Fuel Your Strength

It can be tricky to strike a balance between when our bodies are optimized to go hard and when we need to rest. This is why wearable trackers like my personal favorite, Whoop, are such amazing tools to help you understand the data and analytics behind your performance and recovery.

Key Takeaways

If You Want to Use A Recovery Tracker to Improve Your Recovery, You Should:

1. Find a tracker that provides you with science-based data and analytics unique to your body
2. Don't forget about your menstrual cycle and the impact it can have on your training and recovery
3. Remember that it is necessary to rest in order to see the gains that you want

Making Data-Driven Decisions with Emily Capodilupo

Emily Capodilupo is the Senior Vice President of Data Science & Research at Whoop. A Harvard-educated neurobiology expert, former gymnast, and current runner, Emily knows firsthand the importance of sleep and recovery when it comes to peak performance. She combines her skills, personal experience, and sleep and analytics knowledge to empower athletes to make intelligent, data-driven decisions about their bodies.

Recovery Is Non-negotiable

By now, we all know that rest is an important factor in recovery, but did you know it can also impact your athletic, cognitive, and emotional performance? The average person sleeps for ⅓ of their life, and yet the reason behind why sleep is a universal need is still yet to be fully understood.

As Emily says, sometimes the best thing you can do for your body is rest. There is no point in training hard if you are not going to see the benefits, and you will not see the results you are hoping for without giving your body time to rest. By using a tracker like Whoop, you can better understand what is going on with your body and how to improve your metrics in order to meet your fitness goals.

Closing the Research Gender Gap

Another area that Emily is passionate about bringing attention to is the lack of female representation in academic research, especially when it comes to exercise physiology research. Historically women have been excluded from research studies, which does a horrible disservice to the females who want to train the right way.

Whoop works to provide you with information about your recovery and sleep, and menstrual cycle so that you can work smarter, not harder. By understanding your menstrual cycle and how your body is operating, you can actually get fit more efficiently. Using technology to gain more information about ourselves, and learning how to apply this information in simple and straightforward ways, is truly the optimal way to perform in all of your athletic pursuits.

Are you ready to use science-backed guidance to improve your performance and recovery? Share your thoughts on data and science when it comes to your optimal health with me in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

• How data collection and algorithms work hand in hand with human physiology (7:58)
• What is taken into consideration when creating a recovery score with Whoop (17:25)
• Why it is important to close the gender gap when it comes to exercise physiology research (29:22)
• What Whoops current and future research tells us about our menstrual cycles (38:43)
• How to adjust your training based on where you are at in your cycle, stage of life, and more (45:52)

Quotes

"It is a pretty powerful metric of how ready your body is to adapt to the varying stimuli you may be exposed to that day." (19:21)

"The recovery score, because we are getting at these pretty basic physiological measurements of readiness and adaptation, it translates into all these different things. So both your ability to perform, as well as your risk of potentially getting injured." (24:32)

"By neglecting research into how to comfortably and safely exercise as a person with a uterus, with these ovarian hormones, we are kind of setting these people up to opt out and therefore reduce their health later in life, shorten their lifespan, make them feel less good and less health, and I feel like that is a really big problem." (36:54)

"We have collected data from thousands of perimenopausal and menopausal females, and we are going to be able to do research… to sort of understand what research in that population looks like in a way that academic research failed to comment on. We are excited to be a part of closing that gap." (51:08)

"When we make stuff up, we are at such a high risk of getting it wrong and doing this huge disservice to a population who wants to do it right." (53:37)

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LTYB 342: Fitness Trackers and Listening To Your Body

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It is no secret that without quality coaches and personal trainers, there wouldn't be much of a fitness industry. And yet, if you are an aspiring coach or trainer, there are some common pitfalls that you might fall into. If you are trying to impact others in the world of fitness coaching and personal training, this episode is filled with the most important messages you need to know.

