And welcome back to the Wellness Paradox podcast . I'm so grateful that you can join us on this journey towards greater human flourishing . As always , I'm your host , michael Stack , an exercise physiologist by training and a health entrepreneur and a health educator by trade , and I'm fascinated by a phenomena I call the Wellness Paradox .
This paradox , as I view it , is the trust , interaction and communication gap that exists between fitness professionals and our medical community . This podcast is all about closing off that gap by disseminating the latest , most evidence based and most engaging information in the health sciences , and to do that . In episode 108 , we're joined by Stacia Root .
Now Stacia has a very interesting story . She started her career as a nurse an acute care nurse , in fact and now she's transitioned into the fitness industry as a fitness and an exercise professional . So this is going to be a conversation one , around why she decided to make that transition .
Two , the steps that she chose to take to make that transition a reality . And three , the lessons that we all can learn , in both the fitness and the healthcare space , from the jump she's made and what she's experienced around making this jump from a nurse to a fitness professional .
Any information we'd like to share with you from today's episode can be found on the show notes page . It's by going to wellnessparadoxpodcom . Forward slash episode 108 . Please enjoy this conversation with Stacia Root Today . I'm delighted to be joined by Stacia Root . Stacia , thank you so much for joining us .
Thank you so much for having me . I'm excited to do the show .
Yeah , I'm excited to have this conversation . We connected over social media and you are a former nurse that is transitioned into the fitness field and that's what a lot of this conversation is going to be around , and I find that super intriguing and very relevant to our audience .
But , you know , apart from that little intro that I gave , I'd like you to spend a second just to tell our audience a little bit more about you , to give them some context for our conversation .
Absolutely . I work as a personal trainer . Now I work in person at a gym local to where I live and I've been doing that for the last two years . Prior to that , I worked as a registered nurse .
For about three years I worked in an emergency department and I also worked in like a kidney cardiac step down unit as well as a telephone triage unit as I was transitioning out of nursing into training because I knew that nursing wasn't for me . So I found a job that wasn't bedside and transitioned into personal training and absolutely love doing that now .
Awesome , yeah , and that's what a lot of this conversation is going to be around is the kind of you know your mindset behind . You know maybe why nursing first and then why this transition , and then maybe lessons that fitness professionals can learn from you , somebody who's been in both worlds .
But also we do have a lot of healthcare providers that listen to podcasts maybe some gems you have for them . So I guess you know . My first question for you is you know what got you into nursing ? And then the follow up question will be you know what caused you to make the transition from a nurse to a fitness professional ?
When I was in high school I was always interested in doing something in the sports field , working with clients or patients . So I looked at going into athletic training the hours and the pay just I didn't want that . So I was like , okay , next , physical therapy .
At that time they had just transitioned to getting a doctorate and I was like that schooling is not the schedule that I want , okay next . And then I was like , oh , nursing seems like a good combination health and wellness .
Hours that I , like you , can go to school for four years , have a bachelor's degree seemed like something that would fit into my life and how I wanted it to look . So decided on nursing and that probably was my number one . Should have been a red flag .
Like you know , I'm a sports side , but ended up going into nursing and going through nursing school , worked in the hospital actually for about two and a half three years as an aid , a teletext or reading heart rhythms , and when I was doing those jobs I was like , oh , it's going to get better , I'm going to graduate , I'm going to be registered , it's going to
be better .
Like you know , no thought in my head about I would graduate and end up really disliking the career that I was in and after I graduated I started working bedside nursing at a hospital that was cardiac kidney transplant unit or step down unit , and along the way I just noticed that we're telling these patients and giving them like sheets of paper on how to take
care of your health and wellness and I'm like that . Okay , I guess I get it . You know where our time is limited , we don't have an abundance of time to spend with patients educating on it , but then you know the same patient comes back a couple times and you start labeling them as non compliant and it's like oh well , is this us ?
So that started to kind of spark my , spark my mind on really what's going on here , and I would say that was maybe six months into my nursing career that I was like this is not what I want to be doing and took me a while to figure out that I wanted to go into training .
So glad that I found training now , but it definitely took a long time and a lot of self talk and self motivation to figure out what I wanted to do .
