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Alex Brooks 0:03
Welcome to The Midlife Shift. I'm Alex Brooks, and we're about to have another juicy conversation.
From The Biggest Loser to 12 week body transformations, Michelle Bridges has been transforming and helping people become healthier versions of themselves for decades. Welcome, Michelle, thank you. If you're looking for a girl to indulge in a choc chip cookie and maybe that third slice of cake, how are you on the friendship stakes with that?
Michelle Bridges 0:44
Look, no judgment here, knock yourselves out, but it's probably not my thing.
Alex Brooks 0:50
I know you really do live the dream, don't you?
Michelle Bridges 0:53
Well, I mean, I don't deny myself. I'll still have chocolate or cake or ice cream or whatever, but it's just not on the regular.
Alex Brooks 1:01
You're so good. Now, you've built an empire on sheer grit, like you're the motivational queen. But can you just tell us a little bit about this recent accident and what that's done for you?
Michelle Bridges 1:12
Oh look, I've had a wonderful holiday skiing and just had a little bit of a tumble, so I've injured my knee, which has set me back a little bit because I'm on crutches at the moment, and so, yeah, that just changes everything very quickly. When you're a single parent, you've got to still get your kid off to school and do the lunch boxes and make the beds and, you know, general life stuff, but I'm just trying to stay positive about it. But the other great thing is, my son really has to step up now. He's got to do a lot more around the house, so it's… I'm sure I can find some silver linings.
Alex Brooks 2:00
And how old is he? Now? He's nine. Oh, that's such a cute age. They're so delicious. Between five and 12, it’s the sweet spot, I reckon. Now you're becoming a bit more of an expert in menopause. Now talk to me about menopause. Why menopause?
Michelle Bridges 2:15
I found myself in a situation a couple of years ago where I couldn't put my finger on it, but things just didn't feel right. I had some strange things going on, like ringing in my ears at night, really waking up at night and not being able to get back to sleep, maybe a little bit of anxiety, which I'd never had before, and then the next day, there's lack of sleep and because I get hot at night and the lack of sleep. I was just excusing it away, like, oh, it's because of stress, or it's because of work, and it's very easy to excuse a lot of these symptoms, particularly like the brain fog. Oh, that's because I didn't sleep well last night and just didn't feel quite right, a bit flat.
And so I went to my doctor, where I was living currently, down in the Southern Highlands, and just explained some of these symptoms. We did all my bloods, everything came back normal, except what didn't come back normal was, well, my good cholesterol was sky high, which is great, but my bad cholesterol had risen, and I hadn't changed anything in my diet. And I know now – now that I've educated myself – that that's a marker for perimenopause. I was also vitamin D deficient – oh, wow, not low, not moderate, but deficient through the floor, and that's another marker for perimenopause. But I didn't know that either. And the conversation of menopause didn't even turn up. And I didn't even know (this is a couple of years ago, three or four years ago), I didn't even know that perimenopause was a word or a thing. I'd never heard of it.
So that was happening in the background for me, and I got to a point where, all right, I think I can do a menopause program, that's what everybody's been asking for. So when I started researching it, I found out there was a thing called perimenopause and then I started digging into that and going, that's me. I've just self diagnosed myself. This is everything that – tick, tick, tick, tick. So I'm calling my team saying, Oh, my God, I am perimenopausal. And it was just so weird how it all kind of landed.
That's where I got a real passion for it, because what I realised very quickly was – I'm not alone in that. There are a lot, it's changed now, probably in the last two years, there's a much bigger conversation going on. But prior to that, nobody knew that something was going on, possibly in your late 30s, most certainly through your 40s – everyone's thinking, Oh, that's gonna happen when I'm in my 50s. No, ladies, it's not.
Alex Brooks 4:53
And it's a transition, right? People think menopause is this date you arrive at somehow and it's just boom, there, like you get your first period, but you don't get a first menopause. You know, it's defined by 12 months without menstruating, which, you know that's a journey, right? That can take five to eight years to arrive at that 12 month of no menstruation, destination, right?
Michelle Bridges 5:16
Of course. So menopause can, they say, statistically, happen for a woman between 45 and 55 and menopause is one day. That's right, it's the one day that you mark the calendar: I have not had a period for 12 months now. Now I spoke to a fertility specialist yesterday, and she actually says two years, which is the first time I'd really heard of that. But ultimately, it's that, let's just say, for now, it's the 12 month mark of having no period.
However, perimenopause can start between, it‘s said, seven to 10 years before that marker of the menopause. So that means, if you do the maths, that perimenopause can start as early as 35. The average age is around 42 to 45 for ladies. But what happens is that in that chaotic, hormonal rollercoaster of perimenopause, which, from every every specialist that I've interviewed, can often be the worst of these symptoms. That's right. Because it is so hormonal and because it is so chaotic that a lot of women are going through it and they don't even know that they are.
Alex Brooks 6:32
That's right. And what would you say the worst symptom was, for you?
Michelle Bridges 6:36
For me, it was the lack of sleep. It was the sleep disturbance.
Alex Brooks 6:39
Did you not get that when you had a child?
Michelle Bridges 6:43
Yeah, I remember it very vividly. I remember so clearly how hard that was, and we were back there again, or I was back there again, and I just couldn't figure out why every night I was waking up. Some nights I'd be bathed in sweat – I wouldn't call it a hot flash as such, because I've had those described to me, and I've never, I never think I've really had one of them – but I think that's a very common symptom that you hear about, but it's actually not in even the top five of the most common symptoms. The most common symptoms you hear about are brain fog and sleep disturbances, right? And mood swings.
Alex Brooks 7:28
And what about hormone replacement therapy? What role do you think that should play for women today?
Michelle Bridges 7:34
Well, it's a really big can of worms. No, it's a big topic of discussion, massive. And I won't go too far down the rabbit hole, but back in 2002 there was a World Health Organization study done. You may have heard about it - in the States. There were many, many, many people across it, as far as specialists, who were doing all the testing. And it was a very strange turn of events where a handful of them broke away and made a public announcement to the world – and the media picked it up, and it went everywhere – that it causes breast cancer.
