Emi and Nicole dive into the murky world of diet breaks, refers, carb cycling, high volume days. We break down the difference between all these exotic diets strategies, explore why they're so often (and incorrectly) identified (and sometimes used) interchangeably, and under what limited circumstances they could be implemented.

One of coach Lauren Steppe's clients, Amanda, stops in to share their journey together. When Amanda came to Lauren, she was just coming off an extreme diet in order to make weight for the military. She knew that what she had done was extreme but wasn't sure what to do next. Over the next year+, she and Lauren worked together to build her metabolic capacity and get her to eat enough for the activity level she was at. Amanda talks about what it was like to do extreme diets, why she surrendered her resistance and listened to Lauren and how she had the patience to do what was right.

Our newest coach, Sam, stops in to introduce herself and talk about her journey. Sam will be our resident RD, so we will be picking her brain on a variety of subjects in the future. On this episode, we get into conversations about weightlifting and trying to fit into a weight class as a complete newbie and the struggles of gaining weight to become better at your sport.