Over Forty Wellness Podcast
Over Forty Wellness Podcast
"Building Stronger Foundations" with Joy Ip
What happens when you combine physical mastery with passionate teaching and entrepreneurial spirit? Joy Ip's remarkable journey provides the answer.
From humble beginnings training for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in New York City to becoming a Pan-American champion and black belt, Joy has transformed her passion for movement into a mission that impacts countless lives. Her story reveals how stepping outside your comfort zone—whether moving from Hong Kong to study abroad, trying a new martial art, or leaving corporate life to follow your passion—creates the foundation for extraordinary growth.
As a CrossFit and Jiu-Jitsu coach specializing in building physical literacy, Joy takes a holistic approach to wellness that transcends mere exercise. She shares a powerful example of working with a selective mute child who, through patient coaching, not only found his voice but became one of the strongest students in her class. This transformation exemplifies Joy's philosophy: "A healthy mind and a healthy body makes a happy person."
The concept of building strong foundations runs through everything Joy does. For adults seeking wellness, she emphasizes daily movement (preferably in the morning as a "non-negotiable"), quality sleep for recovery, nutritious whole foods with occasional treats, and maintaining strong social connections. For children, she advocates exploring various sports while mastering fundamental movements that will serve them lifelong.
Joy's entrepreneurial venture, Grit—an athletic tape company for Jiu-Jitsu athletes—embodies her philosophy of "passion and perseverance for long-term goals." Her parting wisdom resonates deeply: "Looking at all the adventures I've done, I put myself out of my comfort zone a lot. In return, life gave me amazing experiences and lessons."
Ready to build stronger foundations in your own life? Listen now to discover how physical literacy can transform your wellbeing and how stepping beyond your comfort zone might reward you in ways you never imagined.
Contact Joy
https://www.instagram.com/joy.ip/?hl=en
Contact Vincent
Pro Coach: https://procoach.app/vincent-hiscox
Email: vincent.hiscox@outlook.com
LinkedIn: Vincent Hiscox
It's important to look at your foundations right and try to build that as a good basis. Looking at all the adventures I've done, I put myself out of my comfort zone. A lot In return gave me a lot of amazing experiences and amazing lessons that I got back. It's important to try to put yourself out of your comfort zone and trust life will give you something back.
Vincent Hiscox:Hi, I'm Vincent Hiscox, a health coach, podcaster and storyteller. Welcome to the Over 40 Wellness Podcast. We all have the ability to look better and feel better. Becoming healthy should not be complicated. On this podcast, I talk to health and wellness professionals who share their stories and their expertise so that you can optimize your health. The conversations will inspire and empower you with simple tips that you can put into practice to transform the way you feel, look better and feel better with the Over 40 Wellness Podcast. My guest on the podcast this week is joy ip.
Vincent Hiscox:Joy is a passionate brazilian jujitsu fighter, a dedicated coach and a dynamic entrepreneur with a mission to inspire others to step out of their comfort zones and embrace new challenges. Joy grew up in h Hong Kong. Later she studied in New York City, traveling there, after spending a year studying in Florence in Italy. While studying in New York, joy discovered Jiu-Jitsu, and Joy comments if it wasn't for Jiu-Jitsu, I wouldn't be the woman I am today. Joy was immediately captivated by the sport's unique blend of physical intensity and mental strategy. The academy in New York was the second home. She entered competitions and became hooked. Spending three hours a day training, she decided she wanted to train and get her black belt. Upon returning to Hong Kong, she found that corporate life was not for her, choosing to do Jiu-Jitsu full-time. Through a friend, joy was introduced to CrossFit. It was something she needed. It was instrumental in a quest to bulletproof herself. Joy is now a black belt in jiu-jitsu. She got a black belt in 2023. She competes four to five times a year. She's a Pan-American champion in 2022, a medalist at the Asian Championships and she has a few local Hong Kong champion titles. Joy vows to keep competing as long as she can. Currently, joy coaches CrossFit for children and adults and she also coaches Jiu-Jitsu, taking a holistic approach, working with children and adults to develop them both physically and mentally.
