lift weights
The biggest mistake when people start an exercise routine is too far, too fast, too long.
Consistency everyday rather than too much once a week
Recommendations for seated squat, table push ups, using a band and the importance of protecting your back
What is meant by vacuuming your abs
The value of hanging from a monkey bar
Diet: the power of plants, getting enough protein,

Links:

Her Website: PartyandDiet.com
Instagram @PartyandDiet
Arbonne plant based proteins
Video with Exercise Fundamentals focusing on good form for squats, lunges, pushups, vacuum abs
Her IMDb page with video clips and photos

Our podcast continues to be among the top podcasts for women over 50, especially in the health and fitness categories. See our ranking in the top 2% of all podcasts here.

Podcast Partner Spotlight for February 2025:

If you enjoy what we talk about on the Fit Strong Women Over 50 podcast, you may want to checkout the Women Over 70™ – Aging Reimagined podcast.

Women Over 70™ – Aging Reimagined, is dedicated to shining the spotlight on women living vibrantly and to shattering the myth that women become irrelevant as they age. Listen to the powerful stories of women aging. Their stories celebrate women’s enduring courage, compassion and contribution. Listen to this podcast at the Women Over 70 website.

Commitment and Focus

February 18, 2025 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

The purpose of today’s post is to recommit my focus to staying fit and strong. Recently my sleep and stamina have been in short supply, so I’m starting again.

Getting comfortable with starting again (and again and again) is probably the most important thing I’ve learned in the nearly 18 years I’ve been focusing on getting and staying fit.

I’m sharing this in case someone else is also at the stage of starting again. Today I needed a bit of help from AI in figuring this out and I asked about getting stronger. These steps will help, but only if I actually do them. So this is what I’m thinking about for restarting my commitment and focus on strength building:

Building strength requires both physical and mental commitment. Finding and maintaining focus can be tough, but here are some strategies to help you stay on track:

1. Set Clear Goals

Specific: Instead of just saying “I want to get stronger,” break it down to specific lifts (e.g., bench press, squat, deadlift) and set targets for each.
Measurable: Track progress, such as adding 5 pounds to a lift every month.
Time-bound: Set a time frame, like six months to achieve a particular goal.

2. Create a Routine

Consistency is key. Schedule your workouts like appointments, making them non-negotiable.
Have a structured workout plan (like a split routine) that includes progressive overload (gradually increasing weights or reps).

3. Track Your Progress

Keep a log of your lifts. This not only shows how far you’ve come, but it also holds you accountable.
Seeing improvement, even if it’s small, can provide huge motivation.

4. Break it Down into Small Wins

Sometimes, long-term goals can feel overwhelming. Break them into smaller, manageable milestones (e.g., improving your squat form or adding 10 lbs to your deadlift in the next month).
Celebrate each milestone as it helps build momentum.

5. Visualize Your Success

Visualization can be a powerful tool. Spend time visualizing how you’ll look and feel after reaching your strength goals.
It helps solidify the connection between effort and outcome.

6. Find Motivation in the Process

Strength-building isn’t just about the end result; the journey is rewarding. Focus on enjoying the process itself, whether it’s improving technique, feeling more powerful, or enjoying the physical and mental benefits of lifting.

7. Surround Yourself with Support

Having a training partner or joining a gym community can help keep you accountable and motivated. They can push you, cheer for you, and share tips.
Alternatively, follow social media accounts or YouTube channels that share tips, progress stories, and advice.

8. Take Care of Your Recovery

Building strength requires rest. If you’re not recovering properly, you may lose motivation due to fatigue or injury. Prioritize sleep, nutrition, and mobility work. (funny how sleep shows up as a priority for improving strength!)

9. Keep a Positive Mindset

Building strength takes time, and setbacks are normal. Focus on staying patient and persistent. Learn from mistakes and keep a positive attitude toward progress.

10. Mix it Up Occasionally

Avoid getting bored by changing up your routine every few weeks. Incorporating new exercises or techniques keeps things fresh and exciting, maintaining your focus.

11. Push Through Mental Barriers

Strength training is as much mental as it is physical. If you’re struggling with focus, push yourself to do just one more rep or set. Often, once you start, the mental block lifts.
Learn how to embrace discomfort—strength training is all about pushing past your limits, but safely.

