What happens when your body forces you to stop? Desna McKenzie shares her journey from 5 Am workouts and long commutes to complete adrenal burnout and the difficult path back to wellness, that required completely reimagining her relationship with exercise.

In this reflective conversation, Desna shares her lifelong relationship with movement, from lifting weights in her youth, discovering the meditative power of running, navigating burnout, adrenal fatigue, and rebuilding her body and confidence in midlife.

We talk candidly about what it means to return to fitness after exhaustion, and long periods of stopping, and why consistency, not perfection, is the key to wellness.

Desna opens up about learning to move again on her own terms, finding strength through high intensity training, overcoming fear as an adult learner through swimming, and redefining what being fit looks like in this chapter of life.

This episode explores movement as more than exercise but as a foundation for mental wellbeing, momentum, confidence, and the quality of life we’re building for our future selves.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• How burnout and hormonal depletion can change your relationship with exercise
• Why doing less can create better results
• Why starting again in midlife requires a different mindset and different tools
• The power of being a beginner, even when it feels uncomfortable
• How to restart exercise when your old routines don't work
• Why consistency beats intensity, especially for women in midlife

Whether you're navigating burnout, train intensely or if you're intimidated by starting over with fitness, this conversation offers hope, practical strategies, and permission to start exactly where you are.

Movement isn’t about going back. It’s about building forward.

Connect with Desna at www.higherplayingfield.com and CAG-Croydon

Follow the podcast on Instagram @unshrinkablemidlfemoves

Find out more about Onika on Instagram @lifeopenedup