You decided to get stronger, improve your body composition, and become more healthy. You selected a simple but effective barbell-based strength training program and committed to consistent training. During your first year of lifting, there will be many new things to learn, habits to develop, and temptations to lead you off your chosen path.

After going through the process myself and talking with hundreds of other lifters, I wanted to share some thoughts to help you keep making progress and avoid some common pitfalls that could derail you. When I started lifting seriously and intelligently a few years ago, it was thanks to those who came before me that I could avoid making some big mistakes while still figuring out what worked for me as an individual. I hope these ideas help you in your first year of lifting or really any time during your fitness journey!

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro
01:36 - Set yourself up to develop successful new habits
04:13 - Objectively measure your progress
05:55 - Avoid program hopping
07:59 - Stop obsessing about getting "lean"
10:06 - Start obsessing about form and technique
11:14 - Get feedback through a coach or online group
14:39 - Prepare for early gains, things getting hard, and not failing reps
18:43 - Use biofeedback for health and avoiding injury
22:06 - Learn as much as you can about lifting

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training for men and women over 40 and fat loss program to build muscle after 40, lose fat, and maintain your results (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community -  Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

Sometimes advice from the fitness industry can be overwhelming. There are so many ways to program your lifting, eat your food, and meet your goals that we often get lost in the small details.

At the end of the day, it’s the BIG details, applied consistently, that contribute the most to your progress and result in sustainable habits of success in getting big and strong, losing or gaining weight, and sculpting a healthier version of you.

In this episode, I wanted to take it to a higher level, so to speak, and go over 7 “big priorities” for strength and fitness that, if you can do these at least 80% of the time, will help you accomplish your goals.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro
01:23 - Get moving!
03:17 - Keep programming simple and fun
04:54 - Get enough sleep (recovery)
06:44 - Get enough protein (as part of hitting calories)
10:53 - Make your own food for most meals
13:21 - Track progress
16:18 - Enjoy the PROCESS (the results will follow)

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training for men and women over 40 and fat loss program to build muscle after 40, lose fat, and maintain your results (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community -  Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

Today I share some helpful and sometimes counterintuitive things I’ve learned over the last year about fitness and nutrition that either changed my mind or were completely new to me.

As a forty-something-year-old lifter who has only been training seriously and effectively for the last few years, I used to believe a lot of nonsense—ideas, myths, preconceptions, assumptions, whatever you want to call them—that often held me back from progress or, even worse, were counterproductive.

Chances are that you’ve heard some of these too, and it’s quite possible you’ll be surprised by some of my thoughts in this episode—or perhaps not. At the very least, I hope you’ll learn something new that will help you continue to remain skeptical, ask questions, and become even more informed on your journey to greater strength, better health, and long-term consistency.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro
01:35 - #1 More muscle means you can eat more
04:09 - #2 Metabolism is determined by body composition
05:55 - #3 Genetics are no excuse
07:00 - #4 Calories are the LEAST important reason to exercise
08:47 - #5 Walking has more benefits than you think
12:17 - #6 Carbs are not the enemy (they are crucial for training)
14:34 - #7 Losing weight is as "simple" as being in a caloric deficit
15:51 - #8 There are multiple ways to make objective progress
17:52 - #9 Being strong makes it easy to recover from injury or surgery
19:14 - #10 We don't know everything yet but learn new insights every day!

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training for men and women over 40 and fat loss program to build muscle after 40, lose fat, and maintain your results (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community -  Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

One of our big goals on this podcast is sustainability and consistency, and the whole process of going to the gym is a huge barrier for many of us.

The hassle of preparing your clothing, gym bag, nutrition, and then factoring in drive time, weather, convenience within our schedules, compounded by access to random equipment at the gym, sharing a rack or barbell with other members, and sometimes dealing with policies like “no deadlifting” are just some of the many reasons we find to just hit the snooze button and avoid our workouts altogether.

That’s why building your own home gym can be a huge factor in developing good habits and consistency with your workout routine. It saves a ton of time, you can choose exactly the equipment you need, you can control the entire experience, and you can be more flexible with your training schedule. It’s a simple but highly effective step you can take to eliminate excuses and keep making progress.

In today’s episode, we cover:

• The pros and cons of a home gym
• Where in your home and how much space you need for your home gym
• What type of flooring to use
• Basic equipment to get started for the main lifts
• Extra equipment for accessory and bodybuilding movements
• Nice to have equipment to cover almost everything else

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro
02:14 - Pros and cons of a home gym
08:46 - Location and space requirements
15:15 - Flooring
17:49 - Basic (must have) home gym equipment
31:35 - Extra home gym equipment
40:35 - Ultimate gym equipment
44:34 - Final thoughts

RELATED LINKS:

• Fitness Reality Power Rack (Amazon)
• Vertical Leg Press (Titan Fitness)

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training for men and women over 40 and fat loss program to build muscle after 40, lose fat, and maintain your results (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community -  Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

I had the pleasure of being on another podcast a few months ago called Finding Your Strength Radio Powered by Romeo Athletics, where I was interviewed by Andrew Romeo. He’s an excellent host, experienced coach, and the owner of my long-time gym, Romeo Athletics.

