The #1 Way To Get Lean (And Strong) At Any Age

The #1 Way To Get Lean (And Strong) At Any Age

Muscle is the secret to longevity.

If you want to be lean and strong till your final day on this planet, you need to focus on building muscle.

But if you want to build muscle, you’ve got to work at it.

We lose muscle, and strength, as we get older, but part of that is OUR fault.

Because it is partly our fault, this also gives us the power to CHANGE and reverse this muscle loss.

So while it may get harder as we get older, that isn’t an excuse.

It just makes it all that more important we do everything we can to build it.

That’s why I want to share not only 5 essential tips to build and retain lean muscle as you get older but also just give you this warning…

Even if you want to lose fat, or achieve body recomp, you can’t keep doing what you’ve always done!

What used to work in your 20s and 30s, won’t work in your 40s, 50s and 60s…

Especially as you go through menopause.

That’s why it’s key you focus on building that lean muscle NOW, not tomorrow or the day after and embrace the changes needed!

Before I dive into these tips, I do want to highlight why it is so key we do what we can in terms of lifestyle changes to avoid not only muscle loss, but promote optimal muscle hypertrophy….

Because as we get older, there are numerous factors working against our muscle retention and gains.

Research has shown we can start to lose 3-5% per decade starting after 30, especially if we aren’t active.

When we were younger, our body was primed from a hormonal perspective to build muscle basically without us trying.

It’s why it’s also so dangerous for us to get stuck on protein intakes and training techniques from research done on 20 year olds.

Their bodies are primed to grow muscle…basically they can think about growing muscle and it grows.

Now this isn’t an excuse to just accept decline as we get older.

Accepting muscle loss or belly fat or injury because of your age, is the fastest way to get old quick and feel and look horrible.

But it is key we are aware of not only how our body changes, but that these recommendations don’t take into account the decades where our body isn’t working with us, but instead slightly against our strength and muscle gains!

Our body isn’t as efficient at utilizing protein for repair as we get older.

We are slower to recover. And injuries may have added up.

During menopause, inflammation and sleep and energy issues can also negatively impact not only our workouts but also our ability to gain muscle.

And while you may have bounced back after inconsistent workouts or injury in your 20s and 30s, all of these factors make it harder to rebuild lost muscle as you enter your 40s, 50s and 60s.

But even more essential you do what you can to be consistent with your training.

On top of all of this, our busy lifestyles and improper dieting practices to lose fat earlier on, may have also lead to muscle loss.

And this will only compound if we don’t now take action.

So stop waiting to address it…

Address it now!

And realize that, even if you want to lose fat and achieve amazing body recomp,you’ve got to stop the starvation and overtraining cycle!

Which brings me to tip #1…You may have to ditch the scale.

Stop freaking out at scale fluctuations.

The scale is going to increase.

Sure if you’re losing fat as you gain muscle, you may not see a change.

One pound lost of fat as you gain one pound of muscle leads to no change, although you’ll look a whole heck of a lot leaner.

BUT if you want to focus building lean muscle, you need to embrace GAINING weight on the scale.

I can tell you personally earlier on in my body recomp journey, this was a hard thing to accept.

Especially if you’re coming off a phase where you worked so hard to lose that stubborn fat.

The last thing you want to do is see it creep back on.

So you may find that using only measurements and progress photos for a while is key otherwise you may sabotage yourself.

Because you can see that scale increase and look leaner!

And if you get upset by every scale fluctuation up, you will never let that body recomp happen!

So often, when we want that body recomp, we get focused on fat loss, when to truly get the definition we want, we actually need to increase our lean muscle mass!

To increase your lean muscle, get ready to ditch the scale or accept daily fluctuations where often there will be big jumps up.

These jumps will happen for a number of reasons all of which are part of the process and even helpful to see gains as fast as possible.

You may see the scale increase as you work to build muscle because of water weight and glycogen storage as well as muscle tissue damage from hard training sessions.

So often water weight gain is demonized.

But this storage of water in your muscles is key to help your muscles repair and rebuild.

Not to mention, you may store more water if you up your carb intake.

This glycogen storage can help you stay energized, push through hard training sessions and create that anabolic environment to make it easier for you to build lean muscle!

Too often carbs are demonized, but especially if we are training hard, we need carbs to optimize hormone levels and create that environment for growth.

So we can’t fear the scale going up or water weight being gained.

And after a hard training session, especially if you feel sore, don’t be surprised if the scale jumps up because of inflammation from muscle tissue damage!

Not to mention, as you gain muscle, even if you lose fat, that scale may increase.

Freaking out at those increases is going to make you do the opposite of what you need to see results!

Tip #2: Truly PUSH and challenge yourself in your workouts.

Often we do a round that FEELS hard and hit that top number in the rep range or the single number on a lift we are supposed to complete and accept that we pushed hard enough.

Yet often, there is MORE we can give even though we were already uncomfortable.

This doesn’t mean cutting out rest though to feel more out of breath. Limiting rest can actually prevent you from lifting at your true 100% intensity.

And if we want to build muscle, we truly have to create that progressive overload and challenge so muscles have to rebuild stronger, especially the more advanced we are.

This is why you need to use forms of progression like tempo, range of motion, different types of tools over just adding loads.

