Faith and Fitness: Building Strength Inside and Out

0:00 If we want to grow in our faith, if we want our spiritual muscles to grow, if we want our physical muscles to grow, we have to challenge them. Welcome to the iRefresh podcast where every conversation points to the life-changing power of God's living word. Let's pursue God together one conversation at a time. Welcome to another episode. With me is Deb Kite. Thank you for coming. Thank you so much for having me on again. I really appreciate it. Okay, we are all about health and fitness. Yes. Since we are ORU alumni and now we're both working on master's, We all have a journey about health.

0:42 And at my age, we're over the 60, I'll admit it. I'm more mindful of it because you can't cheat to where you know it right away. No. And so you and I have gotten to know each other because my doctor recommended to go to Red Light Method and to help with part of my journey. I'm all about as holistic as you can since my mother... I refresh it actually birthed out of the inspiration of my mother who went through a lot of her own health journeys. Oh wow. So what I wanted us to do is talk to us about health in Jesus and how do you integrate being a good steward of this body of ours?

1:23 Yes. Oh my goodness. Faith and fitness. That is my passion. That is my calling. That is everything I'm all about. We may be here for three hours today. um so yes so i manage red light method where you come in yes to receive medical grade red light therapy we have amazing cutting-edge biohacking technology for health and wellness so it's not just like um your stereotypical gym it's it's all about holistic wellness from the inside out but for me Fitness is the same as ministry.

2:06 So I have a belief that I speak about a lot that as believers, we should be the healthiest, strongest, most vibrant people on earth. I agree. We should be shining inside and outside. And we are not. And from my own philosophy, I see the bride of Christ, which is believers. And at the moment, I see her in a 2XL wedding dress with a donut in one hand and a chicken leg in the other. And that's got to change. But, you know, I was trained after church.

2:48 which was not a good example for all the waiters that worked on when we would go. You go and you eat pie and coffee after church, which was totally not helping our health journey. So we have to rewrite that story, which I have, but yes. So what does that journey look like? And how do we get from the point of really lethargic and unhealthy? move and actually move. Yes. But then we need to find ways that are healthy for each individual. Because it's not always the same, I don't think, for everyone. Correct.

3:28 Yes, yes. And first thing that we need to remember is that we are a three-part being. We are soul, spirit, and body. All three are connected. They all work together. We cannot focus on just one area and expect the rest of the areas to... to be okay it it doesn't work that way yes our spiritual health our relationship with god our relationship with jesus is number one that is the eternal part of us when we are believers we are seated in heavenly places with christ While we're here on earth, we need to discipline and work on our bodies so that our bodies reflect that as well.

4:08 And that's not out of vanity. That's out of being able to do the best we can for the Lord while we're here on this earth. He's given each one of us a purpose, a plan, what I like to call an orb, right? a golden orb that he's placed on the inside of each one of us to live out while we're here on earth. And we cannot do that to the full potential if our bodies are lacking. And so I think it's also a point of where there is no vision, the people perish. and people perish for lack of knowledge.

4:51 And I think for me as a fitness trainer, as someone that's in health and wellness, I'm going to grad school for sports management. I take it very seriously. It's a burden and a thing for me to steward, to educate the body of Christ on how to take care of our temples, how to be healthy. So how would we do that? If you're, we're gonna talk about the novice, a beginning, like where do you begin with someone who does not like exercise? Where would you encourage them to start moving? Where I would begin is I would say, look at what you're eating. We all need to be eating things from the earth.

5:34 If it's made in a factory, if it has ingredients that you cannot pronounce, you have no idea what they are, then you don't need to be consuming it. And so I always encourage people, you know, people will come to me and they say, well, what about this diet or what about this supplement? And my answer is always go back to what God created. Go back to eating the things that God gave us to eat on this earth. the where things are connected like a walnut for example a walnut is full of omega-3 fatty acids which is great for your brain what does it look like a walnut looks like a little brain and so god gave us little winks like that all throughout the earth all in the areas where we live for us to know what is good for us to eat so always go back to eating the things that god made That includes drinking lots of water, lots of water, and then movement.

6:37 Movement is huge. Even if the only movement that you can do is just walking around, at least get the walking in. Those are the main things that I encourage people to start that have no history of being in the gym. They don't have any history of being athletic. Start with those basic things and also encouraging them that this is a marathon. It's not a sprint. It's a lifestyle process. So I think if you're used to what really you're saying is processed food. Most things are in a box, processed.