By combining these elements, you can foster commitment and focus over time. It’s about creating a sustainable, enjoyable process that makes you excited to keep improving!

Quick Go-To Dinners with Becoming Elli

February 11, 2025 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

#172 Quick Go-To Dinners with Becoming Elli

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In episode #172 Jill and Chris explore quick go-to dinners that are easy to make and healthy for those nights that you are rushed and tempted to make less healthy choices.

We feature quick go-to dinners from these individual episodes:

Amanda Nighbert – episode #96 Living Energized and Nourished with Amanda Nighbert
Carol Simpson – episode #109 Rock Climbing and Yoga with Carol Simpson
Jone Carpenter – episode #104 Find Your Tribe with Jone Carpenter
Joyce Guenther – episode #107 Bicycling all 50 States with Joyce Guenther
Katie Orlando – episode #114 Sharing Love of Tennis with Katie Orlando
Kristin Kirkpatrick – episode #82 Nutrition for Women over 50 with Kristin Kirkpatrick
Lisa Bartlett – episode #86 Fit After Fifty Forever with Lisa Bartlett
Pat Bissell – episode #168 Find Your Passion and Stay Healthy with Pat Bissell

Don’t miss the challenge of our February 2025 Bingo Card!

Our podcast continues to be among the top podcasts for women over 50, especially in the health and fitness categories. See our ranking in the top 2% of all podcasts here.

Podcast Partner Spotlight for February 2025:

If you enjoy what we talk about on the Fit Strong Women Over 50 podcast, you may want to checkout the Women Over 70™ – Aging Reimagined podcast.

February 2025 Bingo

February 3, 2025 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

February 2025 Bingo is here to challenge you to dig a little deeper. We received very positive feedback about the January bingo, so we decided to switch it up a bit and do a February version.

You can screen capture this with your phone and mark off the squares as you complete them. You might want to do more than one each day, or save the challenge to work through the whole month of February! Get five in a row, either across, down or diagonally and shout out bingo. We’ll look for the shout outs on our social media platforms and here in the comments below.

Click on the photo above to get to the PDF if you prefer to print the bingo card out from your computer or click on this link: 2025 Bingo card – February 2025.

Please let us know if you are enjoying these challenges by leaving a message. Do you find them challenging? Too easy? Too difficult? It is very helpful to us to find out how you use them so that we create something that inspires and encourages us all to get and stay fit and strong as we age.

If you’d rather post your status in a more private way, please consider joining our Becoming Elli Private Facebook Group community. It’s a group of over 500 like minded women over 50 who are working together and supporting each other.

Losing 100 Pounds and Finding Health with Karen Clark-Snitchler

January 27, 2025 / Chris Brown / 4 Comments

#171 – Losing 100 Pounds and Finding Health

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We met Karen when she joined our Becoming Elli private facebook group. She has such a compelling story, we asked her to be a guest on our podcast.

Karen Clark-Snitchler is a Music Director and Conductor. She has an impressive list of plays and musicals that she has music directed. By day, Karen is a music teacher. She also started a “Girls on the Run” club at her elementary school.

Karen has lost over 100 pounds and became an athlete. She runs and strength trains.

In 2020, Karen’s husband died suddenly of a heart attack. Not wanting to make their two daughters orphans, she decided to make a lot of health changes. She started at 276 pounds and over a couple of years, lost 100 pounds on WW and also took up running.

Karen set a goal in 2022 to run in ten 5Ks before starting a new job in a new school district in September. She met her goal in August of 2022, made Lifetime at WW again – has done that 3x, dated a bunch and met her now husband in May of 2022. They married in May of 2023.