You also need to focus on working DOWN in the rep range over just staying at the top of it.

If you can do 12 reps when 8-12 reps are assigned, next round go up to push yourself with a weight you think you can only do for 8-10.

If you can, still do the 12.

If you can’t, stay with that weight for another round, till you can do the 12.

Even push yourself to find something that you max out at 8 with to “grow into” that weight for 12 reps.

And depending on your training experience, you may even do those 8 reps, use rest pause techniques and pause for 15 seconds, then do a couple of more to try to get out 10-12 with a weight you could only technically do 8 with!

This makes your body think it did 12 reps with a load it can only complete 8 with which can help you ultimately lift more quality reps without doing wasted volume or trying to use a weight you can’t truly handle!

You may even find that if you are able to do a weight for 8 reps until that last round, you use rest pause technique to still complete 8 reps over going down in weight because you would only be able to do 6!

But don’t go through the motions just doing a weight for the reps listed, really work to use this double form of progression and don’t fear slightly lower reps and heavier weights!

Tip #3: Focus on eating more. 

Muscle is metabolically costly. It requires calories to be maintained.

If you don’t eat enough to build it, you won’t see your hard work in the gym paying off.

And the more muscle you build, the more calories you need to keep consuming to keep building.

More muscle equals more calories burned at rest.

Which means you need to consume more calories on a daily basis to maintain the muscle you have….

And even more if you want to KEEP building.

It’s part of why you need to ditch the scale at times when focusing on those muscle gains.

When building muscle, as your weight increases, you may also need to increase your calories.

This often goes against what we are conditioned to want to do, especially if we want to lose weight or have just lost weight.

Generally when we see the scale go up, we want to cut our calories.

But this can prevent us from building the lean muscle we are working hard to build.

This is why you need to focus on other forms of measurement to see body recomp.

But is is also why TRACKING your diet is so key.

I know personally when I can SEE I’m doing the right habits, it makes it so much easier to trust in the process.

It can help you see you’re fueling properly and implementing those daily habits.

It can also allow you to accurately adjust!

Too often we only see tracking as something we do when we cut out things to lose…when we restrict.

But it can also be a tool to help us add in the fuel we need in a way to perform our best!

While you don’t need an extreme surplus to gain, you do want to start with even just your maintenance calories and increase from there!

So if you’ve been in a deficit, focus on slow increases of 100-200 calories per week over time, staying focused too on the quality of your fuel and even your macros!

And if you do see more fat being gained as you build, you can then always do a mini cut after a set muscle building phase.

But you have the power to adjust those macros as needed because you are tracking!

Tip #4: Increase Protein Portions PER MEAL. 

Eating only 10 grams of protein at a meal isn’t going to cut it if you want to build muscle as you get older.

That small amount won’t optimally stimulate muscle protein synthesis.

And as we get older we can develop anabolic resistance, meaning we are less able to utilize protein as efficiently.

This means we need to increase our protein intake.

But it isn’t just increasing our daily protein intake that can help, it is actually increasing our intake per meal.

You’ll hear the myth you can only utilize 20-30 grams at a time, but this isn’t true.

But studies have shown you can actually utilize up to 70 grams easily in a meal, especially a meal of mixed macros.

Not to mention 20-30 grams is what is directly utilized for muscle repair and growth.

We have to remember that not all of the amino acids we consume will only go to that.

We are made up of protein and what we eat is utilized in so many different ways.

So it is key we get MORE for all of those functions as well as muscle repair, especially since as we get older we are less able to utilize protein as efficiently.

To best stimulate muscle growth and repair, focus on increasing your protein intake to 30-40 grams per meal.

Really shoot for 40 grams in a pre or post workout meal especially!

Just even increasing protein around your workout by 5-10 grams can be a great place to start if you’re struggling to increase your protein currently.

Tip #5: Lift heavier than ever.

Too often as we get older we STOP lifting heavy.

I’ve had clients start training with me telling me they even SHOULDN’T lift heavy or do certain compound moves because they are over (insert age here).

But you use it or lose it.

Part of why we lose strength and muscle is because we don’t push ourselves in the ways we did when we were younger.

We need to keep challenging our bodies.

Which is why we need to include some lower rep, heavier compound lift work in our workouts weekly.

This doesn’t mean you have to become a powerlifter if you don’t enjoy it.

But sometimes you do have to include things you don’t like to be able to do more of what you love…and feel and look the way you want.

So consider including a single heavy lift at the start of your workouts before you get into supersets or circuits, performing a compound exercises with weights that really max you out in that 4-6 rep range even!

If you want to feel and look your most fabulous till your final day on this planet, you need to focus on building and retaining lean muscle.

And while this can get harder as we get older, these 5 tips will help you fight against muscle loss and even build lean muscle no matter your age.

Don’t just accept that getting older has to mean decline. Because it doesn’t.

Join my fabulous free Facebook Community of women building their leanest, strongest bodies at any and EVERY age…

—> Join The Community

 

How To Increase Metabolism At Any Age (6 Tips)

How To Increase Metabolism At Any Age (6 Tips)

Our metabolism does slow down as we get older.

But so much of the metabolic slowdown that we blame on age is actually due to lifestyle factors we can CHANGE adding up.

