Lift Weights, Eat Food

Personal autonomy refers to a person’s sense of self-determination, being able to make choices, and freedom to pursue those choices.

It’s much easier to let the internet, or a trainer, or a friend, or whoever tell you what to do. I agree that professional guidance can be needed and is extremely beneficial. However, building a dependency on it doesn’t lay a very strong foundation for maintaining your results. What tends to happen is progress can’t be sustained without the guiding figure.

Let me clarify dependency here! Trainers and coaches are absolutely needed, but we are not baby-sitters! Looking to someone to tell you what to eat down to the grain of salt, relying on meal plans to eat consistently for your goals, and needing a trainer to assess your form every time you do an exercise are just some examples. You don’t leave much opportunity to build independence and self-assurance with these habits!

What are some ways you can build autonomy on your fitness journey? ⬇️

The number one thing I push is to ask WHY. Ask your trainer why you’re doing an exercise. Ask why your program is set a certain way. Ask why you need to eat this much protein. When you know the reason behind what you’re doing, you can make informed decisions on your own about these things.

You hear fitness professionals talk frequently about maintaining a regular exercise routine. But WHY can’t you maintain a regular exercise despite your efforts? These are some common reasons why you might fall off of your exercise plan ⬇️

❌ Too much, too soon. You saw that you need to exercise 5x/week so you try to go from no days a week to 5 days. A gradual increase so you give yourself time to build the habit usually has better results.

❌ Too much, too soon part 2. Starting off with heavy weights, high intensity, long durations, etc. is not fun. And it’s not a positive introduction to exercise. How likely are you to return to something if your experience was negative? Again, a gradual increase in weights, intensity, end length of your sessions allows you to move at a tolerable pace for YOU.

❌ Your routine doesn’t match your lifestyle. I, an individual who has time throughout the day and works in a gym can exercise 6x/week. This is not the same for someone with a 9-5, a family, and other responsibilities. If you can workout consistently 3x/week, most weeks, stick to that routine. Don’t let others tell you it isn’t enough because it is!

❌ You have an all or nothing approach. You miss one or two days and decide that the whole thing is pointless. If you miss 2/4 days, you still did 2, which is better than 0. You can always try again next week.

❌ You don’t like your workouts. If you’re doing something you don’t like, chances are you aren’t going to stick to it. If you don’t like working out alone, find a workout buddy, get a trainer/coach, or join an in-person/online group! If you hate cardio, do not sign up for a running program!!

Piggybacking off of Tuesday’s post about feeling comfortable in the weight room, here are some tips that can help streamline this process!

1. If you’re new to a gym, take a tour and ask a bunch of questions!

2. Go into the gym with a plan. Arrange your exercises, if possible and safe, in a way that doesn’t require you to walk back, forth, and through areas frequently.

3. Wear something you feel comfortable in. Whether it’s a t shirt and leggings or a crop and shorts, if you like it WEAR IT.

Reminder that you belong in the weight room just as much as anyone else. In the beginning, it can be scary because everyone seems to know what they’re doing, where everything is, and how to use all of the equipment. But, everyone had to start somewhere! That uncomfortable feeling won’t last forever as long as you push yourself to stick out the uncomfortableness.

If someone stands in front of you, ask them to move. If you don’t want to share a machine, say no. If someone takes your equipment/machine, tell them you weren’t finished. You belong!!

In order to lose weight, you have to be in a calorie deficit. There’s no way around this. Every diet out there that works, works because it puts you in a calorie deficit. 🙂

Depending on your deficit and lifestyle, feeling satisfied throughout the day may be challenging. You absolutely should not starve yourself or feel like you’re starving. When your deficit is low, food selection and strategy is key to adhering to your plan! Here are some ways to promote satiety while staying in a calorie deficit.

✅ Prioritize protein! Protein makes you feel full. If you feel full, you’re less likely to overeat.

✅ You’ll want to consume more complex carbohydrates than simple carbohydrates. Complex carbs are much slower to digest.

✅ Eat your greens! More specifically, non-starchy vegetables like broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, peppers, lettuces, etc. You can eat A LOT for a little calories.

