Cassie Blomquist discusses her journey into fitness and health, emphasizing the importance of a mindset shift and prioritizing self-care. 🧘‍♀️💪

Key Points:

• Impact of functional medicine 🩺
• Role at Revive, integrating Eastern and Western medicine 🌿💊
• Benefits of fitness on mental and emotional health 🧠❤️
• Positive influence on her children 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

Fitness Journey Highlights:

1. Community and support at Granite Fitness 🏋️‍♀️🤝
2. Finding joy and motivation in group workouts 😊🎉
3. Focus on improving muscle mass and quality of life 💪🌟
4. Plans to participate in fitness challenges with her brother 🏆👫

Cassie’s Goals:

• Continue improving overall health 📈
• Maintain work-life balance ⚖️
• Inspire others through her journey 🌟

For more information on functional medicine and fitness, visit:
Revive IV and Wellness: https://reviveivandwellness.com 🔗
Granite Fitness: https://granitebillings.com 🔗

Follow Granite Fitness on socials:
Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | X

#FitnessJourney #FunctionalMedicine #MomFitness #MindsetShift #HolisticHealth #WorkoutMotivation #StrengthTraining #WellnessJourney #BalancedLifestyle #HealthyHabits

Ryan Jore 00:01
Hi guys. Today we have on. Cassie Blomquist, Cassie, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much, Ryan, this is awesome. Yeah, such a cool place. Yeah? Super honor to be here, yeah. So when I was looking at your bio on the most nutrition member last year, one of the things you mentioned was that you’ve kind of been a fitness your whole life, but like, the last two years, you really ramped it up. So what was it that brought that about for you? I think in the last two years, kind of what made me have an internal catalyst for change would be seeing,

Cassie Blomquist 00:32
starting to see health through a functional medicine. I also, I think, starting to just allow my actions to speak louder than my words in my nursing career, and being kind of surrounded by sickness all the time, and physical people who had physical conditions that made them made them unwell. I was just ready to chase a little bit more in longevity. And I think too, first came my mindset change. Too. It was like, even though you see the physical changes first, really, what you’re changing is your mindset. And I really got into being into a place with two young children, and being a nurse and serving the community, where I just kind of wanted to get a little bit louder and and being a mom, you sacrifice often, a lot of times, and this in the last two years, I was ready to kind of start diving in again and serving my family this way by also making sure that my health was dialed in. Decision, you say,

Ryan Jore 01:28
cuz I do have a lot of like, Mom clients, obviously, and a lot of them, they’ll say that where it’s like, well, I just like, they have a hard time putting themselves first. It’s not that, it’s not that you were trying to be selfish with your time, but like, you do need to still find a way to like fit that in. So when you’re starting out, was that a struggle for you initially, or do you feel like that was an easy transition to like start prioritizing that? Yeah,

Cassie Blomquist 01:47
I think that there were moments in time where you kind of had to tell yourself it’s okay to clock clock out for 45 minutes. And what I found was being around others made me more productive. In my workouts, kind of made me push a little bit harder. But yes, initially, as a mother, the there’s this internal voice that you kind of fight with, and that’s what I would say was part of the mindset where, you know, what I would tell myself is, no, this is important. I need to get this done, because ultimately, if I make sure to keep my mental health and my physical health, well, I’m going to be a better mom at the end of the day and a better wife and a better daughter and a better friend and but yeah, I would agree with you, Ryan, like in the beginning, that was something where you felt bad, or you felt like you had to rush through, or you couldn’t stay and talk to friends afterwards, because, like, I took this 45 minutes, so I can’t take any more now, when really what you would see is also too. I think as time went on, what I saw was the kids see me model to them that it is okay to step away for 45 minutes to an hour. It is important to keep yourself well and healthy. And actually it should be a priority, and it is one of your jobs to make sure that you’re doing okay, because if your cup is empty, you have absolutely nothing to pour out for anyone else. Totally. So I think over time, what I started to see was actually view it as a way to model the kids that I want them to know this is okay, this is good, this is healthy, and we want to be engaging in physical exercise and actually relationship too, because it was twofold. It wasn’t just the physical exercise, it was getting time to check in with my other girlfriends in a healthy way.

