October 26, 2021 • 43 mins
Every body is a runner’s body. This episode, Mon and Meg talk with Dr. Elizabeth Barchi, a sports medicine specialist about the pivotal moments of transformation throughout women’s and athletes’ lifetimes. Dr. Barchi explains how our bodies change in those moments, and the most important things we need to do to provide for and accept our bodies as they evolve and change.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Finding things that you can do that make you you
outside of that main sport is so protective because it
gives you something to look forward to, It keeps you grounded,
and it helps with all of the anxiety when it
comes to racing and competing because instead of competing for
your life's meaning, you're competing because it's a goal that
(00:20):
you're preparing for and the difference is huge. This is
what The Details a collaboration with Under Armour and I
Heart Radio, a sports and training podcast made for women
Buy Women. I'm Monica Jones, a fitness coach, boxer, business owner,
(00:40):
and u a athlete. And I'm Meg Bogs, I'm a powerlifter, author,
body positivity advocate and mother. Every episode, Monica and I
will talk to athletes, trainers, and experts and learn more
about how the body and mind work together in training
and competition. Fit fam get ready to debunk a lot
of myths about how to take care of your body. Today,
we're talking to Dr Elizabeth Bartie, a sports medicine specialist
(01:03):
at Christianic Care who helps athletes with injuries and advises
them on training's best practices. Before pursuing sports medicine, Dr
Barchie was a professional ballerina, so her experience dancing at
that level and her own history of dance injuries informs
a lot of what she does in her medical practice.
She's also focused on creating personalized care regimes for women athletes.
(01:25):
That's why she helped create the Center for Women's Sports
Health at n y U lang Own to help women
and girls achieve their athletic goals. For Dr Barchie, there's
no one athletes body or perfect healthy body. She advocates
for expanding our understanding of what it means to look
and feel healthy, which, as we all know, is the
most important thing after all. And let me just say
(01:48):
it gives me such a big sigh of relief because
this is something I'm constantly having to battle every single day.
It's becomes so normalized to assume someone's health and assume
they're athletic capable. It is just by looking at them,
and it's complete b s. And yet a lot of
the time it's easier to just allow it to continue,
you know, by allowing our internal biases to lead us
(02:10):
in thought. You know, it's on magazines, on our social
media feeds, it's in the movies and TV shows we watch.
It's just it's everywhere I experienced the looks and the assumptions,
the moment that you know, athlete comes out of my mouth.
So this is a conversation that hits home for me.
And I'm just excited for our listeners to hear directly
from Dr Bartie herself, who completely debunks this myth, because
(02:34):
let me tell you, I love my body. I may
struggle with it sometimes through different you know, injuries and
setbacks due to life and whatnot, but dang it, I
am proud to exist in this body, you know what
I mean? Yes, Meg, and I am proud to know you.
I'm proud to watch you crush it in so many ways.
And yes, speaking to Dr Elizabeth was really i opening.
(02:57):
I mean, I myself have struggle with body images, use
with you know, acute bulimia in the past, and I
didn't even dance. I wasn't even in front of a
high expectation audience, you know. But it was kind of
the expectations I set for myself based on what society
was showing me. And it's just great to hear that
there are women out there right now who are just
(03:18):
like yourself, Meg, who are really forging a path, and
we're keeping the conversation going so that we can kind
of reverse or let the path go in many different
directions for many different women, because it's not about the
size that we are. It's about really what brings us
joy and how we can move and feel free with
our movement. So I'm so excited for everyone to hear
(03:39):
everything that Dr Elizabeth has to say. She's absolutely fantastic. Yes,
it's a phenomenal conversation. Mom, Are you ready to dive
into sports medicine with Dr Barchie? Let's get it. How's
it going? Fit? Fam? We are here today with sports
medicine specialist Dr Elizabeth Barchie and I have been looking
(04:00):
forward to this conversation all week. Trust me, you'll you'll
see why. So excited to have you here with us today.
Dr Barchi, welcome. Thank you so much for having me.
It's such a pleasure to be here. Of course, we're
so excited to have you, So let's get right into it.
You're a sports medicine specialist. Can you tell us more
about that? What do you do as part of your practice? Absolutely? So,
(04:21):
I work with athletes and everyday athletes, so even if
you're not training for a race, if you're someone who's
just trying to stay fit, I help make sure that
you're able to do so in a healthy way. UM.
So when patients come to see me at Christianity Care,
we have a whole team who helps take care of you.
So you'll see me usually for an injury unfortunately, but
(04:41):
we take that time to make sure we're talking about
your routine, what you're doing, your nutrition, your hydration, to
make sure that once we get you back, we're getting
you back better than you were before. UM. And we
also have athletic trainers who work alongside of us who
helped work with the patient UM and the athlete on
their home programs UM and their exercise routines, just to
(05:02):
help them really get a feel for what they should
be doing, because it can be kind of hard if
you don't have a coach working you through it. They
can really help make sure that you are on the
right track. So, Elizabeth, what brought you into this area
of medicine. Did you always want to be a doctor?
I did not always want to be a doctor. I
(05:22):
actually wanted to be a ballerina when I was younger,
So I grew up dancing outside of Philadelphia in the
Greater Philadelphia region, and it was always my dream to
go professional, but you know, that's a very lofty goal.
And so in college I was lucky enough to dance
in a regional professional company and still be in college.
(05:45):
And it was in college that I really fell in
love with medicine and this idea of hey, I can
give back to all of these athletes, I can do
things in a different way, a better way. And so
that's what led me down the road to medicine and
particularly sports Edison. And so, you know, throughout medical school
residency fellowship, I really explored all the different areas and
(06:07):
I made sure that I took time to listen to
people and hear about their experiences with medicine so that
we could work on improving and making it better for everybody.
Oh so good. So you're a ballerina before you became
a doctor, I was. I was, Yeah, has that experience
in ballet influenced your medicine practice at all? Most definitely.
(06:30):
So one thing that I experienced a lot, and I
think a lot of athletes can identify with this, is
that when you go to the doctor, a lot of
times you'll get the answer. Say you have knee pain,
will say, oh, we'll just take six weeks off. Just
stopped running, just stop dancing, just stop doing whatever it
is that you were doing. And that doesn't really work.
(06:51):
You know, that doesn't work for anybody who is very
passionate about athletics and sports and dance. And so what
I want it to be able to do was to
help people be able to get better without making them
stop doing what they're doing. And so that's UM that
some of what I've been getting into, and I think
(07:12):
that's my background as an athlete, as an artist has
helped me be able to understand what it's like to
be injured, to be sitting there and seeing, well, this
is my entire life and my entire identity. What am
I going to do? And so that's really helped me out.
I think, wow, that that sort of empathy is everything
(07:33):
you know, and I know that that helped you establish
or take part in establishing the n y U Women's
Sports Center. That is incredible. Why do you think it's
important to have specialized care for female athletes? Specifically? We're
inherently different from male athletes, UM in the sense that
we our bodies are different, were subjected to different hormones,
(07:56):
and that does different things. Were also shaped friendly from men,
and so that has a big component of it too.
Also culturally, we you know, it's important to always address
the fact that there are cultures to your sport, there
are cultures to who you identify as and so being
able to understand that from the perspective of women's sports
(08:21):
is very very important because that's something that, um, you know,
I feel as though women tend to deal with a
little bit more than men. Of course it is across
the across all genders, um, but it's something that is
a little bit unique to us and also our energy
requirements as well. Just as training athletes, not in just women,
(08:43):
but like all athletes, do you notice some common concerns
that they have, like whenever they come visit you and
what are you doing to it to help them? Yeah,
so a couple of things. Nutrition is big, um, And
so that's always something that my athletes, my patients still
ask me about. They'll usually ask in a way that
sounds like this, how can I eat better, as if
(09:04):
it's some sort of technique, how can I run better?
How can I do better? Pure weets and so you know,
for athletes, they view everything is sort of a technique
that they set forward and they're going to accomplish that goal.
