Redefining Health and Wellness After Surgery with Liz Rodriguez

When Not Yet Becomes Right Now (00:00)
Welcome to When Not Yet Becomes Right Now, the podcast where we dive deep into the moments of transformation, the times when not yet shifts into right now and everything changes. I'm your host, Jen Ginty and this podcast is all about those pivotal moments in our life journeys. You know the ones, when the hesitation fades, when we take that first step, even if it feels like a leap. It's in these moments that growth and healing begins. Each episode will explore stories of resilience,

moments of clarity, and the sparks that ignite real change. From personal experiences to expert insights, we'll uncover how people navigate the complex journey we call life and come out stronger on the other side. Whether you're searching for that spark in your own life or just curious about how change unfolds for others, you're in the right place. We'll discuss the ups and downs, the breakthroughs and setbacks, and how to embrace the right now, even when it feels out of reach. Because sometimes,

The hardest part of the journey is realizing that the moment you've been waiting for has already arrived. So take a deep breath, settle in, and let's get started.

Jen (01:10)
Hello and welcome to When Not Yet Becomes Right Now. Today I have a wonderful guest on our show, Liz Rodriguez. And Liz is a certified health and wellness coach with a background in fitness, strength training and nutrition. With nearly five years in coaching and over 16 years in the fitness industry, she helps high achieving women in their 40s reclaim their health and build sustainable wellness habits without the extremes of dieting or punishing workouts.

Her own journey took a major turn when she underwent back surgery, forcing her to completely rethink what strength, movement, and true wellness meant. That experience reshaped not just her personal approach, but also how she coaches her clients, focusing on long-term health, mobility, and mindset shifts rather than quick fixes. Through her coaching, writing, and workshops, she empowers women to stop starting over and start building a wellness routine that actually works for their lives.

She shares insights on her sub stack, social media and YouTube, and has been featured on multiple podcasts discussing the intersection of fitness, resilience and redefining health on your own terms. Hey Liz, welcome. Welcome, welcome. So happy you're on the podcast.

Liz Rodriguez (02:21)
Hey, how's it going?

Yeah, thanks for having me. I think this is going to be a great conversation.

Jen (02:30)
Absolutely, let's get into it. What is your origin story?

Liz Rodriguez (02:34)
Yeah. So, and it's funny because when we talked offline, I feel like everyone has multiple origin stories, right? But I think really the one that's been the most impactful has been my pathway to back surgery and just to kind of cue it up a little bit. You know, I have been one of those people, I've always been an athlete. I competed in high school and college for long distance running. So I'm one of those crazy 5 and 10 K runners. done some marathons, all that good stuff. And so

You know, I think what had started to happen in all of my former athletes out there, it happens to all of us where you stop competing and then you pretend like you're going to keep, you know, sort of competing in your own life in terms of workouts and everything and stuff. And really by my early thirties, I was struggling with chronic pain all the time. And a situation happened where I was lifting heavy and I actually almost blew my back out.

And fast forward, took about five years before I was sitting in a surgeon's office, then them saying, yeah, we're gonna get you on the table in about two weeks. And really, you know, I think the biggest part of the origin story that was impactful for me was I was not prepared. I was prepared to move across the country and like get a job and things like that. You know, I was prepared to start a career over again and start my own business, but I was not prepared to.

have to redefine what fitness meant to me and it was so ingrained in who I was that it was a very long road after that to really figure out like, so who am I going to be after this? Like how am I going to be a fitness manager still? How am I going to be a trainer and a coach? And how am I still going to be a leader? Because anyone that's worked in the fitness industry, it's a wonderful industry, it's amazing and so it's growing and changing but

There's a lot of stereotypes that are still there and what happens when I don't fit the mold of being a strong, independent female that's in a management role. What if I don't cut it anymore? So that's really, you know, for me where I had to completely change a lot of things in my life from that point on.

Jen (04:53)
I think we have similar stories in the back surgery world. I know we were talking before and I had slipped my L5S1, I believe is the, yeah. And it was insane. The pain was absolutely incredibly insane. And they were like, yep, we got to get you on the table, just like you said. And it's a mind blower because, right? Because...