We discussed:

How and why she lost 100 pounds
Gut microbiome health and probiotics
Eating 30 different plants a week, including nuts, herbs, seeds
Getting a blood test through Dr. Mark Hyman’s Functional Health
C-Reactive Protein measuring inflammation levels
Making fermented foods like sauerkraut, yogurt and kefir. Her homemade fermented sauerkraut recipe is here.
Girls on the Run and SEL social emotional learning
Start running by using intervals
Her advice – make little changes. Do it for 3 days. Drink your water. Get off processed foods. Get good sleep.
How being a member of the Becoming Elli Facebook Group has helped her

Links mentioned in this podcast:

Dr. Mark Hyman’s Function Health which provides 100+ lab tests—comprehensive across heart, thyroid, hormones, metabolic, toxins, nutrients, autoimmunity for $500 a year
Fermented Sauerkraut recipe
Zoe Science and Nutrition Podcast
Becoming Elli Private Facebook Group

Our podcast continues to be among the top podcasts for women over 50, especially in the health and fitness categories. See our ranking in the top 2% of all podcasts here.

There’s still time to challenge yourself to the Becoming Elli 2025 January Bingo!

Podcast Partner Spotlight for January 2025:

Listen to her podcast at the Boomer Banter Website at heyboomer.biz. You may remember Wendy from “New Goals and Dreams with Wendy Green”, episode 139 of Fit Strong Women over 50.

Make Your Own Homemade Fermented Sauerkraut

January 19, 2025 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

We recently interviewed Karen Clark-Snitchler from the Becoming Elli group for the Fit Strong Women Over 50 podcast. One topic we discussed was gut health and eating fermented foods. She has graciously shared her recipe for making homemade fermented sauerkraut with us.

How to make homemade fermented sauerkraut

Ingredients:

1 medium head of cabbage, sliced thin
1 Tablespoon salt

Directions:

Put the sliced cabbage in a bowl.
Sprinkle salt on cabbage.
Massage it in to the cabbage, squeezing it for about 5 minutes. Cover bowl. Leave it alone for 30 minutes.
Massage for 5 minutes more.
Pack it into mason jar. Top with a fermentation weight (www.masontops.com has them) and a pickle pipe.
Check it in 10-ish days (my upstate New York winter length of time).

The weight keeps the food submerged in the brine so there are no air pockets. The one-way valve of a pickle pipe allows gas to release during the fermentation process.

Karen’s Favorite Things to Ferment:

Cherry tomatoes
Carrots
Kombucha (I make it every week – just 2 cups of black tea and 3/4 cup of sugar. Mix with 8 cups of water. After that cooks to 70-85 degrees, add SCOBY and pellicle. Cover jar with cloth covering. Put it somewhere warm and dark to brew. Wait 10 days. Bottle with flavorings. Done in 4 days. Put in fridge. Drink daily and be happy. My favorite flavor combination these days is ginger/blueberry/lemon.)
Water Kefir (kefir grains, 2 cups of juice, 2 cups of water.)

Podcast to listen to about fermented things: Cultured Food Life (Donna Schwenk)

Have you ever made your own fermented food before? How did it go? Please comment below.

Intro to Strength Training with Suzanne Fowler

January 14, 2025 / Chris Brown / 2 Comments

#170 – Intro to Strength Training with Suzanne Fowler

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Suzanne Fowler is a regular listener to the Fit Strong Women Over 50 podcast and a member of the Becoming Elli Community. She watched her parents’ health decline and decided to prepare for the aging process. Chris and Jill spoke with Suzanne about how she recently re-invented herself and now lives in an active and engaging environment.

In this episode we talk about getting started with strength training and progressing to the next level.

Suzanne Fowler is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of healthcare and fitness industry expertise. Holding a Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training from Ball State University and a Master of Science in Management from Indiana Wesleyan University, she combines a strong academic foundation with practical experience to promote health and wellness.

As a former fitness center owner and certified Personal Training, Corrective Exercise, Nutrition, and Wellness Coaching through the National Academy of Sports Medicine, Suzanne is dedicated to helping individuals lead active, healthy lives, particularly as they age. Her holistic approach focuses on personalized solutions that empower clients to achieve lasting vitality and well-being.

