Podcast No. 63: Liz Plosser, Women's Health Editor-in-Chief

March is Women’s Month and here at WHOOP we are kicking off a month-long celebration. Our guest this week is Liz Plosser, the Editor-in-Chief of Women’s Health.

We honor the extraordinary achievements of women across all backgrounds, lifestyles, sports, and professions. Whether competing for a world title, raising a family, starting a business, or all of the above, the women of WHOOP are commonly characterized by defining their goals and chasing after them relentlessly, empowered by the data to unlock their potential. Our guest this week is Liz Plosser, the Editor-in-Chief of Women’s Health. Liz is a power-player in the media industry and a marathoner, triathlete, and Ivy League graduate. On top of it all, she’s raising three young kids and balancing her family life with her busy professional life. Like so many others on WHOOP, one of Liz’s keys to success is getting a good night’s sleep. We talk about that and so much more.

Liz Plosser Podcast Show Notes:

2:13 - The Mission of Women’s Health. “We have the amazing opportunity to reach millions and millions of women every single month and help them make positive, healthy choices in their life. That’s a huge, huge honor and such a powerful thing that we do.” 3:14 - Core Beliefs. “We believe health is really holistic so our main content pillars really lather up to that idea. I would say those include fitness, health, mental health is really important, nutrition, and then a topic area we call ‘Love and Life’ which is your relationships, your work, all the extras that are really important too.” 3:57 - Adding More Mental Health Coverage. “We just saw that it was resonating so much with our readers, which really makes sense. It’s a stressful, anxiety-prone time to be walking through our world so we’re here to help women whether it’s from helping them sleep better or destress, to the more serious gravitas things like battling depression.” 6:55 - Target Audience. “I would describe the Women’s Health reader as a woman who we don’t have to drag off the couch or convince that her health and well-being are good things. There’s already the motivation there, she’s just looking for ideas and tips to make it happen.” 9:21 - Goal to Execute 10 Pull-Ups. “The interesting thing about the pull-up is you don’t necessarily get better at them by just trying to crank out as many as possible, it’s about breaking down the move and learning each element of it. It’s kind of a great life lesson in many ways.” 11:18 - Women’s Weightlifting Trends. “I think years ago running and cardio was all the rage and I think there was almost an addiction amongst exercisers that if you didn’t get your heart racing and feel breathless, that it wasn’t a workout. ... There’s something that clicks once you start to lift weights and especially when you start adding weight and going heavier and heavier. One of our missions is to show women that you can be lean, strong, sculpted, feminine, and lift really freakin’ heavy weights. In fact, that’s one of the best ways to get a body you’re really proud of. It’s exciting that more and more women are into weightlifting.” 14:09 - Fitting Workouts Into Your Day. “Every little bit counts. You get a high-five even if it’s just a few minutes of movement. I think there’s this mindset that unless it was 30 minutes it didn’t count, or ‘Oh, I only have 15 minutes today, it’s not even worth doing it.’ The truth is it matters. You feel so much better for even that little short burst of activity and it all adds up.” 15:50 - Her Go-to 10-Minute Workout. “Alternating push ups for one minute and jump squats for one minute, no rest in between, and you go for 10 minutes straight.” 16:21 - The Importance of Sleep. “I think it’s a wonderful thing that the perception of not sleeping is this badge of honor is really changing.” 21:35 - Mapping Out Workouts. “I always have a plan the night before. I don’t leave it until I’m sipping my coffee to figure out what my workout is going to be. I actually tend to plan them on a Sunday. I figure out what my week is going to look like.” 23:31 - Working Out for Mental Well-Being. “My workout is my moving meditation. It’s my me time.” 23:45 - Optimizing Your Commute. “[Mine] is about 45 minutes on the train. I use music to set my intention for the day.” 25:09 - Leadership in the Workplace. “I care very much about every word [of the magazine] and I do read every word, but one of the biggest lessons I ever learned ... was to hire awesome people and then empower them to be awesome at their jobs. I try really to stick to that and to not tinker with something unless I feel passionately that I want to do something to it.” Will adds, “You want to hire great people for them to tell you what to do.” 27:57 - Pregnancy and Fitness. “At Women’s Health, we’re huge proponents of staying active throughout your pregnancy. There’s a lot of awesome science that suggests that the fitter you are by the time you get to giving birth, the faster it goes, the fewer birth complications there are, the quicker you recover from it.” 31:32 - Postpartum. “When you’re pregnant, everything is focused on you, down to random strangers on the street who touch your stomach--you are in the spotlight. Then, the moment you give birth, no one cares about you. It’s all eyes on that baby or babies. The woman who has just given birth, that’s a traumatic, epic experience they’ve gone through. ... It is an intense, intense time, and no one really checks on mom.” 34:34 - Curating the Clutter in the Wellness World. “I think our job at Women’s Health, where we are so committed to being science-backed and expert-based, is to put experts and research studies up against some of the health claims and trends that are out there.” 36:34 - Who Defines Peak Performance? “The United States Women’s soccer team. ... I had the amazing opportunity to interview [midfielder] Carli Lloyd, who is one of the team captains. She’s such a badass and so articulate and so calm and purposeful. It was a great conversation about practice and resilience and also how she motivates her team. From leader to leader, I was hanging on her every word.” Connect with Liz on Instagram @lizplosser