We're in, we don't choose the times that we have to do these kind of things. They happen to us. So in itself can be such a trauma.

Liz Rodriguez (05:27)
and

Yeah. And specifically, you know, not to get, we could go a lot of different directions about this, but when you have lower back pain and trauma, there's so much that sits in that area. like, like both from a psychological standpoint and literally just from a physical standpoint, it's with you all the time. It follows you like, I got to be in a car ride for how long? Or like, you want me to sit for how long? And like, all of a sudden you have to start, you don't realize you're doing this.

Jen (05:57)
Mm-hmm.

Liz Rodriguez (06:04)
And I had forgotten when we talked offline. We are twins. We had the same surgery, same spot. I was just lucky enough that I only had to have it done once and you had to have it done twice, which they stressed to me like don't move for three months. But yeah, like it's such a mind thing. And I realized also, I think it was the first time that opening up about

Jen (06:07)
Yes, yep.

Liz Rodriguez (06:26)
the psychological trauma that goes with it. remember being on the table over those years when things were happening and just having someone have their hand over my lower back and I was having a panic attack. There's something there. Like, and it's almost like, was this supposed to happen? Like, why did my back break and somebody else and all these fricking people that I'm seeing at the gym that do all this dumb shit and nothing happened to them? Why did it happen to me? Right?

Jen (06:53)
Yeah,

yeah, I also was really into running and working out. I had lost 70 pounds after I had my second child. And it was really a mind blow. It was for my mental health because I became this athletic person. And throughout my whole life, I never really was.

and to just have it blown up on me like I'm enjoying this. I'm having a great time making my health a priority. And then for it all to get cut down, it was a lot.

Liz Rodriguez (07:33)
Yeah, we kind of have like the two parts of the story that goes with it. Cause I talk about this a lot in the different writing of, you know, and that's really when I've started to lean more into really kind of what you could say specialize in working with former athletes because our mindset is so different. And I, sometimes I felt like I wasn't connecting with people that have never really been in that realm where all of a sudden, like we're never going to be what we once were.

And then anyway, and then all of us wind up with major injuries. Like every single person I know that was a college athlete has either been through surgery and or already has arthritis. And then we throw in that now we're getting into our forties and everything goes haywire anyways. And you're so it's almost like it's compounding. Like you, you know, obviously we're very similar ages. I haven't had kids, but you have. it's like, you're trying to take care of the kids and you're trying to figure out, what am I going to do to take care of myself now? And then,

My body already feels like shit, what the fuck? Like what's happening?

Jen (08:29)
Mm-hmm, exactly.

And there's that fear that you are never going to get back to where you were. And that fear can be real. It can happen. But I think we get in our heads way too much about it. Can you talk a little bit about the mindset?

Liz Rodriguez (08:41)
Totally.

Yeah, yeah. And I think, God, you so hit it on the head of like, what if I don't get back to where I was? But we never are. And I think that we fool ourselves so much in thinking that life is going to be this certain way forever. And it never is. Yet we don't prepare ourselves for it, right? Especially, I mean, we're talking about people in the US, like we don't talk about death enough. Like we don't like to think about those things. We get very uncomfortable. So it's the...

studying a lot of stoicism. It's like, hey, you know, we'll talk about death on a different podcast episode, but I think that we just are not prepared for change, which is ironic because I'm going to venture a guess like with how much we've connected and listening to a couple of your podcasts. In some ways we're so good with change. Like, okay, running your own business and like you're starting a podcast and like I started a YouTube channel. Like we're so good with that, yet in other areas of our lives, why are we so

bad with change. And I think when it came to it where I had to kind of, and I think so much of it has to do with ego and other people. Even as I started to fade away, I wasn't doing as much running as I was for a while because I was running 60 miles a week in college. And then after that I was running like 30 and then it was like, now I do like 10 to 12, you know, a week and it's slow.