We discussed:

Moving into a 55 + community and starting a program for other residents
Listening to our podcast and successfully adapting what she learned from episode with Gin Stephens and the intermittent fasting lifestyle
Starting weight training with balance, moving to resistance bands, and into circuits
How to progress as things become easy: at first you couldn’t do 10, now you can do 15. Time to progress.
The value of the 3 basics: planks, wall sits and modified push ups
The benefits of strength training: boosts metabolic rate at rest, improves bone density, helps keep your mobility, improve heart and cognitive health, helps with balance and promotes protein synthesis and muscle development.
Monitoring body composition of lean mass, fat mass and working for a higher amount of muscle.
Why monitoring body composition is better than monitoring BMI.
Making a lifestyle change works so much better than making a new years resolution.
Set realistic improvement expectations for 5-8 weeks.
The NAS Med progressive plan to strength training. Improving endurance over time.

Click here to open and download the PDF.

Links:

Suzanne Fowler’s website: EverybodyFitWestfield.com
Instagram https://instagram.com/everybodyfitwestfield

Our podcast continues to be among the top podcasts for women over 50, especially in the health and fitness categories. See our ranking in the top 2% of all podcasts here.

There’s still time to challenge yourself to the Becoming Elli 2025 January Bingo!

Podcast Partner Spotlight for January 2025:

If you enjoy what we talk about on the Fit Strong Women Over 50 podcast, you may want to checkout the Boomer Banter podcast.

Wendy Green is the host of the popular and inspirational Boomer Banter podcast. She pursues real talk about aging well. At Boomer Banter, Wendy explores financial literacy, mental and physical health, relationships and having a purpose, to help you age well.

Listen to her podcast at the Boomer Banter Website at heyboomer.biz. You may remember Wendy from “New Goals and Dreams with Wendy Green”, episode 139 of Fit Strong Women over 50.

2025 Three Focus Words for Chris

January 6, 2025 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

Each year I like to select three words to represent the focus for the year. My three focus words for 2025 are:

Stand
Sleep
Strength

Stand refers to the average number of minutes I am standing up each day. My Apple watch automatically counts the number of minutes I am standing so it’s an easy thing for me to measure. Not something I would have picked otherwise! Some of my strategies are:

Getting off the computer… or at least replacing my chair and desk for part of the time with a standing desk is one of my strategies.
Getting a walk or hike in every day (or a longer hike on beautiful days to make up for the nasty weather days!)
My averages in the winter have already gone down just due to less daylight and most recently, snow & cold.
Summer is easy to get lots of standing minutes. My best weekend last summer was when I was camping. So maybe a few more camping trips are in my future! Not a bad thing!

Sleep refers to my sleep patterns. It’s the number one thing that helps me to reach all my other goals. Probably the hardest thing to do is getting to bed early enough to get enough sleep even if I wake up a lot during the night. Other strategies include cutting back on caffeine and chocolate, especially after noon as even an afternoon pick me up will interrupt my sleep cycle. Other ways:

Listening to white noise or relaxing music, maybe nature sounds
Not too hot in the room
Limiting screens at least 1 hour before going to bed
Consider taking a bath before bed (not sure this is something I will actually follow thru on, but I know it could help)
Practice Yoga Nidra before I go to bed. This definitely will help and is something I know works for me.

Strength is physical as well as mental. I have lots of plans for physical strength and think I’m going to knock this one out of the park. Mental resilience depends a lot upon how successful I am with the first two (walks and sleep.) But I guess everything is interrelated right?

Tracking my strength workouts to make sure I’m doing 2-3 per week.
Making sure I progressively move up in weights, not just reps.
Do the warms ups and the cool downs so I don’t get injured
Consider buying a personal training package at my gym or online

Are you focusing on any particular focus words this year? Feel free to share in the comments.

My three focus words in other years:

Ways I Have Found to Get Enough Protein

December 31, 2024 / Chris Brown / 4 Comments

Getting enough protein? Each year I work on eating protein and during 2024 I think I did a really good job getting protein in my weekly meals. I try to look at it by week, rather than by day because it’s less tracking.

Here are some of the things I put in my grocery cart when I shop each week.