And so I see that a lot, particularly when it
comes to nutrition. How can I eat better? And so
sometimes really all we need to do is work with
(09:26):
a nutritionist. That's something that can be really helpful. Sometimes
there's a layer underneath that question. Sometimes they're asking because
the reality is they know how they could eat, but
the problem is the relationship with food. And so that's
where I always make sure to ask, Okay, that's a
really interesting question. Why do you ask? And so sometimes
(09:49):
they'll say, well, I've heard that I'm not supposed to
be eating carbs, I'm not supposed to be eating this,
and I'm just not sure how many calories I'm supposed
to be taking in. And so in that case, I'll say, okay,
well we'll just start with working with the nutrition. But
if I get the sense that there's, you know, an
underlying problematic relationship happening, that's when I'm really going to
start doubling in deeper. Um Because what I've found is
(10:12):
that your relationship to food is directly reflective of your
relationship to yourself, and so that's something that is really
important to recognize. A lot of athletes they feel as
though they can't necessarily talk to their doctors, or their
doctors might not understand, or sometimes they feel that that
(10:33):
they're not worthy of talking about these things. And so
it's really up to us to make sure we start
that conversation because a lot of times it can make
a huge difference in the outcome of that athlete and
that person in front of me. Yes. Uh. Having a
guide is incredibly important when it comes to I love
the word that you use. Recognizing when you can when
(10:55):
you can recognize your ability to, you know, have a
a relationship with your food, and that correlates to having
a better relationship with yourself. Having that support makes a
whole difference. You know, we have life stages, adolescents, young, adulthood, midlife.
They all come with major physical and psychological changes to
(11:17):
our bodies. So what's the biggest error you see women
athletes make as they go from one stage of life
to the next. One of the biggest things that I
see is they're very hard on themselves, and they're very
in particular, they're very hard on how they look. We're
in a very visual society, and so and a lot
(11:37):
of women where people pleasers, and we care about social
approval and what other people think of us, what is
considered the ideal body. And so that's one of the
big big things that I see for women, particularly in
those stages of the adolescent phase, going from being a
child to becoming a woman, from that phase, going from
(12:01):
being in high school to college, because it's a completely
different training scenario from college to out of college, and
sometimes they're losing all of their coaching, um oversight and
all of their support that they had in college. And
so those transition points, or from being an athlete to
(12:23):
retiring and being more of a hobbyist, uh, someone who
just loves exercise and exercise enthusiasts. And so those are
some of the major transition points that I see in
an athletes lifetime. And one of the big things is
a lot of my female athletes focus on how they
look and how their body is changing in a more
(12:44):
negative way rather than celebrating some of these changes. I
say to people that the ideal body is the result
of optimized training and good nutrition. It looks different for everybody.
I love that, and it's so genetic to some people
of longer tibias, some people of shorter tibias, and so
(13:04):
everybody's ideal body is going to look different, absolutely, And
I know that a lot of women think like, once
I get to a certain age, I can only do
X y Z. I mean I'm limited as my body
is changing or I'm entering a new life stage. Should
we change the way that we train as we go
from one life stage to another? And if so, are
there you know, in what ways should we do that.
(13:26):
That's such a great question because naturally we do have
to evolve our training technique. What we're doing for our
body does have to evolve over time because our muscles
have become optimized, and so as we're aging, what we
have to do is maintain and keep pushing the strength
in different ways. So we know as we grow, as
(13:48):
we age, we start to lose lean muscle mass, and
so that's a big focus in making sure that you
are doing a lot of strength training and supporting yourself.
I talked to athletes all the time about the fact
that you don't just because you hit a certain age
number doesn't mean you have to stop whatever sport it
is that you're playing. And it doesn't mean you can't
(14:09):
pick up new sports either. That's the other thing too
um And so that's one of the big things. We
just have to do it in a smart way. And
so focusing on balancing the cardio with the strength training
and the flexibility training is really helpful. It's essential to
making sure that you're being active in a healthy and
(14:30):
safe way. But there are no limits. You can do
whatever you want. We just have to do it safely.
You guys are hearing this from the expert. There are
no limits. I think that that I took that as
a heart. I mean, I'm thirty one, and sometimes I'm like,
are we really a boxer now? At thirty one? Can
(14:50):
we go back onto soccer field? You know, something just
seems so unapproachable because of what we've heard and from
someone we don't know. You know, these concepts just pop
up out of nowhere. We just somehow believe it. It
is mind boggling. Another term that we've heard you say
is runner's body. That there's no one type of runners body,
there's no one type of optimal body for an athlete.
(15:14):
So what is the biggest misconception about a runner's body?
One of the biggest misconceptions that I've seen and heard
over the years is that the runner's body is very
long and lean. They have to have little to know
body mass body fat percentage ratios, and that's just not correct.
(15:34):
You know, there's a lot of thought that, oh, your
muscle should be really lean, you shouldn't have very bulky muscles.
But if you've watched the Olympics, every single one of
those athletes on the starting line for the finals looks different,
and so it really it really just goes to show
the ideal runners body is the one that's healthy and
(15:56):
at the starting line for the finals. It doesn't have
to look a certain way, and it's human nature to
try and simplify things. Training, particularly training for an event,
is really really difficult, and you have to be thinking
long term, how much time do you have, how are
we going to ensure that we're peaking at the time
of the race, and so we put a lot of
(16:17):
pressure on that and it's really complicated the algorithms to
being able to decide how much you should be training, when,
when you should be taking off, when you should be
tapering down. This is a concept called periodization, and it's
actually it's very complicated, so it's it's hard to disseminate
that information to people. And so what happens is things
(16:38):
get simplified down and so ideas get paired down to
the point where they're no longer accurate anymore. It's all
or nothing. And so that's where I think some of
the whole idea if I look a certain way, that
means I'm doing it right. It's almost like it's the
instant gratification, validation, proof that you're doing enough exactly. Yeah,
(17:02):
And that's what's tough. You know. There was a study
that just came out recently, I think it was early,
asking endurance runners, so marathon and ultra marathon runners about
their experiences with something called relative energy deficiency and sport.
That's where you're not taking in enough to compensate for
(17:22):
how much you're putting out, so you're not taking in
enough fuel for how much you're training. And so these athletes,
half of them just they didn't do it intentionally. They
just had increased their training without increasing their fueling. And
so what happened was initially because they had increased their training,
they had two things happened. One, they had lost some
(17:45):
weight and to their times went up because they were
training more, but that was actually very limited. That initial
positive increase in performance was very limited because then what
happened was their behavior, the not eating enough and not
feeling enough for what they were putting out ended up
(18:06):
being reinforced, and so they started marching down this road
to the point where they had a full blown relative
energy deficiency in sport or red S syndrome, where their
performance had suffered. They were suffering from different injuries, um
they were losing their periods, and they're having even psychological
(18:26):
impacts from it, and some of them even developed disordered
eating because of what had happened with that initial positive feedback.
And then you're just trying to get back to that
initial bump in your performance. So it can be really,
really tough, and sometimes you don't even know what's happening.
That's where it's helpful to have sports medicine too, because
(18:49):
sometimes you just need to talk it over, like am
I doing this the right way? Am I going about
this the right way? I have a loss and performance
or I'm feeling very fatigued, have someone help you know
where to go is super helpful. Yeah, speaking of the
struggle and the challenges. You work with a lot of
athletes and UM you know who are transitioning from high
(19:11):
school athletics to college you know, the college level or
college athletics to pro do you have any recommendations for
athletes who are going through this transition period, like how
can they prepare mentally and physically for this new challenge?
Those transistion points are some of the most difficult that
I work with UM and one of the most important
(19:33):
things I talked to my athletes about is thinking about
their sport and what they really love and getting gritty
about it. Is it working towards a goal, Is it
working with a team towards the common goal? Is it
having routine? Is it having you know something that just
keeps you focused or it serves as a distraction. There
(19:55):
were some Olympians where their sport was a distraction from
school at how with their stress relief. So understanding what
it is, particularly about the sport that you really love
and then finding that elsewhere in life. So building an
identity for yourself outside of your main sport. There's so
many things out there that you can do that make
(20:17):
you and make you unique. Because there are times when
you won't be able to train, you know, injury breaks
in the season, in force breaks during the periodization this
is your rest period. And what do you do during
a rest period? You know, are are you just sitting
around waiting to put your running shoes back on again?
(20:37):
We are? People are some people are that must be
really boring, and so finding things that you can do
that make you you outside of that main sport is
so protective because one, it gives you something to look
forward to. It keeps you grounded, and it helps with
all of the anxiety when it comes to racing and
(20:58):
competing because instead of of competing for your life's meaning,
you're competing because it's a goal that you're preparing for.
