Interview with Lisa Perry of Shore Bells

We were lucky enough to have two conversations with fitness coach, Lisa Perry of Shore Bells. This podcast is our second conversation. Getting to know her, we spoke the same health-focused language, and because we are all coaches, we connected over our philosophies and our identities. She is so passionate about what she does and this comes through in our conversations. Just by listening, we're sure you're going to be inspired to up your health game. Here's the transcript. Edited for clarity. Debbie We're interviewing today, someone I've known for a really long time, Lisa Perry of Shore Bells. We're so happy to have you here, Lisa. And she's had such a great story that we talked with her about last week. And we were like, we have to get her on the podcast, because she's got a story our listeners have to hear. We are so happy to have you here and let our listeners hear all about you and what's going on and your business and how you can help others. Lisa 00:26 Thank you for inviting me on, it's very exciting to talk about this stuff, I'm very jazzed about it. Debbie 00:31 So, what's fascinating about your story, is the fact that you were conforming, for the first half of your life, you were conforming, doing what you thought other people wanted you to do what you think you should do. And then you broke out of that, and started doing what you wanted to do, and found out that what you were doing and what you wanted to do, you were actually really good at. And now you've kind of taken it on and inspiring others through their own transformations. Wendy 01:02 One of the things that really sparked my interest in our conversation last week was this idea that you had an inner athlete that you had never really tapped into. And you found that and it really lit you up. And I think most of us in the second half of our life are, especially in transition, whatever that transition might be, you know, empty nesters, divorce, retirement, moving--any of those things, we're trying to find what lights us up. Lisa 01:38 In this process from the old me of doing what was maybe expected, I thought was expected, of me as a woman or whatever, versus doing what I wanted to do. Along with that, and kind of in the same arc was me kind of not liking my body, feeling like I never could be the ideal physique, or whatever it is, body weight, body type, this thing, and kind of being unhappy with what I was doing gave me license to just be okay with being happy with my body. I didn't like my body. I felt very uncomfortable. I just always felt very misplaced, and just generally disconnected. And as I began to explore things my body could do. So, the transition from old to new, had a section in the middle where I was kind of exploring, and I got into yoga a little bit. That made me be like, “Oh, my body can do cool things. Like, maybe I don't hate it so much, maybe my body is okay. And you know, maybe what these other people think about my body or what I think it should be like, maybe I don't need to listen to that. And just see my body can do.” And it gave me more confidence. And then, you know, by the time I finally started strength training, as an extension of trying to chase this physique ideal, right? I had had the baby, I breastfed, and then I gained some weight. And, you know, just wasn't feeling good about myself in many ways. And I wasn't liking my career. And it was like, I hit that point where I think a lot of people get to, in their 40s, or whatever your middle age, where they're like, you know, “something's gotta give.” I don't know what that something was. But in the transition to chasing this weight loss goal, which became something I don't even care about anymore, so much. It was more like the body type. I discovered that, “Oh, I'm good at strength training,” and “oh, maybe I don't hate my body.” And, “oh, hey, my body can do all this cool stuff.” So it was like, I not only liberated myself from a career path I didn't like, but also just from kind of I transitions from, you know, the extension of that unhappiness was like unhappiness with my body. And then I was able to transition to where I was like, “wow, I love and respect my body, and my body kicks ass. And hey, I want to kick more ass with this body.” And, what, if it doesn't look like what Instagram, or this magazine, or whatever, says it should look like. Screw those things, because it's strong and can do a lot of stuff. And it's carrying me through life. And you know, I'm loving my life now. I took all this time, and here I am, like, I'm loving my life. So, I think learning to find something about your body. I think for us, we grew up in the age of Jordash jeans and whatnot came out when we, for me, late in elementary school. And it was kind of like, you know, I really never experienced as a kid, like any kind of joy in my own body. And that wasn't something I even thought was even possible. I was happy hating myself, I guess, because