Vincent Hiscox:Joy believes a healthy mind and a healthy body makes a happy person. She is especially passionate about coaching kids, empowering them to build confidence, resilience and lifelong love of movement. In the podcast, joy shares the story of working with a very shy child, a selective mute who would not talk in class, who also had poor movement. Working with his mother and building his confidence during his classes, he started to speak more and he also began to move better. He is now willing to speak up and talk with other children and his movement has improved dramatically. He is now one of the strongest children in the class. Two years ago, joy started a company called Grit, an athletic tape for jiu-jitsu athletes. There was no tape in the market that she really loved, so she decided to make one. She wanted to start her own company with lower risk. She really resonates with the word grit passion and perseverance for long-term goals. So good morning Joy. How are you today?
Joy IP:I'm good. How are you, Vincent?
Vincent Hiscox:Well, I'm so pleased to have you on the podcast today and I'm really looking forward to your sharing. It looks like maybe a typhoon is coming, but yeah, it's Hong Kong.
Joy IP:Yes, you know, the weather just comes and goes and it's raining, it's not. It's full of surprises, right? Yeah?
Vincent Hiscox:yeah, full of surprises. I think that's a great way to put it. It's full of surprises.
Joy IP:This morning I was in bed. I just got woken up by the rain in the morning. I was like, wow, it's pouring. And then you wake up, it's all gone.
Vincent Hiscox:Yeah, yeah, yeah, it changes quickly.
Joy IP:Yes, yes, yes.
Vincent Hiscox:Great, so I understand that you grew up in Hong Kong.
Joy IP:Yes.
Vincent Hiscox:So maybe you could share with the listeners just so they get to know you, your kind of growing up, and have you arrived to where you are today.
Joy IP:So I am born here. I was born in Hong Kong. I spent 15 years growing up here and then I moved to the UK for boarding school and then I went to the US for university where I actually spent my first year studying in Italy. So I spent a year in Florence before moving to New York City, and in New York City that's where I found martial arts. I started with Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai. From that my athletic journey officially began.
Joy IP:I grew up playing a lot of different sports, Like any Hong Kong kid. I've done swimming, I've tried athletics. I've done a lot of field hockey growing up in Hong Kong actually. So when I moved to the US I couldn't really find any hockey teams to join. So that's when I decided to try a new thing. I had a friend over one summer that showed me some martial arts moves and I was quite curious and also quite surprised that. I found it quite funny as well and I just decided to give it a go without really researching much about it, and I just went to this gym that he told me to go to, tried like two free classes and I just signed up right away and that's when it just kind of all spiraled down to now.
Vincent Hiscox:Yeah, I'll stop you there, because because I mean, you brought up so many nice, nice points there. So basically, uh, you did a boarding school in the UK. Yes, how was that for you?
Joy IP:I had so much fun. Um, it was a girl's school um, in Brighton, so by the, by the sea. It was honestly a very beautiful little town if you've been there. It was a very small school Like. There was only about 300 people in total. I think they call it an independent school, so it was like from year nine to year 13. I was very lucky that I made some very good friends, and I think that's really important when you're away from your family at such a young age. So even though I was so far away from my family, I felt at home. You know, I had my crew of friends that I can rely on and talk to. I felt at home. The teachers were great and I think that's really important for my learning and my development. I had a blast.
Joy IP:Yeah, super I honestly, like I still keep in touch with my friends there, you know, and I think that says a lot, and even now, when we're back together, it just feels like that sisterhood we have, and I think that's something very special and I don't think I can like recreate that anywhere else.
Vincent Hiscox:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So a couple of things that sort of popped up as you were sharing that. So Brighton was one of the universities I applied to myself, so I went there for an interview and I didn't like it.
Vincent Hiscox:The town or the uni it, the town or the uni. What I found was that the, the people that you know that I met, and the people that going through the interview, they were too for me, they were too highbrow. Okay, yeah, I came from a sort of a working class background in South Wales and, yeah, I, even at that time I did everything by feeling so I said no to Britain, but yeah, it's a fantastic place. So I was there recently with my wife, just two years ago and yeah, it's still a fabulous place with the soup pastry. Then you went off to the US.