Key Takeaways

If You Want to Improve Your Skills as a Fitness Coach, You Should:

1. Focus on improving your understanding of how people operate and communication skills to create strong bonds with your clients
2. Set boundaries and do not engage with a topic you are not educated in or comfortable with
3. Make an investment in yourself by seeking out help to start your career with your best foot forward

Get Your Career Toolbox with Jasmine Braxton

Jasmine Braxton helps personal trainers implement their knowledge and overcome their imposter syndrome as a coach. She is on a mission to not only help other people become coaches but to bring high-quality coaching and personal training to the world. She knows the pitfalls that brand new coaches or personal trainers often unknowingly fall into and is here today to provide you with the most important steps that you can take to become the most impactful coach you can be.

You Deserve to Know What You Are Doing

Getting your certification to be a personal trainer is the first step on a long journey to becoming the best coach you can be. Applying exercise-related science to a personal field can be difficult, especially when you do not have the skills necessary to program in a way that will be impactful for your clients.

Understanding how people function and communication are two of the biggest struggles Jasmine sees in coaches and trainers. She has dedicated herself to helping others navigate these spaces and improving the quality of training available.

The Importance of a Good Foundation

If you have watched any home renovation show, you know that you can't build a house on a bad foundation. Despite this, many trainers are entering the field without the foundational knowledge necessary to take the 'stumbling stage' out of the equation. There are a lot of lessons in failing, asking for help, and admitting when you do not know something. It is only by observing what you are doing and learning how to improve that you can remove as many barriers as possible in order to gain the success, results, and career that you want.

Are you ready to improve the quality, knowledge, and relationships in your personal training or coaching journey? Share your thoughts with me in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

• What sets Jasmine's approach apart from what is regularly seen in the fitness industry (11:44)
• The biggest challenges when it comes to relationship building in the coach to client sphere (17:13)
• How the pandemic impacted the in-person and online fitness spaces and why it has created a problem (24:18)
• Why you need to give yourself grace when navigating the coaching landscape and progression of information (30:36)
• What skills you need to cultivate in order to have the most successful clients and career (33:14)

Quotes

"For trainers, whether we are in Year 1 or Year 12, we still struggle with a lot of the same things. A lot of them is confidence in ourselves, and our ability to program, our ability to help our clients change behaviors, and just overall feeling prepared to do our jobs well." (9:23)

"Getting a certification to be a personal trainer is just like stage 1. It is not everything y'all, it is just your start." (12:31)

"Coaching is not just about prescribing sets and reps and progressing someone. It's about helping them achieve a version of themselves that they cannot see yet, but it is there if they have someone supporting them." (22:18)

"There are lots of lessons in not getting things perfectly, and I think that is an opportunity for growth. When you are just okay with putting yourself out there and doing it and knowing it is not perfect, but learning what you can do to improve it." (31:26)

"I'm doing this because I can so empathize with what it feels like to want to do this so bad… wanting to be in this industry, but feeling like you have all these little stumbling stones in your way that make it so difficult." (38:19)

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LTYB 334: How Strong Women Can Lift Each Other Up with Molly Galbraith

LTYB 367: 5 Strength Nutrition Lessons I Wish I Learned a Decade Ago

There is a huge need for more understanding of movement and mobility regarding fitness in general. While injuries are impossible to avoid, the idea that our bodies just fall apart as we get older has been normalized to, the point of, detriment. By providing yourself with the necessary tools and knowledge, you can keep your joints healthy to continue to do the things you love at any age.

Key Takeaways

If You Want to Improve Your Mobility, You Should:

1. Start with a daily movement routine to ensure you are hitting your full range of motion
2. Remember that mobility work is strength training, just with a different focus
3. Get an assessment to understand your limitations and where your training should go

Connecting With Your Body With Dr. Jen Hosler

Dr. Jen Hosler is a physiotherapist and trainer who is passionate about helping women cultivate healthy behaviors and discover how simple it can be to live a healthy life, without stress. Building strong joints and tissue through mobility practices is the tool Jen uses to help her clients avoid injury, recover better, and connect with their bodies from the inside out.

