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How To Become The Best Version Of Yourself

How To Become The Best Version Of Yourself

by | May 8, 2025 | podcast

Listen:

Change Requires CHANGE

If you’re feeling stuck and know deep down that you could be doing better, don’t wait any longer. Your life is not going to change until you take action and make a bold move towards your goals. If you’re ready to take control of your life and start moving towards the results you want let us help you achieve your goals. ⬇️

APPLY NOW

Change Requires CHANGE

If you’re feeling stuck and know deep down that you could be doing better, don’t wait any longer. Your life is not going to change until you take action and make a bold move towards your goals. If you’re ready to take control of your life and start moving towards the results you want let us help you achieve your goals. ⬇️

APPLY NOW

Transcript:

Open Transcript:

Cori (00:00):
Welcome to the Redefining Strength Podcast. Everything you need to succeed on your health and fitness journey, even the stuff you don’t want to hear. Act as if I want to talk about four ways to help you become the person that you want to be. And I say, act as if and really differentiate this from fake it till you make it because there is a big mindset shift that happens when you think I am acting as if I am the person I want to be versus I am faking the habits. Just that word fake means that you’re not embracing them, that you don’t believe in them. And I realized the big difference between these attitudes when I was first starting redefining strength. I’ve actually noticed it multiple times throughout my life when I went to college and I was told I wouldn’t play because I was the lowest recruit.

(00:44):
And I decided I was going to act as if I was the top recruit that year and going to play, and I ended up playing. But I also saw it when I first started redefining strength. And I was telling myself, I’m not that person in front of the camera, which you might not believe now. I’m not that person to take the photos. I’m not that person to do X, y, and Z thing. And ultimately it was a big push from Ryan, my butthead and my partner in crime, my now husband who at the time I was dating, and he said, if you’re going to do this, you need to step in front of the camera. You need to embrace all these different things. And I thought to myself, that’s not who I am. I’m the nerdy kid at the back of the class. And then I realized I hadn’t been that person for a while.

(01:20):
That going to college, I decided I was going to be more outgoing, that I wanted to change the way I interacted with people, my social setting, my social appearance. So I started shifting my identity at that point, and I had embraced acting as if it wasn’t faking anything, it was just saying, Hey, this is the person I want to be. What traits, what actions does this person take? And so with starting redefining strength, I realized, okay, I have to step in front of the camera. I have to get comfortable doing these things. And it’s not easy to start, but I realized I was acting as if I was the person that I wanted to be. And at some point it becomes just who you are. And I wanted to give you some tips and perspectives to help you also embrace that mindset shift. Because change requires change.

(01:58):
And if we’re constantly fighting back against the changes, we’re never going to see the new result that we want. And in acting as if we are choosing to really create the new habits, embrace the new habits that align with the identity of the person that has the goals we want. Because when we are trying to reach a goal, it’s not just losing the weight, it is becoming the person that has the lifestyle that maintains that weight loss even long-term. So tip number one, embrace the discomfort and show up anyway. A lot of times when we are acting as if it does not feel natural, it does not feel normal, but we have to start shaping even our mindsets because that’s the thing. We a lot of times put actions on ourselves, put tasks we should do on ourselves, put habits we should do, but they aren’t aligned with what we’re actually thinking.

(02:42):
And that’s where the disconnect happens, where we don’t embrace those things, we go on another diet plan versus adjusting our lifestyle. So as you start to think who is this person that has the life, has the goals that I want, and how can I act as if you need to recognize that it’s going to be very uncomfortable times or discomfort as I like to say, because it makes you sort of smile and embrace it a little bit more. And again, mindset is key, but we want to think about how can we show up as that person every single day? How can we take those actions? How can we not mentally rebel against the changes that we really need to make? And I think it’s key that we recognize that a lot of times when we say I can’t, it’s not actually that we can’t. It’s really us saying to ourselves, I’m not comfortable being uncomfortable in that way.

(03:28):
And that’s where we have to push back. We have to challenge ourselves to be like, well, why am I not comfortable being uncomfortable in this way? Why do I believe I can’t? Where am I feeling the pushback from the hard so that I’m not wanting to embrace this habit? Not wanting to embrace this mindset. And a lot of times we’ll say, well, nothing’s ever worked before or this hasn’t worked before. And we’re dooming ourselves with doubt because we don’t truly know what’s possible and where we are right in this moment isn’t where we once tried this habit even before. And that shift in lifestyle, in mindsets, in beliefs, in anything in our environment can really make something that even didn’t work before work now or the way we approach that habit change can be different now because of other factors. So we want to think about even though the action is awkward, how can we embrace one small change and be comfortable with that small change?

(04:18):
How can we push into the hard just a little bit more? Because growth really does mean taking action before we’re ready. Then tip number two, set identity driven habit goals. So when we’re thinking about it, we want to think about, okay, what’s in line with the ultimate identity that I need that I would like to call destination be set. It is our dream identity, so to speak. Now looking at the reality of who you are, you might be like, oh goodness, that’s actually quite a far journey to the identity I want to embrace. And I don’t think I can get there in one step, but what’s one step you can take today to move forward on that path? Because often we just see the end destination and think, I’m so far from that. How do I get there that we don’t see the one clear action we can take right in front of us?

(05:06):
So as you’re setting identity driven habit goals, don’t only think about where you want to go, think about that identity enough to have that outlined, but then take it back to where am I currently? What does my current lifestyle look like? Because the more we meet ourselves where we’re at to take that one step forward, the more likely we are to ultimately get there. Habits can be broken down into so many different ways and we can build upon them. If you have to eat 130 grams of protein in one day and right now you’re eating 90, maybe it’s not realistic to just go revamp all your meals because you’ll feel miserable. You’ll reject the habit so to speak, because you have to do such a big increase. Maybe you’re like, okay, I’m eating 90 grams right now. How can I eat 95? How can I eat a hundred?