Joy IP:Yes. So I got accepted to a school and they offered me a first year abroad kind of program. So they offered me a few places to go to and then I decided I wanted to go to. Well, the only place they offered me was either Shanghai or Florence. So I thought, let's go for somewhere I've never been before, so why not Italy? So I was like, yep, let's go to Italy.
Joy IP:So I just packed up and moved to Italy from the UK and there was also one of the most incredible years I've ever experienced in my life. You know something? I know that it will never be the same again. It was we were still in the same school, so, like everybody in my program were also going to go back to the US and we will still be in the same campus. So I made a lot of good friends there as well.
Joy IP:It also made it easier to make friends as it was a smaller group of people and we were all in the same boat, where we were new to Italy, didn't really speak the language and we're all just learning about, like I did, a liberal studies program to start with, and so we were doing lots of cultural like studies, like philosophy, like history of art. So I had like a very big exposure of that side of things and and also being in, you know, a place where a lot of that stuff was pretty much born there, it was very it was almost like very jaded to be able to see all of that and experience that like firsthand and at such a young age. I think it's incredible and it made me really appreciate what life has to offer. Yeah, that was, that was a great year yeah, yeah, yeah.
Vincent Hiscox:And again, the time that I spent in Venice and I've only been there once again. I went there with my wife and, wow, fabulous, I mean fabulous. It is appreciating all the history of the place. I mean the architecture as well, yeah, and the sort of the way the little streets are sort of set up, and then the sort of you know, the quality of the ice cream. I mean, yeah, I've really, you know, very fond memories. Okay, so you have some time in Italy, then you go back to the US and then I went and then I moved to New York City.
Joy IP:So that was another big move, much bigger city than Hong Kong. In a way it's also a little bit familiar because it's the it's the grind is quite similar, you know. But just I felt like New York had more of that. I was very lucky that I had my aunt that also lived there and my cousin, so I had a little bit of family there. So it it really helped not feel so strange, you know, in such a big city, like I knew I had somebody to go to in case there's any emergencies.
Joy IP:It was good like it was not like the typical American university, you know, like fraternity kind of like campus. It was a city university. So our school was like downtown, you know we were, so we just had a park that had that was like the main part, and then we had like all our school buildings surrounding it and we just have to like go to building, to building to have classes, so we didn't really have like a proper campus. So I was really glad when I was in Italy we had more of that kind of close-knit connection with, like my peers. So it made like making friends a little bit easier because I already had a group of friends to kind of launch off from. You know so that really helped.
Vincent Hiscox:Yeah.
Joy IP:And then when I was in university, there I decided to study economics as my major and then I minored in music While I was there. That's when I was looking for something active to do and that's when I found jujitsu and Muay Thai. And then, you know, when I'm done with classes, I would go to the gym and just work out and like learn about, learn how to defend myself or learn how to you know punch and kick. You know it was a great way to like get my my frustrations out.
Vincent Hiscox:I love.
Joy IP:I love the way.
Vincent Hiscox:I really love the way you sort of say punch and kick, with a big smile on your face. I mean it's, you know, it's absolutely, absolutely fabulous and what I would say. I'll ask the question I mean adventurous. Would you see yourself as being adventurous? Yeah yeah, I mean it comes out from your story, but I just wanted to know how you felt about it.
Joy IP:Oh, I mean, even when I was in Italy, we took the opportunity to go travel as much as we can and, you know, being a university student, we just did the budget way and you know like we will take the train or we'll, you know, stay at hostels. At some point, I think we hitchhiked, you know like all those kind of things, and I think that really, you know, even though there was like lots of uncertainty, but then I was with my friends and we just trusted each other to be safe and get ourselves like from point A to point B without, you know, getting ourselves in trouble, for example.
Vincent Hiscox:Sure sure, okay, so you had all this sort of now have your foundation in jujitsu that you started whilst you were in in the us. How does that bring us up to today?