We have to remember that nothing works forever.

And often what we “got away with” even when we are younger is now coming back to haunt us.

As our body and lifestyle evolves, we’ve got to adjust how we fuel and train.

That’s why I’m going to share 6 tips to help boost your metabolism to lose fat at any and every age.

First, Focus On Hydration. 

Many of us know we should drink more water. 

But the struggle is real to actually change this habit.

Not only is it confusing to know how much water to drink but it’s hard to stop yourself during the day to get water when it isn’t already a part of your routine or you’re not really thirsty for it. 

However, proper hydration becomes more important as we get older and even start the hormonal changes of perimenopause.

Especially if you’re training hard, you want to consider consuming MORE than the general recommendation of 50% of your bodyweight in ounces.

You want to even shoot for 70% of your bodyweight in ounces of water consumed every day.

While you may find setting out a filled water bottle by the coffee maker helpful to remind you to drink water even as you make your coffee, you can also improve your hydration levels by consuming more high water content foods over the course of the day. 

To help you hit this amount and stay hydrated, don’t just only focus on drinking more water, as key as that is.

Make a salad of cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes and lettuce – all high water content foods. 

Add berries to your oatmeal for breakfast to improve your hydration to start your day. 

Or try melons in your cottage cheese as a protein rich snack to stay hydrated. 

But focus not only on ways to drink more water but even improve your hydration through fruits and vegetables that also pack in the micronutrients to your diet as well!

Second, Eat 30-40 Grams Of Protein Per Meal. 

Increasing your protein is key.

And while most of us have heard we can only consume 20-30 grams of protein at one sitting, this just isn’t the case. 

While 20-30 grams may be the max we need to specifically utilize to build muscle from one sitting, this is also based on studies of protein supplements. 

The other macros consumed at a meal will impact the rate of digestion, slowing the process even to better let us utilize more at a time.

Not to mention as we get older, we are less able to utilize protein as efficiently, meaning we need more to see the same results. 

That’s why increasing our intake to 30-40 grams per meal, especially in our post workout meal can be super beneficial.

The harder you train, the more you want to focus on a higher protein intake to make sure you’re able to repair and recover more efficiently from your training. 

If we aren’t able to recover and rebuild properly, we may see our hard work in the gym not pay off the way we’d like in terms of strength gains and muscle growth, which can impact our metabolic health. 

And protein is not only key because of its muscle building benefits but also because it keeps us feeling fuller if we are in a calorie deficit to lose weight. 

This can make sticking to our nutritional plan easier long-term which allows consistency and time to work their results magic.

Plus, protein has a higher thermic effect than the other macros, meaning your body burns more calories to digest and utilize it for other bodily functions and to keep the tissues of your body strong and healthy.

It’s also important to find your food quality balance.

I’m a big believer in working in the foods you love. 

I love having a rice krispie treat or Reese peanut butter cup or ice cream as dessert.

And I will plan these things in first when I want them.

I also think we too often sabotage ourselves with this clean eating pressure where we feel we can’t have things we enjoy and eliminate foods arbitrarily that aren’t even necessarily an intolerance we personally struggle with. 

BUT we do need to find a balance.

Quality fuel helps our body function best. And we always want to seek to balance enjoying life and functioning optimally! 

We need those essential micronutrients to not only feel our best and stay healthy, but even to keep our metabolic rate higher and help us lose fat. 

A few micronutrients you may want to focus on more if you are working to lose fat and rev that metabolism are choline, magnesium, vitamin D, selenium and zinc. 

Choline is involved in the process of lipolysis, or fat loss, helping to break down fat into smaller pieces to be burned as energy. 

Eggs, beef, red potatoes and kidney beans are all great sources to include. 

Magnesium is involved in nearly everything, but when it comes to fat loss and metabolism, it helps control insulin and glucose, which both impact fat storage. 

It also can help with water retention and bloating, especially as you are increasing protein and making other dietary changes. 

Pumpkins, chia seeds, almonds and spinach are all great sources of magnesium.

Vitamin D is also key to include although harder to boost through our food consumption.

Even if we try to get out in the sun daily, as we get older we want to make sure we are boosting our intake even with a supplement. 

Studies have shown that low levels of vitamin D are linked to higher rates of overweight and obesity.

And both selenium and zinc are key for proper thyroid functioning. Impaired thyroid function will lead to a slower metabolic rate.

To increase your intake of selenium include foods like brazil nuts, yellowfin tuna and halibut and to increase zinc consider oysters, pumpkin seeds, pork loin or even oats. 

While I’ve talked about 3 key nutritional tips, the best results happen when our diet and our workouts work together.

That’s why you can’t ignore the importance of your training for your metabolic health. 

When designing your workouts, stop just doing body part splits.

(Looking for workouts designed strategically to help you reach your goals? Check out my Dynamic Strength App!)

Design progressions that Work Your Upper And Lower Body In The Same Workout. 

Full-body workouts or anterior/posterior splits can be beneficial if you are looking to keep your metabolism healthy as you get older without having to spend hours in the gym 6 days a week. 

Not only are these workouts more efficient, but you will target multiple big muscle groups each and every workout to more effectively build muscle while also burning more calories per session.