Healthy Joints = Healthy Life

For many people, concerns around pain or injury in their lower back and neck stop them from achieving their health goals. Jen wants to challenge you to look beyond your regular fitness routine and incorporate some mobility practices that will target your joints and focus on your strength from the inside out to feel better and get stronger.

Life will find a way to put every difficult position in front of you. This is why you should expose yourself to these movements now so that your body can be prepared for them when you are faced with them.

Making Your Mobility a Priority

Mobility work is like the brushing and flossing of your teeth, but for your joints. Mobility work can help you maintain and improve your range of motion, get necessary nutrients in and out of your joints, and help you gain body control and body awareness. Mobility is not something that you can just ignore, and the benefits you will receive from starting now instead of tomorrow will have a huge impact on your ability to take your health to the next level.

Don't just accept that your body will start to fall apart as you age. You owe it to yourself to connect with your body and see the return on your investment in your health.

Are you ready to start prioritizing your mobility? Share your thoughts with me in the comments below.

In This Episode

• Common challenges women face as they age and how specific mobility training could help (8:25)
• How to navigate fear surrounding a past injury or hurting yourself through mobility (15:10)
• Addressing the polarization between mobility and nutrition in your day to day life (22:01)
• Examples of how to properly move your body during mobility work exercises (30:35)
• Why you should adopt a new attitude when it comes to how your body is aging (40:43)

Quotes

"I really realized that the place that I can have the most impact in helping people continue to still do the things that they love." (4:12)

"We need to load and off-load the joint to flush junk out and get good stuff in. You can take all of the supplements you want, but if you are not moving your full range of motion, you are never going to get there." (17:49)

"I am really lucky that I started to learn the importance of these things and addressing my limitations early on because most people don't realize until they are 40 or 50 and have a major injury." (26:04)

"Most people don't realize that mobility work eventually looks like strength training, or it is strength training, it is just with a different focus in mind. (28:30)

"It is not necessarily your fault that you didn't have the right information, but it is your responsibility to address the things when your body is talking to you." (41:43)

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LTYB 265: Why Strength Training Can Help Your Body and Mind with Dr. Jen Hosler

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Since I left teaching to start my own company nine years ago, my business has changed a lot. From Stupid Easy Paleo to Harder to Kill, to now Listen to Your Body, I try my hardest to stay transparent about how messy entrepreneurship and life can be. Now, I am ready to announce a new chapter in this journey, one that I hope you are as excited about as I am. Key Takeaways When Listening to the Fuel Your Strength Podcast, I Hope You:

1. Remember my goals of being transparent and following my heart
2. Relate to my changing business goals when being presented with new information
3. Know that my dedication to this content only grows stronger with each business pivot

New Name, Similar Mission

I try my very best to only get behind something if in my body or mind it is a definite 'hell yes'. Part of this process means changing course or pivoting when presented with new information or different viewpoints and perspectives you may have considered before.

I am pleased to announce the new name of my podcast, the Fuel Your Strength Podcast. This new name is really a better fit that connects more cohesively with my mission, the content I love to create, and the community that I love to work with.

The Future of Fuel Your Strength

I love working with athletic women in the range of their 40s who really want to fuel smarter. I am passionate about helping women step into their strength at any age and combating the idea that life after 40 means accepting defeat. This new podcast will bring you evidence-based strategies for nutrition, training, and recovery so that you can continue to feel strong in your body and your life as a result.

I cannot wait to take this show into the future, and I cannot wait for you to join me in this new chapter.