But I embrace that to say, but this is what I need right now. This is what the 42 year old body needs. She's got to recover more and she's got to run a little bit slower. you know, her lifting is going to be this, but it's, don't know why we don't grasp that, especially those of us that have a mindset of like, we were former athletes, but we're still athletes. We're just athletes in a different way.

Jen (10:36)
Yeah. So what happened directly after your surgery? How was the healing process for you?

Liz Rodriguez (10:45)
Yeah, so it was crazy and I don't know if you had this experience or not. So I had a microdyssectomy and for those of you out there, if you're not familiar, it basically means that they just go in, they actually drill a little hole, they snip out a piece of your disc that is sticking out. Mine was severely pushing on my sciatic nerve causing me to become crazy. So once they did that and sewed me up, you leave the same day. And I think what was so

crazy when I remember getting up and walking around, I felt like I had lost like 30 pounds in my legs. And so at first it was like this euphoria, like, well, everything's fixed, you know, like they fixed the problem and like everything's going to be good. And that was about the first couple months. And then it was like 90 days hit and Liz was back, you know, like, okay, so I can do machines and I can do this. And that led to

know, a week after that, I remember walking around and I was teaching a class and I felt something and I had like a heart attack. And I remember calling my client, who was a physical therapist? And she was like, girl, you, you're not done recovering just because you're past 90 days. So it was like, I took the whole 90 days off and then I went right back into the same mindset. Like nothing had changed.

you know, lots of details here, but really over the course of the next two years, because it took about 18 months to recover, it was me really saying, you got to back up and you got to slow down because your body is saying, no, I don't want to do that. You know, I would do little tiny things and then my back would go out in a different way. But I was still in, and then I was, then I was in more pain and it was so, it was such a, it was so crazy and I didn't know, I just,

I didn't have the resources to really figure out like what was going on like up here, like in my brain. I had people around me in terms of that were helping me. Shout out if you know anything about muscle activation, it's why I'm still sitting here and I'm alive today. So those people really helped me. But I think from more of the psychological standpoint, I just didn't have the right tools. And I just wanted to keep saying like, well, I just have to recover and then I can go back to.

And, you know, and so we wind everything. Uh, this happened back in 2019. So, or 2018. So when I hit my 18 month mark, COVID happened and I was in New York. So I wound up being on furlough for about six months, um, from the company that I was working at. And that was really when it was like, Whoa, I better just start doing core and mobility every day. And that, you know, it's, was a blessing in disguise because not everyone gets this time.

It allowed me the space and opportunity to say, what do I want to do next with my life? And then maybe I need to spend some more time on this recovery because I keep trying to put myself in a box to say, but Liz did all this. So like her recovery is going to be different kind of thing. And it was, I needed some things to happen to say, you got to slow down and then you have to know that you don't.

know what the trajectory is going to be. That's a big thing in general with health and wellness with women. I think we tend to be a little harder on ourselves than men where we think, if we do this, it's going to be this nice exponential thing. If I eat this food and I do this, then I'm going to lose this weight in a certain amount of time. And it's just not how it works. And it opened me up and in the midst, I went through my health coaching certification and then sat for my board exam where it was like, wow.

there's so many more steps that I could be coaching people on. I've been living in this box of commercial fitness. So I big box fitness where you have already made the decision, Jen, that you came in the door, you bought the membership, you signed up for the consultation and you showed up and I'm sitting in front of you. That's step eight. What about all the other steps before then? Step one being, I think I need to start focusing on my fitness a little bit differently. So it allowed me to sink my teeth into

the beginning steps of change and what it takes to change in fitness. And then I was able to apply that to myself. And then from there, that's where everything started to change of how I looked at working with clients, specifically with women, because ironically, I'm going to celebrate 20 years in fitness. this May, a majority of my career had been working with men. And then over the last several years, it's only been women.

It's been this whole eye-opening thing where I'm working with people that I'm going through the same things that they are. And I had never done that before. Because I was training like men, like the average age was 55. I don't have anything in common with this guy. I mean, we get along, but you know I mean? So it just opened up so many doors with the healing process, you know?

Jen (15:43)
What was that switch like from working with men to working with women all the time?

