The 5 Biggest Fitness Mistakes Women Over 40 Keep Making

00:00What's going on, everybody? Hey, you guys. Welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show. And today is a big one. Today is the 400th episode. That's 400 conversations, 400 topics, 400 times that I sat down here and had these conversations with you guys. Maybe if you've listened to all of them, or maybe you're just tuning in for the first time, regardless, it's 400 episodes. Talking about things that actually matter. Your body, your health, your mindset, your life. And I don't take that lightly because you did not have to show up for any of these episodes. You guys didn't have to tune in to the ones that release every single week, right? But you did. Week after week. Monday and Friday, these go live. And I just want to say, you should give yourself a pat on the back for showing up and listening to these episodes. And also just a big thank you for tuning in and listening to them.

00:51So today I'm bringing you guys a 400th episode. And it's going to be just a compilation of all of the cool things that we've done, like the real honest conversations, the tips, the tricks, the strategies, the things that we've gotten into it from 300 to 399 with those episodes. And I'm bringing you guys the best of that today. And I hope that you guys enjoy it. I hope that you guys, you know, walk down memory lane with me as we have been on this journey together. And I just a big thank you to everybody that's listened to this podcast. So let's get into it. This one's for you guys. Let's go.

01:23In today's episode, it is a topic that you have heard me talk about many, many, many, many times. Stay with me, though, because you can never get enough of this topic, in my opinion. And maybe today when I dive into talking about protein and all the things about protein and why it's so important, there may be some new things that come out of this episode today that leave you learning something new about either how to implement it or how to get more of it or just how to make sure you're staying consistent with it throughout the day.

01:59And we're going to dive into various different topics when it comes to this today. Let's start with the most important part of the protein conversation, which is the protein foundation, because I never want to assume that everyone is starting from the same place. Like I said, some of you guys are beginners. Some of you guys are more advanced. But some of you that may be just getting started, you just need to know that protein is one of the three macronutrients alongside carbohydrates and fats. But protein is very unique. While carbs and fats are primarily energy sources, protein is a structural macronutrient.

02:35It is your body's primary building material, which right there is like I know a lot of you don't get enough protein. This should be just a light bulb right there that like I don't get enough protein. That's why I'm probably not building my hair and my skin the way that I want to or my nails the way I want to. Or my skin is getting, you know, breaking out or why my muscles aren't growing, right? There is a building material. So your body uses protein every single day, building and repairing muscle tissue, producing every enzyme and hormone inside of your body, building and maintaining your immune system.

03:11Like I said, supporting your hair, your skin and your nails, transporting oxygen through your blood and keeping your metabolism running efficiently. And I think this one surprises people the most. Protein is the most satiating macronutrient, meaning the more protein that you have in the day nutritionally, it's going to keep you fuller for longer than carbs or fat do for your body. If you are somebody that just eats snacks and fats during the day, you're going to find yourself hungry at the end of the day because you didn't give your body the most satiating macronutrient, which is protein.

03:51Okay. Protein is made up of smaller building blocks that are called amino acids. And I want you guys, I've said this before, think about amino acids like individual Lego pieces. Your body breaks down the protein that you eat into these amino acids and then it uses them to build and repair whatever it needs. Muscle, hormones, enzyme, tissue, all of it. This is why personally you're going to hear people say, yeah, take BCAAs. I personally think that your most important focus that you could do is making sure you're just getting enough protein in your day instead of wasting money on a supplement.

04:29Because this is going to give you exactly what that supplement is giving you. And you're probably spending more money on the supplement than you are on a pack of chicken. Just some food for thought. Now, there are 20 amino acids total. Nine of them are called essential amino acids, meaning your body cannot make them on its own. You have to get them from food. And whether you are consistently getting all nine of them is one of the most important nutritional questions that you can ask about your diet today.

