From Addiction to Advocacy: April Hutchinson's Journey - Episode #260 - The Athletes Podcast

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
When I spoke up and I got my suspension, I basically
got worldwide attention.
I was on I don't know how manyTV interviews, every paper was
writing about it and I gotnothing but support.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hey folks, welcome back to the 260th episode of the
Athletes Podcast today,featuring April Hutchinson, a
women's sports advocate, someonewho I've been working on
getting on the show forpractically years now, and we
finally were able to do it.
Next time we'll do it in personin a month's time, when she's
on the island talking withJordan Peterson, but in the
meantime we're bringing you thisepisode virtually.

(00:37):
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Now let's get to the 260thepisode of the Athletes Podcast
featuring April Hutchinson.
I was a little nervous.
You folks get to enjoy that.
Here we go.
You're the most decoratedracquetball player in US history
, world's strongest man, fromchildhood passion to

(01:43):
professional athlete, eight-timeIronman champion.
So what was it like making yourdebut in the NHL?
What is your biggest piece ofadvice for the next generation
of athletes, from underdogs tonational champions?
This is the Athletes Podcast,where high-performance
individuals share their triumphs, defeats and life lessons to
educate, entertain and inspirethe next generation of athletes.

(02:06):
Here we go, we get to learnfrom April Hutchinson here today
.
This will be the 260th episodeof the Athletes Podcast, which
is absolutely bonkers.
You're a three-time Team Canadarecord-holding powerlifter.
You are banned for biologicalfacts and you're an advocate for
fairness in sports.
I'm very excited to have you onthe show here today.
Have you explain a bit moreabout what you've been doing the

(02:30):
past few years, which inreality is almost probably
decades in the grand scheme ofthings, with your work, april,
welcome to the show.
Thank you for coming on.
I'm going to let you introduceyourself because you've got an
amazing story and I'm fortunateenough to be able to share it
here on the athletes podcasttoday.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Oh, thank you so much for having me today.
Um, yeah, like you said, I'm a.
I'm a three time team Canadapowerlifter.
Um, I'm actually still thecurrent uh, north American dev
left record holder and, um, Iactually started um sports like
a.
Very well, I'll tell you alittle bit about why I'm here
today.
But I actually, when I wasplaying on Team Canada, I

(03:10):
actually discovered a male alsocompeting in the women's
category.
So I actually got banned forbasically speaking the truth and
fighting for fairness.
So that's kind of like what I'mdoing now is being an advocate
for fitness and women's sports.
But my journey into sportsactually started at a very, very
young age.
I basically played every kindof sport imaginable.

(03:33):
My dad would drag me to thehockey rink when I was five
years old to do power skatinglessons.
You know, when I wanted to kindof sit at home and watch the
Smurfs on a Saturday morning, mydad was like nope, you're going
to the rink.
So that was kind of my firststeps into sports and, um, you
know whether it was hockeyringettes?
Um, track and field.

(03:54):
I remember bringing home allthe blue ribbons for the track
and field meets and, uh, alwaysvery competitive in nature, even
from a small age.
So, um, and honestly I and Ithank my father, I mean, even to
this day I thank him because Imean sports really kind of
helped save my life, basically,and we can get more into that,
um, as people kind of hear mystory so, um, at the age of five

(04:18):
and I do talk about this when Itour around Canada and talk
about my advocacy I actuallysuffered some sexual abuse from
my neighbor, and at that time ithappened.
I actually, you know, I wantedto become a little boy after,
because, you know, here was thisman it was my neighbor at the
time who had abused me, and Ithought, well, you know, if I

(04:42):
could be a little boy, then menwon't touch me ever again.
So I kind of went through alittle bit of an identity crisis
at that young age.
So, unfortunately, though, whenI was 12 years old, going
through puberty and still goingthrough that awkward identity
crisis stage, I actually foundalcohol, which helped me kind of

(05:04):
get through puberty basicallyand helped me kind of just feel
comfortable in my own skin.
Now, during all this time, Iwas still playing sports and
thank God I was, because it wasalmost like a therapy for me,
but unfortunately, by the time Iwas 18, I was probably
considered a full-blownalcoholic.
Now, keep in mind, I was alwaysplaying sports, but sometimes

(05:27):
I'd go play a sport and I'dbring like a six-pack of beer
with me, so it was always mymedicine.
I needed that to survive, butI'd still kick ass in sports.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
When I hear some of the stories when I was doing the
research for this episode, Ifound a lot of similarities,
just in the competitive naturereading the stories of your dad
bringing you to the hockey rinkat a young age and I can relate
to having to go through thosekinds of experiences.
I can't relate to being abusedat a young age, so I'm sorry to
hear that that happened to youand I think it's important for

(06:01):
people to realize where you'recoming from and your
understanding and what you'veexperienced over the past few
decades, because this issomething that's not just recent
.
You know we see it in theOlympics over the past year or
two.
That's still happening to thisday and it's a sensitive subject
.
People don't like to necessarilytalk about these things.
It can be uncomfortable, butthese conversations need to be

(06:24):
had and you're having them on adaily basis and I'd love for you
to maybe peel back some layersof the onion to what you've
experienced recently.
When it comes to, you know mostpeople will be aware of you
being on Fox News Tucker Carlsonshow, seeing some of the
publicity that's been around it.
It's gained momentum forobvious reasons, but from your

(06:46):
point of view, right now I'mlocated in British Columbia.
As you know, there's men thatare holding records here in the
women's category.
Again, I sit here as a male.
I am not here to discriminate.
I'm simply hoping to have aconversation around this, to
learn more, to understand better.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
Yeah, no, actually you're in British Columbia as we
speak.
Today.
Actually a male competitor isactually competing in the
women's category in the in thepowerlifting Federation, the CPU
.
Actually he performed today andI don't know if he took gold
medal, but it's an ongoingproblem, especially in British

(07:27):
Columbia, and actually there isa male that holds all three out
of five records in Alberta aswell and the women's
powerlifting.
So so this is why I spoke up.
It's because you know I was onteam Canada If I kind of
backtrack a little bit when Istopped that my whole alcoholism
thing.
Um, I'm sober today, um sixyears sober, and congratulations

(07:49):
yeah, thanks.
And guess what?
I got into sports.
After I came into rehab, I gotright back into sports, I got
right into powerlifting, Itrained five times a week and I
made team Canada.
So it was um, at that point,when I first started competing,
that I found this male competingin my category and I was like
whoa like, and this person wastaking gold medals.

(08:11):
And the person also actuallyadmitted to having an advantage
over women.
So, anyway, went through fullblown puberty, was a 40 year old
male just waltzed right intothe women's category and I said,
hey, like you know what, I wasfriends with this person online
as well.
I said that's completely unfairto women.
Like, how far do you expect togo?