Ryan Jore 03:35
So do you find that your kids have seen any changes from that then? Like,

Cassie Blomquist 03:39
yes, 100% they engage with me when I first started exercising and kind of going to class. They love to go to class. They have little friends. So now I have my girlfriends that I go to spend time with in a healthy way. And they also are asking, Do we get to go to class this morning? I’m going to see Ari. I’m going to see I’m going to see all my buds. I can’t wait. And so they actually get excited. And what it now is is not a question. It’s a part of their routine that on these days, we get up and we go to class, and so what you’re kind of teaching them is that also is diligence and discipline, that it’s not really like this, I feel like it, because oftentimes you don’t feel like it. It’s just a we’re going to do this, and then the benefits are tenfold. So, so

Ryan Jore 04:23
speaking on benefits, like, obviously, you know, we expect to hopefully have more energy, other things like that. Are there any, like, unexpected benefits you feel you’ve noticed from starting this journey or transitioning to, like, a more focused on it absolutely, I

Cassie Blomquist 04:35
think holistically, it’s changed everything, kind of like I touched on earlier, Ryan, what I would say is, you know, first we can get into it for the physicality, but what you start to realize is, before even that comes, you’re changing your mindset. It’s a refining of your mind. And what really starts to kind of come together is your emotional health, your mental health and your spiritual health, like it pulls back layers of view where I think. Think for me, I feel like it showed me areas of that I need to work on, areas that I could, you know, I feel like I’m able to have time of reflection, where I need to kind of tap in and cast we’re not doing this so well, and then other areas where I feel like it’s made me much stronger in my emotional and my mental health, and a way to just kind of work through life honestly, sometimes you’re not half the time, I’m not even clocked in for the physicality. I’m actually really there for my mental health and to just kind of work through the day to days of life.

Ryan Jore 05:33
So what would you say then, if someone is still struggling with that transition of like, not feeling guilty every time they take that time for themselves? It’s what would you say to someone in that situation?

Cassie Blomquist 05:44
What I would say is, find your disciples in discipline and hold on to them with everything that you have. Kind of choke that small voice out with your own and the affirmations of others and allow them to kind of cultivate that in you, I would say, you know, it’s not a selfish act to make sure that your whole health, so mental, emotional, physical, spiritual health is doing well, that’s a Good thing, and it’s going to serve you well in relational health. And you know, those are the things that you want to really pour into. Those are the things that are eternal. And so to kind of, I would just say, to remind yourself, it’s not selfish to take an hour a day, because you could spend that time scrolling on social media, which has, you know, zero benefit, or doing things that you know, okay, doing things that are less beneficial. You know what I’m saying? This is a beneficial thing for you in all forms. I mean, it’s just, it’s everything. It hits every aspect of health. So, yeah,

Ryan Jore 06:55
so you mentioned you’ve kind of been on and off at Granite, kind of essentially like your whole adulthood, roughly. What would you say that was that originally brought you to granite,

Cassie Blomquist 07:04
my relationship, girlfriends, classes, being able to one thing that I appreciate in the phase of life that I’m in is I am going to show up and give you my all out effort every single time. I want to be told what to do. I don’t want to have to think about it. I don’t want to have to plan it. I think that women, especially oftentimes also who are moms, we kind of hold the keys to where, you know, even though it’s it’s the mental load that we carry that’s kind of unseen, what’s in the pantry, what are we going to have for dinner? Did I do the laundry? Did we pack the kids? And so when I come in, I want to engage in 45 minutes to an hour of joyful fun, pushing myself. And I will absolutely give you 110% if I just don’t have to carry the mental load of thinking about, what am I going to do today? I think that is something that granite does well, as they have a wide range of classes, and the people there are so motivating and so encouraging and affirming and yet also soft on the days when they know you need a little extra push or it’s never like, I’ve never had a negative, like, we haven’t seen you in a week where you’ve been it’s always like, can’t wait to see you in the next class. There’s no negative. It’s always can’t wait to see you at class next time. That’s awesome. And I think that is something that it goes a long way in your fitness journey. And it’s safe. You feel safe to just come as you are there. And I don’t think that every place, every gym, is that a thing. And at Granite, you just, it’s like, we’re here and I am, you know, I’m coming as I am today, and it’s just accepted and encouraged and affirmed. I mean,

