Find Your Strong Podcast

Christine Chessman & Ela Law
  • 5.0 (2)
  • FITNESS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Encouraging people to find what FEELS good in terms of food, movement and their bodies. Let's challenge the wellness w*nkery and start a new conversation.In each episode, Christine and Ela discuss their thoughts on diet and fitness fads, speak with fabulous guests about finding peace with food and movement, and interview experts so that they can share their insights and knowledge with you, the listeners.  The hope is that together we can change the narrative around fitness and nutrition, and help you find YOUR strong!

  1. 5D AGO

    What If We Stopped Fighting Ageing?

    Send us Fan Mail I recently turned 50 and Ela is hot on my tail, and as such we are thinking more and more about what it means to embrace our bodies as they inevitably change.*  We are swimming in a sea of diet culture which is compounded by anti-aging culture once we hit upwards of 35.  How do we reconcile our fears about our bodies changing, when they are now visibly aging?   What are our options if we want to reject botox, fillers and cosmetic procedures.  Are we destined to become invisible and lose our voice in society?  What does it mean for us to reject anti-aging culture and what are the positives about hitting midlife and finally standing in our power!   Key Takeaways  Midlife can make you question how much of your life has been shaped by worrying about your appearance.  Strength training can change the focus from how your body looks, to what it can actually do.  Amongst the gratitude, there’s grief in ageing, and that's ok. Many women were taught that being smaller, quieter, and less noticeable was somehow safer.  Muscle, balance, and mobility matter a lot more in daily life than looking youthful.  Getting older can bring a kind of relief from constantly thinking about how you look.  A strong body as we age gives you options, independence, and confidence.  Some of the hardest parts of ageing come from how women are treated, not ageing itself.  Midlife can be the first time some women start asking themselves what they actually want.  You don’t have to pretend ageing feels amazing in order to reject anti-ageing culture. *(We also have the wonderful  Deb Benfield, author of Unapologetic Aging on to chat in a couple of weeks time so this topic is very much on our minds.) Support the show Please reach out if you would like some support with your relationship to food OR movement. Ela currently has limited spaces for Intuitive Eating coaching and if you'd like to reconnect with movement, contact Christine.  If you'd like exclusive access to our supporter-only channel click here. We appreciate you

    33 min
  2. Training for Our Old Lady Bodies, with Elizabeth Davies @thiswomanlifts.

    MAY 15

    Training for Our Old Lady Bodies, with Elizabeth Davies @thiswomanlifts.

    Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we sat down with Elizabeth Davies (This Woman Lifts) to explore strength training, ageing, body image, and what it really means for women to feel strong. Together we unpack the lifelong pressure women face to stay small, youthful, and aesthetically “acceptable. The conversation covers everything from postpartum recovery and the fear of “getting bulky” to social media, midlife fitness culture, bone health, and raising the next generation of girls with a healthier relationship to movement. Warm, honest, and evidence-informed, this episode challenges diet culture narratives and reframes fitness around function, capability, and long-term wellbeing. If you’ve ever struggled with the idea that exercise should make your body smaller, this episode is for you. Key Takeaways - How a leaky bladder in an exercise class led Elizabeth to train as a PT and focus on functionality, mobility and strength rather than aesthetic goals - How strength training can become a powerful act of reclaiming space, confidence and physical resilience. - Why it's so important to encourage women of all ages to integrate progressive resistance training into their routine - The key benefits of strength training beyond aesthetics. - Reframing consistency and joyful movement (and what that could look like in YOUR busy life.) Elizabeth has just published her first book called 'Training for your old lady body', which is a wonderful resource for anyone at any age who is interested in a way of training that moves beyond a 6-week-bikini-body-transformation, and invites us to "understand out bodies, make informed decisions and build a long-term, compassionate relationship with movement" You can get in touch with Elizabeth via her website or socials (@thiswomanlifts) We know you will love this conversation - we certainly did! Support the show Please reach out if you would like some support with your relationship to food OR movement. Ela currently has limited spaces for Intuitive Eating coaching and if you'd like to reconnect with movement, contact Christine.  If you'd like exclusive access to our supporter-only channel click here. We appreciate you

    57 min
  3. What Are You Really Training For? Fitness BEYOND Shrinking Your Body.

    MAY 7

    What Are You Really Training For? Fitness BEYOND Shrinking Your Body.

