Cori (00:00):
Hey guys, this is Cori from Redefining Strength. Welcome to the Fitness Hacks Podcast. This is the show where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips. I’m not going to ever fill this episode with sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a review or leave a five star rating or even better share it with somebody you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone. So let’s jump right in. We can define how we age. I am a big believer in not letting that number, our trips around the sun define what we can and cannot do, but we also need to address that as we get older, our body needs and goals change, even if it’s purely because our lifestyle has evolved over the years. And a lot of times when we go to addressing these changes, we think let’s adjust our workouts, let’s adjust our macros. But our micros can have a huge impact on how our body is functioning on the energy levels that we have, how we’re conquering our day, how we’re conquering our workout session, which is why I’m super excited to be joined by Michelle today to dive into those micros and how they can really help you define how you age. So Michelle, thank you so much for joining me today.

Michelle (01:11):
Thanks for having me.

Cori (01:13):
So a big micro we want to focus on is magnesium. And I think it’s funny how much you nerd out about this and it makes my nerd heart happy. So I’d love to go straight into magnesium and the impact it can really have and all the nuance to this micronutrients.

Michelle (01:33):
Yeah, so magnesium is in over 300 enzymatic reactions that your body actually does. So it can help from anything from muscle cramps to stress, anxiety, sleep, constipation, and hundreds of others. But those are the big things that people like to focus on, and those are the biggest complaints people have as they age is actually their stress increases, anxiety increases. They may all of a sudden notice that they’re more sore after workouts and are dealing more with more muscle cramps and all of a sudden sleep is being affected from the cramps or just in general, they’re having sleep difficulties. And magnesium is one of the very first things I want to look at for them because as we age, our need for it does actually increase. So it is something that we do want to pay a little bit more attention to.

Cori (02:24):
It’s so important that we realize how interconnected everything is. I love that you brought up cramps and not sleeping because a lot of times we won’t think, oh, well I’m not sleeping because of this. And so the more we start to see how everything is so connected and then boil it down to, well, what’s one small change I can make that can impact multiple different things at once, the better off we’re going to be. But it’s not as simple as just get more magnesium. I know there are a lot of different variations that we might want to focus on, and I think when we oversimplify or over complicate, we get into a lot of trouble. So the more we can learn about the nuance and really the variations that can help us, the more we can make sure that we’re getting exactly what we need or we’re just throwing a whole bunch of spaghetti at the wall hoping something sticks. So can you talk a little bit more about the different types of magnesium and how to really determine what we might need?

Michelle (03:11):
And I’m just going to remind everyone we did post at magnesium quiz that will actually lead you to a type that may be more beneficial for you. So if you haven’t taken that, go ahead and take it because it will also kind of help guide you. But the main ones we’re going to focus on, and there is quite a few, but the top three are going to be magnesium glycinate or BG glycinate. You may see either one kind of on the shelf, but that’s really going to help your sleep. It’s going to help improve a variety of inflammatory conditions, including the heart. So this is one, if you are someone that may have some heart health related issues or a family history of heart related diseases, that may be something that you want to actually pay a little bit more attention to. It’s easily absorbed and it does help with anxiety, depression, stress, and even insomnia.

(04:02):
So that’s going to be kind of the first one to kind of look at. The next one I do want to cover is magnesium malate. So again, it’s going to be well absorbed in the digestive track. It is a great option for of course replenishing your overall magnesium levels, but this one’s a little bit more gentle on the system and it does have less of a laxative effect. So if you’re someone that isn’t really suffering from constipation, because I will say if you incorporate magnesium, almost every single type of magnesium is going to help your bowel movements. So if that’s not a big concern, this may be kind of the type that you want to lean more towards because it isn’t going to have as big as a laxative effect as the other types. The last one I’m going to bring up is, and always going to say, I’m probably going to say it wrong, so bear with me, but magnesium L 3 0 8 and this form, again easily absorbed. It’s often used because of its brain benefits. So if you are someone that is really suffering from high anxiety depression or even if again, if you have a history or family history of dementia, Alzheimer’s, any age related memory loss, this is going to be one that’s going to actually benefit you. And again, all of them are going to benefit the other areas as well. These ones just tend to be better absorbed and are better for either the brain or the heart or just may have a little bit of that less laxative effect.

Cori (05:32):
It’s really interesting hearing about all the different purposes and benefits of the different types of magnesium because I think a lot of times too when we just use an overarching one, we might be like, oh, well this really isn’t paying off. And then ultimately stop doing something that really could benefit us just because we didn’t select the right type. And even going off of that a little bit, you brought up, we need more as we get older. And I think that’s something we don’t often, we think, oh, I’m not deficient in it. Not, Hey, my needs have actually increased for X, Y, and Z reasons and be it aging or be it even hormone changes. I know especially during menopause, you often recommend magnesium. Can you talk a little bit more about why it can be really helpful during menopause? Help us manage those symptoms.

Michelle (06:17):
Yeah, so you are going to experience lots of changes that are just going to happen. You have no control over it because when your body changes, hormones are going to change during menopause and a lot of times this is actually going to affect your muscle function and it actually includes muscle tension cramps. So this is why I focus a lot on muscle cramps, muscle soreness and kind of sleep because a lot of people recognize they maybe have a little bit of restless leg syndrome when they’re trying to go to sleep or they start to fill things cramp when they’re going to sleep, and that actually is their hormones actually are playing a part into that. Another part of that is you simply require more water when you are in menopause as well, which also can lead to increased muscle tension when you’re working out. I loved, again, I’m going to say if you haven’t even go back to the comment sections on the post that we did on Monday, because I was loving seeing people even what they were accommodating because someone had made a comment of I started taking magnesium and I didn’t even recognize it, but now that you’re saying it, I’m looking back and I am feeling less sore after I do my workouts.

(07:24):
So sometimes you had mentioned, sometimes you may not even notice, but once you start connecting the dots, you’re going to see that this actually plays effect in multiple ways. And one of the biggest things that I think magnesium does not get enough credit for because it’s harder to recognize is anxiety and depression. When you hit menopause, your hormones do actually affect your anxiety levels and your depression. So when you take magnesium, that can actually be a huge benefit to it. And I don’t think that gets talked enough about people who are going through menopause is kind of the mental health side of it. And one of the biggest things that I love about this is if you’ve ever been someone that has dealt with depression, and I sometimes compare postpartum depression to perimenopause and menopause because the hormones are kind of similar and your reaction is similar, but when you are dealing with that, you do not recognize how low you are in the moment. It’s only after you kind of start coming out of that fog that you kind of look back and you’re like, oh yeah, I was. So if you were in that stage, you may not even realize right now that, oh, that would benefit me. But it may be something that if you connect the dots and you think about and kind of reflect, you’ll find that the magnesium actually is allowing you to have a more calming effect in your day, help you reduce some of that stress and even calm some of that nervous system for you.

Cori (08:52):
I also think so often these days we talk about different things like hormone health or mental health even as being slightly out of our control and something we just have to manage or accept instead of really diving into our lifestyles and seeing all the things we can do to make improvements in our mental functioning, in faculties and in our hormone balance and health. And so instead of just saying, oh, well this is the way it is, this has to impact everything else. Say, okay, well this does impact everything else and I want to navigate around it and own it, but what else can I adjust to see better improvements? Because by focusing on magnesium, by really dialing in your micros, you’re going to improve your health. And then if it has these other payoffs, all the better and you don’t even realize how much that snowball can really impact so many other areas that you weren’t even trying to impact.

(09:42):
And that’s why diving into the nuance and while this can feel like it’s overcomplicating things because there’s so many details, it can really help you get to the one thing you need and know that there are opportunities and options out there. So moving on from Magnesium Next Micro, you want people to pay attention to really help us define how we’re aging and age so that we feel our most fabulous to our final day on the planet, this planet, because I’m sorry, I’m never going to accept that I can’t control enough to keep moving and feeling my best. So next micro,

Michelle (10:13):
I really want to kind of cover Selenium. And this one doesn’t necessarily increase with age, but it has a pretty powerful effect. And again, I just don’t think it gets the recognition that it actually deserves. And one thing that I think is huge is a lot of times what I hear when people are aging is, and how it would actually increase the needs is a lot of times people just find through age that their thyroid activity levels change. So whether you are recognizing that you have low T levels, selenium actually helps increase your thyroid activity. So just ensuring that you’re taking adequate amounts is going to make a big difference. And it does also not just help with your thyroid health, but it’s going to help with your antioxidant defense, your immune function, and even potentially your cognitive health. So again, it’s also going to help that brain health.

(11:10):
I think that’s so huge. I am going to give a little warning. I know when people hear magnesium, when people hear me going off on a particular mineral, oftentimes the response is, well, I’m just going to eat a ton. I’m going to get tons of it. So especially with Selenium, I’m going to say with the caveat, there’s always going to be such a thing as too much. And Selenium is one of those, which I think is why it doesn’t get recognized as often because it can be overdone and you can have some negative effects if you overdo it. But this is really again why I think it’s so crucial to make sure you’re getting adequate amounts even though this is a trace, it’s an essential trace mineral, but it is critical, has critical roles in various bodily functions.

Cori (11:57):
And going off of that on thyroid health and getting older, we often don’t realize, and I always take it back to the lifestyle, all the different factors that can really accumulate and have an impact where as we’re going through menopause, we might’ve heard the lower carb is really key to helping us navigate some insulin resistance. We might be seeing it might be more beneficial for fat loss during that time. But on the flip side, if we cut our carbs too low, that can have an impact on thyroid health as well. So you want to make sure that you’re really tracking what you’re doing as you’re making changes to make the most accurate ones. And I know it can feel a little overwhelming to start. I know it can feel a little tedious, but the more you’re tracking these things, the more you can make sure that you’re making changes that actually meet you where you’re at, whether you’re adjusting those micros or even paying attention again to those macros and the impact they’re having. But don’t just write yourself off or say, this is something I can’t control or change. See all the different ways you can really adjust your lifestyle to move and feel your best. And going off of that, if someone was now like, oh no, what if I’m getting too much? How would I know what are some of the negative side effects they might see just so they can be aware?

Michelle (13:01):
So there’s going to be big things like hair loss, a lot of gastrointestinal distress. Those are going to be probably the two biggest signs, but a lot of it is you’re just going to kind of feel crummy overall. But if you’re starting to notice hair loss and you’re getting enough protein, you’re getting enough of the other essential nutrients and calories, you may want to look at selenium because that’s going to be kind of a tell sign that you may be overdoing it. And this is something I do recommend for a lot of people who again are in the menopausal age or have low T levels, I’ve actually had people be able to up their selenium and actually lower their thyroid medication. And one of the best sources of selenium is actually going to be Brazil nuts. But because it is so rich, again, this isn’t you all of a sudden sitting down and having half a cup to two cups of selenium, or sorry, Brazil nuts, this is really, there’s enough in about one or two Brazil nuts that you are more than covered for your daily needs.

(14:04):
So if that’s something that you can incorporate, it’s one of those things like you can eat it as a healthy fat and you’re going to get your selenium. And I love so much that you brought up how your diet can actually play a huge role in your micronutrients because it is something that as you are adjusting your intake, oftentimes selenium is one that kind of does get decreased. So I think that is so huge to know that you can get it from a food source like Brazil nuts, but often I’ve had lots of people that also are just like, I really just don’t like Brazil nuts. That’s not going to be something you’ve ever see me snacking on. And that’s okay too. There are of course you can always supplement with it as well.

