Exercise is such an important facet of our health and fitness journey and really can be such a gift that we get to enjoy BUT, sadly, we don't always see it that way. Join me as I talk about the huge impact exercise has on our over all quality and longevity of life. I talk about the benefits of exercise, I describe the "relationship with exercise" spectrum and the unhealthy tendencies of both extremes, I also just give some food for thought regarding exercise. Things that you can think about and ponder as you assess your own relationship with exercise in the coming weeks. Lastly I encourage everyone to take at least 15 minutes this week to journal about this topic and reflect on where your relationship with exercise is at, in what ways it is doing well and what areas could use some help moving forward.

I'm back! I hope you all are ready for an awesome fall round together! As we wrap up the last quarter of the year our focus will be on restoring our relationships. Consider this an "Intro" episode before we dive into the thick of our theme this round. Join me as I give everyone a little update on where I'm at personally and what I'm up to these days (especially for those of you who weren't apart of my summer round), as I introduce our topic for this round and as I put in a little plug in for accountability. This is a totally optional episode and is just meant to get us fired up for our upcoming round that starts THIS THURSDAY! From here on out podcast episodes will be released Thursdays, starting with our first topic of focus: Restoring Our Relationship With Exercise. Let's have fun this round guys! I'm pumped!

In my last and final episode for this SOS Strength series I wrap up by discussing the core and shoulder muscles as well as reviewing form cues for the military press and plank. The main topic at hand for this week's episode is deload week. If you decide to up your strength training game and are being truly consistent with your program while challenging yourself week to week, it is important to schedule in time where you intentionally pull back AKA deload week. I talk about why deload week is so important, especially for advanced lifters, and how we can lean into deload weeks to match our busy calendars. I also talk period. How, as women, our period has a major effect on how much effort we can put fourth week to week and how we can navigate our cycle to our advantage. And even how those of you who may no longer have a period, still have a monthly cycle of sorts that does affect you similarly. All that and more in this week's Burns Fitness podcast.

In today's episode we're all about the back muscles. We learn about the traps and lats and how they are major players for our back health. We also focus on kickbacks and back extensions for our exercises of the week. The main topic at hand though is PROGRAM DESIGN. This is a concept that often gets missed as we begin our fitness journey and especially as we become more specialized. I talk about the importance of following a program that is RIGHT FOR YOU! Not only is it essential in accomplishing your particular goals but it also key in embracing a routine and lifestyle that will last long term. So many times I have clients that come to me and they either cannot remain consistent with the program they've been given by someone OR they are extremely dedicated to the program but it simply has not been designed in a way that compliments their specific goals so they are not seeing the results they want. This episode is particularly for those of you that follow "generalized programs". 9 times out of 10 those programs can work really well for most people. But there are times where it's important to tweak things to make the program more suitable to you. So in this episode I explain some red flags to consider as you navigate your fitness journey. If certain emotions keep rising to the surface then it may be appropriate to consider needing to make a few tweaks to your program. I also give out a few suggestions as to how you can tweak your program to match your needs more specifically. Hope this helps moving forward, guys! Especially as we approach our summer round of intrinsic motivation! Nothing more important than having a program that you love AND gets you the results you're looking for!

This week we look at the bicep and tricep muscles of the arm. We also delve into proper technique for good chin up and tricep dips form. But our main focus in today's episode is on the topic of subing out exercises. We've all been there. You take a look at the new program your coach has just given to you and you notice *insert exercise of choice*. You immediately want to change it out for something else. But should you? For some people the exercise might cause pain. For other's they may feel like they simply cannot perform that exercise. And for others it may just be because you simply hate that particular exercise. In today's episode we talk about some things you should consider before you switch out one exercise for another. And how to go about exploring what an alternative exercise could be, if you so choose that changing the exercise is best. We also continue to learn new and creative ways to progressively overload within our strength programs. This week we're sticking with the time under tension principle and explore the 1 1/2 rep trick ;) Enjoy!

Welcome to week 4 of my SOS Strength series! Today I cover the pecks and all that they are purposed to do, as well as, go in depth with proper form technique for the bench press and push up exercises. The focus of today's episode is on supersets. What are they? Why do we program them? And when do we use them? Superset has become a bit of a "buzz word" in the fitness industry today, so I wanted to take some time to educate on when and how to optimally use this wonderful tool as you progress in your strength training. I also uncover a new creative way to apply progressive overload when you are either stuck at a certain weight and cannot properly bump up to the next weight jump safely with proper form OR are just simply maxed out with the weights that are available to you and therefore need to be creative with progressive overload in all of your programming.

Today I discuss one of the easiest ways to optimize your training: rest & recovery! Doesn't it sound too good to be true? To maximize your strength training results you simplly have to take more time to rest? It's the truth! In today's episode I talk about the specifics around resting between sets, particularly comparing at home workouts to working out at the gym. I also cover different resting methods between compound exercises and isolation exercises. In addition I touch on the importance of resting muscles between workouts and being smart with your weekly workout routine. Glutes are the muscle of focus this week and the hip thrust and step up are the exercises that I chose to pick apart form. Lastly, I talk about how to use your programmed rep range to apply progressive overload week to week. All this and more in today's episode!

Why is it useful to fine tune our strength game? It's called OPTIMAL training! We want to get the most bang out of our buck when it comes to fitness and working out. So the smarter we train the more results we see with time! In today's episode we cover the hamstring and calf muscles as well as proper technique for the conventional and romanian deadlift. We also scratch the surface of what it means to progressively overload. We specifically dive into how to determine if you are lifting a right amount of weight for each exercise each week and different things to be aware of to determine whether you are lifting too light or potentially too heavy. This is a crucial step in the strength training game! So as you tackle your workouts this week, really focus in on finding that "sweet spot" weight to help optimize your training this spring!

Welcome to a whole new season of The Burns Fitness Podcast! This spring we will be discussing everything strength! In today's episode we cover the hip flexor and quadricep muscles as well as proper technique for the squat and sit up exercises. I talk about how the most important thing to do during week 1 of any strength program is to properly learn the form of each exercise! Sometimes it can feel redundant to watch the demo videos and can even add a bit of time to the workout but this is the key building block to any strength program! We're going to want to build on this in future weeks which is why it's so important to focus on form week 1! If you are not doing the exercise properly - then adding weight will not accomplish what we are hoping to achieve anyway! I also share that the very first step or way to apply progressive overload is by mastering form. Again, this season we will be looking at different ways to challenge our muscles with the movements we are doing. Step 1 is mastering that form!

The last and final episode of our "You Are What You Eat" series. Today's topic is the linch pin to everything we have learnt these last few months together: Balance. If we do not view all that we've learnt through a lens of balance, ultimately it won't stick. So join me as I discuss how I coach people to navigate through their health and fitness goals with balance. I offer some advice on how to set your goals up in a way that sets you up for balance and I also offer some practical ideas on how to strive for balance in a world that pushes the extremes!