7:18 Yes. And, you know, it's funny. When I went on a gluten-free journey with my family, it really was difficult going to the grocery store. I kind of had an attitude. This was, I don't know, about a decade ago where reading the labels was so exhaustive and tiring that, And having to put my glasses on to read all the details to find the wheat. But then, like you said, there's things you cannot pronounce. And that's a good indicator. If you can't pronounce it, there might be something wrong with whatever that is. But even at that, even when you have things that are in a grocery store that are supposedly in the healthy area or gluten-free, does not necessarily equal healthy.

7:58 and i know my husband always try to help out where uh... we've got into different grocery stores and get certain things i'm like okay we don't need all of this even though it says gluten-free uh... because you're right is going back to the fruits and vegetables which i started gardening a few years ago and uh... i've enjoyed just that outlet. I enjoy being out there in nature and stuff, but I also realize the value of it because I know what's being sprayed or not sprayed on it now, right? Yes. So even if you go in the store, you have to be careful with the pesticides that may be on those fruits and vegetables and how we can use vinegar and basic things that the Lord's given us to clean off that to still make it healthy for us, right?

8:40 Yes, most definitely. We have to be vigilant, especially in this day and age with where the food comes from. Right. And it's wonderful that you're able to grow things yourself. You know exactly, you know, from the ground to the table what's going on with it. And that is one of those things we have to pay attention to these days. Um, and then as far as, um, other things, fitness wise, um, I always encourage resistance training, strength training, weightlifting. You know, if we, if we look at it from a biblical perspective, back in Jesus's day, people were not sitting around on a couch watching TV or playing on a phone.

9:25 They were out gardening. They were raising animals. They were having labor, physical labor. They were having to walk wherever they went for the most part. And we need to get back to that natural movement. We need to get back to lifting things and moving things. Our bodies were created for that type of life. We were not created to. sit for eight hours a day and to scroll on a phone and for our nervous systems to be so overwhelmed with so many busy things and strength.

10:06 So tell me, even with that, someone's life is busy. One is we can stop scrolling, and that will take care of probably at least 15, 20, 30 minutes or more where we could be moving. So for someone who maybe has a tight budget and they can't go get a membership at a gym or like where we're going because there's Pilates at the red light method, What are some even options, even in your home, or that would be even besides a gym that they could even be doing to help them with their fitness? Sure. Our bodies are the greatest tool for resistance training that we have. Just standing up in your living room doing squats.

10:50 Going up against the wall to do push-ups. If you're not able to get down on the floor and do regular push-ups, you can do them against the counter or against the wall in your home. Do arm circles with your arms. Walk around your house. Walk around your yard. I have a lady that was working for us at Red Light Method, and she has an amazing weight loss testimony. of losing i think it was around 150 pounds and all she did was just started walking she started walking around her house just up and down up and down the hallway around the living room around the kitchen and when she was out and about she would walk outside but she told me stories about how to get her 10 000 steps in a day which is recommended amount of steps for general good health and weight loss She would walk up and down her hall and her kids would make fun of her as she walked up and down the hall.

11:44 But she is in so much better health now just from having the discipline to do that. And it's not rocket science whatsoever. You don't have to pay for that hundred dollar a month. gym membership you can do natural things and if you will partner with the lord in that and ask the holy spirit for help he will most definitely lead you guide you in those practical things and convict you when you need to get it done that's good and then you also talked about weight-bearing exercise and what do you mean by that Yes. So the body weight exercise is weight bearing, but also adding in what I would call moderate to heavy strength training is super important, especially for women that are over 40.

12:36 Heavy strength training is the fountain of youth. Because not only does it strengthen your bones, it helps increase bone density, but it's going to get you that body that you want. So I've been a personal trainer for over 10 years. I used to own my own gym. It's called Empower Fitness Faith in Claremore. And I focused on personal training with women. And a lot of them would come to me and be like, well, you know, I'm just gonna eat, you know, a thousand and fifteen hundred calories a day. And I don't want to lift heavy. I just want to get toned. That's the big word. I just want to get toned. And if what you want to achieve the way that you're gonna get there is lifting like a man is lifting heavy weights and also fueling your body with good nutrient-dense calories, making sure you get enough protein.

13:35 And so I would have these women come out of starvation mode because they were putting their bodies in starvation mode. and get them to lift heavy weights. And I have a few members at Red Light Method that used to be my personal training clients. And you can pick them out in the gym because they're the ones that are grabbing the 15-pound dumbbells, the 20-pound dumbbells, and they are grunting and huffing on the power plate doing the things that I taught them to do because they saw their bodies change. And it's... If we want to see our muscles grow, and this applies spiritually as well, if we want to grow in our faith, if we want our spiritual muscles to grow, if we want our physical muscles to grow, we have to challenge them.

