Broads: The Bold & Badass Fitness Podcast for Women

You’ve been told cardio kills your gains. Or that you need more of it. Or that HIIT is the answer. Or that HIIT is the problem. You open Instagram and find a different opinion every time, and at some point you just start guessing  because the information around cardio is genuinely that contradictory.

Here is the thing: cardio itself is not complicated. The noise around it is. 

Just like with strength training, there are nuances with cardio that you need to know if you want to see + get results. 

Most of the time, the lack of results are not because you’re doing too little, but usually because you’re doing the wrong type, at the wrong time, for the wrong goal. This episode fixes that.

What's Discussed:

The three types of cardio — Zone 2, steady state, and HIIT — what each one actually does to your body, and why knowing the difference changes everything about how you program your week

Why Zone 2 is the most underrated form of cardio for women who strength train — and why a 30-minute brisk walk during a work call counts as a legitimate training session

The Peloton problem: why the popular high-energy classes are almost always steady state or HIIT efforts, why that is not building the aerobic base you think it is, and what to choose instead

How much cardio you actually need based on your goal — strength-first, balanced fitness, or training for a specific event — with realistic session numbers for each

The interference effect: why doing cardio and lifting too close together blunts the results of both, why order matters, and the one exception that is not actually cardio

Six signs your cardio volume is exceeding your recovery capacity — including the ones that show up in your joints and your sleep before they show up anywhere else

Why the fix is always subtraction and not more effort — and why none of the warning signs mean you are failing

A practical weekly structure for women lifting four days a week and women lifting three — with specific session types, timing, and how HIIT fits in as a tool rather than a default

The specific cardio plan for the busy woman who lifts two to three days and has a Peloton she uses once a week. Let’s simplify this!

If your joints have been feeling beat up, grab the free Mobility Guide — five minutes a day for seven days. https://www.broads.app/mobility-guide

For the full picture on how cardio, protein, and strength training work together to actually shift your body composition, the free Body Recomp Webinar covers all of it. https://www.broads.app/body-recomp-webinar

Ready to have your cardio and training programmed so everything works together instead of against each other? Apply for BroadsCOACH at broads.app/broadscoach.

Learn more about Broads:

⁠https://www.broads.app/⁠

https://www.instagram.com/broads_coach/

https://www.instagram.com/broads.podcast/

Check out more from Tara LaFerrara:

https://www.taralaferrara.com/

https://www.instagram.com/taralaferrara/

YouTube: @TaraLaferrara TikTok: @taralaferrara

Most women have been told to manage stress with mindset work, talk therapy, meditation and breathwork, or just pushing through. And those things can help… but none of them address what the body is actually holding — the tension that has been living in your muscles for years. And the stress patterns your nervous system built to protect you are still running in the background long after the original stressor is gone.

That is what somatic healing addresses. And most women have never heard of it.

Liz Tenuto spent ten years living with chronic pain and insomnia that started at fourteen. She saw every specialist, tried every modality — acupuncture, yoga, massage, meditation, craniosacral therapy. Nothing lasted more than a few days. It was not until a ballet teacher pulled her into a somatics class that something finally shifted. She cried in the bathroom after the first session — not from pain, but because it was the first time she had ever stopped being hard on her body. Her insomnia was almost gone within four lessons.

Liz Tenuto is the creator of The Workout Witch, a somatic movement educator with a background in psychology and ballet, and the author of When the Body Speaks: How Somatic Healing Sets You Free. She teaches zero-equipment somatic exercises — tiny micro-movements that release habitual tension, dissolve stress-holding patterns in the muscles, and regulate the nervous system — to nearly four million followers across Instagram and TikTok.

What's Discussed:

Check out more from Liz Tenuto:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theworkoutwitch/

TikTok: @theworkoutwitch

App and Courses: https://www.theworkoutwitch.com

Book — When the Body Speaks: How Somatic Healing Sets You Free: https://www.theworkoutwitch.com/book

Free resource from Liz: DM "release" on Instagram @theworkoutwitch and she will send you a one-minute hip rocking video to get started.