I love that, and the difference is huge. Such good advice. Yeah,
I mean, how how do you? I'm just curious, like,
how do you even begin that process of is it
a conversation or a span of sessions with an athlete
(21:23):
that does not yet understand who they are outside of sport?
Will start as early as we can. If I get
a patient or an athlete in my office during a
time of injury, I capitalize on that because I have
this moment where I know, for a fact that their
life is going to be altered for the next six weeks.
(21:44):
I say, okay, so this is a lot. You're gonna
have some free time. What are you going to do
with that free time? This is an opportunity to really
explore some other things that are going to help enhance
your performance once you get back on the field or
once you get back on the track. And so it
can come. If I'm lucky enough, I'll get them ahead
(22:05):
of time when there aren't really any injuries, or just
a simple overuth century that will fix in PT very quickly.
But sometimes I'll get them when they're coming into me injured,
and so I take that opportunity to really start working
with them because I know I'm going to see them
too and several follow up visits for their injury, and
so we have those conversations, and it's amazing how simply
(22:29):
just asking the question, what are you going to do
with your free time? It's a big question. Sometimes I
get this look I can only imagine I've never thought
about it before. I'm like, honestly, I'm feeling that right
now because I'm actually I'm about to do my fertility
stuff the next couple of weeks. And I can't do
any movement at all. I can't even go for a walk.
So I'm like, what do I do? What I do
(22:50):
in my hands? What do I what do I do?
Do I build something? I can't do anything. I can
just sit here. So it's I can't even image. And
if it's an injury, and it's going to be like
whoever knows how long? Yeah, speaking of injuries, you know,
every athlete at some point is bound to suffer from
an injury right in their career. So do you have
(23:12):
any recommendations um for athletes recovering from an injury? You know,
how can they mentally prepare for their comeback when they're
unable to train? Is there anything else that they could do? Absolutely?
So this is a golden opportunity to really take a
look at their training routine and their training regiment and
see if there are any areas that we could flesh out. So,
(23:35):
particularly when it comes to say, take a runner, A
lot of times my runners come to me and we
talk about this thing called cross training, which means they
do something other than running, including stretching. And so my
runners always look at me and they go, I know,
I don't do anything other than run. And so if
they're suffering from something like a stress injury, bony stress
(23:57):
injury where they can't run, we say, okay, well, this
is a great opportunity because guess what all the other
things you can do. Let's start talking about all these
other things. And so when we're getting you back, we're
going to keep incorporating these new things that you're learning
into your whole regiment, in your whole training routine, and
you'll find that as you're getting back, you're going to
(24:20):
feel stronger and more confident in your body. Sometimes what
we have to overcome um in athletes who suffer something
like an a c L rupture, a traumatic injury, sometimes
we have to overcome the fear of it happening again.
And so yeah, yeah, because if you fell, or take
(24:42):
a gymnast who falls and hurts themselves, it takes a
lot of courage to get back up again and get
get back on the field, get back on the beam.
Takes a lot of courage to do that. So at
Christianity Care, we work with physical therapists, we work with
athletic trainers, we were with sports psychologists, and a lot
of the time with that whole team approach, we're able
(25:05):
to help the athlete feel very confident by the end.
And that's one of the big things to building confidence
to getting back after something like a traumatic injury. I
had an I had an athlete, a dancer, come to
me um in her follow up. She had sustained a
concussion while performing on a cruise ship and she we
were at the point where she was ready to go back,
(25:28):
and she said, I just I know I can, but
I can't. And so I looked at it and I said, well,
you've got a mental block. We can work with this,
we can work around this. And so just being able
to recognize it and and say it, to name it,
and something that's non judgmental, that is normalized. It's just
(25:49):
a mental block. We can work with that. And so
when we're when I start to see that athletes are
struggling or hitting plateaus or hitting these roadblocks, that's when
we pause and we have a conversation. And usually that's
when I'll bring in the sports psychologist who can be
really instrumental in helping them get past that and keep
moving forward. That speaks very very strongly to me. I
(26:12):
fractured my hip a decade ago and I have yet
to step back onto a soccer field to play a game.
It's a mental block because I play other sports sounding
other things, but something about it and that I know
that the coaching, the reinforcement, it just does so much
for us. And you know, you talk about the psychological
effects of having someone to guide you through that. So
(26:34):
some athletes listening maybe at a point where you know
they're retiring from their sport for different reasons. But Dr Barchie,
do you have any advice for them so that they
can maintain their mental and physical health. Absolutely, So starting
with recognizing that their body, just the way their body
(26:56):
would look different based on whichever event they were training for,
their body is going to look different for their new
life that they're working for, and so being able to
accept that and celebrate that things are going to look
a little bit different, that shapes are going to change,
and that's a good thing. That's a wonderful thing because
that's reflecting our new goals in life. That's first and foremost. Second,
(27:20):
it's important to check in with your relationship with exercise.
So I see a lot of everyday athletes or retired
athletes who still feel that exercises their first and foremost
stress relief, and without it, they're kind of lost. And
that's okay, except for what happens if you have a
really big deadline, or what happens if you're a mom
(27:45):
now and your child is sick or god forbid, they're
in the hospital or family members in the hospital, or
if you get an injury. What happens when you just
can't exercise but you're going through a lot, And so
having things that help with stress relief, even if it's
something as simple as coloring, is really essential when you
(28:05):
are changing your whole identity and your whole lifestyle. Because
life happens. It happens to everybody, and so we need
to have things other than exercise, other than getting to
the gym, to help us be able to distress and
remain healthy both mentally and physically. It's really important. Another
(28:25):
concept that I was thinking about is, you know, when
we talk about the female distance runner, So for a
woman who's taken up long distance running, what advice would
you have for them if they're not seeing their bodies
transform m That's a really great question because it really
comes down to what are they looking for with the
transformation in their body? Because because the ideal body is
(28:51):
the body that you get from optimized training and good nutrition.
And so if they have optimized training and good nutrition
and genetically their their bone lengths and their muscles look
a certain way, they might not see that many changes,
but I bet they sure we'll see some changes in
their performance, you know. And so instead of looking at
(29:12):
what does my body look like, let's look at, okay,
what is my training regimen? How are my times? Am
I able to get into the weight room? And am
I improving on my weight training? My reps that I'm
able to do? And looking at how this is changing
my running time, looking at my flexibility goals. I used
(29:35):
to only be able to touch my knees and now
I can touch my toes. That tells me that I'm
making gains. Gains, yeah, exactly, And so you know that
might not necessarily show up right away in your performance.
What it might show up as you're not in my
office as often with injuries, and so looking at all
(29:57):
those subtle signs and focusing more on your performance rather
than the look the visual of what you're going for,
because we're not built to all look the same way,
and so being able to block that out and focus
purely on gains in your performance. That's what we really
should be focusing on. Yes, I feel like we're always
(30:19):
so focused on everything there is to lose instead of
everything there is to gain. Right, that's always for some reason,
we're always so focused on losing rather than gaining and
recognizing all of these things that are happening to us
and making us better. Um, it's just it's one of
my biggest struggles every single day because I see the
(30:43):
diet culture stuff everywhere all the time. I'm gonna have
to take your your clip where you're talking about this
because I guess I can share it with everybody who
comments on my stuff all the time given me a
hard time. So thank you for that. I feel I
feel really good right now. Ure and she said with
her chest, meant it. She was like, now my answers
(31:04):
to say the backs of the backs, thank you under armours.
Sweat the Details will be back after a short break.
Welcome back to Sweat the Details. Well, Dr Pargie. I
(31:24):
hope you like games, because it's game time. Game time.
We like to shake it out a bit during this
part of our show and play a little game with
our guests in today's game is called Feel your Best.
We're just going to ask you a few questions about
your favorite ways to stay active and full of energy,
and then you're just going to answer the first thing
that comes to mind. Are you ready, I'm ready? Okay.
(31:47):
Favorite self care practice massage? Yeah, with oil, that's the one. Yeah,
you know, I need a massage. That's a good one.
Deep tissue or Swedish. I usually go with deep tissue.