Ryan Jore 08:48
there very much is, like, kind of, like, a lot of different tribes, like, in a very positive way, yes, like, I have numerous class where everyone in, like, once or twice a month, they’re going out for coffee, or they’re having a barbecue or little something like that. And it’s like, to me, that makes such a huge difference. Like, that’s why you want to keep coming back. Like, coming back. Like, you can kind of get a good workout in a lot of places, but like, when you look forward to seeing someone every day, it makes a big difference. Absolutely, I would agree with you. So you mentioned about how, like, you said, like, you’re just so much of an effort person. So I’ve actually heard from numerous clients now. So in regards to you working at revive, where they’ve said, like, what a huge impact you’ve just made for there just what kind of a difference you feel like it’s made since working there as well.

Cassie Blomquist 09:26
I think when I started at revive just about two years ago, I signed up at Granite, and then also kind of started to revive at the same time. I feel like that was kind of a time in my nursing career where I was starting to look at medicine and the practices of medicine differently and kind of starting to be a little bit more of a free thinker, if you will. And I noticed that as I started to practice functional medicine diligently, my training improved. My. Sleep improved. My ability to give effort improved, despite changing nothing as far as the daily requirements as a mother, as a spouse, as a caretaker and as a nurse. And what I think was really neat was to see how supplementation really can improve the way you perform, or kind of aid you in achieving your picture of your health goal. And, yeah, revive has been absolutely paramount for me, yeah, in my nursing and

Ryan Jore 10:38
so you feel like it’s, it’s much more effective. Would you say, like, doing it versus, like, say, just taking a pill or a supplement or something, since you get to kind of avoid this, like, the gut and whatnot, just go straight into and you kind of

Cassie Blomquist 10:49
get to start to learn, I think too, what’s been so great is I’ve learned so much about, you know, eastern and western medicine coexisting. That’s kind of that Functional Medicine Circle. I kind of say that all the time to my clients, is that, you know, nothing done radically is done well. Also nothing done reactionary is done well, preventative medicine, everything done that preventatively is done at its best. And so you know that pendulum doesn’t swing one way. It’s a fluid motion through both. We need Western medicine just as much as we need Eastern medicine, and if you can bring both of those together and have them in that center circle and hit that center circle, that’s your sweet spot, that’s when you’re gonna start to see yourself just take off, you know? And I think we’ve kind of become accustomed to not just being okay with not feeling well or feeling good, and I think that what I would say is, I just refuse to accept that, and we can feel well, and we can feel good with all the modalities of medicine being in practice. That certainly is a

Ryan Jore 11:50
common thing, especially when people are starting to affect stress, even when they realize, like, oh, like, what I thought was an average feeling is actually pretty crappy. Yes, yes.

Cassie Blomquist 11:57
And you when they say that, I think that is when it kind of, I think that is an A or, excuse me, an empowering statement, because you kind of see it as their aha moment, because it’s almost like a chain break when they go, Oh my gosh, I didn’t feel well at all, and now I’m starting to feel well, and you go, No, this should be your normal, yeah, this should be your set point. Yeah, you know, like, we’re not accepting what you had before. We’re accepting this, and then in six months, we’re going to accept this, because we’re going to continue to move that Mark. Yeah,

Ryan Jore 12:33
it’s not just esthetics. Like you were like, Oh, I actually just feel better doing this too. Like, I don’t have to have a stomach and be tired all the time.

Cassie Blomquist 12:39
Yes, absolutely. And I think too, just talking about what we put in and what we want to exert out, and that is big in the medicine that we practice. But you know, even simple things like the gut microbiome and like gut health is mental health, it just is, you know, and so just talking and breaking down to patients, and I think spending the time too to talk about what that looks like, so that they can perform in the gym. So what

Ryan Jore 13:06
would you do if you had someone then who comes in and they’re they’re curious about it, but they’re not sure what it is they need. How do you assess that?