(08:32):
And he's like, well, I want togo to the nationals, I want to
go to worlds.
And I said, if you do, I'mgoing to speak up, I'm going to
tell the federation what's goingon.
So unfortunately, there was along process, but I did write
the Federation.
They ignored me and then Iactually ended up getting a
two-year suspension because Ireferred to this individual as a

(08:52):
male when I was talking aboutit on the Pierce Morgan show
against their pronoun usage ofthe code of conduct within the
Powerlifting Federation.
People think I got silencedbecause I was just speaking up
about fairness.
It was actually the fact that Iwent against their code of

(09:13):
conduct and to me, that wascompelled speech, because even
to this day, I will not call aman a woman or vice versa,
because it's just hugelyimpossible to transition and
that's lying.
It actually goes against ourreligious beliefs.
It goes against you know a lotof things.
But specifically in sports,it's always been separated by

(09:36):
sex.
Sports have always beenseparated and when you're
talking about sports, you needto talk about men and women,
because it's bodies that arecompeting.
It's all about biology andbodies.
So you really have to call aspade a spade, right when you're
referring to it.
So, um, but unfortunately, likethis is what I do, I go around
canada, I I talk about myexperience.

(09:58):
I've actually, since I havespoken up, I have been a part of
the legislation that was passedin Alberta with Daniel Smith.
She actually reached out to meand said what do you want to see
in the sports act before itgets implemented at the
legislature?
I was there as an honoraryguest.
She went ahead and actuallymade a male only category, a

(10:19):
female only category and a co-edcategory in Alberta, so that
way the female athletes areprotected, which is great.
So we have Alberta doing theright thing.
I was at the British Columbiahelping John Rustad.
He was a conservative leader.
He also tried to pass the sameexact bill, but it got shot down
by the NDP party.

(10:39):
So NDPs were not interested inprotecting little girls and
women's safety and fairness insports.
So I'm basically just travelingaround, a working with
politicians, but B spreading mymessage so that people can
understand just how you knowunsafe it is, first of all, and
just the unfairness of having tocompete against a someone

(11:00):
that's, you know, bigger, faster, stronger.
You know so someone.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
That's just, you know , bigger, faster, stronger, you
know.
So, yeah, it's, it's a from.
It seems pretty clear cut whenyou look back.
We've always separated sportsby sex.
Um, but I, you know, inpreparing for this conversation,
I'm like what are thealternatives?
Like, do we have a mixed group?
Do we have a co-ed to a group,like we've done in alberta?
Do we break it up based onheight?
Do we do it based on eye color,on skin color, on hair color?
Like there's so many ways thatyou could break these things up,

(11:29):
and I'm always trying to figureout ways to optimize the
situation because, frankly, Icould swim against Michael
Phelps and I'm gonna lose 10 outof 10 times, even though we're
both males, because his body'sbuilt for swimming better than
mine is right now.
That comes to like aphysiological level within males
too.
So I'm always curious, like,how are you going in and making

(11:50):
sure that again we're talkingabout advocacy making sure that
little girls, for instance, aretaken care of and protected, so
that men aren't in and aroundtheir proximity.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yeah, when it comes to this is like this is a bigger
problem.
Yeah, so I mean, with ImanKhalif, he had ample chances to
divulge his medical records andhe never did so.
A that looks very suspicious,because if he said he was female
all along, then he would justlet everyone know the medical
tests, because there wasconclusive test results that
showed that he did have XYchromosomes, that the DNA came

(12:43):
back, that he was.
There was trainers that trainedwith him that said he's a male.
So I mean, there was thisoverwhelming amount of evidence
that showed that he was a male.
And then obviously peoplestarted going on about oh well,
he has a DSD disorder, he's likeI go, it doesn't matter, stop
bringing the intersex argumentinto this, because even if

(13:07):
someone is intersex, you'restill either born male or female
.
So a lot of times people willbring the intersex conversation
up as a way to distract right,um and so, but at the end of the
day, you're you either people.
I don't know if they understandwhat makes you like.
Some people think that yourouter extremities like if you
have a peanut right or, say, amicro peanuts or in a large

(13:30):
clitoris or what have you?
But your, your chromosomes arexy, you're a male.
It's not based on the external,it's based on your gametes,
right?
So, um, and I think it would benice if some people could just
go back to Green 10, biology,you know, like.
But but no, they just came outrecently that now the world

(13:53):
boxing, they are actually goingto be implementing sex tests for
all the competitors.
So you, probably a cheek swabtest will be done.
So looks like a man.
Kalief will not be competingwith probably the uh, the women
again.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
So this is great now, yeah, because he was dominating
them during the olympics.
It was gross.
It was gross to watch.
You couldn't even watch it.
Right is again a man competingagainst women, and that's not
fair.
Um, now, I say that in the samebreath where, like eleni, the
co-founder of cook starkmanagement, where we represent
75 female athletes in the pwhlncaa olympians um, she plays

(14:30):
with some trans women, forinstance, and even though
they're five inches taller, havegrown up as men and
transitioned, she can light themup and play incredibly well.
She's better than them.
It's and like I've heard thatit's very difficult, if not
almost impossible, to bebuilding muscle when you're
taking estrogen, the.
The caveat there is that, hey,you've been on the juice for the

(14:52):
past 20 years before youswitched over, right am I?
Is that making sense?

Speaker 1 (14:56):
I'm on the right vein yeah, but at the end of the day
, um, like so, for example, um,if you take 12, there's actually
um studies that 14 year oldboys actually practice with team
canada's women's soccer team.
So here we have 14 year oldboys practicing with 20
something year old women on theteam canada thing.

(15:17):
For the reason why there's maleand female birth charts, males
have an advantage at the get-go.
They always will.
And if you take me and you orme and a male at age whatever,
it doesn't matter what age is it, 10 or 12, or even take me now
if I have no training, and putme right up to a, next to a guy,

(15:38):
they're just naturally going tolift more.
They're going to be bigger,faster, stronger.
It's just the way it is.
But then you have athletes whohave, like, if you want not to
be blockers, but if theseathletes like, for example, the
one that was in my powerliftingfederation, you still maintain
the, you still have the bonestructure of a male, you still

(15:59):
have that hand grip.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
You're going to have bigger hands, you're going to
have have.

Speaker 1 (16:03):
It doesn't affect your vo2 max.
You're gonna have bigger lungcapacity.
Um, your pelvis is different,like everything's built
differently, so it doesn'tmatter about the hormones.
It doesn't surprise as much asyou think.
You're still gonna have anadvantage over a female, and it
doesn't matter how long you'vebeen taking those hormones for.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
So thank you for clarifying that.
It's uh again.
I I'm coming at this from, Iknow nothing and I want to yeah
yeah, honestly, like I am notnaive to say, like I've done 260
episodes here, I bring onexperts, I bring on
professionals, I bring on theindividuals to enlighten me

(16:39):
because, hey, frankly, it's notpossible for me to know
everything and to be able toadvocate for everyone, but
there's people out there thatneed this work to be done and
you're doing it.
So I appreciate that.
And I do want to touch on thissuspension from the Canadian
Powerlifting Union.
How did that impact you, bothpersonally and professionally?
Because this is what you wereparticipating in.

(17:02):
This is your transitionbecoming sober, you put that
effort into weight training,becoming the best power lifter
that you can be, and then tohave that stripped away, I can't
imagine.