I've got a lot of deep muscle nuts and so
it usually takes a little bit more pressure to kind
(32:08):
of release them. Got to get up in there. So
what's the difference. Swedish is actually lighter pressure um and
so it's a little bit gentler and chill, whereas deep
tissue is is the one you see in the movies
where they're like digging their elbow into you. And I
don't know about that. It's so good. Sounds like we'll
(32:30):
have to know by the end. So I'll get back
to that. Let you know if I'm deep tissues. Sometimes
you're on the table and you're you think to yourself,
there's no way this is gonna work, and then you
get up and you feel fantastic, and then your sore
for three days. That's the part like I don't know alright.
(32:50):
Best comfort food mac and cheese with stewed tomatoes. That's
a little bit of healthy to you, rightly. Favorite workout
swimming is it because of low impact. It's low impact,
so it feels really good on my body, which has
(33:12):
definitely changed from being a professional dancer. Um it doesn't
tolerate other certain activities quite as well as it used to.
So swimming for me is really great. Plus it's also
very meditative for me because it shuts everything out, so
I have to count. I swim laps, so it's one, one, one,
(33:33):
and I keep repeating that number because otherwise I lose count.
And then in the back my mind is kind of
chattering a little bit. But because I'm focusing on counting,
it calms everything down, and so it's a very meditative experience.
Plus it's that sensory deprivation as the waters rushing past
your ears. Everything's kind of quiet, and so it's very
(33:55):
meditative for me. Plus it's a really great workout because
I'm terrible. It's swimming, and so I don't have to
swim as far to get a great workout. That okay,
last one a book that you recently loved. Oh, So,
I'm currently reading The Phantom Tollbooth and I love it.
One of my old dance partners actually hadn't lent me
(34:16):
this book. It was his favorite book growing up, and
so I started reading it and it's so delightful. It's
so wonderfully written and absurd but very cogent at the
same time. And it's just it's such such fun to
read this. I can't believe I've never read it before.
I love that it's not like The Science of the Foot,
(34:39):
you know, like went for The Phantom Toldbooth. I love that. Yeah,
if I if I needed to fall asleep, I'd be
able to do that. But they're great. They're great. They're
great for very informative, very great for helping you fall asleep.
Good to know. Oh man, Dr Bartie, this was incredible.
Thank you so much for all these gems. I mean,
(35:02):
I know me and Meg are both in the same
page right now. You really really spoke our language in
so many ways, and our listeners, I'm sure, are so
excited to hear this episode. So where else can we
find you? So if you go to Christiana Care dot
Org and you either search my name or you search
sports medicine, I will come up on the website. I
(35:24):
also have an office number three zero two three to
zero nine four zero, and so you'll be able to
make an appointment with me and see me in the office,
and that's where you can find me. Awesome. You guys
can also find her under movement goddess in the dictionary. Fantastic, awesome.
(35:45):
Thank you so much, Dr By. This has been such
a great conversation and hopefully we'll be chatting soon again. Absolutely,
it's been such a pleasure. Thank you so much for
having me, and it's been a wonderful, wonderful time. Well,
that was enlightening. I am just really excited to share
(36:09):
this conversation because we have scientists, we have doctors, and
these women continue to reinforce that we have got to
have a good relationship with ourselves if we're going to
perform better. Exactly, I'm blown away. I just hearing from
a doctor saying these things. I'm like, do we hear this?
Are we absorbing this? Salege, we absorbing this right now?
(36:31):
When she was talking about the runner's body, I was
just I mean, I was I was like, I'm not
gonna snap, but I wanted to like snap and fist
bump and just throw my excitement out there because it's
it's so true. There's so many misconceptions that you should
be long, and you should be lean, and you should
be this exact body type in order for you to
be successful, and it's just so far from the truth.
(36:51):
So hearing her say that was a powerful, powerful moment um.
She also talked about whenever you're transitioning from high school
and to college and pro understanding what does she say,
understanding what you love about the sport, and then go
find that in other areas of your life. I was like, Oh,
(37:12):
it's so true. How many one right? Exactly right? Like
it just you just got to soak that in and
remember that. You know, the things that you enjoy in
life are wonderful because they have little aspects to them
that bring you happiness and enjoyment. So if you can
find those little bits and pieces in other areas of
your life, that's how you create a fulfilled life, because
(37:33):
it's bleeding into every part of it. I have so
many chills Monica and Dairy. It's absolutely legendary. Let go
of the ideal body, Let go of it. It's just
this thought that we put in our heads that we
assume because it's on our TVs and it's what everybody
else is saying, is being praised, and if we just
(37:53):
focus on ourselves, imagine the magic. Imagine the magic. Yes,
so I'm not a good light. Focusing on myself is
actually my goal moving into this next week. I want
to definitely share goals with you all, And I know
this is a portion of the show where we usually
(38:15):
get into our goals allow for our listeners to hear
a little bit about our lives and what we're working
on and how we can support one another. So, Meg,
what are you working on this week? What's your goal?
Just my simple walking every day. That's about what my
doctor said would be good for this week, to just
kind of tone it down as I head into injections
on Saturday for my IVF stuff. So, actually, yesterday I
(38:40):
didn't walk. I moved houses, So I think I kind
of overdid it yesterday. But so today I'm going to
be taking it a little bit easier. But girl, I'm
I'm really nervous, Like, can I be honest, I'm really
nervous because on Saturday I start all the all of
these injections, and they were serious with me. They said,
(39:01):
do not walk, do not do anything that's remotely physical,
because you're ovaries are growing. They're growing really fast and
they could like flip if I move too much. And
I'm like, okay, I really got to take it seriously
and focus on the mental aspect of everything, because that's important, right,
(39:25):
the mental part of any journey, fertility journey, fitness journey,
health journey, it's always going to come down to physical,
but the most important usually the foundation is mental. So
I'm just hoping this next week goes smoothly and I
can just remember that my body is doing everything that
it needs to do and I need to be thankful
(39:47):
for that, and I need to embrace all the changes
that are about to happen. And I'm getting emotional all
of its talk your talk, girl, Oh it's really scary sometimes. Well,
we are behind you, Meg, seriously, You've got so much.
I love calming your way, and if there's anything else
that we can do, you let us know. But obviously
(40:09):
I'm gonna be all up in your d m s anyways,
because you know that's what I do. But I'm so
proud of you. We're also proud of you, and you
are really paving the way for women who are going
through a similar scenario. And honestly, the best thing we
can do is find a way to relax and distress
our body, because it is incredible and it can do
(40:31):
what it is that we truly wanted to do. So
maybe you'll read what was the book that Dr Bartie
was saying? Did you write it down? Did you write
it down the toll booth, the Bantom tollbooth. Yes, So
just go ahead, okay, crack that joint, open me give
it a reading. Yeah, what about you? What about you
give us an update? We are the hormones gang over here.
(40:55):
I realized now, Oh yes, I am focusing on my
self today. I was so proud of both myself and
my coach because I am cycle sinking. I fight on
my period when when I have my fight day in November.
So my goal is to really stay true to the
(41:19):
recommended amount of exercise and the recommended intensity of exercise
when I'm actually going through the different phases of my cycle.
And you know, right now it's the bleed and it's
time to chill out and rest, and you know, and
you got some good tips today from Dr Dr Barchie
is going to be the angel whisper in my ear
(41:40):
for the rest of for that's the sphase. So literally
my goal is to you know, really tap into the
other beautiful magic of you know, this hormonal phase and
make decisions, not do too much moving around. So I
guess I'll crack that book open with you too little
do it together. Well, that's it for this week's episode,
(42:03):
but don't forget to join us next week for more
inspiring and enlightening conversations. Thanks for joining us, fit fam.
If you liked what you heard on the show, subscribe
for free or follow the show on the I Heart
Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen, and don't
forget to leave a five star rating and review. We
love that. Yes, give us these reviews until next time,
Stay inspired, stay motivated, and don't forget to Sweat the Details.