Cori (14:45):
And off of that when someone’s adjusting their diet to make sure they’re really getting enough, we often talk about eating the rainbow, but I know that a lot of times too, it’s focusing on those macro portions. So even paying attention to how you’re hitting your protein sources, so not just getting more fruits and vegetables, but even diversity in some of those other things that can be very helpful as well. Correct.

Michelle (15:07):
Yeah, absolutely. Seafood and meat and poultry, those are also going to have selenium in them. And I know we’ve talked about this before in past even podcasts and videos, but protein is full of micronutrients and you’re not just sitting down and just getting amino acids from your protein. You are getting lots of micronutrients as well.

Cori (15:30):
And now moving on to another micro, we’ve talked about this a little bit more recently because it hasn’t gotten the love that it really deserves. I think in terms of bone health and bone health is something we need to pay attention to as we get older. I’m sorry, I want to avoid falls and fractures and I think almost everybody else does too. We want to move our best, we want to be strong. We don’t want to be out with aches and pains and injuries. So taking care of our bone health to stay our most fabulous is really key. We talk about calcium, we talk about vitamin D, but vitamin K is also really important. Can you talk a little bit about what it really does, why it’s so important and how it contributes?

Michelle (16:04):
Yeah. So vitamin K is a protein that’s going to be actually involved in the bone mineralization. So it actually is essential for that protein to come in and actually be able to mineralize your bones and make them stronger. So as you mentioned, we are at a huge increased risk for osteoporosis as we age. And one of the things too that I think it’s kind of overlooked and we were talking about how diet changes and that changes is kind of what your intake is. But one of the thing that is very common is that as women go through menopause, they actually find they can become a little bit lactose intolerant or lactose sensitive. So all of a sudden their dairy actually decreases. And we know you can consume calcium and vitamin D and those things from other sources, but your intake does kind of go down.

(16:54):
And this is really where it’s even more important to kind of pay attention to vitamin K because you kind of want to capitalize and make the most out of what you are consuming. And vitamin K is actually really going to be useful in actually making sure that the calcium and vitamin D is being brought in to your bones to actually make them stronger and harder. And another thing with vitamin K is it actually is very important for your cardiovascular health estrogen. I know we’ve mentioned this before in the past, but estrogen is heart protective. You actually are at lower risk for heart related diseases prior to menopause. Now once you hit menopause, your risk actually becomes the same as men. So up until that point, our risk is at a lot lower than men and then once we hit menopause, all of a sudden it’s equaled out. So we do want to make sure that we are also paying attention for vitamin K, vitamin K because it’s going to help prevent the calcification of arteries and other soft tissues that can lead to cardiovascular diseases.

Cori (17:59):
And off of this we talk about how much our body does change with age and hormone changes have an impact. We also have to consider previous dieting practices when we’re talking about some of these nutritional gaps that we might need to address. Because a lot of times in trying to diet down and achieve a specific aesthetic goal or in a training for different things, our fueling might not have been our focus in terms of our health. We often have like, okay, I just need to eat enough to get through this race or this training session or I need to eat to lose weight. And so our focus isn’t on these micronutrients or even the types of foods that we’re restricting. And so because of those previous dieting practices, sometimes we’ve created elimination of foods that are really key to helping us to address those nutritional gaps as we get older.

(18:45):
So as you mentioned, if you’ve ever feared dairy for weight loss, because I know that was something that became a topic in the bodybuilding realms where it was like, oh, would this cause inflammation and I’ll allow you to lose that belly fat. So if you’ve ever feared something, you need to address how it can fit into your diet and why you actually feared it, because a lot of times that might not be serving you well when addressing the nutritional needs as you get older. So just also note, it’s not just your age, it’s not just hormone changes, it’s all the previous diet practices that we’ve even done that can now have an impact on what we need and the changes we need to make to meet our body where it’s at now. So talking about anything else on vitamin K or any other micronutrients that you really think are key that people need to pay attention to as they get older and even how that might impact how they go about achieving an aesthetic goal with the changes they’re seeing, they don’t fall back into old patterns.

Michelle (19:41):
Yeah, I think the biggest thing is, like I mentioned, is really capitalizing on what you are intaking because you brought up some key points. So often have I seen people that are looking to diet down or slim down, they immediately go to the elimination. And what’s really hard with that is you are going to all of a sudden be losing out of a whole food source that was going to be high in certain things. So it is going to make sure that you are capitalizing on your intake and also making sure that you are addressing what actually is what those nutrients are that you are kind of eliminating if you do choose to do that route. There are other ways to get calcium vitamin D besides dairy, it’s going to be harder, but there are other ways. So that’s really where you want to pay attention to those green left leafy vegetables that are going to be rich sources.

(20:33):
But another thing to kind of make sure is if you are going to be doing that, you need to make sure you’re supplementing and supplementing smart. And that was something I wanted to cover too is the mistakes I often see when people are actually going supplementing and that is really going to be over supplementation. I know I already brought it, I already kind of talked about this earlier on, but so often I will see women be like, okay, I’m taking my women’s health multi, I’m taking this bone health that’s going to have, and most of the time that’s going to have calcium, vitamin K, vitamin D and some other nutrients in it. And then they may hear something was good for hair, so they’re going to take that hair, skin and nail one and they heard this was good for skin, so they’re going to be taking this skin specific supplement.

(21:22):
Well all this sudden you now are taking tons of pills, but you’re also probably over consuming certain nutrients and vitamins because this supplement probably has some of that. That woman’s health multi probably has calcium and vitamin K and vitamin D, that bone health is going to have the same thing and you’re going to get similar things in that hair, skin and nail stuff. So all of a sudden we kind of have this cross where people are really overdoing certain nutrients. And as I mentioned, there’s a balance. You’ve got to have that balance. So we want to make sure we’re not deficient, but we also want to make sure that we are not hitting toxic levels either. And sometimes that toxic levels is going to actually interfere with the absorption of other vitamins and minerals. So you may be supplementing and all of a sudden you’re still deficient in some of the things you’re supplementing with because things are blocking them. There is a science to supplementing

Cori (22:19):
And it’s super interesting, this whole thing of it’s systems working together. We constantly add more and think more is better if I just throw all this at it, something’s got to work because I’m covering everything. But in trying to cover everything, you’re not necessarily addressing the one thing you need. And for some reason the visual comes to mind of you have this machine that cranks out products perfectly, it’s turning out new toys and it’s working really, really well and you think, well, if it’s working really well and there could be this one little thing that maybe I make better, but now I’m going to add on 15 other things, you wouldn’t do that, right? You wouldn’t add on 15 things you didn’t need just because those were really good pieces too. If it was working pretty well, you’d go in and maybe oil, the one thing that isn’t working as perfectly, you’d be very nuanced and specific in how you’re addressing adjusting the systems versus just throwing everything on there because in adding all these cogs and wheels and pieces, you could end up making it not work.

(23:10):
And I know that’s a slightly strange visual, but that’s what my brain always comes back to and that’s how we approach our nutrition is how we approach our workouts. We think I’m just going to throw in more good things and in theory that should work and it doesn’t really work that way often that just busts the system so that it’s not working as well as it should. So really diving into the nuance of some of these things through how you’re tracking, how you’re adjusting, making 1% changes is super key. And it can be very simple. It doesn’t have to be overly complicated. You don’t go to all these different things. You say, Hey, what are the symptoms I’m having that I need to address? Or what are the problems that I think are the most important? And then go to something that covers more of those at once and say, Hey, I’m going to try this one thing first.

(23:49):
Just try magnesium. I’m just going to make this one adjustment right here. And then see where that goes. And in making that change, even if you are including a supplement for something, maybe you say, Hey, I’m going to diversify the foods I’m eating. I want to get more leafy greens. But instead of complicating that, say, Hey, I’m going to just put a different thing at lunch and dinner and already I’m getting two different things in the course of the day. It doesn’t have to be 50 different things. So it’s like the more we can really be specific in how we’re addressing problems and changes, the better off we’re going to be.

Michelle (24:20):
Yeah, and I love what you said, it is a hierarchy. Your body has a hierarchy of needs and you need to be approaching that with how you’re supplementing because as you mentioned, you may be starting up here and there may be tons of things that could help, but is magnesium possibly going to cover multiple of those things for you? Probably. So you can probably cover lots of areas with one thing. So it’s really making sure that you are going about it really smart and you’ve got to do your research. You have to be paying attention. And it can’t just be, oh, well I heard this was good, so I’m going to start taking it. And I think one of my biggest struggles as a dietician is when I have someone and they are just taking so many pills, just tons of pills because pills are why I’m all for supplementation.

(25:09):
And yes, it’s needed. Yes, it’s there. I supplement. When you are taking tons and tons of pills, that is going to be hard on your gastrointestinal tract. It is. Your body absorbs things at certain spots and when you are cram packing a bunch of things all at once, your body is going to try and process that and have to break it down. And it’s not always easy, which is often why I know I’ll tell someone what the RDA level is and they’re going to be like, oh, well my pill is this high in it. Yeah, your pill’s that high in it because the chances that you’re actually going to absorb all of it isn’t that high. So you may be coming in thinking, well, there’s no way I’m deficient in this because I have a hundred percent of the supplement. The chances are that you’re actually not absorbing it, especially if you are taking multiple pills at once. That, like I said, I know I said this earlier, but it will interact with other ingredients that can make it so you’re not absorbing things as well or as easily as you should.

Cori (26:11):
And while we want to simplify things as much as possible, being aware of the impact, other things you’re consuming with the different supplements with even specific foods can be very important to help you make sure that you’re getting the most out of the micros that you are consuming. So off of that, there are a couple of questions that I wanted to touch on. I think that they’re very, they will lead to some interesting discussion and also answer some questions for other people. It says recommendation on selenium dose first off, and then also does vitamin K need fat to be absorbed? Michelle, I will hand it off to you.

Michelle (26:45):
So to start with, you said it was Selenium, you were asking right? For the RDA

Cori (26:51):
Or just recommended dose.

Michelle (26:53):
Okay, so with selenium, the RDA for that is typically about 55 micrograms, but you can go, that doesn’t mean that’s all you take, right? Again, there’s a higher level. So typically the recommended amount of actually dosing it is going to be around 200 mcds or micrograms for it

Cori (27:15):
And then vitamin K and best to take with fat to absorb it.

Michelle (27:20):
Yes. So it is a fat soluble vitamin, so you do want to make sure that you’re consuming some fat when you’re doing it. And so I know vitamin K is often found in green leafy greens. So if you’re thinking about either SA it or the cal with a little bit of olive oil or even just making sure that you are consuming things with a vinegarette that’s going to have a little bit of that oil is going to make it more easily absorbed for you.

Cori (27:51):
And even with noting the best way of taking these different things, remember guys, it’s also about making something sustainable. So while we want to pay attention to these things to get the 1% improvements, do not stress yourself out too. Our body is really good at trying to use what we give it. Just remember that while we want to pay attention to the nuance while we want to do what we can to make those 1% improvements, you also want to make sure that you’re doing something you can do consistently because that will pay off as well. Michelle, in terms of that, is there anything people should really worry about with taking some of these supplements or these micros that you mentioned today and in terms of timing for best practices?