14:29 We can't just be status quo. With our weights of life or our weights in the gym, we cannot be just status quo. We need to be overloading our muscles. We need to be pushing ourselves. And that's going to get us the healthy body, healthy mind, and the healthy spirit that we want. So how do you engage someone to be consistent? Like, because it's like they always say 21 days to create a pattern. What do you do with someone who's just not used to that spirit soul body and how it does? I mean, I've learned the longer I aged is it really does have an effect, right?

15:10 If there's something emotionally upsetting to me. I actually will go and I make sure I work out because it helps to release some, I feel like, toxins in my system. I don't know if that's the case, but it just feels like it's a good stress reliever. So I don't unleash out of just what I'm walking through is, I feel like the physical releasing, even manual labor, helps me to process and release what's going on in me emotionally. Yes, yes. And, you know, there are some people out there that are self starters that can just, you know, take, take on a program and do it themselves without having accountability. But that's, you know, where we come in as personal trainers, because most people can't do that.

15:56 Most people need that accountability, someone texting them or calling them, seeing them in person saying, Hey, You know, did you do this? Did you do that? This is what we're going to do today. We're going to, we're going to push you today. And it's, that's what I love about personal training is I love being accountable to people, being a professional butt kicker kind of thing. I love it. Yes. And then, and just pushing them and encouraging them. And again, if you will also partner with the Holy Spirit in that, he's going to push you too. He's going to convict your heart and move you to do those things.

16:38 But, you know, having a having a gym buddy, you know, you don't have to have a personal trainer. Have a gym buddy. Have somebody that you can go with or, you know, a friend or a spouse that at least is telling you, hey, did you get your gym time in today? How are you feeling today? And, you know, just having a support system of somebody to at least talk to about it. if not somebody that can put a program together for you. Um, and now to speak to the stress relief part of it, that is a thing because we know that exercise, um, especially the heavy weightlifting releases those feel good hormones in our body.

17:19 It brings focus to the mind for women over 40. It helps balance our hormones so that we can think clear and have more focus. And it just, it, it brings. you know, we're lifting heavy weights, but it also lifts weights off of our shoulders at the same time. It's good. And then I think, you know, you make a good point because I do have a trainer and I think sometimes they need to, he needs to be harder on me because I need to change it up. Because I notice sometimes it's I'm I've heard like your body has memory. If you end up doing the same thing and you don't challenge yourself, I feel like you don't make a result. You don't have results as much as you could. Like I am like you need to change up the The way you lift really heavy or long reps, I'm not sure what that does.

18:05 But I can tell my body sometimes gets too prone to I need to change it, do something a little bit different to feel like I'm still doing something effective for my body. Sure. So what do you think? I don't know. What I do with my clients is we have about, I would say, maybe 15, maybe 20 different exercises that I just stay with. Okay. increasing their weight. Okay. And, and I will advise people that are working out. I will say, okay, when you're lifting, it needs to start getting tough at about rep number eight, number nine. If you're going, let's say you're going for 12 reps on something and 10 to 12 reps is where hypertrophy happens, which is where our muscles start changing at the cellular level.

18:54 And that's where we're going to see the muscle growth and gain. And so I always encourage people stay within that hypertrophy range. And when it starts, it needs to start getting real tough around eight or nine. Now, not so tough that you break your form and you're recruiting other muscle groups, like you're recruiting your legs in order to do a bicep curl. We don't want that. I've seen the cheating in the gym. so they can look like they're really, you know, people heavy weight lifting. I'm like, you're not, you're like cheating. You're like, you're using half your body to let, you know, to do a curl. I'm like, that's not like legitimately that curl, you know, by that one arm. That's no way. Right. We have to have good form. And so what we want it to get heavy with good form around rep eight or nine.

19:37 And then when it starts getting easier, then we need to add some more weights. We need to grab those heavier dumbbells. And I'm notorious for swapping people's dumbbells out. Like if I see somebody that's doing 20, 25 curls and they've got five pound weights, I will walk up to them and I will say, excuse me, may I have those? Take those five pound weights, hand them eights or tens. Now you may continue doing what you're doing because you need to be challenging yourself. You're not going to get anywhere if you're not challenging yourself. That's really good. That's so important. And it does, the spirit, soul, and body, it does affect when one part is doing better. It helps. We have to bring everything into alignment to where we're healthy in every aspect of our life.

20:22 When one thing kind of starts to falter, you can tell we need to put more effort into whatever it is, the physical or even like what the food we're bringing into our bodies or the lack of water, I've noticed for myself, is I need to drink more water. And as you grow older, you'll realize as the older people, like we just do not drink enough water. And I'm like, okay. Sometimes you have to – I've done it where I put a number on the top of a bottle cap so I can actually see like, oh, okay. I don't drink as much as I say I do, you know? So I think just learning what we're truly doing and having, like you said, I think a buddy to help us. I loved, I used to go walking with friends and boy, it's amazing how you can do three miles really fast when you're talking with a friend.