He asked me a ton of great questions about my journey to fitness, how I got into lifting and strength training, different movements and programming, my recent bulk and cut, body recomposition, sustainable nutrition, and other random topics like metabolism, walking, and even the similarities between music and lifting.

I think the conversation has some interesting and valuable information for those of you looking to transform your life in terms of strength, diet, and overall fitness.

It was a fun interview, and if you want to learn more about Andrew’s podcast, Finding Your Strength Radio, I’ve linked to it below, and I encourage you to check it out and subscribe.

Enjoy the conversation!

RELATED LINKS

• Finding Your Strength Radio podcast (Romeo Athletics)

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training for men and women over 40 and fat loss program to build muscle after 40, lose fat, and maintain your results (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community -  Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

Today we wrap up our foundational series by diving into some practical strategies, tools, and life hacks to set your fitness and nutrition habits on autopilot.

If you’re at all familiar with the autopilot in an airplane—and as a side note, I used to fly small planes years ago and still work as an engineer in the aerospace industry—you know it’s a tool to eliminate constant manual intervention by the pilot.

In a similar way, we want to find ways to create consistency with our lifting and eating by using systems and tools to eliminate manual steps, barriers, and—frankly, excuses—that prevent us from taking action and developing solid habits.

Given that you have enough to think about between your profession, your family, and the million other things you enjoy, why not put in place some “life hacks” so you can just get to it and make progress! A word of warning—none of this relieves you of discipline and hard work—but a little preparation when you’re more motivated will set you up for long-term success, even when you’re not.

In today’s episode, we cover:

• Establishing a plan for your lifting ritual
• Locking in your programming calendar to make consistent progress
• Removing the most common barriers that prevent you from going to the gym or working out
• Establishing a plan for your diet and weight phases, and
• Planning ahead for consistent meals and successful nutrition progress

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro
02:40 - Planning your lifting (gym, training program, lifting schedule/time)
06:47 - Planning your programming schedule (next cycle, next week, next day)
11:12 - Eliminating excuses by preparing your "go bag" and equipment
14:14 - Preparing your workout nutrition
15:58 - Planning ahead for your weight change goal
18:57 - Meal planning
23:31 - Using technology to your advantage
26:42 - Bonus accountability tip

RELATED LINKS

• MacroFactor app for food logging and calculating expenditure (use code "WITSANDWEIGHTS" to extend free trial to 14 days)

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training for men and women over 40 and fat loss program to build muscle after 40, lose fat, and maintain your results (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community -  Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

Today is the DIET and NUTRITION episode, one of my favorite topics. Although this IS a podcast focused on lifting and getting strong, what you eat—and more importantly, HOW MUCH you eat—plays a huge role in your ability to lose fat (while preserving muscle) or gain muscle (while limiting fat gain).

You can’t have one without the other—and I’m going to assume you’re here because you want to get stronger AND leaner, and you want to do it productively without spinning your wheels.

I’m very passionate about taking a SUSTAINABLE approach to diet because, like many of you, I’ve personally experienced yo-yo dieting, fad diets, and all sorts of crazy food restrictions and questionable supplements over the years. Only in the last two years or so did I finally make peace with the nutrition gods and realize that proper nutrition is not nearly as complicated or restrictive as I once thought.

Today we’re going on a journey together that will equip you with the tools you need to eat a balanced, enjoyable diet for the rest of your life.

In today’s episode, we cover:

• The spectrum of dieting and why traditional diets don’t work over the long-term
• A balanced, flexible, and sustainable approach that won’t drive you crazy
• Focusing on what’s important and not sweating the rest
• An overview of calories and macronutrients, and the phases of weight change
• Determining your individual energy needs for your goal and then adjusting for success
• The phases of weight change and how they align with your goals as a lifter
• And finally, a brief foray regarding some specific foods and supplements

Timestamps:

00:31 - The importance of sustainability in diet and nutrition
02:37 - So many diets...which one to "choose"?
06:49 - A more balanced and flexible approach
09:29 - Focus on the "big things" to achieve results
-----
10:02 - #1: Calories (energy balance)
23:08 - #2: Macronutrients ("macros")
38:20 - #3: Macro targets to meet YOUR goal
47:45 - #4: How to ADJUST and keep making progress
-----
51:01 - Some helpful tips!
53:39 - Food ideas
58:16 - Supplements (whey protein and creatine)
1:01:29 - Recap and next episode

RELATED LINKS

• MacroFactor app for food logging and calculating expenditure (use code "WITSANDWEIGHTS" to extend free trial to 14 days)

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training for men and women over 40 and fat loss program to build muscle after 40, lose fat, and maintain your results (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community -  Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

Today we’re focusing on the “calories out” side of energy balance with a discussion of metabolism, as well as whether and how we can manipulate this “calories out” side of the equation.