What are you hoping to hear about on the new Fuel Your Strength Podcast? Let me know your thoughts on the new name with me in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

• Gather round for a true story from my past that I can't wait to tell you (0:27)
• Lessons from my entrepreneurial journey that may help you in your journey whatever that may be (4:25)
• An exciting announcement about this podcast and what to expect going forward (7:04)
• Why you should keep challenging yourself at any age (11:58)
• What I hope you see when you look at my back catalog and my content going forward (13:21)

Quotes

"It goes to show that there are sometimes these different places that we come from, and I came from the world of education, and yet here I am still doing what I love, coaching, helping women with their nutrition… and it's just been such an amazing career I have had in this phase of my life." (4:10)

"As much as possible I try to share those things with you, about how much things have changed, about how my way of thinking about certain things has evolved, about how when I started this journey in 2013 of working for myself, it in some ways looked nothing like it does now." (6:20)

"When we help women build their strength, it is incredible what else changes in the process." (6:43)

"If I could say there was one thing that I was put on this planet to do, it is to talk about strength, to relay that message, to introduce it to people, to help support you as you are going through your own process of lifting and learning how to do it and understanding how you need to provide your body with the things it really needs to lift strong and recover well, and really see the results that you want." (10:25)

"We all start somewhere. And it is okay to change and evolve and grow, especially when faced with new information or presented with different viewpoints and perspectives." (13:53)

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From Stuck To Strong: How To Fuel For Bigger Lifts

If you are a woman who lifts weights, chances are pretty high that somewhere along the line, someone has given you their unsolicited opinion of what you should and shouldn't be doing in your pursuit of strength. These comments can be cringeworthy and are part of a much larger problem that dissuades women from strength training despite all of the benefits that we know are out there. Key Takeaways If You Want To Be A Champion for Other Women, You Should:

1. Find a support system of people who get you and want to celebrate your wins
2. Don't be afraid or doubt yourself when it comes to your strength training goals
3. Remember all of the benefits of strength training and the positives that it can bring to your life

You Are Not Alone in This

So many of us get these ridiculous comments along our strength training journey. That we should be worried about getting 'too big', that we won't appear 'feminine', or that we will hurt ourselves. Being aware that there are always people out there who say stupid shit is important, but these belittling comments can stop women from strength training and reaping the multiple health benefits and quality of life improvements.

This is why having a support system, whether it is virtual or in person, is so important on this journey. There are people out there that want to celebrate your wins with you and encourage you to keep going; you just have to find them.

Listen to Your Inner Badass

Did you know that only 1 in 5 women meet the recommended guidelines for muscle strengthening and cardiovascular activity? If we could put more weights in the hands of women and help them feel ready for the strength training journey, the benefits would be endless. This is why these comments matter. The negative comments that women in my community have received defy both science and logic.

Please, don't give in to the ridiculous things people say. This is your life and body, and the badass in you who wants to lift weights and get stronger is the voice you should listen to.

Are you ready to be your own champion and stop letting the haters get you down? Share the most ridiculous unsolicited advice you have received with me in the comments section of the episode page.

In This Episode

• The inspiration behind our conversation in this episode (4:08)Some of the unsolicited ridiculous things people in my community have been told about lifting (10:05)
• Why you need to have awareness around people saying stupid shit (16:00)
• Why women getting talked out of strength training is a massive problem (19:06)
• The importance of being your own champion in a society that has not caught up (22:27)

Quotes

"I think it is important that we know about women out there breaking records and doing cool shit and saying hey, I can be strong and amazing at what I do." (6:05)

"There is this interesting dynamic that is not just when a woman describes that she wants to exercise, buts it's the kind of exercise that we applaud." (13:35)

"When I hear this, it really annoys me, because I know there are women out there who get talked out of or start to doubt, and they stop strength training, or they never even begin." (18:52)

"We know that there is so much evidence for why muscle strengthening, strength training, resistance training, that's adequate to produce the response we need for our bodies. That it's adequately loaded, that it's progressively loaded, doing it in a smart way, we know that this has benefits." (20:53)

"Doing this alone can be extremely isolating. It is very easy to start second-guessing yourself. It is very easy to let the naysayers get you down or talk you out of this. It is very easy to succumb to the pressures around you of what you should and shouldn't be doing. And it is really lonely when no one gets you." (23:50)

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351: Strength Training Risk vs Benefit

When I look back at all of the unknowns or mistakes I made when I started lifting way back in 2010, it makes me shutter. My goal is to help you avoid those mistakes and provide you with the tools and information necessary to help you achieve your goals while also fueling yourself smarter, getting stronger, building muscle, and performing better. Key Takeaways If You Want To Start Developing Better Nutrition Habits for Your Strength Training, You Should:

1. Make sure you are fueling enough for your activity level
2. Remember that carbs and protein are your longevity friend
3. Adjust your strength and nutrition plan to serve your personal goals

Hindsight is 20/20; As They Say

I see many common mistakes in my community and my listeners, and I only wish I could turn back time and have hindsight on my side. While I can't do that for myself, it is my pleasure to be able to do that for you. Falling into the same pitfalls that I did when I was fresh at lifting is something that I want to help you avoid, which is why I choose to point out the common mistakes I see to help you be as successful in your body as possible.

Setting Your Body up for Success

If you have stepped up your activity level but continue to fuel your body the same, there is a good chance that your body is not happy. By shifting your mindset around what you are actively doing and how much fuel your body needs to accomplish that, you will avoid Low Energy Availability and improve your Basal Metabolic needs.

By troubleshooting and changing how you are thinking about fueling your body in relativity to your activity, you will find the answers you are looking for to get out of these frustrating circumstances when it comes to strength training and nutrition.

Are you ready to fuel smarter in order to build strength, energy, muscle, and perform better? Let me know what you want to hear next in the comments section of the episode page.

In This Episode

• The first thing that I wish I knew about fueling my body for strength training (3:51)
• Discover the problem with the mantra 'eat less move more' (8:40)
• Why you should be mindful of getting enough protein intake when strength training (15:01)
• How coffee could be sabotaging your energy, especially if it takes the place of your breakfast most mornings (18:55)
• Why some nutrition tools may not be well suited to the strength and nutrition goals that you have (22:30)

Quotes

"I was eating, of course, but I really wasn't mindful of how much energy I was expending through my training. Which was a lot." (5:22)

"You sort of have to understand how these things can morph and then when supported by the community at large, especially when there is not a lot of context involved." (12:07)

"Once women are in the menopause transition, and there is lower estrogen, it is harder to build muscle for a variety of reasons and if we are not eating enough food overall… one of the things that happen is we start to lose muscle tissue." (15:34)

"You are going to perform a lot better in your training if you put more in your system than just coffee." (21:24)

"Not every tool is a good idea for you, and this is where being discerning is really, really important." (26:20)

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LTYB 364: Nutrition & Strength Training for Cyclists with Marissa Axell

LTYB 366: 3 Strength Training Myths to Avoid

Strength training has the potential to expand your life in so many ways, which is why it makes me so sad when those who are relatively new to lifting get scared off by common myths and misconceptions. In my experience, there are three common strength training myths that I see that I want to set the record straight on. Key Takeaways

If You Want To Avoid Common Strength Training Myths, You Should:

1. Know that you don't need to lift every day and that recovery is important
2. Stop trying to confuse your muscles instead of working towards your goals
3. Don't push yourself to the point of soreness where you don't enjoy it anymore

Strength Training Myths Exposed

One of the first myths people often hear when they are first exposed to strength training is that they need to lift every day. This couldn't be further from the truth. Rest and recovery days are necessary for a sustainable lifting routine, and they should not be taken lightly. The improvements you will see in your results when you schedule in the time for a recovery day from lifting will speak for themselves.

Another common myth is that you have to confuse your muscles in order to see results. While it is important to have modifications in your lifting routine to keep your muscles adaptive, you can actually do yourself a disservice by confusing your muscles too much. A training plan that progressively overloads you while training towards your goals is the key to a strategy that works for you.

The Key Is a Progressive Plan

Another myth that I see my clients get caught up in all the time is that if their workout is not making them incredibly sore, then it is not working. While everyone feels soreness occasionally, pushing your body to the point where you are so sore that you are not enjoying your workouts anymore isn't benefiting anybody.

By creating a progressive plan, you can get more out of your lifting in the long run. Being more consistent, showing up without being extremely sore, enjoying your workouts, buying back more time, all without overdoing it, are just some of the benefits of avoiding these three common strength training myths.