Now that has all been walked back. That's actually debunked, but what it did do is it meant that there was probably two, possibly three generations of women who missed out on the benefits of HRT or menopause replacement therapy, however you want to call it. And now it's very much in the spotlight again, as it should be. However, there's definitely a legacy, and there's definitely a hangover from that period of ‘it causes breast cancer’. So there's a lot of women that, I think it's only 4% of women in Australia that are using HRT at the moment.
Alex Brooks 8:51
Well, there's a massive shortage of the patches as well…
Michelle Bridges 8:51
… so very hard to get it and it's expensive…
Alex Brooks 8:52
Yeah, that's right, you have to have the money to be able to treat it. And I mean, I have a breast cancer risk in my family, right? So it's all the female line have had breast cancer, and I see a specialist because of my family risk, and she actually said to me, HRT has benefits and downsides, and no one knows how it's going to respond to an individual, right? Because we're all different. Every single one of us is.
Michelle Bridges 9:20
Yeah, I've even heard that it can give you protection from breast cancer. So I've had that said to me from several specialists…
Alex Brooks 9:27
And she also said to me, it's protective for bone health and heart health.
Michelle Bridges 9:30
Okay, that is absolutely true. The thing that I mean, there's so many things that blow my mind when I started researching this, but one of them most definitely is high up and sinister, because you don't see it, is bone density.You can die from osteoporosis. And I'm like, how? But if you take a fall and break your hip, 70% of women will die in the first year without surgery and 30% of women will die in the first year with surgery, and a lot of those falls are preventable. That's right, they're preventable. I mean, no one's got a crystal ball. You can be in an accident, but if it's because of a fall, they're preventable if you have been training and getting yourself a little better, getting yourself a little stronger, getting yourself a little bit more stable, working with a little bit of agility, then you've got a better chance of catching yourself before you take the fall. Or if you have a little bit of muscle, a little bit of strength, and your bones have been strengthened from training, if you happen to take the fall you're less likely to break.
Alex Brooks 10:37
That's right. That's exactly right. And I mean, I think older women were just sort of considered so invisible that no one discussed this in the mainstream for decades, right? Like we just knew you didn't want to fall down and break your hip, but no one knew it killed you.
Michelle Bridges 10:51
No, I definitely don't think that conversation has ever been sort of exactly fleshed out. And when I looked at those statistics, I was like, that is insane, that is totally blowing my mind. But what happens, has happened in the past for many women is you become frail, you lose your independence and you lose your confidence… But these things can be brought back. I have witnessed women who have been frail and been brought back through strength training to have the capability to still maintain their independence. So it's not, it's never too late, but my message to women is the sooner you get started training with weights, the better. Yeah, I've always said that, but now I'm saying it like 100 times harder because of now what I know, what happens to you from around the mid to late 40s and onwards, as far as losing your bone density through the lack of oestrogen.
Alex Brooks 11:54
What about if you hate burpees?
Michelle Bridges 11:58
Do something else. I don't care. You don't have to – go and do pole dancing for all I care. I don't, just get moving and use your body in a way that is going to allow you to be stronger. So you can, of course, you can use your body weight, but the reality is, you need to increase from there. If you really do want to make a difference, and you really do want to maintain your independence. You need to increase by using weights, and you need to challenge yourself.
Alex Brooks 12:25
Okay, so if there's maybe one, two or three little exercises you could do while you're brushing your teeth or waiting for the kettle to boil, what would you recommend they are?
Michelle Bridges 12:35
Okay? Well, look, I mean, I'm gonna be real here. There's nothing. Strength training isn't gonna happen when you're brushing your teeth. Unless you still got a set of weights in there. But what you can do some great neurological strengthening exercises is brush your teeth with the other hand, brush your teeth with the other hand and balance on one foot. These are really good for brain plasticity, which is a very important part of perimenopause, because oestrogen receptors are throughout your whole body. In your brain, you have an enormous amount of rich oestrogen receptors that start losing oestrogen as soon as you hit perimenopause. So you know, the brain is a massive part of this conversation as well: brain fog, anxiety, depression, losing your words. So doing things for brain plasticity, such as brushing your teeth with the opposite hand and balancing one foot, is great. Doing things differently, taking a different route to do the school drop off, just driving a different way, just making your brain work, just doing things that are swapping things up a little bit, changing some of your habits and routines. I'm a big believer in habits and routines, but every now and again, just making a swap in things can challenge your brain and enable you to have you know better brain plasticity, as they say.
Alex Brooks 14:03
So, some research just came out. I think it was published yesterday, from the University of New South Wales center for healthy brain aging. I think it was they did a massive online coaching intervention over like 5000 people, and they proved that you can improve your cognition through (and it's all it's all the stuff we've been talking about) strength training, cognition exercises, healthy diet, a plant based Mediterranean diet, is what they were specifically talking about.
Michelle Bridges 14:31
Low processed carbohydrate, so a wholefood, low carbohydrate diet.
Alex Brooks 14:36
But what about the role of protein for women as well? If you want to get strong. How much more protein do you need to be trying to eat once you're in your 50s?
Michelle Bridges 14:45
You need to have protein with every meal. You need to have, you need to have, probably about 20 to 30 grams every meal. So an egg, a couple of eggs at breakfast, a chicken, poached chicken salad at lunch, a piece of lean beef or fish with vegetables or salad at night. It's not that hard, but you do need to be very vigilant with your protein and then your strength training. Those two combinations are going to help you with your muscle mass and your bone density.
The thing with our body is your musculoskeletal system. That means a fancy way of saying muscles and bones. They work as one unit. That's right. So if you've got strong muscles, you've got strong bones. Okay, so that's the reason why strength training is so, you know, powerful for women in this age bracket, but also in the younger age bracket. The other thing too is, is jump training, if you can - skipping or just hopping on one foot, or jumping up and down onto a step, that shock is helping strengthen your bones as well.
Alex Brooks 15:56
I heard about that, but if you've got joint problems…
Michelle Bridges 16:00
Then you've got to work around that, so if you can't do that, that's fine. Then you know, you're hitting hard with your gym training sessions, or your weight training sessions, if you're doing them at home. But I, as I said earlier, you know you can pick up your one or two kilogram dumbbells, but in a couple of weeks time, you're now going to have to pick up your three or four kilogram dumbbells, and then in a couple of weeks time, you're going to pick up your five and six like you have to progressively challenge yourself in order to really make that difference.