Liz Rodriguez (15:49)
I learned a lot about myself because I was one of those female trainers that didn't want to work with women because I don't know why. mean, obviously I had a complex about it that I needed to work through. Like, why is this happening? And it really, it's a funny story. When I moved up to Westchester County in New York, I'd been living, working in the city and I got recruited to open up a club in Westchester. And it was because of the dynamic of the clientele there.

anybody that's from Westchester knows exactly what I'm talking about. The men would not work with me. They did not respect me. And so my journey to start working with women was sort of like, well, I guess I better start working with women because I, you know, I'm the manager and I got to have some clients. And then as I started that and hearing their stories and them opening up to me, I'm like, maybe we have more in common than I thought. And I just didn't give them a chance.

So I always say that like, you know, when you're in a service industry and you are working with people one-on-one, if you're good, you learn just as much from them as they do from you. So it was a huge eye-opener of, could really, I could make a different impact with this population because I'm right there with them. I'm like going through the same things and we're the same age. We are coming of age.

in our 40s in 2025. And we talked a little offline about this of like, what are the struggles going on in 40 year olds brains right now? It's different than if you're 30, it's different if you're 20 and it's different if you're 60. So I just, really embraced that and it helped me know how I kind of wanted to move my career forward, you know?

Jen (17:32)
Yeah, it must be such a different mental space for men and women. I mean, you're the expert, you would know this better, but I feel like women, because our bodies are constantly changing with our hormones, that kind of thing, that we have more of a negative aspect of our bodies, and even the slightest changes in the right direction don't click for us.

until we see big things happen like, I've lost 20 pounds. Is it the same with men?

Liz Rodriguez (18:10)
It's so different. It's so different. They are very, they're much more kind of like, I don't remember where it was from. I remember this old like standup comedian who was a psychologist and he would talk about the difference between men's and women's brains. It's quite, it's probably like 40 years old. Anyways, I always think back to that on how men tend to be more segmented. Like it's almost like they got a bunch of boxes up there and it's like, I'm going to move into this box.

Jen (18:11)
Yeah.

Liz Rodriguez (18:35)
I'm gonna move in, like everything is like siloed versus women's brains tend to be more pathways, which is why like you get us started on one subject and then we start talking about carbs and then over here we're like talking about, I don't even, something completely different. So I think what's really interesting and then really just talking about the physical aspects, men's bodies are different. So I always bring this up. We can't fight biology.

And we have only evolved so far. Now, obviously we've evolved and depending on what you believe in and all that stuff, we came from one place and now we're here. And the homo sapiens surpassed all the other human species, right? And the reason for that was all kinds of reasons, but when you look at men and women and why we evolved to what we are today, we are made to outlive men. We absolutely are. That's why, you know, our cardiovascular systems are better than theirs.

but they were more, you know, their muscular skeletal systems are better. And when you look at body fat, men need two to 4 % to survive. We need 12 to 14. And the reasons are because you need enough essential body fat to cover your internal organs. So they got some testes. We got a bunch of other shit down there. So whether you have kids or not, you were made to put on this earth to outlive the men and to bear the children. You can't outrun that. So.

Now we're sitting here in 2025, what does that mean for anybody listening? It means that you're gonna hold onto body fat longer. If you try to starve yourself, it's gonna backfire versus men because of their makeup. You give them intermittent fasting, you put them on a keto diet. It's like, you know what I mean? And with women, it's just different. We're also learning too, like why we need so much more sleep than men because our adrenals get, you know, like,

Our brains use more energy, our adrenal systems need more and like that's why we handle stress in a different way. We need more sleep than they do. And then, you know, everyone out there, please stop intermittent fasting and keto. It's not, it's gonna backfire. We could talk about that on a different day. So it's just a matter of like, so I think it was so different because I could give them just a little bit and they would see great results. And with the women,

it was like, no, we have to look at some more things. And I would say, hey, we're going to go through all the basics. And if we get to a certain point where things are not working, then you you've, you're above me and now you got to go back to the doc and say, let's get some blood work done. Let's take a look at your hormones because if those things are off, we have to figure that out. And I think we're just getting to the point right now where we're talking more about that. It used to be this more tongue in cheek conversation where like,

well, it's just her hormones are like, she's on her period kind of thing. and it's like, you're so missing the entire point. anyways, we can go on a lot of different tangents, but that's, this is what I've learned so far in training men versus women.