POST HOLIDAY REMINDERS 👀

1. You do not need to “make up” for this weekend by exercising every chance you get and eating less food. You enjoyed food and time with friends & family this weekend. Now, you can get back to your regular routine.

2. You don’t need to feel guilty for enjoying this weekend. There are 365 days in a year, what you do on a few of them doesn’t determine your success.

3. Stay away from detoxes. That’s it. That’s the tweet. Your digestive and excretory system got you.

4. Bloating, scale increases, and tape measurement differences may occur due to increased water retention from high sodium and carb intake. Daily shifts of 1-3% of BW are normal, so don’t beat yourself up over changes after this weekend!

When it comes to training, there’s no scientific benefit for changing each session. In fact, doing something different each session will make it harder to see improvements in strength & hypertrophy. If you ask anyone that looks relatively in shape, they probably do the same 3-10 exercises every week. Doing the same exercises allow you to easily track progress, increase volume over time, and improve form. If you do get bored, I suggest swapping exercises with ones that do the same job. For example, instead of reverse lunges, do walking lunges. Instead of one arm bent over rows, do cable rows. 🤘🏾

Progressing exercises are a key step in making sure you keep seeing results. At some point, a certain stimulus will not require as much effort thus not aiding in increased strength/hypertrophy.

Here are two ways you can make planks harder ⬇️

1. Some things to focus on with plank pull throughs are minimal swaying of the hips and keeping shoulders in line with wrists

2. Plank hip dips involve more obliques!

Understandably so, fear of injury is a roadblock for some individuals when deciding to participate in a strength training program. Here to say that risk of injury remains low if you train with that in mind! Check out the tips below to keep risk low when strength training ⬇️

✅ Be intentional about exercise order. Putting exercises that require more of your focus/energy at the end of your routine can be compromising.

✅ Record yourself! Doing this allows you to see weak points you may not feel during the exercise. It also allows you to compare to educational videos and pinpoint exactly where you can improve.

✅ Less is better. You don’t need to squat to shoulder press to bicep curl to row on a Bosu ball. You also don’t need 10+ exercises per session.

✅ Work within your current capabilities. Work where you’re at vs what you think you should be doing. There’s always time (and it’s a lot of fun) to progress and grow. For example, if you lack confidence with goblet squats, I’d hold off on the back squats.

Cable horizontal rows are a simple exercise, with low risk that targets majority of the muscles in your back. Here are some common cues I use when coaching this exercise!

I haven’t dispelled the “lifting will make you bulky” myth in awhile 🤔 *cracks knuckles*

It’s still very common for women to avoid lifting out of fear of looking “manly”. Having muscle & strength doesn’t make you manly, but it does strengthen your bones, improve metabolism, improve muscle definition, improve body composition, ease anxiety, improve mood, increase self esteem, 🌚

It takes a calorie surplus, specific training, and TIME to build muscle. Engaging in a regular strength training routine won’t result in large amounts of hypertrophy unless factors are manipulated for that. If you’re unhappy with how you’re growing, you can simply cut back on volume.

Please lift some weights 🥺

When it comes to making a plan to reach your fitness goals, keeping it simple in the beginning is the best option. For weight loss, focusing on a calorie deficit, eating enough protein & veggies, lifting weights, getting adequate sleep, refraining from restriction, but still making choices that best align with your weight loss goal should be top priority (it’s okay to tackle one at a time). Same for building muscle, except eating in a calorie surplus and making food choices that align with your muscle gain goal.

Most of the time, everything else is fluff and a ploy to take your money. Supplements aren’t absolutely necessary. Detoxes, waist trainers, fat burning anything don’t do what they claim to. 20-min HIIT workouts will only do so much to help build muscle.

As you feel more comfortable with the above factors, feel free to add on ( more training days, performance-based goals, specific physique goals)!

I am once again asking you to improve your lift off technique while in the beginning stages of strength training. The risk of injury is low when working with small weight but as you increase, that risk goes up. Enforce the habits now because it’s harder to later. It also sets the stage for the work you’re about to do. Start off on a strong, intentional note.