Yeah , talk about that self-talk and self-motivation for a second , because I think that's an interesting thing to say , because nursing is obviously a very challenging job you would know better than I and many of the listeners what that's like but at the same time it's also a very stable , predictable career path .
So I feel like on some level , you must have been trying to weigh in your mind like all right , well , I've got this stable , predictable thing , I know it's going to be here , or I can go be this fitness professional , which is not necessarily as stable per se .
How did you work your way through that psychologically to actually have the courage to make the jump ?
At the time that I really was itching to get out of nursing . I had started dating my now husband and he's very entrepreneurial mindset , so he was extremely helpful and he guided me to go into a career that I liked .
I mean , I'm not kidding when I say that I'd come home like one to two days out of my three days of working and like just being shambles , crying , just upset , just very frustrated , and so he helped push me there . But a lot of it for me was overcoming that . You know .
Okay , I have a stable career , I have a stable paycheck , I can pick up hours if I need and being like okay , now I have to actually make , like . I have to do this for myself . I have to get the clients , I have to make the money . And if I don't get the clients , how am I going to eat ? How am I going to pay my truck payment ?
How am I going to pay my rent ? So a lot of that self talk just came back to this is what you're passionate about . This is what you're passionate about , and I don't think passion is always something that comes .
I think you create your passion , but for me it was something that I spent , you know , three years on , Like I love my own personal health and wellness and I knew that the information and education that I had in nursing I could benefit people working one-on-one with in a gym setting .
So a lot of that self talk and positive thoughts came to the point of you can actually make a difference on this person's life . And not that I wasn't in nursing , but in personal training it just seemed like it was a lot more personal and a lot more down to the roots of what the actual cause was .
So when I got past all of those negative like how am I going to pay rent ? How am I going to get food ? What are people even going to think ? Like , what are my parents going to think ? I just paid for school for four years ? What are my parents going to think ? Those were hard . It took me a long time to get through that . I'd six to eight months .
And then breaking through that , having a support system of my husband was extremely helpful . But you know , I think that in that aspect I also hired a trainer because I wanted to learn how to train from a trainer . So she was also a great support system for me in that transition .
That's great . I mean a couple of important lessons there . One is that support system is important when you are making a big jump . But also two , what I heard in there is you kind of followed your passion and you know a passion is something that emerges . You're obviously earlier in your career .
Your passion may shift over time , but you followed it to this step , which I think is . I think that's a good lesson for all of us to learn whether we're in healthcare or fitness or whatever job we're in is having that good support system and following your passion .
For sure . Yeah , and I , like I said , I think passions are created . I don't think it's something that you like . Wake up one day and you're like , oh , I'm passionate about doing this . It's something that you create .
For me , it was through habits of going to the gym finding the results that I loved feeling confident in my body , getting stronger and it's something I became passionate about , not only for myself , but for other people .
Awesome . Yeah , I think those are super powerful lessons for anyone that's considering any type of a career change . So let's talk a little bit about your perspective from healthcare , and there's a couple of different ways to take this .
I think the first place I want to take it is just simply based upon being a healthcare provider yourself , being in that environment . What are things that you feel fitness professionals need to know about collaborating with healthcare providers by kind of giving them a look under the hood ?
I talk about this a lot , but I'm a fitness professional , not a healthcare provider . You come from the healthcare provider word , so what should we know from your perspective as a healthcare provider about collaboration ?
I think one of the biggest things and it's unfortunate is that it's a system problem . It's not necessarily a person-to-person problem . I think that back leading , I mean down to the roots of the education you have . The healthcare system is a business , so the quicker they get patients in , you have to keep your business running .
You have to make money and unfortunately I think that that gets in the way a lot from patient individual health . I can't speak for long-term care I've only worked acute in the hospital settings .
But from a fitness professional now working at a gym , I would say one of the biggest things is just if you are in the fitness world and you're working in a gym or even you know people , have a conversation with someone that you know that's a doctor , talk to them .
If you see someone in the gym that's a provider or even a nurse , chat with them , have a conversation , see what it's like on their things and see kind of what they're lacking or they feel like their patients are coming back with often because I think a lot of times , like I said , it's not a person problem , I think it's a system problem and I have found
that most providers and healthcare workers are actually extremely open to have a conversation , but it always comes down to the time . Who has the time to actually come in and like sit down and educate these patients in the hospital about diabetes ?