(42:26):
By Sweat the Details is a collaboration with under Armour
and I Heart Radio. Our show is hosted by me
Monica Jones and me Meg Bogs. Our executive producers are
(42:49):
Just strip Stein, Just Sell, Louis Artald, Molly Sosha, and
Maya Cole Our producers are Kelly and tole Leylakdrain, Emma
Osborne and Alejandra Arevalo, and our sound editor and engineer
is Sarah gible Leska. Keep up the latest news in
women's fitness by following under Armour at under Armour Women
and at under Armour
Finding things that you can do that make you you
outside of that main sport is so protective because it
gives you something to look forward to, It keeps you grounded,
and it helps with all of the anxiety when it
comes to racing and competing because instead of competing for
your life's meaning, you're competing because it's a goal that
(00:20):
you're preparing for and the difference is huge. This is
what The Details a collaboration with Under Armour and I
Heart Radio, a sports and training podcast made for women
Buy Women. I'm Monica Jones, a fitness coach, boxer, business owner,
(00:40):
and u a athlete. And I'm Meg Bogs, I'm a powerlifter, author,
body positivity advocate and mother. Every episode, Monica and I
will talk to athletes, trainers, and experts and learn more
about how the body and mind work together in training
and competition. Fit fam get ready to debunk a lot
of myths about how to take care of your body. Today,
we're talking to Dr Elizabeth Bartie, a sports medicine specialist
(01:03):
at Christianic Care who helps athletes with injuries and advises
them on training's best practices. Before pursuing sports medicine, Dr
Barchie was a professional ballerina, so her experience dancing at
that level and her own history of dance injuries informs
a lot of what she does in her medical practice.
She's also focused on creating personalized care regimes for women athletes.
(01:25):
That's why she helped create the Center for Women's Sports
Health at n y U lang Own to help women
and girls achieve their athletic goals. For Dr Barchie, there's
no one athletes body or perfect healthy body. She advocates
for expanding our understanding of what it means to look
and feel healthy, which, as we all know, is the
most important thing after all. And let me just say
(01:48):
it gives me such a big sigh of relief because
this is something I'm constantly having to battle every single day.
It's becomes so normalized to assume someone's health and assume
they're athletic capable. It is just by looking at them,
and it's complete b s. And yet a lot of
the time it's easier to just allow it to continue,
you know, by allowing our internal biases to lead us
(02:10):
in thought. You know, it's on magazines, on our social
media feeds, it's in the movies and TV shows we watch.
It's just it's everywhere I experienced the looks and the assumptions,
the moment that you know, athlete comes out of my mouth.
So this is a conversation that hits home for me.
And I'm just excited for our listeners to hear directly
from Dr Bartie herself, who completely debunks this myth, because
(02:34):
let me tell you, I love my body. I may
struggle with it sometimes through different you know, injuries and
setbacks due to life and whatnot, but dang it, I
am proud to exist in this body, you know what
I mean? Yes, Meg, and I am proud to know you.
I'm proud to watch you crush it in so many ways.
And yes, speaking to Dr Elizabeth was really i opening.
(02:57):
I mean, I myself have struggle with body images, use
with you know, acute bulimia in the past, and I
didn't even dance. I wasn't even in front of a
high expectation audience, you know. But it was kind of
the expectations I set for myself based on what society
was showing me. And it's just great to hear that
there are women out there right now who are just
(03:18):
like yourself, Meg, who are really forging a path, and
we're keeping the conversation going so that we can kind
of reverse or let the path go in many different
directions for many different women, because it's not about the
size that we are. It's about really what brings us
joy and how we can move and feel free with
our movement. So I'm so excited for everyone to hear
(03:39):
everything that Dr Elizabeth has to say. She's absolutely fantastic. Yes,
it's a phenomenal conversation. Mom, Are you ready to dive
into sports medicine with Dr Barchie? Let's get it. How's
it going? Fit? Fam? We are here today with sports
medicine specialist Dr Elizabeth Barchie and I have been looking
(04:00):
forward to this conversation all week. Trust me, you'll you'll
see why. So excited to have you here with us today.
Dr Barchi, welcome. Thank you so much for having me.
It's such a pleasure to be here. Of course, we're
so excited to have you, So let's get right into it.
You're a sports medicine specialist. Can you tell us more
about that? What do you do as part of your practice? Absolutely? So,
(04:21):
I work with athletes and everyday athletes, so even if
you're not training for a race, if you're someone who's
just trying to stay fit, I help make sure that
you're able to do so in a healthy way. UM.
So when patients come to see me at Christianity Care,
we have a whole team who helps take care of you.
So you'll see me usually for an injury unfortunately, but
(04:41):
we take that time to make sure we're talking about
your routine, what you're doing, your nutrition, your hydration, to
make sure that once we get you back, we're getting
you back better than you were before. UM. And we
also have athletic trainers who work alongside of us who
helped work with the patient UM and the athlete on
their home programs UM and their exercise routines, just to
(05:02):
help them really get a feel for what they should
be doing, because it can be kind of hard if
you don't have a coach working you through it. They
can really help make sure that you are on the
right track. So, Elizabeth, what brought you into this area
of medicine. Did you always want to be a doctor?
I did not always want to be a doctor. I
(05:22):
actually wanted to be a ballerina when I was younger,
So I grew up dancing outside of Philadelphia in the
Greater Philadelphia region, and it was always my dream to
go professional, but you know, that's a very lofty goal.
And so in college I was lucky enough to dance
in a regional professional company and still be in college.
(05:45):
And it was in college that I really fell in
love with medicine and this idea of hey, I can
give back to all of these athletes, I can do
things in a different way, a better way. And so
that's what led me down the road to medicine and
particularly sports Edison. And so, you know, throughout medical school
residency fellowship, I really explored all the different areas and
(06:07):
I made sure that I took time to listen to
people and hear about their experiences with medicine so that
we could work on improving and making it better for everybody.
Oh so good. So you're a ballerina before you became
a doctor, I was. I was, Yeah, has that experience
in ballet influenced your medicine practice at all? Most definitely.
(06:30):
So one thing that I experienced a lot, and I
think a lot of athletes can identify with this, is
that when you go to the doctor, a lot of
times you'll get the answer. Say you have knee pain,
will say, oh, we'll just take six weeks off. Just
stopped running, just stop dancing, just stop doing whatever it
is that you were doing. And that doesn't really work.
(06:51):
You know, that doesn't work for anybody who is very
passionate about athletics and sports and dance. And so what
I want it to be able to do was to
help people be able to get better without making them
stop doing what they're doing. And so that's UM that
some of what I've been getting into, and I think
(07:12):
that's my background as an athlete, as an artist has
helped me be able to understand what it's like to
be injured, to be sitting there and seeing, well, this
is my entire life and my entire identity. What am
I going to do? And so that's really helped me out.
I think, wow, that that sort of empathy is everything
(07:33):
you know, and I know that that helped you establish
or take part in establishing the n y U Women's
Sports Center. That is incredible. Why do you think it's
important to have specialized care for female athletes? Specifically? We're
inherently different from male athletes, UM in the sense that
we our bodies are different, were subjected to different hormones,
(07:56):
and that does different things. Were also shaped friendly from men,
and so that has a big component of it too.
Also culturally, we you know, it's important to always address
the fact that there are cultures to your sport, there
are cultures to who you identify as and so being
able to understand that from the perspective of women's sports
(08:21):
is very very important because that's something that, um, you know,
I feel as though women tend to deal with a
little bit more than men. Of course it is across
the across all genders, um, but it's something that is
a little bit unique to us and also our energy
requirements as well. Just as training athletes, not in just women,
(08:43):
but like all athletes, do you notice some common concerns
that they have, like whenever they come visit you and
what are you doing to it to help them? Yeah,
so a couple of things. Nutrition is big, um, And
so that's always something that my athletes, my patients still
ask me about. They'll usually ask in a way that
sounds like this, how can I eat better, as if
(09:04):
it's some sort of technique, how can I run better?
How can I do better? Pure weets and so you know,
for athletes, they view everything is sort of a technique
that they set forward and they're going to accomplish that goal.