Alex Brooks 16:31
Yeah, that's hard. Now, are there any good things about menopause that we can embrace? Like what? Let's talk about them.
Michelle Bridges 16:41
It's a great chapter in your life, because you are now a woman that knows who you are, knows what you want, knows what you don't want, does – you don't take any shit anymore. You can tell people to fuck off, sorry.
Alex Brooks 16:57
And you don't care, in the same way as to what people think of you, or that's been my experience, maybe not everybody's…
Michelle Bridges 17:04
Yeah, you just kind of don't take shit anymore, really, and that's great. The other thing too is that this is a time in your life I really see as a crossroads. That you have to become now your own advocate for your health and how you're going to live your next chapter in life. You know, your kids may have grown up and moved out. You might hopefully have a little bit of, you know, your backup finances, hopefully, and you're able to, you know, put yourself, really put yourself first, finally. I mean, I would rather have, I would rather put my money down on personal training, gym membership, physiotherapy and having my body functional, then leaving my inheritance to my son. Independence or inheritance.
Alex Brooks 17:54
Yeah, no, I think that's a really great point. And we've just done a story on Citro about, should you SKI and spend your kids inheritance and of course, you should. Why would you leave it behind when you don't know you could be living well into your 90s, even 100s today.
Michelle Bridges 18:13
If you're taking care of yourself, that's exactly right. So look, I think it's a really interesting topic. I love women in this age bracket, because they've got so much to offer. Women in this age bracket, kicking goals in their careers. So when this, when perimenopause and menopause, you know, kicks you in the guts, that that's a problem for us economically, we're losing women out of the workforce, and we're losing women out of education. But I feel like it's a time for the sisterhood to really come together. That's what I'm feeling right now, like I'm in that era of like, it's all about my sisters and we've got a lot to say. You know, we're a generation that isn't going to lay down quietly, and we're, you know, we’re shouting about this.
Alex Brooks 18:58
No, that's exactly right. Now, tell me about vitamins and supplements. Okay, what do you choose to take? Because some really interesting research came out on the ABC this week about vitamin B6 toxicity, and how some people are taking way too many different vitamins with too much basics in them, as an example, right?
Michelle Bridges 19:19
Well, look, hey, I'm going to say, straight off the bat, I'm not a doctor. I'm not a scientist either, but I've interviewed many of them, and at this point, for me personally, given the research that I've investigated and the specialists that I've spoken to, is that I'm always trying to keep my protein high. So sometimes I will supplement with a protein shake, sometimes that's just a fast and easy way for me to get it in for breakfast. I take, because of my vitamin D deficiency, I take a vitamin D supplement, which is a spray and I take that in the morning. I take a multivitamin, just as an insurance policy, but I'm pretty good at getting a lot of it out of my food. I take a probiotic and I also make sure that I have a little bit of yoghurt or a kefir drink for gut health.
That's going to be the next big topic that's going to unlock, and that plays a pretty vital role in menopause as well. So you want to be keeping yourself, you know, looked after in that way. So it's kombucha or kefir or yoghurt, sauerkraut, just, yeah, it's you just throw it into your salad, or I take a probiotic tablet. I utilise creatine, and that's, you know, something that I used to use when I was back in my body building days. So I'm back in with my bros at the health food store getting my powder and my, you know, creatine. But that's now got some great backup research on helping your muscles, you know, develop, grow, get stronger. What else do I take? And that's pretty much it. And, yeah, they're my supplements. But I've also made an educated decision for me personally around HRT as well.
Alex Brooks 21:20
Yeah, okay, so you, you've embraced HRT, yes. Yeah I embraced it. And then I had a weird breast thing go down, and now I'm rethinking, but it's a challenge.
Michelle Bridges 21:26
It's not for everyone.
Alex Brooks 21:28
Well, I've used it really successfully for quite a few years. And, yeah, it's just these are the kind of educated health decisions we now need to make, which I don't think our mums really had to think about that stuff, right? That was all sent off to the ‘invisibility land of menopause’.
Michelle Bridges 21:49
No one was prescribing that because of what had happened in the early 2000s. It's something that I think is great that women have the options available to them, but it needs to come from an educated, informed decision. So you do need to be your own advocate. So it can be this whole conversation around menopause for some women can be very overwhelming, because there's a lot of information out there.
Alex Brooks 22:20
A real lot of information. There's a really great website too, the Jean Hailies website, yes, a fantastic line of information that's all free and accessible, and you can discuss it with your GP at any time, to sort of raise any issues you have. But tell me what it's like to have your first child at 45 – no doubt, during perimenopause, really, if you think about the age statistics. That's pretty rare, right? And then what's it like to be parenting a primary school kid when you're dealing with menopause? Talk to me about the readers, the I guess, canteen duty, the sports coaching, the pickups, the drama.
Michelle Bridges 22:53
I know I'm not unusual, like I think every single mother out there is going through perimenopause wants their kid well, even if they turn into teenage, yeah, well, that's right, that's then the whole household is hormonal. This is true, very, very true. I was saying to my girlfriend, I said she's in a same sex relationship, and I'm like, Wow, your children will be teenagers, you and your partner possibly going through menopause. I don't want to be around that house. I'll see you in 10 years.
Alex Brooks 23:25
I was so anxious. I think I've always been anxious, catastrophising. And I had two boys, and I swore my children were going to turn into like, video game addicts. I could not get them off screens. I would find them in the middle of the night, under their covers. And I was so worried. I worked in tech at the time, and I'd say to these guys, what am I going to do with my sons? They're just addicted to screens. They're like, wait till they discover girls. So true, so true. Then my son, he's now a power lifter. He like, has the national record, or something, like, he totally got into strength training in a big way.
Michelle Bridges 24:00
Oh, you can lean on him for advice.
Alex Brooks 24:02
He doesn't like dealing with his mother. I'm not, I'm never going to be a power lifting champion. So he's not interested in that. He's brutal. They're brutal, those power lifters. And my strength trainer says, Oh, you don't want to train in a gym with power lifters. They just hog the machines for hours.