Ready for coaching that meets you where you are and adapts to your life? Apply for BroadsCOACH at broads.app/broadscoach.

Learn more about Broads: ⁠https://www.broads.app/ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/broads.podcast/ https://www.instagram.com/broads.app/

Check out more from Tara LaFerrara: https://www.taralaferrara.com/ https://www.instagram.com/taralaferrara/ YouTube: @TaraLaferrara TikTok: @taralaferrara

You’ve tried the plans. You’ve done the tracking, the lifting, the early mornings. You know what you are supposed to do. And still, something is not clicking — not the program, but the mental layer underneath it.

Why does it stick for some women and not others? How do you keep showing up when you do not feel good in your body yet? What do you do when the gym feels like everyone is watching you, when comparison is quietly wrecking your progress, when you are carrying all of this entirely alone and the silence around it is starting to feel heavier than the weights?

Those are the seven questions  this episode is built around. Because the macros and the programming matter. But the mental layer is what actually decides whether any of it holds.

What's Discussed:

(0:00) Why the questions in the inbox this time had nothing to do with programming — and why the mental layer is the actual work

Q1: Why it finally clicks for some women and not others — and the real pattern the women who make it stick almost always share

Q2: How to keep showing up when you do not feel good in your body yet — and the moment from Tara's own history she rarely talks about

Q3: How to stop overthinking and find a plan you trust.

Q4: Information overload and deciding what is true for you.

Q5: What to do if the gym intimidates you and how to boost your confidence.

Q6: What to do when comparison is quietly wrecking your motivation — and why her timeline was never yours to begin with

Q7: How to stay motivated when you are doing this entirely alone — and what actually changes everything

Ready to get started? 

BroadsCOACH: one-on-one coaching with a coach who knows your patterns, calls you out when you are quitting on yourself, and brings you back when you are in a spiral. Weekly check-ins, coaching calls, and programming that adapts to your life. Apply at broads.app/broadscoach.

BroadsCLUB: done-for-you monthly programming with home or gym options, plus a community of women who are in it with you. Start with a 7-day free trial at broads.app/broadsclub.

Learn more about Broads:

⁠ https://www.broads.app/ ⁠

https://www.instagram.com/broads.podcast/

https://www.instagram.com/broads.app/

Check out more from Tara LaFerrara: https://www.taralaferrara.com/ https://www.instagram.com/taralaferrara/

YouTube: @TaraLaferrara

TikTok: @taralaferrara

Most women spend more time waiting to feel ready than they spend actually building. Waiting until the plan makes sense. Waiting until the timing is right. Waiting until there is enough proof that it is going to work before they will let themselves believe it will. And in the meantime, the thing they want—the body, the business, the version of themselves they can almost see—stays exactly where it is.

Jaime Schmidt did not wait. She started Schmidt's Naturals while pregnant, bootstrapped, making deodorant in mason jars and selling it at a Portland farmers market. She hand-delivered six-stick wholesale orders across town for thirty dollars. When the product stained a customer's shirt, she asked them to mail it to her, washed it, and sent it back. Seven years later, she sold to Unilever—30,000 retailers, 30 countries. She had no ten-year plan. She had an unwavering belief that if anyone could figure it out, it was her, and she built everything from there.

Jaime Schmidt is the founder of Schmidt's Naturals, one of the most recognized natural personal care brands in the world. She is the author of Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms, an investor through her fund Color, and a strength training convert who started lifting at 46 and has been watching her body change in ways she did not expect and cannot stop talking about.

What's Discussed:

(0:00) The only question worth asking before you build anything: are you willing to bet on yourself before you have proof it will work?