And so I see that a lot, particularly when it
comes to nutrition. How can I eat better? And so
sometimes really all we need to do is work with
(09:26):
a nutritionist. That's something that can be really helpful. Sometimes
there's a layer underneath that question. Sometimes they're asking because
the reality is they know how they could eat, but
the problem is the relationship with food. And so that's
where I always make sure to ask, Okay, that's a
really interesting question. Why do you ask? And so sometimes
(09:49):
they'll say, well, I've heard that I'm not supposed to
be eating carbs, I'm not supposed to be eating this,
and I'm just not sure how many calories I'm supposed
to be taking in. And so in that case, I'll say, okay,
well we'll just start with working with the nutrition. But
if I get the sense that there's, you know, an
underlying problematic relationship happening, that's when I'm really going to
start doubling in deeper. Um Because what I've found is
(10:12):
that your relationship to food is directly reflective of your
relationship to yourself, and so that's something that is really
important to recognize. A lot of athletes they feel as
though they can't necessarily talk to their doctors, or their
doctors might not understand, or sometimes they feel that that
(10:33):
they're not worthy of talking about these things. And so
it's really up to us to make sure we start
that conversation because a lot of times it can make
a huge difference in the outcome of that athlete and
that person in front of me. Yes. Uh. Having a
guide is incredibly important when it comes to I love
the word that you use. Recognizing when you can when
(10:55):
you can recognize your ability to, you know, have a
a relationship with your food, and that correlates to having
a better relationship with yourself. Having that support makes a
whole difference. You know, we have life stages, adolescents, young, adulthood, midlife.
They all come with major physical and psychological changes to
(11:17):
our bodies. So what's the biggest error you see women
athletes make as they go from one stage of life
to the next. One of the biggest things that I
see is they're very hard on themselves, and they're very
in particular, they're very hard on how they look. We're
in a very visual society, and so and a lot
(11:37):
of women where people pleasers, and we care about social
approval and what other people think of us, what is
considered the ideal body. And so that's one of the
big big things that I see for women, particularly in
those stages of the adolescent phase, going from being a
child to becoming a woman, from that phase, going from
(12:01):
being in high school to college, because it's a completely
different training scenario from college to out of college, and
sometimes they're losing all of their coaching, um oversight and
all of their support that they had in college. And
so those transition points, or from being an athlete to
(12:23):
retiring and being more of a hobbyist, uh, someone who
just loves exercise and exercise enthusiasts. And so those are
some of the major transition points that I see in
an athletes lifetime. And one of the big things is
a lot of my female athletes focus on how they
look and how their body is changing in a more
(12:44):
negative way rather than celebrating some of these changes. I
say to people that the ideal body is the result
of optimized training and good nutrition. It looks different for everybody.
I love that, and it's so genetic to some people
of longer tibias, some people of shorter tibias, and so
(13:04):
everybody's ideal body is going to look different, absolutely, And
I know that a lot of women think like, once
I get to a certain age, I can only do
X y Z. I mean I'm limited as my body
is changing or I'm entering a new life stage. Should
we change the way that we train as we go
from one life stage to another? And if so, are
there you know, in what ways should we do that.
(13:26):
That's such a great question because naturally we do have
to evolve our training technique. What we're doing for our
body does have to evolve over time because our muscles
have become optimized, and so as we're aging, what we
have to do is maintain and keep pushing the strength
in different ways. So we know as we grow, as
(13:48):
we age, we start to lose lean muscle mass, and
so that's a big focus in making sure that you
are doing a lot of strength training and supporting yourself.
I talked to athletes all the time about the fact
that you don't just because you hit a certain age
number doesn't mean you have to stop whatever sport it
is that you're playing. And it doesn't mean you can't
(14:09):
pick up new sports either. That's the other thing too
um And so that's one of the big things. We
just have to do it in a smart way. And
so focusing on balancing the cardio with the strength training
and the flexibility training is really helpful. It's essential to
making sure that you're being active in a healthy and
(14:30):
safe way. But there are no limits. You can do
whatever you want. We just have to do it safely.
You guys are hearing this from the expert. There are
no limits. I think that that I took that as
a heart. I mean, I'm thirty one, and sometimes I'm like,
are we really a boxer now? At thirty one? Can
(14:50):
we go back onto soccer field? You know, something just
seems so unapproachable because of what we've heard and from
someone we don't know. You know, these concepts just pop
up out of nowhere. We just somehow believe it. It
is mind boggling. Another term that we've heard you say
is runner's body. That there's no one type of runners body,
there's no one type of optimal body for an athlete.
(15:14):
So what is the biggest misconception about a runner's body?
One of the biggest misconceptions that I've seen and heard
over the years is that the runner's body is very
long and lean. They have to have little to know
body mass body fat percentage ratios, and that's just not correct.
(15:34):
You know, there's a lot of thought that, oh, your
muscle should be really lean, you shouldn't have very bulky muscles.
But if you've watched the Olympics, every single one of
those athletes on the starting line for the finals looks different,
and so it really it really just goes to show
the ideal runners body is the one that's healthy and
(15:56):
at the starting line for the finals. It doesn't have
to look a certain way, and it's human nature to
try and simplify things. Training, particularly training for an event,
is really really difficult, and you have to be thinking
long term, how much time do you have, how are
we going to ensure that we're peaking at the time
of the race, and so we put a lot of
(16:17):
pressure on that and it's really complicated the algorithms to
being able to decide how much you should be training, when,
when you should be taking off, when you should be
tapering down. This is a concept called periodization, and it's
actually it's very complicated, so it's it's hard to disseminate
that information to people. And so what happens is things
(16:38):
get simplified down and so ideas get paired down to
the point where they're no longer accurate anymore. It's all
or nothing. And so that's where I think some of
the whole idea if I look a certain way, that
means I'm doing it right. It's almost like it's the
instant gratification, validation, proof that you're doing enough exactly. Yeah,
(17:02):
And that's what's tough. You know. There was a study
that just came out recently, I think it was early,
asking endurance runners, so marathon and ultra marathon runners about
their experiences with something called relative energy deficiency and sport.
That's where you're not taking in enough to compensate for
(17:22):
how much you're putting out, so you're not taking in
enough fuel for how much you're training. And so these athletes,
half of them just they didn't do it intentionally. They
just had increased their training without increasing their fueling. And
so what happened was initially because they had increased their training,
they had two things happened. One, they had lost some
(17:45):
weight and to their times went up because they were
training more, but that was actually very limited. That initial
positive increase in performance was very limited because then what
happened was their behavior, the not eating enough and not
feeling enough for what they were putting out ended up
(18:06):
being reinforced, and so they started marching down this road
to the point where they had a full blown relative
energy deficiency in sport or red S syndrome, where their
performance had suffered. They were suffering from different injuries, um
they were losing their periods, and they're having even psychological
(18:26):
impacts from it, and some of them even developed disordered
eating because of what had happened with that initial positive feedback.
And then you're just trying to get back to that
initial bump in your performance. So it can be really,
really tough, and sometimes you don't even know what's happening.
That's where it's helpful to have sports medicine too, because
(18:49):
sometimes you just need to talk it over, like am
I doing this the right way? Am I going about
this the right way? I have a loss and performance
or I'm feeling very fatigued, have someone help you know
where to go is super helpful. Yeah, speaking of the
struggle and the challenges. You work with a lot of
athletes and UM you know who are transitioning from high
(19:11):
school athletics to college you know, the college level or
college athletics to pro do you have any recommendations for
athletes who are going through this transition period, like how
can they prepare mentally and physically for this new challenge?
Those transistion points are some of the most difficult that
I work with UM and one of the most important
(19:33):
things I talked to my athletes about is thinking about
their sport and what they really love and getting gritty
about it. Is it working towards a goal, Is it
working with a team towards the common goal? Is it
having routine? Is it having you know something that just
keeps you focused or it serves as a distraction. There
(19:55):
were some Olympians where their sport was a distraction from
school at how with their stress relief. So understanding what
it is, particularly about the sport that you really love
and then finding that elsewhere in life. So building an
identity for yourself outside of your main sport. There's so
many things out there that you can do that make
(20:17):
you and make you unique. Because there are times when
you won't be able to train, you know, injury breaks
in the season, in force breaks during the periodization this
is your rest period. And what do you do during
a rest period? You know, are are you just sitting
around waiting to put your running shoes back on again?
(20:37):
We are? People are some people are that must be
really boring, and so finding things that you can do
that make you you outside of that main sport is
so protective because one, it gives you something to look
forward to. It keeps you grounded, and it helps with
all of the anxiety when it comes to racing and
(20:58):
competing because instead of of competing for your life's meaning,
you're competing because it's a goal that you're preparing for.