05:01I want to talk about why protein is especially critical for women listening to this. Because I know a lot of you guys are women who are 35, who are 40, who are 45, who are 50, who are in their 60s. And I just want to really lean in here. Because as we age, something called sarcopenia begins to occur. Sarcopenia is the natural age-related loss of muscle loss. And it can start as early as our mid-30s, you guys.

05:34After 40, the rate of muscle loss accelerates if we are not actively doing something to counteract it. And here's why that matters beyond just like the way that you physically look. Just a reminder for some of you that have been listening to this for episodes on episodes. Muscle is metabolically active tissue, meaning it burns calories at rest significantly more than fat tissue does. So as you lose muscle, your metabolism slows down.

06:07Your body needs then less energy to function. So fat storage just becomes easier to your body at that point. And suddenly you are eating the same way that you've always been. But your body is responding completely differently. This is not, you know, all in your head. This is just how the body works. And protein is one of the most powerful tools. You have to fight back against this. There's also something called anabolic resistance that increases as we age as well.

06:38Meaning your body becomes less efficient at converting the protein that you eat into muscle tissue. The muscle building signals gets blurred over time. Which means that as you age, you actually need more protein than younger women to get this same muscle building response. Not less. Which a lot of you guys think, I need to eat less. I need to eat less. Because it's going to help me to lose more weight.

07:09But that's actually, I know this all sounds very counterproductive to the way you've, or counterintuitive to what you've learned. But just trust me here, please. Because we've helped over 21,000 women inside of Warrior Babe. And on the other side, they have now more muscle. Their metabolism is revving. They're losing the weight. They're getting more toned, right? So it's like, then they believe these things coming in. They thought I had to eat less and eat less. But that wasn't getting them anywhere in terms of results. As you age with these things that are happening, this is why you need more.

07:41Because the muscle building signal is being lowered. Your body is having a less efficient time at converting the protein into muscle tissue that you eat into muscle tissue. So as you age, you need more than someone that's actually younger than you in the protein category. This is why the I think I eat enough protein claim needs to be examined honestly. Where somebody is like, I think I eat enough protein. For someone that is over the age of 35, enough is higher than most people think.

08:16Most people, most women are significantly under eating in protein. And the consequences of that is muscle loss, muscle breakdown, low energy, and reduced strength. They are very real. These are very real. The consequences of that are very real over time. Some of you may be already experiencing that. And if you could just look at one thing in your day, am I eating enough protein? Now, and I'm going to challenge that thought because I hear that all the time. I would say, do you actually know how much you are eating?

08:49Because a lot of women, when they actually break it down for me, I'd be like, what does that look like to you? What does that mean to you? And they break it down. They're still only eating 80 grams of protein. Because I'll have some eggs for breakfast. I'll have some chicken for lunch. And then I'll have something for dinner. That is nowhere near. I'm going to make it make sense in a second. Ladies, are you feeling frustrated with body changes you're experiencing during menopause? It's time to take control.

09:20If 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 of strong, empowered women.

09:53Visit 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. So just think about that. And a lot of people in the space I've talked to before have been like, oh, well, that's just like the bodybuilding world. Like protein is just for bodybuilders. It's not just for bodybuilders. It is for every woman who wants to maintain strength, support their metabolism, and feel good in her body at every age, especially as you get older.

10:30Eating too much protein is not going to make you store fat. High protein will not damage your kidneys if you are a healthy individual. And the fact that you can only absorb 30 grams of protein per meal. You can absorb more than that. But just remember, only upwards of 30 to 50 grams is going to help to optimize that muscle building aspect. Macros control what your body actually looks like. And that's the magic. Like you can lose weight eating 1,200 calories a day.

11:00Yes, you can. But what you will end up feeling and looking like, one, is more of a skinnier, fatter version of yourself. You're going to end up tired. You're going to end up flabby. You're going to end up more frustrated because, yes, you wanted to lose weight. But like in your mind, that losing weight also has this image of, oh, I want to be like, I want to be toned. I want to be lean. I want to be defined. Right. So it's like, first of all, getting clear and using clear verbiage on the goals that you want. Because if you want to lose weight, calories and focusing on calories in, calories out, blah, blah, blah, whatever.