(05:44):
How can I make one small shift that is towards the identity that I want to build? And that’s really where the magic happens. And this can feel weird, and I can tell you I always believed I wasn’t a goal setter. I resisted New Year’s resolutions. I’m like, oh, I don’t like setting goals. And I realized it was because they weren’t driven by action. A lot of times they were just wishes and dreams. But when you’re outlining that identity and you’re understanding the habits it takes to be in that goal identity that you have, you’re giving yourself action items and then you can list those out and break those down to really help yourself move forward. But it is about giving yourself even those micro goals so that you can see the little habits adding up. It is about really anchoring yourself in where you are now with that clear vision of what that lifestyle really looks like.

(06:29):
And remember that all of these habits that you’re taking on a daily basis, our votes for who you want to become, they’re all what truly creates the goal, even though you can’t see it snowballing right away, but the little actions and if we can celebrate those wins, they reinforce the identity we’re building. Then tip number three, create minimums so you always move forward. I am big on doing the minimum, and don’t get me wrong, I like to see results as fast as possible and complain with the best of them about how results aren’t happening fast enough, even when I know the reality of results in achieving body recomp and achieving different fitness goals. But we have to remember that the minimums are what ultimately move us forward. It’s not doing a perfect plan at the perfect time. We all do that. We all get really good at dieting down because in January we get motivated and we do these six week shreds and 21 day fixes, but ultimately we only are good at dieting down and we never learn to maintain because life shifts, we don’t have that perfect time anymore.

(07:29):
We can’t just be on this perfect plan. Life happens and we don’t know what to do. And that’s where minimums really come into play. It’s about making our lows less low because the more you can do at the worst of worst times, the more you’re going to be able to do at perfect times. And if you can make your lows less low, trust me, your highs are going to get higher. So really consider the minimums that you can do. Minimums are what make us disciplined and disciplined is what creates that identity because we’re replicating those habits without thought. So as you’re going through thinking about the changes you have to make, if you’re starting to feel that the effort doesn’t feel worth the outcome, think where am I maybe doing a little bit too much right now that is pushing you back against other priorities in my life or other things that I value, or even just the time that I have and the schedule that I have, which time comes out of what our priorities are?

(08:16):
Because our priorities, if we don’t own them, become our excuses, but consider what the pushback is against. Is it against you cutting out a non-negotiable? So how can you do the minimum? How can you do a little bit more than what you’re doing right now to move forward? How can you even scale back a habit that’s feeling a little bit too hard to stick with something that’s still an improvement? Because in those improvements, not only are we changing our habits ultimately to take steps forward towards that person we want to become, we’re acting as if, but we’re shifting mindsets because we don’t recognize that the more you do, the more you do. And that success mindset builds through what we accomplish. And when we feel like we’re not being successful with something, we doubt the habits even more. Our mindset becomes a negative one, which makes us shift into not taking the actions we need and defaulting back into the comfortable.

(08:58):
So remember that these minimums aren’t just about the habits that you’re building that are transforming you and are pushing you on that journey to the identity you want to become. They are you acting as if, but they’re also creating that success mindset and that mindset helps you more embrace that new identity, helps you truly believe that you’re acting as if, and again, not just faking it till you make it. Then tip number four, take full ownership whether you want to recognize it or not. Ultimately, you are in control of who you become. Yes, life throws things at us and we can’t always control every event that comes our way, every situation we find ourselves in, but we can always control our perspective. We can always choose to see it as obstacle or opportunity. We can choose to learn from it or we can choose to give up.

(09:40):
We can ultimately always choose how things impact us and how we respond. And again, in acting as if when you’re hit with something hard, when you’re hit with something unexpected, think about that identity that you’re building. How would that person act in that situation? When you find yourself defaulting back into your natural response, your comfortable response, the response you’ve always done, the routine you’ve always repeated, pause, assess, take ownership of this opportunity to make a change and will it be easy? Oh no. It goes back to tip number one. You’ve got to embrace the discomfort, but you’ve got to really see it as that opportunity and vote big vote for who you want to become because those hard points, the points where it would be so easy to default back into what is natural to self-sabotage when we’ve always self-sabotaged to go to the cupboard and grab out cookies or chips when we’re stressed because that’s what we’ve always done at those points.

(10:30):
That’s where we can take that big leap forward into our new identity by pausing and really pushing into the hard. But it means taking ownership versus blaming things outside yourself. Well, it was a stressful day at work. Well, this came up well, this is just the pattern I’ve always done. This is who I am. No, this is who you were. But take ownership. Take time to recognize that you have this opportunity to act as if and shift those mindsets because we are what we believe, whether we want to recognize it or not. And we don’t often realize the tapes sort of playing in our head, but it’s playing. And the more we can pause and build that self-awareness, the better off we’re going to be. But reflect on the failures, reflect on the learning experience, reflect on the good things that happen. Too often we’re like, yay, I did it, and then we just move forward versus being like, how did I do this?

(11:15):
How can I repeat more of this? How can I embrace whatever happened here? The magic to use more of this in other areas, but take ownership and really use that reflection to learn a lot about yourself, both good and bad situations. So with all of this and acting as if, I want you to really take a step back because I think in making some of these changes, we think, oh, well, I’m bad at this. I’m bad at tracking. I’m bad at being consistent with my workouts. I’m bad at this. No, you are not bad. You just haven’t practiced it yet enough. And in acting as if we are practicing consistently and we’re going to still make mistakes, but we’re practicing to learn to get it right, then we can’t get it wrong and then until it is who we really are, it’s a big part of our being.