Jen (21:40)
Yeah. So with training women, is the way that you start out with women? What's your game plan?

Liz Rodriguez (21:50)
Yeah, I think really the first thing that I do is I sit down with them. This is really where the health coaching becomes the engine. And what I mean by that is, hey Jen, we're going to sit down and we first, I need to figure out like, what is it that you're trying to do? Is it like looking a certain way, feeling a certain way? And then we got to peel back of why that's important to you. And it's not just because it's, it used to just be like, we have to find out people's why. No, it's so much more than that with women.

because I think so many come in and they think that this is what they want. And that's what society wants you to be. Society wants you to eat certain foods and look a certain way. They want you to think that self-care needs to be earned and that you need to do a juice fest to jumpstart your system. Don't do those either, by the way. You're not a car. We don't put jumper cables on you to restart you. it's really about like, let's peel back and figure out like, what is it that this person wants?

And then from there, let's look at the life that they're living. Let's get a snapshot and then start to weave in change in a different way. And I always start with the three big ones. I start with stress, I start with sleep and I start with water. And the reason for that, those are all very important. And if I can get them to see that, hey, you drinking a little bit more water and going to sleep 30 minutes earlier, starting to see change right away, we haven't even touched nutrition and fitness or recovery.

And it's to help them understand that you are in control of your body. But sometimes we have to, we have to get you to reset of like, what's important because too many, there's too much information out there that people, women don't know where to start. So I kind of start with those basic three. And then as we start to tie in the fitness and the nutrition, it's like, who else is going to be like, what do you have kids? Like, what about your husband? Like,

Who's helping out with what? Like if we're talking about making changes with nutrition and fitness, like when are you going to work out? And like, what does that look like? It's like more of a business plan. It's to help them realize that it's not that hard, but you do also have to keep living your life, right? So it's to help them understand. And that's why my sub-sec is redefining health and wellness for women. We have to redefine what it means for you. And then we have to redefine what the

program looks like, because it doesn't have to be what it used to be. And it's probably not going to be, especially with all my former athletes. You got to let go of all that stuff. Like you got to let go of how you used to work out. We're talking about your body right now. How does it feel today? What surgeries, injuries, everything has accumulated. And then let's start you from there.

Jen (24:38)
I was going to ask you, do you find yourself coming up against women's trauma in their past? Is there some sort of, does it ever show up just randomly? And I'm asking because I think back to when I was young, I was tortured for being heavy. And my abuser would tell me I was fat and ugly and no one would ever love me almost daily.

and I get it at school. And when I lost all that weight after my son, I felt amazing about myself. And then menopause came along and it hit that spot where that trauma was from being a heavy child. And it just, I panic.

When I see my body change and it's not going to do the things that it used to do to help me lose weight, I panic and I start thinking, no, no, no, no, no, I can't go back to being that fat kid.

Liz Rodriguez (25:48)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. It does. It shows up in different ways. I think, you know, sometimes women don't realize, I think so much of it. Like I haven't, I heard like super like drawn out different things of, I shouldn't say drawn out. That's not the right word, but I've seen it more in different ways of like how they started to make changes or maybe they broke up with the person that they were with because they realized that they were treating them like shit. And all of a sudden I had a client.

Jen (25:51)
you

you

Liz Rodriguez (26:18)
that I saw, you know, a couple of times a week and she just was not making progress. And it wasn't because she wasn't trying, but there was this cloud that would be over her. we had to sit down one day and I said, I don't want to do this, but we're not getting anywhere. You got to make some changes on the outside. And I can't tell you what to do. I'm just your trainer. But as your friend, as just like another human, you need to make changes because this is just destroying your life.