Michelle (28:30):
So the big thing is I often recommend magnesium to take at night, and I say this just because it is, like I said, it is going to help with bowel movements. So oftentimes you’re going to set yourself up so in the morning you’re going to have that and be able to go about your day. And some people do find magnesium to be a little bit, sometimes a little bit harder on the stomach. Like I said, there are lots of different types, so don’t take one and just think, oh, I can’t do magnesium, it makes me sick because there are going to be going to be some that are going be more gentle. But that would be my biggest thing for magnesium is to actually take it at night for selenium. That is something that I really like to encourage people if they can to take it kind of in the nut form.

(29:14):
So I typically just recommend that as kind of being a part of your midday snack. Again, it doesn’t have to be that time. That’s just typically what I tend to recommend for people because it tends just to sit better. And then vitamin K is one that you can really kind of take. That one pretty much is pretty open to any time of the day, but as long as you mentioned, most of the time you’re going to be consuming it with a fat source just because a lot of the times that’s how we consume those vegetables anyways. So that’s not something that you necessarily need to worry about so much. So a vitamin K is kind of fair. Green magnesium, I’d recommend more at night.

Cori (29:57):
I guess you could technically make a salad with your leafy greens and put some Brazil nuts on there. Although I think if people really don’t like those Brazil nuts, would you ever recommend someone eat something just because it has something? I’m guessing the answer is no, because usually we try and say, Hey, you’re not going to keep doing it if you really don’t like doing it. So find a different source of that micro, but I don’t know your thoughts on that. Still so easy. Maybe you do it, but I don’t know.

Michelle (30:25):
This is mean. I have a little different view on this one. I will be honest because quite frankly, Brazil nuts, that’s not the nut that I’m going to be like, oh yes, I can’t wait to snack on my Brazil nuts. But I do look, I kind of look at it as I’m taking medicine and I’m taking two Brazil nuts. It’s really one of those. If you can tolerate it and if it’s something that you can be like, you know what, I’m just going to treat it like I’m taking my medicine, great do that. It’s a cheaper, it’s going to be cheaper. So that would be the one time that I’d maybe say, look at it, you’re just kind of taking your medicine and if you can do it and you can tolerate it, great. But I will say with the caveat exactly what you said, but if you truly really hate something, you’re not going to stick to it. So that would be when I would say, yeah, let’s look at a supplement.

Cori (31:15):
I would find a way to work it into something where then I couldn’t taste it if I didn’t like it. That’s my thing, how can you bury it? Although Ryan’s like shaking his head at me because I like putting protein powder in different things. I don’t feel like I can then taste it and I think it enhances the thing. He thinks it just makes anything nasty, so he’ll chug it on the side. So I think he would actually agree with you on the Brazil nut things, but I would try and find a way to work it into something if I was going to eat that I wanted someone now commented, I’m a little worried that I may be overdoing it with supplementation. If I’m taking a multivitamin for women, is it okay to take a separate magnesium pill? Your thoughts on this, Michelle?

Michelle (31:52):
So it can be, I would definitely want to know what level of magnesium your multi is having because you may find that it’s actually already covering you. And I didn’t say this, but multis are actually typically something I also tend to recommend to take at night too, because again, you just tend to, there’s so much going on that sometimes taking it more in the evening is just going to be easier on your GI system. So I know that wasn’t a direct answer, but it kind of depends. It could be fine. It could be that the multi you’re taking is already pretty high. I will say most multis aren’t going to be high enough in magnesium, so you’re probably okay. I mention though too, we do do person for, so if that is something that you are really curious about and you’re worried that you may be over consuming some things you can actually get on with our dietician who will go over that and actually present with you what they would actually have you do and give you a multi or a pill that’s going to cover all of your needs.

(32:56):
Like Corey was talking about the hierarchy of needs. So we’ll focus on that for you. And what’s kind of cool about it is you are able to kind of adjust things in the future. So if your needs change, because we all know the human body is not stagnant. Oh, that did not come out, but we all know we’re not going to stay the same. So things are going to going to change. So if things do change, you can actually get reevaluated and meet with the dietician as well and readjust your supplement. So if that’s something you’re really wanting, you’re curious about or concerned about, I would highly, highly recommend to just schedule a call with our dietician and get on with that.

Cori (33:35):
It also would be based on the type of magnesium you might find that you need extra of or the symptoms you’re addressing versus the type in your multivitamin. Can you maybe speak a little bit Michelle to what you generally find in the multivitamin with those things? Because I think that nuance is really key to also recognize because it might not be the form of magnesium that you need.

Michelle (33:56):
Yeah, so one thing I’m going to say with multis, there are some great ones out there, don’t get me wrong. But oftentimes when it comes to supplements, a lot of this is marketing. They want to say like, oh, we’re going to give you a hundred percent of this, 200% of this, and that’s not necessarily bad. You’re probably not going to absorb all of it. But the other reason why they’re able to do that is oftentimes the bioavailability of the source they’re using isn’t as high as another source, and usually it’s because it’s a little bit of a cheaper option. So this is really, again, it’s something that you just kind of want to be aware of and I know honestly I could go off on just bioavailability and what’s actually used, what is actually best. Because again, multis are often they’re going to try and say they cover every box, but they’re probably not always going to have the best sources for your body to absorb. So that’s going to be my one thing with them. I know like you said, oftentimes we take it and we’re like, okay, I’m covered. I took my multi, but you may not actually be able to absorb all the whole multi that you’re taking. So this is really where I look at third party testing needs to be kind of a big thing. This is where it’s more important to actually be able to see if they have good business practices, but a big thing is going to make sure that they actually are third party tested.

Cori (35:20):
Thanks for listening to the Fitness Hack podcast. Again, this is the place where I share all my free work out of nutrition tips. I’m never going to run sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a rating review or share it with someone you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and it would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone.

(00:00):
Hey guys, this is Cori from Redefining Strength. Welcome to the Fitness Hacks Podcast. This is the show where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips. I’m not going to ever fill this episode with sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a review or leave a five star rating or even better share with somebody you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone. So let’s jump right in. I don’t have enough time. We’ve all made this excuse as a reason to skip our workouts and just not do anything, and there is a finite amount of time in each and every day, and sometimes the day does get away from us, but we can always design for the time we have and we have to recognize the value sometimes in doing something that’s not necessarily our optimal, our planned workout, but still keeps us in the routine and habit because often on those days where we say, I don’t have enough time and we don’t do anything, we end up letting the habit slide and then it’s easier the next day to not do anything and the next day after that and we’re not owning our current situation and we’re not planning for what’s realistic for us, and that’s where we see those habits slide and we get off track and we lose the progress that we’ve made.

(01:12):
And part of it isn’t just the miss workout, yes, the movement itself is key. That build is key, especially if we want to gain muscle, but a lot of it just goes back to keeping in the habit and that success mindset. So as silly as it might seem to just do five minutes, sometimes the fact that we did something when we didn’t want to do something often makes us feel better than even doing what we just had planned because we did something on a hard situation where it would’ve been really easy to let ourselves off the hook. So doing that keeps us in the success mindset. It keeps us the routine, it helps us move forward, but we can also design for the time we have. I think too often we use, I don’t have enough time as an excuse because we have some ideal that we have to hit in our head of six days a week, training for one hour, but you don’t need that ideal.

(01:57):
You can design for the time you have three days a week, 30 minutes. You can make it work five days a week, 15 minutes. You can make it work, but you have to own what actually is realistic for you to design for that time because how you design for those times will be different. How you break down your workouts, what you’re working each workout, how you’re using moves will all be different. But also noting that just because you have an hour doesn’t mean you need to use an hour. I see too often people just filling the hour and in that they do a lot of wasted volume, they do a lot of quantity, but it’s not quality because they’re not staying focused and intentional. Now, when we’re short on time, it can be really hard to be as intentional because a lot of times we feel like we’re going through the motions just to do it or we’re rushing through to get it done.

(02:39):
So I want to really help you find a way to make the most out of those sessions. And the first key I think to designing quick and efficient and effective workouts is using timed circuits and sets and even timed intervals of work over reps. And the reason I say timed is because if you have minutes and you set a timer for 15 minutes, you know you’re going to be done in 15 minutes. There’s no rushing through to make sure that you’re done. There’s no being worried about finishing in time so that you skip certain things and then don’t do your warmup. You can make sure that everything truly fits that time. You can take one minute to roll out the tightest area, you can take one minute to do a dynamic stretch. You can then take even 30 seconds to do an activation move and then you can get into the rest of your workout.

(03:24):
And so you can really have that time, but you’re also secure in that you know are going to be able to fit it into the time that you have. So using those time circuits, using those timed intervals of work can be really key for that reason because it gives us the mental security. Not to mention when we feel rushed, when we have less time, we do need to increase our training density. That means that we need to do more work in the set amount of time because we can’t do more work adding on time. So we want to increase the amount of work done in the set time that we have. So by using an interval of one minute on squats, instead of doing 12 reps and trying to do 15 reps the next week or increase that training density in that way, even if the time goes a little bit longer, we’re going to see can I get more reps in this set amount of time?

(04:08):
And that can increase your training density to help you see results, but it can also help you stay focused and intentional with moves. Again, not rushing through just because you’re short on time when we know we have that one minute to work, we’re going to make the most of that one minute and we’re going to really push through because we have one minute and sometimes that can even push us to do more than we would’ve done had we counted reps, especially when we are short on time and it’s really key that we get the most out of every single movement. When you have that one minute, you might keep going past the point you would’ve stopped. So say you had eight to 12 reps, maybe you stopped at 12 and you could have done a few more with a weight. So you do go up the next round, but with that one minute all of a sudden you’re like, well, I have this whole minute I need to use it.

(04:45):
So you’re doing 15, 20 reps with a weight that you thought you could only do 12 with, even if you use a little rest pause, but it can help you push past the point you would’ve stopped otherwise to getting that really quality progression with movements as well. So consider using time circuits intervals of work that are timed out instead of just counting reps because it can help you make sure you’re confident you can get the workout in that time and stay focused and intentional where you aren’t even counting the reps or trying to rush through. Then also really focus on ways to make the volume that you can do more challenging. Again, you can’t just add on more sets, more reps because you only have a set amount of time, so you have to increase the training density within that time. This also means making fewer reps feel harder.

(05:28):
So even though you could do eight to 12 reps with a front lunge, maybe you don’t have weights and maybe you don’t have a time to get out four sets of 12 reps. So how can you make it so that you fail at six reps instead of just doing a front lunge? Maybe you do add loads if you have it, maybe you add a pulse when you launch forward. Maybe you make sure that you’re doing a variation where there’s more instability or there’s a bigger range of motion because you’re having to do that front lunch stepping up onto a step to sink with your back knee down to the ground. But you have to find a way to make the volume more challenging if you want to see results from your training. But 15 minutes if you’re making every move, the hardest move you can do is going to feel devastatingly challenging at points and not in a bad way if you’re just trying to slaughter yourself from your workouts, but that you are trying to drive that progression, drive that growth.

(06:15):
When I know I have 10 minutes, I’m finding ways to make myself fail at a move with five reps over trying to do 10, and if I can do 10, I’m going to find ways to make it more challenging. So really think how can I make this move so challenging that I don’t want to nor can’t necessarily do more than five reps, especially with those times circuits too. If you’re then cycling areas worked, which is another way to make workouts very efficient when you’re short on time because then you don’t have to fully rest. You want to think, okay, how can I keep moving this entire interval, this 10 minute circuit? How can I keep moving by doing a really heavy lower body move then a really heavy or challenging upper body move so that you’re using the other areas being worked as rest to keep moving, but you’re also able to really work that area because you’re then cycling out of it, but it is challenging you for the reps that you do and you’re building up that volume over time.