(11:58):
But remember, you have to practice to get better at something, and that means embracing that you are going to make mistakes that you are going to have to learn. And there is no right time to start. The right time to start was probably yesterday. The next best time is right now because the more you, again, learn to do the minimum at times that don’t feel ideal, the more you’re going to be able to feel strength and confidence in what you can overcome, but also move forward when times are really good and capitalize on those perfect periods to do a little bit more to see results a little bit faster. So I want to encourage you act as if outline what that identity you have to embrace to have the goals you want to have really looks like. Then take a step back to look at where you are right now and start connecting the dots with little steps forward and little habit changes and little mindset shifts, but you’re not faking anything. You are truly embracing the habits and actions that you need to take and how your mindsets have to shift to really promote and believe in those things because that is how you’re going to act as if to become the person you want to be.

 

*Note: This transcript is autogenerated there may be some unintended errors.

Do You Do This During Ab Workouts? 5 Mistakes You Might Be Making

Do You Do This During Ab Workouts? 5 Mistakes You Might Be Making

by | May 4, 2025 | Blog, Core, Exercises, Pain Relief, Workouts

Feel like your ab workouts aren’t paying off? This video’s your missing link.

Because harder moves don’t mean better results.

We can be doing all the “right” exercises—and still not see the payoff.

Why?

Because we’re compensating. Letting our hips or lower back take over instead of our abs doing the work.

And when that happens, we start to blame the moves—even the ones we should be doing.

We write them off because they cause pain. But it’s not the move. It’s how you’re doing it.

So let’s fix that. Let’s stop the aches and pains. Let’s make sure every rep actually builds the strong abs you’re working for.

Here are 5 common ab training mistakes—and how to fix them.

MISTAKE #1: Doing moves you haven’t earned.

Moves need to fit our current fitness level, needs and goals. When we do exercises we haven’t earned, we end up using the incorrect muscles to power the movements.

This is why we can end up feeling our lower back or hip flexors over our abs working during certain core movements.

Too often we then try to put a bandaid on the issue to power through.

Doing a harder move is better, right?

WRONG!

Regress to progress.

Modifying a move doesn’t mean making it easier on yourself – it means allowing yourself to optimize the exercise.

A prime example of this is putting your hands behind your lower back during leg lower exercises.

Placing your hands under your lower back might feel better in the moment, but it’s not teaching you to properly control the exercise and brace your abs.

Instead of putting your hands behind your lower back to cheat and do a move you haven’t earned, learn to properly brace by regressing to the pelvic tilt hold.

Then build back up.

Learn to truly engage your abs through that tuck of your pelvis toward your ribs. This will protect your lower back and allow you to use your abs to stabilize, even engage your glutes as well.

When you can control this hold, you can then begin to add back in movement, using a pelvic tilt with march.

Then a double knee tuck before building back to a single leg lower and finally the full double leg lower movement.

By building up the right way, you’ll actually work your abs and be amazed at how much stronger they get.

Don’t let ego in doing a harder move hold you back.

MISTAKE #2: Demonizing spinal flexion moves like crunches and sit ups.

Crunches and sit-ups often get written off and even demonized.

But these bodyweight basics work our abs through spinal flexion. Something that planks or big heavy lifts don’t do.

It’s our abs’ job to power that rounding of our spine so we want to include moves that train it.

The key is using these moves correctly so that we don’t rely just on our hip flexors or end up overusing our lower back.

Spinal flexion is about thinking of the curl or roll up of one vertebrae at a time.

Starting out, you may find crunches are easiest to control as they are a more isolated movement. You’re only having to really focus on your abs powering a smaller range of motion to flex your spine and lift through your shoulder blades.

Really focus on your abs curling your upper back off the ground as you press your lower back down into it.

The crunch can really help you focus on that ab activation and mind-body connection because it is so isolated.

Then you can start to move into sit ups, learning to control the full roll up.

Too often with sit ups we just, well, sit up, letting our feet flop around or using momentum, even swinging or arching back overhead when we lay down.

Instead slow things down and think about rounding forward as you reach toward your toes to roll up. Then slowly lowering one vertebra at a time back down

But don’t avoid training this movement pattern. It may not only be the key to getting the amazing strong and defined abs you want (with your diet dialed in of course) but may even help you avoid back pain in your other lifting exercises!

MISTAKE #3: Not focusing on the correct muscles working.

Often we are including many of the “right” core moves, we’re just trying to mimic what we think is proper form and not performing the full exercise or using the correct muscles to power the full movement.

It goes back to mistake #1…we’re trying to do an exercise we haven’t earned so we cheat.

We do leg lowers where we aren’t bracing our abs properly with the posterior pelvic tilt so we’re only really using our hip flexors to lift and lower.

Or we’re doing hanging ab moves and not actually curling our knees toward our elbows by rounding through our spine, we’re only bending and extending at our hips to tuck our knees up.

If you feel your hip flexors working during these reverse crunch or leg raise movements, your hip flexors are what are getting worked. Not your abs.

This perpetuates aches and pains and makes all of our hard work not pay off the way it should.

And even backfire. Because not only can this lead to hip flexor issues, but tight, overworked hip flexors can perpetuate our lower back pain.

Focus on that true spinal flexion. The posterior pelvic tilt is spinal flexion with that tuck of your pelvis toward your ribs.

That curling of your knees toward your elbows as you hang is spinal flexion.

Focus on that movement and regress to progress if you need so you can.