And I mean I could go on to the food that we feed our patients in the hospital , and it's like there's so many aspects that are in the system that I think almost set people up for failure in that way .
I mean that's a really strong word and I don't love to use it , but even from my own education , I had one nutrition class as a nurse and that's fine . I'm not a registered dietitian , but in that nutrition class I mean I don't really remember anything that I learned there .
Everything I've learned has been self-taught now in my industry , with different certifications and stuff . But I don't know what it looks like for an MD , how many nutrition classes they go through , but that's a huge one . That comes up in my head when I think about it .
Yeah , it is very interesting . It is a business , right ? I mean , the fact of the matter is , and it's a business that operates off of razor thin margins at the end of the day , and so patient volume is really important . Now you said something that I think is interesting is that and I believe this as well it's not an individual provider issue .
I believe everyone that gets into medicine wants people to be healthy and well and they want them to flourish , but they're putting it in a system that makes it hard to do so with your business thus far . I mean , what , if anything , have you tried in terms of collaborating with healthcare professionals ? What conversations have you had ?
I mean , what are you doing as someone who's been in that world ?
I have some clients that are like nurse practitioners , registered nurses , and I always try to chat with them about hey , you know , this is what I'm taking , I'm bringing it to you , right , and you're learning through now working with me about building muscle .
There comes , in my opinion , it comes from a place of you're building muscle , you start feeling better physically . Now , all of a sudden , your mental health can start to follow that a little bit . So I try to talk to them about that and then I've had some of them say like hey , I talked to my patient about this .
I think it would be great and I don't know if a program like this exists , but like for providers to actually refer patients to a personal trainer , someone that they trust , someone they know has a background . But those are the conversations that I would like to have .
I know the gym that I work out of now is actually connected to a health system and I believe a provider actually I don't believe he's there anymore he used to refer his patients over to trainers where we worked . It's connected right there .
Now that patient , instead of saying , hey , go to the gym , they have a name , they have a phone number , they have someone to contact to get them in the gym and get comfortable . So I think that's great .
But a lot of the conversations that I have are personal training , so more personal on a one-on-one level , and then when that person starts to see or feel those results , it makes it a lot easier to share that with patients or people in the healthcare industry .
Because if you're not I mean if you're not really healthy yourself , I think it's really hard to teach health to other people if you don't actually have a grasp of what healthy means or looks like for you . And healthy doesn't look the same for everyone .
But I'd like to take a quick break from today's episode to tell you a little bit more about one of our strategic partners as a podcast .
As many of you know , the wellness paradox is all about closing off the trust , interaction and communication gap between fitness professionals and the medical community , and no organization does that better than the Medical Fitness Association . They are the professional member association for the medical fitness industry .
This is the industry that integrates directly with healthcare in many facilities throughout the entire country . The MFA is your go-to source for all things medical fitness . They provide newsletters , webinars . They even have standards and guidelines for medical fitness facilities .
They do events around the entire country and , most importantly , they are one of the more engaging networks in the entire fitness industry . I personally have benefited from the network that I've developed through the Medical Fitness Association and I highly recommend that all of you that are interested in solving the wellness paradox engage with the MFA .
To find out more about the Medical Fitness Association , you can go to their website , medicalfitnessorg . That's medicalfitnessorg . Now back to today's episode . Yeah , I think that's a great point .
One of the things you said about referral and I mean it's a separate , broader conversation is that I'll point you and everyone else that's listening out there to the physical activity alliance . It's time to move initiative . They are working on making physical activity assessment , prescription and referral the standard of care and medicine .
But to your point about it being a systematic challenge is that you have to figure out a way to implement that in the system . I mean , you know as someone who was in a hospital system that if it's not in the electronic health records it's not happening , and there's a lot of challenges around that that the physical activity alliance is looking to overcome .
So I think for the near term , in the next two , three , four , five years , it's probably professional such as yourself working to establish those relationships . So it is a daunting system-wide challenge .
For sure . Yeah , and I think it'd be great . I would love for that to happen where people have referrals , because how intimidating is it for someone that's never been to the gym to walk into a gym . When you get a piece of paper that says , hey , for this condition , we need you to work out three times a day , they're probably never gonna walk into the gym .