(2:31) What it actually means to erase the identity you have built—and why it is the only way to step into who you want to become

(6:13) The origin story: pregnant, bootstrapped, making deodorant in a kitchen in mason jars and selling it at a farmers market

(9:49) Why the sales skills you think you do not have show up the second you believe in what you are selling

(14:28) What happens when you try to make every customer happy—and the moment Jaime realized it was costing her the business

(16:19) The biggest early mistakes: bad hires, locked-in contracts, and what her motto "say yes now, figure out how" actually costs when there are no limits on it

(17:26) Building while bootstrapped with a newborn—what balance actually looked like when it was not pretty

(19:49) The only question worth asking when the grind gets heavy: are you still happy?

(23:34) How she knew it was time to sell to Unilever—and what intuition actually feels like when it keeps showing up

(28:51) What came after: writing Supermaker, launching Color, and what identity looks like when it expands instead of ending

(39:15) Starting strength training at 46—and what two years of consistent lifting built that she did not see coming

(46:00) Why it is never too late—in the gym or anywhere else—if you are willing to show up

(51:13) Manifestation, visualization, and the delusional belief that actually works

Want a simple place to start fueling for the body you are building? Grab Broads' FREE Macronutrient Guide: The Balanced Plate Blueprint at broads.app/macronutrient-guide.

Learn more about Broads: 

⁠https://www.broads.app/⁠

⁠https://www.instagram.com/broads.podcast/⁠

⁠https://www.instagram.com/broads.app/⁠

Check out more from Tara LaFerrara:

⁠https://www.taralaferrara.com/⁠

⁠https://www.instagram.com/taralaferrara/⁠

YouTube: @TaraLaferrara 

TikTok: @taralaferrara

Check out more from Jaime Schmidt:

Instagram: @jaimeschmidt

Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms ⁠https://supermaker.com/book⁠

Learn more about Jamie at ⁠https://www.jaimeschmidt.info/⁠

There is a season every woman hits where life gets full, training keeps getting bumped, meal prep stops happening, and the guilt is somehow louder than everything else on your plate.

And I need that guilt to stop.

Not because I’m being nice, but because it is not based in reality. A disrupted few weeks is not undoing months of work. Your body does not forget that fast. The strength you built is still there. The muscle you earned is still there. The progress you made does not disappear just because your schedule got complicated.

So today, I’m breaking down how to get results training less in a busy season. We’re talking about what your workouts actually need to do when you only have two or three of them, what to lean on outside the gym when training drops off, and how to come back without trying to punish yourself for the sessions you missed. Less than normal is not zero, babe. And the version of your routine that fits your life right now still counts.

What’s Discussed:

(0:00) Why busy seasons make women spiral and why the guilt is not based in reality

(2:00) Why missed workouts do not mean you are starting over

(4:30) What your workouts need to do when you only have two or three sessions

(8:30) Why protein, creatine, walking, and the basics matter when training drops off

(13:45) Why one or two weeks off does not mean you lost your muscle

(15:30) Why trying to “make up” missed workouts is the wrong move

(18:30) How to stop treating the routine that fits your life like it is not enough

If you have ever missed a week, barely trained for two, or looked at your calendar and thought, “There is no fucking way I can keep this routine right now,” this episode is going to help you stop turning a busy season into proof that you are failing.  

Find out more from Broads:

Website: ⁠www.broads.app⁠

Instagram: ⁠@broads.podcast⁠ ⁠@broads.app⁠

BroadsCOACH: Head to ⁠www.broads.app/broadscoach⁠ and apply for BroadsCOACH.

Resources Mentioned:

Macronutrient Guide: Want a simple place to start fuelling for the body you're building? Grab Broad’s FREE Macronutrient Guide: The Balanced Plate Blueprint at ⁠https://www.broads.app/macronutrient-guide⁠.

Check out more from Tara LaFerrara:

Website: ⁠www.taralaferrara.com⁠

Instagram: ⁠@taralaferrara⁠

YouTube: ⁠@TaraLaferrara⁠

Tiktok: ⁠@taralaferrara⁠

Rest is not something you earn. It is something your body needs the same way it needs water. And a lot of women are running on empty and calling it discipline.

