Pilates Won't Build Muscle (Here's What Will)

00:00A lot of these skinny girls, they don't feel like they have to put effort in. So they kind of eat whatever they want. They're able to stay small. They don't have muscle. So they're over-consuming sugar, different things like that. They have no muscle to store that glucose. None. So it goes straight to their liver. So there are so many skinny girls with fatty liver disease. Pilates can be used as a tool, not the mechanism for building muscle. It's great for flexibility, mobility, like, you know, stretching, whatever. But let's just correct that narrative that it is not going to build muscle and you're not doing progressive overload.

00:35Like, I still love to go for a run. Is it building muscle? No. But I need to work on my cardiovascular fitness, just like Pilates. You need to work on your balance and your strength. And it's all very useful. But let's call it what it is. It's not muscle building. Never weigh yourself again or never take the progress photo again. Never weigh yourself again. Never take progress photo. Really? Wait, I'm so intrigued, Andrea. Why never take the progress photo again? And you just want to say something opposite?

01:06What's going on, everybody? Hey, you guys. Welcome back to another episode of The WarriorBabe Show. And today I've got the other brand voices of Warrior Babe here with me. I've got Maggie and Andrea. And today we're just going to have some fun. We're going to do a podcast together. We're going to talk about a bunch of different things, mainly starting it off with what we see is going on inside the industry. And I know that there's a lot of overwhelming and confusing things that are out there. So we want to just kind of like cut through the noise and give you guys our take on it.

01:38And then we're going to answer some questions that came through our Instagram profiles. And then we're going to end it with a this or that game. So you guys are in for a good show today. So what's up, guys? What's up, Maggie and Andrea? What's up? Hello. So nice to be here with you all. I'll take any chance I can to hang out with these two. So it's great fun. I know. We almost did it to start the podcast. I know. Just sitting here for 15 minutes yapping. All the topics.

02:09That would have made a good podcast. We actually probably should have pushed record. We probably should have because I'm sure people were feeling the same way that I'm feeling about what I'm going through. We talked about prior. I don't know that we want to bring it up because maybe we'll save it till the end. How about that? We'll save it till the end. That'll be a good finale. Yeah. If you really want to know what we were talking about before we hit record, stay until the end of the podcast. So as I was saying, I want to kind of kick it off with you guys. There's so many things. We know this, like in the fitness, in the health and fitness space, Instagram.

02:39One person saying do this, another person saying do that. And a lot of women that are just looking for like the answer that's going to get them to where they wouldn't be. Feel so overwhelmed and feel confused on what is the right thing that they should do. So let's talk about like the trends that we're seeing that we genuinely love. And then which ones you guys think are like just overhyped and like why? Well, I love the strong, not skinny trend.

03:10Finally, a trend I can go on, right? Because growing up, I was never that skinny girl and I always fought to try to be that right in the 80s and 90s. And now I'm like, wow, I can finally have a healthy body and be strong. So I'm glad that message is catching on. Yeah, same. I can't believe skinny is still trending. Can you guys? I can't believe that. Yeah, it's upsetting. Well, it makes me angry. I feel like we took 10 steps forward and then now we're taking 20 steps back. And I don't know how, like, do we have to start over?

03:42Like everything's been undone. I still feel like those of us, like all of us here, it makes me want to push even harder. So hopefully a lot of people are feeling that same way. No, I'm going to push even harder for strong. Yeah. Especially my daughter. She's 13. You know what I mean? And she's in the middle of it is just, you know, breaking awareness and being confident in herself because she doesn't wear bikinis. And she went to a pool party and she's like, everybody was in bikinis, mom. And I wasn't. I'm like, how did that make you feel? I'm like, she's like, I like doing me. I'm like, perfect. Right?

04:12Don't go with the trends. Go with what you feel and what your values are. So that's what we need to just teach girls with all the trends. Right? Let's talk about what skinny, you know, what does that involve? That involves a lot of people under eating still over doing tons of cardio and not doing any muscle centric things. Some girls that are naturally skinny, they're naturally skinny and they can be healthy. But for the majority of us, we can't look like that. Or as we age, it's harder to just naturally do that.

04:43And so for fighting our bodies to look back like how we were 20 when it was easy. Right? That's not us anymore. So we're kind of embracing our new stage in life of just strength. I'm going to disagree with you a tiny. Because I know and went to school. I know a lot of, yeah, we're getting controversial now. We should. Wait till this or that guys. I know a lot of skinny girls. I have one in mine in particular who's always been, always been skinny. And then this just happened in the gym the other day too.

05:15A skinny, skinny lady came up to me. She said, I just got diagnosed and her eyes were this big and she was petrified with fatty liver disease. And I, looking at her, I would have guessed, I bet she has fatty liver disease because she was skinny fat. She has no muscle. A lot of these skinny girls, they don't feel like they have to put effort in. So they kind of eat whatever they want. They're able to stay small. They're not, they don't have muscle. So they're over consuming sugar, different things like that.

05:48And they have no muscle to store that glucose. None. So it goes straight to their liver. So there are so many skinny girls with fatty liver disease. So we've got to be careful of that. Not non-alcoholic. It's called naphtal, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. That's a big problem. Yeah, that's huge. And then the reason why, again, like muscle building is so important. It's outside of just aesthetics. I mean, to your point, Maggie, it's like the general health of individuals. Muscle points to so much for the long-term gain and outcome of being healthy.

06:23Yeah, we have to. I mean, our bodies are machines, right? We have to use it. And back in the, you know, 1800s, women worked, right? And used their muscles and that's how they maintained it. But yeah, nowadays, if we're not in the gym, how are you maintaining your arm muscle to look tone if you're not actually exercising? So, and it's human nature to stay comfortable. So if you don't see an outside reason to go to the gym, you're going to pick comfort. Why would you go to the gym? Okay. So this kind of brings me into the next trend that I'm seeing out there. And some of you guys know that I did this class like two weeks ago.