21:07 And those are great times that you can have to enjoy exercising the body. And also I think emotionally it does great things for us too. Oh yes, most definitely. There is a book and a research project called The Blue Zones. Okay. And it is about five different areas of the world, I believe it's five, where more people live to a hundred or over. In those countries. And there was a study done to see, okay, so what's going on with life? Why are these people living this long? And one of the biggest things was community. I mean, exercise was huge and it was not exercise in a gym.

21:50 It was daily movement. It was walking upstairs. It was having to walk across a farm. It was gardening, those types of things. And those things that we see in biblical lifestyle, it was those things. And it was also those foods that we find in the Bible as well that they were eating. But community was huge. And, you know, if we do things in community... we're going to feel loved, we're going to feel supported, and that's going to just propel us forward into doing more of those healthy things. And back to the food point, you know, if we are filling our bodies with processed foods and junk, You know, just because it's at church doesn't mean it's healthy.

22:39 If we're filling our bodies with those things, we're gonna have brain fog. We're gonna have health disruptions. We're not gonna be able to do what God has called us to do as well as we could. And I think for believers, I think that's probably the number one thing we need to be looking at because we are all called to a mission on this earth and we should feel convicted if we cannot if we cannot do that mission to full potential and we know that we're doing things that are hindering that then i mean that's sin if we're hindering god's plan from happening then we need to make changes and we need to let the holy spirit convict us on that and show us and teach us what we can do to do doesn't mean the hundred dollar gym membership doesn't mean we all look like professional athletes and bodybuilders it just means we start moving in that direction of being healthier drink a little bit more water eat an apple instead of a donut there you go It's the little things that really build up.

23:47 And I think you're right because even my sons were talking about, Mom, you're not doing enough protein. Because I'm like, I kept on eating less and less. And I'm like, I'm starving and nothing's happening. And then I realized, oh, yeah, I need to do a lot more protein. And then it helped my appetite anyway because I was eating more of the protein. I'm like, okay, good protein is important as well. Yes. I think there's always that learning experience. I love learning from one another and it's been great with you too. And I think the community that we have found at Red Light is fun is celebrating each other. And I think that's the great goal too is how can we celebrate each other's achievements that we're showing up or like if someone's not showing up. Are we connecting with them? Like Deb realized that I hadn't showed up the other morning.

24:29 I was late and I was so tired. I was behind and she was making sure I showed up to do what I needed to do. So I love that that community, I saw the value there and even in our churches is connecting even if you're not in a church. Why aren't you at help yourself? Even if you walk through a hurt in a church, the enemy just wants you to stay out of the church. But there are some incredible Bible based speaking churches that you can get connected with a community. Just like Deb's talked about hers. I actually attend a couple churches. I love the community I have in both of them and I have the space and time to do that.

25:11 But it's the value you have. And connecting with people, it helps you to thrive in all aspects of our life. It's so good. So Deb, what are some key points that you would like to have people take away on that journey of health in all aspects of our life? On health and fitness, number one reason why it's important, we are a three-part being, spirit, soul, and body. Everything's got to be healthy. We can't be off in one area because it will make all the other areas off as well. Number two, it's not difficult to start. Start with water, start with healthy food, nutrient-dense food from the earth.

25:55 Stay away from things that are made in factories. And also, just take a small step at a time. Don't think that you have to change everything overnight. Take one thing. Maybe one week you just stop drinking soda. Or maybe you just take it to one soda a day instead of eight. Take baby steps and celebrate those baby steps that you are able to accomplish and then movement Get movement and even if that is just walking even if it's standing up between podcast episodes or between television episodes and doing a few squats or push-ups against the wall start somewhere just getting more movement in and then something else i would like to say is be grateful be grateful an attitude of thankfulness and gratefulness goes a long way to help us psychologically physically all the way around so eat good drink water move be grateful i love it that that's so good and How can they connect with you?

27:06 Because you have so many things you do. I think you even talked about you do things remotely for some people as well, like for training and people need your input. How could they connect with you? They can connect with me on Facebook. They can connect with me on Instagram. They can always connect with me at Red Light Method. You can just Google Red Light Method South Tulsa, find our address and phone number, and I'd be happy to connect with you there. Okay. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. You're welcome. If this episode encouraged you, don't let it end here. Open your Bible, seek God's heart, and discover the life-changing power of His promises for yourself.

27:47 Until next time, keep pursuing the God who changes everything.