11:31That jazz, like focusing on calories, that'll help you do it. But I know majority of you have that other goal of I want to be toned. I want to be like defined X, Y, and Z. If you eat 1,800 calories with the right macros, then you're going to be able to build muscle. You're going to be able to tone your body. You're going to be able to boost your metabolism. You're going to actually be able to feel very strong. Right. And that's typically majority of you, the goal that you want. Right. Calories are going to determine your size, but macros are going to determine your shape.

12:04Here's the thing. Calories measure energy. They tell you how much energy you're putting into your body, but not what kind of energy it is. Okay. Macros, on the other hand, protein, carbohydrates, fats. I just had a friend tell me, because some of you guys, like I asked my son, I asked my mom, like I asked people of my family, friends, like older generations, warrior babes, if you've ever known what, what do you know what macronutrient is? Like one of my friend's mom said, it's a superfood.

12:37Right. So like this education isn't relevant out there to those of you guys that have no idea what macronutrient. I mean, the education is out there, the information is out there, but it's like understanding, oh, what actually is it? Macronutrients are protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Right. And they tell you what those calories are made up of and how they work once they're in your body. So think of it like this. You've got calorie number. You've got 1600 calories. What are those calories made up of?

13:08It's not just like it's not just a blanket statement of 1600 calories. It's like there's so much more behind that number. And that is what is the percentage of protein in that number? What is the percentage of carbohydrates in that number and what is the percentage of fats in that number? And we're going to elaborate on that. But calories, again, will help you lose weight. They will help you lose weight. My friends, if you are someone eating 1200 calories, you're probably going to lose weight. But again, like I said, majority of you want that tone, that definition, that sexy body.

13:40Macros are what help you lose fat and gain that tone, that definition, build that muscle. That's what tone is. You are you have the ability. You're eating the right nutrients to give the body what it needs to build the muscle, which is going to then help you decrease body fat and help your metabolism, help your hormones and all the other things. And also aesthetically give you that toned look when you have more muscle to your body. That's why you can have two women eating 1500 calories a day and look literally completely different.

14:17One looks lean and strong and the other one probably feels soft, tired and frustrated. The difference isn't their calories. It's in their macros. If I haven't nailed this enough yet, the one macro that changes every single thing is that protein. Most women eat half the protein they need in a day, especially women that are over 40, 45, 50. I would even argue women that are in their mid 30s. And when you under eat protein, your body becomes a fat storage machine instead of a fat burning one.

14:48Why? Because protein preserves muscle. Like I was just mentioning with those two images that wanted to paint in your head is skinny fat and a toned individual. Muscle increases your metabolism and a higher metabolism means that you burn more fat even at rest. So if you've ever felt like your metabolism has quote unquote slowed down as you've aged, it's not age. It's the muscle loss from years of under eating, from years of under eating protein, from years of over focusing on.

15:21Let me just focus on a calorie number. Let me just focus on hitting 1500 calories in a day. If you're over focusing on the calories, let me remind you. It's probably like that breakdown that I just gave you. It's really focusing on carbohydrates and fats. When women start hitting their protein, because I've seen this time and time and time again, the thousands of women that are inside of Warrior Babe, when they focus on hitting their protein goals consistently, dude, everything changes. They're suddenly so full between meals. They have way more energy. Their cravings drop drastically.

15:52That's the number one biggest thing that I hear is that their cravings drop drastically. Something I see in multiple conversations I have with women that are on their fitness journey, some conversations that I see their coaches have with Warrior Babes, some conversations that I've had with Warrior Babes back in the day. And I feel like it's a very like, it's a sneaky problem that I see with women, especially those who think that they're doing everything quote unquote right. And when I mean that, it's like, you know, you're eating healthy, quote unquote, like you eat salads,

16:22you skip the dessert, like you hit the gym, you stay disciplined, but you do all those things, but you're still tired all the time. You feel puffy, you feel constipated, you're moody. And you're not like, you're not getting to where you think that you would be by eating, quote unquote, healthy and doing all of the right things. Like when you feel like you've hit like a wall and you can't figure out why. And that's why I want you guys to hear what I say. And I know that I say this a lot, but I truly mean it from my heart. It's like your metabolism isn't broken. You're not broken. It's just that, you know, this concept I really want to nail home is you being underfed.