Michelle Bridges 24:19
No judgments, power lifters that are watching this show right now.
Alex Brooks 24:23
Like, no, again, he won't have anything to do with, oh my gosh, that's hilarious. But yeah, let's talk about motherhood at the age of 45 because we are all having kids later. Like, it's a general trend.
Michelle Bridges 24:37
It's interesting. I had a fertility expert that I interviewed only just yesterday, Dr Jenny Cook. She works for the Monash fertility clinic, and she sees women day in, day out, looking to get pregnant. And she said to me yesterday, perimenopause and fertility really don't work together.
Alex Brooks 25:03
I can't imagine they do.
Michelle Bridges 25:07
So I think I was probably very flippant with my fertility. Just thought, oh, you know, I can get knocked up whenever I want, really.
Alex Brooks 25:14
I think a lot of women think we do with the gift of contraception that we've had, you know, for generations now.
Michelle Bridges 25:21
So statistically, Australia's birth rates have dropped substantially, and Australia's IVF rates have increased. Yep, there's an obvious link here, and that is that we are working longer, having a career and choosing to have our babies later, and that is what's dropping our birth rate, and that is what's having women having to, you know, more women to IVF, yeah. So that is an interesting conversation in and of itself.
Alex Brooks 25:55
I totally agree, and I think it's really interesting now, when I talk to some women in their 30s who are in the, you know, the throes of the best career years of their lives, you know, and they're talking about paying to freeze their eggs…
Michelle Bridges 26:08
Which is what she does. The lady that I was speaking to yesterday.
Alex Brooks 26:12
I can’t help but feel that just another way to keep women behind the eight ball with their money, as though it's their cost that they have to bear, when really it's a social issue as to whether we have a birth rate that replaces the people that exist, right? And you think, well, if we're not allowing women to procreate in the fertile years of their lives, what does that say about us? I don't know. I can't help but wonder about it.
Speaker 1 26:35
I don't think it's really been a topic of conversation until now – it’s becoming one. And as Dr Jenny Cook said yesterday, the ideal time to be falling pregnant is with the three in your age.
Alex Brooks 26:51
Oh yeah, probably even younger, from a scientific perspective, we're probably our most fertile in our 20s. But because if you've got a HECS debt and you're trying to move out of home and buy a house in an extortionately expensive property market, it all becomes just a little bit too challenging in in your 20s. There's a lot of bigger issues at play, which, you know, they might be a bit more Debbie Downer than we like, some of those issues, but I just think we've got to think about it.
Michelle Bridges 27:19
It's definitely something that you need to again, from Dr Cook, she said, you just need to start really considering how you want your life to roll out and whether or not you want children, and really plant the seed, rather than just being flippant, which was me. I was very, very lucky. I was very, very fortunate. I mean, Dr Cook, again, sat there and was gobsmacked when I told her I was, I had my child at 45 She said, that's actually Michelle, a miracle. It doesn't happen. It doesn't happen.
Alex Brooks 27:50
But you've obviously got good genes and you’ve looked after yourself.
Michelle Bridges 27:54
Yeah, there's probably some, you know, fortunate aspects around my health and so on. I don't like to go down that rabbit hole, because I know a lot of ladies that have looked after themselves through their health and still can't fall pregnant. So, you know, there's maybe a genetic thing that was on my side, but it's something that is very worth thinking about because you don't want to have that opportunity taken from you because you haven't…
Alex Brooks 28:27
You just haven’t fully considered it. But you were pretty busy, right? Like you in your 20s and 30s – I don't think you ever stopped. I looked at stuff… you started working at 14, I mean, come on, Michelle.
Michelle Bridges 28:40
Well, I had to pay my mum my board. She made me. She would sit down with her ledger – I can't remember what I was paying her, but I remember every time I did it, I hated it. But I guess it was good for me, because I've always been very independent, fiercely independent, and have always taken care of myself. And, you know, worked, I've always worked. I'm a worker.
Alex Brooks 29:06
But tell me about some of the jobs you've had because we've, everyone thinks, you know you've just been this trainer that's done The Biggest Loser, and now you've got your body transformation program, but you've had other other work, right? Talk about your early career?
Speaker 1 29:21
Well, like my first job was when I was 14 and I was teaching fitness classes at the local squash center in Nelson Bay.
Alex Brooks 29:29
Would you even get away with that these days?
Michelle Bridges 29:31
No, you could not. I didn't even know what I was doing. The owner-operator who sat behind the desk let me loose on the general public. I mean, he must have been on drugs. You'd never let a 14 year old away with that now. Like HR! So I was teaching fitness classes, and I was also working in a chemist, and then I started working in Barbara House and Garden, oh, which was in the same shopping center in Nelson Bay. So I'd go from one shop to the other. And then I also got a job as a rose girl for the Nelson Bay Tourism Association, where we would go around with our roses. We had to wear a red t-shirt, white shorts and white little heel. A bit Gold Coast – yeah and we'd hand out a rose to people that were just there on a weekend, holiday, I got 20 bucks an hour. Now, that was the early 80s, yeah, that was good money. I was doing all right, yeah.
Alex Brooks 30:27
It was good money. But you were also, you were a bank teller for a while.
Michelle Bridges 30:32
Yes, I worked for the Greater Newcastle Building Society.
Alex Brooks 30:41
Yeah, they don't even have building societies now…
Michelle Bridges 30:42
Yeah, and that was a job that I did for a couple of years, but I was always still teaching classes at night.
Alex Brooks 30:49
So that's what that was your passion? Is that what set you on fire? Yeah?
Michelle Bridges 30:54
Okay, I loved it, yeah. The music, the outfits – back in the day, we went to the gym like, dressed with the leotard on the outside, belt, legwarmers, headbands like the whole shebang.
Alex Brooks 31:06
What were your trainers? Were they Reebok?
Michelle Bridges 31:07
Oh, Reebok high top pump ups.
Alex Brooks 31:10
And did you do step aerobics too?
Michelle Bridges 31:13
Yes, and I'd make my own cassettes.
Alex Brooks 31:21
Oh my gosh, mix tapes. Michelle's mix tapes. What was your motivational go-to song in the eighties?