And she took a week off from me, she broke up with him, and then she came back. And then it was a very different dynamic. So that's happened a couple of different times. I think, you know, as I've gotten more into the health coaching, it kind of shows up like in different ways. It's more of being the mirror to people, because that's something that we do a lot in health coaching is we reflect back. And that I always tell people, like, if they don't know what health coaching is,

It's, to me, it's giving the space and opportunity for that person to become their best selves. So it's a different conversation. It's different listening. It's different empathy. And sometimes when you start saying things back where they're like, is that really what I just said? Yeah, it's really what you just said. And when you, when you deal with, and I've covered this more for myself, with the athlete standpoint is that there's a lot of self-hatred in there. Like there's gotta be something behind all of us that

chose to beat the shit out of ourselves for fitness. We tell ourselves, it's because we're competitive and we love sports. But is it, like, where does that come from? Why? Like one of the biggest things on a personal note with the, with the trauma and stuff from my is, I realized that I had to figure out how to enjoy fitness without all the anger. Like that's what used to motivate me. Like I'm getting ready for the marathon. I'm going to listen to like all this

really heavy music and I'm going to tell everybody to fuck off and I'm so strong. And then after everything, was like, maybe I shouldn't be doing that anymore. Like, why do I have to get angry and riled up in order to like, find my fitness? There's gotta be something wrong here. And, and so one of the things, whether they go into detail with me or not, is that I always ask them if they like to is,

to start to journal and meditate during the process because sitting with yourself and your thoughts and writing them down, it gives you time to like process things in a different way, right? And I think it helps whether they share it with me or not, it just gives them a little bit of opportunity to say like, how did I get here? Because so many of us, whether we went through something, you know, like a huge trauma or if it was just little things,

we got to address that because that just like you went through a different trauma where you lost the weight and then you were like, my God, I'm going to gain it back. But it was at a different time. You still went through it again in a different way. So which means that you had to manage it, I would imagine, moving forward in a different way.

Jen (29:32)
Yeah, and I don't think I really have figured that out. But yeah, you know, I've never looked at it with that aspect of emotions, that you got angry when you were getting ready, like you were pumping yourself up. Was it that you felt like you needed to be angry or was anger like in the background and it came forward?

Liz Rodriguez (29:55)
I think, you know, my mom used to joke around with me, like, Elizabeth would be an axe murderer if she wasn't a runner, which is sort of funny, but then you start thinking, then I think back to it now and I'm like, but, so I literally physically like needed to go out and run. So I really, don't know where it comes from. I don't know if it came from, and we're pretty open about it now, but you know, I came from a family that didn't talk about anything. Everything was swept under the rug, so maybe it was my outlet to like get my emotions out.

And I think it was also just me finding out like, I'm obviously extremely, I'm a type A person. I've always have been, but I embrace it to say like, but this is just me. And if I want to be loud and if I want to talk like this, then I'm going to because I can't stand it when people are like, you just need to calm down. I'm just, this is just how I talk. I'm emotional.

I know that it's just a podcast, you guys can't see I'm like waving my hands around and all this stuff. Like that's just how I am. Like, but I needed to separate the anger from just my own, myself, like my personality. And that is something that I've embraced a lot in the, like, I would just say in the last couple of years, you know?

Jen (31:15)
Yeah, we, I think our generation definitely comes from that don't show your emotions. I was definitely taught not to, don't be an angry girl and don't make people uncomfortable with your sadness, that kind of thing. So yeah, it had to come out in different ways. And I can see that I can kind of understand it looking at it that anger could very well play a role in it because

We're using our bodies in a more tightened way. You know, like we're tightening up, we're getting stiffer as we're doing our workouts. And that can be a signal to our brains for a specific emotion.

Liz Rodriguez (31:59)
Mm-hmm.

Totally, I never thought about it that way. That's such a cool insight.

Jen (32:06)
but it makes sense. Cause yeah, when you're running, you're tightening your entire body. You're, you know, really like scrunching down and say, okay, waiting for impact. And that can be a, I don't know, a sensor to our brain that says you're doing all of this with your body. So now you're must be feeling this way.