Speaker 1 (17:14):
Well, so, yeah, so I used power lifting as a way to
get healthy and stay sober whenI came out of rehab.
It was really a blessing to me,and so when I spoke up about
the unfairness, um, I I got, Ibasically would say stuff like
at first, I wrote them atwo-page letter just outlining
all the physical and mental um,basically, um, things that would

(17:37):
affect women if we had tocompete against a man.
So, and one of them was um,people think about the physical
right and the unsafety part, butalso think about the physical
right and the safety part, butalso think about the females
like myself who train so hardand put so much money into this
for it too.
Right, I'm also in a testedfederation, so I can't take
anything banned.
I can't take banned substances.

(17:58):
Even if I wanted to takehormones, say, help me with
something medically, like, say,if I was going through menopause
, I actually have to go to thedoctor and get an exemption.
I have to get permission.
Meanwhile, they let a fullgrown man, full of testosterone,
walk in and compete.
So think about that, like,think about that, no questions

(18:20):
asked.
Like my fiance could basicallyidentify as a female tomorrow
and go into my powerliftingfederation and crush records and
compete as a female.
And I mean it happened with aTeam Canada coach.
He watched him pretend he was awoman.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
Yeah, I remember seeing that.
That was awesome.
That was, I guess, awesome tohighlight how broken the system
was.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
Yes, how ridiculous the system was, yes, how
ridiculous the policy is because, but because I did use my voice
, I did have the policy change.
So I want people to reallyunderstand this and this is why
I really emphasize this on allmy speeches is that people need
to speak up, like, don't beafraid to speak up, because,
again, like I got suspended froma little code of conduct policy

(19:04):
that the, the CPU, made Right.
Right, I really didn't getsuspended for just speaking up
for women, so it was funny.
I met riley gains and shehelped me.
She's like you know I just keepspeaking up april, like we're
really good friends.
Now riley gains and I and Istarted saying stuff like save
women's sports and my federationcame back and said, oh, you

(19:25):
can't say save women's sports,that's hate speech, that's
horrible.
And I was like, wow, are youkidding me?
So I kept on speaking up andthen, when the powerlifter broke
all the records in alberta, Iwas on the pierce morgan show
and I referred to um thepowerlifter as a man, which he
is a man.
He's a biological man, not thatthere's different types of men,

(19:49):
and those are the words that gotme suspended, because I spoke
truth, I spoke biological truthsand I correctly sexed this
person, and I literally gotpunished for that.
Now, this was three years ago.
Would that happen today?
I don't know, but this was back.
When things happen today.
I don't know, but this was backwhen things were like people
didn't know what trans was atthe very top of everything you.

(20:12):
You hit it when it was hot itwas hot, it came right out of,
it was right out of covid, andpeople like I mean I think I
forget what, is it now 30 or% orsomething identify Like I have
actually a friend who istransgender and I mean he admits
, he goes.
I'm just a gay man that dresseslike a woman.
I have a mental disorder.
I loved him for being honest.

(20:33):
I'm like thank you, he said.
But unfortunately there'speople that go around saying
that they're trans with, youknow, no operations, no hormones
giving.
They just wake up and they feeluncomfortable in their own skin
.
So they go.
I'm trans today.
They said that's bad for hiscommunity, like he's.
Like this is getting ridiculous, right.

Speaker 2 (20:58):
Well, because then you're also impacting everyone
who you go to that female ormale washroom, because you
identify there and now you'reputting them at risk
unnecessarily.

Speaker 1 (21:02):
Well, unfortunately, a lot of predators take
advantage, and this is why I'mspeaking out is because there is
a lot of people that sufferfrom autogynephilia, who have
fetishes.
There's predators, and we haveto be careful not to let them in
to the spaces with, you know,my little nieces or little girls
we have.
This is why we have to bringawareness and attention to the
subject, and I mean there's menthat go into women's sports just

(21:26):
to dominate.
They take prize money.
It's happening all the time inthe States with the cycling and
all these different events wherethey just self-idea the woman.
They go in and they take theprize money just because they
can.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
So, yeah, yeah, one of the things I was curious,
like what your experience waslike with LGBT athletes, with
trans athletes, like obviouslysomeone who's advocating.
You've probably had somepushback or opposition from the
sports community, like what'sthat been like?

Speaker 1 (21:56):
Oh, sorry.
Yeah, Kind of back to youroriginal question.
Uh, so when I spoke up and Igot my suspension, um, I
basically got worldwideattention.
I was on I don't know how manyTV interviews, every paper was
writing about it and I gotnothing but support.
I actually didn't get any hatemail whatsoever, because I think

(22:20):
people understand that again,sports are about fairness and
it's about safety and it's aboutsex.
I mean, it's females againstfemales, men against men, unless
you're playing like what I didtoday.
I played mixed doubles inpickleball.

Speaker 2 (22:28):
But that's my choice right.
Yeah, and that's all fourparties agreeing to that choice.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
Yeah.
So and this is again somethingI try to emphasize is that you
know I got a lot of support.
I haven't gotten gotten likeany hate mail.
Yes, I lost my sports, but youknow what?
It was more important to me tospeak up about this, because my
integrity means more to me thanany gold medal.

(22:57):
I could have gone back tocompeting next last year, but I
decided not to because they werestill letting males compete at
a local level.
But because I used my voice, Iactually had the policy changed
at the national andinternational level.
So they actually said well, wedon't want men getting through.
So thank you so much foralerting us about the situation.

(23:18):
And they had no idea.
And so they actually changedthe policy to testosterone
monitoring and that anyone goingthrough would have to supply
medical records.
So no one's getting throughbecause these males are not
giving them the documentation,they're not submitting their
medical records and they're notabiding by the testosterone
monitoring.
Oh, I wonder why.

(23:38):
You know.

Speaker 2 (23:41):
Yeah, I know you get featured on all the shows.
Uh, recognition globally.
That's why you're here on theathletes podcast today and then
in a month's time you'll be withjordan peterson in victoria um.
I love being able to highlightcanadians.
I think it's important to makesure we represent our nation and
make sure that people know thatwe are a proud nation and that
we've got people doing importantthings up here north of the

(24:03):
49th parallel.
What was that like?
Getting global exposure?

Speaker 1 (24:14):
I can't imagine.
Well, I mean it's a goodfeeling.
I mean I still walk around.
Um, I also, because of thiswhole ordeal, I made my own
apparel line so it's the femalefor its female hoodies and
t-shirts and stuff like that.
And I mean I love it whenpeople buy one of my shirts or
my hoodies because they justwalk around with the message you

(24:36):
know, save women's sports, andstuff like that.
So that's really cool.
But I get recognized here, likein my city Mostly.
Rebel News has done a lot ofstories on me as well, but I
have been interviewed fromGlobal News, cbc and they've
actually written some reallygreat articles about me,
considering they're very moreleft right.