Michelle Bridges 31:31
Oh my god, I can't remember.
Alex Brooks 31:24
Oh, Run DMC. And there were so many of them. Paula Abdul…
Michelle Bridges 31:22
I think Noiseworks was up there.
Alex Brooks 31:34
Oh yeah, Noiseworks. He was from Newcastle, yeah.
Michelle Bridges 31:35
So, yeah, that was,you know, I was always working.
Alex Brooks 31:41
And you came to Sydney, I believe in your Sportsgirl Barina,
Speaker 1 31:48
Yes, secondhand Holden Sportsgirl Barina. I had $300 in the bank. I had someone's lounge room floor to sleep on for a few nights, and no job. But I was coming for a fitness conference, and I knew what I was good at, and I just had all the confidence in the world that I could pull it off. I remember driving across the bridge with all of my worldly possessions in my Sportsgirl Barina, and driving to a gym where – this is a strange story – where I was meeting up with this guy that I'd met at the fitness conference. I'd met him and his girlfriend, and they were the ones with the lounge room floor, lucky! And this guy just happened to be Shannon Ponton, who was the other trainer on Loser.
Alex Brooks 32:34
Oh, wow, is that how the connections all began though?
Michelle Bridges 32:37
So we met each other when I was like 26 and he was, I think he was maybe 23, and we lived together, we flatted together. This is years before the show – so when we went for the show auditions, they saw the chemistry between us, because we knew each other.
Alex Brooks 32:52
You brushed your teeth in the opposite hand with each other, maybe crossed hallways in the house, yeah. And what other classes did you used to teach in the 80s? Because I remember step was really big.
Michelle Bridges 33:04
So step, new body, high impact?
Alex Brooks 33:10
And what was it? There was TTB for tummy…
Michelle Bridges 33:15
Tummy, butts and thighs, yeah. And then around about 24, I discovered Les Mills – I became a master trainer for them. They sent me all over the country, and then they sent me, you know, to many different countries around the world. I became a master trainer in body pump, body attack, body combat, and RPM, which is the spin version.
Alex Brooks 33:42
Now it’s spin classes, I've got friends who just love a spin class. Now, I just don't understand why you want to be on a bike in a class. Talk me through why people do this. What is it?
Michelle Bridges 33:53
Oh, it's fun. It's fun. It's not for everybody, but it's the music, it's the vibe, it's the cardio. It's the cardio with minimal impact. I mean, I love running. I had a hip issue that just wouldn't quit. And in fact, once I started taking HRT, that's almost all but gone. Which is interesting.
Alex Brooks 34:18
I found the joint pains a bit of an issue with menopause myself.
Michelle Bridges 34:22
Yeah, that's normal, although, like I said, if you're actually doing the training and you're doing the work, you can minimize that.
Alex Brooks 34:31
Yeah, but injury is, it becomes a bigger nag as you get older, doesn't it? Injury? Well, it has been, in my experience, mainly because I never really did a lot beyond an aerobics class when I was younger. But you know the injury, like my knee gets jiggy, you know my back hurts, like all those things that never used to happen, is strength the key to minimizing that?
Michelle Bridges 34:57
Yes, 100% it is. You know, it's going to strengthen joints. It's going to strengthen the muscles that protect those joints. It's going to strengthen your bones. You just kind of need to keep moving. And one of the big symptoms, also, of in a musculoskeletal version, is frozen shoulder.
Alex Brooks 35:21
Oh yeah. I saw some alarming posters about that in my physios office, so I was like, Oh my God, and torn rotator cuff.
Michelle Bridges 35:26
So these things can take a long time to recover from and, as a trainer for as long as I've been, I see a lot of people over the years who have injured themselves, and they just kind of give up and that's sad, because it's not going to get any better.
Alex Brooks 35:47
Yeah, that's right, you got to keep working at it, yeah? And so someone once said to me, if you want to be happy for a year, get married, but if you want to be happy for life, get a dog. What's your stance on that?
Michelle Bridges 36:00
I would absolutely agree with that.
Alex Brooks 36:03
Now, how many times have you been married? I've been married twice. My second one's lasted, which was better than my first one?
Michelle Bridges 36:11
Yeah, I've been married twice, too, but I've also had a couple of other relationships around that.
Alex Brooks 36:15
So now it's you and Axel in the house, right? He's the man in your life
Michelle Bridges 36:20
100%
Alex Brooks 36:22
Now, tell me what Axel won't eat. Because kids are notoriously picky.
Michelle Bridges 36:28
He won't eat mushrooms.
Alex Brooks 36:29
Yeah, my kids have a thing with mushrooms. I love mushrooms. What's wrong with a mushroom?
Michelle Bridges 36:37
I don't know. I don't know where that's come from, but he'll actually eat everything. He eats anchovies out of the jar. He sat down the other night, which I was blown away, because I gave it to the dog – I gave my dog some some mackerel
Alex Brooks 36:52
It's very good for him with Omega 3s. Is your dog a girl or a boy?
Michelle Bridges 36:54
A boy. So I've got two men in my life, yeah. And then my best friend is a boy too, so I've got three men in my life. But yeah, I think it's because I gave it to Banjo that he was like, I want to try that. I said, Sure. And he goes, Can I have that for dinner? I'm like, absolutely. We had mackerel and vegetables. And I texted my best friend Sean, and said, This is what he's having for dinner. He goes, that kid is unbelievable.
Alex Brooks 37:20
So that is – so my eldest, he was on the white diet. He would only eat things that were white for a good five years of his life. It was insane. And to this day, he won't eat tomato, he won't eat mushroom. Like, so picky. Yeah, so picky.
Michelle Bridges 37:36
I don't know whether it's the individual, or whether it's just, you know, in them. But I've always given Axel everything, like I used to give him olives and just big flavors and all the fruit, all the veg, and so he just does it, like he doesn't really second guess it. I used to have this thing – I still do it – Screen time is green time in the afternoons. I mean, he's not allowed to have screens during the week. That's a ruling that we have. But when he does have them, and I set an alarm. So screen time is green time. So I will give him a bowl of spinach, straight out of the packet, chopped cucumbers, some avocado, maybe a bowl of peas. And see if he eats that he can have his screen. And then I think if we go out for dinner, like, if I get invited with my friends to go out for a meal, and he ends up ordering, you know, something like, whatever, then I don't care, because he's already had those greens in the afternoon. That's something that we do after school.