06:55I did a former Pilates class, like the popular brand name one, right? Pilates is huge right now in this space. Overdoing strength training. My mind was blown in this class because they're talking about progressive overload and that we're doing it in the class. I'm like, we are not doing progressive overload right now. And then we're like, they're like, we're doing heavy squats. I'm like, we're not doing heavy squats. But like to somebody that doesn't know any better, they're absorbing that information. They're like, yeah, I just did heavy squats and I just did progressive overload.

07:27I'm building muscle. So this is why they're hearing all the trendy, the trendy words. They think they're on the right path. Exactly. There's a big difference between maintaining your muscle and growing new muscle. You don't, Pilates can't grow new muscle like, like, like strength training can. So that's unfortunate that, you know, people industry are saying that because that would be confusing. That would be confusing. Very confusing. Especially people want the outcome of building muscle and they're doing Pilates for six months. And they're like, why am I not building any muscle? They see the instructor.

07:57That was my confusion for decades is I saw the instructor being muscular and fit. And we're doing the five pound weights. I'm like, well, one day I'll look like her. And it never happened. It never happened. And Pilates can be, that's what Maggie were just saying. Like Pilates can be comfortable. Like Pilates, like, I mean, into a sense, like that, that class was no joke. And I could see why people like love like the high pace. I couldn't even under, I couldn't even keep, I was overwhelmed. I couldn't even keep up with what the coach was saying. Like it was moving so fast. But there's a sense, like you're not challenging your muscles the way that you would when you're

08:31doing progressive overload and actual physical, like actual strength training. Now to the point though, Pilates can be used as a tool, not the mechanism for building muscle. So I'll say that. Absolutely. Nothing against it. But yeah, it's great for flexibility, mobility, like, you know, stretching, whatever, but let's just correct that narrative that it is not going to build muscle and you're not doing progressive overload and that they need to, women need to get under a barbell in order to do that.

09:03And I think that's the biggest message out there. If you love, like, I still love to go for a run. Is it building muscle? No, but I need to work on my cardiovascular fitness, just like Pilates. You need to work on your, on your balance and your strength. And that's all, it's all very useful, but let's call it what it is. It's not muscle building. I've been trying to get women to see athletic body is for a longevity, right? So not thinking of themselves as an athlete, you're not competing against somebody, but what is an athletic body?

09:33That's someone that's strong. Maybe that can run or can keep up with your grandkids. It has the stability and mobility, but an overall athletic body, you need to balance out your training week, right? So I don't think any of us are saying, stop doing heavy lifting or stop running. It's like, how are you balancing your week? And if it's too much cardio or too much Pilates, well, how can we rebalance the training? So it includes everything. On social media, a lot of the times it's all or nothing, right? That's the hype. Like Pilates strength training here, but there is a middle. And sometimes the middle is kind of boring.

10:03Like you can have a balanced training schedule, but that is what athletic person is, you know? And I see the athletics from both of you guys. You guys are incredibly strong and you know what I mean? Do that stair master or whatever. You know what I mean? Like you have an overall fit athletic level. So. And I think a lot of, a lot of people, like you see the Pilates instructors, some people are going to get pissed when I say this. You see the yoga instructor, but she actually didn't get that body doing Pilates or yoga. Even the CrossFitters.

10:34I could be a Pilates. I'm going to piss off the CrossFitters. Right. They really like, yeah, they are athletic suckers. Like there is no, all of these people are doing fantastic things, but most of them got their physique in the way. Uh-huh. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. You can't build. I mean, we know that. We know that that's, and that's when people look at the piggyback hold off. You said it's like, if you're following the instructor for the way that they look, you've got to get a little bit more curious about the way that they actually got there.

11:05Yes. And you can't trust, like trust a person. I would always say, well, like if you have a coach or a personal trainer and they're telling you things, look at them first and see how they got their results. I was blown away. I worked at a popular fitness chain. And when I actually started working there, they told me that the group fitness classes weren't designed to help women build muscle. They were designed to help women feel good and keep coming back and promote the gym. But when I, when I heard that, it, it made me like so upset.

11:36Cause it's like, I trusted this gym. Like I trusted these classes that were, you know, sculpt and fit and lift to make me and give me that body. And I never got it. So that was one of the reasons why I went on social media initially is because like, look, women need to be told. If women want to look toned, what's it going to take? And I want to stop wasting years trying to figure it out. I just want to know like the clear path. What are some other trends that we see going on? Protein. Dude, don't even get me started. And now there's the big thing out that you're, you're eating too much and no one's actually

12:11talking about. Again, let's take 20 steps backwards. Let's do that again. The all or nothing again. Right. So women just want like something clear. So like they just focus on protein, but then it's like, well, you can't have all this processed stuff. Like where's your nutrients. Right. It has to make sense. Like, yes, protein is good, but we need a whole food diet. And they're like vegan. Like, no, it doesn't have to be vegan. It's like, how do you balance right again? How do you get a balanced diet? Right. You need to eat protein. You need to do this.

12:41So I, yet again, it's people that love the all or nothing. And what's the easiest thing. Let me just drink protein shakes. Now I see like the big brands, like putting protein Cheerios now has Cheerio. Pop Tarts, Pop Tart protein or whatever protein Pop Tart. And if you guys looked, so I did, I did a reel on this a while back. It was brownies, protein brownies. So I picked up the brownies and I think it was, yeah, I mean, it was a popular brand. So I picked up the protein brownies and then I picked up their, their just original recipe

13:13and compared the back. The protein brownies had the crappiest ingredients. They were 200 calories more per ser or 150, maybe more per serving than their actual original without protein ingredient list. So it was actually worse for you. The protein. Oh my goodness. So we have these people who aren't aware of this. They see the front of the package. Never even think that flip that thing around and take a look.