16:56And I know that you're like, I've heard you talk about this all the time, multiple podcasts. Well, guys, listen to me when I say this. I will repeat things over and over and over again. I think that's what makes a really good coach. Because even though it may be on the same topic, I may speak different words that or, you know, use different analogies or educate you differently that may resonate with you more than it did the first time you've heard it or the second time you've heard it or the third time you've heard it.

17:27One of the biggest psychological successes that I've seen with women in Warrior Babe is the thing that I said the first time didn't necessarily land. But maybe by the fifth time or the sixth time or the 10th time that I said it, maybe in a different way, light bulbs finally start to go off. When you don't eat enough, your body literally doesn't have enough glucose to power your brain, to power your organs, to power your muscles. Like you are literally running on fumes at that point.

17:58What's crazy about this overall is like when you consistently do that, especially if you've been doing it for decades, your body has adapted to that. And it's going to normalize the fatigue to protect you. So, you know, you could start thinking, well, maybe like I'm just tired because I'm getting older. No, you're tired because you've been dieting since your 20s and your body hasn't had a break. And the crazy part is when women finally start eating more, they realize how bad they actually felt before. Again, because like you've been doing this for so long, it's only become a normalized situation

18:33within the confines of your body. It's like your homeostasis, like your body is just used to this. It doesn't know what it feels like to feel better, right? And so when you actually interrupt the pattern and you give it what it wants, that's when you start to, and you eat more, you start to know what it feels like to thrive. And you look back and be like, holy cow, I didn't realize how bad I actually felt before. I thought that was just a normal thing. When you start feeling your body, your energy skyrockets, your focus gets sharper.

19:08You feel powerful again. Your workouts feel powerful. You're sleeping better. Like it's like flipping the lights back on because your body was like never meant to run on empty. The second thing that I want to talk about, the second sign is your mood because that one's sneaky. Like, you know, when you wake up fine, but then by noon, like you're anxious and you're edgy and like you're snapping at people for no reason. Dude, that's not you being stressed. That is your blood sugar tanking because when you under eat, your blood sugar spikes and crashes

19:40throughout the day. So for those of you guys, especially like if you skip breakfast or you then grab a snack and then you have lunch, then you grab a snack again and you're eating mostly carbs with no protein. Like that is what your body is doing internally. And what you're, you're secondarily feeling that with your mood is it's literally going, spiking your blood sugar, then crashing. And this is where you get your irritable and moody and then it spikes it again and then it crashes and it spikes it again and then it crashes. With each crash, your body is releasing cortisol.

20:14It's releasing that stress hormone and it's like basically like signaling to your body like we're in danger. And so then from that secondarily, you feel wired, you feel restless, you feel anxious, you feel on edge and you go grab another coffee and you keep thinking like, okay, like this will help. But then it just spikes your cortisol even more. And it's literally just like this constant roller coaster up, down, up, down. It's exhausting. And it's why so many women feel emotionally like unstable, even when everything else in

20:47their life looks totally fine. Your body isn't like, yes, we experience emotions and mood. Yes, 100%. But if that's you all the time, that is a sign of being malnourished. Because when you start eating enough and you start feeling your body with the right balance of protein, fats and carbs, like the roller coaster flattens out. It's like this, you're just like on, when you're in like an amusement park where you can go on the train and it takes you all around the amusement park.

21:17It's like that. Your brain gets stable energy, smooth energy. Your mood evens out. You're even keel the whole way on the ride. Your anxiety is near, unless you're an anxious person, but it drops, right? Like you stop feeling like you're fighting yourself all day long. Because when your body feels safe, then your mind does too. So if you feel like you're moody and irritable all the time, maybe take a look at, am I eating enough?