I didn't know any better. And so, to have transitions now, through strength training, to loving my body… And you know, are there things about it that I wish were different? Yeah, of course. But I'm not miserable over it now. Because now I'm like, you know what,I can go rip 350 pounds off the ground, doing a deadlift. So do I care that I have a stretch mark? No, I don't care. You know, what's funny is, this is kind of interesting. I was laughing about this. It's like, I finally got a physique where I can wear a two piece bathing suit and feel like, “Yeah, I'm rocking it.” But now I have stretch marks and saggy skin! It’s cool. I still wear it. Wendy 05:54 You have a wonderful story about making this transition in your life. And the word that I love and resonate so much is that you feel strong, not necessarily only in your body, but also in your conviction in your thinking and in what you can offer other people. And so you found some comfort with your own personal body. And now you can share that comfort or that transition, those ideas with other women. Debbie 06:27 So if you would just give a quick summary of your before life, so people have context about what was going on, to shift you into this, this new, beautiful place. Lisa 06:38 So, you know, just in a nutshell, I was raised in an environment where there were very gender specific ideals that sort of precluded me from exploring areas of myself, both interests, and physically, for a very long time. It really kind of just closed some doors there for me, that I didn't realize were closed. And I didn't realize you know what that meant, right? And it was many, many, many years later that I was able to shed those restrictions, almost like chains upon me. Women shouldn't do, you know, X, Y, Z, to where I had come on my own and had achieved enough success in a career path to kind of feel emboldened to explore a little bit more, and start to cast aside or put less weight into some of these, ideals. And I think we are, as a society, beginning to look differently at them. But you know, 20-30 years ago, when we grew up, women really were, they are allowed to do certain things and not allowed to do other things. So here I am. I reached the middle part of life, having no idea that inside of me was an athlete. I mean, I just never did anything athletic at all, and was discouraged from doing so. Even though in my mind at the time, there were things I wanted to do, but I just kind of was like, oh, okay, like, I'm a girl, I can't do that, I guess, boohoo, on to the next thing. So now, it's like, I opened the floodgates. I went to a gym and got introduced to weight training, you know, very beginner level stuff. And the coach I worked with saw in me, whoa, this woman is strong. Hey, you need to compete. And I was like, compete in what!? I thought, you’re crazy, guy! I thought this guy had rocks in his head! Like, you know, I'm an old lady. And I'm overweight and all these things. So, none of those added up in my head to athlete, right? So, by the grace of God, this coach, really, he did what coaches do, which is they almost see the future you. Yeah, and they help you find that. And they help to shorten the path from point A to point B. And he saw this athlete in me, and encouraged me to find that athlete, and express that athletic ability. And I'm so grateful because it was life changing. You know, I went from being timid. And I knew that I kind of kicked butt at certain things, but in my body, and in the expression of myself physically, I was still kind of repressed, and this opened the door for me to feel strong in my body and wanting to use my body to do cool things and keep challenging that. And that really transformed my mindset into believing in things that I never thought possible or even available to me, accessible to me to believing really that the sky was the limit. And to kind of embody the Limitless Mindset, which was something--I always felt very limited. So this was like, a 180 for me. Like, holy crap, I can do anything I want! I really believe I can. So, what if I'm in my late 40s? And I never did this before? Who cares? Keeping up with these young people. And that was just so empowering. And through that, I lost a lot of weight and my health improved--all of my biomarkers and all that, everything improved. And I had a big WHY to keep doing it for health, to be around for my family as long as I can, to live independently as long as I can--all these things. So, you have every reason why to keep going. And then it became like, I wanted to just see what I could do. Like, I was like, let's try the next thing. Let's make a new goal and chase that. It's like very exciting. So, to your point about coaching and helping others, yeah, like this coach helped me. And now, I have become a coach, and I'm helping other people. And you know, for once in my life, finally, like it took all these years into my 50s. I'm doing what I love to do physically and personally,...