13:44And they're like, I'm feeding my family protein and it's actually so much crap. You're going to gain weight. If you're replacing that thinking you're eating a health food. And people think that part. And then they also think that there's tons of protein in it when it's like eight grams. Yes. I'm like, that's not protein. And it's not even, and they're just like adding some like one or two amino acids. It's not even enough. There's no leucine. It's nothing that's going to stimulate muscle protein synthesis. None of it. It's not even close. It's just calories.

14:15Only calories. It just added calories. That's it. Why does the industry have to overcomplicate this so much? Like, it's just like, guys, just eat your protein. And like, just like, and to the point of people thinking that too much is what, is it, I think it's going to make them fat. I think it's going to hurt their kidneys. Which one is it? Their kidneys. Oh my goodness. They're going on the kidney thing right now. If you eat protein, you don't have to worry about that as much. How much chicken are you going to eat? And well, it's also like our body, if you're working out, if you're training, your body's naturally filtrate out the protein the way that it's supposed to.

14:46So people don't have to worry about that in general at all. Now, the only people that I would say they have to worry about are people that have kidney disease, like, or are missing it or have no one kidney, right? Like, yes, that would be to them. But people that are working out and training, like I even had a mom that was in my small group ask about her daughter and her eating enough protein. And for this reason, her not being able to filtrate it out the right way. And I was like, dude, she's running around. She's growing. Her body needs that. She needs at least her body weight and protein.

15:16Like, I just, yeah. Well, especially for a child, because if they're not getting enough protein, that's when your kid is feeling hungry and they start going for the graham crackers. Like, they're going to, kids are smart enough. Their body's knowing they're hungry. Yeah. And they want, yeah, they, can I have a snack? Can I have a snack? And every time, what's the snack? Highly processed, highly palatable carbohydrates and sugar. Every time. We talk a lot about diet culture at Warrior Babe.

15:47And this is kind of going into the diet culture again, right? Because the diet culture was all about fat-free, right? And now kind of it's turning the protein, which actually is better than fat-free, into that same diet culture. So it's kind of like there's always an edge where they try to take everything to extreme, confusing. And we're trying to bring it back to where's your balance? How do you bring whole foods back in there, right? How do you make it clear to people? Yeah. There's always got to be a villain in the fitness industry, I feel like. They do this to themselves.

16:18But also, playing the devil's advocate again, when people think they're eating whole foods or clean, they think that's a free pass. And they overconsume. How many people have you heard, I eat clean and I just can't lose weight? Because they think if they're eating clean, they can just eat and eat and eat. My son in college gained 12 pounds on nuts. Because he's trying to gain muscle on nuts. And I'm like, you didn't even eat the cake? He's like, no, mom.

16:48I'm like, that's the worst way to gain weight is on the healthy food. Yeah. That or they don't eat enough of it, too. Because there's people that overconsume. And there's people that have the salads for lunch. And then they don't have nothing for dinner. So yeah, it's both ways. And understanding macros, understanding maybe at some point in your life, you're going to need to track. Because that's not a villain either, is to look at what you're eating. You know, right now, that's what I'm getting tired of on social media, is people just like, I don't track or count calories. Well, you probably did it sometime in your life,

17:20which a lot of people need to do. And you've been in the industry 30 years. Great. But this person who knows nothing can't just intuitively eat when they've been under eating for years and have a poor, you know, food relationship. Like, you have to start somewhere with some foundational things. Ladies, are you feeling frustrated with body changes you're experiencing during menopause? It's time to take control.

17:50If you're between 45 and 65 years old and tired of struggling with body fat and muscle loss, Warrior Babe is here for you. At Warrior Babe, we've helped over 18,000 women just like you lose body fat, build toned muscle, and understand their bodies better with personalized plans based on hormone and thyroid testing and more. Imagine knowing exactly what your body needs to see real results and results that last. Look, don't wait anymore. Take charge of your health and join our community

18:21of strong, empowered women. Visit warriorbabe.com forward slash apply today to start your transformation. That's warriorbabe.com forward slash apply. All right, let's get back to the show. For sure, you also need to be willing to change because if you want to change where you are now, you can't keep doing the same thing you've been doing over and over again. I tell my friend, one day, it is eye-opening to see what you eat. She's like, uh-uh. I'm like, you have one day.

18:53Just do it one time. Quick break. If you're finding this episode helpful so far, it would mean a lot if you could hit pause for just a second, leave a quick rating, or a review, or share it with someone who could benefit from it. Your support helps more women discover these tools to build muscle, lose fat, and feel confident. Thank you so much for being a part of this journey with me. Really quick though, back on that protein part, I have a question for you guys. Is there, can you overconsume too much protein in one meal?

19:26No. For once. Explain, elaborate. Your body's going to stop you. Like you're, that's what, it's really, really hard to overeat protein. Like if, if this is like a ridiculous one-off situation and someone's going to have like 400 grams of protein because they're in a steak eating contest, yeah, that's not going to be great for you. Like let's, let's be real. It's not all used to build muscle, right? But, because if you're eating whole food protein,

19:56it'll digest slower. So your body's eventually going to use it because it takes maybe eight or nine hours to digest this huge meal you had. But I think if someone's eating a bunch of like, maybe they had like four protein shakes or something weird, right? Well, that's not as, that's not going to keep you full for hours because I'll go to Kava and have a thousand calorie bowl that has 75 grams of protein and I don't think anything of it, you know, because it's like, it meets my protein goals because it's whole food. So most of the studies just stop like at four hours.