Yeah right . That's not really something that most people are going to do unless they have like a point of contact in someone that's holding them accountable .
Yeah , absolutely yes , and there's all kinds of challenges with that . Let's switch gears for a second here .
I'm gonna step out of healthcare and step kind of into what you've done recently , because I think there's a lot of good lessons to be learned from people who transition careers into this as a business and they start a successful personal training business , because a lot of people try and more often than not people fail .
It's a very hard thing to do and I'm sure you've experienced some of the challenges . I'm curious if you could share with the audience maybe some of your secrets to success or best practices .
What are the things that you have done to go from making a stable career in paycheck and nursing to now a stable career in paycheck in personal training , because that didn't happen by accident . So what are some lessons you might have to share ?
I would say the biggest thing is that , for me , fitness is not one size fits all . I think that a lot of trainers get really caught up in what sells , which people buy the 12-week programs . It's a one size fits all program 12 weeks this is what it looks like , and for me I take it more on a personal approach Every single person is different .
What their habits and workouts and eating looks like is going to vary person to person , and thankfully for me I'm very thankful for this I have a nursing background , so I had a huge background going into it in health and wellness , in anatomy , body moves , how it works , things like that . So that was great .
I think anyone in healthcare that wants to transition into the fitness world I mean , you're already three steps ahead because you have that background .
Along with that , though , comes continuing education , because if you don't know like if I got a client that came in and was like I've had two hip replacements and I had no idea what I was doing , prescribed them something wrong and they got hurt chances they come back is low .
So I would say the difference , the different things I do , is I just take a very personal approach and I want to get to know you . I want to get to know your habits and help you build healthier habits in your day that are also sustainable , because anyone can do anything for a short period of time but you can't force everyone to do that forever .
Your day is not going to look like my day , just like my day is not going to look like your day . Back to the healthy thing . Healthy looks different for every single person and I really try to communicate that with clients and just let them know that I'm here to help them develop healthy habits for their life , husband and wife .
It will look completely different , but it's for them personally and I think that a lot of times as personal trainers , when you're trying to make it , it's very simple to do what sells , which is 12-week programs . Do you know ? You see it and it's like the shiny new thing 12 weeks , I'm going to lose this much weight .
But actually taking it to a personal level , like I love talking to people , I love getting to know people and just figuring out how we can fit fitness and wellness into their life .
Yeah , but health looks different for everyone . I think is a really interesting statement , and I don't want to put words in your mouth , so I'm going to ask the question . It seems like , on some level , what you're saying there is like health is not all about the number on the scale or the way you look in the mirror . Is that kind of where you're going in ?
If so , expand on that , because I feel like that's what a lot of fitness professionals focus on . Is what you look like in the mirror or that number on the scale ?
Yeah , exactly that's exactly what I'm talking about , because one person at 150 pounds will look exactly different than another person at 150 pounds . And even if we look at BMI charts , you look at those charts . You can look at a man who's six foot 220 pounds and has a six pack and they're saying that he's obese .
So you look at those things and it's like , okay , what ? That doesn't make any sense at all . So an approach I like to take with my clients is I do like to have people weigh in initially , because for calculations , for macros , things like that food , we like to have a baseline . But that's not the number we focus on .
We're focusing on how you look , how you feel , how our clothes feeling , how's your energy , is your sleep better ? All of those things that are , I would say , more of a healthy direction . They're not going to look the same for everyone . Like I said , someone like a six foot 225 pound man has a six pack of abs .
The healthcare system is going to label as obese and it's crazy .
Yeah , yeah , it is interesting . You also talked about habits , which I do want to kind of just drill down on for a second , because I think habits are an interesting concept . How do you go about fostering that with your clients ?
Because I think we all agree like , hey , you should develop healthy habits , you should develop healthy habits , but doing that is actually the challenge . So what is your approach or your paradigm around habit formation for your clients ?
I typically will start with something . We'll sit down and talk and if it's something like they're not getting enough water which is pretty typical , most people do not consume enough water when they come and talk to me , so we'll talk about adding in just an extra 16 ounces to start with . Just start small , add extra 16 ounces .