Joy IP:because I lived in the big city. I think it felt the academy there I became almost like a second home for me. I felt, you know, I could go there whenever I needed to and feel like there's more of a closer community, you know where people knew me and I could be myself there because you know you're you're fighting, basically, and you're when you're learning how to fight and, like you, learn how to deal with like losing and winning. There's a lot of emotions that come out and I think I was able to be myself there and also be vulnerable there. And from there I had some people encourage me to just try a competition, like try a jiu-jitsu competition, and I was like, all right, sure, why not, you know? And and I signed up and you know know, trained hard for it, obviously, and and that's when I got even more hooked into the sport. So I think it was after my first competition I decided to. I really decided that I wanted to get my black belt one day, you know, and that that became my goal. And then I knew signing myself up to competitions was like a great way to push myself and to keep myself disciplined, and the more I did, the more I got like hooked on it and that's kind of how I decided that jiu-jitsu was my going to be my sport.
Joy IP:When I was in the US I, since my first competition, my my training ramped up and I trained more so I would like be at the gym for like three hours a day just training and, you know, drilling and working on different things. And and then when I got back to Hong Kong I actually tried to do like a corporate job. So I was in corporate finance for a year and I tried to love it, but it just wasn't for me and I realized that and even my bosses could see that, and I decided to take my chances and try to pursue jiu-jitsu full-time. And that's how my athletic and fitness journey career started. So from there I was working as a coach. I was working at the reception at my gym in Espada in Sheung Wan, and from there I also found out I didn't like being a receptionist and doing admin and stuff. It was not really my thing.
Joy IP:And um I in the gym, I met a girl there and she happened to be a crossfit competitor. I rolled with her for the first time and then all of a sudden she just took my back and choked me so hard and all she did was just like just like hold on so tight. But I felt so, felt like how strong she was. So after class I was like, hey, so, uh, why are you so strong? And then she told me, oh, I do crossfit, like it's like a, you know, basically like a strength and conditioning, like sport, where you know you are good at gymnastics and cardio and weight lifting. So I was like, okay, um, do you want to trade like? I can like help you more with jiu-jitsu and you can teach me how to lift? And from there, that's when I started like strength and conditioning and like, well, basically crossfit.
Joy IP:I also realized I needed something like this because, as I am a smaller athlete in jiu-jitsu and I have to deal with a lot of dynamic movements and sometimes I have a lot of like heavier people that I have to spar with, I know I'm at a higher risk of getting injured and I and I'm I'm very lucky I've never had any big, you know, major injuries like and, and I I just knew I have to start bulletproofing myself, um, in order to to stay in the sport and and not be out of it.
Joy IP:You know, I started taking that more seriously and from there I I also got obsessed with like like lifting and crossfit and from there I actually approached my uh, my boss for a job and I used my experience with working with kids to transition through into being a crossfit coach.
Joy IP:Yeah, so, if I just like rewind a little bit, I I actually started helping out, like my kids classes in my old jiu-jitsu gym in New York, um, to just give back a bit and try to be more involved with the community, and I've I've always felt like I've, I've I've had a very natural way to deal with kids and I I'm very comfortable with them and and I actually enjoy like working with them. So I think through that I I've built a niche for myself being a kids coach. I've been doing kids coaching since then, so, and now I have been building the CrossFit kids program in my gym for the last six, seven years. So, from teaching kids I it has become like the foundation of like all my coaching and and the pillar of my, like my health and fitness coaching journey. Yeah, yeah, we're putting it, yeah, yeah I mean, that sounds sounds absolutely fabulous.
Vincent Hiscox:So you know, I'm going to recap.
Joy IP:Yes.
Vincent Hiscox:So you went through this journey of jujitsu, then you went through CrossFit, then with the CrossFit, then you found that for you you really liked coaching children and that became something that was core for you. Yeah, that was a sort of a core activity. Does that kind of bring us up to date to today?
Joy IP:yes, it does, it does. So I'm currently I'm still working coaching crossfit and with kids and adults. I am still coaching jujitsu with kids and adults, mainly ladies. I have a women's only program. I'm still doing that every day.
Vincent Hiscox:Yeah, yeah. So actually we've kind of we've rolled into what would be my next question.
Joy IP:Yes.
Vincent Hiscox:Is today. How do you assist people? What would you say are the key things that you do in your job today key things that you do in your job today.