(07:02):
Five reps done over 10 minutes is going to add up to 25 reps, 30 reps, so it’s going to add up to that volume you need within that set amount of time and then the next week you’re going to try and either get a few more reps or go a little bit heavier or advance the move in some way, but going now into that next phase. So you’re trying to find ways to make the volume challenging that you can do, but you’re also going to try and find ways to include rest without including rest. We don’t want to just cut out rest. Rest is very important for us to be able to maximize the movements, be more intentional, train harder. You don’t want to try and lift really heavy and then cut out the rest however you do want to design so that you’re not doing that one rep max lifting or that maximal strength work necessarily during workouts like this while you’re short on a time, you can save that for longer workouts, but you do want to find ways to still lift heavy and create that progression.

(07:47):
And that means giving areas rest before you go back into that advanced variation because otherwise you’re going to hit that point of diminishing returns. You’re not going to be able to work at the true a hundred percent intensity, but with shorter time just standing around is not necessarily going to be an option. So maybe you do use it as that mobility work. Maybe you use it as a little activation, maybe you just cycle areas. Work the less frequently we can train, the shorter we can train for the more we want to focus on more full body esque splits that could be anterior, posterior or full body where we are touching on everything. But we want to do that because that allows us to work more big muscle groups in a session which can help us build muscle. It can help us burn more calories. It helps us get in that training frequency for areas while training less frequently.

(08:29):
It also gives us the opportunity to use other moves as rest so that we’re maximizing the time we have because if you work legs, then upper body like a chest, then you do even legs, but the opposing muscle groups, so quad and then hamstring in one and then you do back, you are cycling. The areas work to be able to go hard on each of those movements and work each of those areas intensely, but you’re giving other areas rest. And again, this is where you can also add in mobility work, especially if you tend to skip it because that can be active. Rest could potentially, depending on how you’re designing your workouts, if you’re doing more metabolic strength, include a cardio move and then also include a strength move to sort of change up the intensity at which you’re going. You can use more intense moves, less intense moves, even depending more isolated moves with more compound, but you want to think, how can I rest without rusting?

(09:14):
And those are some of the different ways that you can do it. Even knowing that using unilateral moves, so if you do a single leg deadlift, one side is resting as the other is working, so that can even be a way to add in rest as well. While even getting in that focused work or making a move more challenging by the instability of the unilateral exercise, it’s a great way to also correct imbalances if you are dealing with any imbalances, which most of us we’re not fully balanced creatures. And then just remember with this, you’re not making everything cardio. You want to think about using that strength to cardio continuum and that one rep max lifting, you’re going to need more time for that really steady state long endurance training you’re going to need more time for. So when we’re short on time and we might even be training less frequently, we need to use that middle ground of that metabolic strength type work, that strength conditioning.

(10:00):
And so we want to think about how we can make sure that we are getting our heart rate elevated, but also not just turning everything into being so out of breath that we can’t challenge ourself with progression in the lifts, especially to build that strength. So that’s again where cycling the areas work, cycling the intensity, including even an AB exercise in that circuit as active rest can be very valuable. But make sure that you are designing everything with a purpose too. You don’t want to just think about making your workouts hard to burn more calories with these sessions. You want to think about how is this truly moving me forward towards my goal? Do I need more mobility work? So if you’re short on time and you’re not able to do your usual six days a week, one hour of training and you have five minutes this one day, maybe you’re like, Hey, I think it’s better that I shift my workouts, but I’m going to put in a five minute workout to still do something that’s mobility work to keep me moving forward.

(10:48):
Again, it goes back to that success mindset. Something is better than nothing and we don’t often value that, but we have to remember that one minute today, one minute tomorrow, one minute the next day, that one minute adds up over time and generally does get us to do 2, 3, 4. And it goes back to even the way our momentum is going. The less we do, the more our momentum goes towards doing less. The more we’re keeping our momentum towards doing something, the more we tend to want to do and the more we even find that we get re-motivated to do a little bit more. If we are finding our motivation has sort of faded. So if you’re finding it a struggle to push yourself to do your usual routine, embrace shorter workouts. If your schedule is dictating that right now, you need to embrace shorter workouts.

(11:29):
Again, focusing on designing for the time you have, using those intervals or time circuits can be a great way to make sure that you’re getting in the workout, you’re increasing the training density to see results. Really maximize the volume you can do by finding ways to progress moves. And guys, I love loads, but they’re not the only way to advance movements, tempos, ranges of motion unilateral, so that instability, there are so many different ways to do that. Even creating hybrid moves and touching on that too, when you’re shorter on time, as much as we want to include some isolation moves for those stubborn areas, you need to be very strategic in how you do that because compound moves are going to give you more bang for your buck. Hybrid moves, which might work upper and lower body together. So those are things like where you can even do a lunch curl and press that you could do a single leg deadlift with row.

(12:12):
Those things can be very efficient when we’re short on time. And yes, there’s going to be a limiting muscle group with some of those things where if you do a single leg deadlift with row, you’re going to be basing it off of the weight. You can row over just the deadlift. There’s benefit to those things too because we’re working more muscle groups at once. So you want to think about how you can work more muscle groups at once, use more multi-joint movements when you are shorter on time using maybe one isolation move for a specifically stubborn area strategically, but it’s not better or worse. It’s just designing for the time you have and you can see fabulous results and the more you embrace that, the better the results you’re going to see. But again, using even that strategically designed rest so that you are able to go at a true a hundred percent intensity, not just turning everything into cardio, but even using the fact that these are going to be a little bit more metabolic to your advantage, but still creating that progression in your training.

(13:01):
But again, it goes back to always designing for the time you have and also not just using the hour because you have it. If you’re doing a sprint workout, stretching it out to an hour is probably a lot of wasted volume and you’re going to see a point of diminishing returns and you could have saved your time, especially because most of us do at some point use the excuse, I don’t have enough time to do other things. Maybe you meal prep then so you have more time on another day to do that strength workout. That should have more rest, more mobility work needs to be a little bit longer. So always design for the time you have and remember that something is better than nothing because part of this is not just what you’re actually doing in your workout, but the mindsets and routines and habits you’re creating. So jumping into the group to see if there are any questions, comments or concerns or even thoughts on how you are designing your quick workouts, making things really work for you.

(13:53):
It doesn’t look like anybody has posted anything and hopefully it’s just because I gave such fabulous tips. Everybody’s writing them down and ready to really implement them, but I would love to hear how you guys design workouts that really fit your schedule, how you are embracing maybe doing more full body splits, anterior posterior splits when you’re training less frequently and have a little bit shorter to train versus doing more potentially body parts splits or hemisphere training with longer to train. Remember, you can always design for the time you have. If you are watching the replay and do have any questions, comments, or concerns, don’t hesitate to write in. I will go back through and even try and link out to any other helpful resources to get you guys rocking because I know especially during the summer, we can find ourselves a little out of that consistent routine. Finding reasons not to work out traveling where we don’t have as much time, but I don’t have enough. Time is not an excuse. You can always design for the time you have. Thanks for listening to the Fitness Hack podcast. Again, this is the place where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips.

(14:50):
I’m going to run sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a rating, review or share it with someone you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and it would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone.

Cori (00:03):
Hey guys, this is Cori from Redefining Strength. Welcome to the Fitness Hacks Podcast.. This is the show where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips. I’m not going to ever fill this episode with sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a review or leave a five star rating or even better share with somebody you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone. So let’s jump right in. Will you be the victor or the victim? Call me a control freak, but I always like to try and choose to be the victor in anything, and I’m super excited to dive into this topic, this mindset with Ashley, who’s one of my fabulous trainers and coach managers. Ashley, thank you for joining me today. I’m super excited to jump into Victor, our victim, how we create that victor mindset.

Ashley (00:53):
Yeah, absolutely. I’m excited to be here. This is one of those philosophies that personally I live and breathe and one day may die by. And this is one of the things that I think really sets the course for success for anybody who’s starting on any method of transformation, mental or physical.

Cori (01:17):
And so we often hear mindset matters most when it comes to making habit changes, achieving success. Can you talk a little bit about what that really means, like the subconscious versus the conscious and how we can go about changing our mindset to see results?

Ashley (01:34):
Yeah, absolutely. So within each of us, we have our conscious brain and our conscious brain. I usually think of it as like the prefrontal cortex or the front brain. It’s doing most of your thinking for you. So if you have a thought that’s going to be in your conscious brain, and most of us think that we rule our lives by the conscious brain, but actually we’re living about 95% of our life with the subconscious brain, which is patterns of recognition experience, the way that we really view the world and the subconscious brain is actually formed from the time we are in the womb until about seven years old. And this is where it can get a little bit tricky because while we’re going through those first seven years of life, we are developing essentially the way that we process the world, the way we think about the world, our own capabilities, ability, and even disability.

(02:30):
And the problem is most of us don’t have control of our life from the time we’re in the womb till we’re seven years old. We are almost a victim to our parents, our circumstances, the thoughts that are imbued into our brain during that time. And we don’t make conscious choice during those age. We really are just moving out of instinct and everything that we’re learning and sponging up from the world around us. Now after seven years of age, we start to have a little bit more independence. We start to assert ourselves more as and really develop our personality, our thoughts, our ways of being. However, the subconscious brain is still acting underneath all of that, which means as we get older and we start getting curious about the world, we start exploring and we start really taking ownership over our life. A lot of our actions and our habits are actually driving from the subconscious versus the conscious brain.

(03:30):
And so what we see is we make decisions, we make choices, we even pursue different actions that while we might think we’re consciously making that choice, what’s driving us is all of those habits and experiences that have been rooted on a subconscious level from the time that we are young, when essentially we really are a victim, a victim to the circumstances around us, to our parenting. Sorry, parents, I’m not trying to tell you. You were terrible to me, but we don’t have a lot of control and we take all of that subconscious wiring, if you will, and we bleed that into our adulthood. And so we hear this a lot from a person or from a client that might be saying, I don’t know why I keep doing this. I don’t know why I keep following the same pattern and the same cycle. And then they feel shame and they feel guilt and they feel fear about it. Like, well, I’ve done this the same way a hundred million times, I don’t know how to break it. And it’s because most of the time what they’re trying to do is behavior modify without getting into the root of the subconscious of really changing the way that they think about themselves and changing the way that we experience the world, the identity and the truths that we hold about ourselves. And this was very much my experience, and that’s where I started diving into all of the neuroplasticity, understanding how the brain works, understanding new ways of being.

Cori (05:04):
I think it’s so interesting how in describing that you use the word victim because I think instantly hearing that my brain was like, oh, it’s crazy that that is the allure back sometimes for some of us. And we have to build that self-awareness of where that mindset is really coming from. Simply writing it off. Doing behavior modification as you mentioned, doesn’t really get to the heart of the fact that we might have this innate belief to some extent that we are a victim. And so in creating that victor mindset, it comes back to controlling what we can control, but in controlling what you can control, recognizing things that were out of your control, and then having that self-awareness to make changes on that. How would you go about building that self-awareness? Because I think it’s hard to not just say, oh, well, this is a pattern I keep repeating, or even just feeling guilt and shame because you’re repeating something that feels outside of your control. How do you start to go back into building that self-awareness, diving into those things to then gain the power to adjust your mindsets behind those actions?