Try an incline ab variation or even lying reverse crunch with overhead hold. But train the proper movement and recruitment pattern.

Don’t just focus on doing the move, focus on what you feel working!

MISTAKE #4: Training to fatigue over using frequency to your advantage.

Have you ever just thought, “I just need to get through the moves!” then rushed through the exercises while tired knowing you were a bit sloppy?

Quality matters. Yet so often we focus on quantity.

We seek to be sore and tired.

Instead of trying to destroy your abs in a workout and do a ton of reps and sets, lower the volume and train them more frequently over the week.

And have a clear set routine you repeat each week, don’t randomly string things together.

While ab exercises can and should be done for higher reps, like 15-25 per set with generally lighter loads if any weight, you still don’t want to focus on just doing 100s of reps in a day.

Spread out that volume over the week. When you are fresher and less fatigued for the moves, you’ll perform a better quality of work.

You may find you are even able to do more advanced variations for all the reps than you could have had you stacked them all together.

And you put yourself at less risk for getting tired and then calling on other muscles to help you power through the moves.

Think about even just a couple of moves done for 2-3 sets 3-4 times a week even.

MISTAKE #5: Focusing on doing more over intensity.

A 2-minute plank where you’re zoning out? Not helpful.

Yet so often we focus on doing more over not only the quality but also the intensity of each rep.

When you’re doing an exercise, focus on really challenging yourself with the movement. Focus on what you feel working and engaging that muscle fully.

With bodyweight movements like the plank, use that mind-body connection to try to engage your abs, and entire core, harder to create shakeage.

Yes shakeage.

Focus on your back supporting your shoulders, bracing that core as if being punched in the gut with that slight posterior pelvic tilt. Flex your quads and drive back hard through your heels.

Don’t let yourself relax during the movement. Create that tension.

Because holding longer while cheating may make your ego feel good, but it isn’t making those abs work more.

We often end up compensating as well, which is why we feel our hips or back the next day even if we didn’t notice during.

It’s not about the clock — it’s about the tension.

You want to feel like you’re barely surviving a 15 second hold the more advanced you are over having ego in just going longer.

You want to use that more advanced ab move, even if you have to pause to complete all the reps.

Shorten the time. Maximize the effort and intensity.

Stop going through the motions with your workouts or letting ego lead to you trying to do moves you haven’t earned.

Regress to progress, focus on that quality of work and be intentional with every move you do!

This will lead to you building the strong abs you want, you can then reveal through proper nutrition!

For amazing workouts to help you build your leanest, strongest body ever, check out my Dynamic Strength program:

–> Dynamic Strength

Why Your Hard Work Isn’t Paying Off

Why Your Hard Work Isn’t Paying Off

by | May 1, 2025 | podcast

Listen:

Change Requires CHANGE

If you’re feeling stuck and know deep down that you could be doing better, don’t wait any longer. Your life is not going to change until you take action and make a bold move towards your goals. If you’re ready to take control of your life and start moving towards the results you want let us help you achieve your goals. ⬇️

APPLY NOW

Change Requires CHANGE

If you’re feeling stuck and know deep down that you could be doing better, don’t wait any longer. Your life is not going to change until you take action and make a bold move towards your goals. If you’re ready to take control of your life and start moving towards the results you want let us help you achieve your goals. ⬇️

APPLY NOW
Download Journal Page

Transcript:

Open Transcript:

Cori (00:00):
Welcome to the Redefining Strength Podcast. Everything you need to succeed on your health and fitness journey, even the stuff you don’t want to hear. You’re doing the workouts, you’re tracking the macros, you’re working really hard, but it still kind of feels like you’re spinning your wheels. And it’s not a lack of willpower, that’s the problem. It’s that you’re planting in a field that hasn’t been cleared. And I want to break down this analogy for you because often what we really need is to slow down to speed up. So in this episode, I now only want to go over three steps to help you do this so that you can finally see the results that you deserve, but give you some reflection questions to ask yourself. Because I think a lot of times we just go all in and we try and speed ahead. And what we ultimately need to do is take that step back to realize what we’re applying all of our hard work to.

(00:56):
And if we don’t take that first assessment, a lot of times we’re adding on all these other things to a field filled with weeds. We’re trying to plant seeds where they can’t grow. So let’s go through the different steps that I think you really need to take the slow down to speed up to ultimately see better results. So step number one, and I bring all this up because I get a ton of questions and comments of people just saying, just tell me what to do. And the problem with that is, is that you can’t just be told a plan to do. You need to build a plan around where you’re at right now, and that means assessing what’s in your field, right? You are a field. What is in that field? Is it filled with weeds? Is it growing very smoothly? Does it have proper irrigation?

(01:43):
But step number one is you need to take that time to actually prep, can’t rush it. You need to assess where you’re at right now. If you want to create sustainable, lasting habit changes because that ideal plan you’ve been searching for, it doesn’t exist. And the more you keep trying to seek it out, the more you’re ultimately trying to force yourself into a mold that doesn’t really work for you. Like saying, I’m going to do six days a week, because that’s what the plan says when you can barely do three means that you are having a mismatch in what’s actually possible. You’re saying, oh, I’m going to grow this plant here That thrives in tropical climate. When you’re in the desert, it’s not going to work. So you have to pause to prep and make sure you are going to be able to plant things that can grow.