While I never like to focus on training as just a time to burn more calories, this extra calorie burn because you’re working more big muscles per session to build more muscle isn’t a bad added bonus! 

And by doing these splits, you can also increase your training frequency for each area over the week.

Training a body part 2-3 times per week over simply doing more for an area in a single session may help you see better muscle gains. 

That training frequency for especially hard to grow areas of 2-3 times per week has shown to yield the best results.

It can also help you train the area at a higher intensity each session, performing a higher overall quality of work, as too often we simply include more training volume in a workout that becomes wasted as we fatigue over the session. 

So consider designing workouts that allow you to target different areas every workout while hitting both big muscle groups in your upper and lower body each session!

The next training tip is to Focus On Low Reps And Heavy Weights. 

Too often we turn to more cardio or metabolic workouts when we want to lose fat. They make us feel out of breath and like we worked hard. 

But muscle is what stokes that metabolic fire.

To build that muscle we need heavy loads and progression in movements that challenges our muscles to tear them down so they have to rebuild stronger.

This is why you want to work down in reps and up in weights during your training.

And while using a diversity of rep ranges is ideal, do not ignore that maximal strength rep range of 1-5 reps even if muscle hypertrophy and fat loss is your goal. 

Increasing our strength allows us to then move more weight overall during our training, resulting in better muscle gains.

So while you may have heard that 6-12 reps is best for muscle hypertrophy and you do want to include this rep range, working lower in reps with even heavier loads will ultimately make you stronger to lift more for those exercises done in the 6-12 rep range.

Consider including a single heavy compound lift at the start of your workout for 4-5 rounds of 3-5 reps, resting 3-5 minutes between rounds. 

Follow that up with other compound accessory exercises in the 6-12 rep range to target specific muscle groups you’ve already started fatiguing with that first lift! 

The final tip is to Sprint More.

That high intensity interval work is so key to our conditioning and metabolic health. It is a great way to burn calories in an efficient way as well.

And if you perform short intervals of work of even just 10-20 seconds with 3-5 times the rest, you can really train speed. 

Just don’t get caught up on doing a bazillion rounds.

You don’t want to feel beat down from these short sessions. Less is more. Think even just 8-10 rounds of sprints. 

Go all out and fully recover. You want to train speed which means not doing a work interval again until you’ve recovered.

When you include sprints in this way, not only can you help keep your metabolic rate higher, even increasing your calorie burn after the sessions, but you’ll help improve your mind-body connection to even get more out of your lifting. 

This explosive power work helps you more efficiently recruit muscles which can lead to better strength gains.

These short intense bursts also help us see better results from our other workouts because they improve our conditioning and therefore our ability to recover more quickly between rounds of work. 

Better recovery means better quality of work during our training!

Using these 6 tips you can improve your metabolic health to lose fat at any and every age. 

Just remember the best results happen when our diet and our workouts work together!

How To Get Abs (For the First Time)

How To Get Abs (For the First Time)

So you want to see your abs…Here’s what you need to know.

I’m going to tell you right now that often the first time you attempt to get leanlean
the process is often more difficult than you’d expect.

There are going to be mistakes, frustrations and it’s going to take a lot longer than you’d like because your body will fight against you.

Our body, just like our minds, doesn’t like change and will resist it.

Sounds fabulous, right?!

But honestly, as much as we like to try not to focus on the negative,

I think it is key we face the obstacles and struggles going in so we are prepared for them.

Too often we try to ignore that there will be challenges and that ultimately sets us up for failure.

So I want to share 5 things to be aware of in the process of trying to reach a new level of leanness you’ve never achieved before so you can be prepared to stick with the process!

But before I dive into those tips, I just want to remind you of the importance of MACROS for body recomp.

Macros matter most when we are really trying to lose that last little bit and do everything we can to preserve our lean muscle mass while losing fat. 

You need to focus on increasing your protein, but you also can’t fear carbs the more active you are. 

Your body will need the instant fuel.

And by cycling macros every couple of weeks, you can also help give yourself a wider diversity of foods, maintain a better hormonal balance and even MENTALLY feel more in control and motivated to keep moving forward because you have little mini “end dates” and points at which you know you get a little shift! 

Now, here are 5 things you need to know about getting abs for the first time…

#1: Realize you may feel like you look worse before you look better.

Often the areas we most want to change are the LAST to go. 

And often in the process of even losing off of other areas, the areas we want to change that haven’t look BIGGER and worse.

Not to mention, fat loss and body recomp are a slow process. Especially toward the end, results can feel like they aren’t happening when things are building and changing.

This is why it is key we use more than the scale. 

Use pictures of a ton of different angles NOT just the areas you want to lose so you can see fat coming off of other places.

Use measurements to track changes. 

And then even focus on tracking your consistency so you can trust in the process.

But realize that things will be coming off at a snails pace and you may even at times look SOFTER in the process.

You may have times where the scale doesn’t change…doesn’t change…doesn’t change…then BAM! It drops dramatically.

It wasn’t just the eating right around it that did it. 

You’d probably been losing fat slowly over time.

However, you didn’t lose until you dropped the water weight being stored in your fat cells. 

Which may have even been why you looked SOFTER for a bit!

