In episode 79, Jill and Chris talk with Nia Shanks, who specializes in helping women “unleash their awesome” with an empowering approach to health and fitness. Nia’s philosophy revolves around strength training programs with a focus on getting stronger. She also stresses flexible, obsession-free, nutrition principles. Nia Shanks is a coach, writer, speaker, and author of Lift Like a Girl and The 100-Day Reclaim. She has a BS in Exercise Physiology from the University of Louisville. Through her popular blog and online coaching courses, Nia has helped thousands of women look beyond “quick weight loss” and discover the amazing body they never knew they had. During the conversation, we discuss: * Getting started with weight lifting * Barbells vs dumb bells * Is it cheating to use a Smith machine * How to get deeper in squats * Improving dead lifts * The role of cardio * Why she says "You don't have to earn your food" and "Exercise isn't punishment" website: https://niashanks.com/ Books: Lift Like a Girl and  The 100-Day Reclaim Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NiaShanksLiftLikeaGirl/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/niashanks/

Lift Like a Girl with Nia Shanks

Welcome to the Fit Strong Women over 50 podcast where the cohosts from the Becoming Elli Community, Jill McCauslin and Chris Brown, interview experts and share their insights about losing weight, keeping it off, working out and becoming fit and strong. Hear from others who are making it work, become inspired and motivated. For more information find Becoming Elli on Facebook and Twitter or visit our website at http://www.becomingelli.com for more motivation, work-out ideas, recipes, tips and inspiration.

Nutrition

Health & Fitness

In episode 154, Jill and Chris speak with Maddy Dychtwald, an internationally acclaimed author, public speaker, and thought leader on longevity, aging, the new retirement, and the ascent of women.  She co-founded Age Wave, the world’s leader in understanding and addressing the far-reaching impacts of our aging population.  She is the author of "Ageless Aging: A Woman’s Guide to Increasing Healthspan, Brainspan, and Lifespan" published by the Mayo Clinic Press.  Maddy has been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes, Newsweek, Time, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Fox Business News, CNBC, and NPR, and others.  Maddy is the author of two previous books: Influence: How Women’s Soaring Economic Power Will Transform Our World for the Better and Cycles: How We Will Live, Work, and Buy.  For more information, see our website: BecomingElli.com

Ageless Aging with Maddy Dychtwald

In episode 153, we feature an encore presentation of one of the inspiring stories of Fit Strong Women Over 50. This episode was first released five years ago as episode 31. We wanted to revisit this episode for our listeners who may not have had the opportunity to hear the story of this inspiring woman.  Enjoy!  More details at our website: BecomingElli.com

Encore Presentation: Inspiring Stories of Fit Strong  Women  Over 50

In episode 152 of the Fit Strong women Over 50 Podcast, Jill and Chris speak with Becoming Elli member, Maria Molvin about how she finds strategies to stay healthy and fit as she ages. Balancing work, family obligations, focusing on healthy eating, prioritizing sleep, and finding time to be active can be challenging. Maria lives in Northeast Ohio with her husband. She takes advantage of all the great local metro parks and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to walk and hike. We discussed:  How Maria relies on habits over willpower and discipline How she uses her home gym. She has an elliptical. treadmill, stationery bike, and a weight bench. Why she gets on her stationary bike for 10 minutes each morning Her full workout routines and how they help her reduce stress after from working from home all day Strength training with bicep curls and skull crushers Overcoming a sleep disorder by prioritizing sleep. Maria makes sure she sleeps in a dark room, puts away her phone before bed, listens to yoga Nidra recordings, takes CBD and goes to sleep at about the same time each night. What she does to offset her joint hyper mobility.  Although she became a Yoga Instructor, now she does not work out for flexibility. Instead she focuses on functional movements, like standing on one foot to increase her balance. How she considers herself an "all-weather walker" and dresses for the conditions. Why taking belly dancing lessons was such a fun way to exercise Looking into the FODMAPS diet - the elimination diet where she found out about sensitivities to onions, garlic, beans and legumes Big salads at lunch, chicken breasts in the air fryer and grilled chicken/shrimp with seamed or roasted vegges for dinner Her advice for women who want start adapting for health: pick one thing you want to change and get good at adding that habit (or eliminating that bad habit.)  For more information visit our website at BecomingElli.com

Adapting for Health with Maria Molvin

Episode #151 Get More Fit with Kathy Murray   Kathy Murray is a certified personal trainer with over thirty years’ experience in the fitness industry. She is a graduate of The Ohio State University where she was a member of the 1983 National Cheerleading Championship Team. After college she competed in and won the United States Aerobic Championship in 1986 and spent the year traveling the world as a Fitness Ambassador. Kathy worked as a free-lance educator to teach fitness to European Instructors. While in Munich, she coached the Munich Cowboys (American Football) Cheerleaders to six national titles in cheerleading and was head trainer/translator for the German Gladiators during a pilot TV show for the International Gladiators. I was in Germany where she started Fit Bodies Always an avid cyclist, Kathy dipped her toe into the world of multi-sport in 2000, first competing in duathlons then eventually moving to triathlons. Kathy has owned her personal training business Fit Bodies for 25 years and in 2022 co-authored the Audible book, The Munich Cowboy Cheerleaders based on her time coaching the squad. She lives in Atlanta with her husband Lutalo, dog Mingus and cat Sassy.   We discussed:  Coaching teens in Germany for the Munich Cowboys Cheerleaders Preparing for a hip replacement and setting goals Her active online fitness coaching at Fit Bodies How she helps her clients get more fit at any age  Learn more at our website: Becoming Elli

Get More Fit with Kathy Murray

In episode 150, Jill McCauslin and Chris Brown interview Chris Freytag, the founder of Get Healthy U and Get Healthy U TV. Chris Freytag has been teaching, training, writing books, creating DVD’s, and speaking on the subject of health and fitness for the last 30 years. Get Healthy U TV is a streaming website with workouts for midlife women. They have over 700 workouts for all levels and ages. You can access the workouts on your computer, smart phone, Roku, Fire TV and the Get Healthy U app. Get Healthy U is the sister fitness hub that educates and inspires women to make healthy lifestyle choices as they age. Get Healthy U provides trustworthy information about health, fitness, wellbeing, nutrition, and recipes. Get Healthy U TV and Get Healthy U reach over 1 million women a month through their website, newsletters, social media and workouts. Chris lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her husband where they raised their three now-grown kids. More info at our website: BecomingElli.com

Lift Like a Girl with Nia Shanks

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