We will not discuss diet or nutrition, which is the “calories in” side of the equation. Stay tuned for the next episode. In the meantime, understanding metabolism and especially how to accurately calculate your own energy expenditure sets the foundation for a sustainable approach to diet later on.

In today’s episode, we cover:

• What is metabolism in the context of your total daily energy expenditure?
• How to estimate your expenditure, which will be useful later for weight management
• Whether it’s possible change your baseline metabolism, both short- and long-term
• The truth about cardio and its effect on metabolism and fat loss
• A more efficient, sustainable way to burn fat

Timestamps:

00:31 - Energy balance and metabolism
05:35 - Does more activity really burn more calories?
08:44 - Measuring your daily expenditure
16:59 - A surprising way to CHANGE your metabolism
21:07 - The truth about lots of cardio
24:03 - The optimal way to burn fat
25:12 - New segment! "The Internet Gets It Wrong Again"
27:25 - Recap and upcoming episodes

RELATED LINKS

• Burn: New Research Blows the Lid Off How We Really Burn Calories, Lose Weight, and Stay Healthy by Herman Pontzer, PhD
• MacroFactor app for food logging and calculating expenditure (use code "WITSANDWEIGHTS" to extend free trial to 14 days)

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training for men and women over 40 and fat loss program to build muscle after 40, lose fat, and maintain your results (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community -  Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

Today’s episode is all about the “S” word—STRENGTH. What is it, why is it important, and how to get it.

If you’re listening to this podcast, it’s a safe bet that you have some sort of fitness related goal. You want to improve yourself physically in some way: build muscle, burn fat, get lean, get strong, improve athletic performance, look good in a bathing suit, or even improve mobility, flexibility, or balance.

What if there is one attribute above all others that permeates each of these attributes of fitness—that if you just focus on this attribute for a while as your top priority, it will translate to improvements in all those other attributes?

Well you’re in luck, and if I haven’t made it painfully obvious by the title and intro of this episode, that one fitness attribute is…strength!

In today’s episode, we cover:

• What do we mean by strength?
• Why is strength the most important fitness attribute?
• Assuming strength is so important, how do you get it?

Timestamps:

00:31 - It's all about strength
01:41 - What is strength?
02:53 - Why is strength relevant?
06:48 - How do you build strength?
08:04 - Resistance training
13:47 - Eating enough food
15:36 - Getting enough protein
16:58 - Stress, recovery, adaptation model
18:11 - Bonus tip: physique and aesthetics
18:44 - Recap and sneak preview of upcoming episodes

RELATED LINKS

• Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training
• The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40
• The Fitness Wiki

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training for men and women over 40 and fat loss program to build muscle after 40, lose fat, and maintain your results (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community -  Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

This is the episode where we lay out our fitness philosophy and give you steps to take action right away.

Strength training is by far the most effective way to increase muscle mass, boost your metabolism, and improve your health in more ways than you can imagine, from mobility, balance, and flexibility to reduced risk of metabolic disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and injury. It also tests you physically and mentally because it’s hard—one of the best reasons for doing it!

Today is about getting you moving on a training program right away.

We will definitely cover some basic principles of strength training and muscle building, but we’ll save a deep dive into all things strength-related for the next episode, where we’ll examine in great detail WHY strength and resistance training are so important.

But today is all about ACTION. Getting you moving and lifting right away. No excuses.

Timestamps:

00:31 - The effectiveness of strength training
02:05 - Understanding the lingo (defining terms)
06:56 - Why follow a training program (vs. random exercise)?
07:56 - Requirements for an effective strength training program
10:40 - The best type of exercise and equipment for strength
13:36 - What if I don't have access to a barbell or power rack?
16:13 - The importance of the "Big 4" compound lifts
18:05 - Proper form and technique
21:15 - Choosing the right program
33:07 - Your plan of action to START TODAY
35:46 - Recap and preview of upcoming episodes

RELATED LINKS

• Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training
• Greg Nuckols - 28 Free Programs
• Andy Morgan - The Big 3 Routine
• Barbell Logic "Gym Shorts" YouTube playlist
• The Fitness Wiki
• MyoTape Body Measure Tape

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training for men and women over 40 and fat loss program to build muscle after 40, lose fat, and maintain your results (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community -  Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