(24:56):
They've actually been verynon-biased and actually, um,
have been very um, you know goodto me as far as the articles
are concerned, but I mean it's,it's been great the support.
Um, I actually got picked up bythree sponsors, um, since I
basically have been notpowerlifting and I was like,
okay, I didn't get any sponsors.
But now I have great sponsorsbehind me and they didn't choose

(25:18):
me because I was an athlete.
They chose me because of whatI'm speaking right up, what I
stand for.
And the one company, um pblsupplements, said you know what
you have integrity.
We love that.
So, yeah, so it's been a goodroad, but I missed my sport.
But I said you know what?
I can sit here and be miserable, um, and go and just be

(25:39):
depressed about it, or I cankeep going and I can do
something positive.
And that's why I'm an advocateand I tour around and I do my
speeches, and you know what?
Now I found pickleball.
I found a different sport.
I also box a couple times aweek.
So I, you know, I'm alwayscompetitive.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
So yeah, that competitive nature never leaves
and, if anything, I think it'sprobably a superpower in the
sense that you can go into anysituation and lock in and, you
know, take on anything, whetherit's pickleball, racquetball,
boxing, weightlifting, likethat's a.
That's a superpower that a lotof people don't possess.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
Well, it's true you have to be um.
You know it takes a lot ofwillpower, but it takes a lot of
like.
I mean just to be a high um.
You know it takes a lot ofwillpower, but it takes a lot of
like.
I mean just to be a high levelathlete.
It takes a lot of like.
I use the word obsession, right, like uh, I think joe brogan
even talked about it.
You know, to be number one inyour sport, you have to be
obsessed, and I definitely haveocd.
Like I'm even just pickleball.

(26:36):
I'm like I'm playing it everyday and I have a coach already
and I'm like I'm like, okay, solike when can I go into the us
open?

Speaker 2 (26:43):
what?
Uh, what level are you guysplaying?
Is it l1 or how do they do that?

Speaker 1 (26:46):
l1, l4 or something like that I do it by my duper
scores, so it's like yeah yourduper rating and stuff like that
.
So yeah I did a tournamentyesterday and we won five out of
seven games.
It it was intermediate, so itwas like a 3.5 level, but I mean
no big deal.

Speaker 2 (27:04):
No big deal, 3.5.
It's all good.
So the two of you are competingnow locally in London, and then
you're going to go take on thenational stage next, I'm
assuming.
Is that the plan?

Speaker 1 (27:15):
That's what my friend said.
He was like oh God thing.
My friend said he was oh god,april, you're gonna be like
trying to go for the olympics in2036 in india.
But I do like a challenge, likeeven though I'm in my late 40s
now, I still play.
I, I play in the open, so yeahand uh.
And actually with pickleball Iactually don't mind playing

(27:35):
against men, like trainingagainst man, because it makes me
a better player.

Speaker 2 (27:39):
So I'm like I love pickleball for that reason.
Like I can go out onto thecourt against a seven year old
and he can smoke the heck out ofme right Like there's no actual
understanding of level.
Like you really can be the mostunassuming individual and come
in and clean someone's clockright Like it's.
It's great in that sense and Ithink you know I could go play

(28:02):
with my grandmother, my motherand my dad or my brother.
Like there's no you knowdifficulty.
When you know, even from golf,when you think about everyone's
still hitting golf balls.
But like ladies are at the Redstees, men's are at the Whites
or the Blues.
Like it's just everyone'sdisconnected Pickleball.
Everyone's nice tight quarters,everyone's playing together

(28:23):
Same speed.
Like it's great.
And to your point, if you'replaying with better people,
you're going to get better andyou can compete men versus women
and there is no ultimately realdifference advantage, because
stronger doesn't necessarilymean better in this.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
Yeah, like right now.
Yeah, like the stronger I meanit would help with their shots
and stuff like that, but like,obviously people are a bit
harder.
I mean I I just yeah, I love itand that's that's why I think I
got rated one of the top sports, like for longevity is because
football is not just only funbut actually such a sense of
community like I've met so manypeople and why I got into it.

(28:55):
Because the first tournament Idid, like a month ago, my fiance
and I we lost to like two 70year old women and I was like oh
my God, we got smoked by theseladies Right and I was like
that's it, I'm going to getlessons.
And I'm like hardcore now.
I'm like I can't lose to 70year old.
But it's like they didn't evenmove, they were just like
dinking it around.
I was like running everywherefor it.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
I.
I was like running everywherefor it.
I was like this is amazing,like so, yeah, hey, folks, just
in case you are feeling a littlelethargic throughout your day,
one of the supplements that Ialso take is the can I wellness
boost supplement.
It's just a little bit ofvitamin B12 and your ability to
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(29:43):
This is supported by athleteslike matt duchesne, who was just
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Let me know what you think.
Back to the episode.
Yeah, so racket sports areinsane when it comes to their

(30:11):
longevity results, like.
There's the copenhagen cityheart study.
A 25-year study involved over 8500 adults found that playing
tennis was associated with anincrease of life expectancy of
9.7 years, while badminton added6.2 and those games like
surpassed other activities likecycling.
That was 3.7 years, swimming3.4.

(30:32):
British journal of sportsmedicine study analyzed over
80,000 participants and thatstudy found that racket sports
were linked to a 47% reductionin all-course mortality and a
56% reduction incardiovascular-related deaths.

Speaker 1 (30:46):
Oh, wow.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
And again, those figures were way higher compared
to swimming at 28% and 41%, andaerobics at 27% and 36%.
So racket sports, everyoneshould be playing them.

Speaker 1 (30:57):
Exactly, and that's funny, that's kind of how I got
into, because you know, thewinter we had was pretty harsh
and I was just like, oh my god,I was actually usually I don't
get like the seasonal affectivedisorder, but I found it to be a
really hard, uh winter.
So I said to my fiance, westarted with like recreational
pickleball, just for fun, butnow that we're really into it,
now we've joined actually apickleball club and I'm on part

(31:19):
of a women's league now yeah, Iremember I remember reading an
article and it said after if youwant to like, live longer um
and to keep your brain active,to learn a second language,
learn a racket sport.
Learn um to play a musicalinstrument or play cards.
And I was like you know what?
Let's play some racket sportsto keep our brains going right.

(31:39):
It's mobility and it's reflexes, it's everything.
So that's the thing aboutpickleball.
Like I do my weight training onmy days off too, I do it only
twice a week with my weighttraining, but I mean, it's good
cardio, but it's really good foryour mobility and to me,
mobility is number one in mylife.
So yeah, yeah, especially umcoming from a strength
background, your mobility issomething you got to maintain

(32:02):
afterwards like I had a lot ofmuscle but I also had a lot of

(32:23):
body fat, like I was just biggerand I could feel my joints like
getting sore and I think of allthe weight that I was lifting
and to me not knocking powerlifting, but it's a sport where
you don't even use your feet.
Like you don't move, like youjust don't move there's some.

Speaker 2 (32:34):
Uh, there's some.
What is it?
Leg drive from your bench pressright right like driving.