20:26So they're like, that's why for so long, they're like, you can't absorb more than 30 grams because the study stopped then. So now that, I wish I had that study in front of me. I apologize. I don't have it. They went, they went 24 hours and your body at a lesser rate, but your body continued to use it. So studies are showing if you go long enough, your body continues to use it. So please, everybody do not be afraid of eating enough protein or too much protein. Eat exactly. A meal that's more,

20:56more than 300 calories sometimes, right? I was so scared to eat more than 300 calories. I'm like, I don't want to get fat. Well, now I eat sometimes a thousand calorie meal because of how my energy sources. I need that for my body. You know, so. Well, let's not forget the thermic effect either. Yep. Go ahead, Maggie. Preach to that part. Your body is going. So in all actuality, we all know macros, proteins, four calories. Carbs are four calories. Fats, nine calories. Protein is actually more like two ish,

21:28two to three calories, 2.5 calories because of the thermic effect of food because it takes so much more energy that your body produces to burn and, and, uh, digest that protein. So it's really a high quality food that's going to put your body to work and is not calorically. It's a smart choice because of that. I feel like when that's said and explained that, that is like the biggest selling point for women. They all want to burn calories.

21:58Okay, cool. Go eat your protein and you're going to be burning calories while you digest it. So like, you're going to stay full, right? Nobody wants to be hungry. Yeah. At the end, if you, I mean, at the end of the day, when you have enough protein that your body is looking for and needs, you won't be craving shit at the end of the day. Period. So there's two actually questions that kind of go with this that we got asked. Um, and I want to keep it here before maybe we go, if we have another trend that we want to talk about. Um, the one question was,

22:29is it better to hit your protein goal or stay within your calorie goal if you can't do both? Well, it depends on what your goal is. Yeah. I was going to say a calorie cut. If you're in a cut phase, like you have to be pretty on point with the cutting calories, right? So if you keep going over your cutting calories, well, you're not going to be losing the fat you want it. But I would say maintenance or if you're in a build phase, just go for the protein and listen to your hunger cues and go on that, right? It's not as important as far as calorie wise

23:00to be so specific, but a cut is a different thing. Yeah. If your goal is to lose weight and to lose fat still though, in the big picture, you need to keep that muscle no matter what you're doing. You've got to keep the muscle. Yeah. So I kind of go between both of you. Um, I agree with both what you're saying, but more so into the middle of like, if you're in, I mean, I think about bodybuilding, I think about cut, same thing, right? You, if you, as you're decreasing fat loss, weight,

23:31you are tapping into muscle too, as well. It's just how it works. So to make sure that you're maintaining it, like you're, what you're saying, Maggie is like, I, if, if I'm going to cut, I'm kind of going to push my cat, my protein intake to 1.1 or 1.2, or, or I'm going over the normal broad, you know, eat, eat a gram per pound of body weight because I don't want to sacrifice muscle tissue. And, uh, if there's any one, one macro to go over, it would be protein.

24:01So, yeah, exactly. Um, the second question is, are protein coffees actually beneficial or are they just another wellness trend? So I guess it's kind of on like the trends and does sipping on them throughout the day, constantly elevate insulin levels. Yes, it does. I have so much to say about that. The floor is yours. And which angle shall I take? Whichever one you think is going to resonate with the most.

24:32The insulin levels, Maggie, do the insulin level. Yeah, do the, I'm curious on your insulin level take. All right. The average person opens their mouth and ingests either food or drink 27 times a day. Every time that happens, you get an insulin response, whether it be high or low. Insulin is a fat storage hormone, which it's supposed to be. That doesn't necessarily mean a bad thing, but if you're trying to lose fat, why would you stimulate more insulin 27 times a day?

25:05Why would you do that? If you love your protein coffee? Nobody can see me, but I'm doing the clocking thing. That's, that's, that's what's the trend. Very Jen. What's the generation? Gen Z, Gen X, whatever they do. We're not supposed to do that. We're older, older trend. Older generations are not supposed to copy. Well, I'm clocking what you're saying, Maggie.

25:36Yes. So yeah. So where was I? Anyway, you, you need periods during the day. Oh, now I want to get into mitochondria. You need periods during the day that your insulin levels come down. Then your body can switch fuel sources and it will start. It can use fat for fuel. Once you burn through that glucose you have in your system, and there's no need for insulin because you're not ingesting glucose.

26:07That's why you need insulin is to take care of your glucose. So if you let it come down, you, you burn through, it's been two to three hours. You didn't over consume your glucose. Your body can then tap into fat stores and use fat for energy. When it uses fat for energy produces ketones. Your body feels great on ketones. Your mind is clear. That brain fog goes away. Also, when you get to that point to your body can go into a state of autophagy that's getting real rid of old cells that we have a problem doing as we get older.

26:37So you want more cell turnover. So you've got to bring down that glucose to allow that to happen because mitochondria is what's going to keep you young. It's going to keep your body recovering. That's what keeps your skin vibrant. That you need new, fresh mitochondria and not the senescent cells floating around in your body. So that went everywhere, but that's why. Would you suggest someone just drinking the protein coffee in the morning if they love their protein coffee? Yeah. Get it all. Yes. If you love it,

27:07like, and let's not like, we can get into the weeds about what the heck is Starbucks putting in their protein. Like it might. And I think someone actually looked and like, it was okay. Wasn't it? No, I heard it was absolutely terrible. Okay. And people's digestive system were totally wrecked afterwards. Yeah. If you're at home, you know what proteins being used, you know, it's a good source protein. Drink it up. May do it in a half an hour, 45 minutes, and then let your body recover. Let your body absorb. Let your glucose come down, go for your walk,

27:37move on with your day, but go three or four hours. Let your glucose clear from your system without calling on more insulin. You don't need more insulin flowing through your body all day long. And not everything needs protein, right? So if you did track your food, you might realize, wow, I don't need protein in my coffee. I can have it at these other times. So knowing that too, you know, yeah. Cause that's going to bring up if you don't need that right then, I mean, that's going to bring up your calories at least, I don't know, a hundred, a hundred grams in your coffee.