Liz Rodriguez (32:16)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. And it's so something that like I'm exploring and stuff. Like obviously I have I'm lucky enough to still run on everything, but I look at it so differently now. Like it used to be this sort of means to an end. And now it's like, I get to go out for a run today and I'm to put my podcast on. I'm not even going to set the timer today. It helps me think about my business stuff. Like it, it's a place now. It's like a sanctuary of

I just get to go out and do this thing. I still think it's amazing where we have these bodies that you could just go out and even if you're not a runner, you could go out and walk for two hours. We have the ability to do that. That's insane. Being in nature and being outside, we all need that outlet. I look at my outlet in a different way and I definitely, anyone out there that is on the fence,

I meditate every single day. it literally, if I don't, something feels off now. And that used to be when I was running, right? Like, cause I don't run every day. I haven't run every day for, I don't even know. It's been a long time. Um, I now I just do it like three days a week, but it's almost like, what can you, what can you replace with? Right? Newton's, Newton's law of motion. don't remember what one of his laws he's come up with many, but it's like,

If you take away the one, what are you going to fill it with? And I feel like I have filled more of, of writing and meditating and things like that and introspection with what I used to get out of the running, which means that I'm trying to embrace that less, that less angry girl. And I think part of it too, which you would agree with is you also get older and you just stop giving a shit too in some ways.

Jen (34:17)
absolutely.

I seriously, hitting 50, for some reason there was this magic button that said, yeah, I don't give a fuck. I really don't. Go ahead, do what you're to do because I don't care. And I think that's Gen X too.

Liz Rodriguez (34:27)
Mm-hmm. Right? Yeah.

Yeah, you guys are fierce, man. I'm an older millennial. I am married to a Gen Xer, though. He's just a couple of years older than me. it is, it's like in certain ways, like you can so see the generational shift. It's so interesting. I'm like fascinated with that kind of stuff. And that's one of the reasons why I wanted to start to really hone in on my age group, because people are like, well, are you going to do the 50s and the 60s? And I'm like, no, because they're menopausal.

And that's different than perimenopause. Like it's a whole not, and not only that, they're in a different area of their life right now. Right. And so it's a whole thing and being able to relate, like, feel like the co the people that you surround yourself with, doesn't mean you can't have a great coach. That's the other gender or a different age, but I think it lends itself. We are at a time of specificity. People love.

that specialized feeling. And especially in fitness, I like to call people fitness consumers. They have so many more options in terms of like, you can work with a stress management coach now or a health coach or a coach or regular fitness trainer or a Pilates instructor or yoga instructor. Like there's so many things and it's kind of like, what do you need at your point in life right now? And I think that's amazing, you know?

Jen (35:53)
Yeah, it makes sense. So having gone through the back surgery and how you worked through it, what would you say to, let's say specifically a woman who has also had a similar experience with back surgery and having to stop doing a lot of their physical activity, what would you recommend to them?

Liz Rodriguez (35:56)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I think first and foremost, know, because it's gonna be the last thing they're gonna wanna do is I'm gonna say like, I think that you need to explore who is out there that can help you because you can't do it alone. You really can't, you know? And having, know, whether it's you start because you feel like you're all up in your head and it's like, well then go to a psychologist, like go talk to someone, you know what I mean? Or if you feel like, like where you, I guess we should say first,

Where are you struggling with it? Do you just feel like it's more like, is it the actual programming where you're like, I just don't know what I'm supposed to do now? Because again, I don't know about you, there was no plan. I had the surgery, I had the follow-up call and they took the stitches out and they were like, bye-bye. So you know I mean? So is it like, hey, I really actually don't know where I'm supposed to start or is it more on, you know, on the mental aspect of it?

Jen (37:08)
Yeah.