    Send us Fan Mail Why do you move?  Why do you exercise?  There are plenty of reasons, but when we ask people if they'd move in the same way, if movement didn't change how their bodies looked, we often hear a resounding NO.  You have full autonomy but..... While we believe that everyone has full autonomy over their bodies, we also know how beneficial movement and exercise can be for us. We are very passionate about empowering people to feel stronger, fitter, more mobile, just better. And at our stage in life we fully admit that the prospect of fragility in older age makes us want to build muscles, bone mass and mobility now, so that we can stay active and healthy as we get older.  Different Access Points to Movement.... There are different access points for different people based on age, physical capacity, time, financial resource - and whilst training for our old lady bodies (more on that in our next episode!) feels very appropriate for us now, if you are a younger listener you might resonate more with wanting to feel stronger, or improving your mental health. Adding In, Not Taking Away.... Exercise has soooo many benefits, and we want you to find something you enjoy. And whilst one thing is better than no thing, we invite you to feel the difference if you add something new in. For example, if you love Yoga that's great, but how would it feel if you added some cardio or strength training in? Or if you are into high energy workouts, how would it feel to add in some gentle walks in nature? Can You Reframe Your Why? How would it be to reframe your WHY and instead of focussing on exercising solely for weight loss (not effective), toning (just a marketing term), body transformation (short-lived and unsustainable), we moved with the aim of getting stronger, getting empowered, feeling better, being more mobile, having fun? We'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic, so please get in touch if you have any thoughts or questions! Some links we'd love to share with you: Elizabeth Davies, Training for My Old Lady Body : Elizabeth will be on the podcast next week! Steph Gaudreau: Steph specialised in strength for Women 40+. Tommy Brown, Celebrity Wellness Coach ‍♂️Goal‑Oriented Training for. Body • Mind • Spirit @fitness360plus @christinehobson60: 70 year old Christine, redefines aging gracefully. The Honest Channel : Journalist Clare Johnston, on Rebuilding Mum and Dad: My Parents' Strength Journey Support the show Please reach out if you would like some support with your relationship to food OR movement. Ela currently has limited spaces for Intuitive Eating coaching and if you'd like to reconnect with movement, contact Christine.  If you'd like exclusive access to our supporter-only channel click here. We appreciate you

    44 min
  4. Redefining Exercise After Eating Disorder Recovery, with Jenny Langley

    MAY 1

    Redefining Exercise After Eating Disorder Recovery, with Jenny Langley

    Send us Fan Mail What a joy to have Jenny Langley on the podcast.  Since her son recovered from anorexia 20 years ago, Jenny Langley has campaigned to raise awareness of eating disorders and the impact on the whole family, and to provide practical help and support to families affected by eating disorders.   Jenny co-authored the New Maudsley Skills-Based Training Manual and wrote of her family’s experiences in the book Boys Get Anorexia Too.    In this episode, we talked about recovery, empowering parents and carers as well as those struggling and here are some of our key takeaways. What we learn in this episode: The gap between clinical care and real-life recovery is real Recovery isn’t linear—and that includes movement “Starting again” isn’t failure—it’s part of the process Exercise can easily become another way to reassert control if not approached carefully.  A healthy reintroduction to movement might focus on:  Curiosity over performance  Flexibility over rigidity  Internal cues over external metrics  Carers carry more than just practical responsibility For carers listening:  You’re often “on” all the time, even when things look stable  Your wellbeing matters too. “All or nothing” thinking can sneak into exercise in recovery and how to navigate a safe return to movement.Resources for Parents, Friends, Carers: Caroline Toshack Counselling - Caroline has particular expertise in supporting people with a difficult or disordered relationship with food or their body. This includes eating disorders, exercise dependency and body image concerns.  The New Maudsley Approach - A resource for professionals and carers of those with eating disorders Beat - UK Eating Disorder Charity - Beat provide carer groups, free resources, signposting and support Attempt to Flee Famine: Adding an Evolutionary Perspective on Anorexia Nervosa Support the show Please reach out if you would like some support with your relationship to food OR movement. Ela currently has limited spaces for Intuitive Eating coaching and if you'd like to reconnect with movement, contact Christine.  If you'd like exclusive access to our supporter-only channel click here. We appreciate you

    59 min
  5. Is Our Obsession with Tracking Helpful or Harmful?

    APR 23

    Is Our Obsession with Tracking Helpful or Harmful?

    Send us Fan Mail Are you tracking your weight/progress/calories/sleep/exercise/whatever-else-there-is-to-track? We had a feisty conversation about it (always feisty!!), and feel that tracking can be helpful in some situations (e.g. when you are training for a certain goal, when you are recovering from an eating disorder, or when the person tracking is in a good place with food, exercise and their body). BUT: tracking can distract us from trusting our body, listening to our intuition and reduce our ability to feel what we need/want. Having a device or a spreadsheet tell us how long we slept, or how fast we ran, or how many calories are in a chocolate croissant is information.  BUT,  the information may be: - inaccurate - irrelevant - out of context or make us feel - obsessive - anxious and - like we've failed. As intuitive eating and movement coaches we are here to support people in finding their way back to trusting themselves and their bodies, to start listening again to how and what we feel. If a sleep tracker tells you that you had a 'bad night', you may well start the day feeling bad (EVEN if the tracker is wrong, EVEN if you are actually feeling fine). If a calorie tracker app tells you how many calories are in a food, you may not eat it (EVEN if you really fancy it, EVEN if calories are an arbitrary and inaccurate number). If your fitness app tells you that your run was slower today than the last time you ran, you may feel like you are regressing (EVEN if there were very good reasons for running more slowly, EVEN though you did manage to go for a run rather than skip it). On balance, tracking everything from food to weight to exercise is probably less beneficial than we think. It may give us a snapshot of information, but it can't provide a full picture of the context and nuance of the tracked item.  We'd love to hear about your experience with tracking things: do you do it? How does it make you feel? Have you found it helpful or triggering?  Support the show Please reach out if you would like some support with your relationship to food OR movement. Ela currently has limited spaces for Intuitive Eating coaching and if you'd like to reconnect with movement, contact Christine.  If you'd like exclusive access to our supporter-only channel click here. We appreciate you

    40 min
  6. Perfectionism Isn't Who You Are and the Burnout Cycle Isn't Inevitable.