Speaker 1 (32:40):
So that's about it, and so I was just kind of like.
You know, it wasn't like a bigloss when I couldn't powerlift,
because I'm so happy that Iactually am not competing in
that and that I lost the weight.
I went on the carnivore diet fora little bit um but uh, but no,
I just I feel like a milliondollars now and I just I'm very
happy and I think things happen.

(33:01):
Just how I got into powerlifting, like how I got sober, it led
me down this path.
I was talking to Tammy Peterson, Jordan Peterson's wife, and I
said, Tammy, like this was mydestiny to do this, Like I
literally fell into finding thismale competitor.
Then all of a sudden, like youknow, getting sober, using
powerlifting, and then stickingto my guns and saying, like you

(33:24):
know what Men shouldn't becompeting, and that scared me to
say something.
I knew well at that time Ididn't know what the reaction
would be from the world.
But I just thought, you knowwhat, I can't sit there and live
a lie almost, and keep thishidden, because that's how I
felt.
And so I was really happy thatI spoke up and you know I didn't

(33:47):
cry.
I was kind of shocked that theygave me two years, because
that's a pretty big sentence forjust speaking out about
something.
Speaking facts.
Yeah, I'm stating facts, but Ithink they used me as a
deterrent so that other peoplewouldn't speak up about it.
They're like oh, if you do,you're going to get suspended

(34:07):
for two years as well.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
Little Ben Johnson back in the old Canadian
sprinters days.
If those Canadians rememberthat, yeah, you set an example
right and it sucks, because youwere that person that they
ultimately decided, hey, she'sgoing to be the one that we're
going.
You set an example right and itsucks because you were that
person that they ultimatelydecided, hey, she's gonna be the
one that we're gonna make anexample out of and everyone else
will follow suit once theydon't want to get two years
suspended, but then it's, youknow, changes your career

(34:30):
trajectory.
Ultimately, it seems like it'sworked out for the best.
You're playing pickleball now.
That's a low impact activity onyour joints that have been
maybe a little grumpier previousyears.
So you're all good now.
Right, we're good, um I.
I am curious, though, likehockey at a young age, ring, at
power lifting, now pickleball.

(34:50):
Like I am a huge advocatesimilar to the way it sounds
like you are about kidsparticipating in sport from a
young age, playing all differentkinds of sports you never know
how they're going to relateimpact you later on down the
road Again playing pickleball,golf, some sports you can play
down later on in years of yourlife.
I guess from your perspective,were there ones that impacted

(35:12):
you the most?
Were there, pivotal momentsduring your career that you
really latched on to?
You know, a big lift that ledyou to, you know, being more
confident in powerlifting?
I'm always curious to hear kindof those tidbits if there were
ever those pivotal moments foryou?
Well, I think so when I startedoff, I always loved being on the

(35:32):
ice.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
That was always one of my favorite things to do was
skating right.
But I think at a young age,like when I started getting into
ringette, for example, I knewthat because I was always the
top scorer.
The papers were always writingabout me.
This is when I was a kid right,when they actually would
publish like pictures of thekids playing sports and stuff
and and then I would have thetrack and field meets.

(35:54):
I loved running.
I love because every track so Iwould do um high jump, I would
do long jump, I did the sprint100, 200 and I always made it to
the Ontario final um.
I always won and I just knew.
I think at that time even myfather saw that I was a little
bit maybe, or genetically maybe,above the normal yeah, yeah and

(36:15):
so it doesn't matter what sportI went to, like, I actually did
a cage fight when I was 40 andMMA.
I got into MMA.
I was like you know what I wantto do MMA now.
So what I do?
I train with a coach.
He was an ex UFC fighter and Iwas doing a cage fight in front
of a thousand people, like sohow'd that go?
Uh, I won't I lost, but like Iwon't I lost.

(36:38):
But it was very close though.
It was like 26, 27, 28.
It was very close.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
How did that feel?

Speaker 1 (36:46):
To lose.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
No, just the experience.
A thousand people watching youinside a cage.
I can't imagine the pressure,the nerves.
You've got literally someoneacross from you who wants to
kill you and you ultimately wantto kind of kill them too, like
that's a crazy experience.
And then you got a bunch ofpeople, like intoxicated,

(37:07):
cheering you on Like it'sadrenaline times a million.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
Well, that's why I actually like kind of zone out
when you're actually in the ring.
So what happened was I wasactually a kickboxer and no one
could.
They couldn couldn't findanyone to fight me because which
was funny, because people kindof saw my size I'm like 5'11",
180 pounds they actually had tobring in some men for me to
tumble with because I waspopping everyone off me right.

(37:33):
So we couldn't find a woman tofight me.
So they actually found a JiuJitsu girl from up north fight
me.
So they actually found ajiu-jitsu girl from up north, um
, and now she was supposed tohave zero fights because I had
zero fights under my belt.
But we found out later she hadthree fights under her belt and
that's probably why I lost.
But right but she was a smalllittle short study thick girl

(37:54):
and the whole fight was hertrying to take me down because
that was her expertise wasjiu-jitsu and then I just wanted
to kick her in the head thewhole time.
So I actually heard someone inthe audience go kick her in the
head.
But um, so the fight was a lotof like me sprawling against the
fence and her trying to take medown, me just doing head shots

(38:15):
or knees to the body.
But I didn't realize peoplewere watching me.
Like you get so rushed likewhen you enter that ring.
You just don't know you don'tsee anyone around you, you just
full-on adrenaline.
Um, yeah, so it, I mean I, Ienjoyed it, like that's why I'm
back into boxing.
I love, yeah, the boxing, thestuff, like that.

(38:36):
So I mean it's.
I remember, uh, theo flurry,the hockey player.
Yeah, I did an interview withhim and he said don't you find
it?
Um, because he was sexuallyabused as a kid too and he's
also recovering alcoholic.
So we have, we're very, verysimilar, him and I.
And he said don't you noticeyou go into sports that are more

(38:57):
aggressive.
And he, he goes, I go, yeah,like the boxing, the MMA, the
powerlifting, the liftingheavyweights.
And he said it's been proventhat people it's like sexual
trauma or kind of go into thosesports because of, like, he was
a fighter, he fought when heplayed on the NHL.
It's almost like a therapeuticthing, because I said, like I

(39:20):
have no interest in just sittingdown and doing yoga, Like that
does not interest me, but I tendto pick the more aggressive
sports where I can get maybe my,you know, just my.

Speaker 2 (39:31):
You want to feel it Whatever.

Speaker 1 (39:34):
I'm not angry, like I'm not angry today, but man,
I'd love to smash thatpickleball.

Speaker 2 (39:39):
Well, and there's something to be said from having
a controlled setting andenvironment where you are
allowed to be aggressive andphysical and get those emotions
out, because, frankly, insociety we don't have that
opportunity, right.
Like you step outside your doorand you've got people watching
you, you've got video cameras onyou.
You can't be aggressive, youcan't be emotional, you have to

(40:08):
be calm, cool, collected 24, 7,365, right april.
So hey, um, I am a hugeadvocate for that too.
Like you've got to be able togo participate in sport.
Like if I don't go to the gymfor a couple days in a row, I'm
an ugly person, frankly.
Like I, I'm not fun to bearound and that is again, just
hey, I have pent up energy.
There's a reason why kids atfive, six, seven years old who
sit in classes for eight hours aday also are pent up, energetic
, difficult to deal with,because they're supposed to be

(40:31):
using that energy moving around.