I love that, and the difference is huge. Such good advice. Yeah,
I mean, how how do you? I'm just curious, like,
how do you even begin that process of is it
a conversation or a span of sessions with an athlete
(21:23):
that does not yet understand who they are outside of sport?
Will start as early as we can. If I get
a patient or an athlete in my office during a
time of injury, I capitalize on that because I have
this moment where I know, for a fact that their
life is going to be altered for the next six weeks.
(21:44):
I say, okay, so this is a lot. You're gonna
have some free time. What are you going to do
with that free time? This is an opportunity to really
explore some other things that are going to help enhance
your performance once you get back on the field or
once you get back on the track. And so it
can come. If I'm lucky enough, I'll get them ahead
(22:05):
of time when there aren't really any injuries, or just
a simple overuth century that will fix in PT very quickly.
But sometimes I'll get them when they're coming into me injured,
and so I take that opportunity to really start working
with them because I know I'm going to see them
too and several follow up visits for their injury, and
so we have those conversations, and it's amazing how simply
(22:29):
just asking the question, what are you going to do
with your free time? It's a big question. Sometimes I
get this look I can only imagine I've never thought
about it before. I'm like, honestly, I'm feeling that right
now because I'm actually I'm about to do my fertility
stuff the next couple of weeks. And I can't do
any movement at all. I can't even go for a walk.
So I'm like, what do I do? What I do
(22:50):
in my hands? What do I what do I do?
Do I build something? I can't do anything. I can
just sit here. So it's I can't even image. And
if it's an injury, and it's going to be like
whoever knows how long? Yeah, speaking of injuries, you know,
every athlete at some point is bound to suffer from
an injury right in their career. So do you have
(23:12):
any recommendations um for athletes recovering from an injury? You know,
how can they mentally prepare for their comeback when they're
unable to train? Is there anything else that they could do? Absolutely?
So this is a golden opportunity to really take a
look at their training routine and their training regiment and
see if there are any areas that we could flesh out. So,
(23:35):
particularly when it comes to say, take a runner, A
lot of times my runners come to me and we
talk about this thing called cross training, which means they
do something other than running, including stretching. And so my
runners always look at me and they go, I know,
I don't do anything other than run. And so if
they're suffering from something like a stress injury, bony stress
(23:57):
injury where they can't run, we say, okay, well, this
is a great opportunity because guess what all the other
things you can do. Let's start talking about all these
other things. And so when we're getting you back, we're
going to keep incorporating these new things that you're learning
into your whole regiment, in your whole training routine, and
you'll find that as you're getting back, you're going to
(24:20):
feel stronger and more confident in your body. Sometimes what
we have to overcome um in athletes who suffer something
like an a c L rupture, a traumatic injury, sometimes
we have to overcome the fear of it happening again.
And so yeah, yeah, because if you fell, or take
(24:42):
a gymnast who falls and hurts themselves, it takes a
lot of courage to get back up again and get
get back on the field, get back on the beam.
Takes a lot of courage to do that. So at
Christianity Care, we work with physical therapists, we work with
athletic trainers, we were with sports psychologists, and a lot
of the time with that whole team approach, we're able
(25:05):
to help the athlete feel very confident by the end.
And that's one of the big things to building confidence
to getting back after something like a traumatic injury. I
had an I had an athlete, a dancer, come to
me um in her follow up. She had sustained a
concussion while performing on a cruise ship and she we
were at the point where she was ready to go back,
(25:28):
and she said, I just I know I can, but
I can't. And so I looked at it and I said, well,
you've got a mental block. We can work with this,
we can work around this. And so just being able
to recognize it and and say it, to name it,
and something that's non judgmental, that is normalized. It's just
(25:49):
a mental block. We can work with that. And so
when we're when I start to see that athletes are
struggling or hitting plateaus or hitting these roadblocks, that's when
we pause and we have a conversation. And usually that's
when I'll bring in the sports psychologist who can be
really instrumental in helping them get past that and keep
moving forward. That speaks very very strongly to me. I
(26:12):
fractured my hip a decade ago and I have yet
to step back onto a soccer field to play a game.
It's a mental block because I play other sports sounding
other things, but something about it and that I know
that the coaching, the reinforcement, it just does so much
for us. And you know, you talk about the psychological
effects of having someone to guide you through that. So
(26:34):
some athletes listening maybe at a point where you know
they're retiring from their sport for different reasons. But Dr Barchie,
do you have any advice for them so that they
can maintain their mental and physical health. Absolutely, So starting
with recognizing that their body, just the way their body
(26:56):
would look different based on whichever event they were training for,
their body is going to look different for their new
life that they're working for, and so being able to
accept that and celebrate that things are going to look
a little bit different, that shapes are going to change,
and that's a good thing. That's a wonderful thing because
that's reflecting our new goals in life. That's first and foremost. Second,
(27:20):
it's important to check in with your relationship with exercise.
So I see a lot of everyday athletes or retired
athletes who still feel that exercises their first and foremost
stress relief, and without it, they're kind of lost. And
that's okay, except for what happens if you have a
really big deadline, or what happens if you're a mom
(27:45):
now and your child is sick or god forbid, they're
in the hospital or family members in the hospital, or
if you get an injury. What happens when you just
can't exercise but you're going through a lot, And so
having things that help with stress relief, even if it's
something as simple as coloring, is really essential when you
(28:05):
are changing your whole identity and your whole lifestyle. Because
life happens. It happens to everybody, and so we need
to have things other than exercise, other than getting to
the gym, to help us be able to distress and
remain healthy both mentally and physically. It's really important. Another
(28:25):
concept that I was thinking about is, you know, when
we talk about the female distance runner, So for a
woman who's taken up long distance running, what advice would
you have for them if they're not seeing their bodies
transform m That's a really great question because it really
comes down to what are they looking for with the
transformation in their body? Because because the ideal body is
(28:51):
the body that you get from optimized training and good nutrition.
And so if they have optimized training and good nutrition
and genetically their their bone lengths and their muscles look
a certain way, they might not see that many changes,
but I bet they sure we'll see some changes in
their performance, you know. And so instead of looking at
(29:12):
what does my body look like, let's look at, okay,
what is my training regimen? How are my times? Am
I able to get into the weight room? And am
I improving on my weight training? My reps that I'm
able to do? And looking at how this is changing
my running time, looking at my flexibility goals. I used
(29:35):
to only be able to touch my knees and now
I can touch my toes. That tells me that I'm
making gains. Gains, yeah, exactly, And so you know that
might not necessarily show up right away in your performance.
What it might show up as you're not in my
office as often with injuries, and so looking at all
(29:57):
those subtle signs and focusing more on your performance rather
than the look the visual of what you're going for,
because we're not built to all look the same way,
and so being able to block that out and focus
purely on gains in your performance. That's what we really
should be focusing on. Yes, I feel like we're always
(30:19):
so focused on everything there is to lose instead of
everything there is to gain. Right, that's always for some reason,
we're always so focused on losing rather than gaining and
recognizing all of these things that are happening to us
and making us better. Um, it's just it's one of
my biggest struggles every single day because I see the
(30:43):
diet culture stuff everywhere all the time. I'm gonna have
to take your your clip where you're talking about this
because I guess I can share it with everybody who
comments on my stuff all the time given me a
hard time. So thank you for that. I feel I
feel really good right now. Ure and she said with
her chest, meant it. She was like, now my answers
(31:04):
to say the backs of the backs, thank you under armours.
Sweat the Details will be back after a short break.
Welcome back to Sweat the Details. Well, Dr Pargie. I
(31:24):
hope you like games, because it's game time. Game time.
We like to shake it out a bit during this
part of our show and play a little game with
our guests in today's game is called Feel your Best.
We're just going to ask you a few questions about
your favorite ways to stay active and full of energy,
and then you're just going to answer the first thing
that comes to mind. Are you ready, I'm ready? Okay.
(31:47):
Favorite self care practice massage? Yeah, with oil, that's the one. Yeah,
you know, I need a massage. That's a good one.
Deep tissue or Swedish. I usually go with deep tissue.