    APR 16

    Perfectionism Isn't Who You Are and the Burnout Cycle Isn't Inevitable.

    Send us Fan Mail Part 2. We could chat to these folks all day.  Tasha* and Brandon are heart-centred coaches who work with recovering perfectionists (Hello!) people struggling with burnout as well as high achieving humans who are navigating complex life circumstances and have lost themselves along the way. In this episode we touch on the following topics: The real definition of burnout and why it is always unique to the individual.What is the first step out of burnout and how do we prevent relapsesWhy Nervous System Regulation is key and how to anchor it onto daily activitiesWhat's the story with vision boards and do they actually work when it comes to realising our goals?How compassionate curiosity is a gamechanger when it comes to our capacity. What do we actually want and need. Listen to the episode and please let us know what you think. *Tasha has just announced here Boldly Becoming You Workshop which is for driven, ambitious business owners and other heart-centred humans with big financial and impact goals, who are done sacrificing their health, their family and their sanity to get there. Details of the Boldly Becoming You Workshop Check out their website for more information and how you can work with them. Support the show Please reach out if you would like some support with your relationship to food OR movement. Ela currently has limited spaces for Intuitive Eating coaching and if you'd like to reconnect with movement, contact Christine.  If you'd like exclusive access to our supporter-only channel click here. We appreciate you

    46 min
  7. Can We Eat Sugar AND Be Healthy?

    MAR 19

    Can We Eat Sugar AND Be Healthy?

    Send us Fan Mail Ela and I were wondering about our topic for this week and a recent episode of Dragon's Den got us thinking about sugar, continuous glucose monitors and the absolute fear we have around "processed sugar". On Dragon's den, the dragons were tasting a new type of oat energy ball and each of them tasted it, agreed how delicious it was and immediately said that because it tasted so good, that meant it must be bad for you.  Steven and Deborah both declined to invest on the premise that the sugar content was too high. So, we thought- let's talk about sugar and do some myth busting around sugar being part of a healthy diet, sugar cravings, keto diets, different types of sugar and why demonise ANY food is damaging to our health. We also talked about habituation, which means facing our fear foods by giving ourselves full permission to eat that food, and what emotions that brings up for many of us. Have a listen and let us know what you think.   Support the show Please reach out if you would like some support with your relationship to food OR movement. Ela currently has limited spaces for Intuitive Eating coaching and if you'd like to reconnect with movement, contact Christine.  If you'd like exclusive access to our supporter-only channel click here. We appreciate you

    41 min

  8. MAR 13

    Shrinking Celebrities, GLP-1s and Why We're Angry!

    Send us Fan Mail Christine and I are angry - we re trying to work out why we are so easily led into obedience when it comes to body image and dieting. Watching people (in particular celebrities) shrink before our very eyes is NOT an invitation to do the same, rather, it should be a cause for concern - it shows that we are still way too focussed on appearances and unattainable 'beauty' standards.  This misdirected focus keeps us under control - we haven't got time to make the world a better place if we are trying so hard to be thinner, less wrinkly, hunt for the latest fashion apparel or follow a mind-boggling supplement regime.  Obediently following these 'trends' might make you feel like you 'fit in', but it takes you away from your authentic self, from taking up space in the world. And thinking of people who struggle with disordered eating and eating disorders - how the hell can they recover in this narrative? The rise of skinny-tok has overshadowed a lot of the fat acceptance and intuitive eating messages, but we are here to keep talking about it! What can we do? Be aware of when things you see online make you feel uncomfortable or bad about yourself. Follow people who call out misinformation (here are some good ones to check out: @michaelulloapt @drjoshuawolrich @priya_tew @prescription_strength_uk @everything_endocrine ).  And get angry with us! (and for some comedic relief, check out @kylacobblercomedy) Much love xx Support the show Please reach out if you would like some support with your relationship to food OR movement. Ela currently has limited spaces for Intuitive Eating coaching and if you'd like to reconnect with movement, contact Christine.  If you'd like exclusive access to our supporter-only channel click here. We appreciate you

    38 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Encouraging people to find what FEELS good in terms of food, movement and their bodies. Let's challenge the wellness w*nkery and start a new conversation.In each episode, Christine and Ela discuss their thoughts on diet and fitness fads, speak with fabulous guests about finding peace with food and movement, and interview experts so that they can share their insights and knowledge with you, the listeners.  The hope is that together we can change the narrative around fitness and nutrition, and help you find YOUR strong!

Information

  • Creator
    Christine Chessman & Ela Law
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    108
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Find Your Strong Podcast
  • Show Website
    Find Your Strong Podcast

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