I have them check it off and , like the app system that I use for my clients , I put it in their calendar . So at the end of the day they check it off . But we start extremely small , because if you start huge , the chances of you succeeding are lower . You know you can change .
If you're saying , oh , I want to wake up earlier and you're waking up at 8am and now you're waking up at 4am , the chances of you succeeding at that long term are pretty low , unless you're a low percentage , I would say .
So I start with small changes that lead them in the right direction and then , when they're consistently doing that , we make another step and then another step and then at that point in time they're proving to themselves that , hey , I can complete this , hey , I am checking this off .
It's almost a positive self-talk for them then , in a sense , where they feel like they're able to week , week to week , day to day .
Yeah , yeah , it is those baby steps . One thing that is curious is that you know obviously you've done a lot of learning around . You know fitness and behavior change and nutrition . It sounds like , and to your point , like you had one nutrition class in undergrad as a nurse .
I'm assuming you probably didn't have a lot of coaching health behavior change classes in undergrad , so where have you gone ? What have been some useful resources and educational tools that you have accessed to develop some of these skills that you needed that you didn't have from your nursing curriculum ?
For personal training . I'm ISSA certified and ISSA has a ton of information , a ton of certifications you can get , a ton of extra classes you can get . So that's where I went for that education . A lot of personal training education .
A lot of the person-to-person interaction that I have with clients has just come from working with people , for I mean six years now between nursing and personal training and just learning how to communicate .
A lot , too , for me comes from listening to podcasts like Ed Milet , andy Frisella , some of those bigger podcasts I really enjoy listening to , to take little nuggets out of for habits , things like that . So podcasts for me are huge . Basically , the certification that I got to be a personal trainer they have so many continuing ed credits .
I'm going to actually a seminar here at the end of September as well , or a conference which I'll get a ton more education . So I try to say well studied on those things . But working with people is something that I picked up in nursing and reading people having really hard conversations simply came from like a healthcare background , I think .
Yeah , interesting . So a couple of things sound true . One you've gone out and you've sought out formal education , but it sounds like partly it's just your desire to keep learning A and then B your experience and continuing to develop your soft skills and your interpersonal skills as much as your prescription skills . I mean .
I heard you talk about the difficult conversations and things like that . It seems as if that's only something that can be developed by experience . You're not going to get that from a textbook .
For sure If I wouldn't have worked in nursing , I would have been so incredibly awkward talking to people at first , I think . And it just came in nursing . You have to talk to people . You don't have an option Like . You have to talk to people . You have hard conversations with patients , with family members , even with other coworkers .
So a lot of those skills were just from experience doing it and they get you know over time . You get more and more and more advanced in it .
Yeah , yeah , absolutely . It's a very interesting perspective . So the other thing I want to get your perspective on is for the healthcare professionals that are looking for this or listening to this . Maybe there are some people that are intrigued by your journey and say , wow , that would be . That'd be a cool thing for me to consider .
You know , maybe not jumping in all the way like you did . I mean , obviously that's a big step to take , but some people may be ready . Other people just may want to dip their toe in the water with two things . One , what would you say to those people that might be interested in , you know , maybe , making this transition ?
And then , if they were interested , what would be the first couple of things you'd recommend they do ?
First off , you are already three steps ahead because of your health background . You have knowledge of the human body , which you know we are working . Personal training is working with the human body , it's just on a different field . So you already are steps ahead and if it's something that you're interested in , I think that's wonderful .
In that regard , step two , I would say for me , I hired a trainer because I wanted to learn how trainers trained and I wanted to see what her life looked like . Her and I actually are great friends now after I'm training with her , after I was training with her . But for me , I learned so much just by working with her . I learned about the gym setting .
I learned how to coach clients in the gym , I learned what certifications I should get , which ones I shouldn't . You know , all of those questions were answered by a professional and I don't think you should just go to the gym and pick out a random trainer .
I think you should actually do your research on the trainers that you want to work with and maybe learn from , because , I mean , the fact is , it's pretty easy to become a certified personal trainer and there are some people that really don't have business being in the industry .
So if you're learning from someone that doesn't have business being in the industry , I think that's setting you up for more of a failure than anything . So do your research on your trainers . Hire a trainer , talk to a trainer . Most of us are very we love people .
We literally work with people every day , so we're very open to conversations and we get very excited when someone's like hey , I want to get into the fitness field . Awesome , can't wait .