One common time you can look softer is if you have been slightly lower carb. 

YUP!

So often we fear carbs BUT you can sometimes need to add them in to lose water weight. 

This phenomenon is known as the Whoosh Effect. And while the science on it is limited, it is something we’ve seen happen time and time again.

The hypothesis as to why this happens goes back to our body not liking to lose weight. 

We each have fat cells and the size of these fat cells change as we gain weight, increasing in size, or lose weight, shrinking in size. 

Fat cells are filled with triglycerides, which will be used as energy for the rest of your body. 

Working out, being in a calorie deficit, all make your body need to call on these stores to fuel. 

You’d think this would mean steady decreases as you draw from these stores during your diet. 

But instead, water is often stored in these fat cells as your body tries to maintain your current weight and avoid depletion of its energy stores. 

They store water to anticipate more fat filling them soon. 

So because of this water storage, your weight plateaus even though you are technically losing fat. 

And often it’s why we can feel like we look extra soft and squishy during the fat loss process at times. We will see this especially around our middle or thighs. It’s why you can hit dead zones where you feel you look WORSE even.

Then BAM! We get that Whoosh Effect and you wake up the next day and your body has let go of the stored water!

And often the cause of this water release comes from kicking our body out of the deficit temporarily so it no longer feels like it is “starving” and in need of holding on to the water weight to keep those fat stores ready to be filled! 

It’s why we may see this release after a cheat meal or day or even a carb refeed where our energy stores are “refilled” even if we still keep ourselves in the overall deficit for the week. 

But it’s why sticking with the process despite not seeing results immediately is so key!

#2: Know your whyS and set a motivational deadline.

The closer you get to your goal, the more cravings will probably have increased and your mind will work against you. 

You’ll want to eat. You’ve been in a long, consistent deficit and there are probably foods you’ve cut out for a period of time because they weren’t easy to work into your macros.

As much as you may think you want abs, well, just getting abs for the sake of…well…getting abs won’t keep you truly motivated for long.

Especially when your friends ask you to go out for happy hour after a long and stressful week. 

But precision is key. 

And especially if you’re pushing yourself to a level of leanness you’ve never been able to achieve before, you’re going to have to be ready to sacrifice. 

That’s why you need not only a why but WHYS and a deadline to keep you motivated.

I’d wanted to achieve a six pack for years before I did.

What finally got me to actually commit was setting a photoshoot, announcing it to all of my clients and wanting to be able to create a nutritional program to help clients no matter their goals. But I felt I couldn’t talk about getting lean if I didn’t personally know the struggles. 

So having that hard photoshoot deadline, public “pressure” and accountability and even a big investment of money in the process, helped me stay consistent when I 100% wanted to quit. 

Thankfully I’ve now learned a ton to make the process easier for myself and clients and even know how to maintain so my set point is lower, BUT that outside accountability and motivation beyond just wanting abs made all the difference.

So give yourself no way to wiggle out of your goal if you want to succeed!

#3: Plan ahead…With EVERYTHING.

You can’t be guesstimating. You can’t not track a bite of food.

You can’t be skipping random workouts or randomly stringing routines together based on how you’re feeling that day. 

You need to have everything planned out. Planning . 

A clear plan of action gives us added accountability and motivation to stay the course. It also allows us to make more accurate adjustments based on how we are progressing. 

It let us see what truly works, and what doesn’t.

Planning ahead also removes a lot of the stress involved in the precision required.

It’s hard in the moment, when you’re hungry or tired or stressed from a long day to figure out what workout to do or what to eat.

Because, often you don’t want to do what you know you should in those situations.

It’s why planning ahead, having meal prep frozen or having fast restaurant go-to options is so key. It takes the thought and guesswork out of it. 

It even takes the stress and emotion and CRAVINGS out of it.

The food is there. You know what you have to eat. 

Even already logging it in your food tracker adds accountability and makes things easier so you aren’t just having to track as you go! 

And by having your workout pre-planned, you are making sure you’re progressing. You’re not just doing what you feel like, as your energy at times may dip as you adjust and tweak ratios and calories. 

It’s easy when we are tired to slack. But everything in your programming needs to work as a cohesive system. Your macros are based on your training and visa versa. So both need to go together.

You can also see if your performance is truly decline because you have that clear progression you repeat to compare and track numbers against.

Data is key to helping you achieve results as efficiently as possible as well! 

#4: Find ways to move more.

By being in an extended deficit to lose that last little bit of stubborn fat, your body is going to find ways to conserve energy.

That means you’re going to naturally fidget less and want to move less. 

You want to be conscious of this and do little things to keep your NEAT or non-exercise activity thermogenesis higher. 

You want to burn more calories during your normal day.

This does NOT mean making your gym sessions longer. It does NOT mean even doing 2-a days. 

It just means being conscious to move more.

Too often we try to train harder or length out our training sessions which actually leads to less results and more metabolic adaptations.

Plus, the quality of these training sessions often decreases and we end up doing a lot of wasted volume we can’t recover from. This actually ends up diminishing our returns. 

Plus when we train harder as we try to cut calories lower, the deficit we are in grows. 

And our body fights that weight loss for survival purposes. 