What are some strength training myths that you have come across? Share them with me in the comments section of the episode page.

In This Episode

• Learn about my exciting new offering that you have been asking for for years (3:43)
• The importance of recovery and why you will see better benefits when you don't lift every day (8:18)
• Why you don't need to confuse your muscles in order to make progress in your workouts (12:00)
• Why your workout doesn't have to make you sore in order to be effective (18:23)
• How to find a training plan that is matched to your goals, needs, equipment, and more (22:55)

Quotes

"Not only do you get amazing benefits from strength training, but I really do believe that it is a catalyst for expansion in your life." (3:19)

"If we want to build strength, we are going to have to progressively overload the training plan over time. There are multiple ways to progressively overload a training plan, but all this means in very general speak, is that we have to change up certain variables of the workout at a reasonable pace over time so that your body continues to adapt." (13:18)

"If you have goals, and you are looking to increase mass or looking to increase strength or looking to increase speed, power, then its important that you spend enough time actually being exposed to those things so that you increase and improve." (17:40)

"Your soreness is really not a great indication of how good the workout was… but it is pretty demotivating when you are incredibly sore all the time, or you are just wiped out all the time, it is very difficult to wake up the next day or two days later excited to do that next workout." (21:57)

"If you are following a training plan that is well thought out, hopefully, it is progressing you as wisely as possible." (22:48)

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Creatine can be one of the most beneficial supplements out there, especially for those who are physically active. However, there are a lot of myths and misconceptions about creatine. This is why I have invited 'Dr. Creatine' himself to the show today, to arm you with the knowledge necessary to decide if creatine is right for you.

Key Takeaways

If You Are Interested in Creatine, You Should:

1. Educate yourself about the benefits of creatine when taken properly
2. Learn about the common myths and misconceptions about creatine and how they differ from reality
3. Stay up to date about the latest creatine research from doctors like Dr. Forbes

Enhancing Athletic Performance With Dr. Scott Forbes

Dr. Scott Forbes is a researcher who focuses on sports science and various nutritional and training interventions that enhance athlete performance. He is an expert at examining nutritional and exercise interventions for optimal muscle and brain health in older adults and has worked as a personal trainer and athlete consultant for several professional and varsity level sports teams. He is passionate about helping those interested in creatine understand the science and reality behind the supplement so that they can make informed decisions for themselves and their health.

Understanding Creatine

Creatine is derived from three amino acids and is generally stored in muscle tissue. Creatine is beneficial for those who participate in high-intensity exercises, such as sprinting and lifting weights. It is not just for 'meat heads' or 'gym bros', and its benefit for bone health, muscle performance, and brain function are scientifically proven. Creatine works to enhance your muscle strength, not your muscle mass, which means it won't make you bulk up more than you want to.

The Science Behind Creatine

Dr. Forbes's research specifically looks at the gender gap that has previously existed in scientific studies and works to prove that creatine is safe for both males and females of varying ages. Dr. Forbes wants to help others avoid unnecessary work ad complications when it comes to supplementing with creatine and dismiss the myths and misconceptions that can surround this supplement.

If you have considered taking creatine or want to get some real, scientific-based evidence into the benefits of creatine, this is an episode you cannot miss.

How does creatine play into your workout routine and supplementation? Have you experienced the benefits of creatine? Share your thoughts with me in the comments section of the episode page.

In This Episode

• The first thing you should know if you have never heard about creatine supplements (9:57)
• Why taking creatine can be beneficial when it comes to your workouts and overall health (12:44)
• Female-specific benefits that you can expect when you start to take creatine (18:30)
• Addressing common myths and misconceptions about creatine as submitted by listeners like you (20:54)
• What to expect in the future of creatine medicine and how to know which type of creatine is right for you (28:57)

Quotes

"Over time, it has been the one supplement that has been shown to have a benefit. And there seem to be more and more benefits in regards to creatine, so that is why I have just stayed engaged with creatine and got more excited over the years, and now it has become a focus for the past five or six years in my research laboratory." (7:26)