The problem is not that women are lazy about sleep. It is the opposite. Women who train the hardest, who push through the most, who never stop going are often the ones lying awake at midnight completely wired wondering why their body will not shut off. Because pushing through all day does something to your nervous system that a few hours in bed cannot undo on its own. And nobody is talking about that part. But we will, in this episode where we get into why your brain will not quit at night, why you cannot catch up on sleep the way you think you can, and what closing a stress cycle actually means for women who never fully switch off.

This week I am sitting down with Kathryn Nicolai, the creator of Nothing Much Happens, the biggest sleep podcast in the world with over 200 million downloads. Kathryn spent 20 years as a yoga and meditation teacher working with real women through real seasons of life before she built an entire science-backed practice around rest, nervous system regulation, and why the way you move through your days is either quietly supporting your sleep or quietly wrecking it.

If you train hard and still lie awake staring at the ceiling, this one is for you.

What's Discussed:

(11:53) Why women who push through everything are often the ones whose nervous systems take the biggest hit at night 

(14:49) What a stress cycle actually is, why most women have too many open tabs running, and what actually closes them 

(19:38) What most people get completely wrong about why they cannot sleep 

(25:54) What storytelling does to the brain that meditation and white noise cannot 

(32:37) What brain training actually means for sleep and what happens the longer you stay consistent (47:56) What to do when nothing is working 

(53:31) Kathryn's personal 3am secret she barely ever shares

Join us live on Monday, June 15 at 5pm CST and you'll get a special discount on BroadsCOACH BUILD if you sign up for the Summer Cohort on the call. Save your spot now at: ⁠broads.app/body-recomp-webinar⁠

Find out more from Broads:

Website: ⁠broads.app⁠

Instagram: ⁠@broads.podcast⁠ ⁠@broads.app⁠

Check More Resources:

Macronutrient Guide: Want a simple place to start fuelling for the body you're building? Grab Broad’s FREE Macronutrient Guide: The Balanced Plate Blueprint at ⁠broads.app/macronutrient-guide⁠.

Gym Starter Guide: Ready to stop waiting for "someday"? Download the free guide at ⁠broads.app/gym-starter-guide⁠

Check out more from Tara LaFerrara:

Website: ⁠taralaferrara.com⁠

Instagram: ⁠@taralaferrara⁠

YouTube: ⁠@TaraLaferrara⁠

TikTok: ⁠@taralaferrara⁠

Check out more from Kathryn Nicolai:

Website:⁠ nothingmuchhappens.com⁠

Instagram:⁠@kathryn_nicolai⁠

YouTube:⁠ youtube.com/c/NothingMuchHappens⁠

Podcast Nothing Much Happens on Apple Podcasts:⁠ podcasts.apple.com⁠

Podcast Nothing Much Happens on Spotify:⁠ open.spotify.com⁠

New Book On the Street Where You Live:⁠ nothingmuchhappens.com/thebook⁠

This is my birthday month. It is also the one year anniversary of my mom's death. And I have a lot to say.

This past year has been the most significant year of my entire life. The highest highs and the lowest lows all stacked on top of each other, sometimes in the same week, sometimes in the same day. Grief that got heavier the further away I got from it. Guilt I carried like a jacket I could not take off. A complicated relationship I had to learn how to grieve twice. And wins I almost felt too guilty to celebrate out loud.

But something shifted. A sunset walk. A moment. And everything started to make sense in a way it had not for a whole year.

This episode is personal. It is raw. It is not scripted. It is me at 37 sharing what 36 beat into me and what I am carrying forward. And if you have ever been in the messy middle of something really hard while also trying to keep showing up, this one is for you.