Joy IP:So, besides, like coaching you know all that stuff I for kids we are trying to build basically physical literacy for them. I think a lot of kids today, especially when we live in a city, it's very hard for us to go and explore in the forest or go somewhere you know, kind kind of wild. I feel like at least when we get them into a gym we can teach them. You know the basics of just like how to squat right, how to how to pick things up from the floor properly without hurting your back, right, how to press something over your head and a lot of these things. Even when I'm thinking back to my school days, nobody really taught us that properly.
Joy IP:And these are the fundamental things that you know. These are the functional things that we actually use. Like, if you think about squatting, it's like sitting back into a toilet, right, or sitting back into a bench pressing something over your head. It's like grabbing something from the shelf or you have to put something over your shelf. You know, sometimes maybe you use it the wrong way and you might develop some weird postural habits and that creates some imbalance and then that becomes a problem in the future. And I think at least, when we teach the basics of this, it really helps build a better foundation for everyone to carry on to whatever you want to do. So for our kids programs we really stress that point of you know learning the basics well and with that, when you carry on to do whatever sport you want to do, you're going to feel much stronger because you already have a better basis to start with.
Vincent Hiscox:Yeah, absolutely great, and I love the term that you used physical literacy. It's the first time I've heard that term, but it encapsulates what you're doing. It's like a language right.
Joy IP:You just need to know the grammar, the alphabets, and then after that you can put all the words together and make your own sentence, make your own essay, make your own, whatever you want to be.
Vincent Hiscox:Yeah, super. And the other thing I really liked about that was that you take there's like a kind of menu of basic movements, fundamental movements, and they're like the sort of keywords that you would use when you were learning a language. So, you get the children fluent in their physical literacy, then if they want to develop from there, they've got the basics. They've got the basics to live, the basics, and then they can take it from there.
Vincent Hiscox:Is that a fair way to put it? Yes, yes, super. And then with the. You also mentioned that you work with adults, and you said mainly with women. Is that correct?
Joy IP:With jujitsu. I work with a lot of women For CrossFit. I still work with a mixture of, you know, general population. Okay, yeah.
Vincent Hiscox:So your two key things today CrossFit and jujitsu yes, yes, okay, super. Crossfit and Jiu Jitsu yes, yes, okay, super. And I think from you know. Again, I always like to take it back to the listener's point of view. You know, from the listener's point of view, you've got these skills now which I'm sure you are using. You know you are using every day. If you had somebody come into you as a kind of maybe maybe we do it this way, maybe you can tell a story about somebody that came to you, how they presented what they were looking for and what you did with them.
Joy IP:I would say I'll tell you one of the clients I've had had uh, he's a, he's a child. He came to us around maybe three or four, but he was. He never spoke to us in class like we'll always tell him what to do. He'll look at us, he'll nod, but he'll, like if I ask him a question he'll never answer me. Um, and we never knew like why. We just thought, okay, he just doesn't like to talk or he's maybe we don't know.
Joy IP:Until one day his mom came in and told us he is I'm not sure what the official term, but he, he was a selective mute so he needed some. He needed to open up a little bit first before he got comfortable speaking around people. He never really spoke around, so at home he was very comfortable speaking, but outside he was just like wouldn't even say a thing. You know like no, hi, no, bye. And you know like if I asked him yes or no, he wouldn't. He, he was like maybe like a bit of like, like anxiety, you know just to. So he would never answer. And his mom helped us to help him open up. Like was there to, he would. She would come into class a little bit early to, you know, open up some games with him and us to try to get us to interact with him more, and through that he got a bit more comfortable and then he started actually talking a bit more.
Joy IP:And when he first came, you know, because we had a basically like a communication gap, like he was, and and when he started he was, you know, he's, he's a he's a three, four year old.
Joy IP:Everything's new for him with movement.
Joy IP:You know, he didn't really move so well, but then, since he started talking to us a bit more and be more open and more comfortable with us, we were being we're more able to coach him better and help him move better as well. And you know, and today he's still in my class and you know he'll say hi to us, you know he'll actually respond to us or if I'm asking a question to the class, he's actually more willing to speak up, you know, and he's actually more willing to speak up, you know, and he's actually also talking to other kids as well, and his movements have like changed like 180. He's like one of the strongest ones in my class now. So I think that's something for me as a coach it's very rewarding to see and I think that's what makes me love teaching kids is being able to help them like build a foundation and, you know, show them like a good basis and I hope that will like carry on to their future and hope that I can prepare them for anything they want to do in life.