"There are so many myths and misconceptions associated with creatine, and I am just passionate about providing that information to whoever is interested in listening and trying to influence one person at a time." (8:03)

"If you take a creatine supplement, you get about a 20% increase in the amount of creatine within your muscle. So you make that energy system just a little bit bigger, and then you can run a little bit faster, you can lift a few more reaps, and over time that can translate into bigger and stronger muscles." (13:13)

"If you combine creatine with resistance training, you can enhance bone strength, particularly in post-menopausal women." (17:35)

"Be patient, wait a little bit, and you will actually have bigger and stronger muscles over time." (22:40)

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LTYB 358: Hypermobility, Pain, and Strength Training with Nikki Naab-Levy

LTYB 351: Strength Training Risk vs Benefit

LTYB 350: Are You Eating Enough? Low Energy Availability in Sport

Knowing how to train and fuel yourself appropriately, especially as a female athlete, goes way beyond just lifting weights. Whatever other pursuits you enjoy also require the knowledge and understanding necessary to train for your body's unique needs.

Key Takeaways

If You Want to Improve Your Cycling, You Should:

1. Work to change your mindset and educate yourself about the right training practices for your body and age
2. Ensure that you are fueling your body properly to have the energy you need to feel and train better
3. Work with a coach to keep muscles on your skeleton while pushing the pedals properly and mobilizing fat

Badass Bosses on Bikes With Marissa Axell

Marissa Axell is a cyclist and cyclist coach who has dedicated her work to teaching women cyclists how to be badass bosses on their bikes. She helps women understand not just the skill but also the nutrition, recovery, and training that works well for female cyclists at every age. Disappointed by the lack of information and representation in the female cycling work, Marissa took her years of experience and created a space and program that, frankly, I wish I had known 20 years ago when I first got onto a bike.

Chasing Quality, Not Fatigue

We have been conditioned for years that we have to be on every adventure and embody the all-or-nothing mentality. While Marissa is an advocate for high-intensity interval training, she has framed it in a way that does not set your body to chase fatigue but instead chase quality.

Focusing on your exercise quality and intensity will do more for your fitness, physiology, weight, and long slow distance effects than going above your threshold ever will. As we age, we have to remember to change our mindsets and training practices to best serve our here and now bodies in a way that still delivers the results we expect.

Changing the Mindset of Women Athletes

It has only been in the last five or so years that we have started to understand how women of different ages need to train. We are cyclical beings which means that we need to match our training to the cycles of our bodies and our lives to see improvement.

Fueling, recovery, and intensity are some of the most important factors for making long-term and sustainable fitness goals. While it is natural to want to see rapid change and be told what to do, it is not always the most effective. Finding the mix that works for you while having a constant conversation around fueling practices and rest is the key.

Are you ready to reevaluate your training and nutrition practices when it comes to cycling or other exercises outside of strength training? Share which activities you enjoy doing the most with me in the comments section of the episode page.

In This Episode

• How to start introducing the idea of periodizing your training (9:45)
• The most common training mistakes that female athletes need to approach differently in cycling training (13:33)
• Why changing your mindset around how you train as you age is crucial to your success (21:01)
• Examples of High-Intensity Interval Training on a bike and why it may not be what you imagine (25:29)
• Why you need to be fueling properly for your activity level and body composition (30:04)

Quotes

"It is really important to sit down with your client or athlete and just allow them to dream about what the best scenario ever would be. And then I kind of reverse engineer how we can make that happen, and rest is by and large a big part of that." (11:47)

"Cycling, that sport, is so stuck in traditions a lot of times. And we didn't really know until about five years ago that women really needed to train a little bit differently once they are over the age of 40. So we are still fighting this ingrained traditional sense of training, and we are still fighting a little bit of the patriarchy and misogyny." (17:14)

"I want you to think more about how to keep that muscle on your skeleton; that is what is going to help you stay comfortable and keep you peddling for a longer duration. It's not the hours in the saddle." (21:49)