28:08And maybe you're not accounting for the extra. If you do that twice a day, that's 200 extra calories a day. I mean, that's the difference between being in a cut, being in a surplus or being a maintenance. Point proven here. And they're asking too, if it's actually beneficial. So it's more so just like, or is it a wellness trend? I would say if it's a part of you, the way that you'd like to get your protein in, in the day, then go ahead and get your protein in the day. And if you're not getting in your protein. Yeah. Yeah. Especially if it's hard for you to get in by eating, you know, throughout the day or having like the meats or whatever,

28:40then do it for sure. But do it and be done with it. Have it in the morning and be done with it. I can't drink caffeine after one o'clock, except for this. Well, that's it. Otherwise I'm over here drinking it. I can tell at night my sleep is affected. I have the HRV on my watch. I'm like, this makes sense. And once you understand, like, don't worry about trends. What is your body telling you? And then understand, Hey, maybe I need to do something different. And for me, that was eating before I drank coffee and stopping caffeine before like one or two most days.

29:16You just said something crucial. Don't worry about trends. Here's the thing for the average, like, especially my age, like a lot of them aren't on social media a lot. They don't understand what's a trend. They think if they've heard it 10 times today, Oh, that must be true. That's true. In their head, it's not a trend. Oh, it's true. Cause I heard it 10 times. So that's frustrating. That's sad that that information's out there. And it's believable. Cause they heard it so many times. It frustrates the hell out of me. It's like just the basics.

29:46It's literally just the basics. Y'all like, Does that mean if I say 10 times, I'll believe like it's that, that that's a trend. It's just the basics. Basics. Do the basics. Get your protein in. Walk. Get sleep. That's like seven to eight hours a night. Drink your water. Like the, the, the basics. That's boring. I got it. It doesn't get clicks. Does not get clicks. I just recorded that as a podcast on Monday.

30:18I believe it was when I went live, but that about the boring stuff, because there's people inside of warrior babe that they go to their coach and they're like, I want a new workout program after like two weeks. And like, I had, I had to just talk about like the reason why and how you build muscle is by keeping your body adapted through the workout program that you're doing through six to eight weeks. And like your muscles aren't, if you're doing and changing it up every two weeks or you're finding a new Pinterest workout or whatever, your body is not getting time to be able to be properly stimulated by the,

30:51by the exercise or by the movement. And you're also not being able to develop a good skill or to actually get the technique down for the movement. Like you're changing it up every single day. And how do you even know you're progressing, right? If you're changing up the exercises every two to three weeks, like how do you know you actually lifted heavier weights? How do you know you actually got attuned to the movement? So it's like doing the boring work, doing the basics. So I just do the boring work over and over again. I had a girl tell me at the gym yesterday, she's like, I'm just going to follow you around and see what you do. And I said, well, what I do today, I'll be doing 10 weeks from now.

31:22I stay in a program 10 weeks. Cause I like to see, I like to see week one. I was this week 10. That's my minimum. Like I'm 10 weeks usually. And then I'll switch it up. Once you have the muscle, it's easier to keep the muscle with more variety, right? So people that have lost muscle over 40, they need to build it back. And that's what we're trying to help them do at worry, babe is build it as efficiently, as fast as possible. And then add the variety back. Cause yeah, everybody loves social media. It's a different workout every single day and fun new moves,

31:52but Hey, you guys got to build the muscle first. So there was another question around protein as well, where somebody asked, should they have amino acids or protein as supplements? Like it's basically the question was, is this is really confusing. I don't know if I should have protein and drink protein, but also have amino acids throughout the day. What's your guys' take on that? I like to keep it simple for myself. So especially if you're a newbie, just trying to lose some fat, build some muscle,

32:22focus on the whole food protein first. You know, what do you think Maggie? I think if some people, especially like these women that were trying to up their calories and get their protein in, like the cute little gal I met at the gym the other day, she was probably getting seven or 800 calories a day. Her protein is probably 30 grams. So if we're trying, she's having a really hard time eating enough food to get her protein in something like an amino acid, a good amino acid supplement is going to be very helpful for her.

32:54Um, also just people who are in like, like maybe you have some really tough goals. Like you really want to put on a ton of muscle. Yeah. Add, add some amino acids in, but you don't need to, if there's a reason for it, if you're not hitting your protein, I think that's a good, a good reason to add amino acids. Of course, getting them from whole foods is that's our ultimate goal. Like we, we want that. And understanding their workouts. A lot of women, just their workouts will never make them build muscle.

33:26So having them realize that you've got to change your workout routine, you know, it's not just about the protein. Like I'm eating all my protein. I'm not building muscle. Well, you're not doing any progressive overload, you know? Well, here's another thing too. You have them, they're like, no, I'm eating protein. They don't realize they may not be like, they might be getting collagen. They're not getting a full spectrum of amino acids. So sometimes that can fill the gap with, the knowledge situation. They're not getting in. They think they're getting enough protein, but they're not. So if you give them amino acids, we know somewhere they're getting a full spectrum of amino acids.

33:58Would you do amino acids or would you do essential amino acids? Essential, not branch chain EAAs. Yeah. I don't even know why, why do we even make branch chain amino acids? Like why? Spend money. I agree. I don't even know. Everyone just lean away from the amino acids and go for EAAs. Yeah. Essential amino acids. You want those, those nine, nine essentials. The one your body will not make. You have to ingest it. Your body cannot. It'll make the others. The other 11, but it will not make the essential amino acids.

34:30So you've got to get them. 100%. There's one more question on protein. I think I'm going to pivot away from protein. So it kind of goes back to what we were debunking. Debunking when we were talking about the protein trend, but if someone feels sluggish eating the appropriate amount of protein, what should they do? Like, what if you feel, that's the question. What if you feel sluggish eating the appropriate amount of protein? Like sluggish after like every meal, like they're just feeling sluggish during the day.

35:00Yeah. My first question would be like, are you, how much are you actually moving? Like how much are you working out? Like how much are you getting training in walking in? If you're just eating like 1900 calories, 2000 calories, but you're not putting that food to use in some way, then yeah, that's going to make you feel sluggish. And especially if you did a huge jump in, like if you were only getting like 16, all of a sudden you're getting double that 120. Yeah. Your digestive system is not used to that. So you need to work your way up to that probably.