(02:29):
So I want you to think, what is my actual lifestyle looking like right now? I want you to assess what’s going on that would make things stressful. What have I tried in the past that hasn’t worked? What mental resistance have I built up towards tools? What tools have worked for me in the past? Really reflect on what have you done and where are you at? Ask yourself even the question of what quick fix have you chased before? And what happened when the motivation wore off? Because if you think about it, every time we’re looking to make a change, we’re super motivated. We’re super driven. Maybe it’s that we tried on those pair of pants that didn’t fit, or we stepped on the scale or we don’t like how we look, or we just feel low energy. Usually that drives us forward with motivation, and we’re even willing to embrace more sacrifices to see the result that we want because we feel bad.

(03:23):
But that bad feeling also then gets attached to a lot of the habit changes we’re trying to make, especially if with tracking, we feel restricted. And so then we have negative feelings towards that. So we have to assess what did we try and do when we’re motivated and what was the impact of that? And then how do we try and do too much, which ultimately sabotaged us. This pause right now to reflect on all those different things can save us a whole bunch of time and energy later. Yet so often we just say, I want to be told what to do, and we jump right in. So the first step is really pausing to prep before you make any changes. And it can be hard. It can be hard to slow down to speed up, but if you clear that field, you have that field cleared to then be able to plant the seeds so they can grow properly.

(04:07):
But if there’s a whole bunch of weeds, nothing’s going to thrive. Then step number two is really knowing what is in your field. We don’t often even realize what is and isn’t a weed. It could be a really pretty looking flower, but ultimately a weed that could kill everything else if we let it thrive. I don’t know a ton about plants, so I don’t know what that pretty flower that would kill everything else would be. But there are plants that do that. And the same thing can happen with habits that we’ve already ingrained, routines that we’ve already ingrained patterns that we’ve already created. Think about how many times you try to make that healthy habit change, and then you come home after that stressful day at work and you go to the cabinet and before you know it, you’ve got that whole bag of chips half eaten already on the couch and you’re going to devour the rest of it.

(04:50):
That’s a pattern, a seed that has been planted some time ago that now has grown into something that you might not even be aware is there. And a lot of times what we try and do is cut it off at the stem, right? We don’t actually pull out the roots, but we’ve got to truly understand what has grown in our field before, what it actually has available to it. Again, if it doesn’t have proper water flow, we can’t grow something that needs a lot of water. So in pausing to prep our field, we also have to pause to recognize all the underlying things that are there, all the roots that might still be buried, all the seeds that we haven’t recognized that have even grown, because these are all the mindsets, the patterns that we’ll repeat, especially when we get stressed, especially when that motivation wears off.

(05:33):
So I want you to look at three habits you’re repeating that might be holding you back currently, three patterns you found yourself falling back into, especially when you’re stressed. And then even think about what beliefs are you holding onto that are causing you or slowing you down or causing you to slow down. And I bring this back to the tracking that I brought up earlier. When do we usually go to tracking our food when we’re not happy? And then what do we do with tracking? We cut things out. No wonder we have a negative association with it. We’ve used it in a negative way in the past when we haven’t felt good. It’s felt like punishment. It’s felt like restriction, but tracking itself is none of those things. So we have to recognize the habits we might need, the lifestyle change we might need that we’ve pushed back on in the past, oh, I’ve hated increasing my protein, or I’ve hated doing strength work, or I’ve hated doing this, right?

(06:25):
Assess why you dislike those things and how you’ve implemented them in the past and how they might serve you now and resisting those hard changes might be the one thing that’s keeping you stuck. But the more we reflect on the mindsets and beliefs and habits and attitudes that we have and the interaction between those things, the more we can help ourselves really understand the situation we’re dealing with to move forward. And then step number three, build the right environment. When we see results, it’s because our environment is reinforcing the habits that we need. Ever notice the second you go on vacation and then you come back and you’re thrown out of your routine, it’s way harder to get back into things and you feel like you’ve completely lost the flow. It’s because of that shift in environment because maybe you don’t have the same meals prepped even coming back, or you don’t have everything ready the way you have, or you’ve been out of that routine, out of that environment.

(07:18):
It’s even something I see happen with clients and coaching is they’ve built these habits, they have this routine, but they don’t even recognize how much. Having that constant reminder of some of the resources or the community really helps them. I green those things. Or even when you think about going to the gym first thing in the morning. The first morning you don’t put out your clothes or you haven’t put out your clothes the night before. It’s a little bit harder to get yourself up, a little bit harder to get to the gym often, and it’s because we don’t have that same environment, as silly as some of these little habit things might seem. But those visual reminders, those environmental reminders, those habit repeaters almost, they are the things that keep us in the routine. If you think about it, on a stressful day, you walk in the door the same way you put your bag in the same place, you go to the cabinet the same way you go to the couch in the same way if all of a sudden you weren’t to come in your front door or you want to put your bag down the same place or you weren’t to have the thing in that cabinet, those are environment interrupters, pattern interrupters.

(08:13):
So really think about your environment and is it setting you up to repeat the same patterns and habits and routines that you don’t like, reinforces the same mindsets that you don’t need or that aren’t serving you? Or is it being developed in a way that reinforces the person you want to become, the habits you want to implement, the new lifestyle you want to lead to reach your goals. So I want you to think about what do you need to stop doing to make the space for the results you want? And what’s one small habit you’re ready to plant this week? And I want you to think with the stop doing to make space, think about it as what we prioritize or what we value we prioritize, and what we prioritize we’re going to do no matter what. So if there are things in your day, you’ll do no matter what right now, because they are priorities and they’re usually also your excuses for why you don’t have enough time for other things.