Ashley (06:11):
Oh my goodness, yes. So this is that root, because most of us are functioning on our subconscious level on autopilot throughout our day. Most of us don’t take the pause or the stop to really reflect and ask even the question, why am I doing this? Or one of my favorite questions is like, are you thinking about what you’re thinking about? We have so many thoughts that just fire into our brain daily, one after the other, after the other, and we just almost succumb to them. But most of those thoughts are rooted somewhere along the line of our life of a belief that we developed. So in asking the question, where do we even start with this? I think identifying, and this is where some of the deep work comes in, where if I can just use a personal example, I had a lot of beliefs from my childhood that really were seeped into my subconscious, and I’m just going to give you a really brief overview, but I spent a lot of my younger years in foster care and then went through an adoption process, an un adoption process, and a adoption process with a new family throughout from my ages of zero to six years old.

(07:30):
So right in that time where your subconscious brain is being developed. And so I say all of that to say is during that time, there was some limiting beliefs or a narrative that started forming in my mind of I’m not wanted, I’m not loved. I’m going to constantly be rejected. However, I didn’t realize that was a limiting belief or even my narrative. I’m just going through life and going through high school and then college and in college is really where that subconscious brain started just flaring up all over the place in pursuit to get the things that I wanted, which was love and acceptance. I started making a lot of decisions that were incredibly self-sabotaging, so overwhelming my plate with every extracurricular that I could think about that would give me esteem or prowess or make think people think highly of me while simultaneously at the same time pursuing a lot of romantic relationships and really trying to just fit in with every single crowd that I could.

(08:37):
And I really almost ruined my life at that point. And I say I almost ruined my life at that point because in the midst of making all of these decisions that I thought I was making and not understanding why behind them, I lost a full ride scholarship in college. I actually ended up dropping out of college my last semester before graduation, and there was a flurry of other choices in there. And at that point I just succumb to the idea of this is just who I am. I’m a person that’s always going to mess up. I’m a person that I can’t handle high pressure situations, a lot of anxiety. I’m just a person that has a lot of anxiousness and therefore I can’t perform.

(09:25):
And it wasn’t until the point that I got pregnant that I took a really hard stop and look at my life. And this is where I say for each of you that’s watching, you’re like, why is this lady going on and on about that? The point is, my subconscious brain was kind of acting for me to receive love, affection, attention, and then feeling like when I started failing, I started pulling back a little bit. And it wasn’t until I had a ton of pressure and pain almost applied to that situation and something that was beyond the circumstances of just trying to receive adoration or trying to get my college degree. No, here was a baby that could not live in the circumstances that I was living in. And it was almost like so much pain applied to that moment and fear of beyond myself what this was going to do to this young child.

(10:22):
If I continued living my life in that way, that made me pause and go, why do I keep making these decisions that keep causing me to backtrack or fall down? And that’s when I went back to the fact of like, oh, well, so many of these decisions that I’ve made have come from the fact that yes, I was a victim to choices that other people around me made, but if I didn’t start taking some ownership and control, I was going to imbue those same circumstances on my child, which is kind of heavy when you think about it. So it was really that moment of I have to do something different that caused me to go, I have to start discovering why I’m making these decisions and do something different because there’s no way that this pattern is going to repeat anymore. And I think that can be applied to a lot of our clients where they reach a point of something has to change and something has to give, and I need to uncover what the beliefs are that I’m believing about myself and about my circumstances before I can move forward.

(11:34):
Some of my favorite work I do with my clients when they suddenly have an aha moment of, oh my goodness, why do I keep repeating this pattern? Oh, it’s because I actually believe that I’m not worthy. I actually believe I’m not important enough or that my sole purpose is just serve everybody around me, and it’s not okay for me to take time for myself. It’s not okay for me. Or even the fear of if I take time for myself, is that going to be hurting someone else? And this is the deep stuff that’s the reflection point.

Cori (12:11):
But I think you’re hitting on, I mean, you hit on so many key points, and just to even unpack those, we can dive in a little bit more. But the key question of why I think so often we repeat a behavior, we do something, we make a statement, but we never look at what’s driving that statement, what’s driving that thought and that question of why do I hold this belief? Why am I stating this? Why do I think I can’t do this? Why do I believe I’m a certain way? We don’t ever look at the driver. And in that we perpetuate the narrative about ourselves that we’ve always sort of told. And the only way to make a change from one, even if you wholeheartedly are thinking right now, well, hey Corey and Ashley, that’s all well and good, but I am this way. Ask yourself why.

(12:56):
What proves in your life this narrative? Are they things that you are actually doing to repeat this, to perpetuate it, to make this cycle true? Because I think like what you said, you were a victim to outside things. We all are a victim to outside things. We can’t control everything. However, we can always control our response. So in even owning the things we were victims of and taking ownership of them, which is giving ourselves back that control, that victim mindset, we can then move forward. And so in taking ownership in your own journey and how you help clients do that, can we talk a little bit more about techniques, tips to start doing that hard reflection to start making those hard changes?

Ashley (13:38):
Absolutely. So you just hit on one of the biggest techniques you can use right there is the stop and pause method. We live in a crazy busy world, and like I said, most people are functioning on autopilot throughout their day. Now, given you need your subconscious brain to function on autopilot, if you’re talking on the phone and driving, we please pray that your subconscious brain is taking you where you need to go, and you’re also noticing the things around you. So don’t think that the subconscious brain is working against you, it’s actually working for you. And this is the coolest part about change, is that we have the power to actually rewire our brain and rewire our identity, the way we think about things, our core commitments. We have the power to do that. But the first thing that you have to do is you have to stop and ask yourself the question of, am I thinking about what I’m thinking about right now?

(14:36):
You just got down to the root of it, Corey, where you said, am I asking myself why am I doing what I’m doing without judgment, without shame, without guilt, without anything, but really getting curious about yourself and diving into that. For instance, I have a client that we were just talking about alcohol, and she was like, I had such a great day. I had a perfect day. And then we went out to eat and I had my macros lined up, and then I still chose to drink. And she’s like, why did I do that? I said, okay, let’s pause. Let’s spend a couple of questions. Getting curious just about, well, why? What caused that? What was it going to give to me that I was missing? Why am I seeking out alcohol in this season of my life right now? Not that the alcohol is good, bad or ugly or anything in between, just what is it?

(15:28):
And I think that’s the first step is taking the pause to ask yourself what produced a behavior or a choice that fell out of your control in the moment? And then with every step, and I’m a big believer, I’m a big believer that therapy is incredibly important, and then you also pursue coaching to help propel you forward from that awareness, right? So if you understood the why, now we have to say, I have to replace that with something because I can’t just sit in the place of going, and this was my biggest fault. I am a victim. All of this bad stuff happened to me. It was out of my control, and therefore, my life is always going to be out of control and I’m always going to make these decisions. And I realized, and it was stepping into the gym that made me realize this, because the coolest thing about a muscle development is you either work the muscle or you don’t.

(16:22):
You either show up and do the exercise, and I keep thinking of an upright route. I’m either going to develop the shoulder muscle or I’m not going to develop the shoulder muscle. It’s up to me. Life is the same way. I can either sit into the place of saying, well, I am just a victim and these hard things happen to me, or this person in my life is doing this to me, or the weather just keeps pouring rain outside and it’s just the way it’s, or I can say, okay, I understand why I am doing this. Now I have to replace that with something else. And this is where the power of visualization is incredibly important. If you want to rewire the brain on a subconscious level, you have to feed that brain a new image, a new idea, essentially give it a different experience that it hasn’t experienced before.

(17:19):
And I’m just going to warn you all this is going to sound a little woo woo for a moment. It just is going to sound woo woo, but I firmly believe in it because I’ve witnessed it in my life and in my client’s lives throughout the last 10 years where your subconscious brain only has all the circumstances in life that have led up to it until you start giving it something else to feed on. So if I’m sitting here right now with you, Corey, I can be in the present, I can be thinking about the past, or I can be forecasting to the future. And my subconscious brain can’t tell the difference between what is actually happening right now between you and I and what happened in the past in the future. Meaning if I focus on my past and say, this was awful, this was terrible, and it’s just who I am.

(18:10):
My subconscious brain is going to keep programming thoughts, habits, and actions that take me in the direction of that version of myself. Or if I start visualizing and forecasting my future, meaning I can sit here right now with you and I can pull out three months from now, who do I want to be? What does life look like? How am I operating? How do I wake up in the morning? Am I energized and I can start daydreaming and actually giving my subconscious brain a different goal, a different experience, something that is powerful, joyful, wonderful, and my subconscious brain will start producing thoughts, actions, and habits that lead me in the direction that I want to go versus the direction I do not want to go. And this is where we really settle into the victor mindset. The victor mindset says, I may not have had control over that, but I can state it for what it was. I can announce it, say goodbye to it, and I can move in the direction I want to go. And even right now as I sit with you, I might not be exactly where I want to be, but I can bring my life in the direction that I want it to go through this process of literally daydreaming about where we’re going to go and then letting my actions line up with it.

Cori (19:40):
I think of that as acting as if the visualization, because for me, that makes it a little less visualization in my head, but gives me the direction and also makes it action based. So I love that you brought that up, and I think there’s so many key points in the stages that you need to go through with this because there is a taking ownership of the past. It’s never running from what happened. It’s always recognizing it because when we recognize it, we can then take back control. We can’t just write things off or say, this is the way it is. Again, it’s reflecting on it to learn from it to not make those mistakes in the future. And it’s truly diving deep with the why, because I think that’s something that we don’t often do. We say, well, this is why, right? I want alcohol because I’ve always had alcohol in these things.

(20:25):
Instead of saying, okay, well, I’ve always had alcohol at these things and I’m afraid of how my friends are going to perceive me and judge my new habits because maybe I feel this peer pressure because of X, Y, and Z thing. And in going deeper than that, we get to the real root of it where we can then find what really truly makes us happy. Versus I think so often we ask the superficial why, and then we try and replace the behavior. We do some modification, we go on a diet instead of adjusting our diet, so to speak. And so in the end, we don’t really make a lasting change. But that comes back to the acting as if when you’re visualizing something, you’re not just visualizing stuff to fake it till you make it. You’re not just putting things on that you won’t actually want to do or do. You are thinking about where do I want to go? Who’s the person I want to be? And what are the true habits that person is doing to then take action on those things? You’re giving yourself that clear roadmap to results, but it’s giving yourself the things that that person is doing so that you recognize you have the choice to move forward and create that new narrative, it sounds like.

Ashley (21:27):
Yeah, you hit it spot on, spot on by knowing who you want to be and by almost again, taking that control, like you said, to say, no, this is who I want to be. This is what she does on a day-to-day basis. This is how she wants to act in those, even that situation where you’re feeling the peer pressure of people around you being like, oh, just one more. Just have one more. You’re such a drudge and having the power to say, thanks, I’m having a great time as is, and carry on with life where you’re saying, this is who I want to be. And you’re so settled into that, that it’s not a question of do I drink the alcohol or not drink the alcohol? It’s really a question of I am making the choice to drink the alcohol or to not drink the alcohol, and I get to own that for myself.

(22:27):
No one else has control over it. I get to make the choice, and it always cracks me up because people will be like, oh, you probably never drink and you never do this. And I always kind of push back on that and I said, no, I find a way to work it into my life, but I also make the decision about when I want to and when I don’t want to, and I don’t feel bad about it. I just continue on with my life. I also think, and this could go on another tangent, but so I won’t go too far, but I think it takes away the anxiety of making the decision because instead, you settle into your power of being able to make the decision. It’s not about do I or don’t I? It’s just about you saying, no, I have the power to choose. No matter my circumstances, I get to choose who I want to be, how I show up and the future that I’m building for myself. And there’s something so empowering about claiming, always picture it, take the crown, claim your crown as a victor, and put that on top of your head to say, no, I get to make the choices that best serve the life I want to build for myself, and this is the choice that I’m making.

