Tis the season to be jolly and merry and super busy! During this magical time of year between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, we especially want our movement routine to enhance our life, not add more stress to it.  In this mini-sode Michelle breaks down her top 5 tips for consistency with workouts during this busy and often stressful time year and provides some examples of how she applies these strategies to her own training schedule.

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Seeking a fun way to add some short bursts of movement into your routine this holiday season? Join Michelle on the gram for her 

#100SwingsADayForThe Holidays consistency challenge.  Now, this can look like anything you want it to and can be adapted for something like 100 squats if you are not a kettlbell swinger.  The mission is to have some fun with movement for 5-10 minutes a day through the new year.  No need to sign up for anything, but Michelle would love to see and share your posts if you join the fun so be sure to tag her @_michelle_farrell and use the #100SwingsADayforTheHolidays tag on instagram!

In a special non-minisode on a Tuesday, Michelle and Marissa look ahead to the Thanksgiving holiday and the seemingly inevitable diet talk that tends to come with it. Whether it's comments about food that you find triggering or comments about your body, Michelle and Marissa share some strategies and responses that can help you navigate these tricky situations. 

The road to recovery after pregnancy including returning to athletics and working out is never linear and is unique to each person, but much of the information pushed and marketed to pregnant and post-partum folks is about aesthetics and paints a picture that folks can just "bounce back" with the right program.  In this week's episode, Rhonda Chamberlain discusses a different way to support pre/post party folks with their recovery utilizing a non-diet lens and incorporating mindset and body image work as important pieces of the equation for overall wellness.

About this Week's Guest!

Rhonda Chamberlain (she/her) is a mom to 2 girls, physiotherapist and lover of all things fitness and wellness.

Rhonda has been practicing as a physiotherapist since 2010 in an exercise-based setting. She started her own virtual physiotherapy and fitness coaching business in May 2020, and is excited to continue to watch it grow!

Her passion for exercise began at 3 when she started competitive gymnastics, a sport that she competed in for over 12 years. She now finds her passion in strength training, and in inspiring women to realize how strong they really are!

After having a more challenging recovery with her second daughter, she found a passion for all things pregnancy and postpartum. She attained her Pregnancy and Postpartum Athleticism (P&PA) Coach Certificate in March 2020. She has since completed several other women’s health courses to continue her expertise in this area.

Her mission is to help busy moms return to exercise feeling supported and encouraged. And to help them ditch the all-or-nothing mindset to see that it is possible to fit exercise into their busy #momlife!

IG: @rhondachamberlainpt

email: [email protected], 

website: www.rhondachamberlainpt.com

You know the drill: you go the doctors and they check you in and then tell you to jump on the scale and take your blood pressure.  For many folks, knowing they are going to be told to jump on the scale causes much anxiety and nervousness - so much so that folks might avoid scheduling or attending medical visits.  But do you have to be weighed at your appointments?  

In this mini-side, Michelle discusses the reasons this might be medically necessary, how to decline if not, systems of weight stigma and bias in our health care system and why this might be a signal to review and revisit you relationship with the scale if it is a source of anxiousness.

Be sure to subscribe / follow the pod so you never miss a new episode (every Tuesday and Friday!) and connect with us on instagram, YouTube, and via email at [email protected]

We are living in a revolutionary time when it comes to recovery and sobriety. The old approaches to substance abuse and addiction are being questioned and often replaced with new approaches, such as harm reduction. Kiola Raines joins Michelle and Marissa in this episode to discuss her work, her journey, and this movement. They discuss ways in which the more traditional models of abstinence come up short, explore some of the alternatives, and talk about where we're at when it comes to openness about sobriety in this day and age. 

Powdered greens supplements have been super popular over the past several years. They may be a helpful option for some folks but they come with their fair share of potential risks to be considered. Marissa parses out all that you need to know about greens supplements in this minisode. 

It's that time of the year: cleanse season! TV, social media, magazines, everywhere they are advertising cleanses and detoxes to help you "recover" or "bounce back" or "reset" from the most recent holiday. But are theses products and programs worth it? Michelle and Marissa expose what is really going on with these cleanses and what you need to know about them. 

After episode 71, Smash or Pass: Supplement Edition, in this episode, Michelle dives in a bit deeper into the one supplement Marisa and Michelle enthusiastically smashed: Creatine.

If this episode was useful, we always appreciate your shares with friends, family and social media! Also, if you have listened to a few episodes and are enjoying the pod, please be sure to subscribe/follow on your pod platform.  Reviews, especially 5 star and ones with some text really help the podcast to be found by other folks who will love us and find our content useful - we are so grateful for the time you take to listen, interact and share! xo

Resources for you to check out:

Creatine supplementation improves muscular performance in older women

Creatine Supplementation in Women’s Health: A Lifespan Perspective

Dr. Stacey Sims

Let's play a game of smash or pass and review some common, popularly marketed fitness and nutrition supplements!

The wellness and diet industry is a $72 billion dollar a year grift with much of this revenue generated through supplement sales.  Which supplements are worth your time and energy and which can you just pass on?

If you missed our mini-side about the Mass Center for Native American Awareness and why we're currently fundraising, be sure to catch episode 64 and if called to do so, please consider a donation either through our instagram fundraiser HERE or directly to them on their website HERE

Link to one research study about creatine supplementation for older women.

Not sure how to handle your stress cravings? Feeling exhausted when you're stressed? Skipping meals? Marissa talks about some common misconceptions and pitfalls people encounter when it comes to stress and food and shares some tips on how you can support your body and mind through those stressful times by. making sure you are properly nourished and avoiding common mistakes.