Here are some of the cues I use to teach clients how to pick the barbell up for RDLs ✌🏾

Two of my favorite things about my job is helping women realize 1) how strong they are and can be & 2) food is not the enemy. Number 2 is not related to this post but had to throw it in there.

Lifting weights won’t result in bulk. The risk of injury is low if you work within your limitations & progress from there. You absolutely need to strength train if you have any goal that asks a part of your body to be bigger/stronger. The weight room is scary but exposing yourself to it (even just in doses) is the only way to get passed that fear. You don’t need to jump straight to the barbell. You are strong and you can do it.

I think I covered everything 🤔 Check out my pride & joy demolish today’s session ⬇️

Hip thrusts 3x8 @ 265lbs
Elevated Barbell RDLs 5x5 @ 115lbs
Front foot elevated reverse lunges 3x10 @ 25lbs superset with banded abduction
Cable glute kickback 3x8 @ 65lbs

Opted for an EMOM for today’s lower body session because I’ll miss a cardio day this week. Long story, short- 1 minute to do each exercise, with left over time being the rest period. 1 hour workout (painfully) done in 30 mins.

It’s very rare that there is just time to exercise. Most likely, we have to find it in our schedule. Here are some tips for making fitness a priority:

✅ Keep variables the same. Going at the same time, doing it after your morning coffee, attending a specific class will make it easier to reinforce the habit.

✅ Work with the time you have. If it’s a stretch to incorporate an hour workout into your schedule, don’t do it. 30-45min consistent workouts are better than 60 min sporadic workouts.

✅ Participate in exercise that you don’t HATE. You may not like any exercise, but some are more tolerable than others. Join a group, get a trainer, purchase a program. These are some ways to encourage exercise with accountability.

EMOM Workout (5 rounds) ⬇️

Squats 10 @ 50lbs
Reverse lunges R&L 8 @ 40lbs
Swiss ball hamstring curls 12
Single Leg RDL L&R 10 @ 50lbs

Since it’s post Halloween and we are approaching the holidays, here are some things I like to remind my clients:

🍕 The best thing you can do after a day of overeating is hop back on your routine as soon as you can. One day of overeating will not ruin results but a longer period of time can

🍕 You do not need to “earn” your meals. Food is a huge part of how we socialize, and it should not be treated as some lucrative thing. Enjoy the time with your friends and family, as you’ll probably cherish that more than macros.

🍕 Consistency > perfection

🍕 Have a plan going into holiday meals and don’t starve yourself the entire day in preparation. This can greatly affect how much you consume at meal time.

Reminder on this lovely Friday that a fitness ENTHUSIAST ≠ a fitness expert. Liking exercise, having a nice body, lots of IG followers, etc. doesn’t make someone qualified to give nutrition and fitness advice. Education, experience working with clients, certifications, and the drive to learn are some of the qualities fitness experts possess. And don’t get me started on compassion and empathy. Thinking about yesterday’s post, your time is valuable. Don’t waste it with idiots pls.

Are your training sessions productive towards your goals?

If your goal is to build muscle, the focus should be on resistance training and progressive overload. Glute kickbacks on the stair master will not bring you closer to that goal, unfortunately (or fortunately because the stair master is brutal). If your goal is weight/fat loss, strength training is still important but increasing NEAT (activity calories burned outside of planned exercise) should also be prioritized.

Time is precious. We generally have busy lives so the hour or so we set aside to exercise is valuable and should serve us. Using up that time with no results can be discouraging. It often puts “what’s the point” into your mind. Figure out what it is you want to achieve, research/ask for help, and choose the best plan to get you there.

Scale weight is useful for letting you know if your currents efforts to lose or gain weight are working. Scale weight does have a flaw and that is NOT providing the full picture at times. Using multiple measurements to track progress will help from being discouraged by what you see on the scale. These include progress pictures, tape measurements, and body composition. Here are some factors that can influence scale weight ⬇️

❕high carb and sodium intake
❕menstrual cycle
❕hydration levels
❕illness
❕time of day (best to weigh yourself at the same time)

Building muscle requires you to be in a calorie surplus (taking in more than you burn). This means that if you have a goal of growing glutes, legs, and/or arms, you will need to consume an adequate amount of food, especially carbs and protein to achieve that goal. Being in a calorie deficit does lead to muscle loss, so attempting to build muscle in this state is a losing battle.