35:31Cause we probably have some digestive issues. I would assume like I have more questions for this person to give them a good answer. Same. All right. Let's go into one more question and then we'll do this or that. Cause I think we're going to have a good time with, with this or that. Maybe we might do two more because Maggie, I'm interested. Somebody asked, how do you know whether TRT is right for you and how much is typically recommended? You got to get your labs. So testosterone, luckily it like it is going,

36:02especially in perimenopause, it's going to ebb and flow, but not as much as the other hormones. It tends to be just a slight, a bit more even. And it usually starts just like with men. And this is, they're asking for women. I'm assuming it will start. It starts to decrease at 25. And testosterone is kind of a lower, like a slower decrease. So testosterone for most women, that's where they're going to see their first dip at their youngest. And many women don't realize that they have just because it's measured

36:34differently. So the numbers show up lower because it's measured differently. So they don't realize that they actually have more testosterone than estrogen. In their prime testosterone is your driving hormone as a woman. And many women don't realize that. So when it starts to dip, you're not going to feel like yourself. So get, get some labs, get tested. A lot of women feel their very best. Like, like they get tested and someone's. So when I got mine tested,

37:05I think I was 46 the first time. And I think I was at like 25 and I can't peak a grams per deciliter. I can't remember how it's measured. So I don't even want to use that, but it was a 45. Like the number, the, the best range for me, I feel my very best. I get 150 to 200, but also that's balancing with, with your other hormones as well. Cause you don't, you want the symphony to work together. So you don't want to just run in the show. You have to watch the other ones too. So that's kind of my overall,

37:38a lot of times testosterone should be the first thing women are getting on. Cause it's the first thing that really starts to drop. I mean, I can totally piggyback off of that, that I got my labs tested for the first time, like last year when I was 35. And because I felt like something was off and I didn't feel like myself and I didn't feel as much energy that I normally had. And I didn't feel like I was like, you know, had like the, the, the urge to get through my day or the vitality to get through my day. Like I just felt something was just off. Um, and that like, like getting my labs done brought me to that attention that my testosterone

38:10was low, like low. Um, so that was, and you were probably told that you were normal. Were you told you were normal? No. So I went straight, I bypassed the PCP. I went straight to functional. Yeah. And, uh, they told they, yeah, that's, that's why we started on, I'm not on any TRT because I obviously wouldn't have kids. Um, but I'm on support to help make the levels come back up and they have, it's just been a slow process, but yeah, I would say like,

38:41that's to piggyback off this. The first thing that went for me, that my thyroid. And I think those high driving women type a get them. That's where we're going to see it. And that's where we're going to fill it because all of a sudden that drive, you're like, where, where did I go? I don't even know who I am anymore. I can't get up in the morning. So when you get that back in check, you're like, Oh, I'm back. I'm back. Here I am. Huge difference. Yeah. So that's the, I would tell, I recommend everyone as early as mid thirties,

39:12get their laps tested. Yeah. Um, okay. Last question that we'll do when we'll go to this or this, that the question was, do I need to eat every two to three hours to keep my metabolism going? No. Thank you. Thank you. I was wondering what you guys are going to say. There's no research proving that's helpful. It's pretty much based on the individual. Like, where do you like eating? Like for me, I don't want to think about food for a while. So I like eating bigger meals less often, but some women like maybe that can't get in enough calories or protein,

39:44smaller meals more often might be better for their digestion. So I think don't be afraid to try either one. What's going to work better for you and keep you on your plan. Yeah. I would say that the meal, like meal timing can be really helpful for you to optimize your protein, especially like if you need help with making sure that you're getting enough throughout the day, I mean, getting an early start and then eating again, like a snack, mid morning snack, then lunch and mid afternoon snack. And then dinner will help you get your protein distribution spread out throughout the day. That's the only reason why I would say to go and have,

40:15you know, a meal every three hours, but do you need to do that to keep your metabolism going? Absolutely not. Your metabolism isn't some type of like mechanism that's ever going to go out. But this is something that I had to like, reframe from myself because I was the coach when I like 10 years ago, because I was in bodybuilding. Like I was the one saying to everyone, you got to make sure that you're eating every three to two, three hours. And I will happily say now, like I think what makes a really good coach is being open to learning more feedback and growing and knowledge is you did.

40:45You don't have to do that. Your metabolism isn't something that's going to just like turn off, you know, in three hours and all of a sudden it's just going to put, um, it's, it's doesn't, it's a process that doesn't stop. So I think it's, it does whatever works best for you, but you don't need to feel like you need to make sure you have a meal every three to four hours. I think the worst thing to do is eat tiny meal, like maybe a 200 calorie breakfast, get busy, forget to eat and then don't eat till 5. Right. So now it's like, so based on your activity and lifestyle, if you're a busy individual, it's better to have those meals that fit with it.

41:18All right. You guys ready for this or that? Let's do it. Okay. So I'm going to just rattle some things off and then obviously we'll, we'll go back and forth. We'll have someone go first. So that we're, we're not supposed to blurt out. We blur, you blur it out. You blur out your answer. And then like, you can go into saying why, or if we all agree, we get them. We all agree. But if there's any like differences in opinion, like let's talk it out. Okay. Let's start with the first one.

41:48Add 10 pounds to the bar or add two reps with perfect form. I'm going to say, add two reps with perfect form. Perfect form. Cause if they add 10, if they add 10 pounds and have crappy form, it's not going to do anything. Agree. Yeah. Don't chase the pounds guys. Don't be that person or the guy in the gym. That's like trying to shrug an obnoxious amount of weight. And it looks absolutely stupid. Like your form is the gold standard every day. Okay.

42:19So we each have 300 extra calories. Are you going to put more carbs around your workout or are you going to save dessert for the night? Workout. More carbs around my workout. Oh man, I'm going for dessert at night. Y'all. I just imagining that. No, I'm sorry. I got that sweet tooth. Like if I can probably just have a dessert around my workout, I think that's what I do. Eat more, more things throughout the day.