Speaker 1 (40:33):
We're human beings, we're not human sitters, you
know exactly, and I wish kidsnowadays would you know um?
I forget what the study was, butthe testosterone rates, and
just young males have this headsdropped uh dramatically just
due to the inactivity, um, andpeople on their phones the whole
time, like either playing videogames or on the phone.

(40:54):
So I really encourage any kidsor anyone out there just to find
one sport that you love or oneactivity and stick to it and do
it like a couple times um, aweek, um, and this is why I do
help a lot of women like my agethat are like, hey, april, like
how did you lose weight and howdid you quit drinking?
You know, because there's a lotof women that in their 40s

(41:16):
think that well, I can't loseweight now, it's just, or they
have the baby weight from havingkids and they think I can't do
it and I'm like holy, like I didall these major life changes.
I got sober in my 40s, I thebest years of my life, I've been
in my 40s and I'm actually inthe best shape ever in my life
and now.
So if there's anyone out therethat a wants to quit drinking

(41:38):
that wine at night a coupleglasses of wine just just drop
it and and try pickleball, trysomething else, because once you
get poked on it, the serotoninlevels and the dopamine it's
going to be so rewarding.
And then when you start doingactivity, you just start
creating better food too, right,like I know.
When I work out I don't gothink, oh, people have a
cheeseburger and fries, I wantlike a salad and chicken and

(42:00):
rice and beef and eggs, and youknow, it just kind of goes with
the lifestyle.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
Hey, you're fueling for performance at that point,
right, and you want to make surethat you can perform your best.
You don't want to bejeopardizing that by putting
something that's mediocre intoyour body.
You want the best source offuel, right?
You talked about the trainingfor a bit.
You're still training a coupledays a week.
I'm curious.
I have, uh, ashley hueta, whowe had on the show uh a few
months back.
Now she's in new zealand.

(42:26):
She is the world bench pressequipped record holder.
I'm curious have you ever usedequipped bench pressing?
What does that look like?
Do you have any thoughts,feelings around that?

Speaker 1 (42:38):
well, I think it's great.
Um, I never got into it myself.
The only time I ever I did tryit once, like, uh, I use like a
bench shirt, just like a uh, youknow, and there's a lot of
stuff I've used in my traininglike slingshots and stuff like
that, but no, I never got intoequipped.
Um, I don't know, I just, I, Inever.
It never really struck my fancy.

(43:00):
I guess, right, especially withthe squats and then having your
knees wrapped so tight, it justeven looked more painful than
what powerlifting.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
Yeah, I only bring it up because you asked or you
mentioned the fact that you havewomen that you help with now,
especially in your forties, likebeing able to help them out.
What are some actionable tipsthat they can do today, this
next month?
Here we're at the 1st of Junethis episode will come out a
couple of days later.
What are some of thoseactionable tips that you provide
to women who are in their 40sor 50s, who are struggling to

(43:34):
maybe lose that extra couplepounds?

Speaker 1 (43:38):
Well, I think the number one thing't don't put so
much pressure on yourself, and Ithink that's what is that
famous expression is progress,not perfection and I always you
know, because when I firststarted I was like, oh, how come
I'm not losing weight, uh, howcome I'm not?
like my coach kept saying justgive it time, give it three
months, so you're gonna see someresults.

(43:59):
So I I would just say to womenthat want to make any little
tweaks or changes in their life,just to not to put too much
pressure on themselves to seeautomatic results.
Just it's almost like myaddiction, right, like um with
drinking it's you have to lookat it as one day at a time.
You just have to go one day ata time and those days add up and
you're going to see theprogress.

(44:19):
And so I would just say like,hey, if you want to quit, I mean
for anyone that wants to loseweight, I, my number one thing
is to get rid of the alcohol,because people don't understand,
they think oh, shuts your bodydown yeah, I'm gonna have a
white glass.
Glass of white wine, oh, it'sdry wine, not much sugar.
Alcohol is pure sugar.

(44:41):
It doesn't matter about thecalories.
What have you?
And if, if women have just oneglass of wine, your body is
going to be burning that wineoff before you burn any food off
.
So just remember when you'remunching at night and having the
wine and you're watching thebachelor and then you're
starting to have some potatochips, um, go for an herbal tea,
go for some water or go for awalk, but little steps, like

(45:03):
going for a walk every day, likethere's actually studies.
You would know that if you like, walking on an incline or just
going for a walk every day alsohelps with your longevity.
But it's way better on yourjoints than going and thinking.
You have to go run the miles.
You don't like muhammad ali,but that's exercise, it's
walking, it's the way you'regoing to get healthy, right?
So I would just say take littlebaby steps Like take the alcohol

(45:27):
out, take the sugar, anythingprocessed out of your diet.
Like you know, stick to wholefoods.
That's basically what I dotoday.
I'm not on the carnivore dietanymore, I'm basically just a
paleo whole foods person.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
okay, you know how was the carnivore diet?
What was that experience like?
Because I know peterson.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
His daughter, more specifically michaela is, like
you know had her life changedyeah, she has some medical
issues and that's why she had togo on it.
But the whole family, uh, thepetersons, are all on the
carnivore diet.
They actually got pierre polyevon the diet too, so that's why
that's how he lost all hisweight.
But, um, I liked it at firstbut then I was like, oh, I just,

(46:07):
I can't just do, you know, thebeef and that, like I was doing,
and I started incorporating.
I did eggs, obviously, but I, Ineed vegetables, like I just
love my vegetables.
Um, and I, and so I starteddoing the modified carnivore
diet and that worked better forme.
So I literally cut out how Ilost 50 pounds.
I cut out obviously no sugars.

(46:28):
The only sugar I would havewould be some fruit, uh, some
berries, or an apple or a pearother than that.
It's basically it was meatvegetable um, a lot of eggs,
like sometimes I would have 10eggs a day, and that's enough
people.
You can have as many eggs asyou want yeah, I've told them.

Speaker 2 (46:47):
I uh, I was.
I was at a point of like 8 to12 per day here for the past few
months.
Like it's there's.
Their nature is superfood.
They're a multivitamin, yeah,especially if you're active.
They've been demonizingcholesterol for uh, far too long
now.
It's crazy, I, yeah.
When, when the food pyramidcame out and all that
information, I uh, I startedquestioning a lot more things.

(47:09):
Yeah, but you know, I stillhave a podcast where I bring on
the experts to let them uh sharetheir knowledge and then I just
ask pointed questions, right.

Speaker 1 (47:18):
Yeah, well, and because I wasn't having, so I
wasn't having carbohydrates, sobecause I wasn't having, this
was before I started having thefruit.
I was more on a keto diet,really.
I basically was having a lot ofmeat eggs and I knew I wasn't
having carbohydrates, but I knewthe fuel that I would have high
fat cottage cheese.
I would have high fat milk.