21:48And I will tell you that probably aren't. But if you implement eating enough, you can experience a drastic difference with having a stabilization in your mood. Hey, while you're listening, if you're getting value from this episode, take a moment to tap that review button or share this podcast with a friend. It's a small gesture that goes a long way in helping more women find their way to feeling stronger and more confident in their skin. I appreciate you so much for taking the time to support this show.

22:18I don't want to get too bulky is what women say. I just want to tone up. I want to lean and tone. I don't want big muscles. Like I've heard it thousands and thousands, thousands of times. Toned. It's not a fitness term. It's actually a scientific term, but it's a marketing term that the fitness and well, in this industry invented to sell women on a version of training that feels safe and acceptable and not too intimidating. But biologically, what does a toned body actually look like?

22:50What is physically happening in the body that appears that makes it appear to be toned? And to answer those questions is that there's two things and there's only two things. Number one is muscle, period. There is muscle present under the skin. Developed, defined muscle that has shape and density. You can just like when people look at arms, you can see the curve of a shoulder. You can see the definition of the arm. You can see the line of your quad.

23:21The shape of a glute, right? That's visual definition that comes from muscle existing there. So number two is, or number one is muscle. Number two is having low enough body fat that the muscle is visible. It doesn't matter how much muscle you have. If there's a significant layer of fat sitting on top of it, you won't be able to see the muscle definition, right? Tone though is muscle plus the leanness for that muscle to show through.

23:54So one, it's having developed, defined muscle that has shape and density. And number two, it's a low enough body fat percentage that the muscle is being able to be seen, be visible and having it show through, right? That's it. That's the entire equation. Muscle plus leanness. Nothing more, nothing less. Which means, and this is where it gets very, very important, is there's no such thing as

24:27toning a muscle as a separate activity from building it. You cannot tone a muscle that isn't there. You cannot firm up something that doesn't exist. A muscle either grows, it maintains, or it shrinks. Those are the only three options available to it. So when someone says that they want to tone their arms, what they're actually describing, whether they know it or not, is wanting to build the muscles in their arms and reduce

25:00the body fat covering them enough that those muscles become visible. That is body recomposition. That is changing your body composition. That's what toning is. And the approach required to actually achieve it is radically different from what most women are, what most women are actually doing. So the approach that I see over and over and over and over again from women who want to tone up, I want to walk through it carefully.

25:32I don't want to make anybody feel guilty or shame anyone. But because I think understanding this exactly why it doesn't work is what finally makes the right approach just click. The typical quote unquote toning program looks something like lots of cardio, treadmill, elliptical, cycling, high volume, and doing that daily. The logic being that cardio burns calories, burning calories reduces fat, and reducing fat will reveal

26:03tone. Lightweights with high reps, you know, these five pound dumbbells, the resistance bands, lots of repetitions of relatively easy exercises. The logic being that behind that is lightweights create long lean muscles without bulk and heavy weights make you big. What I want to do is walk through why each of these pieces works against the actual goal. So the cardio problem, cardio burns calories. Yes, that is true.

26:34But cardio does not build muscle. And we just established that muscle is half of the toning equation, right? No amount of cardio is going to create the shape, the definition, the curves that women describe that they want when they say they want to look toned. Now, cardio can help with fat loss, can help with the fat loss side of things. Don't get me wrong. But fat loss without muscle building doesn't produce a toned body.

27:05It produces just a smaller version of the same body. Less of what you have before, not a different shape, right? The term skinny fat. You hear that often. This is where I was at the beginning of my journey where I was doing marathon. I signed up for a half marathon after half marathon after half marathon. Thinking that because I fell into the trap too. Thinking that this is the way to get toned. This is the way to get my body that I've been wanting forever. Do cardio. Do cardio. And again, I don't want to down cardio.