42:50What are you going to eat? Like a protein, protein ice cream right around your workout. Do all my treats are protein treats. I'm like the, I'm like the protein treat duper of the century. I like talking shit and stuff in the afternoon. So, you know, it's very easy for me to accidentally eat 300 calories. Oh yeah, I have no problem with that. I do it frequently. Give me the, give me candy. Give me cake. Give me like, I mean, it's like shit afterwards.

43:21And I don't do it all the time, but like, I love, I love sweets. I still like the real thing. I don't know. I just, I have like real pie, just real cake. Mine tastes pretty real. I'm pretty happy with it. Maybe I just don't remember what a real treat is like. You do have some great strategies. You do have some great strategies for how you fit like sweet in, in a healthy way. I love your takes on Instagram. You gotta have that, right? Cause it can't be all or nothing. So you gotta have that in between.

43:52No, my granddaughter just asked for my protein. She calls them panic cakes. Cause she just started first grade. And so I, I let her have some of my protein pancakes for the day. And she had two huge pancakes. Grandma, will you make those for me? So I put them in baggies. So she gets them before school. So cute. Okay. Next one is never weigh yourself again or never take the progress photo again. Never weigh yourself again. Never take progress photo. Really? I can't tell you guys the last time I weighed myself. I don't even think I own a scale. I, my coach makes me do it,

44:23but I, she got mad at me cause I hadn't done it in a month. I'm like, I hate it. I don't, I don't care. Wait, I'm so, I'm so intrigued, Andrea. Why never take the progress photo again? Did you just want to say something opposite? Yeah. She's just trying to be controversial. I mean, well, cause once you grow the muscle, you're going to kind of look the same. So I've kind of looked the same until I had the helicopter crash, had to gain it all back. But sometimes people get discouraged. Like they're always supposed to see something new in their progress photo or be happy at this maintenance phase where there is no more progress,

44:56you know, not no more progress, but there you're just going to look the same all the time. And there's the picture. Isn't going to show anything. I don't know. So you feel like the scale does. Well, I'm very, so I can eat full. I can eat and it's easy for me to under eat. Like, look how fast I lost all that muscle in the helicopter crash. Very easy. So for me, the scale is like, Hey, why is it dramatically going down? Or, Hey, maybe I should eat less pie. Cause it's going, you know what I mean? So to me, that is like, I don't,

45:26I don't get obsessed with the scale, but to me, it's kind of like, I, it's an okay friend for me. I don't mind. Oh, that's good. That's, I like that tape. Like, weighing a certain weight and then understanding the scales, 20 pounds heavier because of muscle to me is kind of cool. Like, wow, that's neat to reframe that and help people understand. It doesn't have to be a villain because that's what obviously the diet industry makes it as a villain, but Hey, it doesn't have to be a villain. And you know, you can use a smart scale the right way,

45:57but. And that's it. Like I, if I do stand on the scale, it's a smart scale. And I, Oh, I'm always looking at my muscle mass. Oh, it always tells me I'm dehydrated. Oh, I live. Um, you should compare our smart scale readings one day. Okay. So a couple more and we're going to get into a little bit more of like, they're going to be a mix between fitness and just more like personality wise. This one would be, I can't be actually be either or, um,

46:27have discipline with no motivation or motivation with no discipline. Well, it'd be much happier to have motivation, but discipline is always going to win. Thanks. Yeah. You have to do that. You're never going to come. I mean, how, how I am every day is I have discipline with no motivation. I don't have motivation. Yeah. I feel like that 99% of the time. Yeah. Okay. That one was interesting. I, maybe it's like maybe discipline or motivation. I'm always going to pick discipline over motivation.

46:59Someone questions your work ethic or someone questions your character, which bothers you more. Character. Cause that's in all things. Character. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. You, you, you come at me with my character. I'm going to shoot your head off. I may be lazy, but I am solid. Like, yeah. Especially when you know, like the opposite is true from what the person's saying. Like I will be defensive. Like, but then,

47:30then I have questioned my defense. I'm like, maybe it's not good to be defensive because if someone's questioning my character, you shouldn't have to say anything at all. Right. Just let them do what they want to think. It's true. It's a hard one. Then that's not my person, you know? Yeah. Bye. Bye. Are you somebody that needs to address conflict immediately or take 24 hours before talking it out immediately? Even though I know I need 24 hours. I want, I don't want to think about it anymore.

48:01I like to ignore it and hope it goes away. Oh no, Andrea, do not be that person that brushes it under the rug and never resolves. Uh-uh. Absolutely not. I was supposed to answer honestly. I appreciate your candor. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm somebody, well, I've learned like I will be the fixer. I, I will like spaz out if I can't talk about it immediately and start fixing it

48:33immediately. However, I understand some people need space to be able to process what happened. So if I can't get a resolve within 24 hours, I'm going to be, you ready to talk about it? You ready to talk about it? You ready to talk about it? I'm the same. It'll drive me nuts. Like I will not sleep a wink till it's taken care of. Facts. Yup. I have no soul. I'll sleep fun. Okay. Those were, those were good. Um, let me try and see if I can do something else like that.

49:06Okay. Now I'm curious, Andrea. Be right. Or keep the relationship. I'll be right. Oh, she has no soul. Am I right? I'm just digging a deeper hole here. She really has no soul. What about if you were genuinely, genuinely wrong about something? If I was wrong, then yeah, I would admit it and be like, I wanted her to say I'm never wrong. Yeah. That would have been just keep it going with it.