Vincent Hiscox:Yeah. So thank you for sharing that story. I mean a super story. The young boy comes into the class still very young, without this ability to kind of talk and relate to people in, let's say, in a meaningful way, and just by you know, doing what you do, spending time with him, then over time the barriers were broken down and now he can come to class. Not only has he improved in the physical, I would say that you know, there's a mental improvement as well, which you know a lot of people forget. You know, as a, as a you can, you know you can answer this one as a health coach, I believe we're working with people physically, but we're also working with them mentally. Would you agree with that?
Joy IP:Yes, I do believe it's, you know. I think with our coaching and you know where my gym is at we really take a very holistic approach in how we want to help people improve their lives, right, I think being physical is one part of being happy, you know, but it's the whole package of like having a healthy mind and a healthy body that really makes you a happy person.
Vincent Hiscox:Yeah, that's fabulous. You know, putting that another way, that it's still good to improve physically, but if you can improve physically and mentally, it becomes more rounded and it becomes much more holistic. Thank you very much for doing that. Sharing. We haven't talked so much about you and your jiu-jitsu, and I'd like to bring that out in the podcast. So much about you and your jiu-jitsu and I'd like to bring that out in the podcast, so, so maybe you can share, even where you are today with your jiu-jitsu uh, yes, I can.
Joy IP:Um, so I am a black belt now. I got my black belt in 2023 sorry, I just have to think about what year it is. I got it almost two years ago. I am still competing Right now. I'm working on a few projects, so I have been like a little bit quiet this year, but I've been I'm still an active competitor. I've been competing since I was a white belt, so I've been competing about four or five times a year on average, and I usually travel to like different countries to do it when I'm in Hong Kong, since, like Hong Kong is quite a small market. I am a Pan American champion. So I got that in 2022 as a brown belt. I have a few I'm a medalist for, like Asian Open, asian sorry, the Asian Championships, and I also have a few Hong Kong like local champion titles as well.
Vincent Hiscox:It's not only that. This is something that's important for you. You've got your black belt, but you're still competing, but you're competing at a very high level and that shows itself with these different medals that you've obtained. So, in terms of you, you've got your job working with children, working with adults. You've got your personal journey, where you're continuing with the jiu-jitsu, you're continuing in competitions and, I would say, continuing successfully in competitions.
Joy IP:I know competing has a timeline. I don't. I still believe that I will keep competing as long as I can, but I also know there's a. There's a. You know there's some time that it's going to be. You know a little less you know, and it won't be as focused as I am now with it.
Joy IP:So two years ago I started a company called Grit and we are an athletic tape company. So I've been making athletic tape for jujitsu athletes, just mainly on our grips because we have a lot of gripping, just mainly on our grips, because we have a lot of gripping. And I've also had a few injured ligaments and fingers here and there and I realized that there's no tape in the market that I really love. So I decided to make one and I've always wanted to start my own company. I thought making tape is something a little bit lower risk to start with and I just want to see where it's going to take me.
Joy IP:I've called the company grit because I I really resonated with that word when I first heard it and I thought that was you, you know, and grit means like, um, passion and perseverance for, for, for your, for long-term goals, and I really felt like, with jujitsu, that's what I? I that's what I went through, you know, like and and, having that black belt as my goal and um, working hard and and tirelessly, even when there are setbacks, you know, I just keep charging forward and showing up every day and learning more and and even and through that experience and and like ups and downs, I, I still can get to my goal. So, with with that I, I in my right now, in my, in my come in my business, I am also trying to develop a mindset side for it. You know, I really want to share that mindset as well with people, you know, other than just selling tape to people.
Vincent Hiscox:You know what I'm hearing from you. Is that okay? Working for others is something that you've done for a long time now.
Joy IP:Yeah.