This trying to do more in our training could actually lead to more metabolic adaptations and muscle loss instead of aiding our weight loss process. 

And I know we often think, well I won’t lift more, I’ll just add in even a quick HIIT training session.

But just recognize, these intense sessions can deplete our glycogen stores and actually sometimes even make us hungrier. Plus they can add more to our fatigue. 

This is why walking can be such a great thing to add in. 

It doesn’t detract from our energy for future training sessions. And it is low intensity so we can do more of it without causing further cravings. 

It can also really assist in fat loss, especially when included after workouts that have targeted our stubborn areas to increase blood flow to those areas and mobilize more fatty acids to be utilized.

So be conscious of when you start to feel like doing less to not fall into the couch but still include some fun activities over the week to move more! 

#5: Progress will feel slow. Your body will fight you.

I know I slightly mentioned this already, but I think it’s key we oversell the negative to ourselves so we stick with things when we want to quit and challenges arise.

We’re almost ready for them if we do make ourselves aware early on.

PLUS, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for the same reason progress is slow…

The longer you’ve been above the weight or leanness level you want to be at, the harder it will be to reach that new point. 

Your body doesn’t like change. It wants to maintain balance and balance to it is where you’ve currently been at, especially if you’ve been at that weight for awhile. 

Your body will do what it can to stay there.

The positive part of this is that, once you get lean and start to transition into maintenance practices, it becomes easier and easier over time to maintain a leaner physique. 

But the initial getting there is often not easy. 

Progress will be slow. And this is actually a good thing.

When we try to see dramatic results, often we aren’t really losing more fat.

Often we are simply losing water weight and glycogen that’s been stored.

Plus, the faster we attempt to lose weight, the more we often lose muscle and not just fat.

Muscle is metabolically more costly to maintain. 

So when our body is in a deficit and looking to conserve energy, it will use muscle as fuel. 

That not only provides the energy it thinks it needs, but it also helps it conserve energy overall. 

So embrace the slow process.

The easiest way to do this is by focusing on those daily habits as goals themselves.

Put your focus on doing what you know will lead to results. Celebrate the consistency in those habits as wins.

That will help you stay focused on the actions that will build toward results.

SUMMARY:

These 5 things are key to be aware when you commit to a program to get abs for the first time.

The process will be slower than you’d like, and your mind and body will fight against you as you seek to achieve something you’ve never done before. 

But remember, maintaining gets EASIER!

Just focus on those daily habits and don’t freak out and do more when results are slow!

Ready to see the results you deserve? Learn more about my 1:1 Coaching:

–> Redefining Strength’s 1:1 Online Coaching

 

How To Get Lean & STAY Lean For Life (6 Tips)

How To Get Lean & STAY Lean For Life (6 Tips)

Let’s be real here….

You want to be lean and strong to perform your best for the rest of your life.

Falling into old habits is the quickest way to lose your progress.

You need to create a lifestyle built off of habits you can maintain.

That’s why these 6 nutrition rules are key to staying lean and strong for life!

Rule #1: Don’t Ignore Your Gut Health.

Very rarely is gut health the first thing that comes to mind when you think about staying lean.

But if our gut microbiome is healthy, the rest of our body will function optimally. 

It helps reduce inflammation, keeps our metabolic rate higher to burn more fat, and helps reduce cravings.

An increase in “bad” bacteria has been shown to trigger an overproduction of insulin, leading to insulin resistance, which causes your body to stop burning fat and start storing it. 

The more insulin sensitive you are, the more likely it is that you’ll have a leaner body due to insulin’s anabolic properties — replenishing fuel stores while reducing the rate of protein degradation or breakdown.

Taking care of our gut health can actually help us feel fuller and balance our appetite. 

When the bacteria in our gut ferments fiber, it releases leptin which can help suppress appetite and help us feel more satisfied.

Aim to consume 25-30 grams of fiber per day and consume foods rich in probiotics and prebiotics, like yogurt, fermented foods, garlic, potatoes, bananas, and legumes. 

Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables is also important, as research shows that consuming at least 30 different types of plants per week can lead to a stronger and more diverse gut microbiome.

So have some fun with that meal prep over the week for great tasting dishes and a lean, strong body! 

Rule #2: Don’t Diet Forever.

If you’re still thinking of your dietary changes as something you’re doing until x date, you’re never going to actually create lifestyle changes you can maintain long-term.

You can’t maintain habits you hate for long.

If you feel restricted and hungry and deprived, at some point your willpower is going to run out. 

Find new ways to do the minimum if you want to create baseline habits that keep you consistent.

This is how you maintain the results you’ve built.

An easy way to do this is to pick a calorie range and a protein minimum. 

By having these clear guidelines, we can make sure we are allowing 012 – guidelines ourselves to enjoy the foods we love with guidelines to keep us in check! 

Life is unpredictable and there may be times when our priorities change.

It’s okay to reassess and adjust your approach.

Whether you’re juggling a busy work schedule or taking care of a new family, you can still make changes to your nutrition by constantly assessing your priorities and setting boundaries with tracking. 

Rule #3: Fuel Your Training.

Too often we sabotage our long-term success by NOT focusing on our performance while adjusting our nutrition.

We just accept low energy levels and sucky workouts. 