"Would you take your sports car to the gas station and fill it up with 2 gallons of gas and then go for a 4-hour drive through the mountains? Probably not, because you would be worried about running out of gas. And that is literally the same thing you are doing when controlling or restricting your intake, and then trying to train on top of that." (32:09)

"It's hard to distinguish the correct information from the noise. And so that is where we come in, and we talk about fueling your body for the tasks at hand." (34:22)

Featured on the Show

Join the Group Strength Nutrition Unlocked Waitlist Here

AXN Fitness and Coaching Website

Follow Marissa on Instagram | Facebook

Join the Confident Cycling Collective Facebook Group Here

Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

Podcast production & marketing support by the team at Counterweight Creative

Related Episodes

LTYB 353: Fueling Best Practices for Active People with Jamie Scott

LTYB 350: Are You Eating Enough? Low Energy Availability in Sport

LTYB 348: Improve Your Fitness Over 40 with Robin Legat

When consistency is working, it's great. But what do you do when consistency gets in the way? It can be hard to find a way to frame your goals and your training to move forward when consistency seems to go out the window. However, with a few mindset shifts, you can find some solid ground to stand on and stop being so hard on yourself when it comes to your consistency in the gym.

Key Takeaways

If You Want to Stay More Consistent With Your Workouts, You Should:

1. Stop comparing yourself to others or a past version of yourself
2. Make a realistic plan for how you are going to show up for yourself and your movement practices
3. Seek help and accountability from a trainer or a friend

Main Point #1

A lot of the conversations I have been having with my clients lately have been focused around the idea of consistency, and what to do when your perceived lack of consistency seems to be mocking you. This mindset is rooted in the perfectionist, all-or-nothing camp, which can negatively affect your motivation and consistency towards your goals.

Many of us have a perception that in order to be consistent with something, we need to do it more than we are. But what if you took a minute to stop judging ourselves and stop using consistency as a metric in which we compare ourselves to past versions of ourselves and others?

Main Point #2

A great way to make your consistency feel more real is to plan for every aspect of what your practice is going to take and be realistic about its necessity of it. By understanding that there is value in moving, even if you are not 100% perfect or consistent, you can define your own personal version of consistency in the here and now.

Redefining what consistency means for you and separating the idea that consistency means perfection will help you train smarter, not harder. I want you to get the most out of your training, and when we can only focus on what we aren't doing, we tend to forget about all of the great things we are doing.

Are you ready to shift your mindset around what consistency, success, and progress look like to you? Share your thoughts and struggles with consistency with me in the comments section of the episode page.

In This Episode

• Learn about the problematic language that can surround your idea of consistency (5:49)
• How to define what consistency looks like to you here and now without comparing yourself to your past or others (9:20)
• Why you need to be realistic about how often and how hard you can work out and make it count (12:52)
• Discover why consistency and habits are not necessarily as connected as you may believe (18:11)
• What to do if you are struggling with the idea of consistency and dont know how to move forward (19:45)

Quotes

"When things are going well, and you feel like you are hitting your stride, the idea of consistency in your habits, in your training, in whatever practices you are trying to implement, can really feel amazing, until it is not." (2:43)

"Let's figure out what is going to help you move forward, build strength, get results, work efficiently, make the most out the time you do have, and that is your consistency level, and that is fine." (9:16)

"We can go hard, but we have to be wise about how hard we go, and also take into consideration some of the variables that go into how hard we personally can go." (13:31)

"Sometimes life happens. We have to be forgiving and compassionate about that, and we have to be understanding." (18:57)

"You don't have to be perfect, you don't have to make consistency yet another thing that you feel is so heavy in your life, another thing that you are not doing good enough. You are doing good enough." (25:34)

Featured on the Show

Join the Group Strength Nutrition Program Waitlist Here

Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

Podcast production & marketing support by the team at Counterweight Creative

Related Episodes

LTYB 359: #1 Way to Set More Effective Fitness Goals

LTYB 355: 24 Ways to Move More with Nicole Tsong