49:41Okay. But so if you're right though, you, what, okay, be right or keep the relationship. Like I'm, I feel, I felt like I'm right about this certain person. I haven't talked to in 10 years. I was right. I felt my feelings. I thought we were best friends. I reached out to her. She chose to keep going her own way. That's it then, you know? Yeah. I guess to see how the, how the truth was packaged up. Yeah. So you can't lower your own standards to be like, Oh, it's, you know, I'm sorry. But yeah, that,

50:12that thing I do. I am thoughtful. No. And I can see that a lot. Like the way you were looking at it makes sense. If it's not a relationship worth keeping, then yeah. But if it's a valuable relationship, I'm, I can throw my opinion out the door. If, if it's a relationship that contributes to my life. Yeah. You're so, I think that it's a good kind of like add on like to the question. Is it worth, is it a relationship worth, you know? Yeah. Working towards to keep,

50:42if it's a genuine relationship that you would love the person and care about the person. Sure. If not, and their standards don't align, then it doesn't matter. Okay. One last one that we can end it on, on a coach fitness topic. Your coach tells you to eat more or your coach tells you to eat more. He tells you to train less, which is harder to accept. Eating more. Yeah. I think I struggle with this one. I don't know. I really, can I be in the middle? Can I be in the middle?

51:12That's where I love, I love moving and exercise. So I'd rather. Facts. I don't know. I'd be in the middle. I have no problem eating more and also no problem training less. I hate training less. Like I don't like the way I feel mentally. You got your routine down. You don't want to. Yeah. Like my, my rest days are hard for me. Like there, I struggle. Like I'm like, yeah. Cause I like to get it done and then I feel better all day. Fair. Or if I know I have that to look forward to, like it's a good break in my day if I do it later.

51:44So when I don't have that, like I still, like I still have to go out like on a, like when my coach tells me, no, I want your legs up. I don't like when I'm in like show prep, I don't want you moving. Like don't burn calories today. It's so hard for me. Cause I at least want to go out in the sun and like go on a walk. So I at least have to do that. Fair. I don't know. So you guys are both, if your coach tells you to train less, you're going to, that's going to be harder for y'all to accept. My instinct would be like, Oh, I don't want to eat more. That's, you don't want to eat more. You don't want to train less.

52:14Okay, cool. I'm right in the middle. I don't know which one. I don't want to train less. That is a hard one. Hard one to end on. Sometimes they ask you to do both. And that's really hard. Yeah. That'd be really hard to eat more and train less. Eat more and train less. That's what I'm at right now. We're trying, we're trying to put on some, some, a little bit of weight. That's our whole methodology. Yep. So the opposite. Yep. Trying to grow my lats. Yeah. Well, you know what happens when you rest more.

52:45I know. The muscle to build. Yeah. That's hard for me. It's tough. It goes against everything I've done. Like my whole brain, my innate response. Yeah. I think it's easier for me to do because I went from training six to seven days a week to training maybe max like three to four. So like for me, it's not hard. It wasn't hard for me to do. It helped me dramatically. Yeah. That's too many days. Yeah. These challenges that are six or seven days. That's insane. You know, no one should have to do that to see results.

53:15No, we should have to be training three times a day either. I know. I know. I know. It's still trending out there. Well, we ended with the trend, the three time a day that like, you know, the, this X hard. I'm not going to say it, but you won't know what I'm talking about. Two day hard, two letters and then hard at the end. Yeah. Or two numbers. Fast and cardio in the morning. Then you do your heavy lifting. Then at night you have to walk an hour. One of the exercises has to be outside. I don't count walking as a, as my, as a workout though.

53:46That's time for me. I don't like moving. So I don't want to spend. Oh, see that study time for me. That's like, I listened to a podcast. I take notes on my phone. Yeah. That's my me time. Would you, okay. How about this end it? Would you rather do, to get your steps in, would you rather do 10 key steps every single day? Or would you rather do like a 30 minute, like type of cardio session? 30 minute cardio. Guess what I do now. I can't walk. It's bad. Fair. Yeah. You have an understanding.

54:17My legs. My. Yeah. No, yours makes sense. Yeah. But for people that can walk, I mean, that's awesome. You know, I, yeah, it's, it's, it's my downtime. Like I mentally like going and unplugging from the world for my walk. Yeah. Yeah. I think I'm on that boat too, as well. I'm more, I don't really have 30 minute cardio sessions. I just do steps daily. Make sure that I hit anywhere from eight. I don't go for 10 K. Like I, I go for like between eight and 10 K.

54:48Yeah. Yeah. And if I, that my cardio sessions are intense and they're like 12 minutes and I fit it within my hour. Right. Yeah. Sprints are awesome. I love sprinting and swimming, obviously. So I think just finding that balance for you is important for women. And don't feel like they have to do something if it doesn't fit their lifestyle. Like, well, what can you do? Like, don't worry about what you can't do. What can you do? And let's make that work. Yeah. Well, ladies, this was fun. Had a great time chatting with you guys.

55:19Always fun. And I love the way that we just like, you know, answer some questions and this or that, and just had a overall conversation here. Should we tell everybody what we, what we were talking about before? Cause we kind of left that as like a hanger. If they wanted to know, they had to stay at the end. That is up to me. How in depth do we want to go? That's your graphic. Are we going to talk? Are we going into pill placement? No, we're not going to. How about that? We're just talking about progesterone. The beginning of this, you guys, and the dosing that I'm currently on and needing to figure out.

55:51And there may be a better method of absorption. Let's just say that. It does not have to pass through the liver. You can use your own mind. I was just going to say that Maggie, use your own mind of an imagination. Anyway, thank you listeners that listened into this podcast today. If you guys are interested to learn more about warrior babe, go to worry babe.com and check out our website. See what we're all about. Especially if you want to learn how to build more muscle, lose body fat, and just overall change your body composition. When you're over 40 years old,

56:22that's our whole ecosystem of babes. So go check it out. And we hope to see you on the inside. Hey, really quick before you go, I have one small favor to ask. If this episode brought you value or sparked something in you, take just a moment to hit that review button. Your rating and review make all of the difference. Helping more women discover the tools they need to transform the fitness and their confidence. It takes less than a minute, but it can change the path of someone else's journey. Thank you so much for leaving that review.

56:53I appreciate you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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