(47:38):
I'm having the good fats right.
Like, obviously I don't eat.
I don't eat seed oils either.
I just stick to coconut oil orolive oil or avocado or olive
oil.
So um cause I I do find thatreally helps with my
inflammation of my body isstaying away from all the bad
oils.
Helps with my inflammation ofmy body is staying away from all
the bad oils, like no vegetableoils or canola palm oil stuff

(47:59):
like that.

Speaker 2 (47:59):
So, yeah, it's amazing how just eliminating the
processed foods can be thebiggest game changer for your
body, physically and mentally.
Frankly, like I have, it'sdifficult in this day and age to
eliminate all processed foods.
But if you're diligent, evenfor a week, and you just say,
hey, if this didn't come from ananimal or off a tree or

(48:22):
somewhere naturally in thisworld, then I'm not going to eat
it.
You would be amazed, a at howyou feel.
B at how much less money youspend and see the benefits that
come from your body.
Physically, like, you'reprobably going to put on more
muscle because your body's notactually breaking that processed
food down.
It's actually absorbing thenutrients from the steak or the

(48:42):
crown beef or whatever you'reconsuming.
Yeah, I feel like I could talkall day about this, about April.
It's a.
This is the stuff that gets megoing.

Speaker 1 (48:50):
I know I'm the same way and it's just like, um, and
a lot of people don't understandtoo the processed food like has
all that salt, right?
That's why you're gonna likeyou're gonna retain so much
water too if you start eatingthe processed stuff too.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
So I mean, I remember when I, when I first started
going on the diet, I lost 10pounds just so quickly because
it was like just a lot of waterfrom from the processed food
crap like right the sodium andyeah yeah, it's amazing how
cholesterol and sodium weresuper demonized, yet both are
essential for us to survive andto perform at our best.

(49:22):
Like cholesterol directly turnsinto a hormone, sodium direct
performance in the gym.
If you take some prior to likeand if you eliminate processed
foods, then you actually need toincorporate sodium into your
diet, like salting your foods alittle bit, maybe a little half
a teaspoon, before you work out.
Try that.
Those benefits crazy.
But again, it's because ofantiquated, whether it's

(49:44):
research or people sharing thatknowledge or information.
Uh, the general pop suffersbecause there isn't this
discourse, there isn'tconversations being had around
these potentially positive ornegative things that we're
putting into our body andultimately, at least we've got
you here, april, that we cancount on for the integrity, for
being able to bring out theseand have these tough

(50:05):
conversations yeah, well, that's.

Speaker 1 (50:08):
I remember when I was powerlifting I would drink um,
I'd have a two-liter thing thereto fill it with salt.
I I put salt in my water, so Iwould drink actually salt water
while.
I was part of the thing.
But even today I wake up and Ihave, before I have anything,
before I even have my coffee.
I have a warm cup of water withlemon.
I put sometimes apple cidervinegar, but I put a teaspoon of

(50:29):
sea salt or sea salt or pinkHimalayan.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
And that's my drink in the morning so nice, yeah,
pink Himalayan, and that's mydrink in the morning.
So nice, yeah, I've heardCeltic is really good, the
Celtic sea salt too.
I haven't had that, do you?
I'm on the Himalayan pink, butI should get the Celtic too,
that's my next.

Speaker 1 (50:43):
Yeah, it's the best.
We have all the different, likeflavored ones too, but Celtic,
I think, is my favorite for sureokay, okay, that's what I'm
going to next.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
I uh, I have my stacks.
Like I'm on to 10 grams ofcreatine now instead of five.
Did you see that research?
You see, you've jacked that uptoo.

Speaker 1 (50:59):
Yeah, I just started to.
I so funny you mentioned that.
So, and that's another thing.
So, obviously, with my PBLsponsorship too, because we sell
the creatine, I'm alwayspumping up like because they
have really good creatine.
It's all micronized um and it'salso like everything there is
super clean and super pure like,and I actually used it um

(51:20):
during my canadian powerliftingtime because, um, it's informed
choice, so there's no but, butanyways, I I just recently read
that too and I started upping.
I'll take five grams in themorning, then five grams later,
but um I mix it with my collagenand I take a green strength
every day, so I kind of just mixit all in later.
But, um, I mix it with mycollagen and I take a greens
drink every day, so I kind ofjust mix it all in together.
But, um, yeah, I really startedtaking it just for cognitive

(51:42):
health like to be honest um, itwas.
It obviously helps with myexplosiveness, my power, my
muscles, everything like that,but I, I, I was like, hey, I
getting older and I read thestudies about A.
It helps with menopausal withmenopause, but it also helps
with your brain health.
So I love nootropics.
I've been studying mushroomsand nootropics like crazy.

(52:05):
I'm a nootropics freak, okay,okay.

Speaker 2 (52:09):
Tell me more.
I've been getting my mom, adult, older females in my life onto
the creatine grain, but what'sthe nootropics?
Tell me more about themushrooms.

Speaker 1 (52:20):
Well, nootropics, just like the lion's mane it's
really good.
I mean, that's been insupplements for a while.
I take this product called FiveDefenders.
And it's lion's mane.
It's got your maitake shiitake.
It's got, I think, fivedifferent mushrooms in it.
But I mean, there's been somany studies where mushrooms,

(52:40):
mushrooms are a food group onits own.
It's not even considered like,obviously, a vegetable right.
So I actually went last summerI did some foraging myself for
my own mushrooms, which is cool.
Because I'm just.
They're just especially whenyou're carnivore too right, Like
I was eating steaks withmushrooms.
What a combination.
It's delicious, but anything forbrain health.

(53:03):
I mean, at this age, right, youkind of need all the help that
you can get.
But all these studies arecoming out.
So I mean lion's mane numberone for sure, but mushrooms
anyways.
If you go to any acupuncture,like any Chinese acupuncture in
any major city you would haveone in Vancouver the top things
that they have are differenttypes of mushrooms.
That basically has been theirnaturopathic way for so long,

(53:26):
right.

Speaker 2 (53:27):
Yeah, yeah, there was an old Joe Rogan episode about
some guy who was talking aboutmushrooms.
He's like I can't even tell youthe details about mushrooms and
I can't even remember theepisode, but I'm I've.
He was like I can't go into thedetails or else the fbi will be
onto us and like it's,apparently there's a lot of
background on mushrooms and thebenefits, so apparently it's

(53:48):
been hidden for decades.
But it probably wouldn'tsurprise me because you know
they were it's just no.

Speaker 1 (53:55):
And that's very interesting that you say that
because again, I I tell people,go, go to your local acupuncture
, like I'm talking, like thechinese medicine, their top
things are.
I remember when my mother hadum, not breast cancer, she had
brain cancer.
This was back in 2001.
So think, think about it 24years ago and I went to see

(54:17):
doctors and I studied what can Igive my mother to help shrink
her tumor?
And I had stage four.
I guess what the number onething was.
It was shiitake mushrooms,mataki mushrooms they all have a
study.
To help with breast cancer,definitely an immune system
booster, but yeah, definitelyhelp with breast cancer.
Or to definitely get an immunesystem booster, but yeah,
definitely, um, have you seencallie and casey means?