Vincent Hiscox:So you got on the sort of you wanted to be an entrepreneur. You took an option which was to make tape, where you yourself are an expert, because it's something that's fundamental to what you do, and you're building that business. But you're seeing, okay, okay, what's the next step? So I mean, for me that's, it's absolutely fabulous because it's it's step by step, which I always like step by step, and you know it's all going in, it's all going in the same direction. It's going in the direction of what's important for you and and how you do that. And yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure, even listening to you today, I'm sure, in terms of your accomplishments, then it's something that you're going to be very good at. You know, I say that without any knowledge, but I mean it's. It comes from, you know, it comes from a feeling.
Vincent Hiscox:So you've got all of these super attributes. You've got this. You do CrossFit, you do Jiu-Jitsu, you do it with children, you do it with adults. So my next question is if you're talking to parents now, okay, so people listen to the podcast. There won't be any three-year-olds listening. So if you talk to the parents, you can talk to the two markets that you're addressing today. For them, what would be the important things for them to do? You know, with your knowledge and everything that you've got in CrossFit, everything that you've got in terms of your jiu-jitsu, and you say how can those people help themselves? What, even if they started as a beginner, what would be the starting position to sort of for them to get a benefit from what you do?
Joy IP:For parents in terms of their kids' development. I always stress that you know, putting your kids in, you know, sports or fitness is very important, not just for their physical development, but it also helps their cognitive function and their memory and their learning. Uh, through that there is a. There is a book that I read of spark spark. Have you heard of this book?
Joy IP:yeah yes, and it talks about that exactly that how, like, physical activity just helps your cognitive function and your behavior. That link itself. I think what, when it comes to Hong Kong, parents who want their kids to perform excellently in their academics I feel like that's a really big selling point for them. I also feel like for kids, it's important to learn the basics right. So I really stress about coming to my CrossFit classes to learn the fundamentals of movement, right. You can also do that with gymnastics, right. I think that's also a great way to start and then, as they, as they're developing, put your kids in different sports right.
Joy IP:It's important to try different, different kinds of sports team sports, individual sports, martial arts. They all offer different benefits and I think it's very important for a child's development. It's great to specialize, right, but then as a kid, you don't even know what you want. So let them try. And I tell them don't push them. If they tried it and they don't like it, give them some time, don't force it. When you force a kid to do something you know they're not going to do in the future, it's just psychology. So I I say, just let them try different things and if they like something and they really want to stick with it and they're sure about it. Then, yes, try to help them and support them for that. That.
Vincent Hiscox:That, that would be my, my one little spiel for the parents I think I mean I mean super advice and, as you were talking there, I mean I've got five grandchildren. Okay, the oldest is 18, so I wouldn't call her a child anymore. Yeah, the next one is teenager, then they're kind of 10 or 11 and under, and that kind of information, I think you know, from a parent's point of view, I mean it's super information, yeah, okay, so let's turn it around to the parents or the adults. What should they be doing to help themselves?
Joy IP:I think it's very important to move every day. I move every day, like I get up in the morning, the first thing I do is I go train, and it also it just helps because once you've done it as the first thing you do in the morning, you don't have to worry about for the rest of the day. You can go to work, you can have your meetings, you can have your lunches and your dinners and your happy hours, and but then you've already checked that as, like almost like you're non-negotiable, right. I think it's very important to move. It's also really good as, like, a way to de-stress yourself. When you work out, when you move and you stress your body out, you release, you know, endorphins and the happy chemicals that you know you want, and that's for free, right? So I would say, do that. What else do you need to help yourself? Like you want to move and feel happy. You know you also have to take care of your body in different ways. I think training is one aspect, right, but it's also about sleep, right. You have to recover, like, if you don't sleep properly, you're going to feel stressed anyway. Also, sleeping is going to help you with your cortisol levels, right, so it'll help your cortisol levels, and your cortisol levels also affect your fat, right, your belly fat and all that stuff.
Joy IP:Um, I also think it's important to eat well. It's important to fuel your body with nutritious foods. Less processed foods is better. I'm not saying you're not allowed to. You know, if you want a sweet treat or you want something naughty, you go for it, right? We're all human. I think we should be able to reward ourselves. But it's all all about, like, moderation, right, but always fill your body with good foods. And the other thing I would also stress about is have good social network, right, it's like I'm doing all these things well, but if you don't have friends or community or family, it it will still affect your happiness, I think, in the long run. And I think it's important to get these few factors right.