Alex Brooks 38:43
Okay, because greens are your favorite food, right?
Speaker 1 38:47
Man, that you gotta have them. You gotta have them. You want good, nice poo poo, you need your fibre.
Alex Brooks 38:57
Greens are good for that. Okay, now let's talk about dog parenting habits, right? Because I only got a dog in my 50s. I hadn't had one since I was a kid, and I am obsessed with my dog, like obsessed in a way I was probably never really obsessed with my children the way I'm obsessed with my dog. Yeah, it's totally bizarre. I don't know if it's because of empty nest or what it might be, but we all have these either slightly crazy dogs or slightly crazy dog parenting habits. What's your crazy dog habit and your crazy dog parenting habit?
Michelle Bridges 39:27
Well, I have a neurotic cavoodle so he is crazy. He's very needy. He follows me around. Think he has mild anxiety. I've never had a cavoodle before. I've only ever, like my dogs of the past have been, like a cattle kelpie was my last one, and they're chill, yeah, as long as you run them. Whereas Banjo is like, love me, love me, love me.
Alex Brooks 39:54
Does he sleep on your bed?
Michelle Bridges 39:56
Yeah, he does. But he knows it's the bottom right hand corner – I have boundaries.
Alex Brooks 40:05
Now, does Banjo ever get snacks from the dinner table?
Michelle Bridges 40:09
He’s not supposed to, but my son, does it.
Alex Brooks 40:12
Does he give him peas? What does he feed him?
Michelle Bridges 40:15
This morning, he was giving him his toast for breakfast. I said, Stop doing that, but it's too late – the habits. So now he's sniffing around the table. That's
Alex Brooks 40:24
That’s right and this is the thing. We all have dog parenting habits. I think we're better at parenting kids than we are probably our dogs. Maybe that's just me. I'm judging everyone by my own habits. That's probably what I'm doing. Now, primary school parenting, concerts, readers, parent-teacher nights. How do you navigate primary school parenting? I do remember this phase of my life.
Michelle Bridges 40:50
Yeah, it's a lot. It’s a lot, it's a job. When I look at that school box that we have online, and everything's online, I say, like my mother now, it's so complicated, and there's so many things going on, it's a lot. It's a full time job, seriously.
But you know, it's tricky navigating it as a single parent, yes, even parent-teacher night, like you're not supposed to bring - well, sometimes you bring them with you, but sometimes you don't. So then I'm, who's going to take care of Ax while I do that? So I've got no family in Sydney, but I've got my best friend. I don't want to lean on that too much, you know, like you don't want to wear out your welcome. I know I never will, he’s Axel’s Godfather, and they're very, very close, that's way. But, um, yeah, it's like babysitting to get these kinds of things done. And then there's the driving to and from sporting events.
Alex Brooks 41:44
And I was gonna ask what sports he plays, because that's like the biggest challenge. It's how many sports, how many sports practices – you’re just endlessly in the car. You've only got one.
Michelle Bridges 40:50
Thank goodness, yeah, thank goodness I've only got one.
Alex Brooks 41:44
What does he play? What does he enjoy?
Michelle Bridges 41:59
So at his school in the summer, we have a winter and summer sport. So we have compulsory Saturday morning sport. So that's where sport is, it's inside the school for us. So winter is soccer for him, okay? And summer is tennis.
Alex Brooks 42:15
Now do you have to do any coaching? Do the parents always come? Come on, Michelle, we need you to do this.
Michelle Bridges 42:22
No, not at my school, not at my school now, but when we were living in the Southern Highlands, I was the rugby coach for the under sixes, I think it was. Oh my God, never again. Yeah, never again.
Alex Brooks 42:39
Because now they've got all these institutes to help parents behave well at kids' sports, because the parents are so pushy about the kids on the field, and they treat it like it's, you know, a pro game or whatever.
Michelle Bridges 42:52
Now I enjoyed it for the season, but I was happy to hand it over to another parent for the next season.
Alex Brooks 42:58
And does Axel do lunch orders at school?
Michelle Bridges 42:58
Every now and again.
Alex Brooks 42:59
And what does he choose? What's his choice of lunch order?
Michelle Bridges 42:59
Sushi.
Alex Brooks 42:59
Oh, wow, yeah. My kids love sushi. Did you get lunch orders when you were a kid? When I was a kid? What was your choice?
Michelle Bridges 43.11
A hot dog. A hot dog.
Alex Brooks 43.11
I bet you'd never eat that now.
Michelle Bridges 43.12
Or a pie. A pie.
Alex Brooks 43.12
What about those finger buns? Remember the finger buns.
Michelle Bridges 43:15
Oh yeah, I loved all of that stuff as a kid, but it just wasn't big in my household. So these were very much considered treats.
Alex Brooks 43:29
Because junk food was more expensive in the 70s and 80s. Now, it's cheaper. It's got economies of scale, right? So it's cheaper to eat processed food than real food in many cases. But I think when we were younger, that wasn't really the case. And what is your quickest and easy go-to dinner when, like, you get home late, you've got a child that you've got to do homework with, what do you pull together?
Michelle Bridges 43:55
Yeah, so I've always got spaghetti bolognese in the freezer, of course. So I'll do a big batch. I'll do a lot of batch cooking, particularly in winter. Yeah, and then I've got everything in the freezer good to go. So I can always pull out a meal and have it together like that. But if I don't have something in the freezer, which is rare, but if I didn't, my next go-to would be an omelette.
Alex Brooks 44:16
Oh, okay, and your own mum was a single mum, working single mum, yeah, what did she use to cook as her go to meal?
Michelle Bridges 44:23
We had very simple meals back then, you know, we would have chops and veg, you know, or fish and salad, you know, it was just, it was very simple. If we sometimes, we got, like, a real treat, where we'd have pancakes for dinner. it was like super treat.
Alex Brooks 44:44
We never got pancakes. Very jealous.