I will point out that there is recomping (building muscle and losing fat at the same time) but this usually does not result in much change in bodyweight.

Every decision you make about your health & fitness will have pros and cons.

You want to exercise 4 days/week.
Pros: feeling better about yourself, working towards your fitness goals, getting stronger. Cons: you may have to wake up earlier, you may get home later, your schedule may become busier.

You want to eat a 4 servings of vegetables every week:
Pros: less snacking throughout the day, full feeling for a longer period of time.
Cons: preparing vegetables multiple times a a day, purchasing vegetables which may increase cost of groceries.

If you’re having a hard time committing to a goal, listing out the pros and cons of achieving that goal can help put things into perspective. Do the cons outweigh the pros? If so, it may be best to revisit the goal later and focus on the goals in which the pros outweigh the cons.

Exercising at a frequency that works for your schedule, current place in your fitness journey, and needs is key in developing the discipline to maintain a routine.

This may look like 2-3 days of exercise per week and that’s more than acceptable. Others exercise more times a week because it works for them. Trying to adopt a plan that does not fit into your lifestyle will lead to a few weeks/months of consistency followed by falling off the routine. I meet many people who get stuck in this cycle.

Two days of exercise/week for a whole year is better than 4-5/week for a couple of months. You are also more likely to see results with the first option. Finding the right routine for you may take trial & error and will even fluctuate. At the beginning of the year, I was lucky to get to the gym 4x/week. Now, I average about 5x/week.

Keep trying until you find the right formula. Asking yourself these questions can be the building blocks to a consistent exercise routine.

💭 How much time can I realistically set aside for exercise?

💭 What are my goals?

💭 What time of day works best for me?

💭 How will I keep myself accountable? (Hiring a trainer, joining a group, buying a program, setting a reminder, adding it to your schedule, etc.)

🤟🏾

Improve your lat pulldowns! Does your lat pulldown look more like the first half of the video? Or do you feel this exercise in other places more than your lats? Check out this easy correction to upgrade your lat pulldowns😬

Have you been on your strength training routine for awhile but still aren’t seeing any muscle gains and physique changes? Ask yourself these following questions:

1. Am I using progressive overload? Progressive overload involves gradually increasing volume over time. This includes increasing weights, reps, and sets, just to name a few.

2. Am I eating enough? I think it’s more common to watch what we eat, be on a diet, etc. However, building significant masses of muscle will require your macronutrient intake to go up.

3. How are you measuring “awhile”? Being on a strength training routine for a couple of weeks or even months is not enough time! A few months into your training you may begin to see some changes. This can be monitored using progress pictures or even just noticing how clothes fit. But depending on the starting point, exercise frequency, end goal, and more, it could take a year/years to get the desired end result (and that’s okay!)

Does the hand you hold the weight in during single leg deadlifts affect the exercise?

Yes! Great question from my DMs a couple weeks ago. The variation you choose solely depends on what you’re looking to gain from the exercise. I wouldn’t say one is better than the other. Generally, I perform and program opposite arm/opposite leg. I would also recommend this as a starting point for single leg RDLs. However, same side can be a great way to increase difficulty and get more core engagement.

Love questions, my DMs are always open for them!

The table top (or bear crawl) shoulder taps I mentioned in my stories Sunday!

First of all, I could not do these at some point this year so v proud of myself.

These are an anti-rotation core exercise. The point is to sway as little as possible while tapping each shoulder. You can start with a hold (shown at the end) and progress to shoulder taps from there! Couple key cues:

⭐️ Take your time. There’s no reward for the most shoulder taps in the shortest amount of time.

⭐️ Shoulders and wrists should be aligned. This is a good way to know if you are too forward or backwards.