Because let’s face it…if we feel crappy, it impacts our nutrition choices.

Feeling strong and powerful and fast…well… it ROCKS.

If you want to maintain your aesthetic results, you need to make sure you’re fueling to be able to train the way you’d like. 

Properly fueling our training makes it so much easier to maintain our results long term! 

Fueling to build lean muscle is really the secret to being able to look leaner for the rest of our lives! 

You can’t stay in a deficit forever.

Focus on fueling your workouts to make sure you have full energy stores to perform at your best!

And if you’re doing any endurance training do NOT fear carbs! 

They are key even if you went lower carb to initially lose the weight! 

Rule #4: Set Meal Prep Staples.

You need flexibility to enjoy any of the foods you love or go out to eat if you’re in this for the long haul.

The more restricted we feel, the harder it is to stay consistent.

It’s key we have flexibility but If you want to maintain your physique for life, you need to have those meal prep staples always on hand.

Find delicious recipes you love to prep in bulk and freeze. 

Find easy canned goods or frozen foods you can always have to prep in a pinch. 

Create some go-to meals you can eat consistently that are always there for you in a pinch.

Create a few different variations of those meals like a higher and lower carb option so you can make adjustments based on other things you had that day. 

Went out to an unplanned lunch and had more carbs?

Use version B of your taco bowl and make it a taco salad instead!

Have some simple staples you always know you have on hand to make life EASY while keeping you consistent.

Rule #5: Embrace Change

Your priorities in life will shift. Your body is going to change with age

Even your lifestyle and activity level may shift season to season. 

Your routine during the holidays will be different than over the summer. 

Nothing will work forever.

So staying lean and strong for life will mean being open to constantly learning and adjusting.

You wouldn’t do the same workouts forever…so you can’t approach your diet as you’ll do the exact same thing forever either.

Don’t be afraid to adjust your macros or portions over time.

Try new foods and recipes. 

Experiment with including different supplements to help you work toward other goals or even make your lifestyle more convenient during busy days. 

Embrace that you can constantly make changes to find a balance.

Maintaining doesn’t mean you won’t fluctuate or that you won’t set goals to focus on.

It just means you have those boundaries to keep yourself in check and doing the minimum to maintain the hard work you put in to get these results in the first place! 

Rule #6: Put Protein First.

The simpler we keep things, the more sustainable the habits are.

Too many things to focus on splits our attention and with more balls up in the air, it is much easier to drop one when life does it’s best to get in the way.

Maintaining your results is about finding out the minimum you can do.

I like to think of it as a challenge to see how lazy I can get away with being.

Give yourself one focus.

Getting about 30% of your daily calories from protein will keep you dialed in enough to maintain your results.

This puts your focus on whole, natural foods and keeps your metabolism humming.

Paired with a calorie range this makes sure that you’re never getting too far off track even as you work in other foods or travel or enjoy cocktails out with friends. 

It also allows for more flexibility so you don’t constantly feel restricted or like you have too many habits to focus on repeating!

Focus on these 6 simple nutrition rules to stay lean and strong for life and don’t sabotage yourself in constantly overcomplicating things!

For more tips, join my FREE daily newsletter!

Weight Training To LOSE FAT Faster (5 Proven Methods)

Weight Training To LOSE FAT Faster (5 Proven Methods)

“My weight loss results are so slow! I should probably just do more cardio!”

Many of us have turned to cardio in the past to try to see better results faster.

But not only may this additional cardio actually be SABOTAGING our fat loss results, we may see better results by simply adjusting our weight training routine.

And if you’re about to say that diet is key, yes it matters most for fat loss.

However, the most efficient results, and most lasting, happen when our diet and workouts work together. 

And when it comes to amazing body recomposition, weight training wins out over cardio in terms of the biggest benefits! 

Better fat loss happens when we see our training as a chance to build muscle! 

So how is cardio sabotaging your fat loss and what are 5 ways to see better results? 

First let’s ask Why do we turn to cardio in the first place?

We turn to cardio in an attempt to burn more calories.

And it does…At least to start.

But not only do we adapt to not actually burn as many calories over time as we get used to the distance and pace, but we can also end up creating too extreme a deficit to start between our training and calorie intake, which can result in metabolic adaptations. 

We can lose muscle mass through this overtraining and underfueling. 

Not to mention we can send our body into survival mode, which means we will actually find ways to expend less calories during the course of our day. 

This ultimately NEGATES the increased calorie burn from our training.

Now if you’re a runner or cyclist or endurance athlete, I’m not telling you to stop doing what you love. 

I’m just saying that if your goal is fat loss, don’t jump to doing more cardio just to try to burn more calories.

What we also don’t realize is that doing more, training for longer and harder, especially if we are in a calorie deficit, can simply make sticking to our diet even harder. 

Ever notice you’re HUNGRIER when you start adding in more training sessions, especially more cardio?  

Another big thing we don’t consider when we add in cardio is how much HUNGRIER it can make us, especially if we are already in a deficit to lose.

So while the under eating while overtraining itself can create metabolic adaptations and hormonal imbalances, it can double sabotage us by making us feel like our body is fighting the deficit even more.

And ultimately, often we not only give in and eat more, but we end up overeating. And overeating for awhile. 