(09:05):
Put them last in the day instead of leaving your workout to the end of the day to put all the priorities you have first, put your workout first because that way you’re going to do all those other things, you value them, so you’re going to find the time to do them. So put first a thing that you won’t find the time for. If a push comes a shove at the end of the day, or you’re stressed out or you’re tired, but think about what even do you need to stop doing to make that space? Do you need to stop doing specific things in your environment? Do you need to shift your environment? And I’ve used this example before, so I apologize if you’ve heard it, but it’s something for me that was so eyeopening in how much the environment can shape what I do. But I had candy in the cupboard and I would play the one more game when I was stressed and I would go, Ooh, one more piece of candy, one more piece of candy.

(09:50):
And I keep going back to the cabinet. All of a sudden, one day I just threw that in the freezer and it was like the game stopped. Is the candy just as delicious and just as accessible in the freezer? Yes, it might even be arguably some of the pieces of candy more delicious. But that change in environment and the fact that I’m like, well, it’s here forever, even though it would’ve lasted a heck of a long time in the cabinet, it’s here forever. It shifted the environment. It was that pattern interrupt I needed. So as you’re thinking about something that you want to implement, think about some of the things you need to stop doing or shift how you’re doing or change your environment to help you prevent the same pattern from repeating as you’re planting that seed. Because we can’t plant the seed in a field overgrown with weeds.

(10:35):
It’s not going to thrive. So if we’re only trying to add new habits, do more workouts, do the macros work harder When the environment isn’t set up for success, we’re not going to seed things snowball. So hopefully these questions are helping you start to reflect. And if you want more, I want you to check out the journal entries and the journal questions that I have in the video description that will really help you or in the show notes that will help you also dive into these things a little bit more so that you can go through these three steps and really take action. It doesn’t have to be more than 10 minutes, but even take 10 minutes to really reflect and pause to prep. Are you clearing the field to then be able to put in the work in the right way with the seeds that you want planted there, the habits that you want?

(11:21):
How are you shaping that environment to help you move forward to see the results that you want? And it’s not easy. It’s really hard to even pause ourselves to take this time to think through things before we just jump into an ideal plan. But this desire to just be told what to do, to implement something that seems perfect is what holds us back and doesn’t allow us to meet ourselves where we’re at right now. So stop thinking about trying to do more and think about how to do things differently this time. Slow down, clear the field, plant the seeds, and put in the work strategically to help them grow.

 

*Note: This transcript is autogenerated there may be some unintended errors.

Why You’re Building Muscle (But NOT Losing Fat)

Why You’re Building Muscle (But NOT Losing Fat)

by | Apr 27, 2025 | Blog, Diet

Why are you building muscle but not losing fat?

The simple answer is you’re rocking those strength workouts pushing hard in the gym but overeating and eating portions not in line with your goals.

We think calories surplus to build. So a bigger surplus should help things happen faster, right?

Nope. That’s not the case.

While a surplus is key if your main focus is on building muscle, just increasing your calories MORE past a point isn’t going to yield better muscle gains. And you’re going to gain fat as well.

You may even start to see your performance decline.

But eating too much isn’t the only reason we can struggle to lose fat while seeing ourselves build muscle.

You may be questioning what I just said, but yes I stated that overeating isn’t the only reason we can struggle to lose fat.

We can actually gain muscle while struggling to lose fat even in a technical calorie deficit after a period of extreme calorie restriction when we are finally trying to increase our calories.

Especially common during perimenopause and menopause when our hormones are in flux and we’ve experienced many failed dieting attempts where we’ve tried to slash our calories lower and lower.

With increasing your calories from your extreme deficit that has led to metabolic adaptations and hormonal imbalances, you are in a way creating a surplus over what your body has adapted to think it needs.

It’s downregulated processes to accommodate the lack of energy. But to restore balance, you need to increase calories. And as your body has the fuel it needs, it will seek to put on lean muscle over first losing fat.

Lean muscle is involved in so many important processes for our body so building it to restore metabolic health and balance is key. And ultimately, this WILL help us lose fat and look leaner.

It can just be frustrating in the process as we see the scale increase and even clothing feels tighter as we add muscle before we lose the fat.

But there are ways to help yourself see that recomp happen faster. And I want to talk through not only the nutritional changes you need first, but also two forms of cardio that may be key.

First the nutritional changes…

It really comes down to the thing most people avoid doing…Adjusting your macros.

Yup. Macros. The non diet diet so many people avoid because it seems hard and tedious and boring.

Who wants to weigh and measure everything?!

But it’s like baking a cake, if you weigh and measure everything in the recipe, it’s going to turn out better the first time.

Macros and tracking them are your recipe for results, especially if you have a plan laid out. Weigh and measure your portions so you know what you’re truly consuming.

It even gives you the power to tweak and adjust.

The thing is, there is no way around hard changes if we want a new and better result, especially as fast as possible.

And the more we take time now to learn and truly do things precisely, the better and faster things turn out.

While you may feel you’re eating clean and healthy already, that doesn’t mean your portions are fully in line with your body, needs or goals.

Each macronutrient – the proteins, carbs and fats we consume – all impact our body in different ways.

How we adjust the portions we consume therefore has an impact.

Less active, you may need fewer carbs. More active, you may need more and not eating enough could lead to thyroid issues.

Fear fat may make you fat? Under eating fat with the increase in inflammation we see during menopause could only be making things worse.

And not eating enough protein? That may be why you’re struggling to see recomp as fast as you’d like!

Protein is more key than we realize if we want to lose fat as we put on muscle, especially as we get older as we don’t use it as efficiently.

As you retrain your body to eat more, and I say RETRAINING it for a reason as you are allowing it to adjust bodily processes to account for the fact that you do now have adequate fuel, you will want to focus on 35-40% of your calories coming from protein.

This not only fuels that muscle growth but helps you burn more calories at rest. And it isn’t as easily stored as fat.