⭐️ Flat back. Push belly button into spine and pull shoulders back. You should look like a table tbh

Defining words commonly used in the strength training universe: nutrition edition!

🍕Nutrient dense: high vitamin and mineral content in relation to its serving size

🍕Calorie deficit: number of consumed calories is is smaller than number of calories burned

🍕Calorie surplus: consuming more calories than burned

🍕 Metabolism: the process your body uses to get or make energy from the food

🍕 Whole grain: grain products made with the entire seed. Good source of fiber

Exercise order refers the the sequence in which you program and perform exercises in a session. The order of exercises does actually matter and can greatly affect your performance. Ideally, the exercises that
are hardest, physically and mentally/ compound movements/ require most of your focus should go at the beginning of the session. Reasons why:

✅ you’ll have the most energy at the beginning of your session

✅ muscles are not yet fatigued

✅ more likely to perform exercise if it’s at the beginning vs the end

Once you’ve gotten the hardest exercises over with, there’s some comfort in knowing the rest of your workout won’t be at that difficulty level.

I am a stickler for creating certain habits at the beginning of someone’s fitness journey because they can be hard to teach later down the line.

In the beginning, lifting of the squat rack may not be that big of a deal since you’re dealing with manageable weight. However, once you start to move heavy (always relative) weight, getting started will feel A LOT different.

1. The less steps you take, the less energy you use and the less time you spend moving weight on your back (those few seconds make a difference)

2. Being intentional about where you place your feet will make you feel more confident about what you’re going to do. It’s also one of a few ways to be safe at the squat rack.

Practicing the walk out while in the beginning stages of back squats allows for trial and error that most likely won’t fly with heavy back squats.

The most common mistake I see with standing abduction is using too much momentum which can cause the hip to hike up. Doing this will not target the gluteus medius as well compared to using proper technique. So what should you do if this happens to you?

Reduce weight please 🙂 If you have to compensate for an exercise to the point where the exercise isn’t serving you, then you need to reduce weight. Read that again please. It’s better to do an exercise properly, at a lower weight. I also recommend standing on a step for taller individuals to create more space between your feet and the floor.

Single leg training is an important component of an any training program. Benefits include:

✅ addressing muscle imbalances

✅ improve balance & coordination

✅ improve core

✅ increase volume with reduced load

Two important points I want to bring up regarding single leg training. 1. Majority of us have some sort of muscle imbalance. My right quad is weaker than my left and vice versa with hamstrings. And the difference is FOR SURE felt when doing single leg exercises. Training each side individually will allow for more appropriate loading + help even out the score. 2. Single leg training is an amazing option for increasing volume instead of overloading on an exercise that requires both legs. Also, it may seem less daunting for some (a reverse lunge looks less scary than a barbell back squat).

Regressing an exercise means reducing difficulty to a level that matches your abilities. It doesn’t mean you are weak or incapable of doing the advanced version. Benefits of exercise regressions include:

✅ opportunity to develop a skill at a safe pace

✅ engaging the proper muscles

✅ learning proper form at a tolerable level that will create the foundation for progressions

✅ serve as alternatives for times you aren’t performing as usual

Single leg deadlifts are an example of an exercise that may take years to develop. Plus, there are days where a staggered single leg deadlift just seems more manageable 😅 Using the alternatives below can be the stepping stone to strict single leg RDLs or for the days where a little less effort is in the cards.

Braced single leg deadlifts

Staggered single leg deadlifts

Earlier this week I talked about incorporating anti-rotation core exercises into a regular fitness routine. These exercises build core stability and strength which is important for everyday activities like carrying groceries and compound lifts like deadlifts.

During an anti-rotation exercise, your abs are contracted and hold the rest of the body still while moving in a certain direction or motion.

I generally stick to about 4 or 5 core exercises for myself and clients, majority being anti-rotation. Here are the three I use the most!

⭐️ Bird Dogs (bench makes these slightly harder, so starting on the floor is an option)

⭐️ Pallof Press

⭐️ Banded Deadbugs. I use several variations of deadbugs, but these are my favorite (my clients will tell you 🙂)