Transcript: EP 275 – Dr. Taz’s Take on Meeting Your Fitness Goals

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Dr. Taz: Movement is a part of your expression. It’s a part of self-expression, and we are meant to move. We are not meant to sit in these chairs all day long, like so many of us do.

Dr. Taz: Hi, everyone, and welcome to Super Woman Wellness. I’m Dr. Taz. I’ve made it my mission throughout my career in integrative medicine to support women in restoring their health, using a blend of Eastern medical wisdom with modern science. In this show, I will guide you through different practices to find your power type and fully embody the healthiest and most passionate version of you. I’m here for you, and I can’t wait to get started. This is a Soulfire Production.

Dr. Taz: Welcome back, guys. Welcome back to another episode of Super Woman Wellness, where we are determined to bring you back to your superpower self.

Dr. Taz: Now, a part of us feeling like we’re standing in our power, our best selves is really our ability to move. We want to feel light and able to move, able to run after our kids, maintain a long day, if we need to, like so many of you do, but that ability to move is often tied to the type of exercise we do.

Dr. Taz: Now, I meet all kinds of women, women that love exercise, some women hate it. I have my avid runners, my yogis, folks that don’t exercise a day in their life, or just simply walk every now and then.

Dr. Taz: Well, here is the trick, and it’s probably super confusing for all of you, guys, so I have a lot of empathy as we launch into this next topic. What in the world is the right form of exercise for you?

Dr. Taz: Now, if you Google, maybe scan the headlines, maybe pick up a magazine, every new workout trend is the trend to jump on, to put your arms around because it is the secret to losing weight, feeling great, having great sex, whatever else they advertise and in whatever that they do there.

Dr. Taz: But the truth of the matter is actually very different, and it comes back to this theory that I’ve been kind of hammering over and over again for the last few years and probably will continue to where you have to understand you, and you really have to match everything, diet, exercise, sleep, your choices, your career, all of it to you because you have a finite energy source.

Dr. Taz: They called it chi in Chinese medicine. They called it prana in Ayurvedic medicine. But it was gifted to you, and if you deplete it, if you used it incorrectly, then that was the reason that so many people would suffer, according to these systems of medicine, from emotional distress or physical distress, or simply not feel like they’re living in their power and their authenticity.

Dr. Taz: So how the heck do you figure that stuff out? I’ll ask this question to some of my guests every now and then like, “Well, how do you know what’s right for you? How do you tap into your soul or your consciousness?” Deep questions.

Dr. Taz: We’re going to keep it simple and simply talk about fitness today because movement is a part of your expression. It’s a part of self-expression, and we are meant to move. We are not meant to sit in these chairs all day long like so many of us do. We know that it damages everything from our spine, our core, our pelvic floor, our steps, and so much more. I think that just rhymed, but anyhow, let’s talk about this.

Dr. Taz: Now, remember, with the power types, we came up with five key power types, each power type had a diet plan that they were supposed to follow. But what we haven’t talked about very much is how each power type also has a fitness plan that they should ideally follow.

Dr. Taz: This was all developed by me merging together Eastern and Western medicine, understanding that Eastern medicine provided us with a glimpse into a person’s emotions, their personality, their overall chi or energy or prana, while Western medicine gave us the data, sort of the deeps to really understand how this person would function in a certain scenario.

Dr. Taz: If we put them together, we get power types. The five ones just to review include the gypsy girl, who’s more vata in nature, a little bit more airy, tall, thin, wiry maybe. We have the boss lady, who’s going to go and is a go-getter and is really going to get stuff done, has a list and might be one of those. Then we had the type that was the blend of the two, which was the savvy chick. We went on to the earth mama, which was the nurturer, really worried about everybody else, not so worried about themselves. Then last, but certainly not least, is the Nightingale who lives in service to others and to her community, but at the same time has often done so at a great personal toll.

Dr. Taz: Those are my five types. If any of you guys don’t know your power type, I encourage you to go on to my website, go to doctortaz.com, and take the power type quiz to understand who you are or do the test in the book. The book is still out there. It’s the Super Woman RX. It’s from 2017, still valid, still time-tested in terms of understanding who you are and what the best sort of plan is for you.

Dr. Taz: But let me give you a little glimpse, maybe a cheat sheet so to speak, when it comes to at least the fitness element of power typing. When we think about fitness and movement, we want to make sure it’s balanced for the energy source or the energy field that you’re in.

Dr. Taz: If you’re a gypsy girl, let’s start there, for example. Gypsy, remember, I said were more vata, tall, wiry, thin. My gypsy girls that are out there just running five and six miles a day, you guys are hurting yourselves. You guys actually need a few days of cortisol-lowering activity, things that calm the nervous system down because you’re already prone to cortisol issues and anxiety and trouble with focus.