Cori (23:37):
Putting the crown in your head is a much better visual than mine, which generally taking back my power in a situation where people might question my decisions, I give the kiss the bicep example because that’s my go-to maybe just because I like to be more awkward. But the crown example is definitely a little bit better visual, taking back your power. So I really love that. Off of this one final question I have for you, because I think it’s sometimes the hardest thing to do and something that people need a little help with. How do you actually create that interruption, that pause in your brain to step back and assess when it’s very easy to just keep moving forward or fall back into that victim mindset over realizing you had the choice, you had the power, it’s a narrative you’re repeating. How would you recommend that someone helps themselves start to create that pause, that interruption to be able to reflect?

Ashley (24:28):
I think it’s two part. And so one of the biggest impacts that really helped me to interrupt my life is I sought out help. This is going to sound very, very corny, but my first personal trainer, I walked into the gym and I was like, I want to be a bodybuilder. I want to be on stage and I want to be a bodybuilder. And this is right after I had my child. She was like six months old, and I in her little baby carrier, I walked in like, I want to do this because what I thought it was going to give me was more attention and admiration because my body would look so nice, and it did, it does. I won’t lie. But the reason why I say that interruption, that was the interruption point, was I sought out another perspective and someone to help me kind of step outside of my day-to-day life and help me recognize what my patterns were, help me to recognize what was serving me and wasn’t serving me.

(25:33):
And I think this is where having someone in your corner that is outside perspective, looking in and just observing and helping you recognize your own patterns without judgment, but with so much care and empathy and so much support is incredibly important. I think the second thing on a more of a day-to-day basis, that a person could do just very brass tacks, bones taking about five minutes every day, five minutes where you recap your day and really reflect on how did that day go? What were the choices and decisions that I made throughout the day? Was there a point where I felt like a little bit stumbling? Or why did I make the choice I did? And really taking that five minutes to observe, reflect on oneself, and then to say, well, if there’s anything, what would I change in this? Why would I change that? What do I want to change about it? It’s a very, again, people do call me booboo sometimes because I’m all about the brain and what the brain can do for you, but having just that five minute reflection and then application for your next day can be incredibly powerful. And then spending an additional five minutes just visualizing how you want that next day to go can be really, really powerful and helping set up someone for success.

Cori (27:00):
It’s not woo though it’s doing something that for a lot of us might be slightly outside of our comfort zone. And I think that was both of the things you mentioned, hiring somebody, working with somebody else, stepping into a new competition, writing stuff down. These are all things that might challenge what we’re doing now and might be uncomfortable for us. And I think that’s often what we need. Just saying, oh, this feels uncomfortable. I’m going to do it. And that little interrupt there gets us starting to question different things. It’s even with coaching where someone’s like, oh, well, maybe I’ll do this next month, or now’s not the right time. If some day is going to be the right time, why not make that day today? Because if you don’t face that hard today, maybe someday doesn’t come, and then you never make that reflection.

(27:44):
You never change that mindset. So if you’re pushing up against the hard right now or the uncomfortable say, Hey, I’m going to do this today, because that might be the pattern interrupt, you actually need to make the changes. You need to become that victor to create that mindset. So Ashley, thank you so much for joining me. I do just want to take a quick look in the group to see if there are any questions comes or concerns. And guys, if you do watch the replay and have anything, Ashley and I will go back through afterwards to reply to stuff. I do see one question right now or comment from Darla. This is so enlightening and helpful. Having worked on behavior modification for a very long time in this program with great success, there’s still a part of me that has imposter syndrome, fear of waking up at square one is real when we know that we started this journey after having had slowly lost our way.

(28:29):
I guess it’s just as important to learn to trust ourselves as well as trusting the process. So I want to get your input on this as well, Ashley, but to give my feedback on this, you’re never going to not doubt yourself and doubts can be a good thing, but when we doubt ourself, that’s again where we have to question why, and we have to go back to what the data is saying because there are going to be blips and progress results. We don’t like happening, but we can’t let those detract from what’s actually going on. That’s where you have to say, Hey, I’m worried I’m going to fall back into these old patterns. Okay, well, what does your daily consistency say in terms of your food tracking? What are your workouts and your logs say in terms of your progress with movements? What does other data, like clothing fitting or energy levels or any of these other things actually telling you?

(29:12):
And the more you look at those things and you pause when you’re feeling like maybe things are going backwards or not the way you want, you’re worried you’re falling back into that old identity, that can really help. And maybe even as you’re moving forward saying, Hey, at the end of each day, I’m going to reflect on did I do all the things I did to give myself that little check mark so that I can trust in the process? But we’re always going to have self-doubts, and that’s not a bad thing. That is what helps us. The fear of going back to where we were is what drives us constantly forward to improve. We just have to recognize the flip side of that, that can make us sabotage the current habits we have and seek out something new. Seek out something better, seek out something different instead of just staying consistent. Ashley, your thoughts on this?

Ashley (29:54):
Yeah, I think specifically to speak to the imposter syndrome, understanding that you are creating a new identity. The old version of you, the old version of you has died and has gone away, but the old version of you was comfortable for 18, 20, 29, 40 years of your life. And our brains are hardwired to want security stability. And so I think, again, what Corey said, the recognition and almost the acceptance of, well, of course I’m going to have fear of going backwards. Of course, this is going to feel a little unfamiliar to me because this is a brand new version of myself that I’ve built, I’ve created, and also, I don’t want to lose her, right? And I think this is where settling into the discomfort and the unfamiliarity and getting excited about the fact that this is new. It’s a whole new, it’s a whole new identity that you’ve owned and almost saying, well, I’m comfortable with the uncomfortable right now, but I’m not going backwards. I’m just going to be taking another small step, another small step. And also just celebrating what a badass I’ve become. Let’s give her a pat on the back and say, all right, girl, this is uncomfortable, but we’re going to keep going forward,

Cori (31:15):
Forward. And even off of that, one final thought is just in maintaining even the progress we’ve built. It’s hard because part of what we do seek in life is constantly sort of growing new, more better, all these different things. We have shiny object syndrome for a reason, and this helps us keep pushing forward, but we also have to recognize that it is those boring basics done daily at times. We don’t want to do them that ultimately keep us moving forward. So sometimes recognizing our own need for growth, our own desire for growth, and even the fact that that might come from some subconscious thing that even happened when we were younger too, and reflecting on that and owning that so that we don’t sabotage ourselves in getting distracted. And we said stay focused, because I do think sometimes it’s very tempting to just want something new and exciting when often results are built off of things that aren’t as exciting. But sorry, Ashley. Yeah,

Ashley (32:12):
No, I was just saying yes to that. Yes, to that.

Cori (32:16):
Thanks for listening to the Fitness Hack podcast. Again, this is the place where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips. I’m never going to run sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a rating, review or share it with someone you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes, and it would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone.

*Please Note: this transcript is auto-generated and there may be some errors in the transcript

00:00

Hey guys, this is Cori from Redefining Strength. Welcome to the Fitness Hacks Podcast. This is the show where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips. I’m not going to ever fill this episode with sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a review or leave a five star rating or even better share it with somebody you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone. So let’s jump right in. So you want to see better fat loss results. Well, the sad fact of the matter is we can’t out exercise or out diet time, which means that trying to do more as good as that action feels won’t actually yield better results faster. However, we can make tweaks to our diet and our workout routine that help us really dial things in a way that produces more quality habits and can help us see results faster.

(00:50):
And I want to focus on those fundamentals because going back to those boring basics and realizing that it is those boring things, those tedious things done daily, the unsexy things that really add up to the sexy results is super important. And the more we hone in, the more precise we get with it, the more we really want to learn about those basics and perfect them, the better off we’re going to be. So the first tip I wanted to go over was about not demonizing carbs or fats, but actually cycling ratios that are higher carb are higher fat back to back. Often we do get into saying fats make you fat or carbs are bad. They make you gain belly fat, but neither macro is evil and both have their purpose. And while yes, if you’re more active doing more cardio, you might tend to be in the higher carb ratio area versus if you’re less active maybe going through menopause, you tend to go with higher fats.

(01:38):
Actually, cycling ratios that vary back to back can be really key, especially when we are trying to lose that last little bit of stubborn fat. And the reason for this is because it gives us different sources of energy and it actually impacts our body in different ways. We often see lower carb ratios with higher fat because we’re then depleting glycogen stores, which can help us tap into stored fat to use that fat as energy. But we also want to think about increasing our carbs after a period of being low carb. Often when you’ve been low carb, you might notice that you’ve lost some weight, you’ve lost some fat, but you look a little bit squishier, and this can be because our fat cells are storing water. When we then increase our carb intake, we can actually find that our fat cells release this water, which is why when you’ve gone higher carb after a lower carb period, they call it the whoosh effect.

(02:24):
But you can see that loss of water weight that has been stored in the fat cells, the fat cells feel safe to sort of release that because they have more fuel coming in that readily available energy. So cycling, higher carb after lower carb can be beneficial to help you see that fat loss. It’s giving you a different energy source and if you can even time your workouts to change to maybe a little bit more cardio, a little bit more intensive when you do this, that’s even more beneficial. Maybe you add in a little extra walking, but don’t fear carbs just because you even sometimes do see that spike on the scale because with that spike on the scale right after, as your body adapts because your glycogen stores are now full from

(02:58):
Being depleted after being low carb, you can see that we should fat losing that water weight. So it can come sometimes with a little increase on the scale, but then also that loss and you looking leaner, and then after that you might go back to a lower carb ratio. But don’t be afraid to cycle every couple weeks a higher or lower carb ratio, a higher or lower fat ratio because also with cycling those things, we’re keeping hormonal balance while focusing on our protein being higher to protect our lean muscle mass, preserve, all those bodily processes help us even have that higher thermic effect to help with fat loss. But cycle carbs and fat don’t just demonize them. And if you do find you run better off of lower carb or higher carb, you can still stay in that lower or higher range just slightly cycling up in it or down in it.

(03:41):
But don’t fear occasionally adding in a ratio that’s vastly different from what you’re doing. If you are trying to lose that last little bit, then realize this is tip number two. Realize that boring is your best friend. I brought it up already, but those boring basics done daily are really what yield sexy results. I know it’s very tempting and I find myself doing it even though I know better too. Searching for something new, searching for something that’s going to be like that aha moment. I have people come into programs and be like, oh, I knew all this. Yeah, well, guess what? If something says something that you really didn’t know at all, instead of just saying something in a slightly different way that clicks, it’s probably a fad diet or quick fix that isn’t going to be lasting changes or it’s, I’m sorry to say slightly bs.

(04:23):
And I’m not saying that there aren’t new things we’re learning, but a lot of times we’re searching for this aha moment that will make it seem like everything’s super easy and going to happen overnight. And anything that promises that isn’t promising real results, those boring basics do daily or what add up. If you think about through school learning things, if you think about anything you’ve learned, it’s always been boring. Things that you sort of have to do daily to really ingrain and learn that new pattern to be able to see the results that you want. Same thing goes for our aesthetic goals or performance goals. You have to put in the work in the gym, you have to put in the work in terms of fueling, you have to put in the work in terms of your recovery. But it’s those boring basics done daily.