So I'm curious , and what you said I think is very accurate Like you went and you got a trainer and you just didn't choose any trainer , but you found one that resonated with you and you thought could help you succeed . What was it that made you choose the trainer that you chose ? I think that that's an important insight to get out of this conversation .
How did somebody who wanted to become a trainer , who was a healthcare provider , pick their own trainer ? What was it ?
I honestly , she was aesthetically pleasing , like what she looked like . I was like , wow , I can tell you work out , I can tell you , put yourself first . She was very strong . I like to lift weights , considering doing a powerlifting competition , and she's like a national powerlifter and just happened to be in the gym that I worked out at and I .
She came up to me one day and we started talking and I was like I'm going to hire her because the way she spoke was extremely intelligent . The way she lifted was like I wanted and I wanted a trainer who pushed themselves and took their fitness and nutrition seriously .
And after a conversation with her , it was very evident that she did and it just clicked Like there was no other trainer that I had ever been with that I was like , or even seen that . I was like , yes , I want to work with you or I'm interested in learning from you .
She was just so qualified that I felt like , wow , I can't wait to be working with you for 12 weeks and figure out what I can learn just from working with you .
Yeah , that's great . I'm curious about something . So you guys met in the gym and you started talking who did you ask her to train you , or was it the other way around ?
So she came up to me and just asked if I was like a powerlifter , a bikini girl , and we chatted for a little bit and I was like , okay , you know , she's a newer trainer at this gym . I hadn't seen her before , but it was kind of open ended after we chatted and then I told them . I came home , told my husband I was like I'm hiring that girl .
So I went back to the gym actually pretty sure . I approached her in the locker room and I was like how do I sign up for training with you ? I was just like so amped to get started .
So that's great . Yeah , I asked that for a specific reason , because most successful personal trainers build a relationship first and then training comes from that . So it sounds like she didn't do the hard sale , like hey , you really need to train with me if you want to get results .
She just talked to you , you developed a little bit of a relationship and then ultimately , you kind of sold yourself , and I think that that's a really , really important lesson to take out of that for all the trainers that are listening .
For sure , absolutely , because I really don't like to be hard . If she tried to sell me , I would have been like I'm good and it's . At that point in time it kind of takes a personal aspect out of it which it is personal training . It's personal for a reason .
Yeah , absolutely . Well , Stacia , where can people go if they want to find out more about you and all the great work you're doing ?
So I'm very active on my social medias Facebook and Instagram . Instagram is just Stacia period root , so S-T-A-C-I-A period , r-o-o-t . And then Facebook same thing , very responsive to messages . I'd love to chat with you . Like I said , I love talking to people and meeting new people , so would absolutely love to start a conversation .
Awesome . We will link up to those on the show notes page so everyone has access to them .
Before I let you go , I'll end the podcast with you on the question I end every podcast on and I always love to ask this to people with healthcare backgrounds , because you as a group have some of the biggest insights and this is , I consider , the wellness paradox , the trust , interaction and communication gap that exists between fitness professionals and the medical
community . As someone who kind of has one foot in both worlds , if you could give the fitness professionals that are listening one piece of advice as to how to close off that gap , what would it be ?
I would say communicate with the people that you know , that are providers . Start a conversation , find out what they have on their day today or what their day today looks like with patients , because it helps you at least understand what's going on in that world .
Like I said , it's a system problem and I think it needs to be fixed all the way back at the roots , with education way down the road . But those conversations that you have with a doctor , a nurse , a nurse practitioner , even a registered dietitian , that comes into the gym .
That open communication is step one , because open communication leads to maybe more ideas , more referrals for you . If you're , you know they like what they're seeing and they're able to refer some patients over to you .
Awesome Communication indeed . Stacia Root , thank you so much for joining us on the wellness paradox .
Thanks for having me .
Well , I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did . If you found it insightful and informative , please share with your friends and colleagues . Those shares make a big difference to us . Any information we'd like to share with you from today's episode can be found on the show notes page , that's by going to wellnessparadoxpodcom forward slash episode 108 .
Please be on the lookout for our next episode when it drops into weeks , and don't forget to subscribe through your favorite podcast platform . Until we chat again next , please be well .