Cassie Blomquist 13:12
Well, just kind of, you know, 12 years in the nursing field, I’ve done really everything from floor nursing to surgery to recovery room, nursing oncology is my specialty that I have practiced in for 12 years and then now revive in the last two but it’s using your nursing skills to assess them and make kind of a care plan for their health. So we talk about, what are the issues that are presenting themselves right now? Symptomatically, what are your goals and what are some baseline health diagnoses that you have right now? What do we want to peel away? What do we want to change? And what do you see for yourself? And I tell them, tell me the real what you want. Nothing is too grandiose. Give it power. Put it out there. Claim it. Let’s claim health and healing over you, and then let’s chase it the best that we possibly can.

Ryan Jore 14:06
So how often would someone when they’re starting out, typically see you guys? Then it

Cassie Blomquist 14:10
kind of depends on the, you know, the person and their goals. But I like to tell them every other week, kind of, in the beginning, try to come in. Some women need to come weekly for a while, and then we kind of pull off, I like to kind of the phrase that I use is, you know, what we do is we kind of start to load, like a loading dose, where we kind of look at cellular health that way, and then what we start to do is hit into a phase where you’re then in maintenance. And this type of medicine is done best with diligence, just like physical exercise, right when we see a person become diligent, really, in any area of life, and disciplined and saying yes to things and also saying no, that’s a form of love, right to say no and hold a boundary, we start to see them get in this rhythm. And what’s really neat is when they start to hit that rhythm and. You have the point of view of seeing the change unfold. It is, I think, for me, what has been so powerful is to watch a person grow in to their whole self, holistically. And like I said, it’s first. It’s we want to change the physicality, but then what you start to see is layers peel off, emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and so it starts with the physical, but really what it does is it income encompasses their whole health, and that’s when you start to I think that’s been the most powerful for me to witness.

Ryan Jore 15:37
That’s awesome, yeah, I guess I’ll finish on this. What are you most excited for, like, fitness wise, for yourself going forward, or what’s, I mean, it sounds like you talked a lot about longevity. Is that, like, kind of just your long term goals, like living as well as you can, as long as you can? Or do you have anything else that you’re always targeting?

Cassie Blomquist 15:54
Yeah, I think, I think that’s kind of like a multifaceted question for me, because what I think my ultimate goal is I want to serve my loved ones as best as I can for as long as I can. And to me, quality over quantity is always number one. Do I have some side goals for myself that I’d like to see? For sure, I think what’s really neat is to kind of what I’ve been enjoying is seeing how, you know, I think our generation, Ryan, I can say this, we kind of watched our mom’s fad diet and then do cardio in excess, and that’s kind of what we were told was healthy. And I think our generation is starting to figure out and kind of fix kind of the ideas we had in our mind as health. And I think it’s neat to watch women and men both change that narrative in their action. And so for me, what’s been neat is, you know, in my 20s, it was like, I ran all the time. You just ran all the time. And, you know, it, it, it was awesome. And every now and then, do I still love a long run? Yeah, you can kind of turn your mind off. You just get to go. But to see the strength training for me to realize, like, I barely do any cardio to live the, you know, that 8020 body, or The Four Hour Body, that’s a great I read that book just really, you know, so I’m kind of botching this question. But yes, I have on like all the rabbit holes I do. I would say I have some goals for myself. I would love to do a couple that. What is it up in big sky? What is it called? Oh, the rut, yeah, the smaller one, though, yeah, the, like, the the VK or whatever, yeah, straight up, yeah. So I kind of, my brother and I have set a goal that we want to do that together. Yeah? We kind of want to do that kind of in honor two of our mom, and then I just want to continue to muscle mass, honestly, because I think it’s the, one of the things it’s not talked about in health. It’s a marker in health that is really under talked about is our muscle mass. You know, it’s like, your cardiovascular health and your and I’m like, Okay, why aren’t we talking about muscle mass, and how that, like, directly, is linked to a person’s well being, long term, yeah, mental and physical. Yes, especially in women, especially in women, and so I just want to continue to see that happen. And I think that you know otherwise, to just really be able to be making really intense, awesome memories and holding my quality of life the longest and the best that I can awesome. Yeah. Well. Cassie Blomquist,

Ryan Jore 18:41
thanks for coming on today.

Cassie Blomquist 18:42
Thank you so much. Ryan.