Firm Tofu – Although tofu doesn’t have much of a taste, I have learned to like the texture and it’s easy to flavor with anything else you eat. Often it ends up on the top of a salad. Or as a snack with a little peanut butter. I never ever thought it would be at the top of my list!! But I buy a carton of it every week now.
Egg whites in a carton. This is a real staple for me and I eat them everyday. It’s a low calorie easy way to up the morning protein.
Dairy: Feta Cheese, Cottage Cheese, Fage 0% fat Greek Yogurt. I think of the Greek yogurt like almost a dessert that is a great way to sneak in the protein.
Fish: Sardines, Tuna, Salmon. I’ve tried different brands and kinds to discover what is most healthy, inexpensive and that I enjoy the flavor. It’s definitely something that requires some experimenting. I like sardines in water, not oil. Salmon frozen wild caught. Tuna in water and mixed with diced celery, onions and some Greek yogurt.
Meat: Chicken breast or thighs, package of Ground Turkey. I use ground turkey like it was hamburger, particularly in chili or the inside out egg rolls. Chicken cooked in the air fryer.
Beans: Chick peas (garbanzo beans) Red Kidney beans. I usually add these at the last minute to a recipe to increase the protein. Soups and salads are the best.
Noodles: Banza brand and I noticed a couple of other brands popping up on the shelves. These are those noodles made from chickpeas.

Staying conscience of eating more protein can make a big difference. Just in the 6 items In the photo for this post there’s an average of 50 grams of protein a day!

Measuring by the Grams

100 grams in the carton of Bob Evans egg whites
90 grams in the FAGE 0% Greek Yogurt
72 grams in the Walmart brand 4% milk fat cottage cheese
40.5 grams in the Nasoya extra firm Organic Tofu
28 grams in the can of Joan of Ark light red kidney beans
24.5 grams in the can of Bush’s dark red kidney beans

355 more grams of protein in the week than if I hadn’t eaten this.

Once in a while I will do powder, but I am still working on finishing a chocolate version that I bought a while back and don’t particularly like in my smoothies. Any powder favorites that you’d recommend?

I generally skip the protein bars because I don’t think that they have all much protein and the ones I like are generally pretty sweet. Have you discovered any that really taste great and are healthy? Please let me know.

Do It Your Own Way with Chris and Jill

December 24, 2024 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

Episode 169 of the Fit Strong Women Over 50 podcast

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In this episode, we talk together about the successes and challenges of 2024. We realize that everyone is on their own fitness and health journey. Not everything works for everyone, but by following the Becoming Elli community and listening to the Fit Strong Women Over 50 podcast, we are sure that you’ll come away inspired, motivated and having a good sense of what you want to do to stay fit and strong.

Some of the highlights included some awesome interviews with guests, learning about new techniques at Podcast Movement 2024 and trying new challenges like eating the rainbow.

Some of the things we discussed in this episode:

Many great guests and highlights during 2024
Review of Chris’s 3 words for 2024 Connection, Declutter, Yoga
Review of Jill’s 3 words for 2024 Movement Schedule Community
Eating the Rainbow challenge for 2024
Our new challenge for 2025 January BINGO!

Links mentioned in Do It Your Own Way:

Pelvic Floor Health with Kim Vopni – also known as the Vagina Coach
Preventing Dementia with Mitchell and Emily Clionsky – Dementia Prevention checklist
The Power of Pushing Limits with Gwendolyn Bounds – being smart about being competitive
Adapting for Health with Maria Molvin
Ageless Aging with Maddy Dychtwald – the co-founder of Age Wave
Running over 50 with Henry Howard – Don’t let comparison be the enemy of Joy!
Defeat Your Cravings with Dr. Glenn Livingston– his description of the monster as well as all the free resources he offers
Elite Athlete Bree Lambert-Inspiring insights
Healthy Living with Alicia Jones – her YouTube exercise shorts

Our podcast continues to be among the top podcasts for women over 50, especially in the health and fitness categories. See our ranking in the top 2% of all podcasts here.

Podcast Partner Spotlight for December 2024:

Wendy Battles is a curious soul who loves to talk to people and understand their experiences. She believes that reinvention is a natural part of life and something that many of us have done numerous times.

Listen to the Reinvention Rebels podcast with stories of unapologetic women, 50-90 years young, who have boldly reimagined life on their own terms, to find renewed purpose and possibilities.

Website: Reinvention Rebels
Instagram
LinkedIn
YouTube
Email: wendy@reinventionrebels.com