I've got a lot of deep muscle nuts and so
it usually takes a little bit more pressure to kind
(32:08):
of release them. Got to get up in there. So
what's the difference. Swedish is actually lighter pressure um and
so it's a little bit gentler and chill, whereas deep
tissue is is the one you see in the movies
where they're like digging their elbow into you. And I
don't know about that. It's so good. Sounds like we'll
(32:30):
have to know by the end. So I'll get back
to that. Let you know if I'm deep tissues. Sometimes
you're on the table and you're you think to yourself,
there's no way this is gonna work, and then you
get up and you feel fantastic, and then your sore
for three days. That's the part like I don't know alright.
(32:50):
Best comfort food mac and cheese with stewed tomatoes. That's
a little bit of healthy to you, rightly. Favorite workout
swimming is it because of low impact. It's low impact,
so it feels really good on my body, which has
(33:12):
definitely changed from being a professional dancer. Um it doesn't
tolerate other certain activities quite as well as it used to.
So swimming for me is really great. Plus it's also
very meditative for me because it shuts everything out, so
I have to count. I swim laps, so it's one, one, one,
(33:33):
and I keep repeating that number because otherwise I lose count.
And then in the back my mind is kind of
chattering a little bit. But because I'm focusing on counting,
it calms everything down, and so it's a very meditative experience.
Plus it's that sensory deprivation as the waters rushing past
your ears. Everything's kind of quiet, and so it's very
(33:55):
meditative for me. Plus it's a really great workout because
I'm terrible. It's swimming, and so I don't have to
swim as far to get a great workout. That okay,
last one a book that you recently loved. Oh, So,
I'm currently reading The Phantom Tollbooth and I love it.
One of my old dance partners actually hadn't lent me
(34:16):
this book. It was his favorite book growing up, and
so I started reading it and it's so delightful. It's
so wonderfully written and absurd but very cogent at the
same time. And it's just it's such such fun to
read this. I can't believe I've never read it before.
I love that it's not like The Science of the Foot,
(34:39):
you know, like went for The Phantom Toldbooth. I love that. Yeah,
if I if I needed to fall asleep, I'd be
able to do that. But they're great. They're great. They're
great for very informative, very great for helping you fall asleep.
Good to know. Oh man, Dr Bartie, this was incredible.
Thank you so much for all these gems. I mean,
(35:02):
I know me and Meg are both in the same
page right now. You really really spoke our language in
so many ways, and our listeners, I'm sure, are so
excited to hear this episode. So where else can we
find you? So if you go to Christiana Care dot
Org and you either search my name or you search
sports medicine, I will come up on the website. I
(35:24):
also have an office number three zero two three to
zero nine four zero, and so you'll be able to
make an appointment with me and see me in the office,
and that's where you can find me. Awesome. You guys
can also find her under movement goddess in the dictionary. Fantastic, awesome.
(35:45):
Thank you so much, Dr By. This has been such
a great conversation and hopefully we'll be chatting soon again. Absolutely,
it's been such a pleasure. Thank you so much for
having me, and it's been a wonderful, wonderful time. Well,
that was enlightening. I am just really excited to share
(36:09):
this conversation because we have scientists, we have doctors, and
these women continue to reinforce that we have got to
have a good relationship with ourselves if we're going to
perform better. Exactly, I'm blown away. I just hearing from
a doctor saying these things. I'm like, do we hear this?
Are we absorbing this? Salege, we absorbing this right now?
(36:31):
When she was talking about the runner's body, I was
just I mean, I was I was like, I'm not
gonna snap, but I wanted to like snap and fist
bump and just throw my excitement out there because it's
it's so true. There's so many misconceptions that you should
be long, and you should be lean, and you should
be this exact body type in order for you to
be successful, and it's just so far from the truth.
(36:51):
So hearing her say that was a powerful, powerful moment um.
She also talked about whenever you're transitioning from high school
and to college and pro understanding what does she say,
understanding what you love about the sport, and then go
find that in other areas of your life. I was like, Oh,
(37:12):
it's so true. How many one right? Exactly right? Like
it just you just got to soak that in and
remember that. You know, the things that you enjoy in
life are wonderful because they have little aspects to them
that bring you happiness and enjoyment. So if you can
find those little bits and pieces in other areas of
your life, that's how you create a fulfilled life, because
(37:33):
it's bleeding into every part of it. I have so
many chills Monica and Dairy. It's absolutely legendary. Let go
of the ideal body, Let go of it. It's just
this thought that we put in our heads that we
assume because it's on our TVs and it's what everybody
else is saying, is being praised, and if we just
(37:53):
focus on ourselves, imagine the magic. Imagine the magic. Yes,
so I'm not a good light. Focusing on myself is
actually my goal moving into this next week. I want
to definitely share goals with you all, And I know
this is a portion of the show where we usually
(38:15):
get into our goals allow for our listeners to hear
a little bit about our lives and what we're working
on and how we can support one another. So, Meg,
what are you working on this week? What's your goal?
Just my simple walking every day. That's about what my
doctor said would be good for this week, to just
kind of tone it down as I head into injections
on Saturday for my IVF stuff. So, actually, yesterday I
(38:40):
didn't walk. I moved houses, So I think I kind
of overdid it yesterday. But so today I'm going to
be taking it a little bit easier. But girl, I'm
I'm really nervous, Like, can I be honest, I'm really
nervous because on Saturday I start all the all of
these injections, and they were serious with me. They said,
(39:01):
do not walk, do not do anything that's remotely physical,
because you're ovaries are growing. They're growing really fast and
they could like flip if I move too much. And
I'm like, okay, I really got to take it seriously
and focus on the mental aspect of everything, because that's important, right,
(39:25):
the mental part of any journey, fertility journey, fitness journey,
health journey, it's always going to come down to physical,
but the most important usually the foundation is mental. So
I'm just hoping this next week goes smoothly and I
can just remember that my body is doing everything that
it needs to do and I need to be thankful
(39:47):
for that, and I need to embrace all the changes
that are about to happen. And I'm getting emotional all
of its talk your talk, girl, Oh it's really scary sometimes. Well,
we are behind you, Meg, seriously, You've got so much.
I love calming your way, and if there's anything else
that we can do, you let us know. But obviously
(40:09):
I'm gonna be all up in your d m s anyways,
because you know that's what I do. But I'm so
proud of you. We're also proud of you, and you
are really paving the way for women who are going
through a similar scenario. And honestly, the best thing we
can do is find a way to relax and distress
our body, because it is incredible and it can do
(40:31):
what it is that we truly wanted to do. So
maybe you'll read what was the book that Dr Bartie
was saying? Did you write it down? Did you write
it down the toll booth, the Bantom tollbooth. Yes, So
just go ahead, okay, crack that joint, open me give
it a reading. Yeah, what about you? What about you
give us an update? We are the hormones gang over here.
(40:55):
I realized now, Oh yes, I am focusing on my
self today. I was so proud of both myself and
my coach because I am cycle sinking. I fight on
my period when when I have my fight day in November.
So my goal is to really stay true to the
(41:19):
recommended amount of exercise and the recommended intensity of exercise
when I'm actually going through the different phases of my cycle.
And you know, right now it's the bleed and it's
time to chill out and rest, and you know, and
you got some good tips today from Dr Dr Barchie
is going to be the angel whisper in my ear
(41:40):
for the rest of for that's the sphase. So literally
my goal is to you know, really tap into the
other beautiful magic of you know, this hormonal phase and
make decisions, not do too much moving around. So I
guess I'll crack that book open with you too little
do it together. Well, that's it for this week's episode,
(42:03):
but don't forget to join us next week for more
inspiring and enlightening conversations. Thanks for joining us, fit fam.
If you liked what you heard on the show, subscribe
for free or follow the show on the I Heart
Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen, and don't
forget to leave a five star rating and review. We
love that. Yes, give us these reviews until next time,
Stay inspired, stay motivated, and don't forget to Sweat the Details.
(42:26):
By Sweat the Details is a collaboration with under Armour
and I Heart Radio. Our show is hosted by me
Monica Jones and me Meg Bogs. Our executive producers are
(42:49):
Just strip Stein, Just Sell, Louis Artald, Molly Sosha, and
Maya Cole Our producers are Kelly and tole Leylakdrain, Emma
Osborne and Alejandra Arevalo, and our sound editor and engineer
is Sarah gible Leska. Keep up the latest news in
women's fitness by following under Armour at under Armour Women
and at under Armour
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