Liz Rodriguez (37:17)
of where you're like, feel like I need to get these things into my life, but my life isn't the same anymore. That's kind of more the health coach. Or if it's more the psychological part, I think it's really important for you to say, and maybe that means starting with the journaling and a little bit of the meditation, what is it that you need right now? And then just start to kind of seek out advice on that because women empowerment,

I really want to, feel like I was put on this earth to help more women with fitness and feel like it's an inclusive space. And I know what I can do. so anyone listening, you know, if you don't know where to start, even if you reach out to me and it's not going to be me that helps, I got to, I got a list of people for you because that's what we should be doing. We should be helping people more of where, where is it that you need the assistance and let's like move you in that direction. Don't feel like I feel like

I have a new masterclass coming up about this. I feel like I suffered in silence for way too long because I was like, I don't know. this is, I didn't, I not only knew like how to move forward, I felt like I didn't fit anywhere anymore either. And I can't be the only one that says that. Like, so I'm not an athlete anymore, but I'm not, I'm not going to say I'm part of the general population anymore, like when it comes to fitness. So where do I go?

Where am I supposed to be? Where's my ecosystem? So I would think that that's where I would say to start is do a little bit of intuition, of meditation, of some journaling, and then start to kind of seek out a little bit of guidance there.

Jen (38:58)
Yeah. So what will we find on your sub stack in YouTube?

Liz Rodriguez (39:03)
Yeah, so my sub stack, I write about anything and everything. A lot of it has to do with like the pillars of my program and stuff where I like to write about rewiring your brain and like positive psychology and like making changes, which is huge. Everybody needs that. And then I talk about, you know, nutrition. I talk about fitness and like where to start if you're kind of starting from scratch. I talk about a lot about being a former athlete and sort of how my journey has changed.

And then really what's interesting, it's funny because I think everybody does this. have two different YouTubes right now because I'm like transitioning, but I started out, I still have my Easy Eats Academy, which is that I wanted to have something a little bit more fun because I can come off as like very, I get in the weeds when I write. But when I'm on camera, I'm a little bit more kind of tongue in cheek kind of thing. And my Easy Eats was more about like, you don't know how to make soup.

you can make soup in 20 minutes kind of thing or like you don't know how to prep your veggies or like you want to figure out how to meal prep that doesn't completely suck and it's more tasty than chicken and broccoli. So that's really what it's about. And eventually it'll be tied into more movement and all that stuff. But right now it's just nutrition. So, you know, it's me saying, what is it that people are needing? Like what are people telling me that they need? And let's get some tools out there that people can see right away. And just, you know, I feel like I always got to say this.

I want to be one of the people that's putting good information out there that is resourceful, that is safe, that is good for women versus the stuff that's not.

Jen (40:37)
Yeah, we need that in the world. We really do. So tell us where we can find you.

Liz Rodriguez (40:39)
Yeah.

Yeah, so can find me, LizRodriguezCoaching.com. And it's the same thing if you find me on Facebook, LizRodriguezCoaching. I kept it all simple. Same thing, want to stalk me on LinkedIn. It's all cool. We all do that, right? We're to see if this person's real. Make sure they're not a bot. But yeah, come and hang out. If you go to my site, you'll see, you can set up a free fitness roadmap call where I literally go through and say like, Jen, where is it that you need to start? Is it the rewire? Is it the nutrition? Is it the fitness?

Jen (40:56)
Mm-hmm.

Liz Rodriguez (41:13)
And let's talk through some things that you can actually put into effect. So yeah.

Jen (41:19)
That's great. I truly appreciate you coming on the show. You had so much wisdom to share.

Liz Rodriguez (41:20)
Yeah.

thank you so much and thanks for letting me share on your platform and everything. You're doing amazing things.

Jen (41:31)
thank you. You are too. Well, thanks so much.

Liz Rodriguez (41:33)
Yeah.

Yeah.

When Not Yet Becomes Right Now (41:39)
Thank you for joining us for this episode of the podcast. This show is produced by Phoenix Freed LLC, and I'm your producer, Jen Ginty We hope you found today's conversation insightful and inspiring. If you have a story of your own about when a not yet moment became a right now, we encourage you to reach out and share it. You can find more information about being a guest on our show at whennotyetbecomesrightnow.com. Remember, you are not alone on your journey, whether it's a journey of healing,

growth or transformation. Every story matters. Thank you for listening and we'll catch you next time with another inspiring episode.