And we have to remember that protein doesn’t just go to helping us build and repair our muscle tissue. It’s essential for our bone and brain health as well as the repair of other tissues. It has a positive impact in so many ways and can only assist in that metabolic healing and hormonal balance process.

That’s why it can help us keep seeing those muscle gains while helping us start to shift the fat when we’ve been struggling.

And if you are strategically wanting to build muscle and in that calorie surplus consciously, maintaining a protein minimum of 30% can even help you continue those muscle gains while avoiding gaining any more fluff in a surplus.

Now as important as your macros and diet are to helping you see the fat loss you want while building muscle, your workouts still really matter.

You can’t out exercise your diet, but when both your diet and your workouts work together, results are better and faster.

Strength workouts are hands down essential. They help you build that lean muscle and ultimately improve your metabolic health. They will help you look leaner long term.

But, specific forms of cardio can help in this situation where you are seeing those muscle gains, but the fat isn’t budging.

This doesn’t mean start logging those miles and turn to tons of steady state cardio. Actually avoiding this is key.

Instead you want to focus on two specific forms of cardio – SIT or sprint interval training – and walking.

First, walking…

Walking is a great de-stress which can promote optimal body composition through improving insulin sensitivity and hormonal balance and help us burn more calories at rest to improve our metabolic health while not fatiguing us for future lifting sessions.

The fact that it is low intensity and more restorative allows us to really optimize our strength workouts to get the most value from them.

Because prioritizing building muscle in our workouts is key even if we want to lose fat. And if we’re too tired to push hard in our lifting sessions, we won’t create that stimulus for muscle growth.

Now the second form of cardio that can be helpful to improve our metabolic health, especially during menopause, is SIT.

Sprint interval training can help improve hormone levels and promote muscle growth whereas steady state is catabolic to muscle tissue. It can also help us better utilize mobilized fatty acids aka assist in better fat loss.

And these sessions aren’t time-consuming or hard to include. Even just 5-10 minutes at the end of a strength day can have value.

More isn’t necessarily better either. Intensity of these short bouts is what makes them work. So adding in more would defeat the purpose.

To add in SIT, you want to use work to rest intervals of 8-30 seconds sprinting to 12-90 seconds resting. So rest does vary from half the time you sprinted up to 3 times the length you worked.

About 5-8 rounds is all that is needed with 10 rounds max being done. 2-3 times a week of SIT along with walking is an amazing addition to your lifts.

These are hard, quick bursts where you are focused on maximal effort. They should feel horrible but be over before you know it.

And don’t just think longer work and less rest is better! The combination is what helps improve your recovery, work capacity and see that body recomp magic happen!

So if you’ve been frustrated that you’ve gained muscle but not lost fat, step back to assess your current calorie intake. If you’ve gone crazy with the surplus, back it off. You’re retraining your body to eat more, don’t stop trying to bump calories.

But with both take a look at your macros. Focus on that protein! And then consider tweaking your routines to include these two forms of cardio!

It can be hard to embrace this process and KEEP GOING when it feels like results aren’t happening…That’s where having a guide and outside perspective can be ke!

–> Learn More About My 1:1 Coaching For The Custom Plan And Guidance To Help

Tips For A Healthy Life (Take Action Today!)

Tips For A Healthy Life (Take Action Today!)

by | Apr 24, 2025 | podcast

Listen:

Change Requires CHANGE

If you’re feeling stuck and know deep down that you could be doing better, don’t wait any longer. Your life is not going to change until you take action and make a bold move towards your goals. If you’re ready to take control of your life and start moving towards the results you want let us help you achieve your goals. ⬇️

APPLY NOW

Change Requires CHANGE

If you’re feeling stuck and know deep down that you could be doing better, don’t wait any longer. Your life is not going to change until you take action and make a bold move towards your goals. If you’re ready to take control of your life and start moving towards the results you want let us help you achieve your goals. ⬇️

APPLY NOW

Transcript:

Open Transcript:

Cori (00:00):
Welcome to the Redefining Strength Podcast. Everything you need to succeed on your health and fitness journey. Even the stuff you don’t want to hear. I know what to do, but I just can’t make myself do it. I think we’ve all had those moments. It’s really hard at times to parent ourselves, and this is a big, but if we don’t embrace that knowing isn’t doing and find a way to take action, we are never going to see the results we want. I love the quote, the world is full of educated fools because I think we can all relate to this. We go searching for more information, searching for a new plan. We seek to learn more, partly because we hope there’s a magic pill or some quick fix out there, but we think that in learning something, something will magically click that will all of a sudden get us to our goals.

(00:51):
And that’s just not the case. No matter how much knowledge we have of we can’t implement those things, ultimately that just keeps us stuck and we’re very educated, but we’re still the fool because we’re not at our goals. So I want you to take a good hard look at yourself as you maybe want to work towards a new goal. Are you doing a lot of research, searching for some quick fix or not even something you think is a quick fix, but some answer out there when in reality you have enough information, you just need to take action on something? This is where that shiny object syndrome comes into play, and we kind of do it to ourselves where we go in search of something new because we don’t want to just do something that we already know we should do, and this is where we have to go.

(01:28):
What change am I resisting against the most? Because that’s probably the one I need to make. What’s the unsexiest of unsexy habits that’s sitting right there that I could do right now that I’m not taking action on? Because when we do that reflection, that brings us back to what truly will move us forward from where we’re at right now, not even where we used to be, because I think a lot of times we also get caught up in searching for some answer based on where we feel like we should be based on where we used to be. Oh, in my glory days I was here. I used to be running marathons. I used to have abs. I used to, well, it doesn’t matter what you used to have, what matters is where you’re right now. And so in order to not just be an educated fool, in order to have knowing payoff and doing payoff and getting the results that you want, you first really have to assess where you are right now.