What's Discussed:

(1:41) Why grief gets heavier the further away you get from it and not lighter like everyone says it will

(5:03) The guilt, the shame, and what it felt like to carry a complicated love for a whole year

(7:35) Why forgiving herself was so much harder than forgiving her mom and what finally got her there

(10:00) The sunset walk that changed everything and the moment she finally understood why she does what she does

(17:58) Why she refuses to dim her shine even when life is also really hard and why you should not either

(19:03) The wins from the last year she is celebrating out loud because her mom would have wanted her to

(25:26) Five lessons from 36 going into 37 that she had to learn the hard way

(31:34) What she is leaving behind at 37 and what she is finally ready to bring in

If you are going through a loss, a complicated relationship, a heavy season, or you just need someone to remind you that you are allowed to feel it all and still keep going, this one is for you. 

Find out more from Broads:

Website: ⁠www.broads.app⁠

Instagram: ⁠@broads.podcast⁠ ⁠@broads.app⁠

BroadsCOACH: Head to ⁠www.broads.app/broadscoach⁠ and apply for BroadsCOACH.

Resources Mentioned:

Macronutrient Guide: Want a simple place to start fuelling for the body you're building? Grab Broad’s FREE Macronutrient Guide: The Balanced Plate Blueprint at ⁠https://www.broads.app/macronutrient-guide⁠.

Check out more from Tara LaFerrara:

Website: ⁠www.taralaferrara.com⁠

Instagram: ⁠@taralaferrara⁠

YouTube: ⁠@TaraLaferrara⁠

Tiktok: ⁠@taralaferrara⁠

Nutrition is where a lot of women quietly lose their damn minds.

You’re working out. You’re trying to be consistent. You care about your health. But then life gets busy, your meals get random, cravings hit, the weekend shows up, someone brings food to a party, and suddenly you’re back in that same loop of “I’ll restart Monday.”

Gurl, that is exhausting.

In this episode, I’m answering your nutrition questions without the boring “eat cleaner and try harder” speech. We’re talking about macro tracking, body composition, restriction, busy weeks, workout fuel, weekends, social situations, cravings, and why getting support might be the move if you’re tired of fighting the same food battle every week.

If you’re tired of starting over every Monday or battling cravings like they’re a character flaw, this conversation is your reminder that nutrition does not have to be perfect to work. It needs to stop making you miserable long enough for you to actually stick with it.

What’s Discussed:

03:00 Do you actually need to track macros to see results?

18:55 What matters more for body composition: workouts or nutrition?

24:17 Why cutting everything out keeps backfiring

27:55 How to eat better when life gets busy and meals start getting random

32:35 What to eat around workouts so you stop training on fumes

38:03 Why weekends keep turning into a free-for-all

42:17 How to handle social situations without making your plate a whole thing

47:06 Why getting support is not the same as failing

Join us live on Monday, June 15 at 5pm CST and you'll get a special discount on BroadsCOACH BUILD if you sign up for the Summer Cohort on the call. Save your spot now at: ⁠broads.app/body-recomp-webinar⁠

Find out more from Broads:

Website: ⁠broads.app⁠

Instagram: ⁠@broads.podcast⁠ ⁠@broads.app⁠

Check More Resources:

Macronutrient Guide: Want a simple place to start fuelling for the body you're building? Grab Broad’s FREE Macronutrient Guide: The Balanced Plate Blueprint at ⁠broads.app/macronutrient-guide⁠.

Gym Starter Guide: Ready to stop waiting for "someday"? Download the free guide at ⁠broads.app/gym-starter-guide⁠

Check out more from Tara LaFerrara:

Website: ⁠taralaferrara.com⁠

Instagram: ⁠@taralaferrara⁠

YouTube: ⁠@TaraLaferrara⁠

TikTok: ⁠@taralaferrara⁠

You already know what to do. You know you should lift, you know you should walk, you know protein matters. The information was never the problem. So why do you keep falling off the second life gets busy, and why does it feel like the only thing standing between you and consistency is more discipline you cannot seem to build?

Here is the truth most women never hear: it was never just about discipline. I sat down with Jordan Syatt, strength and nutrition coach to Gary Vaynerchuk and a five time world record powerlifter, to talk about the real reason women cannot stay consistent, and it comes down to a "perfectionism" trap that quietly gives you permission to quit every time you fall short.

