Seven years ago Debbie Potts came on this podcast to talk about what happened when her body finally said enough. A five-time Kona qualifier, she had been doing 20-hour training weeks on one meal a day, working 12-hour days, running on high cortisol and calling it fitness. The diagnosis was HPA axis syndrome. The recovery took years.
Seven years on, Debbie is a health practitioner, author and coach based in San Diego, and she has built an entire philosophy around what she learned. She calls it the holistic method - eight elements of health that go well beyond the training plan. This conversation picks up where we left off, and covers the bigger picture questions that most athletes never think to ask until something goes wrong.
IN THIS EPISODE WE COVER:
- Why just exercising is not enough and what the other 85% of the health pie chart looks like
- The body as a communication system - what chronic stress is actually telling your body and why it stops trying to build and repair
- The go-go years, the slow-go years and the no-go years - how to visualise your future self and reverse engineer from there
- Debbie's eight elements of holistic health and why happiness, community and joy are as important as sleep and nutrition
- The blue zones - what people living well into their 90s actually have in common
- The vagus nerve, HRV and why they tell you far more than just whether you recovered from yesterday's session
- What Debbie's own daily routine looks like - and she genuinely walks the talk
KILLER QUOTE
"We should be striving to thrive as we age - not struggle. And so much of that comes down to the choices we make today, in middle age, before the labels start arriving."
CONNECT with Debbie
Debbie Potts is a health practitioner, coach, author and podcast host based in San Diego, California. She specialises in helping masters athletes thrive as they age through functional testing and her holistic method.
Website: https://debbiepotts.net/
Podcast: The Debbie Potts show
Book: Life Is Not a Race, it’s a journey by Debbie Potts
The Holistic Method Workbook: [PLACEHOLDER]
Previous Be Battle Ready episodes with Debbie Potts
Episode 1 - Dealing with HPA Axis syndrome
Episode 2 - Recovering from Chronic Fatigue
LINKS & RESOURCES
Mentioned in the episode:
Outlive by Peter Attia
Blue Zones documentary
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Find out why some triathletes keep improving into their 60s while others plateau in their 50s.
Why Some Triathletes Keep Improving Into Their 60s
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