(04:56):
And the more we seek to try and make things fun or exciting, the more we might be sabotaging ourself, getting fancy where we don’t need to be. And that’s where we start to feel like the effort doesn’t equal the outcome because we’re putting in a lot more effort, effort, often wasting time with things that are fancier than they need to be over keeping things basic. So if you’ve been given something that it’s a basic ratio or even you’re like, oh, well, you’re just telling me to focus on protein, well that’s maybe where you need to focus first before you even worry about carbs and fat. Don’t get distracted by other things. Focus on that boring basic until you get super uber duper consistent and precise with it, and then you can add on. But the more we return to those basics and perfect them, the better our results are going to be.

(05:31):
Then number three, don’t try to out quantity quality. And what I mean by this is a lot of times we think about adding on more before going back to being more intentional or getting more out of the moves we’re already doing or the things we’re already doing. And I especially see this with workouts where people will be like, oh, I want better results, so I’m going to add on more reps or add on more moves or add on another workout or add on more time instead of saying, Hey, this is the time I have, this is the time allotted, these are the reps that are assigned. How can I more out of them? Because a lot of times we could lift a little bit more weight, we could try a little bit more advanced variation, we could be a little bit more intentional With movement, there’s a lot more quality we can get out of what we’re already doing.

(06:07):
And I even bring this up with macro ratios where people will be like, well, I want a new macro ratio. I want to do something new with diet. And I’m like, but you were 4% off or 5% off in your ratios over the week. Why not be 2% off? The more we can dial in what we’re currently doing, the more we can really test out what’s working, but also not have to work harder to some extent, not have to be seeking something new. We can dial in those basics so much better and get so much more quality out of the quantity we’re already doing, which honestly saves us a lot of time, which a lot of us use that excuse. I don’t have enough time. And it also saves us on a lot of effort because often in adding on more, we’re expending a lot more effort, and then it feels like the effort doesn’t equal the outcome.

(06:44):
We feel like we’re really working too hard to not see the results that we want, and we also create a lot more pain and change when we’re trying to do all these new things and all these different things. We create a lot of pain and a lot of resistance, and it feels like we’re relying on a lot of willpower to do all these different things over anything becoming disciplined. But the less we do, the more intentional we are with it, the easier it is to have those things become true habits and routines and become disciplined with them so that we aren’t relying on willpower. So when things get busy, we feel like we can still maintain those habits more easily and even be more precise in them. And then we also see it easier to add on other changes that we do need to make because those things have become so ingrained and we’re not relying on willpower so much.

(07:23):
Then number four, embrace. You won’t always be motivated and realize that even then you need to be consistent, and this sort of goes back to the quality not quantity thing, where you want to focus on what’s the minimum I can do to see results. Think about how often you approach things being like, I have to make all these changes at once, and then you feel overwhelmed and you think things are too hard. I know I’ve done that, but instead, if we approach something, it’s like, what’s the minimum I can do to see results? It’s a lot easier, and that allows you to get a lot more consistent. I often show this as the habit stacking with boxes where if you’re stepping up onto a low box versus trying to jump onto that highest box right away, it’s a lot easier stepping up to a box you know can hit.

(08:05):
You’re like, okay, I can do that. Jumping up onto a box, you’re like, I don’t know if I can hit that. It’s a lot more intimidating, a lot more overwhelming. It might even hold you back from trying it in the first place because you’re worried about getting injured versus the other box. You’re like, well, I can do this. We have to treat our habits the same way. Think about what can I step up onto? What’s a habit that’s so easy, I can repeat it in my sleep. Do that one thing first, and once you’re doing that, you’re like, okay, I’m willing to step up to the next box. You want to encourage yourself with that success mindset to want to build more and more. And that’s where we have to think about, okay, if I’m not motivated, how can I still be consistent? It’s why I even love when clients come into coaching or a program during the wrong time to start where life is trying to throw everything at them during the summer, during the holidays, not just in January, because so often we go to try and make habit changes in January and we make ’em based on this perfect time of year.

(08:51):
It’s time where we’re not traveling, we’re not having other things get in the way. Then we make all these habit changes that aren’t really realistic for our actual lifestyle. They’re just realistic for this bubble we’re in right then versus when we make changes during the summer, during the holidays. We’re making improvements off of that time of year, which is often the hardest for us, and those habits are going to be ones we can be consistent with even when life isn’t going our way and when we can be consistent with something when we’re not motivated, that’s when it becomes a true habit and routine. That’s where discipline is built and we’re not relying on willpower, and then we can build off of that. And the more you do, the more you do. When you create that success mindset where you’re feeling like you’re making those habit changes and you’re seeing results build, you want to do more.

(09:28):
So just remember, you are not always going to be motivated if you’re trying to rely on willpower, if you’re trying to rely on motivation, if you’re trying to only start stuff when things are good, you are not going to be able to be consistent with that and embrace doing the minimum. I know we say, oh, I’m an all or nothing person. Okay, well, that’s an excuse. I say that having made that excuse for a very long time, but that’s an excuse. That’s an excuse to not still do something and let ourselves off the hook when we don’t want to do anything. And instead of those times, you have to have that motivation and discipline to still do something consistently. And I do say motivation there because I think sometimes motivation is a pride in our, I’ve been consistent with this so far, I’ve done this even stepping back to say I’m motivated to do this, not because I actually have motivation, but because I take pride in knowing that I’m pushing through the hard.

(10:12):
And I think sometimes that recognition, Hey, this is a hard point. I’ve generally turned back from this time, I’m going to make a 1% change to push through. And even that step back to recognize this is a hard you have turned back at, helps you reveal your own strength. It’s like that workout that you really don’t want to do, but you push through anyway. We’re potentially a little bit more comfortable being uncomfortable in that way, which is why we can sometimes push through that hard. But you want to treat or have that same attitude with other habits as well, Hey, that workout I really don’t want to do. I know if I just do it, I’m going to feel extra good. Well, the same is going to go for your macros. The same’s going to go for sticking with your plan when you’re out with the girls on a Friday night or whatever else.

(10:47):
Sometimes you have to push that hard and recognize you’re going to feel all that much better for it. Which brings me to the last habit, which is assess what truly is a sacrifice. So often we feel restricted. We go, I feel like that person on the diet. I don’t want to do this. And we’re falling back into old patterns and routines that don’t really serve us without truly assessing, is this really a sacrifice for me right now? Do I even really enjoy this? Because a lot of times it’s just that we’ve always done it, and so we feel like, oh, I don’t get to do what I’ve always done, but we’re not necessarily saying, is this something I really want to do? Is this something I really enjoy or am I just doing it because it’s something I’ve always done because I fear of judgment from other people or fear of judgment from yourself?

(11:27):
And I think with that too, recognizing, hey, yeah, okay, this is a sacrifice. Maybe in the future I do want to do that, but this is my choice right now to make a habit change and move forward towards my goal. Because I think sometimes even placing sacrifices in the grander scheme of things, recognizing that, hey, this is a choice that I am making right now for a specific goal. And at some other point as my goals evolve and I shift maybe into maintenance or towards muscle gains or towards a performance goal or maybe fat loss,

(11:53):
I can make a different choice. But assess what is truly a sacrifice over getting caught up in what you’ve always done and the fact that this is different. I think often just something being different makes us feel this resistance against the change, and it makes us feel like we’re sacrificing things when in reality the thing isn’t even that important to us. So just remember, if you want to see better fat loss results, especially from those stubborn areas, you can’t out exercise or out diet time, you can’t do more. And in trying to do more and rush the process, you ultimately often sabotage your own success. Instead, focus on those boring basics and dial things in making tweaks to what you’re already doing in terms of your nutrition, your workouts or recovery using these five tips. Thanks for listening to the Fitness Hack podcast. Again, this is the place where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips. I’m never going to run sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a Rainier review or share it with somebody you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and it would mean the world to me and possibly change life of someone.

*Please Note: this transcript is auto-generated and there may be some errors in the transcript

00:00

Hey guys, this is Cori from Redefining Strength. Welcome to the Fitness Hacks Podcast. This is the show where I

(00:05):
Share all my free

(00:06):
Workout and nutrition tips. I’m not going to ever fill this episode with

(00:09):
Sponsorships or ask you to buy

(00:11):
Anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast

(00:15):
To leave a review or leave a five

(00:17):
Star rating or even better share with somebody you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and

(00:23):
Would mean the world to me

(00:24):
And possibly change the life of someone. So let’s jump right in.

(00:28):
Sometimes we have to go to extremes to actually create a lifestyle balance. Really, life is never balanced. It’s a constant balancing act and sometimes we do have to go one way, a little bit too much to correct from going another way too much. And I bring this up in regards to holidays, in regards to striking a lifestyle balance and seeing results snowball because often we do blame the holiday, the vacation, that one event when really it’s all the days around that we can control and adjust to see the results that we want. But with sometimes going one way, having a little bit more of that lifestyle balance on those holidays or vacations, we do need to go slightly to the other extreme to balance everything out. But over the weeks, months and years, this creates that balance even though it’s more of a balancing act between the two.

(01:16):
And I think it’s really important that we recognize this because sometimes to get to enjoy things more, to let loose a little bit more, you do have to make more sacrifices at a different point and in weighing what sacrifices are worth it and what enjoyment is worth it. You could find that right balance for you, but you’ve got to find your balance because too often we only focus on the holiday. We stress over the holiday, we blame holidays and vacations for our weight gain. But really it is all the days around. I mean, even think about it, we’re going into the 4th of July, but it can be any holiday. Think about that holiday. Think about what usually happens, especially with this holiday being on Thursday. We on Thursday, let loose, go to the barbecue, have fun. All of a sudden it’s Friday. It’s like, well, it’s Friday.

(01:55):
Why not just wait till Monday? And all of a sudden what was just Thursday becomes Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then on Monday, if we’re struggling to get on track at all of a sudden it could be weeks before we get really back into a groove. Instead, what we need to say is, Hey, I want to let loose on this day. How can I hold myself accountable around? And that might mean planning ahead and doing what I’m going to go over today, which is mini cuts ahead of time. But it might also mean just doing one right after. And the key with this is not making yourself feel guilty. So I do think a lot of times what happens is we have that unplanned day. We do go a little bit more off track. Thursday becomes Friday, Saturday, and then all of a sudden we’re like on Sunday, oh gosh, I have to overcorrect to get back on course we do too much.

(02:35):
And all this does is sort of perpetuate that cycle of guilt, that cycle of restriction that makes us feel like we can’t let loose on the holidays, which makes us feel like then we have to make more sacrifices even on the days between, over striking that balance. So anything we do to go to another extreme and balance everything out has to be done with a calculated thought process behind it, a very clear cut plan so that we’re not making ourselves feel guilty. And when I talk about mini cuts, even though this is more of an extreme, there are more sacrifices. This isn’t fun. It isn’t about guilt, it’s about striking that balance. And when we put that into our head and we realize this is our choice to create that lifestyle balance over months and years, it’s a lot different than that overcorrection that we’re restricting cutting calories extra low because we know we overate one day.