Vincent Hiscox:Yeah, and that's music to my ears. I think that you've kind of covered a lot of the bases, and one thing that I wanted to say on that is that, okay, you are a performer at the very top level. Okay, you're a black belt in jiu-jitsu. You compete often, you are getting good results in what you're doing, and then when you bring it back to the sort of advice for the listeners it's kind of all the basic things I didn't hear anything in there that sort of said you know, you need to go to the gym for sort of 20 hours a day, or you need to push this amount of weight, or you need to do this, or you need to do that.
Vincent Hiscox:What you came back to me with was what I would call the pillars of health. They're the must-dos. They're the must-dos that give people the foundation for making improvements, that give people the foundation for making improvements, and what I would read into what you're saying is that those are very important for you and that's what you build your health and your wellness and your strength on top of. So, yeah, I thank you very much for that.
Joy IP:For sure, for sure. I really think getting the fundamentals right and and strong foundations is the launch pad for anything you want to excel in right and and I, I and I believe that in almost every aspect of what, like life is about, you know yeah, and I'll take it one step further on that.
Vincent Hiscox:So where you say you concentrate a lot of your work on children, what would you say would be the sort of fundamentals for children?
Joy IP:I would say it's same right. It's about like learning the basics, like learn, learn how to use your body right, learn how to like carry your own body weight, learn how to use your hands and legs. That those are the basics right. You cannot run before you even know how to walk right. It's, it's that concept of building that foundation first and then, once you have that, then apply it to anything you want to do and you can trust your. You trust yourself, you can trust your own body that it can take care of you as well.
Vincent Hiscox:Yeah, so what I got from that is everything that you were recommending for the adults applies equally to children. And then, in addition to that, if you're looking particularly at the children and I guess it might even apply to the adults is just start with the basics and get the basics right and build on the basics. Yeah, you can't build the castle on the dodgy foundations, so these are the foundations that have worked for you, what you see in your clients and what you would recommend to your clients. So I mean absolutely fabulous and I thank you very much for that. Thank you, yeah, we're coming towards the end of the podcast now and I'm sure we could carry on talking for ages because there's so much nice information.
Joy IP:That's coming out. There's too much to say. There's too much to say yeah.
Vincent Hiscox:What that means is yeah, that means there's always an opportunity for a second podcast. What I always do is to ask you to give a key message. So you've got a key message that you can share with the listeners. What would be your key message? I?
Joy IP:think, from all the stuff that we talked about today, it's important to look at your foundations right and try to build that as a good basis. Looking at all the adventures I've done, I put myself out of my comfort zone. A lot In return gave me a lot of amazing experiences and amazing lessons that I got back. It's important to try to put yourself out of your comfort zone and trust life will give you something back.
Vincent Hiscox:Great, absolutely fabulous. Improve your basics, be happy to move outside of your comfort zone and really trust in yourself yeah yeah, absolutely great. Thank you so much joy for the podcast. I've really enjoyed it. It's so nice talking to you and, yeah, thank you very much thank you for having me, vincent yeah super, a great podcast with joy, with so, so many takeaways.
Vincent Hiscox:And here are my takeaways. Number one building physical literacy is as important as word literacy Motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge and engagement. Number two a healthy mind and a healthy body make you happy. Number 3. Physical activity helps develop cognitive function, memory and learning capability. Number 4. Invest in the pillars of health. Sleep with nutrition movement and allow some treats. Sleep with nutrition movement and allow some treats. Number five grit, perseverance, resilience, courage, passion and conscientiousness. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review. Please share with your family and friends. You're welcome to email me with feedback, comments and questions at vincenthiscox at outlookcom. Would you enjoy getting a short weekly email from me where I share simple tips that you can put into practice to improve your health? Subscribe to Vincent's Wellness Newsletter at vincent1cdsubstackcom. If you are looking to get into the best shape of your life, to look and feel your best, visit my coaching website, procoachapp. Forward slash Vincent dash Hiscox. All of the references to the websites will be in the show notes. And don't forget to share the episode with a friend.