27:37It is so important, especially for your heart muscle. And it can help on the fat loss side of things. But like you can't have fat loss without building muscle. And cardio doesn't build muscle. Now, the light weights problem. This is one I feel like of the biggest myths in women in the fitness space. And also, I see a lot of women that kind of just go through the motions when they're in their gym. Light weights with high reps do not produce meaningful muscle development.

28:09Let me just say that point blank, period. Not because effort doesn't matter here, but because muscle growth requires progressive overload. Your muscles need to be challenged at a level that creates enough stimulus to adapt and to grow over time. So these cute little pink five-pound dumbbells for most women past beginner stage are not creating that stimulus. Now, if you need it because you're just starting out, don't get me wrong. Yeah, use those. But past, you know, a couple months of using them, you're not creating that stimulus that the muscle needs to have that challenge in order to grow.

28:43Muscles are not being asked to do anything that they can't already do with that point. So they don't grow. So then the toning that you're working toward never materializes. It never turns into anything. You just stay where you are. Stuck. Like I said at the beginning of the podcast. And then the heavy, the quote unquote, what people say is heavy weights makes women bulky fear. Let me, I just wanted to just like, again, put this to rest. Building significant muscle mass as a woman is genuinely hard to do.

29:14It requires years of consistent, progressive, heavy training, plus eating in a calorie surplus. It doesn't just happen accidentally. And it doesn't just happen by picking up a pair of dumbbells or being underneath of a barbell or being on a machine. It doesn't happen, you know, just because you did those things. The women that you see in the fitness space who have significant amount of muscle mass have worked, like for me, it's just 11 years and counting, you guys.

29:50I worked extremely hard intentionally for years to build it. And I'm not even like, if you like at the gym, yeah, because I got a pump and I'm taking a selfie and I'm putting on social media, right? But if I'm like in my day to day, it's like I just have nice toned arms. They look fit. Okay, you won't stumble into being bulky by accident. If your goal is to build muscle, your workouts probably need to be a little bit more boring than you want them to be.

30:21If I can even just simply put, you need to do the boring work in order to recomp and change your body composition. And I know that nobody wants to hear that. I mean, I've had to lean in to babes in my previous coaching days saying those. I know that saying that. And I know that our coaches lean in saying that the boring work is where the work actually gets done. And people still resist it. Babes still resist it or women still resist it.

30:54You don't want to hear it because, and I get it. I mean, doing something new is fun. Walking into the gym and doing something, I mean, doing something completely different feels productive. Right? I know a lot of women are so excited when new training programs open every six weeks because it's just this new challenge to the muscles. Like you feel like you're doing something. You feel productive. You're sweaty. You're sore. Your heart rate is up. You're like, oh, yeah. Like that was a good workout. But was it a good workout or was it just a different workout?

31:24Because those are not necessarily the same thing. And if your goal is to build muscle, if your goal is muscle growth, constantly changing what you're doing can actually make it harder to determine whether you are progressing at all. Training has intention behind it. Training means that there's a desired adaptation that you want to happen over time. And if there's a desired adaptation, then we need to be able to measure whether that adaptation is actually happening. For example, I mean, if you guys are into sports, think about how an athlete trains.

31:58Right? A basketball player. Imagine that person saying, I don't want to practice doing free throws anymore because I've already done those. I just need something new. You think LeBron James and Kobe Bryant and, you know, whoever your favorite player is from your local team is going to say that? No. They still shoot the same free throw over and over and over and over and over again. Why? Because repetition is going to create skill.

32:34And so I want you to start thinking about strength training as a skill. A squat is a skill. A deadlift is a skill. A Romanian deadlift is a skill. A shoulder press is a skill. A lat pulldown is a skill. You have to become good at these movements. And this is something that people underestimate when it comes to you doing progressive overload. The better that you get at performing a specific exercise, the better you're often able to load that intended muscle.

