Marissa and Michelle sit down with Mark Breedon to discuss the importance of strength training, particularly for women. They discuss how weight loss goals can be problematic, why lifting heavy weights is important for everyone, and how to overcome gym anxiety among a whole lot of other awesome topics. They also dig into Mark's training approach and why he primarily trains women. 

Mark Breedon is an online personal trainer who helps people focus less on the scale and more on how strong they can become. Mark has what is known as a weight-neutral approach to training, where he doesn't focus on weight or aesthetics. Instead, Mark wants you to be your strongest, healthiest, and happiest self!

Find Mark on Instagram & TikTok: @training.strong.women

Check out Mark's podcast, Who's Lifting Today

In this week's minisode, Marissa unpacks what "healthism" is, the ways it shows up in everyday life, and how it causes harm both to the individual and society as a whole. She discusses how it contributes to anti-fat bias, eating disorders, and government policies that fail to address critical disparities. She also lays out how you can start combatting healthism right now. 

Jarrod is a strength and conditioning coach located in Brookline, MA who loves coaching young people because it "gives me a chance to put some good knowledge in their heads so we can cut out all the myths out there early on and help them look after themselves for the rest their lives."  

In addition to discussing his passion for training young folks, we also shoot the shit about his love of rugby and how his training philosophies and beliefs have evolved in the 10 years he's been coaching. 

Jarrod is currently a strength coach and rugby coach at Brookline High. He was born in Maine (UMaine BS Kinesiology & Phys Ed, Ex Science concentration) and moved to Massachusetts 10 years ago.  He stopped working in a big box gym and went independent 6.5 years ago under First XV Performance and currently works exclusively out of Tony Gentilcore's space, CORE, in Brookline MA.

You can reach Jarrod on the gram @jdykefxvp on Facebook and at his website

Protein has been a hailed as the queen of macros in many fitness circles. In this episode Michelle discusses:

CW: Michelle discusses calories, formulas that involve body weight for determining protein intake and recommmendations for protein intake that involves numbers in this episode. 

Be sure to listen to previous episodes about macros and micros:

Episode 31: Vitamins, minerals, and supplements, oh my! 

Episode 17: The Big 3: An Overview of Macros

Questions and want us to dive deeper into any of these points about protein?  Email us at [email protected]

Looking for support with nutrtion in a more individualized way?  Both Michelle and Marissa have openings for 1:1 clients!  Reach out at [email protected]

Samantha Mendonca joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her work as a fat activist, embodiment coach, pleasure mentor, and sex educator. We discuss anti-fat bias and fatphobia, body image and body acceptance, myths and facts about body weight, and where self-discovery and pleasure come in along the body acceptance journey. 

Samantha is a fat activist, embodiment coach, pleasure mentor, sex educator, and tarot reader. Their work is trauma-informed and is rooted in collective liberation through the unlearning of structures of oppression. Their work is meant to support you in coming home to yourself; your most authentic, joy-filled, and embodied self. Samantha's work includes one-to-one as well as group offerings, such as the Fat Pleasure Club.

Learn more about Samantha and their offerings at: www.instagram.com/samantha.not.sam

Michael Hobbes: Everything You Know About Obesity is Wrong: https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/everything-you-know-about-obesity-is-wrong/

Have you ever heard a nutrition or wellness influencer tell you to "shop the perimeter" at the grocery store? Or maybe you've heard "eat the rainbow"? These are catchy little one-liners intended to make healthier eating habits simpler, but they really miss the mark and, in this week's minisode, Marissa explains how.

Give this episode a listen to find out!

Juice Plus is an MLM that sells powdered fruit and vegetables in capsules, among other products. But what do those products actually bring to the table nutritionally? What's the deal with the studies behind their products? Are they worth the money? What does "better than organic" even mean? Should you try their Shred 10 program? We shared what you need to know about this company and their products. 

Content warning: discussion of calories and common diet phrases utilized when tracking.

Out in the wild world of the internet, you're going to hear a lot of opposing view points on tracking: both nutrition tracking and fitness tracking.  However, on social media, much fitness and nutrition information is hyper polarized because that's how coaches learn to market and draw attention to themselves and their services.  So what is one to do?  Track or not track?  Well, like many things, it depends! 

In this episode, Michelle chats with us about many of the pros and cons to both nutrition tracking and using a fitness tracker so that you can ultimately make the vest informed choice for you and your wellness.

Having a coach can help with guiding you in the direction of tracking or not - if interested in learning more about coaching with Michelle or Marissa, reach out to us at [email protected]

Noel is a veteran indoor cycling instructor of the boutique fitness world, specifically indoor cycling who now travels worldwide to to lead continuing education workshops for instructors and new studios.  In 2018 she started Boutique Fitness Talks who has a mission of connecting & mobilizing fitness studio founders of all formats and in 2021, Noel co-founded a continuing education course called PEP For FitPros, which is for fitness professionals wanting to stay teaching & making money for many years to come, which focuses on voice performance and voice health; the keys to career longevity!

In this episode we chat about the most important pieces of training and continuing education as well as class design for fitness professionals - for career longevity and to creating spaces that are welcoming, fun and safe for folks to want to keep returning to!

Connect with Noel here!

www.noelcycles.com @noelcycles

www.pepforfitpros.com @pepforfitpros 

[email protected]

Food labels can be confusing! Is the serving size what you're supposed to eat? What does "all natural" really mean? What does "based on a 2000 calorie diet" mean? What parts of the label are regulated and which are not? Marissa answers these questions and more in this minisode!