Speaker 2 (54:42):
have you seen them?
What they've been doing?
Uh, down in the us?
It's uh, they were on, uh, myfirst million, I believe.
A couple other episodes anyway.
He, she was just appointed asthe I don't know health and
safety food someone for the US.
I can't remember I'm butcheringit, I'll put it into the intro,
but essentially they werelooking at again the food

(55:03):
pyramid and how, basically,since Rockefeller changed
medicine and basically startedpushing Western medicine onto us
instead of natural homeopathicremedies to cure, whether it's
diseases, infections, whatever,like we've, we've been on a path
where western medicine is greatat putting a band-aid on things

(55:24):
but ultimately not identifyingthe source of the problem and
fixing it from its core.
Ie like food, what you'reputting in your body, right?

Speaker 1 (55:32):
so it's amazing we can get into a whole new talk
about this.
The government I swear thegovernment, I mean it's there's.
I mean the government justwants to kill off society like
we had.
Yeah, we have the covidvaccines, first of all.
Uh, we have the upside downfood pyramid.
Um, I mean, doctors aren't eveneducated to give you a

(55:52):
nutritional device, so don'teven ask them.
But then you, you know, evennow we have MAID, which is
assisted suicide that they'regiving to teenagers, to mentally
ill people.
So where's the love from thegovernment?
Where is the psychologicaltreatment and where is the?
Even just they don't push thepsychological help, or it's just

(56:15):
like they seem to go okay, well, here's this drug, here's that
drug, push the drug, but notpsychological help.
In my city, all those hospitalshave basically been torn down,
but no, it's like they'reeducating you backwards the
wrong way.
And now actually everything'scome to light now, with
obviously Robert Kennedy Jr inthe face.
I mean we need that here inCanada, wrong way.
And now actually everything'scome to light now, with
obviously robert kennedy jr likein the face.

Speaker 2 (56:38):
I mean we need that here it's hey, we're trying,
we're trying here with theathletes podcast, with april
hutchinson, hey, we're doing our, we're picking away bit by bit,
but it ultimately it's proventhat you have to take it into
your own hands, like you need tomake your own decisions, you
need to do your own research.
You need to know what worksbest for your body at that
moment, what you're goingthrough.
Whether you're trying to, youknow, deadlift 500 pounds,

(56:59):
whether you're trying to run amarathon, whether you're trying
to be the best pickleball playerin the world, you know,
whatever your goals are, youshould be fueling or, you know,
putting whatever into your bodyto make you successful, and
ideally that's probably notprocessed foods.
But, um, I again could talkabout this all day april.
I'm getting jazzed up.
Now I feel like we're at theend of this combo and I'm just
getting started.
Maybe we'll we'll do a part twowhen you're in victoria.

(57:21):
Um, we'll drive over there.
Get you into the jeep, becausepioneer auto groups gives us
this amazing jeep.
We should get you in there atleast once.
Show you off, drive aroundvictoria.
It's beautiful over there.
And, as someone who's listenedto the athletes podcast, before
you know, we wrap up by askingour guests their biggest piece
of advice for the nextgeneration of athletes, as our

(57:41):
goal is to educate, entertainand inspire the next generation.
So, april, after what has beenan enthralling 54 minutes and 57
seconds so far, I'd love tohave you take the last few
minutes with the floor to shareyour biggest piece of advice for
the next gen.

Speaker 1 (58:00):
I think my biggest piece of advice, especially at
my age, now that I'm in my 40s,is like if you're 20, 30, 40,
whatever the age is and you wantto make changes to your life or
get into a sport, don't letfear run your life.
You can do it and you can do it, and you can do it at any age.
Um, I mean, we all get socialanxiety or anxiety, like I was

(58:21):
actually anxious joining thepickleball club, but I was like,
once I did it, I freaking lovedit and I'm addicted to it,
right.
So just find something you havealways wanted to do or love,
whether that's go walking fivetimes a week with a partner or
both, you know, just take thatplunge, because I tell you,
you're just going to love it andyour, your body's just going to
benefit from it.
So, and like I said,everything's a one day at a time

(58:43):
thing.
Whether you want to lose weight, drop an addiction, quit sugar,
what have you just remember,you can do it.
I mean, look at me, I literallysurvived like I was, like I was
at the.
I almost died from my addiction, right, and I turned my life
around.
It was hard and I mean that wasa pretty horrible time.
So I'm just saying there'speople out there that don't even

(59:04):
have to go through thataddiction part.
You can just literally justcall up a friend and say hey,
let's go to yoga togethertonight.
But just take that plunge,don't let fear run your life.
And that plunge Don't let fearrun your life.
And you know what?
You have one life to live.
Live it.

Speaker 2 (59:18):
Be the best version of yourself.
Amazing April Hutchinson.
Thank you so much for coming onthe show.
I can't thank you enough,sincerely appreciate what you've
been doing, your advocacy work.
I can't wait to continuefollowing along supporting you.
We'll see you in Victoria injust over a month and we'll keep
in touch when we're in Toronto.
You got Richie Bulbrook in yourbackyard too, in London,

(59:39):
canada's number one skateboarder.
We just had him on the show afew weeks ago too.
Well, yeah, hey, we're gettingthe London crew in town.
Hey, it's great, um April.
Thank you again so much.

Speaker 1 (59:49):
Can't thank you enough you're welcome to come to
London anytime well, we'llswing there.

Speaker 2 (59:55):
I don't know if I'm'm going to be as good on the
skateboard as Richie would be,but maybe we'll go to the weight
room and that'll be like ourlevel playing field for all
three of us.
Just want to say thank you,folks, for tuning into the 260th

(01:00:22):
episode of the athletes podcasttoday featuring april
hutchinson.
Big shout out goes to her forcoming on the show sharing her
story, being an advocate forwomen in sport, making sure that
there is equality when it comesto competition, especially out
here in BC, where I am currentlyAlso.
A shout out to our sponsor,perfect Sports Supplements.
The code AP15 will save you 15%.

(01:00:45):
More importantly, it will getyou the best nutrients protein,
creatine, collagen, glutamine,any supplement that you need.
Perfect Sports is where youshould be getting it from.
Again, use the code AP15 atcheckout and share with me on
social media what you're taking.
If you're trying a coffee crunchbar while you're watching
marvel studios thunderbolts,maybe you're making it happen.

(01:01:06):
Let me know down below in thecomments and maybe I'll send you
a free box of these coffeecrunch bars.
Thank you, folks for tuning inagain.
I sincerely appreciate it.
Shout out to our producer, ryanlott, for putting this together
.
Hope you have a great rest ofyour day.
I.

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From Addiction to Advocacy: April Hutchinson's Journey - Episode #260

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}From Addiction to Advocacy: April Hutchinson's Journey - Episode #260