Michelle Bridges 44:47
It only happened every now and again. So my mum most of the time it was lots of veg, lots of salad. My mum was a real clean eater.
Alex Brooks 44:54
But that's good, that's good. She raised you and your sister on her own, right? Age, it was pretty it would have been tough in the 70s – that wage gap was very different in the 70s than what it is now, where we know women still don't earn as much as men. But back then, women really didn't earn very much at all.
Michelle Bridges 45:13
She was told by her boss that if the kids get in the way, she'll lose her job. I guess you could get you could do that in the seventies.
Alex Brooks 45:20
Well, you could, yeah, you could hire a 14 year old in the 80s. You could tell women that.
Michelle Bridges 45:24
When I was sick, she'd make a sandwich which she put on my bedside table. We had a little tiny TV that was on a stand, so she wheeled that into my bed, my bedroom, and she'd say, don't answer the phone, don't answer the door, and she'd have to go to work. And I'd be at home by myself until she got home at like, 5.30 at night. I would be beside myself. But what could she do?
Alex Brooks 45:49
I know it was such a different world.
Michelle Bridges 45:49
Because we didn't have the money to afford a baby sitter.
Alex Brooks 45:49
No, exactly, that's exactly, right. It was just so different. My mum used to, we used to go to this childcare place that was just a church hall, and it was teeming with children. There were no ratios of carers to kids. It was just like a zoo, because that was the only place you could even find to sort of put kids until work finished at five o'clock. And they'd pick us up in a van, and we'd all be tumbling around in the boot, like branding, like sardines, no seats, no seat belts.
Michelle Bridges 46:25
I know right. Different era, different era.
Alex Brooks 46:29
Are you close to your mum still?
Michelle Bridges 46:31
Yeah, yeah. We don't live in the same area. We do live, like, four and a half hours away from each other, which is a bit of a shame.
Alex Brooks 46:38
Is she close to your sister geographically? I
Michelle Bridges 46:42
No, so we're all kind of spread.
Alex Brooks 46:46
I guess this is the other thing of our generation, is that we have kids later, but our parents are living longer, and we sort of have to look after more people for longer than perhaps previous generations had to. Have you thought about how you might navigate that?
Michelle Bridges 47:01
Look, I mean I have, it's just been, I guess, the way in which our family has been, we all just spread. But then I've got other people in my extended family, my cousins, who all stayed in the same suburb. And I look at that and think that was actually really clever, because they all help each other. I mean, it doesn't always work out that way. You get a job, your career, you've got to move, but I see the absolute benefits of staying in the same neighborhood as your family, like, if you can.
Alex Brooks 47:41
I agree. And I think it's gonna become more challenging, because there's –
Michelle Bridges 47:45
well, it takes a village…
Alex Brooks 47:47
That's exactly right. And as more of us get older, there's no massive increase in – not that anyone even wants to go into a nursing home – but there's not a massive increase in places. You need to age at home now and we all need help to do that now.
I guess moving on. I want to talk about what retirement might ever mean for motivational Michelle. What does that word evoke for you? Retirement…
Michelle Bridges 48:16
I don't even think that I will. Like I think I'll always do something, I think I'll always have a passion. Don't get me wrong, I’ve most definitely slowed down from when I was in my 30s and 40s. You know, like I used to have, my diary was so jammed that I actually had to put in bathroom breaks. And, I mean, it was just insane, it was really, really crazy. And we got a lot of work done. I achieved a lot, but it was with a team, of course. But those days are gone, and I would probably say I'm semi-retired now – I sort of did my life back to front. I had this massive career and great personal success, I felt like I really accomplished a lot, and then I had my son at 45. But what that means, yes, I'm an older mum, but I keep myself in really good shape, and I'm pretty active. But what it means is I can do everything that my mum couldn't do. So I drive him to school, I pick him up from school, I'm at the athletics carnival, I'm at the swimming carnival, I'm at the cross country carnival. I do all of that because I never had a parent that could be at any of those events for me my whole life.
Alex Brooks 49:39
Do you do book week costumes?
Michelle Bridges 49:39
Yes, I do all of it.
Alex Brooks 49:39
What were the book week costumes?
Michelle Bridges 49:43
We did this recent one was Winnie the Pooh. He dressed as Winnie the Pooh. Old School.
Alex Brooks 49:47
Very cute, that's really cute. Now let's talk about money and superannuation and what that means. So you've had this big career. Did you do contracting? Or did you have an employer that put in Super for you? What does superannuation mean in the world of Michelle Bridges?
Michelle Bridges 50:07
Superannuation, when I was teaching fitness classes and being a PT was just a mess. I had super here, there and over there and somewhere else, and I don't even know like. And then I sort of built my business as such, and I got a little bit more serious about my super, but over the last couple of years, I just, you know, I'd put in, what I do is I put in a chunk of money every year, as much as I can now because there's a there's a limit… so I just put that in, and then I have a financial advisor and he said to me, have you thought about a self managed super fund? And I was like, Well, no, it's not my skill set, but that's what we've done. So now I'm managing, he's managing some money that I have in shares, and he's also managing my self-funded superannuation. Because that that's going to come around pretty quick, and that money is going to be real handy, yeah?
Alex Brooks 51:15
Oh, yeah, indeed. And what's the one thing you wish you'd learned about money sooner – when you're handing over your rent to your mum at 14 – what do you wish you'd learned about money back then that you now know.
Michelle Bridges 51:31
Well, what I have learned is that there's been a money conversation in my family, and it's not always been positive, but it always turns up, so I pick it up in myself. I'll say oh that was expensive. Or, you know, how about the cost of this? And, oh, that's my mum talking, you know. But so it's good in some regards, but then in other ways I don't think it's always great.
But I'm a saver and I'm cautious with my money. I'll splash out every now and again, but I'm definitely not, I don't just let it go. I do believe it comes and goes, like, if there's a flow I always feel like I can make it back. I've always said I'm gonna buy a house – what's the worst can happen? I have to sell it, so be it, you know. Like I just, I will take risks, but I feel like they're informed and educated.
Alex Brooks 52:39
Calculated risks. And if you could go back and whisper something into the ear of that girl in the Sportsgirl, Barina, what would you have told yourself as you were driving with all your possessions in the back? What would you say to that girl?