We also get into why walking is one of the most underrated things you can do for your body, the blood markers that tell you more about your health than the scale ever will, and his honest take on motivation, GLP-1s, and what it actually takes to stop starting over.If you’re tired of starting over and finally want to build a sustainable road to fitness that’ll snowball to consistency and habits, this episode is for you. 

What's Discussed:

(01:06) Why a short calorie tracking window can change how you eat.

(07:29) Why walking is the most underrated thing you can do for your long term health.

(13:05) Why your blood work tells you more about your health than the scale.

(17:25) The DEXA scan problem and why body fat numbers do more harm than good.

(23:51) Renaming "maintenance" to "momentum" and why holding your results is its own skill.

(29:13) The "perfectionism" trap and why it is the real reason you cannot stay consistent.

(32:24) Motivation versus discipline and why you actually need both. 

(40:07) The truth about GLP-1s beyond weight loss.

Join us live on Monday, June 15 at 5pm CST and you'll get a special discount on BroadsCOACH BUILD if you sign up for the Summer Cohort on the call. Save your spot now at: ⁠broads.app/body-recomp-webinar⁠

Find out more from Broads:

Website: ⁠broads.app⁠

Instagram: ⁠@broads.podcast⁠ ⁠@broads.app⁠

Check More Resources:

Macronutrient Guide: Want a simple place to start fuelling for the body you're building? Grab Broad’s FREE Macronutrient Guide: The Balanced Plate Blueprint at ⁠broads.app/macronutrient-guide⁠.

Gym Starter Guide: Ready to stop waiting for "someday"? Download the free guide at ⁠broads.app/gym-starter-guide⁠

Check out more from Tara LaFerrara:

Website: ⁠taralaferrara.com⁠

Instagram: ⁠@taralaferrara⁠

YouTube: ⁠@TaraLaferrara⁠

TikTok: ⁠@taralaferrara⁠

Check out more from Jordan Syatt:

Website: ⁠syattfitness.com⁠

YouTube: ⁠@jordansyatt⁠

Instagram: ⁠@syattfitness⁠

Facebook: ⁠Jordan Syatt⁠

TikTok: ⁠@syattfitness⁠

Podcast: ⁠The Jordan Syatt Podcast ⁠

Somewhere in your mid-30s, training can quietly stop feeling like something you choose and start feeling like something you owe. The workouts are still happening, the effort is still there, but the spark that used to make movement feel exciting has gone missing, and most women have no idea how to get it back.

I dive deeper into this in this week's episode of Broads, where I take you behind the scenes of my journey in competing at APEX for the second time and what choosing a real performance goal did to my relationship with training. I also talked about what getting 4th place twice taught me more than a podium finish would have, the difference between training to control your body and training to trust it, and why pursuing strength in your late 30s is one of the most genuinely rebellious things you can do.

What's Discussed:

02:07) The 150 meters from the finish line: what competing at APEX actually feels like.

(05:54) Why my relationship with athletics got complicated and how APEX feels different.

(08:14) The biggest thing missing for women in fitness right now.

(09:31) Why pursuing strength in your late 30s is genuinely rebellious.

(25:13) What getting 4th place twice actually taught me about progress.

Find out more from Broads:

Website: ⁠broads.app⁠

Instagram: ⁠@broads.podcast⁠ ⁠@broads.app⁠

Check More Resources:

Macronutrient Guide: Want a simple place to start fuelling for the body you're building? Grab Broad’s FREE Macronutrient Guide: The Balanced Plate Blueprint at ⁠broads.app/macronutrient-guide⁠.

Check out more from Tara LaFerrara:

Website: ⁠taralaferrara.com⁠

Instagram: ⁠@taralaferrara⁠

YouTube: ⁠@TaraLaferrara⁠

TikTok: ⁠@taralaferrara⁠