This quickly leads to us falling off our new healthy routine and makes us feel like we’ll never have the willpower to make a change.

Plus we end up gaining the weight back and usually more…and let’s face it, it’s not muscle we are regaining. It’s fat. 

When we repeat this yo-yo dieting cycle, each and every time it becomes harder and harder to lose. 

While we start to blame getting older or hormonal changes, often it is simply these previous attempts to out exercise our diet or time that have added up! 

So how can you stop this cycle and dial in your STRENGTH workouts to see the results you deserve? 

Tip #1: Address all of a muscle’s functions!

When you think about a specific muscle group, you have a “go-to” move. And often, they are go-to moves for a reason.

They work!

However, the more experienced a lifter you are, the more you want to consider including a variety of movements to work specific muscles to challenge yourself. 

This can lead to better muscular development and definition because you’re addressing all of the actions a muscle performs.

We need to focus on retaining and building muscle if we want to look leaner and lose fat. You aren’t going to become the hulk lifting heavy.

So if you want to see the best results, consider implementing different moves for the same muscle group over the course of the week.

If you want to work your hamstrings, maybe you include an Romanian Deadlift, but also a seated hamstring curl or a glute bridge and curl. 

Not only do these moves then address the fact that your hamstrings work during hip extension , but you also address their ability to flex or bend your knee. 

And then even while addressing the hamstrings ability to flex your knee, you are putting your hips in two different positions (extended with the bridge and flexed when seated) to again work the hamstrings in different ways.

Use those different postures and positions, not to mention even single leg vs two legged movements, to progress exercises and challenge your muscles!  

Tip #2: Extend rest periods.

Now this doesn’t mean standing around on your phone for 3-5 minutes looking at instagram between sets.

But it does mean realizing that if we want to keep working at a true 100% intensity, we need to give ourselves TIME to recover between rounds.

Often when we are short on time or want to make workouts FEEL harder, we cut out rest.

But this also causes our intensity to dip. 

If you want to really challenge yourself to really work muscles, you’ve got to be able to push each and every round.

So use that rest between sets!

But this doesn’t have to mean full rest.

You can even make sure a muscle group is given time to recover by alternating areas worked in supersets or trisets. 

This can help you work more areas efficiently, resting one area while working another, especially if you need a quicker training session.

And by working more muscle groups in a session, while being able to push hard, you will even increase your calorie expenditure during your training session.

Tip #3: Push to failure.

If you’ve ever just thought to yourself, “I’ll do 10 reps” and stopped at 10 because it felt hard enough, you need to push harder.  

Now this doesn’t have to mean you literally can’t lift the weight or you faceplant in a push up. 

But you need to push to that point where you wanted to stop 2 reps ago but could complete the round while still engaging the correct muscles.

You need to push closer to that point of failure.

Don’t be afraid, if your workout says 8-12 reps, to even have to put the weights down at 6, rest for 15-30 seconds then finish even 2 more reps to push slightly past what you could have done in a row. 

This push almost past failure will help you see really efficient muscle gains and will help you challenge your body.

If you want to lose fat, increasing your lean muscle mass is the best way to boost your metabolism and see lasting results! 

Tip #4: Use a variety of rep ranges.

How many reps and sets? What rep range is best?

The simplest and best answer is, use a variety.

Focus on building strength and working with those big heavy lifts in the 3-5 rep range. 

Focus more on muscle gains with compound movements that make you max out in the 6-12 rep range. 

Or focus on that strength endurance by working up toward 20 reps even! 

All of these rep ranges benefit each other, allowing you to lift more to drive muscle growth or even have better endurance to recover faster while lifting heavier!  

The key is making sure you challenge yourself for the reps you do.

No load should ever feel “light.”

And what reps you assign may even be impacted by the muscle group and type of exercise you’re including. 

For isolation moves, like bicep curls, you may do slightly more reps, working in the 10-15 rep range, over attempting a 5 rep max.  

For a heavy compound lift like the Barbell Row, you may try to hit failure at 5 reps when including it first in your workout.  

Both moves and rep ranges could be included in the same workout as you go from heavier more compound movements to more isolation exercises to target stubborn areas! 

Tip #5: Focus on intensity over doing more. Quality not quantity.

Too often we think we don’t have time to get in the workouts we need to see results

And sure, having a bit more time for training can have benefits.

But if you design for the time you have and focus on the QUALITY of your training sessions and giving your 100% effort, you are going to see results.

So stop making that excuse. And stop wasting your training sessions just going through the motions! 

Too often we increase the number of rounds or res to increase the difficulty of the workout, instead of focusing on maximizing the intensity of each round.   

Rather than feeling like you have the capacity to do more, figure out how can you push yourself to make the existing rounds feel more challenging.

Be intentional and get the most out of each rep. Don’t just go through the motions.

This will help you build that lean muscle!

And because diet is key, I want you to check out this video with tips to adjust your nutrition and a full day of eating next. 

–> Meal Plan To Lose Fat 

And guess what? One of those tips WILL be about one specific macro. 

Because if you want to gain muscle while being in a deficit, macros, and specifically this macro, matters most…

Check out that video to learn why! (I know you want to know now ;-P )