Michelle Bridges 52:52
You go, you go do exactly what you got planned for yourself. Get in, get into it.
Alex Brooks 52:57
What about regrets? Do you have any? They plague you when you're sleepless and menopausal.
Michelle Bridges 53:04
Of course. I can't stand the whole ‘oh no, I've got no regrets’, really? Have you lived a life? Have you been a human being? Because we all make mistakes.
Alex Brooks 53:13
Yeah, we really do. And that's how you learn, right? And it also gives you the inspiration to keep transitioning to wherever you're going to go next. Because I think when I was young, I really thought, I didn't think I'd even be in my 50s. I thought that was just so old, like it was so out of my head, like my grandmother was 48 when I was born. So I thought that was really, really old. Then all of a sudden, you just wake up.
Michelle Bridges 53:37
But it was, it was, I mean I do a keynote, and at the end of my keynote, I thank my grandmother, and I have a photograph of her in, actually, in the keynote on screen, and it's at her 50th birthday party and I'm on her hip as a little toddler, and she's having her 50th birthday, and she's got her hair set, she's got a twin set on, pearls and a brooch. Yep, that was 50 back then. Like I'm 54, Where's my brooch and my twin set? You know, it's just crazy. So it was a different era.,
Alex Brooks 54:12
Yeah, it really was a different era. And how old was your mum when she had you?
Michelle Bridges 54:16
24, so young man, very young. She had my sister at 19 and me at 24.
Alex Brooks 54:24
Not bad, really, when you think about it, because, sure, she didn't have the financial stability, but she gets to enjoy you all. She's got grandkids now…
Michelle Bridges 54:34
It's just you only know what you know. I was talking, I did an interview recently with Pip Edwards, and we were talking about perimenopause and fertility and kids, and she had her son at 25. So she's now, he's now just finished high school and she's only 40 something? So what a great thing that is, and I've done it completely different, but it'll be all I know so…
Alex Brooks 55:07
It's all swings around about, yeah, we've all got one lifetime. That's all any of us get. None of us know how long it's gonna last.
Michelle Bridges 55:14
I feel like, the way in which I've done it is the way in which I've done it. I can't go back and change it, but I do get… thankfully, I have the financial freedom and independence that I can give my son a lot of time.
Alex Brooks 55:29
That is a real blessing. Now we're going to begin to wrap up, and what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you two choices, and then you're just going to instinctively say the one that comes to mind. So I'm gonna say Cavoodles or Kelpies.
Michelle Bridges 55:45
Banjo, block your ears – Kelpies.
Alex Brooks 55:51
Brutal dog mum! Okay? Country or city?
Michelle Bridges 55:51
City
Alex Brooks 55:52
Strong or flexible?
Michelle Bridges 55:53
Strong.
Alex Brooks 55:55
Champagne or cocktails?
Michelle Bridges 55:55
Can I say mocktails?
Alex Brooks 56:03
You can say whatever you want. Ice cream or chocolate?
Michelle Bridges 56:07
Chocolate.
Alex Brooks 56:08
Oh, sunrise or sunset?
Michelle Bridges 56:09
I think this is going to be a sunrise.
Alex Brooks 56:13
Okay? Coffee or tea,
Michelle Bridges 56:13
Tea
Alex Brooks 56:14
Instagram or Facebook?
Michelle Bridges 56:14
Instagram.
Alex Brooks 56:18
Spend or save?
Michelle Bridges 56:18
Save
Alex Brooks 56:19
More time or more money?
Michelle Bridges 56:22
More time.
Alex Brooks 56:25
Muscles or mindfulness?
Michelle Bridges 56:34
Oh, look, I want. Oh, that's a tough one. I'm gonna say muscles, because I know, just know that that helps with my brain anyway.
Alex Brooks 56:45
Okay, heels or flats
Michelle Bridges 56:46
Flats. I wore killer heels in my 20s and 30s, and I look at them all in my cupboard, and I think pain is all I see.
Alex Brooks 56:56
I know my back, right, my feet! What was I thinking? Now I only wear flats. Okay, old or youn?
Michelle Bridges 57:05
Old or young? Oh, what's better? Oh, look, they're both great. Being young, but, you know, if I look back on what I was like then – why wasn't I just wearing a bikini when I did shopping, you know?
Alex Brooks 57:20
Like, well, you can still wear one now.
Michelle Bridges 57:21
No no. Like, you just go, why did I have so many hang ups, you know? And you do, you do have hang ups about how you look, or how you present, or, you know, even my son this morning was really upset about the fact that he's got swimming trials today for this school carnival which is next week, he's like, I can't, because I might not win. And I said, babe. And everybody will look at me, and I'll be embarrassed. Oh, my god, if only I could give you my head now that nobody cares. They’re all too busy worrying about themselves.
Alex Brooks 58:00
I know that's the thing, but you can't put an old head on young shoulders. Like the sayings and cliches are there for a reason, right?
Michelle Bridges 58:05
But, the old is that you realise that now I know it's just these things just don't matter.
Alex Brooks 58:13
No, they really don't matter. Okay? And then my last one is skiing or snowboarding?
Michelle Bridges 58:20
Unfortunately, I'm having to retire from both.
Alex Brooks 58:24
I definitely do hope your knee gets better, and I hope it's not too painful.
Michelle Bridges 58:28
It will, it will get better, but it's just going to be a process. And this, these are the kinds of things I was talking about with people with injuries will often just wave the white flag. So I'm looking at it like, Okay, this is an opportunity for me. I'm going to go and start doing different types of training to what I've been doing in the lead up to this. So I'm heading back to the gym. Like I used to do a lot of body pump classes, body attack classes, spin classes. Now I'm going to go and be very specific in the gym and lots of upper body work and get the rehabilitation. I'm going to be like spot on with my real rehabilitation, and I'm, you know…
Alex Brooks 59:05
… that’s motivational, Michelle, for you.
Michelle Bridges 59.06
Yeah, there is no other way.
Alex Brooks 59:07
Well, it's been a pleasure to talk with you. Thank you so much for your time, really enjoyed it.
Michelle Bridges 59:15
So thanks for having me. Thank you. Bye.
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