33:06Meaning, the better that you become at an exercise and the more weight that you put on it, meaning you're becoming more stable. Meaning, your technique to that specific exercise is improving. You may even feel it in different places as you go down in a squat. Like, oh, I only really ever felt it in my quads. But now I'm actually getting into my hamstrings because of the depth. Because I've worked on my technique. Because I've worked on my skill. You learn what the movement is supposed to feel like. You understand where your failure point actually is.

33:38And then you start pushing that movement harder. But if you're somebody that goes in and changes the workout every single week. Or you're changing it every day. You're changing it bi-weekly. You're just consistently living in the learning phase. You're never giving your body enough time to become really freaking good at that specific movement. You're not giving your body that time to become really good at that skill. So, I just want to make that differentiation known.

34:08That exercise is not the same thing as you training. Everybody quote-unquote exercises. But how many people actually go into the gym with intention? If you have a progressive overload program. Quote-unquote. If you are inside a warrior bay when you're working with one of our coaches. You have this program that has been developed over four weeks, eight weeks, or six weeks. Depending on how your coach has laid it out for you. That has progressive overload behind it. That has intention to it. So, some of you guys will notice.

34:39Okay. Like, I started a new workout program. First week is typically hard. Because you're calling on maybe some muscle fibers that haven't been incorporated in the previous training block that you were doing. And so, they're waking up. That's why you probably feel a little bit more sore. And then, by the end of that training block, not only do you know the routine that you now go inside of the gym. Right? I go from this equipment to this equipment to this equipment. By the end of the training block, you recognize that the exercises are actually getting not...

35:14Like, I say this word lightly. Like, easier. Right? I mean, they should be hard with the load that you're putting on them. But the exercise feels better. That's everything that I just said happening. You're getting better at the movement. Your skill is developing. Adaptation is happening. To piggyback off kind of what I just said. Like, why new workouts always feel effective? Because this is where people, I think, get fooled a little bit. You try a new workout. And then, the next day, you barely sit down in the toilet. Like, your glutes are destroyed. Your hamstrings are sore.

35:45You're having trouble walking down the stairs or up the stairs. You have to walk up sideways. And you're like, wow, that workout worked. That felt great. But, let me remind you that soreness is not an indicator of progress. It isn't proof that you built more muscle. A big reason why you're sore is because the stimulus was new. Kind of what I just said. Like, your body wasn't... The muscle fibers weren't yet used to this new block. This new training block.

36:15Your body wasn't used to it. And so, new doesn't always mean it's automatically better. This is where I think that a lot of women accidentally start chasing that soreness feeling instead of chasing the progression over time. So many women that I would say, like, at least a solid percentage above 80% walk into the gym. And they leave by gauging whether they're going to be sore or not the next day. That is a terrible gauge. The gauge is not going to happen on a day-to-day basis, guys.

36:48The gauge is going to happen if you are progressing over time. And that's why I think a lot of people get fooled. Because so many people want instant progress. Instant, tangible result. Something that happens in the 24-hour period. I hope by now you understand that muscle is not an overnight process. And you building it is not going to happen in a 24- to 48-hour period. It happens over time. Your muscles don't need more confusion. What they do need is consistency and they need progression. So stop thinking that a good workout has to be new.

37:21Or it has to have... You have to be sore. And I have to be sore because that means that I'm growing. Stop thinking that your body has like... Oh, I just adapted. And I've plateaued. And now I need a new exercise for a few weeks. Give yourself time to actually master you doing each movement. Track what you're doing. And train intentionally. And then make sure you're getting good recovery. And then just come back, repeat, do it again. Right? The women who understand this are the ones that eventually will look like they've been training for years.

37:54Because they actually have. And they know that it takes time. And they don't spend their years starting over every two weeks. They just compound effect over time. Rep by rep. Workout by workout. Year by year. Your muscles love. Just repeat that. They love repetition. Your muscles love repetition. All right? I hope this episode helped you guys. And I'll see you in the next one. Peace out. 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.

38:31Your 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. I appreciate you so much.

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