Dr. Taz: What are those exercises? Those could be things like adding in yoga a couple times a week, maybe doing Pilates, swimming, which is calming, calms the nervous system down, working that in. You can still run. It’s okay to run, but limit those runs to two or three times a week, not the pounding and pounding and pounding every single day. What the research is showing us and what we know for sure is that all of that pounding on your particular body type over time wears the joints down, damages the pelvic floor, increases cortisol and, in turn, creates earlier hormone crashing. All of it’s connected. We have to pay attention to this.

Dr. Taz: If you’re a gypsy girl, if that’s where you tested out, you know that you’re vata in Ayurvedic medicine, you know that you’re prone to adrenal fatigue, you know that in Chinese medicine, you often have kidney Meridian deficiency, which is the key energy channel, the key energy source, and you know that the best workouts for you are going to be where you move, but not all of them are with aggression. So walking, yoga, swimming, Pilates, things that are more gentle in nature, tempered with the occasional go-getter workout every now and then. HIIT and cycling excessively, I don’t recommend it. You can do it, but I don’t recommend it.

Dr. Taz: All right, let’s move on to what is one of the most dominant types in the power typing theory. This was the boss lady and, yes, I am a mix of both, the boss lady and the gypsy girl. But the boss lady actually is usually more athletically built. If you actually look at them, they’re more muscular. They’re medium built. They need movement and input because they hold so much stress right here in the gut. They’re typically pitta in Ayurveda. They have liver Meridian issues in Chinese medicine and often it’s their thyroid, along with their adrenals that can get affected.

Dr. Taz: Pittas need movement. It’s okay for them to move every single day and, yes, they want that input. They may weight-lift, and they may run, and they may do cycling and all of those aggressive workouts. That actually suits their build and their type, but they do need to temper it every now and then with something more relaxing and more calming. They can do more of the aggressive stuff than your vatas or your gypsy girls, but they still need to temper it so that there’s balance. That’s the key to movement for the boss lady.

Dr. Taz: The savvy chick is a little bit of both so they need to split that exercise schedule right down the middle, maybe two days of intense cardio, two days of more gentle cortisol-lowering activities, a day here and there of weight-lifting, mix it up, keep it even, keep cortisol down, protect that thyroid. That is the mission of the savvy chick.

Dr. Taz: All right, let’s talk for a second about the earth mama. They’re my favorites. I think they are the kindest people in the world. It’s really all about everybody else. They’re very nurturing. I can learn so much from them, too, and how giving they are. I’ve been surrounded by earth mamas, fortunately, throughout my life.

Dr. Taz: Earth mamas, though, have a tendency to be broader built, and they hold on to stuff so they hold onto fat. They don’t really like to move. It’s not their preference like a boss lady or a savvy chick. They actually prefer to be more sedentary. They like to sleep a little bit longer, for example. But their issues medically are, and even mentally because they’re a little bit prone to depression, their issues demand movement. They need to move. They actually need to move a couple of times a day.

Dr. Taz: If you’re an earth mama and you tested out as an earth mama, I actually have started recommending that you do a 20-minute burst of activity a couple of times a day. So that could be a 20-minute walk and then maybe a 20-minute run later, 20-minutes of weights, another 20-minute of walking later in the day.

Dr. Taz: But really, honestly, an earth mama needs constant movement. They shouldn’t be sitting constantly. They shouldn’t be stationary. Their body just gets really comfortable in that position. They need to be up and moving and kind of keeping their energy flowing because they have a tendency to stagnate. So with bursts of activity throughout the day, you can do the dedicated workout, but don’t have the mentality “I did my hour, boom, I’m done. I don’t have to do anything else the rest of the day.” That is not ideal for the earth mama.

Dr. Taz: If we think about it from a chemistry standpoint, remember, those earth mamas have a lot of issues with insulin, insulin regulation, estrogen dominance, and how do you combat that? You combat that with movement. We know that when we move, even if it’s for short little bursts of time throughout the day, we lower our blood sugar, and we improve insulin resistance.

Dr. Taz: All right. That brings us to one more type. Let’s talk about the Nightingale. These guys have busted it, honestly. I don’t know how else to say it. They have worked and worked and worked. They have served and served and served. They have very delicate guts. They really should not be running aggressively, doing HIIT, doing any of these like high-intensity, even heavy weight-lifting. None.

Dr. Taz: They need a period of healing. That healing, again, can look like walking. It can look like gentle yoga, not the power flow stuff that I love, but like very gentle yin yoga. They can do things that are very sort of easy to move, and don’t take a lot of energy. They don’t need to be busting it aggressively. So they actually need a lot of TLC. They need consistent sleep and rest, protein and fats to help re-nourish them and build them back up. So keep that in mind when it comes to the Nightingale.

Dr. Taz: Do you know your power type? Are you aware of what you might be? Well, take the test if you don’t, but remember, movement, like diet, sleep and so much more, needs to be personalized and tailored to you. There’s definitely more information on my blog. Go to doctortaz.com\blog and definitely a ton more in the book, The SuperWoman RX.

Dr. Taz: Thanks for watching and listening to this episode of Super Woman Wellness. Remember, you can rate and review it and share it with your friends. I will see you guys next time.