(02:16):
If you assess your current lifestyle, your current needs, your current goals, your current mindsets, and you do that reflection, you’re going to be able to find one action you can take today. And then I say one action for a reason, because so often we see all the things we should do, all the things we could do, but it doesn’t matter. It’s that whole phrase, and I think this analogy is really gross, but also very accurate. You eat an elephant one bite at a time. Same thing goes for our habits. There’s a lot of things we could do. There’s a lot of things we probably should do, but ultimately we can only do so much. And so if we can take action on one little thing that builds momentum, we don’t recognize enough that so much of what we take action on and how we actually move forward and see success is because of our mindsets.

(03:01):
And if you feel successful doing one thing, you’re going to want to do more of that. If you feel unsuccessful doing something, you’re not going to want to do more of it. If you’re doing less, you’re going to want to keep doing less. And so much is that momentum of our mindset. So if you know where you’re at and you find one small action you can take, you’re going to feel successful in taking that and you’re going to want to do more. We get caught up in seeking some ideal, some perfect mold that we should be fitting instead of assessing who and what we are and then taking one small action with a minimum. And when we get caught up in perfection, which I’m sorry, we’re human and we’re flossing, but we’ll never be perfect, we’re going to hold ourselves back from doing something, and we do.

(03:38):
We go in search of more tools, more tactics, but really we need more time taking even imperfect actions to see results build. So I would urge you, if you’re struggling with knowing and feeling like you just can’t see the results, I know I just can’t get myself to do it first, really assess where you’re at. Second, really set one small change you can do and focus on those minimums. And then also think about goals in terms of habit changes. Celebrate success with the boring basics and the implementation of the boring basics. We only set our goals is I want to fit back into those jeans. I want to look fabulous in these photos. I want to do that pull up. What about just saying, I want to hit my goal today of doing these habits and then feeling really successful with it because those are the things that we can control.

(04:28):
Those are the things that build. We don’t celebrate success with those boring basics daily. Instead, we think, gosh, how long do I have to do these things? Do I really have to do ’em forever? No wonder we don’t like doing them. No wonder we don’t stick with them long enough. No wonder we go in search of trying to find something else, something that feels better, that’s sexier, but I’m sorry. The things we have to do to reach our goals aren’t sexy. The results are sexy, but the habits aren’t. And the more we embrace that and the more we celebrate that and see is it even a good thing, the better off we’re going to be. But it goes back to knowing who and what we are and the lifestyle we’re leading right now over trying to fit ourselves into some ideal. And I think this is a very accurate way of describing it, of we try and go on a program versus adjusting our lifestyle.

(05:11):
And when we try and go on a plan, we’re not truly embracing the changes that have to happen. It’s the fake it till you make it versus the act as if, and in trying to reach a goal, you are creating a new identity. You are stepping into new mindsets, new routines, new patterns. If you don’t embrace that, you are ultimately never going to really see results snowball in a lasting way. So I would say own where you’re at. Set those minimums. Focus on one habit change you can make today. Really celebrate the daily habits as success in and of themselves in a goal in and of themselves. And then recognize too that self-control, an infinite thing. Self-control is like a gas tank. Everything that happens through the day basically depletes it. Your bosses a butthead at work or you get stuck in traffic or you get a flat tire and something happens, right?

(06:02):
There’s all these things. We’re using self-control to keep ourselves moving forward through all these challenges where we don’t react in a way that would be bad, and then we think, oh, well, I just can’t eat well because I don’t have willpower in this way. No, no, no. All that stress is going in one bucket. All that stress is depleting your self-controlled gas tank and you’re going to be on empty at some point. That bucket is going to overflow, whichever analogy you prefer. And if you’re not conscious of the fact that everything is contributing to the emotions that you’re feeling, not just your workout or diet changes, if you’re not recognizing those things, you’re ultimately going to sabotage yourself and not recognize the minimums. Maybe that you have to go back to make habit changes or celebrate those boring basic daily habits that seems small that are so important.

(06:46):
That can be so hard the more effort we’re giving other places. But we have to recognize that self-control isn’t just this infinite thing to meet ourselves more where we’re at having a stressful season of life, Hey, maybe you can’t do the macro tracking you used to. Maybe you can’t do the six day a week workout plan that you used to, but there’s something you can do right now if you really own your reality and focus on those small changes to meet yourself where you’re at again, versus going and trying to find something better out there. It’s going back to those basics consistently and constantly that really pays off. So if you’ve been struggling with a feeling of like, I know what to do, I just can’t get myself to do it, don’t go in search of more information that’s only going to hold you back instead, really take a look.

(07:30):
Even sit down right now and be like, where am I at? What does my lifestyle look like? What are my current habits, my current mindsets, my current struggles, my current priorities? Because their priorities will often become our excuses. When you assess that, focus on one small change and then celebrate consistency with that, but recognize your self-control isn’t going to be infinite, and at times where it feels depleted, that’s the timing where we sort of self-sabotage and we wait for motivation to go search for something else, or we start searching for other things because we’re losing motivation. We feel out of control. We feel overwhelmed. We feel like the effort isn’t worth it. With some of the habit changes we’re doing, again, why celebrating those things even as wins themselves and as goals themselves can be so key. But I just wanted to highlight this. If you are struggling with the feeling of I know what to do, I just can’t get myself to do it, because I think action is often the hardest part.

 

*Note: This transcript is autogenerated there may be some unintended errors.