(03:18):
You don’t want to do that. It’s a bad cycle. So talking about holidays, the more you can plan ahead for the holiday and know your response, the better. That might mean going lower calorie before the event. It might mean going higher in protein if you’re going out on vacation, maybe it’s having a calorie cap and a protein minimum. Maybe it’s simply tracking when you’re on vacation to hold yourself accountable. You want to think about ways you can keep yourself in enough of a routine, doing enough things to move forward, that when you come back it’s easy to get back on track. However, sometimes we have let a little bit more loose on those things and we want to really make sure that we’re full steam ahead and that’s where mini cuts can come into play. So I like to use mini cuts whether or not someone needs that kickstart, whether or not someone is in a period where there’s more unplanned things that can get them off track and they’re in maintenance, even just trying to maintain because in maintenance it’s never standing still.

(04:05):
There’s going to be times you’re looser and you gain a little bit and there’s times you’re a little bit stricter to lose and then you gain a little bit, right? There’s always an ebb and a flow. But with mini cuts, what you’re doing is it’s a very short-term fix, a very intensive thing to sort of kickstart progress or again, go to that extreme to compensate for the extreme the other way. So with mini cuts, what you’re doing is you’re setting a seven to 14 day period where you know that you are going to be in that extreme deficit and you’re going to push those macro ratios. This is not fun, but it is not a fad, and I want to make that very clear. When you learn about macros, you gain the power to adjust based on what you need at that time, whether it’s gaining muscle, whether or not it’s addressing sleep patterns, whether or not it’s fueling for performance, whether or not it’s reaching an aesthetic goal.

(04:52):
But off of that foundation of macros, you can then tweak them to match your needs and goals. And so this is an intensive period. It is not meant to be fun. It is not meant to be easy. It is not meant to be a long-term thing. You are just building off of that solid foundation so that you have that exit strategy, but also that really clear cut reason why you’re using it. And it’s great after a vacation, after a holiday because a lot of times you’re eating higher calorie, your macros have been a little bit looser. So because of that spike in calorie intake, you have that deficit you can create. You don’t necessarily want to use a mini cut when you’re already in that deficit because there’s no more that you can really cut safely. So you want to know your maintenance calories or the calories it takes to maintain your weight.

(05:30):
If you don’t know that, and if you know that you can subtract 500 off of that, that’s the most extreme you want to go. You can use a general calculation of 10 times goal body weight for the mini cut to get that calorie intake, but these are going to be low calorie. It is going to be intensive. Someone when someone’s like, wow, that’s really low. Yeah, it is, but it’s meant as that short-term fix. It’s meant to kickstart progress. It’s not going to put you at risk for losing muscle because of how high protein we’re going to go with the ratios. With these ratios, you need to be above 40% protein, even 45, 50% is going to be really key. And then you can vary carbs and fat based on your activity level and such. But you’ll even want to think about doing the macro ratio for only one week and alternating two different ratios because you’re going to do it no longer than two weeks.

(06:13):
Two weeks max. Seven to 14 days is what you’re using the mini cut for. And when you’re doing this, guys, if you’ve been on vacation, you’ve seen that vacation blow. It’s about getting rid of that and about kick-starting that progress so that you can then see fat loss. It’s not yet that you’re magically losing a ton more fat faster, but it’s using that deficit strategically to then rebuild out of, to not put your muscle mass at risk while depleting those glycogen stores a little bit to utilize and mobilize more fatty acids. So you’re using this to kickstart things or again, to get off that vacation bloat. After that, you do have to have that exit strategy and you have to know that when you’re coming out of any sort of deficit. It’s why we gain weight on vacations. It’s why we gain weight when we transition to maintenance.

(06:50):
It’s why you gain a little bit back when you come out of the mini cut is because you’re going from extremely depleted, nothing’s being stored to having some stuff stored again. So as you come out of that mini cut, you’re going to want to come back out a hundred calories at a time to get back to either the deficit you were in or even go back to maintenance for a period. But you’re going to want to think about adding a hundred calories to your current daily intake with the mini cut, and you’re going to maintain that for at least a week, if not two weeks, and then go up from there. But you also need to reverse out of it. You can’t just stay in that deficit. You can keep those macro ratios even as you come out, but you need to come out of it.

(07:23):
The whole point of this though, again, is this little kickstart and it can be great in the summer, great around the holidays where you sort of need that balance because there is a little bit more unplanned eating of things where you’re not hitting your macros as much to create that overall balance. Again, we have to remember that life is a constant balancing act and that these ebbs and these flows, these willingness to go to ext extremes, make more sacrifices, but then also the willingness to have more of that lifestyle balance have to be balanced out. And it’s not just days and weeks, but months and years that we have to consider. So that being said, if you are looking to strike that balance, consider a little mini cut to keep you on track and moving forward and even maintaining those results as you might have more vacations, holidays, things that you, you’re doing even times where maybe you do want to go into a little muscle building phase but you’re not fully ready to cut, or you’re also seeing maybe your weight loss has slowed because if you’ve been in a longer deficit, if you’ve been dieting for a longer time, you might need that dining break.

(08:19):
But then right after that dieting break where you’ve increased your calories, gone to more maintenance, a mini cut could be a great way to kickstart progress and then get back into that sustained deficit that’s not as extreme off of this, I wanted to check the Facebook group to see if there are any questions, comments, or concerns about mini cuts or even to hear how you guys are all handling the fourth because I think the more we plan ahead for holidays because there’s certain holiday patterns, vacation patterns that we always repeat, the more we plan ahead, the more we can go in with the game plan and the game plan doesn’t always have to be, Hey, I’m going to restrict myself and make myself miserable on this holiday. Sometimes it is, Hey, no, I’m going to fully enjoy, but I have this plan to get right back into this mini cut or this other program right after.

(09:00):
But too often we just try and deprive on the holidays thinking that holidays are what sabotage us when really it’s the fact that one holiday becomes six or seven days often. So let’s see. Comment about or question, let’s see, coming out of a bulk, do you recommend a mini cut or something different? It depends on your goals. If you’ve been trying to gain muscle and you haven’t put on that much fat with it and you’re happy with the composition of your body, you might just go to maintenance. If you’re like, I was doing a little bit dirty over a bulk than I intended and I gained a little bit more fat than I wanted, I think a mini cut is a great time because you don’t necessarily want that extreme deficit. You just want to get off a little bit of the fluff before going back to maintaining. So that can be a really good time to use a mini cut. What if I tend to undereat during the holidays? What would be the best? I lost the comment. Hang on, sorry. Let’s see if I can pull this up.

(09:50):
Best way to deal with that. So if you find that you’re undereating plan ahead to make sure that you’re eating more protein earlier in the day so that you’re not undereating just because you’re afraid with the party. And then think about maybe maintenance around it. If you’ve been in a deficit, you still want to lose weight and that’s where you’re really focusing is in that calorie deficit for fat loss and weight loss. Then think about doing maintenance around the holidays knowing that those are going to be lower calorie days or even think about a easier macro breakdown around those times to find that balance. But you don’t want to put yourself into too extreme a deficit with that. So again, going higher protein maybe on those days before you go to the event can be really key to help you keep your calories higher, but give you wiggle room.

(10:26):
But also think about being in maintenance. Taking that dieting break around that time could be really key. Just like you could use the mini cuts, diet breaks are a great thing if you are finding that there are periods where because of travel, because of whatever else, your calories are a little bit lower, is the goal of a mini cut fat loss or muscle gains fat loss. If you want to gain muscle, you don’t want to do a mini cut because you don’t want to be in that extreme deficit. It makes it much harder. So the reason for the high protein ratios and the extreme calorie deficit in the short term is that you’re putting yourself at less risk for losing muscle. You’re not going to have any metabolic adaptations from that. It’s a very short-term thing, but it really can accelerate fat loss. You would not be using that if your focus is on gaining muscle.

(11:04):
That’s where you might take that diet and break around the holidays or even going to a slight calorie surplus while using those macro ratios to really help you avoid gaining unwanted fat. Barbecues are great for grilling all the proteins. They really are. A lot of summer holidays can be a great way to still stay on track, but enjoy and not feel like that person always on a diet. As long as you’re planning ahead and if you go higher protein even earlier in the day, a little bit lower calorie, that gives you a lot of freedom at any event to not feel like you’re sabotaging yourself. Guys, we also have to think about 1% improvements over the same time of year last year. I bring that up because I think a lot of times we’ll have different habits in July in the summer than we do in January, and we’re comparing our July habits to January and make yourself feel guilty because we’re not doing the same thing we did in January when in reality we need to compare it to the July before, maybe the July before we went on all these vacations, we didn’t track at all.

(11:57):
We weren’t hitting our macros at all, and this July we’re at least tracking that’s a 1% improvement. And if you keep making 1% improvements, then the next summer you’re hitting your macros a little bit more. You have a pretty minimum, all of a sudden your results are going to snowball. So you have to think about what you’ve done at that time of year in the past and try and make an improvement off of that over just forcing the same habits all year because that’s not how it works. There are going to be ebbs and flows. It’s why sometimes embracing going to extremes, extremes of lifestyle balance, extremes of making more sacrifices to drive towards a performance or aesthetic goal is really key. Because over using these extremes and embracing ways to come out of these extremes, we can find that overall balance over the year to see better results.

(12:35):
But there are times where you go too much on one way or off course, and so you have to do a little bit more to get back on course. And that’s not a bad thing. It’s just not doing a quick fix that has no fundamentals to it or no exit strategy or no plan in place to show you how it’s addressing the extremes on both sides. This is so valuable today after a long weekend here in Canada, you guys already had your fourth when I did not eat the way I plan and now feeling frustrated with myself, this has helped my plan and mindset. Awesome. And I will tell you the worst thing we can do for ourselves is make ourselves feel guilty. And I’m going to bring up actually this new study. The recent study showed that our perceptions of the food that we eat had a huge impact on our actual body response to it.

(13:21):
Now, I’m not telling you that you can convince yourself that a milkshake is healthy and your body’s going to respond as if it’s healthy. However, when people thought that the milkshake was worse for them, their body responded in a way that it was worse for them and did not respond as well. Versus when someone thought the milkshake was healthier, there was a better body response and there was no guilt associated with it. So I will tell you, the less we make ourselves feel guilty, the more we realize that foods don’t have to be off the limits. There can be a balance. And while that might not mean including them all the time for ourselves, and yes, maybe there are days where we’re like, okay, I don’t really like how I fully handled that. I’m going to do something different. It’s a learning experience to improve, but it’s also something where you’re like, Hey, I’m going to have this plan to now do this cut, and it’s not because I’m restricting or feel guilty about this day, it’s just to maintain my results overall or to help myself kickstart progress.

(14:05):
It’s embracing that the extremes are your choice to also use to find a balance. And the more we do that over saying, I’m overcorrecting, I’m feeling guilty, this was bad of me. That just creates a negative mindset and makes us even not want to get back to the healthy habits more versus this other one. It’s just, Hey, I’m finding my balance so I’m enjoying my vacation, and then I’m going to be a little bit more strict in terms of making sure I’m paying these macro ratios, going more attentive with these things, really being on my workout plan, embracing more sacrifices to find that balance. So hopefully this helped on mini cuts. Hopefully you’re planning ahead for the holiday weekend and remembering that with the summer we don’t have to see that summer slide. We can make 1% improvements. And again, embracing that what our summer habits are, what our holiday habits are, might look different than what our habits during January when we’re super motivated are. And that’s not a bad thing, but we need to focus on those 1% improvements to really see changes comparing to where we were at that same time last year.

(15:04):
Thanks for listening to the Fitness Hacks podcast. Again, this is the place where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips. I’m never going to run sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a rating, review or share it with someone you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and it would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone.

*Please Note: this transcript is auto-generated and there may be some errors in the transcript